The cable and the heater

My sister and brother-in-law visited bring a gift.  One of their two dogs decided the power cable on the portable oil heater looked tasty.  Would I replace the cable?  He’s a plumber (and a really nice guy) so of course I obliged.  The simple task turned out to be rather more complicated.  Obviously the Chinese manufacturer didn’t want the heater disassembled.  Actually they are so cheap to buy no electrician would waste time repairing one.

Once it was apart I was rather disconcerted by the quality of the build.  Too many sharp metal edges and insufficient cable protection.

Needless to say I made a considerable effort to ensure the quality was better by the time I finished.

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A new orange coloured power cable for the dog to chew on!

Postman Gary delivered another Chinese router bit today.

I have another idea on how to straighten warped timber and this 1 inch bit is part of that plan.

More work done on the 4x4 today.  There’s sufficient cable at the rear for an Anderson Plug (I hope).  Two plugs were ordered off eBay today ($24).  I decided against the more expensive ($56) Anderson bracket and holder.as I don’t believe they would keep out the dust.  I can also do it cheaper.

When looking behind the front passenger wheel I realised the cable conduit was exposed.  It was something I couldn’t see when under the vehicle.

There’s a small possibility the conduit might get damaged by stones and sticks in this position so I removed the wheel and relocated the conduit to on top of the chassis frame.

By now it had become too hot for me to want to work outside and I retired to the computer.

I’ve been thinking about the design of the bedhead.  Jan has suggested a checkerboard pattern of dark and light timber.  However I’ve had another idea.  Maybe a canal scene.  Perhaps something like this.

The idea is to increase the size of the drawing to 1200x800mm and print it out on A3 paper.  This would then be pasted onto a 4mm piece of plywood.  The outline would be cut out with a router to create a template which I could use on the bedhead.  What do you think?