And then I had an idea!

The offcuts of timber were starting to build up in the workshop and rather than throw them out I decided to make something. 

The first project was a small truck (lorry).   As you can see in the photo below the painting is up to my usual poor standard.

Experienced parents will have noted the wheels are not painted.  This has been done in an effort to ensure the future small owner doesn’t embed black grooves in their mother’s lovely timber flooring.  The front of the vehicle is almost vertical.  I could have fitted a front bumper, lights, mirrors etc.  However a vanilla front means the damage to the house wall will be large and uniform.

The timber is all glued and screwed.  No nails for the little monster to injure themselves with when it’s violently disassembled.

The second project is a toy cradle and this is where I had to devise an idea for sanding the inside edges of all the curves.

Ends

Sanding the convex curves with the orbital sander was relatively easy.  It’s the concave curves that required a solution.  After sleeping on the problem I had an idea.

Using my hole cutter I cut disks from a scrap of 18mm plywood.

These we then glued together and inserted onto a long bolt.

I then marked a vertical pencil line down the side before cutting a 45deg slot with a hacksaw.

The groove and circumference of my new roller was then liberally coated with PVA glue and then wrapped with sandpaper.

 

If the glue holds I should have a cylinder covered in sandpaper with the shaft of a bolt sticking out of one end.  The bolt can be fitted into the chuck of my drill press which should give me a rotating sanding drum to do those concave curves.

My guess is I’m not the first person to think of this solution.

 

WARNING – Nerd Post

Be advised this is a nerd post.   Unless you are interested in nerd things you might want to stop reading now.

This morning the postman delivered the USB Tester I’d ordered from China.

The tester came nicely presented in a foam padded tin box with a card on which a QR Code had been printed.  The code needed to be scanned to download the user manual.  A clever way of cutting costs.

What does the tester do?  From the manual…….

The FNRSI FNB48 USB tester is a high-reliability, high-safety USB voltage and
current detection meter and a mobile communication terminal fast charging
trigger. It has a 1.77-inch TFTLCD display and integrated USB-A, Micro-USB,
Type-C interfaces. Use external 16-bit ADC, PD protocol physical chip. It
can be used to measure the power supply or power consumption of products
such as USB interfaces, mobile phone chargers, U disks, etc.; it can be used
to measure mobile phone charging power and mobile power input and output
conditions; it can be used for charger fast charging protocol testing.

The Tester has a number of input and output ports

• USB-C Input
• USB-C Output
• Micro-usb Input

• Micro-usb port to Computer (for firmware upgrades, etc)
• Control knobs

All marked out on the back

! want to initially use it to identify several things

• What is the current battery capacity of our various mobile devices (phones, tablets, etc)
• Which of our chargers produce the most power
• Which of our usb cables has the least resistance and is the best of charging.

When charging devices we use various sources which include:

• usb port on the laptop
• powered usb hub
• 240V power bricks

I already knew the laptop port had the lowest power output.  But how low?  We also have a variety of usb cables.  Which would be the best?

The Tester even has an oscilloscope screen! 

Jan’s Samsung Galaxy S4 was used for the tests

Without boring you further I can advise the different combination of power sources and cables resulted in a wide variation in charging power.  The worst combination resulted in the phone receiving 1.29 Watts and the best 3.07 Watts. The best was more than double the worst.

I’m now using it to establish the true battery capacity of the old Samsung Tablet.  At this time I haven’t scratched the surface of the Testers capabilities.

It’s that time again

A parcel was delivered this morning.  It was from our youngest son to his mother.  The woman, when selected by me, has been so fortunate to spend the rest of her life in domestic bliss.  Her annual birthday had arrived and youngest son sent her a gift.  Working on the tried and true principle women don’t like being reminded of the passage of time, I don’t buy her birthday presents.  Son has much to learn.

Jan is a dog lover.  Particularly miniature dachshunds!  Noisy creatures who demand the last word.  Initially I though the gift might have had a link to me.

 

But then I remembered an earlier model

Shoe scraper used as a door stop

I’ve sometimes wondered if this might be me under heel.  No! An unkind thought.  Jan is far too kind and gentle for that.  Happy birthday to the girl who tossed her auburn hair, flashed her eyes and walked away with a delightful wiggle leaving me to follow whilst attempting not to stand on my tongue!

We’ve had almost a week of mizzle  and now I’m a confirmed West Australian I won’t go out in it.   However there was a break in the weather yesterday so I took the bike for a ride (it needed the exercise).

My longest ride to date.  66km and with no after effects; apart from a slightly sore posterior.

I was reading the latest blog post from WAL where David took a tumble into the canal and thought “I’ve done that”.  

It was our second trip to the UK and we hired a narrowboat for 10 days to complete the four Counties Ring.  Earlier in the holiday I’d purchased a pair of leather hiking boots and on that day was wearing them to break them in.  We had exited a lock just south of Stoke on Trent on a wet day.  I was wearing my raincoat  The boat was against the bank and I was attempting to depart with the boat in gear.  However the boat appeared to be aground  so I got off the boat and from the middle of the boat, attempted to push it away from the bank.  Suddenly the boat moved away and a gap appeared.  I decided to jump the gap onto the gunwale.  The soles of the boots were wet and didn’t grip the gunwale.  I was left dangling by my hands from the cabin rails.  Of course I didn’t realise the canal was shallow and hung from the rails whilst I unsuccessfully attempted to get a slippery heavy boot full of water up onto the gunwale.  Jan had knocked the boat into neutral and after giving up on the attempt to clamber up the gunwale I made my way hand over hand to the cruiser stern where I eventually dragged myself back on board.  Not without significant difficulty.

What lessons did I learn or re-learn?

• wet clothing is heavy
• the side of a wet narrowboat is slippery
• there is almost nothing to below the boat gunwale that provides leverage
• canals are often shallow
• don’t try a jump a gap onto a boat
• if the depth of the water is over your head wear a lifejacket
• it’s easier to climb onto the bank than a boat
• when I wrote the specifications for Waiouru it included a half circle step on the uxter plate.

    

It’s Broken

Apparently some males moving into late middle age or their early elderly years subconsciously realise their ‘Bucket List’ is getting longer whilst concurrently the available time is decreasing.  They then decide to replicate physical activities completed in their youth.   I think I might have joined this group!

For several months I’ve had the urge to throw a pack on my back and go exploring.  Probably more accurate to describe it as an urge to complete a trek.

I’ve dragged out my old backpack and dusted it off.

 

It’s only the second pack I’ve purchased.  The first was a small canvas pack purchased when I was 10 and used when I went deer stalking with my father.  That’s another tale.

I purchasing the above pack in 2000 and the selection was driven by the much earlier comments from my army instructors.  The exterior of the pack has to be ‘clean’.  We were not to look like travelling tinkers with various pieces of equipment attached (ie, dangling) externally.  It was explained these item caught on vegetation and could also be noisy.  Consequentially there are few points on the backpack where items can be attached.  It also follows the army practice of having an upper and lower compartment with a smaller day pack zipped to the back.  Sleeping gear in the lower compartment and everything else in the upper.  The day pack allowed for day trips allowing the main pack to be left behind.

The pack has one additional characteristic.  There is a zipped cover that encloses the shoulder and waist straps effectively turning the pack into a soft covered suitcase.  This makes it harder for airline baggage handlers to destroy your backpack.

Twenty years on and the current backpacks are lighter, with more attachment points.  But at my age I’m not spending money on a replacement.

As I checked through my outdoor gear I realised some had disappeared.   Fortunately not much.   I found my stove, which hasn’t been used for 22 years.   Best to check it works as I don’t want to eat cold food.  At the time it was “state of the art” and; surprisingly; parts are still available.  A testament to it’s design and build quality.

It’s a MSR Dragonfly liquid fuel stove made in Canada. I prefer liquid fuel over gas.  Primarily for two reasons.  Liquid lasts longer than gas and I can easily check the level of fuel left in the bottle.

After assembling the stove I started it and it worked for a minute before dying.  No matter what I did the stove refused to remain alight for more than a minute.  For the first time since I purchased it the stove was disassembled and thoroughly cleaned.  It still wouldn’t remain alight.

After several days of trying a bulb went on in my head.  The fuel in the bottle was years old and may even be the wrong type!  The Canadian instructions state it should be run on White Spirits.  However I’ve discovered White spirits in Canada is different to White Spirits in Australia.  Here the name of the fuel is ‘Shellite’.  It took me two days to find a retailer with Shellite in stock. 

After purging the fuel lines of old fuel the stove leapt into life. 

Yes, that’s a rather large pot for one person.  The pot size isn’t dictated by the size of my meal.  Rather, I though I would be clever and use it as a protective travelling container for the stove making it dual purpose.

A good idea; except the dregs of the fuel in the stove and pump are contaminating the pot.  I may have to rethink my brilliant idea. 

However the good news is the ‘broken’ stove actually works.

Nurturer Person Day

Jan was rather bemused to read today is not Mothers Day.  Apparently schools are teaching it’s “Nurturer Person Day.”  I guess if Jan is “Nurturer Person” then our three children are “Expense”, “Mistake” and “Cost a Lot”.   

Another pleasing bike ride today.  I rode 56km  and didn’t feel sore after.  Actually I’ve spare energy left ,which meant the pool got cleaned.

The bike route was around the lower portion of the Swan River.

 I covered the route in a clockwise direction starting in the east.

There are some very nice (and expensive) looking water front homes on the south side of the river in the suburbs of Applecross and Attadale. 

None look like they have much of a backyard, but then there is a large linear park between the homes and the shore.  However, with no room for a ‘man cave’ they don’t interest me!

Somewhere in the distance the river narrows where it enters the Indian Ocean.

A small part of my brain was telling me “That looks a long way to go!”

Behind me on the opposite bank the tower blocks of the CBD dominate the skyline.

At last I reached the halfway point.  The Narrows Bridge at Fremantle.

I followed the Fremantle PsP beside the rail line on the northern side of the river until the city was reached. 

Many of the tower blocks are occupied by large minerals companies (BHP, Rio Tinto, Woodside, etc).  Western Australia is heavily dependent upon mining.

A relatively recent addition to the city waterfront is “The Raft”.  A bar and bistro, with access only available by boat.  That probably makes it hard “to do a runner” without paying the bill.

Dave,

I think I may have solved the bike left crank problem.  After disassembling the entire mechanism I realised the cause was probably paint which had been liberally sprayed by the manufacturer over the square hub shaft and the square hole in the head of the crank.  The areas were cleaned back to bare metal and liberally covered with Loctite before reassembly.  To date the crank has remained tight.

Burnt by eBay Seller

Last year Jan bought a small kitchen device from an eBay seller and when the item didn’t arrive by the scheduled date I wrote to the seller.  A long exchange of correspondence ensued until I realised the seller was probably stringing me along.  When I sent to initiate a dispute I discovered so much time had passed it was beyond the deadline to dispute the non delivery.  Lesson learned!

In February of this year I ordered a water pump from an EBay seller in Chullora, NSW, Australia.  When the pump didn’t arrive by the latest scheduled date I queried the seller as to its location.  The seller requested I wait long.  Then the purchase disappeared from our eBay history.  Whilst we could prove we had paid via Paypal we were no longer able to raise a dispute and request a refund from eBay.  I kept communicating with the seller who kept asking me to wait.  I never got angry in my correspondence as I knew I couldn’t raise a dispute in eBay.  Eventually the seller agreed to refund our $84.95.

Today; three months after placing the order; the pump was delivered.  Now we have a pump and a refund.  That’s not right.  I wrote to the seller advising the pump had been delivered but as I’d previously advised him I no longer required it; having purchased a replacement locally; would he like me to send it back to Chullora and would he pay the postage?

This afternoon I received a reply telling me to keep the pump.  Why do I feel guilty?

 

I’ve been out for another long ride on the bike and regrettably, the problem with the loose left pedal crank hasn’t been solved.  The ride was approximately 40km and I felt good afterwards.  At least the enforced stops to re-tighten the crank gave my rear end a rest.

Both the original Bafang and Shimano cranks have now loosened.  I’ve been to the hardware store and purchased more Loctite.  This time I’ll thoroughly clean all the components before applying the Loctite.  If that fails I’ll look at drilling and threading the crank head so I can install a grub screw .