and today i have mostly been...

[Doggy]

*shudder* That was close with the B&S/Atco

I was spraying water into the intake of my B&S on Saterday. I think it liked it, smells cleaner in the eggsauce department now

My daughter went one better and left the fuel filler cap off my trusty cheap+nasty Mountfield lookalike for about a week.
Stangely enough it doesn't start very well with a tank full of rainwater.

[Welly]

Well yesterday......attending a Funeral friend of my colleague and of the business. Bowel Cancer at age 56 we were walking around the NEC with him in January

Added grump: how is it nearly June already?

[steve_earwig]

We had a funeral last week, Miloš's father-in-law. Not that I'd ever met the guy (t'wife did but years ago) but we were there for the family. He'd been having circulatory problems for a good while and had already lost a leg.

While we were there I showed t'wife where the grave is of the neighbour we lost last year (she couldn't get time of to attend so I went on me tod). When we found it I noticed his wife's name is already on it - why do they do that? It just seems to me that if your grave is ready prepared for you there'd be no point in getting out of bed any more because, whatever you do, whatever you make of yourself, you're going to end up here, so you may as well not bother.

*shudder* That was close with the B&S/Atco

It would have been my own stupid fault too!

My daughter went one better and left the fuel filler cap off my trusty cheap+nasty Mountfield lookalike for about a week.
Stangely enough it doesn't start very well with a tank full of rainwater.

Your tin mower lives outside? That's not going to last long, I don't know what sort of steel they use to make the hoods on these things but it never seems to last long at the best of times.

[steve_earwig]

Well, yesterday... back to the balcony doors: Ivo could only get one handle, it's a different manufacturer (Zeće as opposed to Lož) but, as the pin spacing is the same, it'll do.


That's the knackered one in the middle, the new guy on the right and the one I took off the back door to the left. Hold on a mo...

Bugger Realising that's not going to support the weight of the double door I swapped it for the one on the smaller door on the set which we hardly ever use here. The one I took off was perfect, so that's already on the doors upstairs.

To fit the new one to the (single) back door I had to grind off some of the hinge bracket thingy as it could've done with being fitted 10mm higher up, but I reasoned this was better than shaving the top off the door or whatever. The spring washers are to take up the play left by sawing the bottom off:


I then set about taking the knackered one to bits:


It didn't want to come, as far as I could see there was only a tack in each corner but the rest seems to have been spot welded together. Of course, hindsight being 20/20, once I had it in bits I realised all I needed to do was grind off the big rivet/fulcrum pin and the whole lot would have slide out

Here's the wear:

Using my handy new Made in China Nippon Slipoff calipers, the pin measures 4,9mm at the ends (so that's probably 5mm new) and 1,3mm where the wear is I guess that would have snapped before long, leaving the door either unable to open or unable to close again.

Now all I have to do is stain the doors. Or should I wait until Miloš has rendered the walls? The man himself is still out of action, so maybe I should stain the outside to protect it from the sun.

I'll add it to the list...

[Welly]

Those sort of things (handles/spindles/hinges) REALLY annoy me for some reason

[steve_earwig]

Me too, especially when they wear out or break and are completely irreplaceable, requiring me to change the whole bleedin' lot

And guess which ham-fisted twit broke the Flymo's carburettor? The screw that holds the flat chamber on also houses the main jet (so it takes fuel right from the bottom where all the crap is, great ). I didn't even put much force into it just a light tighten and bing!, it's broke I do have a spare but it's a whole lawnmower and I'm a bit reluctant to start stripping it. So, some epoxy and a lump of tin for reinforcing later and it's working again. Strangely, much better than it's run for a good while. That can't be right, surely?

[Welly]

No that's fine, you've not broke it you've 'modified' it

[steve_earwig]

Well, whatever I've done it's getting a whole lot more fuel. The air filter consists of a 40mm plastic tube packed with Scotchbrite as it was too weak with the proper filter in and I was having to push it further in all the time to stop it running too weak. Now it's running a piece of washing up sponge

The trouble is I keep thinking it's just an illusion and catastrophic failure is imminent All the time I'm pushing it around I'm considering that 18" blade whizzing around at about 3,000rpm just a couple of feet from my ankles or the fact that the piston is doing it's in and out thing pointing right at my shins

Oh ffs, when did I get so paranoid?

[Welly]

It's not paranoid it's being sensible, as I get older I've become acutely aware of my own safety. If I drill anything or use a jigsaw I firstly reach for my safety glasses.

I even mow the grass with safety glasses after having various things hit me in the face over the years.

Who wants to spend 8hrs down at A&E for the sake of wearing some PPE. I even have some tinted glasses for extra cool.

Mind you all my PPE is borrowed* from the work's stock (of which I have control)

[steve_earwig]

An Englishman living in Croatia died of heatstroke earlier after mowing his lawn wearing a suit of armour..

[OllieNZ]

Changed the front crank seal on my Jimny.....

Impromptu crank bolt removal tool.

The new seal fitted

Pulley bolt is torqued up to over 90lb/ft

[steve_earwig]

90ft(lbs isn't a lot, certainly not enough for you to use your whole house as a counterweight...

[OllieNZ]

90ft(lbs isn't a lot, certainly not enough for you to use your whole house as a counterweight...

Lol that's just so I could crack it off (and I use the bar as a straight edge so I didn't want to shorten it) 90ft/lbs + 16 years worth of UK winters

[Welly]

Is that a little spring holding the belt tensioner 'arm'? I can't quite see but it looks quite fragile?

[OllieNZ]

Is that a little spring holding the belt tensioner 'arm'? I can't quite see but it looks quite fragile?

It's only for setting the tension you then tighten the bolt through the (off)center of the pulley to lock it.