what are you doing ?

[pre65]

My KTM spares came in the post today, so I'm doing an oil change and fitting the new plug in the sump (not the sump plug) that had the damaged allen type fixing. Seems the new part has Torx fixing so they must have had past problems with it.

Also, the "lolly" transformers were delivered yesterday, so that's another area to be worked on when the 1/2 cwt (hundredweight for younger viewers,a unit of weight equal to 112 lb avoirdupois about 50.8 kg) of enthusiasm I ordered turns up.

[jack]

Also sorted out timber store in cellar under my workshop - new racking etc.

[IslandPink]

Working. Working overtime. Trying to get a technical proposal out by this afternoon.

[jack]

Discovered during the cleanup - a PM20 mortiser that I'd forgotten about and which has been there for many years...

In need of a bit of TLC. I found the box of bits that go with it too

[Ant]

All I ever find is rubbish and spiders!
Sat on my arse doing nothing at the moment as I discovered that I needed an 8 pin plug and socket for the dual build, not a 7 pin. I obviously can't count........
I did buy another goldring eroica lx cart though so I can look forward to that coming in the post in a few days.
Along with the right bloody plug, socket and 8 core cable.
I sold off all my spare carts other than the denon dl301 as I want that one to go on the mayware arm when I get my hands on the ariston rd40 off Mike, and used the proceeds plus a bit extra to get the eroica. Underrated cart imo, this will be the third one I've had, first one broken in a silly manner by me, second worn out.
Dunno wether to take the dv20x2h off the lenco to fit on the linear tracker when it comes, or fit the eroica to it.
We shall see

[pre65]

I've been trying to revive the BMW battery, it was too low to take a charge, so I paralleled it with a good battery and left it on charge overnight. It seems to have recovered.

I'll discharge it some with a resistor then recharge. Do that a few times and it should be OK for the summer.

I won an auction on the BHF Ebay site for a used Lenovo Chromebook computer, just as lockdown started. I got a message this morning to say it's being delivered this afternoon, something new to play with.

Just had a delicious air fried brunch, cup of tea next whilst listening to Acker Bilk. It's a bit wet outside so I'll continue tidying up and getting my conservatory workbench cleared for action.

[IslandPink]

Got up this morning ( insert suitable blues licks ) and found the power was down in the house. Went into a bit of a panic, my energy supplier stuff is all online, and I don't have an iphone. Got the neighbour to find their helpline and called them on the mobile. They logged my problem, and asked me to call SP energy network for a emergency code number, first thing the woman on the helpline there asked was to check the main trip switch on the breaker board. Yes ( phew ) that's all that was wrong.
I have no idea why it flipped, though.

[izzy wizzy]

Scottish Power = the worst energy provider of them all; stuff of nightmares. Lucky you found the tripped switch. Would hate to think what would have happened had they found it

[Ant]

Just had to re terminate all the leads for my daughters guitars.
Bought 2 new ones as the others were abit flakey and both came with the signal core shorted to the screen...... Quite how they passed qc I'm not sure
So had to re terminate both of the new leads, and while I was at it I redid the flakey ones which are now fine
She has been told to stop ragging them in and out of the amp and guitars. Shouldn't be long before they need redoing again.......

[Ant]

Some of the bits I ordered for the dual turned up today, the feet and the correct plug and socket. Feet are on, nice and simple to fit, 10 minute job, so that's done.
I'll fit the socket on the plinth later when I've had more cups of tea.
The eroica cart arrived too, I've fitted it on the lenco in an audio technica at-mg10 headshell. I couldn't use that particular headshell for the dv20 as it has threaded holes in the cart body and the headshell so I was stuck using a cheap plastic one that was abit rubbish.
The eroica sounds sweeter on the acos arm than the dv does, probably because it's much lighter at 5.5 g rather than 10 point something, and the mag headshell is much stiffer and abit lighter than the plastic one. The counterweight isn't hanging off the end of the stub, its much closer in to the pivot, and the combined cart/headshell weight is probably a good 5g lighter, so the effective mass of the assembly is probably a good bit lower too.
The goldring isn't the most detailed cart around, certainly not as good as the dv is, but it does have a lovely 'atmosphere' and tone to it, for some reason especially on pianos which is why I bought another one. It'll open up some as it runs it ime with these carts. I'm really not sure why the stock 103 overshadows the eroica, you hardly ever read anything about them these days
The dv will be going on the air bearing arm. Much to do before then though

[pre65]

I found my carrier bag of old valves that "Steptoe" gave me ages ago. I remembered that most (if not all) of the 6Y6G were duff, so this morning I hit them all with a hammer and stuffed the remains in the bin.

I've hung on to the six 6L5-G as they might be useful when I come back to the 811A in A2, but I suspect they are marginal.

I also chucked three of Steptoes old GPO transformers, Paul B and Mike H might remember those.

[pre65]

I've got a real cheapie multimeter for general duties, and I've been using it to check voltage on the motorcycle batteries I'm playing with.

I swapped the leads over to see if the BMW was drawing any current when the ignition was off, and it was for about a minute then nothing.

Thing is, when I went back to testing voltages I forgot to swap the lead back, and ended up with magic smoke, and both leads with melted insulation.

Being the wally that I can be, I've done it three times now, but although the leads are french connecetion'ed the meter still seems to work.

[Ant]

Now have the dual build running again after a couple of hours building up a remote psu box

[steve s]

Ive had a lovely day wallpapering...
I've got tomorrow to put everything back, radiator back on and tidy up etc
Then I can get back on with good stuff...
I've had the mofo on all day blasting out which has been a big plus

[jack]

Had an interesting day putting power into a greenhouse - running a 3x4mm SWA from an outbuilding, sinking a metre-long ground rod through a load of type one, rewiring the consumer unit in the outbuilding, building the control gear into an IP65 box (from TLC). Had to drill through the slab to get the cable in - a 20x400mm SDS plus bit - very satisfying

Two IP66 twin sockets - one on a seven day timer, one always powered. kWh meter, bunch of contactors and 24vac xfrmr for the watering system, Raspberry Pi running docker with squeezebox client and OpenSprinkler, Ubiquity mesh ap client and a UniFi ap to give full WiFi to the greenhouse, outbuilding and veg garden.

All the control kit (timers, MCBs, xfrmr, kWh meter etc.) are on din rails, so easy to change around.

Had to splice the SWA - used a Wiska Shark 506W gel-filled IP-rated box - brilliant thing.