The Night Mail

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Evening all,

 

I’ve been a rather quiet over the past few days and I suppose the last month overall and I thought I ought to explain why.
 

About 3 weeks to a month ago Ye Olde depression has returned after a several year absence, joy of joys. Usual symptoms, thankfully nothing outrageous this time and I hope it won’t get worse. I’m also hoping my week in Santa Fe will at least clear things up a bit as I’ve got a fair bit going on and haven’t taken a break from life in general since august. 
 

 

Douglas

Edited March 11, 2022 by Florence Locomotive Works

[jamie92208]

4 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Evening all,

 

I’ve been a rather quiet over the past few days and I suppose the last month overall and I thought I ought to explain why.
 

About 3 weeks to a month ago Ye Olde depression has returned after a several year absence, joy of joys. Usual symptoms, thankfully nothing outrageous this time and I hope it won’t get worse. I’m also hoping my week in Santa Fe will at least clear things up a bit as I’ve got a fair bit going on and haven’t taken a break from life in general since august. 
 

 

Douglas

I do hope that the black dog gets returned to it's kennel soon Douglas.  There is always plenty of support available on here.

 

Jamie

[polybear]

6 hours ago, AndyID said:

Me nozzle's blocked!

 

Calm down at the back! I am, of course, referring to the extruder on my FDM printer. I read that MEK, more commonly referred to by TNM's members as CH₃CCH₂CH₃, was the bees-knees for dissolving PLA filament so I drove all the way to a marine supply emporium in the next town to buy some. Despite various statements about how wicked the stuff is I was pretty underwhelmed. MrsID's nail-polish remover was no less effective

 

Any chance of warming/heating the nozzle and melting it out?  I didn't realise that MEK was still available (isn't it/wasn't it used as an adhesive for a certain plastic material?) - a very quick look shows Amazon sell it at nine quid for half a litre.

[AndyID]

14 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Any chance of warming/heating the nozzle and melting it out?  I didn't realise that MEK was still available (isn't it/wasn't it used as an adhesive for a certain plastic material?) - a very quick look shows Amazon sell it at nine quid for half a litre.

 

Yes, it is usually possible to melt a lot of it out but the solvent helps to remove any remaining residue in the nozzle.

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Any chance of warming/heating the nozzle and melting it out?  I didn't realise that MEK was still available (isn't it/wasn't it used as an adhesive for a certain plastic material?) - a very quick look shows Amazon sell it at nine quid for half a litre.

Some model shops I know buy it in bulk and decant it into smaller bottles for sale.

[Happy Hippo]

7 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

It was the ethyl acetate "kind" version. I tried pure acetone but it didn't do much at all. The ethyl acetate remover seemed to be just as effective as MEK but it wasn't exactly a carefully controlled experiment

Did you apply the Henry Cooper style?

 

'I just splash it on all over' (Brut 33 aftershave advert for the younger readers of this thread)

[Happy Hippo]

The Staffel Fuhrer failed to call back yesterday, so I called him and caught him whilst he was in the queue at the pharmacy.

 

He's going to ring this evening:  He has been warned not to ring whilst I'm watching  Wales being beaten by the French in the 6 Nations Rugby.

 

Yesterday, Nyda very thoughtfully bought in some Guinness which is currently cooling in the fridge.

 

We had hoped to get out into the garden this afternoon, but after a very pleasant sunny start to the morning, the weather has continued to deteriorate and now it is that insidious creeping rain that gets you wet very quickly.

 

I've plenty of model railway type activity to keep me busy, but I also have a shambles in my workshop that is supposed to be a tidy workbench.

 

I think I will  have to make that my priority this afternoon.

 

 

[SM42]

Typical, isn't it?

 

The motor has been in for two days to investigate a mysterious and intermittent clutch slip. ( 3rd time and 3rd clutch this car  and indeed same fault as on previous two cars of same make and model but different marks. I was hoping it would be engineered  out by car No. 3)

 

Nothing found. Unable to recreate fault.

 

Fault recurs on way home. 

 

Rather annoying. 

 

It's not me neither. Previous cars of different make, no clutch  issues at all. 

The fault  has been documented  on internet forums by others and another model by the same manufacturer had similar issues in the past.

 

 

Andy

On nights again.

Truly a night male this weekend

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

I've plenty of model railway type activity to keep me busy,

I am really looking forward to some model railway activity. As I complete a few diy tasks I am trying to tidy up the workshop area. Yesterday I added some shelves which will be useful for holding rolling stock, releasing the existing carriage and wagon storage for small tools. 
It will be nice to see some trains moving again. 
Tony

[Happy Hippo]

My efforts in the workshop have left it looking worse than when I started it!

 

However, I am sure that in all cases like this, there will come a point at which things will suddenly start looking a lot better.

 

Failing that I have a big recycling bin.

[Winslow Boy]

2 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

My efforts in the workshop have left it looking worse than when I started it!

 

However, I am sure that in all cases like this, there will come a point at which things will suddenly start looking a lot better.

 

Failing that I have a big recycling bin.

 

Of course you could always deploy the 'Cloak of Invisibility' aka a dust sheet.

 

Or is that in use else where at the Hippodrome?

[Happy Hippo]

2 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

Of course you could always deploy the 'Cloak of Invisibility' aka a dust sheet.

 

Or is that in use else where at the Hippodrome?

We only have eight C o I and they are already fully deployed.

[simontaylor484]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

We only have eight C o I and they are already fully deployed.

On the cake stash in case of marauding bears

[Happy Hippo]

The cake has been well dispersed to many different storage sites. 

[Winslow Boy]

34 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

The cake has been well dispersed to many different storage sites. 

 

Good idea. 

 

But have you memorized the locations? Don't want to see you dashing round getting ever more desperate looking for a stash.

 

Tell you what. For a small fee I'll look after the list for you. Purely in the cause of not causing distress to animals of course.

 

Yours from a concerned citizen.

[iL Dottore]

10 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

My efforts in the workshop have left it looking worse than when I started it!

 

However, I am sure that in all cases like this, there will come a point at which things will suddenly start looking a lot better.

 

Failing that I have a big recycling bin.

Fret yet not, O fröhliches Nilpferd, I have just finished completely refurbishing, re-organising and renovating my workshop (shared - unfortunately - with Mrs iD who uses it for her “crafts”); it took me best part of two weeks, some ruthless disposal (6 x 60L rubbish bags, 3 x heavily laden trips to the recycling centre) and for most of that time the place looked like a tip. It was only after the last recycling run and the last 60L rubbish bag that the workshop became what I had envisaged it to be.

There’s still some minor tidying up/binning to do, a lot of drawers to properly organises and one construction task to complete (a foldaway woodworker’s workbench) but I am now happy with the workshop (as is Mrs iD - mucho brownie points acquired).

 

Stick with it HH, you’ll get there (and you’ll be glad you did)

[iL Dottore]

I’m wondering if I could impose on the collected wisdom of TNM?

 

As described above, I have refurbished my workshop. One of the casualties was the variegated and (very) odd assortment of LED and low voltage halogen lamps used for spot illumination when working on models.

 

My question to the multitudes is: given that the aforementioned lamps all run off transformers providing the same DC output (I think, I’m pretty certain but will need to check), would be possible to wire them all to just one transformer? (after removing the flexible necks/lamp head and soldering the leads together - creating one multi headed lamp)

 

I‘m rather loathe to bin them, but a multitude of lamps and transformers is no longer an option for my workbench.

 

Other suggestions as how to recycle them will also be gratefully received!

Edited March 12, 2022 by iL Dottore
Remove a duplicate post/write a new one

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

I’m wondering if I could impose on the collected wisdom of TNM?

 

As described above, I have refurbished my workshop. One of the casualties was the variegated and (very) odd assortment of LED and low voltage halogen lamps used for spot illumination when working on models.

 

My question to the multitudes is: given that the aforementioned lamps all run off transformers providing the same DC output (I think, I’m pretty certain but will need to check), would be possible to wire them all to just one transformer? (after removing the flexible necks/lamp head and soldering the leads together - creating one multi headed lamp)

 

I‘m rather loathe to bin them, but a multitude of lamps and transformers is no longer an option for my workbench.

 

Other suggestions as how to recycle them will also be gratefully received!

 

Halogen bulbs only care about the applied voltage. They can run on DC or AC. The RMS value of the AC voltage should be the same as the DC voltage. There's a reasonable chance they are 12 volt (automobile bulbs). Halogen bulbs are like any filament bulbs. They are thermistors and automatically increase their resistance to limit the current as they heat up.

 

LEDs are nothing like that . They are semiconductor diodes that emit light proportional to the forward current flowing through them, but they do not have any way to limit that current and require some external limiting means. That might be as simple as a resistor but there are much more efficient ways to do it. Some LEDs are actually two LEDs back-to back in opposite directions and that lets them run on AC. One LED emits light while the other LED prevents excessive reverse voltage which would otherwise banjax it.

 

You might be able to run them both of one supply but it depends on their specs.

[AndyID]

12 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

My efforts in the workshop have left it looking worse than when I started it!

 

However, I am sure that in all cases like this, there will come a point at which things will suddenly start looking a lot better.

 

Failing that I have a big recycling bin.

 

Feel free to "drop in" any time. My shed/shop is a friggin' mess and is in need of some very serious pruning.

[polybear]

8 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

Good idea. 

 

But have you memorized the locations? Don't want to see you dashing round getting ever more desperate looking for a stash.

 

Tell you what. For a small fee I'll look after the list for you. Purely in the cause of not causing distress to animals of course.

 

Yours from a concerned citizen.

 

No need - they are already well known to a certain Bear (and any changes in location immediately detected, updated and reported) and form a part of Bear's ESCR.  Mind you, that would only be required in the event that the SCR should be depleted - and that would need a very unlikely event such as WW3.....

 

Er, I feel a priority change coming on.....the ESCR gets hammered first, then the SCR after that.  Discovering a Hungry Hippo has scoffed the ESCR first could be serious.... 

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

 

Feel free to "drop in" any time. My shed/shop is a friggin' mess and is in need of some very serious pruning.

I now have the North Hipposhire contingent visiting on Tuesday morning, so I'm going to spent the rest of the weekend painting things white and polishing the gravel.

[AndyID]

21 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I now have the North Hipposhire contingent visiting on Tuesday morning, so I'm going to spent the rest of the weekend painting things white and polishing the gravel.

 

Make sure to address anything before you paint it white. If it fails to respond shoot it, and even if it does shoot it, just in case.

[Winslow Boy]

27 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Make sure to address anything before you paint it white. If it fails to respond shoot it, and even if it does shoot it, just in case.

 

I believe that is what our american cousins call friendly fire.

 

We Brits have another phrase for it.

[AndyID]

4 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

I believe that is what our american cousins call friendly fire.

 

We Brits have another phrase for it.

 

But who are "we Brits" exactly? This particular punter has UK and US citizenship. I'm happy to meet you in Glasgow where we can sort it out

 

My point is "nationalism" is a very dangerous concept, and it is being exploited greatly in very recent times. Better to stick to common values like which is the true 00 gauge.

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

I now have the North Hipposhire contingent visiting on Tuesday morning, so I'm going to spent the rest of the weekend painting things white and polishing the gravel.

I hope that you have cut the lawn with a pair of scissors.  You must have had plenty of practice.

 

Jamie