hayfield

On 16/02/2024 at 18:14, 21A Desperado said:

Is there anyone out there that could draw up a track design into Templot please?

 

Im finalising a design and really want to see if it will fit in the space I have.

 

Thanks in advance.

The whole idea of Templot is for the operator to design the plan themselves, contrary to thoughts of some Templot is very easy to use these days.

Usually if someone is assisting it is certainly helpful to exchange plans using the program,

Most Templot club members will be more than happy to assist, but it usually this relies on exchanging "box files"* via email.

* This is a system of easily transferring plans between 2 or more users, when the recipient clicks on the file it automatically both opens and prepopulates Templot. Sending a box file is nearly as easy

I would say if you have not done it first, quickly have a look at the program and perhaps follow on of the tutorials, of watch the Bexhill West you tube 

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=f1fcaf6411aede3e&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBGB833GB833&q=Bexhill+west+Templot+episode&spell=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj_yPXg1M2EAxUoVkEAHaxxBR4QBSgAegQICBAC&biw=1904&bih=944&dpr=1#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:1d12fe61,vid:eagdegzAwv4,st:0

James is a very capable presenter and has a knack of making things simple

10 hours ago, Kris said:

Our peak export on Octopus is 28.79p per unit.

How often do you get peak prices?

49 minutes ago, EasternO said:

I have the basic rivet press I no longer use. Has some surface rust, but easily removed with a brillo pad or similar. Has all of the punches included, which are 2mm, 4mm and 7mm.

 

I can take a pic if you're interested.

Thanks very much for the offer but I think I need at least the middle one with the guide, as I need some form of stop so I can keep everything level

9 minutes ago, Sjcm said:

One of the downsides of buying joblots of tat on ebay, is you tend to accumulate a lot of locos without tenders and vice versa. Last night I got lucky and managed to pick up 4 tenders for 6 pounds including postage. Considering you can easily pay that for 1 including postage i'm well chuffed.👍

Hold on I am getting very confused (it's my old age !!!)

For me the idea of buying job lots is not to keep it all. Firstly it allows you to find an item(s) which you need, you then dispose of the items you don't require, hopefully of £'s which reduces the cost of what you wanted.

Buying 1 tender for £6 + postage normally would be a good buy, selling the other 3 even if only for £1 each + postage will not only help up to 3 other folk, but will make your tender even cheaper, if you are lucky you might even get a bit more !!

Rule 1 separate tat from useful items and throw away the tat

Rule 3 recycle the items you don't want as it may do someone else a good turn and perhaps encourage others to do likewise

Rule 2 don't keep items you won't use

Not my work, but some very capable soldering especially as some of the castings are so large

A few bits of filling are required, then I need to decide what I can safely fit whilst the build progresses

I unassembled the chassis back a bit to enable me to start the painting, Masking the motor and worm as well as the unfinished cylinders and slide bar supports. The cylinders are short 1 pair of slide which bars have been ordered.

I am about to pain the Chassis black so it will have at least a couple of days to harden

I acquired this Springside loco in a job lot of other 7mm, 0-16.5 & 4mm part built and incomplete kits

As you can see some of the parts are in the correct box,

Other boxes (this one of the better ones) had a right mixture of parts which had to be sorted out, this took me about 2.5 weeks

It was made easier after I brought 2 Springside sets of instructions. I find Roger very helpful as in the past I have used his services twice before with two other Springside kits I brought s/h with parts missing.

After a sort out I put the chassis together and fitted it to the part built body

Most of the cab parts were eventually found, but as you can see what has been built has been put together very well

Here are other parts and what was surprising I was only missing about half a dozen bits, which were duly ordered

I think the builder got stuck with the meshing of the gears, I completely unassembled the wheels and gave them, the bearings, axles a good clean, then reassembled them in the chassis. The meshing issues were due to excessive movement between the motor mounting plate and the chassis. As you can see large lumps of solder now hold the plate securely with gears meshed.

I could be wrong but I think the builder had issues with meshing so it was put aside and never attended to.

We have had a couple of good days, and though no wall to wall sunshine days its surprising how fast the clock ticks over when the sun comes out,

Now we just need some good weather, not only for solar power production, but my allotment is looking very sad

If you watch some of the daytime and evening programs, the amounts being sought for what I believe are not very good, even overpriced tat is eye watering !! and people even buy it.

My daughter sells the odd art work made from used wine bottle corks, I can't believe they sell for so much!! 

29 minutes ago, polybear said:

The GW ones are excellent - just advise George that it’s for 7mm and he’ll supply the correct punch & anvil (it’s possible to buy those separately - so it’d be worth buying the 4mm ones at the same time).

Thanks for that great piece of advice, when I obtained my Hobby Holidays chassis jig I got both 4mm & 7mm axle rods

Am I correct in thinking there is an adjustable stop so you cannot over press, also an adjustable guide plate/bar ?

I have a couple of 7mm etched brass kits (72xx & 1361) one of them has hundreds of small rivets in seems. I have a cheap LRM riveter but I don't want to either distort the sides by being heavy handed or have wonky lines.

I have seen a GW machine at shows but find they do 3. My thoughts are about buying the £100 middle one, please I am firstly looking for advice on what to buy and happy to buy a s/h one if anyone has one they do not use anymore

Answered in error

1 hour ago, NHY 581 said:

 

 

Exactly. It’s not a drama. Funnily enough, my fortnightly 80% off message has landed.................

 

Rob

Same here, I will be listing the odd item

I must go to the back of the class and read the instructions, last night I took the wheels off the axles and unassembled the crank pins.

This afternoon it started with me getting out my small Unimat lathe and I began to clean both the axles then wheels with very fine emery paper, all screws were oiled and then I cleaned up the top hat axle bearings

It went so well I thought I would make a start on the chassis, I put it together and found the gears were not meshing. On inspection there was too much play where the motor mount/slide bar support went in the chassis slots. I was a bit ham fisted with the soldering but it solved the problem and can be cleaned up later.

I wondered why the rear axle had been turned down between the wheels, the answer was it is too close to the motor, it still is so I started to file back the rear plastic motor body, which made it turn a lot better

After reading the instructions I think I will paint the chassis sides before I sort out the sprung pickups. I am missing some chassis castings (slide bars) so I may have to wait to finish it off, but I will get it as far as I can

Its quite an extensive kit with more than enough parts, all the main parts have been soldered together by the previous builder (who was extremely neat)

Even though its a simple 0-4-0ST there are more than enough small parts to adorn the cab

Still a good start to the first build of the lot

4 hours ago, Nick C said:

Apparently insulation is another one - with all sorts of falsehoods being told to get people to pay more than they need to...

The last time I paid for insulation it cost me £50 fitted, and I got a certificate. When we moved to our current house they had the same scheme. Both when we sold our previous house and when buying this one both added to the energy efficiency report. !!!  I thought I got a great deal !!! and I think it was from a leaflet drop sponsored by the energy companies 

I have just remembered, we had an extension built and I had to but a few rolls to go in the void in the extension roof

24 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

For every £10.00 that's an additional fee of 3.5p on top of the usual fees. 

 

Or 35p per £100 plus the usual. 

 

So, spit dummy out and stop using ebay or carry on and cough up....

 

And there are always the classifieds on here. 

 

Rob

Rob

I watch the BBC programs like bargain hunt, antiques road trip and flog it and see the joy of selling items. Mostly they get trade prices and both parties pay 20% each for the service. And nobody moans.  On a recent sale I should have paid £3.50 and ended up paying 90p (80% off weekend). at worst the new fee ends up at 10p unless. I got a good price so its much better than getting trade and paying 20% at both ends. At the end of the day it comes down to what ends up in your pocket. 

1 minute ago, Tim Dubya said:

 

Cheers, I thought the same re. their eBay presence.  I just find the available information a bit confusing, which is my problem no theirs, I shall seek some help if I want to order anything that's not in their eBay store.

 

Trouble is, is having been spoilt all these years with easy to navigate/understand websites. 

 

Damn I miss Eileens 😕

 

Tim

As far as Southeastern Finecast products, what we see now on the web is what we have seen for years. Navigation is exactly the same

However as you say with the more expansive websites we have been enjoying much more information prior to ordering

4 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

On a brighter note on the best day we produced 6.8kwh, not bad for a small system in early February, also shading stopped quite a few days ago, the sun is very high in the sky now (10am) and certainly the morning and lunchtime shading went days/weeks a go, late afternoon might still be affected if so to a very much lesser extent.

 

 

Update

No pm shading

40 minutes ago, Metr0Land said:

Not impressed by Ofgem adding 7p per day to standing charge (if that's what most companies will be doing) in April. I'm on electricity only (oil for heating).  Surely this just compounds problems for people on dual fuel who will be pay ~£35 pm even if they use nothing?

 

I understand it's in none of our interests for many more suppliers to go bust.  However Ofgem are quoting £3bn of debt as the reason for the increase, but without any transparency as to how/when this will alleviate the problem and when we might see the back of it.

Our political masters have decreed no one will have their power cut off for non payment in all but a few cases, its the energy providers that are left having to pay the cost. Personally I would have hit the energy producers higher on their wind fall of profits due to the international crisis.

I cant see what benefit to the consumer OFFGEN gives, there seem to be no incentives for the energy providers to compete with each other, even Octopus seems to be much the same as the others. What's not happening is any action against the international oil producers

Standing charges have been kept low whilst winter fuel prices increased, now is a good time to grab money back. Sadly those who can least afford it will be affected the worst by increasing the standing charge. But these standing charges are what Cornwall Insight have been projecting

25 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

YET ANOTHER EBAY RIP-OFF FEE !

 

As if they weren't ripping us off enough already, I received this message from them today about a new "regulatory operating fee"

 

At eBay, we value you as a seller and want to inform you about a change to our fees.

To address the rising costs associated with the increasing number and complexity of regulations impacting eBay’s marketplace - including consumer and environmental protection, as well as new taxation and customs measures - we're introducing a new regulatory operating fee.

 

What’s changing?

 

From 8 April 2024, this new regulatory operating fee will apply to all sales from listings on the following sites: UK, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Switzerland.

 

How the regulatory operating fee is calculated

 

This fee is calculated as a fixed percentage rate (0.35%) of the total amount of the sale (which includes the item price, postage, taxes and any other applicable fees), and is subject to Value Added Tax (VAT), where applicable. This fee is in addition to any final value fees and selling-related fees you currently incur.

If this is due to rising costs due to regulatory requirements then "Rip Off eBay fee" is both a bit strong if not inaccurate

To address the rising costs associated with the increasing number and complexity of regulations impacting eBay’s marketplace - including consumer and environmental protection, as well as new taxation and customs measures - we're introducing a new regulatory operating fee.

I for one in the main wait for  the weekends where 80% reduction on selling fees operate, plus I value the protection from sharp trading practices (which are not available on traditional  auction sites which charge up to 20 times the fee). Moving from about 2% to about 2.4% I think is still good if not great value. Looking at the list of countries involved it seems a coordinated action from several countries 

1 hour ago, Ian Smeeton said:

Likewise, I am in Lincolnshire, and checking the councils own website, only 2 solar companies were recommended, one in Southampton and the other in Mnachester. Both small companies and not prepared to travel to Lincolnshire.

 

I wish Solar Together, or a similar operation had been available to us.

 

Regards

 

Ian

Ian

At least two of us have used Greenscape  on here and only good reports

https://www.greenscapeenergy.co.uk/solar-panels-uk/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAoeGuBhCBARIsAGfKY7w9bCltFbmbEbex3cmp6HzmoCccNLIHfD5VbnruzDz8lfT0doylxhAaAnluEALw_wcB

I guess a chat with them wont hurt and ask if they have any local presence if so could they quote for a system based on Solar Together (or better) requirements

This month has to date been a complete wash out, we have just started the 23 day of a 28 day month and we still have not reached 50 kwh production for the month. The past 2 years have both produced 108kwh for the 28 days

On a brighter note on the best day we produced 6.8kwh, not bad for a small system in early February, also shading stopped quite a few days ago, the sun is very high in the sky now (10am) and certainly the morning and lunchtime shading went days/weeks a go, late afternoon might still be affected if so to a very much lesser extent.

Still we are now on an upward trend, against last year we are behind, but last March was awful so on a comparison basis against last year its easy to make it up with a bit of decent weather, what ever the system is coming out of the winter slump and will continue to reduce our dependence on imported power

I have had an email from Greenscape (our installers) about adding a battery to our system, stating we could take advantage of cheaper overnight charging. They forget to say I would loose my export premium rates by changing tariff. 

9 minutes ago, mezzoman253 said:

My comment wasn't about solar as a means of saving money. It's about people seeing an opportunity to make money at the expense of others, and leaving them to pick up the pieces when it all goes wrong.

 

Anyone can set up a company and claim to be an expert in whatever field they choose, and as most of us are not conversant with whatever the technology, it's very difficult to find those that are experts and will do a good job. Solar Together seems a better way to go about things in this regard.

 

We seem, as a country, to have a surplus of these individuals, who, with no experience in the chosen field, will gladly take your money and run. These emerging technologies are food and drink to them.

From the unsolicited phone calls I and others receive on a regular basis, shows charlatans are far more active abroad than here, the human nature is to be an opportunist, thankfully most act within the law.

Solar panels are part of the building industry and for years unqualified journey men have acted this way in seeking to make money from who ever they can. In the building industry its still rife and not just at the lower levels of skills. Large building companies have and still cutting corners where they can. On TV last night highlighted 3 year old buildings with faulty balconies

However we must be careful when highlighting the pitfalls, stress most companies act honestly. It is right that solar energy is booming, the worlds future will rely on decarbonizing our world. A few bad apples will always crop up, they always have and I guess always will.

We had a very bad experience with the first builder on our extension, we dealt with it and moved on. By all means warn people but educate at the same time by explaining how to avoid these people. As I said I and others on here have benefitted from Solar Together, an ideal way promoted by many county councils as a safe way for people to buy systems  

Put into soak last night, then washed in soapy water this morning. These have not been burnished but were less tarnished.

So much less hassle and effort than putting in coke then scrubbing with CIF. And so much more civilized 

5 hours ago, John Tomlinson said:

 

Presumably the fluid can be used again?

 

John.

John

Yes. I left the remainder of the etches in the solution overnight and took them out this morning and gave them a good wash

This is how they came out with no further treatment. 

42 minutes ago, mezzoman253 said:

Solar is the 21st century equivalent of the 20th century double glazing boom. Many chancers saw an opportunity to fleece unwary members of the public. Set up a company, install poor equipment badly, and then disappear.

 

Heat pumps is the next "big " thing.

 

Caveat emptor.

 

This is not just about double glazing or solar panels, its in everything we use or buy. Last week I witnessed a person who was offering both a will and power of attorney writing service, coming from an insurance background I had a slight of these type of firms as I know a couple of people who went down this route, the chap admitted to once being an IFA, which made me more interested in what he was doing. Certainly the power of attorney will be officially registered, so there may well be some form of checking. Then we had the rise and fall of property conveyancing firms (one of my granddaughters had a narrow escape when the firm they used realized they had made a mistake), sadly its a fact of life 

But the way I read your take on solar power, in my opinion is way off the mark.

Yes please be very careful who you choose, especially if like me you know little about the subject. So I agree with you on this point

But I have found Solar Panels the best thing I have ever brought excluding the properties them selves. £ for £ its the best use of my savings ever and on its own is preserving my savings better than anything else (like turning down the temperature).  A local comparison site claimed my electricity usage is 40% of the other houses close by, and I doubt if that takes into consideration what I am paid for exporting excess power.

My DDI payments for both electricity and gas has stayed the same for over 4 years, my investment was just under £2700 and well on track to have paid for its self much earlier than anticipated and performance and returns are better than projected. All down to having been advised what to buy and from whom. Solar Together is backed by quite a few County Councils and ideal for buyers like me who lack the knowledge to make informed decisions. Like insulating your property its another energy saving facility.