DIY with function over finesse!!

[CitroJim]

Is that a pistol in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?

[CitroJim]

Back to our shredder project today

Briefly, Mick procured three shredders very cheaply and all had badly worn nylon bearings in the gearbox which caused the gears to jump right out of mesh. I turned up a pair of new bearings, one made of bronze and one of aluminium, on my lathe... All details are upthread if you care to look...

Anyway, the bronze bearing was OK but the aluminium one - only a test one - failed after a few bags of shredding... Looking at it, the bearing had worn a little but it had really chewed up the axle... Because aluminium oxide, which would have formed, is very hard and abrasive... A real schoolboy error to make a bearing out of aluminium!

This was the axle damage:

I trued the worn axle up on the lathe and reduced its diameter from 5mm to 4mm

I made two new bearings out of brass. I know brass is OK for bearings as my clocks have steel axles running in brass and they've lasted over 300 years!

Testing the fit of the trued up axle...

The new bearings and the old aluminium one...

Gearbox reassembled with the new bearings...

And the result of some testing

I have now shredded enough to fill a large sack and so far, all looks good

If it continues good, I will then make the bearings for the remaining two shredders...

[myglaren]

Can you do anything with this shredder?

[CitroJim]

Can you do anything with this shredder?

Love it!

[myglaren]

Not her best work it has to be said. She can shred with the best of them though.

[Rp0thejester]

Ermmm Jim you said, "I made two new bearings out of brass. I know brass is OK for bearings as my clocks have steel axles running in brass and they've lasted over 300 years!" How old are you actually!!!!!! Are you immortal?

[bobins]

He's actually a Time Lord living out his retirement in blameless obscurity..... but we don't talk about that

[Rp0thejester]

So is his phonebox blue and called Bluebell by any chance??

[CitroJim]

He's actually a Time Lord living out his retirement in blameless obscurity..... but we don't talk about that

Shhh!

So is his phonebox blue and called Bluebell by any chance??

[mickthemaverick]

I came downstairs this morning and decided it was definitely on the chilly side so the annual switch on day has arrived. I went to the heating controller to be greeted with this:

MTMO

Hmmm!! not good!

As it is made by Honeywell I wondered if it suffered the same poor quality assembly methods as I have found on other Honeywell LCD displays in the past. The LCD module ribbon cable is often connected using adhesive rather than solder/pins etc, presumably for cost saving reasons so I assembled the necessary tools to rectify it:

MTMO

At this point you can moan at me for forgetting to take pictures during the process. However what was involved is fairly simple on most Honeywell controllers. You remove the outer casing by releasing clips, no screws involved, and then remove the circuit board, more clips and the 8 pin plug to the display. Then you have to extract the display from its clear plastic case by releasing another plastic clip and gently lifting the display out. At this point you can open the display from its backplate with the ribbon connector being the hinge. It is then a matter of heating the ribbon adhesive connection to the display and pressing it home, I do that two or three times usually using the edge of the glass case to press the full length of the connection evenly. Finally reassembly is a simple reverse of the dismantling with each part clipping back into its place with nice crisp clicks!!

Et voila:

MTMO

Easy job and much better than replacing with a new one costing £99

[mickthemaverick]

I have just completed the 'first time on' checks that I do every year on firing up the heating. I am pleased to say that all radiators are hot throughout so no bleeding necessary, all accessible connections are dry after an hours running, boiler pressure is bang on and both CO monitors are working fine!!
Looks like its pub o'clock for me!!

[myglaren]

Our heating has been on sporadically for weeks.
Should have made an appointment for service but keep putting it off. Same with opticians, should have gone in March.

[CitroJim]

Excellent work Mick

Our heating has been on sporadically for weeks.

Mine too, just for a few minutes to heat the towel rail in my bathroom just before my evening shower if needed... In truth it's not been needed much as I'm already noticing how much better my house retains heat since the new windows and doors were fitted and a number of draft-producing gaps have been stopped up.

Once I get the attic properly insulated I'm expecting an even better heat retention...

My new boiler seems a lot more efficient than the old one and gets up to temperature very rapidly...

Should have made an appointment for service but keep putting it off. Same with opticians, should have gone in March.

Gosh yes, as heating engineers will soon be snowed under as people fire their systems up and find they don't..

My boiler regularly exercises itself by running for a few minutes every so often when not being actively used, just to keep everything healthy...

I expect it'll WhatsApp me (or my plumber) if it finds itself unhappy for any reason...

And go to the opticians, the difference you will see in having new glasses to correct any changes in your sight can be a real eye-opener...

And the shredder continues good... This is the remains of a massive pile of old bank statements

[myglaren]

Mine is on now, 5° out there now, 1.3° during the night. House is well insulated and the doors and windows a fairly recent but it still gets quite parky. 12° indoors and the heating is set to keep it above that and 20° during 'normal operating hours' which is most of the time. Not so bad when I am alone here but have a resident grandson and can't let him freeze.

[Sloppysod]

Thought i would add this to this thread rather than the Joke thread.
https://youtu.be/1VOlWxdyTxY?feature=shared