CitroJim's AX, C3 Picasso, Cycling and Running Tales

[CitroJim]

Out for a little drive in Bluebell today

I had to make sure she was good as I've promised one of our Junior parkrun volunteers a ride in her on Sunday...

[CitroJim]

I, or rather Bluebell, was spotted today out in the wilds of Milton Keynes

I only knew when I saw it in a Facebook Group I follow...

The first respondent is wrong... She has a carb!

[CitroJim]

First tentative signs of a little progress toward recovery - fingers crossed.

I was able to do a bit more work on the Pentax camera today... It's is truly all in bits and I've proved the shutter jam problem is all as a result of disintegrating foam... I'm going to have to make up some new bits..

Will it ever all go back together? I took heaps of photos during disassembly so one hopes!

This afternoon, repairs commenced on my broken conservatory door. It's being done by the owner of the C4 Space Cadet I did some work on a couple of weeks back...

You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off...

We soon found the problem - two broken diecast toothed racks on the mechanism that transmits drive around the locks and slide mechanism.

Happily, despite the door being around 30 years old, spares remain available. New bits on order At cost, the bits needed has left no real change from £100. Cheaper than a new door complete or even a new conservatory...

It'll be good to have a working door - it's only been broken for 15 years...

Next job is to re-roof the conservatory and replace some 'blown' glazing...

[myglaren]

Best not to rush these things!

[MattBLancs]

"Leave it and it might fix itself" given a good opportunity to kick in, sadly not this time!

[Zelandeth]

Better than for our front door which has a couple of knackered bits and is non repairable after seven years because nobody makes the parts.

Supposedly ten year warranty, but given the company that installed it went belly up five years ago that's not exactly worth anything!

Suffice to say we're just ignoring it being a bit wonky.

[myglaren]

You may be right there but I used to work for a company making windows and doors, they largely just assembled them from readily available parts. All the locks, handles, hinges etc. were bought in.

[CitroJim]

"Leave it and it might fix itself" given a good opportunity to kick in, sadly not this time!

I gave it enough time I think

It's not a very kickable sort of door Matt. It's a 'Plug' or 'Tilt and Slide' door.

These past fifteen years I've been having to open it using an improvised hammer - actually an old flat-iron

Better than for our front door which has a couple of knackered bits and is non repairable after seven years because nobody makes the parts.

I feel your pain Zel

When mine first broke, parts appeared to be unavailable for mine coupled with nobody even being prepared to even look at it. Attitude was: 'You need a new conservatory mate. Give me 25K and I'll do you a lovely one...'

Bit like saying you need a new car because your central locking has failed...

I checked again last year it was the same except it was more like 50K for a new one... Amazingly, after being unavailable for so long, parts are once again available...

Even if they're not, now I've seen the mechanism in bits I could make it functional again with a bit of re-engineering...

[Gibbo2286]

Better than for our front door which has a couple of knackered bits and is non repairable after seven years because nobody makes the parts.

Supposedly ten year warranty, but given the company that installed it went belly up five years ago that's not exactly worth anything!

Suffice to say we're just ignoring it being a bit wonky.

If you paid for that with a credit card you might still get some recompense, card companies are jointly and severally liable for those guarantees as I found out when Tiny Computers went belly up. Barclaycard refunded a proportionate payment without me even asking.

[CitroJim]

Today I gave the bits of the conservatory not easily accessible with a door in place a good clean-up, along with the door and components itself.

Mission creep saw me give the entire conservatory a good spring-clean... I only intended to do the door area...

Then, a bit more work on the camera... I found the root cause of the jamming shutter problem - sticky pivots and slides in the mirror box mechanism.

Pentax Mirror Box and self-Timer Mechanism

A good wash with IPA - the solvent, not the beer - has freed everything off quite nicely and the mechanism now operates smoothly and reliably.

I found the viewfinder eye-piece is broken. It came out in two bits when I removed it to clean the pentaprism and focussing screen surfaces. It can be seen in the above photo...

It also accounts for the loose bit of metal I found floating around the focussing screen area. It holds the eyepiece lens snug...

I'll be able to repair it - superglue should do an adequate job.

I now have all I need to process black and white film. I have just two exposures left to go before I can do my first film... Something I've not done since the 70s. Fingers crossed it all goes OK. I've been practicing loading the developing tank in the dark...

[CitroJim]

The spares to fix my conservatory door have arrived Excellent service from the suppliers - a specialist double glazing spares supply company...

The door will be reassembled and refitted tomorrow...

Today was mainly spent with my favourite granddaughter in a superb play park The play equipment was awesome although the café was a bit meh

Here's us on a big slide...

Photo taken by Robyn

Later this afternoon, I plucked up the courage to develop my first film since the late 1970s...

I was very nervous, especially when loading the film into the developing tank spiral by feel alone...

It's looking good This is the film hanging up to dry and although in this picture the negs look defocussed, it's all an illusion. Under a magnifying glass they're very sharp.

It was at some cost though This is what the arm cuffs on my light-proof changing bag did to my arms One shown, both suffered.

This happens very easily to my thin skin... It looks worse than it is... Saying that, it's not a good look so I may look into turning my downstairs loo into a mini darkroom and discontinue the use of my changing bag...

[mickthemaverick]

Rather than using the downstairs loo Jim, why not box in the area under the stairs with black cardboard where you already have a table in dim light and you can develop in harmony with the server?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404715853225 ... R_6jv8C6ZQ

[myglaren]

My mate and I started out using the cupboard under his stairs to load the tanks and develop film.

[CitroJim]

Rather than using the downstairs loo Jim, why not box in the area under the stairs with black cardboard where you already have a table in dim light and you can develop in harmony with the server?

Only problem is, film has to be loaded in total darkness Mick, red safelights are only for use during developing on photographic paper...

The downstairs loo is an easy prospect to make light-proof... A temporary curtain across the door - if needed - and a blackout for the small window...

And I can sit on the loo whilst loading film...

I have an urgent problem to attend to today - my son-in-law topped up the oil on his diesel Audi A3 and not realising oil takes a while to settle, he massively overfilled it - about three inches above the max. on the dipstick So much so he's provoked oil leaks and I spotted a big puddle under it yesterday...

It's at times like this I wish I had one of those oil suckers so that I don't have to loosen the drain plug... I've looked in all the usual places and can't find one anywhere locally that might do the job. Can't even see one on Amazon or eBay that I believe may do the job...

Meanwhile, all of a sudden, I feel incredibly old... This arrived in the post

[Hell Razor5543]

Might this be of interest, Jim. Mum has one, and I used it a couple of years ago to help pump out around 200l of water from the bilges of Sapphire. It has various widths of pipe, so it should go down the dipstick pipe (it does on Mums' BMC engine).

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/364921731261 ... BMprP54rpl