Sharing what you’ve just done. Not questions. No comments required.

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Trying to complete masonry around the weather. 

[Stuart Davis AO - Devon Cornwall & Somerset]

After years of bodging, sawing things on wobbly garden tables or balanced between chairs, I finally built myself a decent workbench today. It’s made from two 18mm ply sheets, which I glued and screwed together before successfully dropping it edge on onto my toe whilst lifting it into place 🤬🤬🤣. Mrs Stu has a bad back so was unable to assist. It’s very solid, took my not inconsiderable post Christmas weight without a murmur of complaint!

 

Need to play around with where stuff goes, but I’ve got a pillar drill, power saw, grinding wheel and vice to play with. Plenty of work to do on the house where these will all come in handy.

 

 

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

The black film on the ceiling, Stuart, I assume it's supporting insulation? I have a garage ceiling/roof that is half under the sitting room of my house, and half under a balcony. The balcony part leaks and as it's concrete beams with paving slabs on top it offers plenty of corrosive leachate to damage the paintwork of any car in the garage. I have given up any hope of stopping the leak without great expense and propose to suspend a plastic sheet from the transition point of the ceiling from under house to under balcony then forwards to the most distant point where the doors are located. If water falls on the top surface of the sheet and runs forward to the door wall and then drips on the floor, that's acceptable as a wet car makes the floor wet anyway. But it will save the paintwork. So, after my usual excessive verbiage, where did you source a decent strength and adequate width of plastic sheet for your insulation hammock please? Thanks! Excellent bench by the way - I'd clutter that in no time at all! 

 

The ceiling beam here is the transition point.

 

 

The balcony has been relaid abut for reasons of incompetence by the builder, still leaks a small amount.

 

 

 

 

[Stuart Davis AO - Devon Cornwall & Somerset]

5 hours ago, Man On The Clapham Omnibus said:

The black film on the ceiling, Stuart, I assume it's supporting insulation? I have a garage ceiling/roof that is half under the sitting room of my house, and half under a balcony. The balcony part leaks and as it's concrete beams with paving slabs on top it offers plenty of corrosive leachate to damage the paintwork of any car in the garage. I have given up any hope of stopping the leak without great expense and propose to suspend a plastic sheet from the transition point of the ceiling from under house to under balcony then forwards to the most distant point where the doors are located. If water falls on the top surface of the sheet and runs forward to the door wall and then drips on the floor, that's acceptable as a wet car makes the floor wet anyway. But it will save the paintwork. So, after my usual excessive verbiage, where did you source a decent strength and adequate width of plastic sheet for your insulation hammock please? Thanks! Excellent bench by the way - I'd clutter that in no time at all! 

 

The ceiling beam here is the transition point.

 

 

The balcony has been relaid abut for reasons of incompetence by the builder, still leaks a small amount.

 

 

It is a bit of a trial to be honest, just to see how it works. The roof is corrugated, likely with asbestos in it and it leaks and drops muck on things. I didn’t want to disturb it at all, so thought this was a way of sealing it to a degree. The water should run down to the back of the garage so I think I may well end up with a collection bucket somewhere but that’s better than the current situation where the are drips running along the beams and dropping in multiple places.

 

I used this stuff from Amazon which is 4m x20m and plenty for my double garage. It seems fairly robust, and I have just stapled it in place on the beams. Batons would likely be a better option as it spreads the load and avoids tears. I was working on my own in somewhat chaotic conditions so just did my best. As I get on top of the garage better I will try to improve the fitting etc

 

4M X 20M 500G Black Heavy Duty... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00NAV05OM?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

I’m pleased with the bench, it has worked out well. I’ve spotted a small issue with it already though. The side panels help strengthen it and secure the legs, but they will prevent me from clamping work to the bench. So I will cut sections out of it so it maintains its function but allows me to clamp to the bench.

 

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Thank you Stuart, that looks to be exactly what I need too. I have a nice bench in my workshop but where it used to be the vice was ideally placed at the extreme RH end. Now, after moving house, it is so close to the wall that I cannot hold things that need clearance at both sides! We live and learn!

[DIY-Si]

That plastic sheet looks very similar to the stuff I use as a damp proof membrane from the builder's merchants. It comes in a few thicknesses, and is usually a 4m x 8m roll, iirc. It's quite substantial, but can be pierced, so be mindful of that when moving a roll about if you're working solo.

[DIY-Si]

I've been avoiding doing much work this week, and playing with my new resin and plastic toy soldiers instead. I've treated myself to a resin model for the first time, which was a bit daunting.

 

They're mostly a work in progress, as it's far too geeky to be allowed in the house for long! 🤣

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Pistonheads members have been having fun with an AI image creator which generates images to a description you provide. Click here 

St George and the Dragon for example

 

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

4 hours ago, Man On The Clapham Omnibus said:

Pistonheads members have been having fun with an AI image creator which generates images to a description you provide. Click here 

St George and the Dragon for example

 

 

I used it before Xmas to draw this for our FB Social page-

 

 

Here's what I asked it to draw- Bart simpson's wearing a santa costume and sunglasses in a white Westfield kit car right hand drive with a completely solid pink nose , black wheels and wide slick tyres,aero screen, no windscreen, black rear arches. driving through the alps on a snowy tarmac. Vehicle registration plate S2 OWC

 

As you can see it's not perfect.

 

 

[Stuart Davis AO - Devon Cornwall & Somerset]

Tee hee, can have some fun with this although this was the best result after using up all my ‘goes’

 

[Marcus Barlow - Show and Events Co-ordinator]

🤣

[Robin Parker (Red Spider) - Yorkshire AO]

46 minutes ago, Marcus Barlow - Show and Events Co-ordinator said:

🤣

The likeness is uncanny. 

[Alex Gaskin]

On 04/01/2024 at 21:05, DIY-Si said:

I've been avoiding doing much work this week, and playing with my new resin and plastic toy soldiers instead. I've treated myself to a resin model for the first time, which was a bit daunting.

 

They're mostly a work in progress, as it's far too geeky to be allowed in the house for long! 🤣

Wasn't expecting to see Warhammer on the forum!

I've got a few resin models, they can be a pain with all the prep needed, but all the Forge World stuff is really cool!

I bought 2 or 3 Leviathan Dreads a while ago, and before I got to building them Games Workshop came out with the plastic ones, wish I had waited now 😂

[DIY-Si]

8 hours ago, Alex Gaskin said:

Wasn't expecting to see Warhammer on the forum!

I've got a few resin models, they can be a pain with all the prep needed, but all the Forge World stuff is really cool!

I bought 2 or 3 Leviathan Dreads a while ago, and before I got to building them Games Workshop came out with the plastic ones, wish I had waited now 😂

 

Surely its not that much of a surprise that middle-aged (ish) guys who are into building cars, also like the geeky hobby of miniature building and painting?! 🤣

 

My Leviathan is the Dark Angels specific version, so it's still a resin Forge World model, but the weapon sprues are available separately in plastic. I've gone so far as to magnetise mine, so I can use all of the weapons.

[Davemk1]

For years my Westie has run the standard 7.5 gallon fuel tank and it worked fine. Recently the race sanctioning body I run under (the SCCA) lowered the minimum weight for my class from 1420 lbs (with driver) to 1400 lbs. My car was 1425 with a minimum full load and figuring out a way to lower the car’s weight to the new minimum was one goal.

 

The other goal was to shift weight from the driver’s side to the passenger side (keeping in mind that I’m in the USA and so I sit on the left) to help even out the weight distribution. The idea was to cut down the fuel tank on the left side (reducing the amount of aluminum) and this would take about 3 lbs off the driver’s side of the tank. The other benefit was that I could maintain the same fuel depth in the tank (to help prevent fuel starve) with 1 gallon less fuel in it…and this reduces the weight by another 6 lbs. This means that this one modification reduced the weight of the car by 9 lbs and most of it coming from the driver’s side of the car.

 

The downside is of course that the tank is smaller. It now holds only 5.5 gallons so long range touring would be a pain in the ass but I’ve never used the car that way so that wasn’t a big issue for me the way it might be for others.

 

So - I cut off one end and welded a new end wall on. I also made a new pick-up sump that hangs well below the main part of the tank to help it not run dry during hard cornering. All this got welded together and reinstalled into the car. While I was at it I shifted both the low and high pressure fuel pumps to the right to help with weight distribution. In the end it worked as intended. This, and the relocation of the battery and lots of other small things, has made it so that despite the fact that my 185 lbs in on the left side of the car that the difference right-to-left is only 57 lbs.

 

I’m excited to race again in the spring but as I type this the snow is falling and the car is tucked away in my warm workshop.

 

 

Dave