Mat's BX Blog

[electrokid]

I have a gold B&D drill that used to belong to my dad - but I still run a couple of D520s which are 1960s B&D - brushes still available on eBay. My dad's old 1950s Wolf Cub also ran last time I tried it

I have a small (240v / 115mm ? disk ) cheap (£15) from CPC probably at least 15 years ago which is still fine, and a Hitachi (110v / 230mm disk) that has siezed up once - stripped it and freed it off and re-greased the gearbox and it runs fine despite having a tooth missing.

The only Festool tool I have is an aluminium cutting router bit - which seems to be robust enough.

I do like the Makita battery stuff - have a small (100mm ish) 12v circular saw - blades are £30 but last a long time and when the saw was new - and also when I bought some replacement battries for it - if the blade jammed it would throw you off. That's quite amusing because it's small enough to look like a toy

I also have a couple of Makita 18v drills - the gearbox needs replacing in the MXT but they are only around £30 which I reckon is a pretty good price. Also using the same batteries I have the jigsaw and the reciprocating saw. They've all done a fair amount of work without much complaining - the combination of the reciprocating saw and some masonry blades was responsible for cutting the new entrance in the wall at the front of the house. If you're going to get some battery tools I'd suggest you dig as deep as you can into the wallet and invest in as many tools as you think you'l need which all use the same batteries - then when a substantial job arises even though it just uses one of the tools (such as my wall for example) then you should have enough batteries to keep some on charge / use so that the job's not waiting for fresh batteries.

[mat_fenwick]

I've noticed that some of the battery power tool manufacturers seem to do really offers on a decent tool every now and then - possibly even at a loss. I managed to get a great deal a few years ago on a DeWalt drill with a few batteries and a fast charger, but I think their idea is that you'll then buy more of the same family of tools at full price...

Back to cars and I'm missing the BX Whilst the Focus is proving reliable and 'doing the job' just fine, it's difficult/impossible to get excited about driving it. The engine initially feels like it has more power, as there's less lag than the BX, but then you push the throttle down more and you get very little extra. Also, the heater takes ages to blow warm air. I don't think it's a thermostat problem as once up to temperature it stays there, and it does blow warm air then. Just that it takes a good few miles to get there. I prefer the BX seats too, although Lana doesn't!

[Vanny]

just noticed, what page where on.

[Mickey taker]

Ah but at least you have a heated windscreen Mat

[mat_fenwick]

Yeah, the windscreen almost makes up for it. But on the flip side only having one reversing light is crap when there's no street lighting.

Vanny:

[Vanny]

And i guess living where you live, what street lighting there is comes from lights powered by coal gas?

[mat_fenwick]

Nothing would surprise me...

I went over to Anglesey today to do a job, and during the day got chatting to the guy I was working for (a fabricator) about welding. He offered to let me try out his kit - big mistake! He had a well used Butters 460 Amp welder dating from the 80s, and it was so easy to make a lovely looking weld. I don't want to go back to my tiny little Clarke jobby now! The wire feed was so smooth in comparison.

[citsncycles]

Yep, Clarke machines are OK for the money, and mine's still going after more than 16 years of abuse, but they were known for less than smooth wire feed even when new. I periodically strip mine down and change various parts of the feed system, which helps, but the casing on it is so battered and worn now that I'm considering replacing it. Just not sure whether to go for a newer version of what I've got, or look out for something 2nd hand but better quality.

[mat_fenwick]

I'd probably be inclined to go for the latter, depending on what you can find and why they're selling!

Yesterday's job was to do some wiring on the house - new regulations meant that our power line to the house needed to be raised, so while the power was off I thought it a good idea to replace the consumer unit. That way they could replace the seal on the main fuse, and it would all look as it should.



This is the old unit - not enough fuseways, no RCD protection, and rewireable fuses.


Removed to leave one or two wires...


New unit in place and almost wired up:


And finished!


As I'd taken the full day off work, I started investigating the water leak on the BX. I couldn't track it down without removing the headlining, and it was raining too heavily to do that so have put it away in the garage to dry out.


Garage still needs a tidy...

[MULLEY]

At least you can get your car in your's, mine is just a complete mess, i need to make room to fit a bloody CX in it for next year, i'm determined to get it sorted.

[Dollywobbler]

We've had some bloomin' rain today. So bad I decided to move the Green Tiger as it was a bit close to an iffy looking bank.

As I moved said vehicle, I noticed water dripping quite readily through the headlining just above the passenger seat - an inch or two from the edge of the roof. Balderdash! Do let me know if you find anything!

[mat_fenwick]

We've had rain here all day, which made its way into the house this morning after a drain blocked. Fortunately a trickle rather than a torrent, but it seems like the wood floor is starting to warp On the upside the Disco seems to be leak free, which is unusual for a Landy! The A470 was closed tonight just north of Dolgellau this evening due to a landslide, but apart from that we seem to have it a lot better than other places around the country.

Fitting a CX into the garage sounds like a nice dilemma to have; which is it?

[MULLEY]

It's a 25 Turbo 2 saloon.

[Dollywobbler]

We almost had trouble with the rain at the weekend. Almost flooded our driveway and did flood the narrow gauge railway at the end of our garden. We've never seen that before. Fortunately, the river this stream feeds was at a very low level first thing in the morning or Aberystwyth would have flooded again.

One of our chimneys is leaking and judging by how damp my map was, the new BX has a leak from somewhere into the right rear footwell. Door seal is my suspect - Timex had a really bad leak from the front door seal that was feeding into the rear footwell. Need to find it. All Citroens are leaking like leaky things. Soggy times.

[citsncycles]

I've sorted the door seal leaks on Timex I think, but there are still some others - round the windscreen for sure, plus somewhere up under the front bulkhead. The drivers rear footwell is full again, but knowing how bad the passenger one was, I suspect it may be spray from underneath as opposed to running down into it.