Thorn1979

I know! I can't imagine this ever getting into shops nowadays. Cub Cadet, I wonder if the models my sister's dad used to make were the same ones from the magazines. I expect so. I just like the little thing, wish I could come up with a practical use for it to justify the space it takes up!

That'd be a bloomin challenge! I can just about manage wavy lines in a bit of plywood!

We've been after one of these for a while (Martin's love of two-stroke anything...). Saw a couple at the vintage auction which went for £40 each, which seems like a lot compared to what they go for on fleabay. Saw one in a junk shop last week too, which wasn't for sale as it was stored in a shed that was about to fall down after a fire! Teagle still make farm machinery.

Not garden equipment I know, but cute nonetheless so I thought I would share this with you all too... My half-sister's stepdad used to use this little treadle fretsaw as a boy. He made models with it and the model coronation coach and horses is still in their family. It languished in my sister's shed after he died, and she decided to pass it on to us because she knew we'd appreciate it. It was a bit rattly though - didn't need a lot of work, just a strip, clean, a fresh coat (or 3) of dark green paint and tightening everything up. You can get tiny treadle lathes by the same manufacturer. Can you imagine this being sold as a toy nowadays?! My hope eventually is to get Martin to make a little jig for it so that I can use it to cut mitres for picture framing.

It's going in here cos I don't know where else to post this I have started volunteering at a local Heritage Fairground. In season I was doing one day a week, running rides and generally making a nuisance of myself. Great fun. Every year they host an auction for vintage vehicles, steam engines, and assorted bits n bobs - I am sure some of you have been! We were pottering around the yard looking at auction lots and we saw this little thing languishing in a corner. We both fell for it a little bit. Well, it wasn't an auction lot, but the next time I was helping, I asked if I could take it home and restore it for them. In the end they got fed up of me pestering, and now we are halfway through bringing it back to life. Snags so far? Well the original motor (which was almost certainly pinched off something else - the whole thing has been cobbled together by a showman many moons ago) was 110v DC and very very slow, with its own gearbox. We have replaced it (after 5 years outside in the rain there was no saving it) but used a 240v lump, and managed to mount the gearbox - but the "new" motor is much faster. So how could we gear it down enough for the targets to slide past at a sensible rate? Well Martin had the genius idea of using mini-moto sprockets and chain. The belt was rotted clean through in at least one place, so we have retained as much as we could, chopped out and replaced the mankiest bits, and sent the targets off to a mate to vapour-blast them. The rollers at either end of the belt were in bits but Martin has pegged them back together, they look amazing. The angle-iron frame has been dismantled today and we are halfway through stripping it down ready to paint... I can't wait to see it all back together!

Ben I think that one with the teardrop tank is a Sprite... seen 1 or 2 on the 'bay. And a Jobber! Yay!

Well, just finished up a new project ready for our first show! Not much wrong with it, cleaned it up, repainted and sharpened and another little Conquest lives to mow again. With added WWII style "nose art" We are showing our Atco Scythe, the Atco 17" Lightweight, this Conquest and the electric Ladybird, along with a couple of vintage chainsaws, at the Launceston Steam and Vintage Rally tomorrow (sat 23rd May). If you're around, come and say hello - the chap in charge of the vintage horticulture section wants to get more new exhibitors on board. Alison

TBH there wasn't that much to do to it, there was surface rust but it was in pretty decent nick. All we did was sand the old paint (right back to the metal on the main cover), repaint everything (using some old red lead primer that had been knocking about for years), Martin sharpened it, and added the new roller which was just a rolling pin, we regreased everything and put it back together. The grassbag was just kinda cobbled together after looking at photos. Oh and I think he made a plastic bush on the lathe, for where the handle connects on, cos it rattled. I love the shape of them, and I want another - I can imagine one in grey with a big red shark-teeth mouth! Or with WW2 bomber-style artwork, a glamour girl astride a bomb Flymo..

So we've waited until this little project was complete to show it off. I got bored of racing green and decided that the retro shape of the Conquest needed something more stylish... This will probably horrify the purists out there, but meh.. What do you think? There's 1.5 acres here that needs mowing, and the plan was originally to give this machine away as a gift cos it's not much use here. I don't think we can bear to part with it now though! The roller, by the way, was a bargain buy - it's a rolling pin. The grass-bag is made of a shower curtain, the side of an old PC tower case, and a metal bean pole.

Getting closer to completion - while I've been feeling poorly, Martin has got busy with the spraypaint.

I got told off my the boss today for operating it while wearing open toes sandals. As IF that's gonna make a blind bit of difference to this thing

What a daft rule Koen.. a hangover from the days of motorised bicycles I guess. Insuring it here would be problematic; I have had to use an online insurer that asks for engine number and CC, cos if I had to phone for a quote I would have to tell them it was modified. It's legit - I changed the V5 - but the insurance would be a small fortune otherwise. Nah, I think Pipsqueak has stuck - I am not generally a fan of "naming" vehicles, but my other bike is "bob" just because it's easier to say than "the rxs". Martin says it will look like a flying blackcurrant milkshake. Like that's a bad thing! He has just changed the handlebars for me cos the clip-ons were just too much of a stretch. All his porting work is done with a flexi-tool - now that's a bloomin useful thing to have in your workshop.

Just for you, have posted it in Off Topic

Well, you asked! This is a project not related to anything garden machine-y. It's what Martin77 and I are working on at the moment.. Martin77 is a fairly well renowned tuner of two-stroke motorbikes, and he also makes exhausts for the same. I ride a small bike anyway (a little Yamaha RXS 100 from 1989, for anyone that's interested) but I wanted something a bit more sporty. Because I am short - or rather, I have stumpy legs - I needed something that wasn't too tall. Riding a bike when you can only touch the floor on tiptoes isn't great fun. So Project Pipsqueak was born... We found a suitable chassis: An Aprilia RS50. This kind of learner legal bike is bought by 17 year olds and ragged to death, and true to form it was in pretty poor shape when we got it - Martin traded a set of exhausts for it (about £200 worth). Its engine was knackered - the top end anyway - the last kid who had run it had used a big bore kit, but then slapped the standard 50 head on it, and not done anything with the carburation, resulting in a holed piston. So we removed the engine and sold it - there was a decent crank in there, and we sold the carb too, and some fairings we didn't want. Before... We purchased an engine from a Yamaha TZR125 and shoehorned that in - rather a neat fit! I cleaned up the frame and swing arm and had them powder coated (for free at the factory Martin's brother works at). Martin has amended the front end, altering the clocks, adding new brackets and a single headlight, and we will change the bars so that they aren't such a stretch for my stumpy arms.. and of course he made a pipe for it! It runs really nicely now, after a few issues with powervalve timings, has passed an MOT and just really needs the bars sorting out, plus all the cosmetic stuff - painting! It will be purple all over, if I have my way, apart from the bits we had coated. Total cost is under £400. Almost there!

Finishing the motorbike we're working on really ought to come first! I have my eyes peeled for a Ransomes Conquest.. if I find one, I want to make it over. No more racing green... the purists won't like it though!

From this.. To this! Bless it. Nice work Martin. Last touch? To heat shrink all that nasty yellow cable in red instead. I get that task Thanks Ian. Yeah, cutting it would have been a shame. We may not leave this motor in place - it's bloody loud - but have had plenty of offers of alternatives.

(Hope this works) It's a *touch* overpowered methinks... but it works. What do you reckon, MOMers?

Saw one of these today with the finger mower attachment. I would like to see the fork in action if you can post a vid.. I can only imagine it's like a pogo stick gone wrong!! I know you could lay it flat and run a belt off it to jiggle a sieve/riddle, dunno where I read that though. Info on them seems to be pretty scarce, which is weird because you would think they would be collectible what with all the attachments. There was a finger mower attachment on the bay recently.

So... We added another motor, which came out of a washing machine. It sucked. Right size so no alterations needed, but it was pretty weedy. Tackle a clump of grass and it would stop. Back to the drawing board.. Strolling round Holsworthy Vintage Rally today we found a bloke selling the usual crap, rusty spanners and nicked power tools autojumble stuff.. and he had a couple of SDS drills. £15 later and we own an 800 watt motor that's neatly compact. Seems a shame really, cos a powerful drill is a useful item when you live in a house that has 2ft thick stone walls. And returning home I get an email from a chap that's seen my Wanted ad on Freecycle, and has 6 motors kicking about that we can choose from. Now, I am a firm believer in "always have a backup", so I'll go and see him I think. He's in the next village over, which has an appealing-looking pub, what an excuse! Progress! Well, a bit. (as for the vintage rally, I reckon the contents of the shed and workshop here would have put on a more interesting display, but someone did have a Jobber. Martin wants one of those, just for novelty value.)

Oooh, thanks. Curious... that looks like one solid bar of aluminium. They don't look "spring loaded" unless it's two seperate blades and there's something under that dome in the middle. The blades on ours are in two halves, but we didn't think they were original. Perhaps Metalair just changed the design along with the other bits n bobs they tweaked. Fingers crossed for the motor, once that's done then it's just a matter of adding new flex and a switch, and it'll be done

Well, the guy we saw today says he will take the motor apart and see what's up. He was keen; I get the feeling that he spends his days fixing and selling modern alternators and starter motors, and gets quite interested when something vintage appears. "ohhh, if it's more than £30-£40 worth I'll call you, cos it won't be worthwhile then" - I like someone that works like that. Could be a useful guy to know about.

It does look great, even better with the handle on. Have you noticed though that there was never an on/off switch on these? Bit scary! So one will be added once we know which motor's going in. Have found a chap to take the motor to at the weekend, so maybe if we are lucky he can repair the original one which would make life easier. Paul, could we beg a huuuge favour please...? Could you take a pic of the blades on yours when you get the chance? The original ones are meant to be spring loaded, so that they don't stick when they meet an obstacle, but the blades on ours look like they have been bodged; definitely not original.

Wood burning stove made from a gas bottle. This has a flue that goes out of the side of the caravan, and an air intake pipe at the base that also goes outside - complete with a flap valve for damping. It's on legs and has a flat hotplate on top, and there are baffles inside to stop the heat going straight up the flue (which, incidentally, is made from the cover of a patio heater gas bottle, which we found thrown in a hedge - free metal, thankyouverymuch!). The door is a pyrex dish. It's brilliant - heats the van up from freezing to "oven" in about 10 minutes (don't worry, the caravan won't go anywhere these days, it's just for fun).

Here's the motor from our ladybird, after it was rewired. Pretty basic! Made a helluva racket.