Mister Mad Mower

When i was a local councilor , our local police woman came along to a meeting to ask for £10k towards the cost of smart water for around 1/4 of the village households . Not a big request , but when she explained that the police were going to be going around the carboot sales checking for smart water marked items for sale .And that any one found selling marked items could be taken into custody till the results came back to prove if the marked item is not stolen - We refused the police the money . So just a thought - if your on your way back from a show with your prized and marked possesions in the back of a van , and are pulled over for a " routine check " by a policeman with a dragon light ( UV lamp ) .I suspect that you could be held without charge till the results come back , could be a long weekend in the nick especially if your just heading off on a bank holiday weekend - lol ...

Regarding the scumbags -Appologies for the long reply . My lorry ( 1994 VW LT35 ) has eneded up being stored 15 miles away from my home following 5 attacks on it by neighbours , the leader being a convicted armed robber , who is also an alcoholic .He sat in his van drinking 2 1L bottles of wine then went with a blank firing pistol to try to get more wine for free from the local shops ,this led to him being beaten up in the 3rd shop he tried to rob . He would get off his head on drink and drugs and run around naked , peeing against fences and fighting . This went on for 4 years , with my tyres being slashed 5 times and paint stripper thrown over the truck , my son then aged 4 was almost killed when he was sat in his baby chair in the truck ( above the battery ) and when started the battery set alight due to the wires running to the crane being pinned ( nail shoved through them where they ran up the back of the cab ) I had to dive out , run around and drag him out as the flames came up around him . [ Our Fred ( son ) was well known up and down the country as i picked up and delivered engines , he loved the Redcarr and Northampton Corus steel works with all the forklifts , trains and trucks to watch with his favourite run being from Perkins in Peterborough cross country to Henor ( Merriman plant ) in Nottingham .] The trouble ended with one of his friends climbing up to the daughters bedroom window at 12:30am trying to get to the cctv camera , but he slipped and fell into the garden , Oh i enjoyed myself once i had one of them on my property .He was carted off in an ambulance with head and neck injuries and concussion .The police told me to say i had not hit him , i refused to do this and made a complaint regarding the situation with nio charges being briought against me ! The police on every occassion did nothing as due to the criminal justice act , the damage was less then £5000 so the CPS were not bothered ? . But this affected me personaly and on a business level . I had resorted to violence and dragged him unconsious round to the neighbours house and told him enough was enough and i had had enough . He moved , his wife left him and the woman next to him who was the gob of the trouble causing moved to Brighton . Nice place to live once again now . Another occassion saw a local druggy shoving his way between me and the wife and daughter ( aged 2 at the time ) as we got shopping out of the car boot , he went across the rd and sat on a wall , 2 policemen came running around the corner and one ran straight into the daughter and knocked her to the floor , he bent and picked up a syringe with exposed needle and full of a brown liquid ,He proceeded to roll it around in his fingers - i asked why he had done this as it could have been finger printed , He told me it wasnt worth it as it would cost £80 .MMMMM . I walked into the house and came out with my .22 rifle in it's gun bag ,the 2 policemen then took notice . Asking me my name to which i pointed out that unless they suspected i had carried out a criminal act they had no reason to ask me . I showed them the magazine in my pocket to prove the gun was not loaded in a public place and off i walked . They went to my house and asked the wife what i was doing , she told them they were out of order and i had gone vermin shooting ! I had the lad , screaming as i dragged him off down the lane when 3 riot vans full of police arrived . The sergent asked what i was doing and i told him i was going vermin shooting , he wanted me to say i was going to shoot the lad , but i stuck to the vermin shooting line with the police in the back of the lead van laughing as i wound the sergent up with my answer . The druggy errupted in screams as the sergent appologised for his lads telling me the £80 wasnt worth it and that i should let him go till they had left the area , a quick kick to his head and he was off like a rat . Only into a headge row nearby , seeing me walk over and grab him again as the vans drove off , seeing the sergent return and explain to us that i had to let him go till they had gone out of sight , so i explained to the little smack rat that if i found him in MY village after 6:30pm i would kill him and i reluctantly let him go . The sergent thanked me and they drove off . The lad left the village as instructed , leaving his children in the custody of his parents due to socail services going to take them away from him ? oooh i wonder why ! . But drugg abuse makes ordinary people do some amazingly stupid things even when they know what the outcome of these acts will be . But this is the reality of life in England .You have to handle it yourself and any security measures that help me catch them in the act just make it more fun . Piccy is our Fred at Corus Redcarr aged 4/12 he's now 11 ..

Regarding security - I myself had 4 attempted breakins during January last . Each attempt failed even though they were breaking the cement corrigated roof off the garage to try to get at the bike collection . I have 3mm steel security fencing wired across under the corrigated roof and i use a wireless door sensor with a wireless pir detector , they run to the house alarm which is zoned so that at night when activated the garage and a pir in the garden covering the entrance are live . These do not sound an alarm , they dial my mobile which wakes me . Handy when i am away as well as i get the call - hang up and phone the neighbour to get them to take a look . And best of all the system with 7 pir's and 5 door units was less then £60 off the well known auction site , This was 6 years ago , and they are still available today at under £60 with a built in mobile phone dialer now as well that uses it's own sim card . But for a cheap option ( i used this for years before the wireless security system was installed ) A std 230v pir security light can have power wires run out from the bulb terminals so when illuminated the wires feed a socket with a 9v games adaptor pluged in .( multi meter required to determine the live and return ) The 9v can power a wireless door bell push switch with the push contacts soldered across .In effect having it turned on waiting for power . This instantly sends the ring signal to the interior bell sounder every time the light is activated . So again you can be in bed and the bell ringing will wake you to alert of any intruders . Though cats are a problem , especially around the full moon ? but it's worth it .

So if it worked then then it still works today , only the bubbling only draws in the petrol vapour enriched air , not the actual liquid as is experienced with a std carb / injection system . Some are even using ultrsonic vapourisers ( foggers ) to use diesel fuel as well . I have as yet to get around to making a coal / wood gas generator to fuel an engine but have had limited success with Hydrogen generation on a generator . But of them all i find the bubbling to be the easiest method of extending run time to an extent that it is worth trying .

I got my scaffold winch from Netto , around 10 or so years ago .Every winter it goes in the boot of the car with a 18" length of 1" steel bar . It works a treat off one of the inverters ( 1200w ) and gives me enough pull to get out of trouble . Cut out the tow ball profile in the back plate with my little Cebora plasma cutter . It sits snuggly around the towing ball and the 1" bar is slid through the scaffold pole clamps to clamp the motor to the neck of the ball, quick and easy winch . Plus i can use it as intened if the need arises .

Been scratting around in the attic and came across the folder for my old Norlett 6000 tiller . In amongst the papers is a 1975 B&S 170700 / 170707 opperating instruction manual and to my surprise i noticed the section on the 110v plug in electric starter ? Never come across a mains powered starter before , TG for batteries . I will be converting the literature to PDF for upload within the next week or so .

Quiet drive - Use the wiper motor ( with the plain bearings greased ) with a block of wood roll pinned onto the shaft .Fix a 1" plywood disc onto the block and stretch some inner tube over the disc to form a grippy tyre . Make a similar pinned block arrangement on the input shaft , just make a 10" or 12" plywood disc ( 3/4 or 1" ply ) and use a larger innertube from a van etc to make up the tyre . Mount the wiper motor on a plywood plate that is free moving ( pivoted ) so a deadweight or spring can pull the drive and driven discs together . If your motor is doing 45rpm , a 1" disc onto a 12" disc should reduce this down to 3.75 rpm .If the bar this drives is 1/2" then you should see a trolley travel of around 6 1/4" per min with the line fixed directly to the bar . If 12" travel a min is required then use a 6" disc and so on . If you have any , bicycle wheels make large diameter pulleys for a belt reduction , again almost silent due to the lack of grindy gears .And a inner tube can be cut length wise in half to make a good flat belt to be driven off a piece of brush handle fixed to the motor shaft . Or just make up a disc drive and run it directly on the inner rim . And iff all else fails , rob the little womens sewing machine motor and foot pedal .......

I had a couple of T2's around 25 years ago now .The last was a fixed roof Devon camper van . Kept getting overtaken by an old couple in one going down the A1 , I was flat out at 55 and they cruised by , pulled up then cruised by again .Met up with them at Peterborough and the old guy told me what the problem was - I had the origonal centrifugal rotor arm govenor fitted - Bye bye govenor and hello 70mph . Sold a spare gold seal engine to a South African rugby player from Doncaster who was amazed when i started it in the van i had fitted it in to test it and within 10 mins i was lifting it into his Hilux . Super easy to work on but a pain to get to tick over consistantly .... Nice to see another one saved .

Them old escorts have a lovely timing belt and sprockets on , The belt cut and glued to flat bar / box section makes a cheap rack for the sprockets to get a posative drive on . Try the CV joint rubbers segmented cone , they may give you the tyres for the bearings your looking for . And if it has electric windows then you have some low geared winch motors to hand . Electric mirrors have small low geared motors in them as well . And if you fit one of the interior light door switches at the drive motor end , you can make an auto stop overun switch by running the motor through it and if anything goes wrong the trolley will hit the switch and open it . Loads of possability if you have an old escort or two ..... Not to mention the rear stub axles for rotary welding table mounts or trailer axles , youve got 4 of them - Skid steer tractor in the making ....

I have only ever owned 1 Homelite chainsaw ( looke d similar to the drill but obviously with a chain and bar fitted ) it was all aluminium including the fuel tank .On a particularly hot summers day i had to cut down a few poplars , i was onto the 2nd tree and up a ladder when the saw started to boil petrol out of the tank ! . Not good i thought as i dropped it out of the tree and away from me , just before it hit the ground it went BANG . Got a couple of old sachs dolmars of similar construction and they have never boiled on me , so not sure why the old Homelite didi it ? .

That's a good trailer - I purchased a tin tipping one from a local farmers store to haul road stone down a long drive using my trusty " Lawn Bug ", it was rated at 300kg and i only put around 100kg in it and when i drove off the whole axle frame assembly stayed put as the trailer body moved forward .No guarentee for commercial work was what i was met with 30 mins after buying it ? . I think if i had driven through mud like that the whole trailer would have ripped apart ...lol .

Nice idea , i play around with camera mounts quite a lot , i feel that the steel bearings may create an audio issue though , maybe slices of bicycle innertube over them will give a smoother and almost silent track as the camera rolls along . Take a look on a popular auction site at the 12v remote winch switches , You could be riding by on a tractor and opperate the tracking motor from the seat to get a shot as you pass by . Or simply be pushing a new engine on a trolley into the workshop and get a shot following you as you go . If you add a vertical bar near the end of the track , as the trolley nears the end the bar would catch on the tripod head handle and swing the camera around to follow you as you move away giving the effect of having a cameraman opperating the set up . And as you already are using bits from a battery drill , why not simply make up a capstan winch using strimmer cord running around a pulley at each end of the frame with one end tied to the trolley and the other attached with a spring to keep it all tight for better movement when under power . The battery drill is an amazingly good experimenters tool as bolts can be used to attach all sorts of pulleys / discs etc to the motor easily .And the variable speed and use of 12v batteries make then portable and safe to play around with . A friend used a stripped down drill with a bent bar in the chuck to opperate a robotic fishes tail , the bar rotated around and the bend swung the tail from side to side , simplicity itself really . .

I think the emissions quoted by him are wrong also , but the concept works .This all started when a video of a 1970's Shell competition vehicle was found in a wharehouse .It used a hot glass coil to eveporate the petrol to get , apparently around 300mpg ! . But as to the lean running , ? .Not sure as the set up i used had a straight through flow of the petrol vapours with a side vented valve to allow the air mixture to be adjusted to give the required RPM on the engine , so it is a basic carb similar to what has been running the such as Wolseley WD's for the past 75 years .The only difference being the use of saturated air rather than pure petrol , or the Petrol is already vapourised into the air stream before being fed through the carb whereas a carb vapourises pure petrol into the airstream . The 1st engine i tried this out on as proof of concept was an old villiers that i simply removed the whole carb assembly off and pushed a hose pipe into the inlet on the engine using my finger over a cut out in the hose to adjust the air mixture , but it started and ran straight away .So the petrol can conversion was carried out on one of the gennys .

Tried this using a 1 Gallon plastic petrol can with 15mm copper pipe and an old washing machine hose attached to a washing machine water inlet tap . The tap was positioned so the through flow ( pipe connector sides ) were the inlet and outlet between feed pipe and carb , with the washing machine feed ( valved section ) being for the air mixture inlet to the petrol vapour flowing to the carb . Rigged it upto a 1200w generator and mixed the petrol at 1:1 with water and shook it up . The little genny usually gives around 6 hours on a full ( 6 L ) tank . Using the bubbling i got 45 mins from 250ml of petrol mixed with 250ml of water . This equated to the genny going from 1L/hour to around 3 1/2 hours per L . So it actually does work. But a warning - A seperate water bubbler tank should be employed as a blow back arrestor between the engine and fuel tank . Idealy this should have an easily blown out bung fitted in case of pressurisation from a back fire etc as the back pressure can blow the liquid fuel back out of the air inlet tube . But as a way to keep the genny running in a blackout , it certainly does give a lot more KW per £ .

I did 3 hours work yesterday , cutting out and affixing a shop sign and earned £250 , I took £40 to buy myself a 1950's Medding Pacara bench drill and she moaned at me , She took the remaining £210 and went out and bought firworks for my sons birthday on Saturday ?. But i will still have the drill when the firworks have gone up in smoke ! . But she still has to moan about it............ WHY ? . Maybe all we are seeking is the answer ? . Nice tyres by the way ...

Sold my old Westwood rideon mower to a friend who stored it in his brothers barn , come the spring the rats had eaten away half the plastic tank ! .

Personally , after 9 years i would tie it to a tree and drive the trailer out from under it or at least use a long bar on a wheel brace to turn the wheels maually , unless your going to do an oil change on the trailer , who knows what sludge is settled in the sump after that length of time .Not to mention any perished fuel lines that could "pop" making it's first start it's last . ( The winch wire could be run under the trailer and back up over the bed to the front of the car to pull it off , but depends how much you value the cable )

Glad to help , my old Hayterette blew the can off the pipe earlier on in the year but i just welded it back on .

Should have been headed as "The Merry Tiller's " ...lol.

If you are after an authentic look for an older model then i would get the nearest new model an example of such is -http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Exhaust-Fits-BRIGGS-STRATTON-Engine-391569-299477/330779307873?_trksid=p2045573.c100507.m3226&_trkparms=aid%3D555014%26algo%3DPL.DEFAULT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D38661%26meid%3Dc70b8ac888d6435cbf544bc90979833f%26pid%3D100507%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26 And plate over or weld fill the end holes and fit a pipe straight down to match the deck hole , as i have not noticed any new ones of the old varieyt of Hayterette for sale . Though the pipe of the one shown does look to be a little long and maybe it may have to be reduced and re threaded also .

Just knocked this sign up today for a friend who i have done a lot of work for over the past 18 months . The building was built in 1927 as a garage , The sign is over the old entrance which once was 2 wooden doors then blocked up in the 70's as 3 fuel pumps were installed in the alcove it created , then it has ended up following 18 months of work as a bungalow in the rear workshop area and tea rooms ( shop ) in the front . The sign is not the best as the new occupier wanted me to just paint the burgundy and cream onto the old plywood ! . But the vinyls have made it stand out along an otherwise plain , long road . Diverging slightly - When digging out for the foundations i had to remove the origonal 1927 floor , it was simply 1" to 3" limestone embedded in bitumen ( tar ) with around 3/4" of cement covering it , No need for the breaker on this one it just dug up ...But nice to see how it used to be done . The blue fencing , i cut down and welded from 10 foot high to 4 foot to give the new bungalow a more residential feel , taking away the industrial look of the high fence . My old 1976 Villiers powerd mixer can just be seen peeking around the corner of the building ( wheel and yellow painted frame ) The sign it's self was set out by using chalk to mark the center line on the sign boards and chalk on the lifting tape of the stickers to indicate the center length of the writing / graphics. The required heights marked with chalk on the frame and masking tape run between them to make a removable line to sit the lower edge of the words etc on to get them level . The top of the paper backing material was folded back to the top of the vinyl and folded under to expose the top of the lifting paper .The folded under paper keeps the lifting paper away from the sign allowing for easy positioning before sticking the exposed lifting tape down . The backing paper can then be removed , holding the sticker away from the sign whilst doing this . As the top edge of the lifting paper is stuck down , as the rest is lowered and swiped to remove air , the lifting tape positions the wording / graphics as you go due to it's stiffness . The sign is 2.5m x 2.5m in size , so the writing isnt small by any means , but the above method allowed for easy and precise placing , even in the drizzling windy conditions i had . Though due to the 5deg temp i had to leave the lifting tape over the vinyl for around 20 mins to allow the vinyl's glue to get a hold as otherwise the stickers just wouldnt have stuck to the painted sign boards and could have lifted / ripped . ( yellow bags on the floor have the removed backing paper in , a good idea on windy days ) .

Just pickied up the new ? pillar drill . A Meddings Pacera with a couple of differences to what i have seen on youtube . 1 / Chuck +33mm threaded end to the quill ? 2 / Tin cowling instead of the common cast one ? 3 / Pillar mounted excentric pulley set between motor pulley and quill drive pulley , acting as the tensioner ? But it came with a Brooks Gryphon motor and the chuck key , and was surprisingly light when split into 2 pieces ( Base and pillar with top removed ) . But the weirdest thing is that the Buma Boring bar i got a few weeks ago is machine number 34 . The Meddings Pacera i collected today is machine number 34 also . Anyone have any ideas on the 33mm threaded end on the quill , as i wondered if it was for a boring head by any chance . ( Loads of history judging by the plaques fitted to it ) . Though there is only a trace of the speed table left on the side .

I would imagine that anyone on here would be aquainted with the use of both safety goggles and dustmasks when carrying out such tasks . And i would imagine that the sand dust , should it get into the lungs would be a lot less damaging than say - Glass bead dust , Aluminium oxide dust , Cement dust etc . See - https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3697.pdf Which does state that soda blasting is a more friendly way of going about it , but the article is in relation to blasting on an industrial scale such as my nephew undertakes . And if a recycling gun and PPE are employed i suspect the risk would be in the 1/2 a thou scale on a micrometer . And of course , if done on an infrequent basis then the risks are even lower , as you would be entering the same environment as would be found on any wind swept beach around the globe . I dare say vehicles travelling the dusty American desert highways will have more of the silica dust floating around in side them than could be experienced from a recycling blast gun fitted to a small compressor . Heres a reminder about wood dust also , more pet related as i take it we all know the dangers of woodworking , but have you ever thought about the pets ? - http://www.searchdogsne.org/reference/Medical/cedar_pine_toxicity.pdf All we can do in this life is attempt to get on with it , as otherwise we would just have to give in . NEVER ......

There are those little hand held blasters with rubber caps and a collection bag to stop the blast medium from going every where , but they are a slow way of cleaning . But would enable the use of kiln dried sand ( what block pavers use to fill the gaps betwwen the blocks ) this is nice and light and is used on aluminium wheels etc to remove old paint . It is a little too light for cast iron and steel rust so maybe a cheaper and faster alternative to soda as the kiln dried sand is around £7 per 25kg bag and is available from DIY stores . And could be used with the recycling blast guns . Not sure if the dust from the soda would be collected or just blow out and make a mess though .

The post and winch was my initial idea , but after seeing the WH with the hydraulic set up it got me wondering about using an air fed system , only because i have a couple of air rams an old mate gave me many years ago ( left over from robot building ) . I realise the limitations of compressed air , but they are light weight and less messy then hydraulics . And if i use a 12v battery i can run a hazard light and LED headlights as well , so i was thinkiing of keeping it simple and compact as the post would be sticking up at the front but a ram could be low mounted to push up and out at an angle to lift the blade . Especially as i will be fitting it to a 1970's self propelled rough cut mower i am currently fitting a blade ( Half a 47kg gas bottle ) to with the outlook to using the mower as a snow mover as my house has a slight hill on the rear access route to get to the main rd .And with the winter outlook steering towards another 2010 amount of snow we were faced with 8" to 10" of compacted snow in the village that quickly froze solid seeing myself driving around in the Volvo 850 pulling people out where their cars were unable to simply drive away from the curb .Though i do drop the tyre pressures down to 20psi and i do have a 230v winch that fits to the tow bar and is powerd from a 1200w inverter making it easy for me to help out . But the others in my neighbourhood quickly get stuck on the little hill , So my intentions are to keep it clear this time so that i can get in and out without the traffic jams as others sit wheel spinning away . And maybe ( depending upon how well it works out ) clearing the footpaths around the local OAP bungalows , as most of the residents were unable to get to the shops back in 2010 as the snow was just too deep for zingerframes ! . I could get around 4" of lift if i built the blade to sit on the ground with the wheel adjuster at it's lowest setting and simply raise the deck , but i think the extra weight maybe a bit too much for the linkage mechanism . I think i will just go ahead and build it , if it works it will be a bonus lol .....