Ian

Thanks Joseph, please spread the word
 
Most of yesterday was spent filming this, that and the other but I did find time to start cleaning the rear axle/swing arm...
Here's just a small amount of the 14 year old mud that was stuck between the diff and the diff guard!
 

 
 
The mess that was the inside of the diff guard..   Me thinks it maybe past it's best!
 

 
 
The bolts holding the diff guard in place were very chewed up and no sockets or spanners would shift them....   Sometimes ye olde tools work best though
 

 
 
A few parts arrived yesterday... Two upper ball joints, one lower and new swing arm bearings...   Struggling to find a second lower ball joint though!
 

I am going to give my friends a link to your YouTube channel today. Looking forward to the next video

Thanks Iain, the suspension arm did need the strengthening for peace of mind if nothing else.
Ahh, the next vid....  It's going to be entertaining for sure, a lot of extra camera work and editing.. 
Thanks Joseph for me, tell him to continue spreading the word
 
 
Thanks Richard, yeah the subs on MooTube are a laugh.. They can't get it quite right
 
Well the lower arms have had the treatment and are now a lot stronger too..
 

 
 

 
 

Evening all, time for a long overdue update on this camera panning jig thingy, and quite a lot has changed..
But first..
You saw the masking tape template of the part I forgot to photograph, well here's the part finally photographed..
Screws go though the cog and screw into captive threads in the 6 sided er... boss which is welded to the shaft. It has been re-welded since this photo was taken..
 

 
 
With the winding shafts sorted so they run parallel with each other the whole lot was welded to one end of the rails.
 

 
 
The other end got a pulley..
 

 
 
One of the shafts was then taken back off for some serious strengthening and a few guiding washers.
The green garden string I had bought was useless and kept breaking, so I tried some thin fencing wire which I happened to have kicking about the place.
 

 
 
The system worked just fine for panning along side to side though the fencing wire was starting to develop lots of little kinks..
So I thought I'd best try things up and down..
Yes I was in position to catch the video camera should anything fail and gravity makes things plummet during testing..
These two photo's were taken in record time
 

 

 
 
As the electric motor at the time was 12 volt, it made it easy to try it out outside..
 

 
 
With it back on the bench for more testing the thin fencing wire decided it had had enough of having lots of little kinks forced onto it and showed it by snapping!
I also wasn't that happy with how the pulleys worked.
The ultra slow side of things was really ultra slow like the camera moved 1 ft every 20 mins sort of ultra slow!
The New Holland tractor wiper motor made all sorts of squealing sounds when it's speed was turned down and it would of been a pain in the 'orse to have to disconnect the drive wire/string from one pulley shaft to another to get different speeds...
Sooooo, a rethink was needed...
 
 
Hidden under the yellow rag (which is wrapped around to try and quieten gear noise a bit) is the 18 volt motor from the rechargeable drill that gave up it's speed controls.
It powers the kiddys electric car gearbox to turn a single shaft which is now held up one end by a bearing and plate that came from a Webb cricket pitch mower years ago.. It pays to throw nothing away
As you can see the whole thing is now rubber mounted to the rails to reduce the amount of running sounds the camera picks up.
 

 
 
A big thank you to Matt for donating some strong fishing line to the cause, it now winds both ways on the shaft, so when one side is winding in the other is winding out.
 

 
 
The speed control is a work of art and is more than worthy of the two photo's it's getting
As I am using the trigger speed control from the 18 volt rechargeable drill I needed to find an accurate way of applying pressure of varying amounts to the trigger and keep it there..
The easiest way I could think of was a clamp of some sort..
Like the exhaust clamp with a bit ground out to fit the trigger..
Just tighten the nuts to increase the speed.
A washer was welded on to house a master on off switch
 

 

 
 
Power is now supplied by this 18.5 volt HP power pack that I found in a box in the workshop.. No idea where or when I got it, but it has come in handy
 

 
 
So with everything finally ready to go, the jig thingy was put in a position up high, video camera clamped in place on the carriage and the comical electrical system plugged in...
It was at the point I managed to knock a stand which was holding up one end and it all came crashing down with a loud bang!
Nigel and Matt came running to see if I'd done anything nasty, but soon hastily retreated once they saw me stomping about the place swearing a lot!
Somehow my video camera didn't get broken, not even a scratch, but the jig thingy did need some repairs!
One of which was to repair the end of the winding shaft which had had a threaded end sheered off!
To make the shaft long enough again I had to lengthen it..
It was at this point I had an idea and left the shaft over length for another idea.. More on that when it happens.
 

 
 
So does the camera panning jig thingy work?
Well, here's a couple of snaps after some successful testing, but your going to have to wait until the next MadTrax video to see the results
 

 

Thanks Iain, the suspension arm did need the strengthening for peace of mind if nothing else.
Ahh, the next vid....  It's going to be entertaining for sure, a lot of extra camera work and editing.. 
Thanks Joseph for me, tell him to continue spreading the word
 
 
Thanks Richard, yeah the subs on MooTube are a laugh.. They can't get it quite right
 
Well the lower arms have had the treatment and are now a lot stronger too..
 

 
 

 
 

Thanks Iain, the suspension arm did need the strengthening for peace of mind if nothing else.
Ahh, the next vid....  It's going to be entertaining for sure, a lot of extra camera work and editing.. 
Thanks Joseph for me, tell him to continue spreading the word
 
 
Thanks Richard, yeah the subs on MooTube are a laugh.. They can't get it quite right
 
Well the lower arms have had the treatment and are now a lot stronger too..
 

 
 

 
 

Great Vid work Ian, very impressive !. If you want a laugh though, run it with the Subtitles On  . Show the awkward Lower Arm swivel Joints to the Press and scare it/them out 

Looking good Ian, I like your idea for strengthening the suspension arms.
 
I have high expectations for the next video and after the last one you have already set the bar high Joseph has been telling all his friends at school about how great the footage is of you handing yourself a mug of coffee/tea.
Iain

Evening all..
 
A bit of trimming, re-shaping and carefully grinding back the welds later and the tank fits again.
 

 
 
One of those little milestones, the first squirt of paint on this project..
 

 
 
An even bigger milestone.. With the frame work finally done it was treated to a couple of coats of the red oxide stuff. The poor light in the workshop made it look like a very dark thin coat!
 

 
 
But the biggest milestone yesterday was getting the frame in it's top coat, a very classy shade of satin black
 

 

 

 
 
All I have left to do now is everything else, which is quite a bit
 
 

Evening all, a few photo's of Nigel's exhaust repairs..
 
Starting with a bit of pipe.
 

 
 
A bit of beating...
 

 
 
Taking shape.
 

 
 
You can just about make out the "holes circles" in this photo..
 

 
 
Snip snip.
 

 
 
Some welding and quite a bit of drill later..
 

 

 
 
The welds around the side still need a bit more grinding back in this photo.
 

 
 
Old verses new.. I know which one looks better
 

Morning all, after a short break from MadTrax to build the camera panning jig thingy I'm back on the case now..
 
With the frame painted it's time to start on the smaller parts, starting with these nice crusty A arms..
 

 
 
After thinking for a while I decided the best way to clean the crud off was to use one of these.......
 

 
 
Well, use a Hoover as dust extraction for my blasting cabinet
 

 
 
Unfortunately, due to the cabinet beings so small and bad arthritis in my shoulders the pain got too much after just a min's use, so I had to clean the A arms up the old fashioned way with a wire cup brush on the grinder!
The very shot ball joints in the upper A arms came out without to much of a fight..
 
 
 
 
The lower ball joints however refuse to come out despite plenty of WD40 and huge amounts of pressure in the vice.. I think I'm going to have to grind the base of the ball joints away and try and bash them up through the A arm rather than down as normally would be done..   I'm sure my 12 ton hydraulic press is going to some in handy
 

 
 
Four (mostly) cleaned up A arms waiting a few mods..
 

 
 
With the A arms having quite a bit of rust pitting I don't 100% trust the strength of them especially as they will have to cope with a lot more power and forces.... So template time it was.
 

 
 
Which turned into a couple of these..
 

 
 
One of which fit's in here..
 

 
 
I didn't like the look of the inside straight bit, so something had to be found I could draw around to give a nice gentle curve.
You can also see the lip welded to the underside of the strengthening plate to er... Strengthen it
 

 
 
Fully welded up and hit with some Red Oxide.... I think they should be strong enough now and will hardly notice after a coat or two of satin black
 

 

 
 
And so onto the lower A arms.......
 

Morning all, after a short break from MadTrax to build the camera panning jig thingy I'm back on the case now..
 
With the frame painted it's time to start on the smaller parts, starting with these nice crusty A arms..
 

 
 
After thinking for a while I decided the best way to clean the crud off was to use one of these.......
 

 
 
Well, use a Hoover as dust extraction for my blasting cabinet
 

 
 
Unfortunately, due to the cabinet beings so small and bad arthritis in my shoulders the pain got too much after just a min's use, so I had to clean the A arms up the old fashioned way with a wire cup brush on the grinder!
The very shot ball joints in the upper A arms came out without to much of a fight..
 
 
 
 
The lower ball joints however refuse to come out despite plenty of WD40 and huge amounts of pressure in the vice.. I think I'm going to have to grind the base of the ball joints away and try and bash them up through the A arm rather than down as normally would be done..   I'm sure my 12 ton hydraulic press is going to some in handy
 

 
 
Four (mostly) cleaned up A arms waiting a few mods..
 

 
 
With the A arms having quite a bit of rust pitting I don't 100% trust the strength of them especially as they will have to cope with a lot more power and forces.... So template time it was.
 

 
 
Which turned into a couple of these..
 

 
 
One of which fit's in here..
 

 
 
I didn't like the look of the inside straight bit, so something had to be found I could draw around to give a nice gentle curve.
You can also see the lip welded to the underside of the strengthening plate to er... Strengthen it
 

 
 
Fully welded up and hit with some Red Oxide.... I think they should be strong enough now and will hardly notice after a coat or two of satin black
 

 

 
 
And so onto the lower A arms.......
 

Morning all, let's start this update with a very good reason to buy a decent Mig welder...
 
As I've been going round welding up MT's frame there has been the odd weld or three to tidy up...
This was gone with my old MigMate hobby welder, and even though I was welding from underneath it looks horrible and not very strong!
 

 
 
But once it was all ground back and hit with my Murex TradesMig 165 it looked like this
So there ya go boys and girls, bin the hobby Mig and get something more trade like but nothing new (Made in China) and cheap... My Murex is at least 20 years old and will outlast me I expect
 

 
 
A heat shield has been made from some thick ally to stop the exhaust cans from melting the seat..
The rear mounts are just captive nuts welded onto the seat mounting plates..
 

 
 
The fronts were mounting brackets that I think used to hold the bodywork on..  Strong with a threaded hole.. That will do nicely
 

 
 
Slowly the frame is getting weled and cleaned up..
 

 
 
Some more strength was added a the front where new tubes meet old... Yes the square plate is offset, but so are the lower tubes..
 

 
 
 
By this point I was starting to get bored with the "weld, grind, weld, clean off some rust, weld, grind, weld, grind" side of things, so I dug the fuel take out and bolted it in place..
 

 
 
Even with the bars, gauges etc bolted on you could see down inside the tank from the front which really bugged me.. So it had to be covered over but I still wanted some air to blow under the tank..
 

 
 
The last bit of my first (and very rubbish) mig welded came in handy once again, this time donating some louvers.
 

 
 
Some cutting and welding later...
 

 
 
Welded on the tank though a bit of trimming is needed....   The tank will fit in place as it should, you just can't get it on
 

Morning all, after a short break from MadTrax to build the camera panning jig thingy I'm back on the case now..
 
With the frame painted it's time to start on the smaller parts, starting with these nice crusty A arms..
 

 
 
After thinking for a while I decided the best way to clean the crud off was to use one of these.......
 

 
 
Well, use a Hoover as dust extraction for my blasting cabinet
 

 
 
Unfortunately, due to the cabinet beings so small and bad arthritis in my shoulders the pain got too much after just a min's use, so I had to clean the A arms up the old fashioned way with a wire cup brush on the grinder!
The very shot ball joints in the upper A arms came out without to much of a fight..
 
 
 
 
The lower ball joints however refuse to come out despite plenty of WD40 and huge amounts of pressure in the vice.. I think I'm going to have to grind the base of the ball joints away and try and bash them up through the A arm rather than down as normally would be done..   I'm sure my 12 ton hydraulic press is going to some in handy
 

 
 
Four (mostly) cleaned up A arms waiting a few mods..
 

 
 
With the A arms having quite a bit of rust pitting I don't 100% trust the strength of them especially as they will have to cope with a lot more power and forces.... So template time it was.
 

 
 
Which turned into a couple of these..
 

 
 
One of which fit's in here..
 

 
 
I didn't like the look of the inside straight bit, so something had to be found I could draw around to give a nice gentle curve.
You can also see the lip welded to the underside of the strengthening plate to er... Strengthen it
 

 
 
Fully welded up and hit with some Red Oxide.... I think they should be strong enough now and will hardly notice after a coat or two of satin black
 

 

 
 
And so onto the lower A arms.......
 

Ouch!!   Glad your ok mate, that must of been a hell of a fright!

Morning all, after a short break from MadTrax to build the camera panning jig thingy I'm back on the case now..
 
With the frame painted it's time to start on the smaller parts, starting with these nice crusty A arms..
 

 
 
After thinking for a while I decided the best way to clean the crud off was to use one of these.......
 

 
 
Well, use a Hoover as dust extraction for my blasting cabinet
 

 
 
Unfortunately, due to the cabinet beings so small and bad arthritis in my shoulders the pain got too much after just a min's use, so I had to clean the A arms up the old fashioned way with a wire cup brush on the grinder!
The very shot ball joints in the upper A arms came out without to much of a fight..
 
 
 
 
The lower ball joints however refuse to come out despite plenty of WD40 and huge amounts of pressure in the vice.. I think I'm going to have to grind the base of the ball joints away and try and bash them up through the A arm rather than down as normally would be done..   I'm sure my 12 ton hydraulic press is going to some in handy
 

 
 
Four (mostly) cleaned up A arms waiting a few mods..
 

 
 
With the A arms having quite a bit of rust pitting I don't 100% trust the strength of them especially as they will have to cope with a lot more power and forces.... So template time it was.
 

 
 
Which turned into a couple of these..
 

 
 
One of which fit's in here..
 

 
 
I didn't like the look of the inside straight bit, so something had to be found I could draw around to give a nice gentle curve.
You can also see the lip welded to the underside of the strengthening plate to er... Strengthen it
 

 
 
Fully welded up and hit with some Red Oxide.... I think they should be strong enough now and will hardly notice after a coat or two of satin black
 

 

 
 
And so onto the lower A arms.......
 

Thanks, it did make me jump a bit but I'm still here which is the main thing.

I had one like this when I was a kid, no idea what happened to it or why I still have all my fingers
 
Iain

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.

We had a bit last week, but this week it has stuck!
 
heres a few pics out and about

Evening all, a few photo's of Nigel's exhaust repairs..
 
Starting with a bit of pipe.
 

 
 
A bit of beating...
 

 
 
Taking shape.
 

 
 
You can just about make out the "holes circles" in this photo..
 

 
 
Snip snip.
 

 
 
Some welding and quite a bit of drill later..
 

 

 
 
The welds around the side still need a bit more grinding back in this photo.
 

 
 
Old verses new.. I know which one looks better
 

A short test video for you.. If it looks lumpy that's Potatobucket videos for ya..
Click on the pic... Oh, I guess PB can't handle wide screen!
 

Pinewood revisited.

Evening all, time for a long overdue update on this camera panning jig thingy, and quite a lot has changed..
But first..
You saw the masking tape template of the part I forgot to photograph, well here's the part finally photographed..
Screws go though the cog and screw into captive threads in the 6 sided er... boss which is welded to the shaft. It has been re-welded since this photo was taken..
 

 
 
With the winding shafts sorted so they run parallel with each other the whole lot was welded to one end of the rails.
 

 
 
The other end got a pulley..
 

 
 
One of the shafts was then taken back off for some serious strengthening and a few guiding washers.
The green garden string I had bought was useless and kept breaking, so I tried some thin fencing wire which I happened to have kicking about the place.
 

 
 
The system worked just fine for panning along side to side though the fencing wire was starting to develop lots of little kinks..
So I thought I'd best try things up and down..
Yes I was in position to catch the video camera should anything fail and gravity makes things plummet during testing..
These two photo's were taken in record time
 

 

 
 
As the electric motor at the time was 12 volt, it made it easy to try it out outside..
 

 
 
With it back on the bench for more testing the thin fencing wire decided it had had enough of having lots of little kinks forced onto it and showed it by snapping!
I also wasn't that happy with how the pulleys worked.
The ultra slow side of things was really ultra slow like the camera moved 1 ft every 20 mins sort of ultra slow!
The New Holland tractor wiper motor made all sorts of squealing sounds when it's speed was turned down and it would of been a pain in the 'orse to have to disconnect the drive wire/string from one pulley shaft to another to get different speeds...
Sooooo, a rethink was needed...
 
 
Hidden under the yellow rag (which is wrapped around to try and quieten gear noise a bit) is the 18 volt motor from the rechargeable drill that gave up it's speed controls.
It powers the kiddys electric car gearbox to turn a single shaft which is now held up one end by a bearing and plate that came from a Webb cricket pitch mower years ago.. It pays to throw nothing away
As you can see the whole thing is now rubber mounted to the rails to reduce the amount of running sounds the camera picks up.
 

 
 
A big thank you to Matt for donating some strong fishing line to the cause, it now winds both ways on the shaft, so when one side is winding in the other is winding out.
 

 
 
The speed control is a work of art and is more than worthy of the two photo's it's getting
As I am using the trigger speed control from the 18 volt rechargeable drill I needed to find an accurate way of applying pressure of varying amounts to the trigger and keep it there..
The easiest way I could think of was a clamp of some sort..
Like the exhaust clamp with a bit ground out to fit the trigger..
Just tighten the nuts to increase the speed.
A washer was welded on to house a master on off switch
 

 

 
 
Power is now supplied by this 18.5 volt HP power pack that I found in a box in the workshop.. No idea where or when I got it, but it has come in handy
 

 
 
So with everything finally ready to go, the jig thingy was put in a position up high, video camera clamped in place on the carriage and the comical electrical system plugged in...
It was at the point I managed to knock a stand which was holding up one end and it all came crashing down with a loud bang!
Nigel and Matt came running to see if I'd done anything nasty, but soon hastily retreated once they saw me stomping about the place swearing a lot!
Somehow my video camera didn't get broken, not even a scratch, but the jig thingy did need some repairs!
One of which was to repair the end of the winding shaft which had had a threaded end sheered off!
To make the shaft long enough again I had to lengthen it..
It was at this point I had an idea and left the shaft over length for another idea.. More on that when it happens.
 

 
 
So does the camera panning jig thingy work?
Well, here's a couple of snaps after some successful testing, but your going to have to wait until the next MadTrax video to see the results
 

 

Evening all, a few photo's of Nigel's exhaust repairs..
 
Starting with a bit of pipe.
 

 
 
A bit of beating...
 

 
 
Taking shape.
 

 
 
You can just about make out the "holes circles" in this photo..
 

 
 
Snip snip.
 

 
 
Some welding and quite a bit of drill later..
 

 

 
 
The welds around the side still need a bit more grinding back in this photo.
 

 
 
Old verses new.. I know which one looks better