What did you do today

[Tom&Shelly]

Just throwing this idea out there on the wrench; could it be used like a socket wrench where you don't have to remove it from nut to keep on tightning/untightning? If so, that could be handy in tight places. .....Or maybe work on nuts that have stripped edges perhaps?

Might be the same patent site you went to; I saw this statement on the one I viewed "ADJUSTABLE RAPID WRENCH".

US Patent: 5,239,899 - Wrench with Inclined Drive Faces

US patent 5,239,899 Wrench with Inclined Drive Faces was issued to David R. Baker of Fort Worth, TX. It was granted on 08/31/1993. James E. Bradley - patent attorney {br}Abstract {br}A wrench for driving a nut utilizes curved drive faces. The drive faces are convex and protrude

www.datamp.org

Harry

Thank you Harry!

I looked at that site, and also did a Google Patents search and found the write up with some figures that look substantially different from the way that wrench was manufactured. I now suspect it was a limited production run with some serious communication errors between the inventor (in Texas) and the Chinese production company that led to a product that simply doesn't do the job the inventor wanted it to do.

If this one works like a rachet, it will have to be for very small nuts/bolts. Can't imagine getting this big of a thing into very tight spaces.

I've looked at a few Youtube videos on modifying adjustable wrenches, and the most likely idea would be to drill some holes in this, put some machine screws in them, and make a wrench that has a limited and specialized use in unscrewing things that have holes in them that the screws can get into.

Or, this wrench just winds up in my bin of unloved tools....

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

I spent the afternoon modifying an 80's era under-powered cordless drill to work on house current!

It originally ran on Ni-Cad batteries, and I suppose I could have bought some sub-C's and made them into a new set, but it never ran that good to begin with, so why bother? Only really good thing on the drill is the Jacobs chuck. As a matter of fact, it turned me off of cordless drills for years. It also came with a cordless screw driver that was even worse.

So I cut the hand grip off of the drill to get at the battery terminals. The transformer originally powered my first computer (home made). The heat sink originally came from a 1964 Delco AM radio. The two capacitors were the 2nd two biggest in my electrolytic capacitor bin, chosen deliberately for this project so I'll have more room in the bin. (I'd've used the biggest capacitor, but I can't figure out which side is + and which side is the other polarity.)

Despite my expert and precisely calculated power supply design, it works! Now I'm feeding the drill 5 volts, it's drawing about 1.5 amps, and delivering 300 RPM.

Shelly is taking a jewelry making class, and I'm scrounging parts to make her a rock tumbler. Think I'll try using this to run it. Be interesting to see how long it lasts.

Tom

 

[philpom]

Found a great deal on a 1963 French telephone in a thrift store.View attachment 1502118
Of course, "great" is a relative term here; if you don't collect old telephones, it would be a terrible deal!

The telephone was made by the Swedish company Ericsson, who made most European telephones in that era. No ringer inside the phone, the bells would be on a box on the wall.

This phone has an extra ear piece, which, in this case, is dark green, not the black of the phone. I'm not an expert in European telephones, but, from watching old movies, I believe the purpose is so that the Gestapo agent could listed in, while he had his luger pointed at the head of the brave member of the resistance (think Humphrey Bogart), who never-the-less managed to pass the duress code to Ingrid Bergman. Vive-la-France!

Or, since Paris was no longer occupied by 1963, it might have been used by a secretary to listen in and record the call for her boss. I think this was probably a business phone. Technically, it is similar to a Western Electric telephone used from the late 1930s up to the early 1960s.

It's also neat that the arrangement of letters on the dial is slightly different from North America
View attachment 1502144
Of course, if you aren't interested in old telephones, all of this is probably boring. In that case, don't bother reading it.

Tom

Neat, if they work I'd probably try to hook them up.

We have this one, it sits on a red table in the living room. It was hard wired in my mother in laws house, we took it when we moved her. The phone next to it is the home phone but we don't have a land line any longer. The cell phone plugged in uses the base station and all of the handsets throughout the home can use it. Nifty feature I thought we would never use when I bought it 15 years ago.

On the wall above is this sign. South Western Bell.... thank you.

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Very nice! I think that's an Automatic Electric Model 80 (?)

We don't have a land line, but when I lived in Los Angeles, I often connected phones in my collection and they usually worked. They were built to last! Right now, the collection is collecting dust in the basement. Not sure what I'll do with them; maybe find a museum somewhere. I may try prettying them up a bit, but I suspect (like old cars) that might lower their value.

Tom

 

[MickinOz]

Today, I received written approval from the police that I can vary my gun licence to include "shooting club use" as a further reason for owning a firearm.
The licence here is a two-stage affair.
There are the classes you are authorised to use, then there are the purposes you are authorised to use them for.
I have class A and B - A is rimfires, shotguns, etc. B is centrefire rifles, revolving rifles, etc.
Then I have uses 2,3,5 - target shooting, hunting, primary production. To join the rifle club, I needed to add "1. shooting club."
The surprising bit of that letter is that they have approved Class H as well. That's handguns up to and including 9mm. If I want to, I can approach the pistol club, get signed off by them, then get a handgun.
Don't think I'll bother, but it's nice to know my police record is such that they'll let me if I want to.

 

[Tony Latham]

Don't think I'll bother, but it's nice to know my police record...

Whew! We were worried.

What a process.

Tony

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Wow! So which class authorizes someone to use a gun to rob a bank?

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

In September, Shelly took a class on making jewelry and discovered they have a special workbench that makes it easier. Then yesterday she found a good deal on a used one.

I bought it for her as an early anniversary present. Some guys buy their wives jewelry for their anniversaries, but--hey--teach someone to fish...!

Tom

 

[MickinOz]

Wow! So which class authorizes someone to use a gun to rob a bank?

Tom

I believe that comes under class FAFO, as in F Around and Find Out.

 

[MickinOz]

Whew! We were worried.

What a process.

Tony

Glad to put your mind at rest.
It is indeed a process. I applied to vary my licence in December last year. The police website lists where they are at in regard to processing. When they said they were processing February applications, I called up and asked if there was something amiss with my application. 3 days later they issued my approval.
I passed the safety test today. Got one question wrong. The question "Under the Crimes Consolidation Act, if you produce a firearm whilst arguing with another person, what crime has been committed?".
I selected "Causing alarm with a firearm" which is what the Firearms Act says.
However, under the Crimes act, it's classed as an "assault".
Had a good day at the range. I've been struggling with precision from my 0.308. It's a very light rifle with big recoil. The proverbial "kicks like a mule". Nothing like the recoil you get from a heavy target rifle.
But I've been using conventional bench rest style.
Right hand holding the rifle and operating the trigger.
Left hand squeezing the rear bag to move the crosshairs up and down.
Unfortunately, this technique which delivers outstanding accuracy with my 0.223 just doesn't work with the bigger recoil. The bipod literally jumps off the bench and delivers pretty poor groups.
Last meeting, the club champ tried it out and put 5 shots in less than one minute of angle at 300 metres with Federal factory 130 grainers. Then walked off saying "nice rifle".

Nice to know it was me, not the $4500 worth of rifle and scope.
I took note. He hung on the fore end with his left hand.
Tried it today. I loaded the fore end up with the weight of my left hand and forearm.
Finally got a halfway decent result.
92.1 twice, at 200 yards.
Best result so far with the camel buster. Using my second ever batch of handloads.

 

[Tony Latham]

've been struggling with precision from my 0.308. It's a very light rifle with big recoil. The proverbial "kicks like a mule".

I've fallen for my Bergara Ridge Carbon in 7MM PRC. 160 grains @ 3,000 FPS.

It's a shooter. I'm going to try and harvest an elk with it next week. We shall see.

Tony

 

[MickinOz]

Nice shooting. I'm finding allowing for the wind a real struggle here. It almost always blows across the range and it's almost never steady. The more experienced guys in the club can do it, so its just something I have to work on.
Hope you succeed in your elk harvesting. Must be a lot of meat.

 

[MickinOz]

Sometimes I feel we Aussies are a little bit "look at me, look at me" on the world stage.
Like little kids at a party trying a little bit too hard for the grown-ups' attention.
We shout from the rooftops about our fantastic scenery, as if the rest of the world is actually drab and our waterfalls, deserts, snowfields, and beaches, etc., etc. are the best ever. They are great, but hardly unique.
But. I do believe we may just be able to lay claim to having some unique sports characters.
Like this guy:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=829227732944306

 

[Tony Latham]

Hope you succeed in your elk harvesting. Must be a lot of meat.

We found them last night and put them to bed. After a half-mile stalk at first light, I took a 200-yard shot from the sticks, and she went right down.

We'll butcher her tomorrow and eat well this winter.

Tony

 

[MickinOz]

We found them last night and put them to bed. After a half-mile stalk at first light, I took a 200-yard shot from the sticks, and she went right down.

We'll butcher her tomorrow and eat well this winter.

Tony

Good work mate. Have been contemplating getting some stocks and practising with them. I see you have a muzzle brake. I literally cannot shoot the 308 without one.

 

[Tony Latham]

I literally cannot shoot the 308 without one.

I, too, am a fan of muzzle brakes. This 7 PRC doesn't have a lot of felt recoil. But I do have a Backfire recoil pad, and it is extra soft.

I was curious about what this shot was going to sound like, since I've had hearing aids for a couple of months. It was actually quite pleasant, since in a sense, I'm wearing earplugs.

Tony

 

[MickinOz]

I, too, am a fan of muzzle brakes. This 7 PRC doesn't have a lot of felt recoil. But I do have a Backfire recoil pad, and it is extra soft.

I was curious about what this shot was going to sound like, since I've had hearing aids for a couple of months. It was actually quite pleasant, since in a sense, I'm wearing earplugs.

Tony

I tried to buy a Backfire recoil pad for my .308, but the guy said "sorry, I can't export gun parts." Apparently, there is a licensing process to go through before he could send them out of the USA, and that wasn't viable just to sell one to me. According to Australian Customs there was no issue with me bringing it in, go figure.
A pity, but I'm reasonably content with the Limbsaver that was my second choice.
Interesting about the hearing aids. I wonder if they are "noise cancelling"?

 

[Tony Latham]

I wonder if they are "noise cancelling"?

I don't think so, but it was in the heat of battle, so who knows.

Odd on the recoil pad. I need to shoot the rifle with the Backfire pad, since the only time I've fired a round with it was on this elk. My wife has a December elk tag, so she'll shoot before then, and I'll take a pop with it and let you know.

Tony

 

[MickinOz]

Sunday, we were driving through the Beetaloo Valley in the Southern Flinders Ranges, As I slowed for an intersection, I looked to my right and saw 2 young deer laying under some trees. Literally within 10 yards of me. I suspect their mums parked them there while they went foraging.
No doubt an unremarkable occurrence in the US countryside, but rare here. Not quite as rare as if an American glanced to his left and saw a kangaroo, but not common.

 

[Tom&Shelly]

No doubt an unremarkable occurrence in the US countryside, but rare here. Not quite as rare as if an American glanced to his left and saw a kangaroo, but not common.

Shelly, reading this, glances to her left, sees me, and starts snickering, for some reason.

Tom