Dan110

Hi all, I’m trying to help identify an MG radiator/grille my dad dug out of his garage. We’ve no idea what model it’s from but it’s obviously pre-war. I don’t suppose anyone on here might be able to identify it from photo’s at all, or know someone who could? Thanks Dan

This kind of thing http://www.ultimateears.com/en-gb/ueboom2 is a pretty good option for pure simplicity. Bluetooth, IPX7, phone charging and decent enough sound that'll easily fill a van/camper etc. I think JBL do something similar.....

We've got a couple of Disco 4's at work. They're fairly well ragged but also well maintained, bought from new. 150,000 miles on each of them, one is on its 4th engine and the other on its 3rd. Meanwhile we bough a used HiLux which gets the same hard life (Blue light driving, lots of cold starts straight to long 95mph runs etc) and it just plods on and has never let us down. I didn't want to believe cliché but there it is. That said, the D4's are beautiful to drive, faster, lovely smooth engine, well appointed and comfortable, and their performance off-road is as good as you'd expect. If money was no object I wouldn't hesitate but wouldn't spend my own money on one, unfortunately.

This place http://www.berrybarton.co.uk is in Branscombe, about 20-30 mins east of Exeter and not bad. More of a caravan park but they have a pretty relaxed camping field. Footpath straight from the field down to the beach (steep, bit of a hike), couple of pubs in walking distance and a nice quiet village, farm stuff to watch if you've got kids...

We had them at work for a bit with the auto box. I have to say I didn't notice any excessive lag other than what you'd expect from a turbo diesel (which was present). Having said that, i'd usually use it for response driving in the sport mode as I wasn't paying for the fuel! Also, the cars we had before that were Zafira's so anything was an improvement.... Enjoyed driving them though - lovely cars. Felt very tight and handled well.

Thanks all for the detailed replies. It may be a few months before I get it all together but I think i'll go for a 2nd hand gas MIG and youtube/forum tutorials, and i'll stick some pics of my inevitable failures on here for everyone's amusement! Cheers Dan

Not a bad summer for British sport!

Thanks for the input again all. This forum never lets me down! (and the lack of shouting and abuse is credit to the members and the mods) As with many things there's obviously no right or wrong but there seems to be a certain consensus on MIG being a good all-rounder and good place to learn. I've found a cheap 2nd hand Cebora pocket turbo 130 which seems to have a good reputation so maybe i'll start there. In terms of buying 2nd hand, would that machine and MIG's generally be largely reliable? (no absolutes, I know) repairable if it did fail? Nick - you mention the difference between a voltage-controlled process and a current-controlled one - I don't suppose anyone could expand on that a bit could they? I've read up on the general differences between arc and MIG, but specifically what characteristics are changed by those two things? Hope that makes sense. Cheers! Dan

Thanks for the input guys. Having wasted (invested) a couple of hours on the MIG forum, and without the £800 budget for the ESAB, i'm half wondering about just spending £60 on a Clarke 110a arc machine and just having a play. I've no immediate plans to anything particularly thin, and I like the simplicity of not having to worry about wire/gas/wind etc. Maybe then upgrade to a better-than-entry level MIG when (if) I get proficient. More procrastination from the work I SHOULD be doing required, I think.....!

Hi all, I'm finally going to have a bit more time to dedicate to tinkering from this September, so i'm thinking it's time I made myself more useful by learning to weld. I don't suppose anyone can point me in the direction of any resources that might be useful in either learning the skill, or choosing a machine for home use - i'm currently thinking MIG (based on no specialist knowledge ). Nothing really came up on the search function.... Or maybe someone knows a good instructor/evening class in the Kent or Devon areas? My plans are pretty much limited to LR/car related repairs and maybe some light fabrication of fire pit....bike stand.....etc Cheers! Dan

We portacount all our respiratory protection at work to get a quantitative measure of their effectiveness.....For what it's worth, these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sundstrom-SR-100-Half-Respirator/dp/B0063464MA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471441430&sr=8-1&keywords=sundstrom+mask and these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/3M-Aura-Disposable-Respirator-9332/dp/B008GQ31TM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471441590&sr=8-1&keywords=3m+ffp3 have the same FFP3 'rating', but we get consistently much better results with the Sundstrom 'half-mask' type (3M make one too). I can't remember the actual figures but can get them if anyone (other than me) is reeealllllyyyyy geeky.

One thing I learned about English speakers in Sweden... After a lifetime of sheepishly and apologetically asking if people speak english when travelling anywhere further afield than France, I was confused by a Swedish lady seeming to take offence that i'd even asked the question - as though it was obvious that she would speak English. When telling this to the Norwegians i was travelling with, they told me that English was so widely spoken that to ask whether someone spoke it was to imply that they were ignorant or stupid. This was in a largish city so as someone said above, will be different in the countryside. Changed my perspective a bit though. Beautiful countries both

Ha ha. Cheers for that, i'll check it out. Does the free account have any limits on use/functionality? I don't mind paying for good software but $100/month for the Pro version wouldn't make sense for me. Cheers Dan

Thanks both for the detailed replies and Al for the offer. More to think about, but £200 is starting to sound like good value. This is all currently prevarication when I should be either at work or studying so I reckon i'll have a little play with a couple of the free design programmes, maybe send one to be printed so I can get a feel for the results and revisit it after my final due-dates this September when my life is my own again! Cheers again Dan

Hi Simon, That's helpful, thanks for that. I can see the benefit of being able to quickly test and make changes....I'd love to buy one but I think at the moment i'd struggle to find even £380 worth of uses - it's more just playing with the idea to see if I can make useful doodah's. Maybe it's just not well suited to the mail-order approach for a novice. Food for thought.......