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Big.Mike

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Posts posted by Big.Mike

    Forward-facing load area seats that won't break the bank?

    in Defender Forum (1983 - 2016)

    Posted

    On the center seat belt, I did find this one -- 3 Point Centre Seat Belt -- but my aviation background says that shoulder belts should NEVER be angled down like that as it would put compression on ths spine in an accident. It also does not seem to detach easily so it would make folding the seat difficult.

    Hi Matthew,

    I'm going through the exact same thing right now.

    I'm in the process of installing these exact three point seat belts for the kids. I take your point about the spine compression, if the child's shoulder is below the top of the seat, doesn't this concern go?

    As for the load space seats, I've settled on 4 strips of 1 metre lengths of unwin tracking with 4 brand new seat clamps 2 per seat. (Both bought from Mud Stuff).

    On top of these I've got seatbelt and seats combined from a minibus:

    Panel-Van-Seating.png

    Theoretically this setup should allow my seats to be rated thus:

    "Successfully tested at MIRA, TUV and Status to M1 on single seat of up to 33kg and M2 on double seat, the Unwin seat fixture meets requirements of ECE regulation 14 and EU directives 76/115."

    The points I'm concerned about are:

    • The strength of the floor.
    • Removing the diesel tank to run the strip below
    • The clearance between the tank and the load space floor.
    • Clearing the chassis.

    Unwin make spreader plates with will help with floor strength concerns.

    This has cost me £150 in total so far as I picked up the seats from a friend who is doing a camping conversion with an old minibus. The seats are in reasonable condition and the seatbelts are like new (they are not mandatory in the UK on a minibus and don't look like they have ever been used)

    Cheers,

    Mike

    Want to add coolant system to old milling machine

    in Tools and Fabrication

    Posted

    Interesting reading this thread.

    I'm campaigning for getting some lathe coolant for the machine at work. No one really uses it but me - and when I do it's normally worked quite hard. I've knackered a few tools by being a bit slow with the squeezy bottle and a bit ambitious with the cut size.

    Given that it's used about 12 times/year, how often should the coolant be changed?

    A lathes coolant tank is much smaller than a mill, you don't really need as much as you really are only cooling 1 tooth in a very small contact area. In this case you could probably get away with a 25 litre drum and just bin it after each use?

    You could get some better tools and go more gently ;)

    Cheers,

    Mike

    Want to add coolant system to old milling machine

    in Tools and Fabrication

    Posted

    Since the machine will get used pretty rarely in the grand scheme of things, I had planned to not use the machine sump, and use a seperate sealable container. This discussion in this thread is making me consider whether that will be possible with spillage etc.

    If it's not, I will make it so that I can empty the sump after use and pump the coolant back in to to a sealable container, to try and keep the bug issue to a minimum.

    Just keep the coolant dilution low (depending on the type of coolant) or simply run dry. I've said previously you only need air for most stuff and that's for clearing swarf... ;)

    Want to add coolant system to old milling machine

    in Tools and Fabrication

    Posted

    Sorry, I should have explained better, no coolant's been through the system yet. I've got the nozzles, but have not built the rest of the system, no pump, pipework etc.

    I just hooked the air line up as a test when I had a go at doing a few test cuts.

    Phew.

    I had an interesting experience in our milling machine at work once.

    I was using a Venturi effect vacuum generator (amazing bit of kit if you ever get the chance to play) to hold down a workpiece. It worked a treat, only problem was the coolant in the machine came on by mistake and turned into a fine aerosol. It took an hour for the mist to settle and I left it another hour to be sure.

    I like to run our Haas coolant with a strong 10%~15% concentrate rather than the normal 7%, for two reasons...

    1. We only use it occasionally for prototypes

    2. We run plastic through it more often than not.

    I like to kill the bugs in the coolant with a high concentrate and it stops the table from rusting up. The plastic breeds more nasties as it tends to bunch up in the bottom of the reservoir. The guy from Castrol suggested we do this...

    I also run an aerator (just like a fish tank) in the bottom as it kills the anaerobic bacteria which are particularly nasty if they get in you! (Which reminds me I haven't checked it's still running!)

    A UV lamp is another good addition, but we can't have that where people are exposed to it in a work place apparently.

    I hate coolant, at one of the companies I used to work at we had a hobbing machine that caught a skin bacteria, it spread from machine to machine infecting workers using it. It was horrible. Mind you they were using some cheap a*se coolant and at a stupidly low concentration so I'm not surprised.

    Cheers,

    Mike

    Porsche - how not to fit a number plate

    in Tools and Fabrication

    Posted

    I riveted 2 magnets to my plastic numberplate, that then fits over the fairlead area of the winchbumper.

    Now I like this idea. It would work really well on a truck where you want to hide the winch...

    I'd be reluctant to buy a vehicle from a dealer that uses "rolled up paper" in their mechanical work

    Yeah me too. I have to laugh, my mates German, precision made, pursuit of automotive perfection is felled by some numpty in the garage...

    Rivets will crack a plastic number plate.

    Sticky tape is good but round here they're using cheese wire to get the plates off.

    Yeah, the cheese wire is why I want to rivet them on. The cracking is what I'd like to avoid... :)

    Sealing between the windscreen frame and the roof?

    in Defender Forum (1983 - 2016)

    Posted

    we took my 90 apart good and proper to cure leaks. roof, rear sides off etc and all new seals, body cappings on way in. every new peice was properly painted inside and out first and ooodles and ooodles of tiger seal every mating face. will dig out some pics later on. worked though.

    This sounds like a summer holiday job... My defender is my daily drive.

    I'll see how well the sealant works this evening on the drive home, it's raining at the moment in Brighton.

    Luckily I have a source of large desiccant packs to try to dry her out!

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