Superpants

I found that on my compressor I got much better performance by removing the shut off tap it was supplied with. the tap was a screw down type with a tiny port through. I put a PCL connector there instead and instantly saw the improvement.

I'd recommend the Tyco 'Ampseal' series connectors- they are sealed, board mounted connectors available in a range of sizes- we use them on quite a lot of our products as there aren't many like it around- Availble from RS ins small quantities.

I've never come across bigger than 6sqmm, and certainly Tyco (TE) don't list them in their range as best I can see, You will probably have to use an un-insulated splice and adhesive lined heatshrink.

I have a pair of the knipex shears which work brilliantly for this- we have some of the ones like the polevolt one at work and they too are good. Beware of using it on any hard materials though- trying to cut armoured cable with them is not a good idea!

As the solder versus crimp argument has been raised many time here, I wrote an instructable a couple of years ago which covers plenty about this; http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-A-Quality-Crimped-Joint/ Hope it helps!

I'd second the poorly made in china book- gives a good insight into the business practices, and importantly show the long term dealings of a company working over there. We have had parts manufactured in china for work, and whilst some parts were significantly cheaper, I would be very wary of picking and choosing what we outsource out there- even with a good level of QA on the ground, things still slipped through the net and it was a lot more problematic solving them once parts had landed in the UK. I think it is worth bearing in mind how poor a reputation some of our suppliers like B***part have for poor quality parts. A rhetorical question: Do you want to run a business where you focus & effort goes into ensuring your quality rather than all the other things that go into running a successful business?

The two main bits of legislation are: The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations Both as amended As FF says, which you need to comply with, and any other regulations or standards will be heavily dependent on what you are trying to achieve (other things such as; EMC, individual product standards, type approval (EUWVTA or IVA) etc etc...)

Drumstick, You are right about the nuts and bolts, typically known as "C class" parts- this was (and I believe still is) outsourced to Anixter components who in turn source from a range of manufacturers all over the world.

You can get the circuit breakers in the mini form, but not the maxi, however I can't find any current UK stockists! Data is at the link below; http://www.e-t-a.co.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/Ordnerstruktur/pdf-Data/Products/Elektromechanik/1_pdf_thermisch/1_pdf_englisch/D_1626_ENG.pdf

They are made by ETA- available from RS for much less!

The line up of cars for the new bond film, Spectre, currently announced has been announced by JLR- If this is anything to go by, should be a good film! http://newsroom.jaguarlandrover.com/en-in/jaguar/news/2015/02/jlr_spectre_partnership_release_090215_eng/

I'd echo most of the above, particularly about damp proofing and insulation. Other things- Make it as secure as you possibly can. Think about wider than standard doors- much easier to handle machine tools/ crates etc through, and if at all possible keep the floor level through doorways without a step so wheeling things in and out is easier. Fit an emergency light that comes on when power is cut so when you angle grind through the cat trip the power out you can still see.

That will be a MIL-C-5015 series military connector- there are a load of manufacturers of this type (AB, Cannon, Amphenol, Yenohab etc). We use PEI genesis to supply these significantly cheaper than RS/ Farnell, even at one off prices. They are usually stamped with a part number and without seeing the back, it is difficult to identify 100%, but I would start with: CB2-18-1SS Would be a good starting point for a cannon part The key parts to know are this is a Bayonet Socket terminals 18-1 planform- Gives the layout. There are things that can bite you like any keyways and the orientation of the insert in the shell, and there are many options on backshells, pin platings, solder or crimp, outer platings etc. Feel free to PM me if you need further help!

I used to use fabsil on the series 3 soft top with no issues- i takes best part of a full can to do though.

The Cleco ones seem to pull up well enough when i've used them, but that has been on light gauge sheet. The big advantage is the time they take to set and remove which is quick with the pliers.

I have used G and B projects for basic machined spacers on a number of occasions and found them helpful, pretty quick and reasonably priced; http://www.gandbprojects.co.uk/

The talc is not organic so isn't likely to give anything for mould to grow on. It's widely used as a filler in plastics already. The parts I made using it about 3 of 4 years ago have remained sound.

I've done it too, but used talcum powder rather than cornflour so there is no chance of mould growth that may be possible with the cornflour.

Quick Google search of that image shows plenty of pages back at least as far as 2011....

We use Industrial Safety Inspections; http://www.isisafety.com/

I’m seeing a very different picture of the industry from where I’m sat! I work in an automotive electrical and electronic design consultancy that is going from strength to strength, where a good chunk of work is with foreign automotive OEMS. The balance of trade for vehicles recently went positive for the first time since the 1970s, which is great news- whilst we still import many of our smaller cars, our premium brands are selling exceptionally well worldwide and that includes pretty much the whole JLR range, Aston Martin, Bentley, Mini etc. We have the Nissan plant in Sunderland exporting much of its production to Europe, and the UK designed Qashqai selling phenomenally well. We have some of the most efficient car plants in the world (Toyota, Honda, Nissan) We have consulting houses (Ricardo, Mira, our company etc), successfully selling engineering expertise worldwide. We have foreign OEMS with engineering centres in the UK- SAIC, TATA Motors etc We are building new production lines- (JLR) or expanding existing lines (Nissan). We have investment in modern research facilities being pushed by government in Universities and ‘Catapult’ Centres; (Warwick university, The Manufacturing Technology Centre (Ansty)) The only negative I see is that we have lost a lot of our component supply base to other countries, but even here I am seeing slow changes with a few smaller suppliers we use bringing back work to the UK. Much of this investment is coming from foreign headquartered businesses- they obviously see the benefits. We are a long, long way of the doldrums of the industry in the 70s- Let’s shout about what we are doing well!!!

I'd hazard a guess that production won't be in India in the foreseeable future as a completely new mulit-product production line is currently being built at Solihull.

Commercial body fittings make a fairly wide range of hinges- one of theirs may be suitable; http://storage.cbf.uk.com/pdf/HINGES.pdf

Wipe-o-tron Nige-o-matic or based on the far eastern method of naming products where lucky, golden and dragon are common; Lucky Happy Golden Dragon Wipers

My list is as follows; 2 Black Wickes plastic builders buckets 2 Painted red galvanised fire sand buckets, one with plants in the other sand 20 Ikeas buckets in 5 Red, yellow & blue 2 20 Litre brewing buckets Oops- just realised I wasn’t supposed to post a list of buckets I own….. Iceland Patagonia Are the top two places I’d like to 4x4 across.