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Superpants

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Posts posted by Superpants

  1. 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.

  2. 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!

  3. 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?

  4. 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...)

  5. 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.

  6. 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!

  7. British automotive engineering standards, outside of the racing industry, doesn't enjoy a great reputation internationally, and LandRover, particularly with the Defender type vehicles are one of the worse offenders, so I don't see that the Indians could do a worse job of building Defenders unless they try really really hard to do so.

    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!!!

  8. 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….. :D

    Iceland
    Patagonia

    Are the top two places I’d like to 4x4 across.

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