Night Train

The two long spans could be smaller steel supported at more points along their lengths given it is only the top surface that is used for the carriage beam to run on. For lifting the safety factor is normally 6 times the working load so for your 150kg you would need 900kg capacity to give you a SWL of 150kg.

Thanks for the replies. I think Speedglas is where I need to look and avoid the cheap ones. I am concerned about the H&S side of things which is why I am planing on changing my current mask. It has served me well but it is now getting too badly worn out to be comfortable and effective and the lense is suffering damage. I've had it for 20 years and what I loved about it was the 7"x8" viewing area which meant that I could still see even when I couldn't get the mask to face where the work was in cramped spaces.

Looking good there, well done. Are you doing the rest of the lengths or are you stopping there?

Right, my old welding mask is on it's last legs and I want a new automatic one and could do with some advice please. On Ebay they seem to go for anything between £30 and £250. What should I look for? Is there anything or type or brand that I should avoid? Is there anything that I should check for like range of sheilding and speed of reaction that would matter? Is there any reason why I shouldn't just get one at the cheaper end of the scale? Do I have to spend loads to be safe? Shoud I go to a proper equipment supplier or is an Ebay one ok? I do mostly Arc welding as I no longer have the space or need for a decent mig set and gas bottle. Thank you, NT

A bad earth won't cause a power drain, quite the opposite. The power going to the starter won't drain back to the battery. Check the earth leads and make sure that the connections are secure and not corroded. It may be worth checking the battery. On my Dad's 300tdi the battery was fine for everything but due to an internal fault/damage/age it couldn't deliver the starting current.

I'm just imagining Astro Al with a pick and shovel filling blue rubble sacks from Wickes and wondering if he needs to buy another pack of them. I'm not looking forward to my little job of digging out and laying granite cobbles on my driveway, 4m x 15m of back breaking jigsaw puzzle.

You need a mini-digger for that lot. Nice space though.

When I recovered or towed vehicles on the road I would always use a flashing beacon on the roof and then use indicators for indicating a change in direction when moving. It bugs me no end when I see drivers towing and both towing and towed are flashing hazards and trying to work their way through traffic with no way of telling other road users or each other when they want to turn a corner! What happened to having head lights on, an 'on tow' sign in the back window and using indicators as indicators?

I used to have one fitted mainly because I was at events and shows where it was useful and legitimate. It was bolted to the roof but plugged into a cig lighter socket when required thus satisfying the law on the road. I did also use it on the road when recovering and towing but that was much less often. I still have a mag mount amber beacon but now have little use for it so it might go on Ebay soon.

Post a scan of the instructions and I will have a read for you.

I had a door bell push! It was tucked under the front edge of the bonnet on my S3. I did also have an industrial crane control pendent as well.

Will this thread do?

I used to drive up the kerb so that one side of the Land Rover was on the kerb stones. I would then lie in the gutter. If wheels need to be removed then I am either not under it and support it on a 3 ton trolley jack or I use axle stands and wheel chocks. Even on ramps I will wedge a block through the ramp so the wheel can't roll back off it. I was once working on a MGB GT track racer, with only 2" ground clearance, servicing the back brakes. I only had the back axle on that side on a trolley jack and forgot to chock the front wheels. While trying to lever the brake springs back in place I managed to roll the car off the jack while my legs were under the sill. Fortunately the axle rolled off onto the body of the trolley jack saving my legs from being crushed but leaving me trapped and alone. It took a long stretch to reach the jack handle and with short strokes I managed to raise the jack a bit further against the battery tray to let me escape.

One of the probelms in mutistorey car parks is the height is a vertical measurement. When you drive a vehicle up a ramp as the front axle climbs up the middle of the vehicle rises also and then hits the roof. Same thing happens when decending a ramp and the front axle reaches the level floor at the bottom. This is a bigger problem if your vehicle is both tall and long. I had this problem with an old S2 SWB truck cab. The carpark entrance clearance was fine if I took the amber flashing light off the roof but driving through meant a lot of zigzagging to avoid the lights and sprinklers. When it can to leaving I got stuck on a ramp. Fortunately the concrete slab roof was like a giant waffle so I was able to climb on the roof in one of the waffle voids to squash the roof panel down a bit.

I'd offer to help but I am a little too far away. If you do have a load of helpers then make sure each person has a task and a responsibility and do a dry run of what you each need to do. It is no good asking the concrete to hang on for a mo while you discuss if the tamping board should be on it's side or on its edge. Use a board like a floor board to do the tamping and have it on edge. Before tamping make sure that you push the concrete well into the edges of the working area to avoid voids and air pockets on the edges where it is most likely to crumble. Don't over do the floating, just enough to get a flat smooth surface and then leave it alone. If you over do the floating then you will raise all the water and cement to the surface and cause the surface to become soft and dusty. If it is going off too fast don't be tempted to add water, it won't work. Concrete cures, it doesn't dry. It will continue curing in lumps in any water you add. It is ok to scratch in the date in the corner for prosperity. It is not ok to let the dog walk across it for cute paw print effect. The concrete will be hard enough to walk on by the end of the day but don't be tempted to try as you will break up the surface and any damage will continue to fall apart indefinately as tiny cracks in the curing concrete won't heal unlike limecrete. Leave it a good couple of days before investigating and maybe even a couple of weeks before putting any load on it. The concrete will be curing, and hardening, for a long time. Have fun and a couple of beers after.

I wouldn't do it all in one day if I were you. You would be lucky to get two sections right in a day given that you don't know what you are doing. You will be seriously exhausted by the end of the day unless you have lots of mates around who know what they are doing and the concrete will have gone off before you have finished. Even though it is still wet it will be going off and further working will damage it so you could end up with a pile that you can't get rid of nor can you spread and tamp down. Two shorter days would be easier both for the job and your backs. H&S: You will need overalls, goggles, rubber work gloves, wellies and plenty of water for cleaning and washing. Cement is caustic and will cause burns on contact, especially on damp or sweaty skin, and splashes can seriously damage your eyes. You will need overalls and you should remove all clothing that has contact with the concrete immediately you have finished work. Wash hands before going to the toilet as cement burns on the penis is nasty and you won't know until much later on. Whenever you stop for a rest wash any exposed skin and dry with clean towels. Getting mucky with concrete (or any cement based material) is not like playing in a muddy field. You will need a rake and a shovel each to move the concrete around. It will be like raking thick heavy clay in a field. The concrete pump will pump almost as fast as the concrete lorry can pour it. That is a lot of concrete that needs spreading about. One person on the pump outlet, two/three people with rakes moving it. Due to the risk of splashing they should all be wearing goggles. As you work along the pour another person can be following up tamping. As you are walking about in the pour with wellies try not to get any muck in your wellies. If you do wash out the wellie and your foot and change your socks immediately before it burns your sweaty toe skin. To tamp the side strips get a length of timber about 3.5 m long and rest it on the existing pad next to the fresh pour. 'Saw' the timber back and forth as you move it along the wet surface. What you are doing is settling and scraping the surface and it will mean that every now and again you will need to remove the pile up of concrete in front of the timber and redistribute it as you go making sure that there are no low spots. You will then needs to float the surface with a large float. That means you skim the surface gently pushing the gravel down and raising the water to the surface. For the centre sections the wood can rest on the existing concrete on each side. You might need a float on a long stick for the reach. When I last did this I had a 5.5m x 5.5m floor to do in a basement while underpinning a house. I got a barrow mix lorry as it slowed down the delivery and ensured the last mix was as fresh as the first. It took three of us (plus one supplying tea and biscuits) best part of four hours to get that finished. We started from the furthest point from the chute and worked back and towards our exit. By the time we finished the last bit the first bit was almost solid enough to walk on without leaving imprints. So even 30minutes or so and the mix is unworkable (even if it still moves about) so you need to be able to process each batch within that time. Good luck.

Steam engine? Run it on coppice timber. The hydrogen option is more about 'business as usual' rather then reducing our reliance on huge energy hungry machines that might require a little forward planning in use. If we were able to make hydrogen from renewable sources of electricity then that would be good but it might be easier to just skip the energy conversion of making, compressing and transporting hydrogen as well as mining platinum for the fuel cell and to use a more efficient and less resource hungry method of storing electricity like flywheel motor generators. Flywheels are quick to charge up and don't contain toxic or hazardous chemicals.

And how is hydrogen made? It is just an extra step, and loss of efficiency, in the electric vehicle supply chain to give the convenience of faster refueling. I don't know that there is a maximum trailer weight for a bike but I do know of people who have moved house by pedal power, like on this webpage. I am designing a hybrid human/electric velomobile and powered trailer for local work runs to save on using the car where I can.

The multiple of the vehicle's weight will vary greatly depending on the surface it is on and the gradient as well as lots of unknowables such as the drag within the transmission and brakes. The line pull is technically as you stated but the manual for the winch will probably state that it will be the first layer of cable on the drum with a certain number of 'wraps' of cable so that the pull is central to the drum and at a certain line voltage on the supply using a particular size of cable in a stated range of operating temperature, etc. Rely on it in the same way that you might rely on a manufacturers official fuel consumption figure. It means that you might get a bit more in optimal conditions but mostly you will get a bit, or a lot, less.

Would I be right in assuming that a detatchable tow hitch or tow bar would not be legal if it is home made no matter how well home made and up to the job it was?

When I was about 6 my Dad got a 109 S2 hard top with a camping conversion in the back. I loved it straight away. I loved it even more when he used it to push a works truck that was stuck and the all the builders together couldn't push out the way. It was even better when a Ford Capri over took and cut in too early and caught the front bumper. The end of the bumper bent a bit as it ripped the whole side of the Capri off. I loved the smell and sound of the Diesel engine and the way the lights were in the grille and the spare wheel was on the bonnet.

OT I found that my speedo is about 3-4mph slower then my SatNav but the trip milage is the same. Do I trust the SatNav or the speedo for my road speed? I'm not concerned about breaking the speed limit as I don't speed but I would like to be doing 60mph with my trailer rather then 56mph.

You could just chain them to a ground anchor. B&Q do big 'corkscrew' ground anchors that will take a chain and padlock.

Good trick. Now, how do you remove shear nuts?

Just needs wheels and some track and you could be on to something. Whoo whoo! Chuff chuff chuff chuff, whoo whoo! It's quite cute really!