simonr

There are bits missing! Si

Just been on the site - and it says it's full! Looks like we've missed the boat this year. Oh well! Si

Sounds good! It's on my year planner! Si

It's also worth noting that as you increase the draw (in terms of number of amps), the effective capacity drops. You may get 55A for one hour, but if you draw 550A, you will get less than 6 minutes (1/10 hour) duration. Si

I didn't laugh (honest!) How about the pub next door to the hospital? You have to try pretty hard to break your nose. Someone else tried pretty hard to break mine once - went to hospital and the ENT chap - pretty much told me not to waste his time! It was quite sore. Try moving the end around a bit & see if you can feel the jaggy ends of the bone graunching on one another. If you can - it's probably broken. If not, move it around some more until it does . Even if it is broken, there's not much they can do, other than straighten it a bit. If you thought it was sore before........ Might be worth sticking some ice (frozen peas?) on it to see if it helps take the swelling down. Might be worth getting your mate to stay with you for a while just in case. Not helping much am I? Si

Life's not that different now - it just depends upon your outlook! (and I am plenty old enough to have been there!) Si

Why a mixture of hard and soft? If you have soft on both sides, it makes the handling vague and allows the axle to roll on acceleration / braking, which amongst other things can lead to prop shaft vibration. The hard bushes on one side make the rotation of the axle track the hockey stick on that side accuratly. On the road, there tends not to be too much articulation, but more rearing & diving as you accelerate & brake. In an off-road scenario, the two soft bushes (or slotted ones) allow the two hockey sticks to rotate in opposite directions around the axis of the axle, in turn leading to less resistance to articulation. The fact that the axle rotation is tracking one stick more than the other makes little difference - it is still allowing the axle to 'twist' in effect. What you get is a good compromise between handling on the road and free articulation. You can get even more if you remove one of the hockey stick to axle bolts on the soft side when you are off road. Si

XF have higher air flow for a given size. PCL are cheaper and far more common and so, unless you want to run a pneumatic drill or something, I'd go PCL. Si

Another consideration is the amount of force required to bend the tube. Tube diameter makes a bigger difference than wall thickness. In an ideal world, everything would be cross-braced / triangulated, but it is virtually impossible to achieve. If you have spars which are simply relying on the resistance to bending of the tube to keep the shape, go for bigger diameter rather than heavier wall. When you are triangulating, it's worth considering which nodes are likely to be impacted and arrange that if they are, the spar which stops it bending is in tension, not compression as steel is stronger weight for weight in tension. I considered that in a roll, it would more likely land on the passanger side as you tend to feel safer on the high side if the vehicle is leaning. Also, an impact at the front is more likely than the back. The cross bracing spars reflect this. It follows on from this, and what HFH was saying that if a weld breaks, you end up with a pointy thing looking for somewhere to go. If that spar broke in tension, the pointy end will move away from the other bit rather than towards it, possibly being diverted towards you. At the end of the day, any cage is a compromise, but one way or another, virtually anything is better than nothing (save for pointy things coming your way). Si

If the Hawkers are the same price - go for them! They have one feature that wins over Optimas (which I run (2 x yellow top)). That is, they hold a constant voltage for far longer while discharging and then the voltage plumets (very much like NiCd batteries), whereas with Optimas and Maximas the voltage is pretty much proportional to the amount of charge. This gives you more winching at full power for the same capacity. For this reason alone (and the very high max current), they (actually PC680's) were used by most of the Robot Wars teams. Bloody good batteries! Si

I used to be plagued with this! I replaced the spring washers - and am no more! Si

A better option, cheaper too, is to put a pair of hard bushes on one side and a pair of soft ones on the other. The axle rotation is restricted on the road by the hard bushes, but the soft ones allow the articulation off road. Si

Ah! Competition! Just kidding Chris! Glad you've got it all sorted - best of luck! Si

Well done - very pleased for you. I'll vote for NFU as well! Go to a local branch (I use the Henfield one in Sussex). Despite them saying they all charge the same, if you ring the number published on the web, they charge rather more than my local branch! Si

Ah, a simple one then! I have come across designs using petrol injectors and burning a fine mist of oil. Hoped it might be something like that! Si

It's good stuff - but essentially the same technology as Ali-Weld, just slightly different formulation. Si

Steve, How did your home made one operate? Si

Mmmm...Are they actually Cobalt, or Cobalt Coated? If they are solid - they would be worth buying & re-grinding as mill cutters! Before I could sharpen bits (Thanks Nick), I used to buy loads and expensive ones at that. My current 6.5mm drill, I found in the street and I suspect it came in a christmas cracker - but - sharpen it occasionally and it will drill as well as your solid unobtainium drill bit! I had to throw away my old (Wurth) 6.5mm bit when it had been ground too short to be useful! Si

Les, How many holes are you planning on drilling? I've never given a second thought to what type of drill bit to use - HSS. Last a reasonable time & easy to sharpen. Of course, if you can't sharpen bits - you are lumbered with buying expensive materials and them not lasting very long either. Buy a set of cheap drills & a bench grinder. Si

Done, Incidentally, you can send the same letter to multiple recipients by putting their addresses in the BCC field. When they receive the mail, they will not see any of the other recipients - it looks like it has been sent expressly to them. Si

Milsey - Mark is correct! (He should be - he helped develop it!) Si

I'm now on my 4th sticker making company - having been let down by all but the current. Have a chat with Muddyweb www.muddyweb.co.uk They usually have a stand at Billing, Have Land Rovers and have done a fine job so far (cheapest too). If anyone has a tyre-tread graphic - it will be them! Si

John, you are quite right - but you can get both types. The 'Auto' variety would be good and behave more like an electric, however the finess of control you could achieve with a 'manual' would be useful. Jez, what is the capacity of the electric PAS pump? (pressure & volume/rev). This might be good for an emergancy winch solution - but the efficiency (or lack of it) do not bode well for the amount of power you are going to get from the winch. There was a thread about this very issue a while back. I have another application in mind for the pump! (There we go Andy - Off thread!) Si

I'll post on here when they are cut, folded & plated - should be about a week. I think there will be 3 up for grabs initially as I will keep one for reference and one is going to Mark (so I can get that bloody unstartable 109 off my drive! ) P.S. Mark Where is the glow plug switch? It says on the dash "use heaters for 30 sec" but no clues as to how to switch them on! Si

Just thought some of you might be interested in this. You can use it to operate a cylinder, perhaps for a free-spool engage without any electrickery. Click Here Si