simonr

On both my winches, the string is tied in a loop round the drum. My thinking was that if you wind it out too far (when lowering yourself), the worst that can happen is you wind up dangling on a line which you cannot wind in. With other solutions, the end pops out / comes off / whatever and you go hurtling down the side of the big hole you really didn't want to hurtle down the side of - and mangle yourself at the bottom! I've found it all to easy to mis-judge how much rope I can let out before it lets go! The loop is secured to the drum with gaffer tape to stop it rotating quite so easily - and it does work a treat! If you use a bowlin (sp?) the rope doesn't bite in the knot too much and they are easy to undo even when they've been under tension. Si

Yes it will work - but go for pneumatic rather than hydraulic. When you open the valve, it just exerts a constant force on the thing it's moving. I would experiment with different pressures to find one which reliably engages without snapping anything off! If this were my project - I would use closed loop hydraulic. Simply connect two rams together (each port on one to the coresponding port on another). You will need a fill port and bleed nipple on each circuit (although the leakage is so small as it's not generally under pressure, once you fill it and bleed it, I doubt you'll need to touch it again). The pressure is low - so you can use pneumatic fittings and rams. This gives you a remote linkage - only connected by flexible lines. I've done this a couple of times - including for the steering on a novel bicycle! If you get all the air out it provides a very positive and subtle linkage. Si

Are the baby Lightforce lamps worth having? They are much lower tech than the ones the size of dustbin lids - but a lot cheaper too. Si

There was a chap at Slindon using the webbing - don't know how he got on? The webbing is a tube, but as far as I know it does not have strands inside it. The main issues with it from my point of view are: Difficult to use with snatch blocks. No way of splicing it. There are special knots for tape/ribbon type cable - but I don't know them and don't know if they are strong. The main advertised advantage of it is you can get one hell of a lot of it on the drum and it's less prone to the wraps under tension being pulled down inbetween other wraps. Think I'll stick with string! Si

The dishwasher is fantastic for parts cleaning! Greasy dirty things come out looking very bling! We have a little table-top washer. I'm waiting for Sarah to demand a big one which fits in the gaping hole under the worktop in the kitchen - and then it can live in my workshop! Recomend powder without salt if you want it to stay looking bling for more than a few mins. Si

I'll be up for that! Si

Hi Mo, Nice of you to drop in! Si

Ivan is pretty much right. The issue with solenoid switches is generally the coils are not continuously rated and let the smoke out when you least want it to. You really need a very heavy duty relay - as big as you can find. Lighting relays up to 90A are available and this is plenty for your application. Both car batteries and alternators are designed to work together and there is limited merit in having a managed charger / conditioning unit in there as well. I think most are sold because they are a bit bling - blue LED's and the like. The most I would do is fit a volt meter on the dash for each battery. The normal split charge arrangement connects both batteries together whilst charging/discharging - which is fine for them. If you just connect a pair of batteries in parallel, it is likely that one may have a little more charge than the other. It will pump charge into the other battery - but over-shoots a bit and the other battery needs to pump charge back - and it over-shoots too. This way, a small amount of charge is continuously cycled back and forth, flattening the batteries over time. Give me a shout if you want a diagram, help or even a suitable relay! Si

Nick (Rogue Vogue) bought some a little while ago and he did give me their number - however I gave up having rung three times, never had a call back and the chap seemedto have little idea what I was talking about! I may have got on better if I had part numbers. I did however have an enlightening conversation with the new owner of Tomcat Racing - now Steve Wells has moved over to flogging shiny bolt on bits. Seemed to know what he was talking about (didn't glase over when I mentioned damping coefficients). He sells Pro-Comps as well as much more bling ones! He's going to get my order! Si

You have my support! Si