daveturnbull

Ooh, look at this I've just picked up for free from Facebook marketplace. It needs a little bit of fixing, fuse has blown, cause unknown, but definitely worth rescuing. I've had a look inside already, all there is is a transformer and a switch, so I guess if not just an old fuse it could only really be a short in the iron. Fuses on order so will lob one of those in and see what happens.

Is your steering box leaking? ATF softens rubber bushes then they disintegrate easily.

You only have one angle grinder? 😱 I'd fix it, but then I fix everything that breaks, and even actively hunt out stuff that other people have broken to fix. Milwaukee M18 one would be super nice tho. My best one (of four) is an old Metabo (that I found and fixed, obvs).

I could probably get away with a decent iron, but I like the idea of having some control over the temperature, and it's not exclusively vintage equipment I'll be tinkering with. I have a modern receiver with a blown centre channel that needs a load of components replacing, and that's a lot more intricate and tightly packaged.

Aesthetics aren't important, so long as the electrickery bits inside are good.

It's true, you do have all the toys! That would be amazing if you get a chance, thanks.

I've been looking around a bit today, and I think Atten are the Maplin branded ones. I'm also pretty sure that their most basic model is exactly the same as what RS are selling with a different sticker for almost twice the price. They even have the same model number. https://www.maplin.co.uk/atten-at-937-soldering-station-5055189030893 https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/soldering-stations/1611962 @simonr that RS one does look nice, tad over budget tho considering it won't be something I use all the time. @FridgeFreezer I've added Metcal to my ebay search in case one pops up for a good price. Infact @geoffbeaumont's ST-80 looks very similar to @simonr's RS one. 10w difference in power and less than half the price. https://www.maplin.co.uk/atten-st-80-soldering-iron-station-with-stand-80w-6972142390117 https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/soldering-stations/7998941

I've been tinkering with some vintage audio stuff recently, which obviously involves a bit of soldering. I have a rather terrible set of aldi soldering irons, which have been a right struggle to use. One of them doesn't even get hot enough to melt solder. I know of Weller as being a good brand, but they are fortunes and everything else seems to be chinesium. Any recommendations on a half decent good value soldering station kit?

ECU kaput. That's about all it can be, as you've tested all of the components it controls and they appear to be working.

Nice safety flip flops. I've got some of them too.

I seem to recall seeing a laptop charger used with good results.

Blast from the past. I don't think I've seen one of them since about 1996! After I took it apart to get the pictures and put it back together again, it has been largely behaving. The only connector that came apart was the transformer input (3 solid pins that slot into a connector on the power board). I think if it starts playing up again, I'll give them a squirt of contact cleaner to see if that helps.

Like I said, sort of a tool. It helps keep me entertained whilst tinkering away in the workshop. Recently it's started playing up. It lives in a cold environment, and this seems to be key to the problem. When cold out, I'll turn it on and after a couple of clicks it shows 'OVERLOAD' on the display and shuts down. If I bring it in the warm house for a while, it works fine. I've also noticed that when it does fail, the display is dimmer than usual, which sort of points me to a power problem. Of course, I've googled it, but that just throws up a load of issues with overheating (defo not the case here). Opening the case and on visual inspection nothing seems amiss. Caps all look good, no corrosion or burnt bits etc... The fan works as it should when you crank the volume up. Focussing on the power board, all looks ok here too (to my relatively untrained eye). Interestingly, after taking it apart to get these photos, I put it back together enough to plug in a test, and it worked. I don't know if that was because I had been handling it, or whatever connection is dodgy got wiggled. I'll try again later when it's colder outside. So, for the electronics wizards on the forum, does anything in the photos jump out at you as being a potential suspect that needs a touch with the melty melty tool, or anything else?

FTFY

Yes, always a list. Hence my recent fuel tank swap due to floating baffle plate in the old one. Trouble is, these things don't stop you using the vehicle as is, and can often be quite involved to rectify, taking it off the road for a while.

Next job, straighten the fence up

Oh fear not, I own 4 angle grinders. Easily fixed.

Plenty on ebay. Search "12v led light flush mount"

1995 Foers Ibex 250 Pretty please....

There's one regular scammer who keeps listing the same bunch of vehicles over and over again in the military vehicles category. I always report they when I see them. It's so obviously a scam tho, I doubt anyone with more than about half a brain cell would get taken in by it. You'd think if they were going to the trouble of hacking accounts and creating scam listings that they might put in the effort to make it look half convincing.

@ianmayco68 makes steel gates for a living, I seem to recall. He'll probably know. I made one recently, repurposing an old 40mm box section frame that was about the right size, and screwing some battens on for the infill. I went for a single gate to give maximum access width (fence on one side) so fitted a sturdy wheel to take the weight at the latch side.

I hope you like waiting. Total bunch of crooks IME, wouldn't touch them with anyones barge pole, let alone my own. I just hope you paid through some method you can reclaim it easily.

Just a shonky old tractor engine. They're made like this, right? 😬

You didn't miss much. Just Jimmy DeVille driving round a mostly flat farm that would be no trouble for a Nomad.

Nope.