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What You Up to During Lockdown ?


JeffR

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So in the military, the current explosives is PE8 rather then PE4. However the P doesn’t stand for Plastic (well it does) but everyone says it’s for ‘Plenty’. 

So.....calculate what you want and add a bit more...then run for cover!

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Heres the offending bit of unprocessed timber (not the big bushy one, the skinny thing on the left).  My main worry is that I'll have no control over where it falls.... Trigonometry suggests the thing is tall enough to hit the white landrover and it kinda leans that way.  Before anyone complains, I grow nettles professionally, the bluebells are the weeds in my garden....

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20 hours ago, crclifford said:

So in the military, the current explosives is PE8 rather then PE4. However the P doesn’t stand for Plastic (well it does) but everyone says it’s for ‘Plenty’. 

So.....calculate what you want and add a bit more...then run for cover!

When I worked at Westoe Colliery rather a long time ago we had a stone jam the crusher on bank (about the size of a mini), the newly graduated mining engineer decided to blow it in situ. Me, I wanted to break it up with windy picks, but he was the graduate and I wasn't so we let him get on with it.  Mines and Quarries Act said something about not using part sticks of Penobel , told him I had a locker full of wee bits we could have used, but no, he insisted on a full stick.

So hole drilled stick and gel stem shoved down hole attached to det box, everyone in top yard hiding in  blockhouse.  Siren sounded, button pressed,  a not so muffled WHUMP and we wanders out to have look.  Crusher was made of inch thick hot riveted boiler plate, prior to this it was a rectangular affair, post whump is was more barrel shaped, a fitter was later quoted as saying "effing rivets was flying round like bullets" at the enquiry... The graduate engineer didn't last long in that job

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Sounds like fun Jeff! have you seen these pics floating around the internet of an unexploded bomb going through a crusher? As for lock down no different for me apart from not seeing freinds on weekends, we have moved all operations to our warehouse and packing and delivering dog food like there's no tomorrow! 

 

Will.

 

 

 

 

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So far I have got a Disco 2 engine changed and running sweetly, I have changed the heater matrix on my P38 and am in the process of completing an LPG conversion, My other D2 is on axle stands getting a ball joint changed and my mini is on the trailer to go into the paddock, for a gearbox conversion, as soon as the D2 is off axle stands. 

I have recently rehomed my youngest son as my ex didn't think 2m of social distancing was enough between the two of them so opted for 35 miles he is settling in fine and don't see a problem as I rarely see him out of his room. (Teenagers!!)

Have bought another D2 to play with and contemplating another P38 because it is cheap.

Henry is getting plenty of walks too. 

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This is Henry a dog who is never away from my side.

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Having not been able to access my land rover's as they are at my parents house, I have been doing house jobs.

I also bought a scroll saw at the start of lock down and so I have been and am planning on making some wooden puzzles for my daughter.

I also bought home some pallets from work and am making a planter to sit out the front.

So I have moved from metal and turned to wood in these times!

I'm also playing with solid works and designing some things to make on my lathe once I have access to it!

I've been enjoying the sunny weather and going for walks in the countryside where we live with a 10 kg baby strapped to me! 

Steve

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2 minutes ago, steve200TDi said:

I wish!

I need to keep collecting the wood for that!

Steve

Back in the day I had a Mini Marcos, so ugly it was cute, drove well though had a 1293 S engine , wish I still had the thing.

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Good to see you back Jeff. Regards your sycamore - tree felling is all about having control over the direction it falls! A rope and/or a hand winch can be deployed if necessary to assist with directional felling against a lean. In most cases you can fell across the direction of lean without assistance, as long as there's no wind fighting you. I wouldn't do it without a power saw though.

As far as the lockdown is concerned, just the usual work manic-ness but with the added fun of trying to do it all remotely. Been cracking on with the new workshop where materials allow, the local builders merchants have now reopened which is good news as I will be able to get on with more work once they can deliver me some bits and bobs.

Reading this thread makes me wish I had gone through with it when I considered a dog a few years ago. Some live company would be nice!

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2 hours ago, JeffR said:

Back in the day I had a Mini Marcos, so ugly it was cute, drove well though had a 1293 S engine , wish I still had the thing.

I may of had one or two of these. Currently have two mini Jem's, very similar to the Marcos but much prettier.

 

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This one I had back when I still had hair.

Mike

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Hmm, got plenty of things on the go but actually problem is finding the motivation at the moment.

There was a mad panic about a month ago just after it all kicked off throwing a lick of paint, installing a shower and some kitchen appliances into the top floor of my house. Local vets surgery has several locums at the moment and they needed somewhere to stay so a lovely lass (are they still lasses if they're German?) has been here for a couple of weeks now although I hardly see her which I guess was part of the reason for tarting up the flat because although she's in the same house she has plenty of space to stay socially distant with 3 bedrooms, bathroom and kitchen / living area and her own stairs / doorway from the ground floor. Quite the life though, only doing TB testing so works Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

The acquisition of a new toy tool (JCB 2CX) has spurred me onto tidying up the place a bit after all the destructive groundworks earlier. Shoved some big stumps into the (dry) pond and will have some big bonfires to try and get rid of them. Then moved onto lifting up the old stables floor (huge slabs of slate and interesting brickwork). Mate will be around in a couple of weeks hopefully with a smaller digger to level out the floor and dig it deeper for the concrete slab.

Then made the path up to the "vegetable" garden drivable in the LRs and JCB so I could stockpile the slabs and brickwork (guessing there's about 10t of the stuff!). That involved removing an Ash stump which had a rather large root (8" OD). So Ben could hopefully get the tractor, trailer and digger in I've widened the guest entrance. Once it's confirmed wide enough will have to attempt some dry stone walling to tidy up the end I've removed, then install some gates. But first I'll have to buy in a load of steel and make some.

Then there's the whole garage saga.

In between this I'm meant to be working but in reality seem to spend that time sunbathing with the two labs on the front lawn.

Kind of want to make the 6x6 more usable so I'm half tempted to see if another mate can palletise the almost new 6.2 V8 diesel he's got at his yard down to me and I'll drop it in. That's a sure fire way to get some rain now I've destroyed the only indoor space I had to work on vehicles :hysterical:.

@JeffR so if you're bored hop on down to my place and I'll put you to work. 

 

 

 

 

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I'm an independent financial adviser and it has mostly been business as usual. No going to clients, but video chats with Zoom, Teams, Skype or FaceTime. The market turmoil has triggered a few wobbly phone calls but most clients see the markets have dropped 15%ish and their portfolios dropped 3% and now rising, so are fairly chilled.

I've done a fair bit for 4x4 Response, both locally and for national, from delivering prescriptions, making grant applications to finalising accounts.

Mechanical work = none. Bit disappointing as I have a LR90 with a replaced bulkhead but a dashboard in 1000 random componants.

Fixed a few bits of dodgy DIY at home. 

Now acting as taxi driver for my son, a doctor's receptionist, as the public transport is even more pants than usual, (and the little darling still hasn't passed his test).

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I was going to revamp the inside of our 110 which is used as a camper. However I saw the crusty tub cross supports and decided to replace those first (in situ. of course). Then I looked at the C posts and decided that I'd better replace those. That was a big job and linked in with the tub supports and replacing the floor top hat rails and the new floor and the side bits at the front of the new floor.

Then I made the mistake of looking at the second row doors and bought new hinges. When I took the doors off to replace them I made another mistake and looked at the door bottoms. As there was plenty of time, since we were well into lockdown, I decided to de-skin a door to see what sort of a job it would be to repair it. Cue lots of reading and watching door repairs and pricing of repair parts. I rang a local shot blaster who had not done any blasting for months. He got off his A*&*% and decided to restart his business (and then rang the other day to ask if I did want my door frames sorting).

Then I made another major decision and bought two new second row doors. They, along with the safari door that I bought two years ago, will now be painted. I decided to have a go myself so have made three support structure things that I will hang the doors from. My wife says they look like gallows. Now I am building some flimsy walls which will be clad with visqueen and this will be a temporary spray booth.

So the lockdown has allowed specification creep or whatever the affliction is known as. Fortunately my wife is patient as she knows that once "this is all over" we will get on the road again although it won't be to Turkey which was the plan this year.

Non Land Rover, we are having daily FaceTimes with Father in Law (93 and lives well on his own) and various others with Grandkids. A highlight is to sit at the end of the drive and have a chat with our neighbour over a cup of tea, once a week at the same time. He loves the routine and really appreciates it.

I fixed a TV for a neighbour (needed a re-tune after the local mast changed frequencies). She hadn't used the set for a while. Also fixed a jammed printer for someone who hadn't fitted a new cartridge properly.

Planted some veg - that was something my wife used to do years ago but she lost interest. That has meant spending recent evenings covering the runner beans, courgettes and other stuff that is frost prone. I managed to kill all the nasturtiums as I didn't know that they are. 

I'm no longer working - I let my freelance work drop over the last few years as a gentle way into retirement. I have no idea if I would have struggled to continue with work during these times. The last work (twelve months ago) was at TfL (LU).

So life has been OK, just sad not to meet family and friends. We have obeyed the rules pretty well and look forward to loosening over the coming weeks.

 

 

 

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Still working although on a temporary 12hr pattern that gives me more time at home

lots of dog walks

all veg and tomatoes planted

trying to fix my welder

making small anvils

making dog agility weaves

last but not least trying to excavate my portal axles from the depths of garage paraphernalia to continue working on them

and anything else that crops up in the meantime regards Stephen

 

 

 

 

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at work the 2 shifts have been spilt into 3 shift, so when on shift we are doing 12 hour days 7am to 7pm, with weekend work if required, then  we get  2 weeks of not working, 1st week we can be called in for any continuation training & 2nd week can be called in to cover any illness on the other 2 shifts. so 2 weeks of being at home has allowed me to do various jobs on my 110, these have ranged from replacing weather seals on the alpine & rear small windows, cure a leak on front axle at lower swivel pin, replaced all these items  ----  rear seatbelt floor mounts, front brake hoses, rear door carpet strip, wiper arm adaptors no more slack wipers, all 4  bumpstops, 

other jobs have been removing & digging out ivy roots at the wall in front garden, they are hard work, had to fix the garage door to the garage structure, fix the security light, that's stopped me getting bored. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Tried to move blue 110 but, due to a blonde moment, it was left parked up with handbrake on..... Now seized absolutely solid.  So got family hack recovered from Sainsburys car park (wife words "its making a funny noise") Funny noise turned out to be ........... viscous fan bearing exploded (yes literally) snapping alternator belt which got sucked into timing chest and timing belt jumped rather a lot of teeth.

 

Trees still there, Wrens built a nest in the hole I drilled to take the airbag,  Robins built a nest in V8 engine bay and Bullfinch nest in back of Blue 110, oh well...

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