Trim, Sir?

-

 

Above is the partially re-assembled hedge-trimmer freebie from Lou's house clearance. I found this in either the shed or the garage, in a fairly grubby and parlous state, with two dodgy tape repairs to the mains cord. I spliced the cord with some choc-block to see if the motor still worked: it did, but was obviously disengaged from the blade drive.

So, it was take-it-apart-time. The numerous screws holding the thing together are T20 Torx, many of them in deep recesses. I don't possess a screwdriver to suit and considered making some sort of hybrid from a driver bit and some tubing, but the screw wells are just too small for anything other than a bit brazed to a piece of rod: I don't have brazing or welding kit, so I took the kludge route and ground down the blade of a long screwdriver to fit the screw heads.

With a bit of cleaning up, the blades of the trimmer oiled, and the case firmly screwed back together, I fired it up, and it works perfectly. There are a couple of observations here. The sticker on the body of the device states that its operating noise output is 95dB: I'd say it's a tad more than that, so ear defenders are definitely on the cards when using it. Also, I was pleasantly surprised that such a budget make of kit should have a decent metal gear train. Financial outlay, zero, half an hour's labour, cost: also zero. All in all, a result.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Of Feedback & Wobbles

-
Image
Many years ago I came up with an analogy for poorly damped feedback loops. The feedback loop that prompted this frankly tart analogy was indeed a horror. Anyone who remembers shame-faced their first attempts at clutch control resulting in the good old kangaroo launch across the lights only to stall in the middle of the crossroads will have some idea of the kind of data transfer lag involved in said system. The analogy I made was that of a large blancmange. Untouched, a model of stasis and eminently stable and predictable; but prod the bugger and the resultant chaotic behaviour needs a very complex physical model and some very decent computing horsepower to predict its outputs, if at all. The system in question was a large and complex audio-visual display at what eventually became 'The Electric Mountain' in Llanberis. We were ultimately contracted to maintain the thing having been witness to and peripherally involved in its installation. Certainly not involved in its des
Read more

Sister Ray

-
Image
Ray Keats - aka Ann Key - local artist & family friend, died this morning. She'd been ill for some years, but never let it get in the way of her work or of tending to the massive network of friends, colleagues and fans she had accumulated over the decades. Her house on the High Street of Rachub, just below where we live - a former cockle factory(!) - bought many years ago when she and her late husband Ronald moved here from Manchester to set up home in Yr Achub, is currently still home to her paintings and drawings, and the front window displays her work, including the last drawing she made in hospital, just days before she died. Her good friend Colin has been a diamond in her latter years, looking out for her and just being there when she needed him. She will be much missed by this tiny community of ageing bohemians up here in the hills, but suffice it to say, George, her cat, will be well looked after now she's gone.
Read more

A Time of Connection

-
Image
I was just reflecting on the vacuum of continuity that's left behind when someone dies: that sudden sense of disjoint, of fracture, in one's personal history that takes one completely by surprise at the oddest moments. These pinch-points in memory can often yield some surprising revelations of fact about periods in one's past. One such occurred to me tonight, tending my rather lazy meal of pizza in its journey from shrink-wrap to mouth via the oven. Al's recent demise still catches me out from time to time: the space he left bounded by forty plus years of friendship. But the thing that struck me tonight was just how much change was happening on a personal and social level in the very early years of our acquaintance. Between moving here from Birmingham in September 1980 and our buying our first proper house eighteen months later, all manner of things occurred that would chart the course of our lives to the present day. At around the time of our meeting Alan & Irene [
Read more