• Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!

What I have fixed today

That's not just an appalling double negative, :)
I'm building a wall in the kitchen. God what a mess. Dust everywhere. But the main part of the wall is vertical flat, horizonta. All pretty good for a hammer-chewer.
But there is also a small return, and that was not as square as it should be. Unfortunately, I did not realise that a block had moved untill it was too late. It's out by about 6mm over 0.5m, so not trivial.
I started to try to grind it back, but there was too much mess, so I chipped of ffrom the block I had started to grind, then knoked away the two above it and re-laid them. The result is a corner that is a bit scruffy, but essentially square and true and once it is plastered it will be perfect.
The main downside of today's travails is that I mixed a bucket of gubbins, and it went off before I could use it. Bummer.
But at least I do have a square corner. Some sort of fix.
S
Eh? 6mm over 0.5m? It’s not woodworking….
 
Eh? 6mm over 0.5m? It’s not woodworking….
I was about to say the same thing, I bet the rest of your house isn't anywhere near as good as that.

Didn't you make a jig for your building work Steve? ;)
 
Fixed the springs on the floor clamps, was a 2 minute fix, should of done it years ago
 

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While doing a bit of cleaning in the workshop, stop laughing at the back, I managed to suck something into my dist collector that snagged in the pipe work that restricted the suck!
The pipe work is soil pipe that is above the rafters, not easy to access. I had bought a set of fibre glass chimney rods, but as is usual for me I could not remember where I had stored them. I spent a week looking for them, not helped my me forgetting they were in a black storage bag.
I found them when I noticed the brush heads sticking out of the bag, hanging on the end of the shelves, next to the wood burner.
It only took 5 minutes to clear the pipe.
 
Not a very hard fix but....
Granddaughter got this electric tractor from a charity shop for £15 and then found out it didn't charge.
I'd go so far as to say it was unused and complete including the trailer and remote control.
12v battery was duff, borrowed a good one to confirm it all worked, ✔️
Popped and got a new one from Screwfix.
Sorted.
Happy little lad :cool: and granddaughter.
 

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Not a very hard fix but....
Granddaughter got this electric tractor from a charity shop for £15 and then found out it didn't charge.
I'd go so far as to say it was unused and complete including the trailer and remote control.
12v battery was duff, borrowed a good one to confirm it all worked, ✔️
Popped and got a new one from Screwfix.
Sorted.
Happy little lad :cool: and granddaughter.
That is a great fix. They will remember this forever.
 
SWIMBO 'requested' that I needed to fix a few of the netsuke stands as three in particular kept on falling off when the cabinet door was opened, two shown below:

IMG_6201.jpeg

The fix was fiddly and a bit of a faff but just entailed gluing on a little walnut upstand to the front of each and then using the shooting board to plane some additional 'rake' so that each stand sloped backwards a bit more.

IMG_6203.jpeg

Bear in mind that these things are antiques (thus expensive!!) and date from the Edo period, so are quite easily 200+ years old. They also don't appreciate being dropped on the floor:LOL: - Rob
 
🫣🤔... and extension lead that has been intermittently not working, after 3 days of continuous use went *pop* when I moved what was connected to it.

Although meticulously checked (honest guv) no issues could be found when checking each time it wouldn't work... Now know what the cause was - nicked the live and earth wire sleeves when removing the outer cover... Now fixed and usable again - with additional sleeving to all three... I'd expected one of the fuses to blow either in the plug to the main socket or the one plugged into the extension 🤔 neither had.
 

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My fix started yesterday when my Minimax combination mc refused to spin the saw blade more than an inch, made the mistake of trying to help it spin with a push stick and blew the trip in the fuse box, also the trip inside the machine.
Set to today to fix it, my first thought always with an electric motor is check the power supply and next the Capacitor, a bit of an inspired guess led me to check online for problems with very cold weather and yes one type of capacitor is indeed affected. Dreading that the thing was done for as It’s all buried inside a not very accessible steel casing I tried my last gasp fix of putting a fan heater inside the case of the machine on low for half an hour and thank goodness it started up instantly.
Talking to Sil and he thought it might have been the grease solidifying, it’s been about minus 11c for a few days, he might have been right or it might have been the capacitor.
A relieved Ian
 
My bandsaw has been poorly for a long time. It is used mainly for rough jobs these days, firewood and the like. It had a very good rip blade on it, but it's been abused somewhat, not least in doing a favour for a neighbour. For the last week or two I've been using it to cut concrete foam blocks. It does a great job, very clean and straight, but of course, it doesn't do the blade much good. Yesterday, things finally ground to a halt. It wouldn't even cut 12mm softwood and the blade came off with a bang. It was a mess. I'm not heartbroken it doesn't owe me anything.
So I went on the hunt for a new blade. I had a box of mixed blades, some used and some unused, and I couldn't find it. But I found a box of brand new blades, from Tuffsaws, complete with the invoice. Then I found the box I was looking for.
So I've installed a 1/2" blade from the mixed used box, because I have more rough work to do (I'm not ruining another blade on béton celulaire), and it is running as sweet as a nut. No bumping, dead straight, quiet. I'd forgotten how good it could be.
Well happy.
S
 
I don’t abuse my BS to that extent, but as often as not that the blade blunting does creep up on you. A new blade is always a nice surprise.
I have taken to writing the blade change date on the saw . Time and again I think “it’s not long since I changed that “ only to find it was six months ago!!
 
I write the date on vehicle batteries- grudging respect or dismay follows when they need replacing.
 
Fixed... the 'broken/not working" 5ft LED batten light....

Turns out the possible fault was the cable connecting it to the other... after getting a replacement 6ft and having a slight flicker from it, I wired up the 5ft with new cable and it worked.

No refitted along the the other 2, so 2x 5ft and 1x 6ft, and all working - I think I'll have enough light now.
 

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You can never have too much in this country!
How's that new sight glass on the Evolution?;)
😂... very true re light - I've been able to push the ones on each side further up the room to give light to where the bench grinder is and the bandsaw while the other (old one) is now over the tablesaw 👌

That new sight glass is brilliant and has made a significant difference. Makes me wonder why Evolution didn't (don't) have it as standard? Thanks for the link to it 😀 👍
 
No pics but the little ball bearing in our kitchen strainer sink thingie popped out and disappeared down the U bend. Difficult to find a replacement strainer as there's loads of different sizes, so I undid the U bend under the sink, extracted said ball bearing and cinched it into it's 'ole by tapping smartly each side with a centre punch and ball pein hammer. Job's a good'n; took me 30 seconds and saved £18 - Rob
 
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One of the many uses for a small flexible extendable magnet Rob. I have a couple and it's surprising how often they are useful.

Years ago on a kitchen job, my brother was using my drill and holesaw to cut access into a soil stack below a kitchen suspended floor. After dire warnings from me to keep checking chuck tightness the dozy git managed to lose the holesaw down into the stack. The 90 deg bend was about 2ft down and the pipe then ran under the double garage floor, no access apart from the 40mm hole he'd made and using a camera I could see it had gone just around the bend.
Following a few words I can't repeat I gave him a magnet on string and some flexible wire told him he wouldn be going home until he retrieved it as it clearly couldn't be left there as it was a heavy industrial tool and would block the system. It took him over an hour to get it back and to say I wasn't happy is an understatement. :rolleyes:
 
One of the many uses for a small flexible extendable magnet Rob. I have a couple and it's surprising how often they are useful.

Years ago on a kitchen job, my brother was using my drill and holesaw to cut access into a soil stack below a kitchen suspended floor. After dire warnings from me to keep checking chuck tightness the dozy git managed to lose the holesaw down into the stack. The 90 deg bend was about 2ft down and the pipe then ran under the double garage floor, no access apart from the 40mm hole he'd made and using a camera I could see it had gone just around the bend.
Following a few words I can't repeat I gave him a magnet on string and some flexible wire told him he wouldn be going home until he retrieved it as it clearly couldn't be left there as it was a heavy industrial tool and would block the system. It took him over an hour to get it back and to say I wasn't happy is an understatement. :rolleyes:
In the words of the man...."what a plonker":ROFLMAO: - Rob
 
I finished fixing an old unreliable pc
Cause was apparent upon inspection

IMG_20260111_141706_7.jpeg

Blown capacitors

IMG_20260111_141754_8.jpeg

The power supply was riddled with them too
Not sure how the thing was actually still running.

I had sourced the appropriate second had parts off eBay which arrived yesterday and got it all out back together this morning
Reinstalled an updated O S and it all good.
IMG_20260111_143442_6.jpeg
No crashing and a lot snappier.
Should get a couple more years service from it at a small fraction of the cost of a new machine
 

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Sky remote fixed by gluing small squares of aluminium foil on the rubber pads, I tried cleaning and sanding them but no go so I foiled them, so they won’t foil me again.

Pete

OK for an emergency fix Pete but I just ring them up of order online and they send an FOC replacement overnight. I've had a number over the years.
 
I finished fixing an old unreliable pc
Cause was apparent upon inspection

View attachment 38337

Blown capacitors

View attachment 38339

The power supply was riddled with them too
Not sure how the thing was actually still running.

I had sourced the appropriate second had parts off eBay which arrived yesterday and got it all out back together this morning
Reinstalled an updated O S and it all good.
View attachment 38340
No crashing and a lot snappier.
Should get a couple more years service from it at a small fraction of the cost of a new machine
Great job, but second hand electrolytic capacitors?
 
Dualit 3 slice combi toaster the clockwork timer had stopped running so I took it apart cleaned and lubed the mechanism and its working fine, you can get the timer as a spare but where’s the fun in that.
I do have a 6 slice stainless steel spare toaster but I didn’t need it.

Pete
 
Moved a socket from one side of a wall to the other. There was already a recess in the wall for the pattress, just had to fix it to the brick, then reattach the wiring, and make good the plaster on both sides. Used a bit of plasterboard rather than re plastering the whole area.
IMG_4075.jpeg
 
LOML has a small cafetière for her morning cuppa. Design defect means the gauze ‘wheel’ at the bottom is too small to maintain strength over time and so when she plunges it, it no longer strains properly. Quick bit of ‘persuasion’ bending and it’s good for another month
 
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