Finished something!

It has been getting pretty silly in the workshop recently & I am in the middle of so many engines that I took myself to task and resolved to Finish Something!

Ten years or so ago, I'd bought a mid 1980's Briggs & Stratton 240 volt genny for not a lot - the alternator had failed & although I could not find anything wrong with it - diodes OK, new capacitor, windings OK, flashed it a couple of times - it still stubbornly refused to produce any current. It was on the to-do list & I had all the bits, so, having a new 3kva alternator in stock from the ones I found in Crewe last year, I married the two this afternoon and after some hesitation, it ran.

We've been having a few mains drop outs recently (water in the cables I think, they've had the pavement up out on the main road) so now I'll be able to annoy the neighbours with both the noise & the fact that I can have a cup of tea & watch telly when they cannot ;o))

Now I need to make it a rabbit hutch so it can live in the back garden & I've got an engine finished & out of the workshop. Yippee!!!

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Reply to
kimsiddorn
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Only another 50 to go? :-))

Peter

-- Peter & Rita Forbes Email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk

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Reply to
Peter A Forbes

Pretty much what I intend to do with my Villiers/Transmotor Danish army gen set, but with a gas conversion as being more suitable for standby use given the keeping properties of petrol nowadays. Trouble it, it is buried deep in a corner of the workshop and last time I saw it the compression had vanished. Probably only a stuck exhaust valve - I think it still needs running in!

BTW. The 'Vandals' responsible for the big power outage in SE London/Kent don't seem to have been your average kids mucking about. Aparently they came equiped with some pretty heavy cutting gear to get through locked steel doors!

NHH

Reply to
Nick H

You could easily put a "1" in front of that Peter - you obviously have me confused with someone who hasn't been trying! ;o))

Most people just don't understand the hoard concept at all. If engines were gold cups, I'd be Smaug!

Spent some time today clearing the bench so as to put an engine on it. Found several interesting things I thought lost. Now waiting for the battery to charge so I can fix more glass jars to the ceiling & get more screws etc above my head.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Reply to
kimsiddorn

I had to stop buying stuff, almost completely, as we have the factory overrun with engines, the store up at the farm has 2 X Austin A40 Sports belonging to our friends in the USA, a load of Lister stuff that I sold 8 years ago to a guy in the 'States who hasn't arranged collection yet and so on.

Plus what we have in the workshop at home and in the back yard etc.

I'll have to take a stall at Enstone....

Peter

-- Peter & Rita Forbes Email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk

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Reply to
Peter A Forbes

Gentlemen,

Its obviously some sort of mental illness, I thought I had been suffering on my own but listening to you two there appears to be a trend forming. My biggest problem is the fact I cant throw it away in case I never see one again.

Reply to
campingstoveman

Another chance to air my favorite (if possibly inaccurate) Barnes Wallis quote:-

"Never throw away anything you can't make"

NHH

Reply to
Nick H

Of course it is a mental disorder, hoarding is a relative of OCD behaviour. As in all these things, 9/10th of the cure is recognising the malady. It is recognisable by the fact that it is the acquisition of the object which is the driving force and that the continuing act of ownership maintains the interest.

Even getting engines to run is very secondary to just having them!

The next layer of unconscious desire is satisfied by getting an engine to run. It is fatal for me to get something running before I restore it. No matter how manky & woebegone it might be, if it goes, it's finished! I deliberately only use Easy Start to see if it has compression, the valve timing is correct & that it has a spark that's in the right place. BRRRT!!! OK, now I'll get on with it.

Many of us have a terrible habit of taking an engine/bike/car/aeroplane/ship apart in the first flush of enthusiasm & it stays in bits for years - probably for the rest of the period of ownership. I used to do this, but have disciplined myself not to start on an engine until I have the bits to finish it. It is very hard to do sometimes, but I sublimate the urge these days by taking a lot of detailed photos and then wrapping the engine up carefully, complete with starting handle etc. Of course, it is in my mind these days that unless I live to 150, unwrapping some of these little treasures will be someone else's task ...........

Finally, the interest wanes and changes until the fascination metamorphoses into indifference & finally to them just being in the way. There are quite a number now that fall into that category & I really must have a bit of a sale this autumn.

I'm not alone, gentlemen, am I? ;o))

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Reply to
kimsiddorn

Snip:

The nail head is barely visible.

That is why I restrict myself to three engines, well....OK, four, ....alright, five,..... but I am trying to sell one! I like to see and hear them running.

Regards, Dave Carter.

The nail is just visible below the

Reply to
D.J.Carter

OK, I really like that.

I was always cursed in England by not having enough space to hoard all the treasures I found - now I've overseas with space and spare buildings, but in an area where there are no treasures to be found (although plenty of vintage farm equipment - and I did find a user manual for some old stationary engine* in the garage, but no sign of the engine itself)

  • can't remember what offhand, and it's over in the workshop - something US-specific though.

cheers

Jules

Reply to
Jules

kimsiddorn wrote (snip):

Spot on! Ever thought of taking up counselling?

I find that the next itch to be scratched after aquisition is seeking out as much information about the beast as possible - its origins and purpose, internal workings and design quirks, the company that made it and how it might be related to others in the family etc etc. For me this process has to be triggered by the presence of the solid iron in my workshop and I really admire the likes of David Edgington and Patrick Knight who can get stuck into the research without that spur.

I try to at least keep all the bits in the same box - now where is that type 42 destroyer I bought in the mid 80's?

I can't really think of any complete engines that have sunk into indifference - though I do have a mental 'transfer list' of those which could go if the right swap came along.

You most certainly are not!

NHH

Reply to
Nick H

That is excellnet. Though the only attribution to Barnes Wallis I can google is from a posting made in Mar 2007 in here...

Fits well with "The Overlord of the Stuffed Attic"

If it moves, I'll keep it... If stands still, I'll keep it... If I want it, it's up there somewhere... If I've not used it yet, it's not been kept long enough...

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Dave Liquorice wrote (snip):

Yeh, as I said, "another chance". As to the attribution, I got it from my father who in turn got it from Barnes' son Chris (a colleague and family friend) hence the "possibly inaccurate" caveat - Chinese whispers and all that!

NHH

Reply to
NHH

Very good point about ferreting out information about the new acquisition. I do the same & Being Human, I have the burning desire to share it with others whether they would or no!

My current series of articles on ABC engines is a case in point. I've since taken the text & expanded it a bit and used it as the basis of a short book. I've used almost every photo & drawing I have with much expanded captions which I've had this professionally printed in Latvia. They tell me it's ready for dispatch, so I should have the entire production run of 500 copies up the stairs in my house by the end of the week.

Gordon Wright thought I'd sell 150 straightaway but that the rest would be hard to shift. That's OK, I'm in no hurry & who knows, it might be another "Longitude"!

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Reply to
kimsiddorn

Reply to
Mike.H.

Printed in Latvia? Sounds more like this! 8-)

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Do you have a target price, and can we place reservations now, in case they sell out? Seriously!

Peter

-- Peter & Rita Forbes Email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk

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Reply to
Peter A Forbes

Seems a curiously mis-titled book as it is neither written in Ukrainian nor does it appear to contain any useful information about the history of tractors. Or am I missing the point - cf the probably apocryphal story of the reviewer who found little to say about Lady Chatterley's Lover except that the flower arranging tips left something to be desired!

NHH

Reply to
Nick H

Thanks Peter - most kind!

Regards,

Kim

Reply to
kimsiddorn

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