Hi folks anyone know where I can get some new orange pegs. wedges for my Workmate? The old ones have bust and I need some new ones, my local hardware store does not do them let alone the common DIY stores Thanks. Col.
Google ["black & decker" spares] and there are a number of hits. Drill into "professional" and look at the parts list for the various workmates. I've used tool shop direct before and been pleased. They cost about =A33 each.
John
What about some 2*2" hardwood, cut to length then turn one end down to suit the workmate hole - It'll cost pennies.
Julian.
Ah, the B&D Workmate - where would we be without it? I have two; one bought new which must have taken everything I can throw at it for around twenty years now and one aquired more recently from a skip! Thank you Ron Hickman - the Lotus Elan wasn't bad either ;-)
Absolutely. I've got several, one so old that it has die cast frame & another more modern device. B&Q often sell cheapo ones for a tenner or so & they make useful saw horses, occasional outdoor benches etc. They are flimsy in construction, but fine in an occasional almost throwaway role.
They also have interesting work tops made out of compressed & laminated bamboo! I've not sized them up as yet, but as Black & Decker worktops are nearly as expensive as a new Workmate, they might be a sensible alternative in a cannibalisation exercise, leaving one with various useful bits of steel angle & two big screws!
Regards,
J. Kim Siddorn,
Lotus Elan!!!
I am obviously crawling through the wrong class of skip....
Joules
"Joules Beech" wrote
Suggest you might like to google workmate hickman & elan ;-)
No, I quite like the idea of Nick walking away from a skip with a workmate in one hand and a rope tied to the front on a Lotus Elan in the other!
Precious :o)
Not an Elan, but still pretty pleasing ;o))
The P55 in the Skip
By
J. Kim Siddorn
Part one
I had a spot of luck the other day. My neighbour across the road was clearing out his garage and his skip was filling up with bits of 5 series BMW scrapper. I scrounged bolts and stuff, but there was nothing really to interest me - I run a 960 Volvo estate - BUT around noon I noticed a 12" ship's propeller sticking out of the junk. I'm restoring a marine engine for display, so I thought it might do to aid that display and made a mental note to talk to him later. From the other side of the road, it looked like an aluminium prop, so I didn't exactly wet myself, you understand.
Towards the end of the day, I went out to post some letters and wandered across to peer at it. It was attached to six feet of copper sleeved solid bronze propshaft complete with bearings and grease cups and a B..y great triple vee belt pulley and bearing block at the blunt end. It was lump to lift and must weigh 50-60lbs on its own. Gosh,..
As I turn away, I glance down into the bottom of the skip and do a double take as I recognise the crankcase of a Stuart Turner P55 two stroke twin - and over there is the block and the head and, and - well, all of it really. And three guesses what I'm restoring? That's right, a ST P55 ....... Now, of course, I can't sit down for fear that the skip man might come and haul it all away before neighbour comes home from work. He's a nice chap, but one mustn't presume.
To shorten a tenterhooks afternoon, he comes home, and yes, of course I can have it and helps me excavate the flywheel & odds and sods that were deeper in. He will not hear of being paid for it. I thank him very nicely indeed!
I carry the trophies into the workshop and sit on my stool to examine the haul. The bottom end has a bit of roughness and some of the studs are a bit manky, but the other I have is perfect. The new one is an electric start version and the starter works. Works? It absolutely flies around, the pistons are a blur! The dynamo doesn't motor, but that might just be dirt. The Solex carb is all brass instead of partly zinc like the others I have and has a nice little drip tray of its own. The gearbox is better and carries the mirror of the big triple vee belt pulley like the propshaft. The flywheel has a neat vee pulley bolted to the front to drive the dynamo. All the good bits will transfer to my bottom end without difficulty. Better still, the cylinder block is superior to the one I'm rebuilding, but there is a set of rings missing from one piston and the other set are seized in their grooves. However, the block is standard and the pistons I have already from the other block are 0.020" oversize. I ring the Stuart Turner stockists. Rings are in stock at £9.00 EACH. Complete gasket sets are in stock and are £50.00 Ouch!
I phone my tame rebore man. Holes are £12 per bore and he is good, so he'll mike up the slightly worn 0.020" oversize pistons and hone the new bores to fit to get a perfect running clearance. I firmly quash the still small voice that says I ought not to bore usable bores oversize just to save money - but perhaps I'll see if I can get the seized set out before I decide. Then the cash will be on the side of the angels!
I'm walking down the road as he comes home this evening. "Kim," he calls. I go over "I'm sure I've got the magneto on a shelf in the loft: I had it rebuilt when I got the engine."
"Don't you just love it when that happens?", as they say.
Regards,
J. Kim Siddorn,
If I send you money will you buy my lottery ticket please?
John
My wife will tell you that it is just the sort of thing that happens to me. ;o))
However, what is given with one hand is taken with another & I have never yet won a raffle or lottery!
Regards,
J. Kim Siddorn, Regia Anglorum
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Ah Skip hunting, found several old Washing machines and Tumbler dryers, the motors make great polishing lathes and stone cutting lathes, the electrics have some good parts used for my experiments and the casing patches up my classic cars. Found loads of lintels, copper pipe wood etc all free. My wife says I am a scrounging git! Col
My wife calls me a git as well.
I am forced to agree with her. I consider I am indeed a Great Intelectual Thinker.
I used to use old washing machines to repair my classics. Then MIG welders came along and it desn't weld so well. However, now that folks have to pay to get cars taken away, there's generally one in a hedge somewhere that will donate a bonnet etc. Washing machines also had stainless fasteners which were kept but now they're so cheap on eBay that's hardly worth it either.
Our local council runs a public amenety site (skip farm). The attendants used to pull out anything that looked useful and recycle it for a small donation to their tea fund. Th council have stopped that. There is now an impressive CCTV installation to make sure no one nicks the rubbish. It must have cost =A3000's to instal and now they have to maintian it as well. All to stop recycling which they're supposed to support. Crazy.
John
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