Quantum of Solace

Finished these silly little pieces at last. A mixture of Stainless Steel and Mild Steel. Twenty of each! Still haven't worked out how to charge for them without giving the customer a heart attack. Hmmm. Come to think of it as long as he pays the bill first . . .






















OK. The guy to fix the washing machine has arrived - quick look (as I already have it in pieces) and it's NOT the piece I thought it was! It's the one right next to it.

"That's the part mate. Pity. I used the last one of those I had in the truck about three weeks ago. Hadn't used one for two years so I decided not to replace it. I'll have to pick one up tomorrow and get back to put it in the day after."

"What if I get the part at lunchtime?"

"Still can't get back to fix it until the day after tomorrow. Sorry."

"You're sure that will fix it?"

"Guaranteed!"

"There are only 5 wires and they are all colour coded. Can't I just swap the new part in?"

"If you are OK with that - no problems."

"How much do I owe you?"

$50 bucks."

"Done"

Off to the parts supplier . . .

$95 for this.


















Swapped it in. Hit the go button. Works a treat. Clean clothes coming up!!

Hmmmm. . . . . This is interesting . . . .


















That's the other side. Curious! It's filled with epoxy!

Now my electronics knowledge is to a certain extent limited but I think I count about 5 capacitors, 3 transistors, a logic circuit and a relay. It's actually quite a simple device. If you look really carefully you can see a burn mark on the corner of the bright blue rectangular "box".

Now this item is located way up in the control panel where it can't possibly get wet.
The only reason I can think of to fill it with epoxy is to prevent it being repaired. I find that disappointing.

There's a whole philosophical discussion here but I think it can go in "Output From a Shrinking Brain" for another time.

Back to the REAL JOB ! The truck. Of course it's about 2-30 now so not much is going to get done today.

Start carving out the recesses for the air tank in the support bars. Easy job for the mill even if a bit tedious to set up and slow to run.


















First one done. There are two more (one each side of centre) in each bar but that's a different setup. It's noisy and vibrating enough as it is without trying to do it all at once. First part done. Will need a flat piece curved to shape and welded in to make a better seat for the tank otherwise it will wear a hole through the aluminium in about a week. Probably should use a "plastic" liner as well to avoid chaffing and maybe even galvanic corrosion.



















And I can take out the rest of the rivets in the chassis while the mill is running.

So that's it for today. Have to get ready for "dinner and a movie"!
That's a "Quantum of Solace" for not getting much done AGAIN !!