Garden pond - we have a leak !!!

As posted earlier this year (Jan/Feb) decided to create a garden pond from a clamshell sandpit that was lying around in the backyard. Needs topping up now and then due to evaporation etc. but over the last few weeks top up's have been to frequent - hmm.



Topped up yesterday and this morning water level is noticeably down, checked around the pond and yep ground is damp - we have a leak and it's getting worse - bugger.

Hope I can get another clamshell that will fit into the one in there.

Acoustic guitar recording

The First Noel - My first attempt at recording something on a smart phone and posting to Facebook. The audio is disappointing so I need to do some research and then go shopping to setup better recording facilities. This Christmas carol has a lot of cord changes and I stuffed up a bit but never mind I'll be back with hopefully a cleaner version - with decent audio.

Chook annex rebuild - Part 1

Buying the materials

Just arrived home from Bunnings with a load of stuff for the chook annex rebuild.

As usual to fit larger stuff in the car I remove the back seat which gives us a nice load space.

Bandsaw 29 - Base with castors

The saw is finally sitting on it's base which I just finished constructing.

Jam session

Jigsaw table – cutting wood gears

A few days ago I blogged about my homemade jigsaw table and since then have been trying it out cutting various things with different shapes etc.


The thought come to mind to give it the ‘ultimate test’ so to speak  - cut some wood gears.

Bandsaw 28 - Excessive vibration

When the saw is running there is a lot of shaking so went looking for the cause(s) of that and discovered there was excessive flexing between the saw base box and the main vertical beam - we need some more bracing.



Added a bracing panel with another one below the top one (out of picture) which fixed a lot of the shaking and vibration.

Milo update

Everything OK at the moment and Luna is keeping a eye on him.

Holly relaxing

Milo update - not doing well.

Milo not doing well over the last 24 to 36hrs so back to the vet again this afternoon - bugger.

His Creatinine level has elevated again (but not critically) from around 275 to 318. Probability of antibiotics causing nausea thus loss of appetite so taken off that for now and put onto another pill to reduce those side effects so hopefully the boy will eat. If all go's well than back to the vet again next week to check that C level - fingers crossed.

Milo update

Milo recovering after his one week ordeal at the vet with acute kidney failure. When we brought him home yesterday he was presented with a variety of food choices to encourage him to eat but showed little interest which caused some concern. However...overnight two bowls of food have disappeared .

Test post 4

December 2009

Milo update

Milo is back home!!! after being away for one week at the vet with acute kidney failure - OMG. Basically culminated to a 24hr live or die call - that's scary! We figure he's used about half of his nine tickets. Did not post anything so as not to upset people but all is well now - so here's the post.

It's good to be back home folks.

Bandsaw 27 – Upper blade cover

Bandsaw 26 - Temporary table

Friday is cleaning day so got my part of that chore done so I can head off to the workshop for a little session before I take Holly for her rehab walk.

As I said before this is only a temporary table so I can start cutting wood! Found a nice clip-on halogen lamp to light the work area - perfect.

Bandsaw 25 – Blade guides

Another session in the workshop, like the upper guides redesigned the lower ones and fitted them. Would like to do some more test cutting but need to arrange some blades guards before doing that.

The left side of the saw now has a blade guide.

Bandsaw 24 - Cutting wood !!!

We have reached a milestone with this project - cutting wood !!!

Bought a bandsaw blade from CARBA-TEC today and this evening fitted the blade onto the saw, made some adjustments and turned on the power - it works !!!



No blade guards as yet so stood BEHIND the saw and did some test cutting - elation!

Bandsaw 23 - More test cutting

No blade guards as yet so stood BEHIND the saw to do some test cutting – is good!

Back soon...

Bandsaw 22 - Bearing alignment

With a real blade mounted on the wheels I soon discovered that the bearing guides were way off alignment so after some redesign came up with a better version..

 

This is Version 2.0

Bandsaw 21 - Lower blade guides

As with the upper assembly I will need to redesign the lower blade guides which I removed so I could test run the saw.

CCTV Security System–Update

Installed the RXCamPro app so I can view the Cocoon CCTV-DVR system on the new Lenovo tablet - looks good.

 

Bandsaw 20 - Temporary table

In my last update I was working on the upper and lower blade guides which I completed last night so for tonight we setup a temporary table. Having reached this point of the project I am ready now to commit to buying a - bandsaw blade!



It's really starting to look like a bandsaw now.

Bandsaw 19 - Purchasing a blade

Off in the next day or so to CARBA-TEC in Springvale to purchase a bandsaw blade - finally!

This one should be OK to test the saw:

BBL-2553-13-4 Bandsaw Blade (L = 2553mm, W = 13mm, TPI = 4) $22.00

Purchased a 10” tablet

While at JB Hi-Fi also purchased a Lenovo 10" Tablet for $319 for general use around the home - Lenovo Yoga 10 10.1" Tablet 16GB

New TV for the balcony

Off this morning after tending to Dusty (horse) to JB Hi-Fi to purchase the Soniq 40" Full HD LED-LCD TV on sale for $299 - that's a good price. This is to replace the balcony AWA 37" that we returned to BIGW for a full refund after two years of use (three year  warranty) when it developed a fault and the warranty provider collapsed.

No internet this morning!

Rang Telstra Bigpond and they are already onto it in our area.

Holly - Rehab update

Everything going well, this plastic fence prevents her from charging the front gates to attack passing feet - and paws.

Bandsaw 18 - Blade guides

Working on the blade guide's, the upper set which is mounted at the bottom of the arm slide’s vertically up and down to adjust for different cutting heights.

This is the upper assembly and at the top is the clamping block, to adjust cutting height simply loosen the clamping bolt and the slides inside the block.

Holly – Rehab update

From the previous post – a video.

Right cruciate ligament rehab.

Holly - Rehab update

Lost track of where we are...maybe week 4 of the 8 week rehab period. The daily walks are orthopedically wearing me down.

Tsunami warning

CCTV Security System - Update

Still tweaking things, full screen capture of the desktop PC showing IE browser connection over the internet to the CCTV/DVR system. However...DDNS on the DVR itself is not working???

Freshly baked bread – NOT

Coles banned from advertising frozen bread as 'Freshly Baked'.

Coles have been doing this for years, that's why their "bread" and other related stuff only lasts for a day!...and Coles customers were not aware of this - Crikey. Just a warning will do and make sure to replace Freshly Baked with Freshly Reheated.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-29/coles-banned-from-advertising-frozen-bread-as-freshly-baked/5776650

CCTV System - Part 4 final

All the cables for the balcony area, along with the four new camera cables, come down here.

CCTV Security System – Update

At the horse paddocks feeding Dusty and on the phone checking the system at home.

New guitar strings

The girls are tripping to The Glen so asked them to get me a set of acoustic guitar strings from JB-HiFi, Martin Acoustic Guitar Strings - Light. Can't remember the last time I had a string change on the Eston acoustic which itself must be 50+ years old.

CCTV System - Part 3

Finished running the last two cables and mounting the cameras in the carport area.

Mobile phone data

Running out so just tacked on some more. Been using the phone s lot more connecting over the net to the CCTV/DVR at home. Over the last 3 days chewed up about 100mb of 200mb allowance on my Vodafone $20 SIM so just added 1GB for $10 bucks - not bad.

Pond maintenance - it needs it.

The pond pumps (waterfall, fountain and bamboo water spout) are cycled through most of the day (every day x 365) off a timer which is connected to a RCD (AKA GFC).

Every two weeks I treat the pond with Aquapro/Aquatec Bionatural Feature Clean Treatment



which keeps everything looking pretty good all year round.

However over winter what was one a thriving water lettuce died off and seemed to contaminate everything so time for some TLC.

CCTV System - Part 2

CAM 1 that views the driveway and front gates is done.

CCTV Security System - Update

Been a busy day so behind with this particular post. As per the normal routine shuffled out to the balcony to wake up the computer and lately to also check the new CCTV/DVR system so turned on it's monitor and was horrified to see the CAM 1 live picture !!! Could it be a faulty camera? Watched it for a while and it seemed to pulsate...like something breathing...could it be a moth?

Went off to fin...d the ALDI extendable pole cobweb brush, extended all four telescopic sections and it easily reached up there so gently brushed the front of the camera and something flew away - a moth.

Yep...that was the ass of a large moth on CAM 1. Looks like this could be a ongoing issue, the IR night LED’s will attract them and it cosy in there with the warmth of the LED's and protected under the weather shield.

Cocoon CCTV Security System - Update

What's happening at home? This is a screen grab off my Samsung Galaxy Note displaying live pictures - from home. The RXCamPro app also allows you to playback recordings plus other stuff. If you configured the DVR to send Alerts then when you receive them on your mobile device you can go have a look in Record Playback to see what triggered that particular event - not bad.

Cocoon CCTV Security System – Update

Nice weather today so decided to start installing the new CCTV system, Most of the work involves running the bloody camera cables, often in places where humans shouldn't go! Well...we are half way there with two cameras wired back to the DVR displaying pictures on the monitor :-)


This camera (CAM 2) is mounted on the dining room corner.

Bandsaw 17 - Upper guides

Taking a break from the larger components and onto something more intricate - the upper blade guide assembly (wooden leggo).

Once again using clamps to mock up so I get a feel for how things might pan out, It's starting to look like a bandsaw.

Bandsaw 16 – Lower wheel dodgy tire

Lower wheel - this clearly shows how I stuffed up cutting out around the valve base of the tube.

 It's OK for now but will likely stretch at that weak point. I will buy another 12” tube from Kmart and replace.

Bandsaw 15 - 12" bike tubes

Popped into Kmart on the way back home from the horse paddocks to buy a couple of those 12" inner tubes that will become tyres for the bandsaw wheels.

First task is to cut around the inside of the tube.

Bandsaw 14 - Wheel tire video clip

I used my aging Kodak Z730 camera and for some reason there is no audio - never mind.

Bandsaw 13 - Faulty bike tube

As per my last post continued on to put a "tire" on the upper wheel but when I pulled the second tube out of it's box discovered it had been packaged with a funny kink - bugger.

Back to Kmart to exchange that one. Keen to push on and see a "blade" running on the wheels I fashioned one from banding tape held together with masking tape - it works!

Bandsaw 12 - banding tape blade

Video clip below of the bandsaw running with a banding tape blade.

Bandsaw 11 - improved motor pulley

I pre-cut the groove on the router table with a V-bit and then mounted the pulley on the motor shaft to finish turning with my "V-groove file" and yeah it runs quite true.

The shaft has two flats so I drilled and tapped the pulley to accept two grub screws.

Bandsaw 10 - Motor pulley problems

Over the last couple of days been trying to recover from a major setback!

While trying to turn the crowns on the fattened wheels the V-drive pulley, which is bolted to the impeller, keeps separating itself (spinning off) from the threaded motor shaft under the heavier loads. I was wondering if this would come back to bite because the motor originally ran CCW and the impeller screwed CW (opposite direction) onto the motor shaft. The blade needs to run CW so I reversed the motor direction with the added benefit that the motor could be mounted towards the back of the saw.

Bandsaw 9 - V groove turning tool

With lots of grinding I put a V point cutting edge on one of my old files to turn V-groves on pulleys and drive wheels.

Bandsaw 8 - Upper wheel mount/tension assembly.

Plodding along...and yes moving forward in the right direction.



Until now the bearing flanges were just screwed on but when the wheels are spinning under load from blade tension there will be something like 150lbs (70kgs) of force being thrown outwards in all directions from the centre of the wheels. This is the final glue up of the four flanges using Titebond Original wood glue - classic yellow glue. The wheels have already been trued for wobble but I will need to check that again by mounting them on the lower wheel mount shaft and spin each wheel as I tighten the screws.