Worx to Dewalt battery converter

Worx tools come with good reviews. However, most users say the batteries last no time at all - just long enough to be out of warranty.
I got a simple Worx battery strimmer to do very light work. Amazon were kind enough to dent the boxes on a few, so they sold them off at a very attractive price. And better still, it didn't come with battery or charger.

I already have Dewalt batteries. Dewalt converters to Makita and Milwaukee exist, but not Worx. You can get Dewalt sockets from Aliexpress for around 10€ which have been 3D printed. You can get the plans on line too. Given the application I felt that the 3D printing may de-laminate as the battery hangs fully off it. That and I didn't want to wait 2 weeks and risk paying 16€ in custom fees. 

I've done plastic mods and welding before. I had a plastic corner piece that came with some product or other which was nearly the right shape. I bent the sides over and put some copper terminals on. Then a few bits of ply to make a plug to suit the tool, and 2 fast-on terminals and voila ! Or 3 hours of playing.  The plastic was plenty malleable at 300C (use a SMD re-work tool)

It's no oil painting, but it's solid.
Hopefully the tool won't let me down now.
For info, there is a PCB inside the tool, which has a MOSFET to turn the motor on and off, a protection diode and another chip, which might be LVD.

Gate motor

The RH gate motor has always been a bit weaker than the other, and usually requires a service before winter to ensure it runs properly when the temperature drops.
I'm pretty sure the motor itself is shot. It's not possible to fully strip it, as there is a cog on the output shaft which can't be removed. I'm told it's either cryo fitted or glued. I can't risk damaging it as there are no spares for the SCS 2 ram (verin). The best I've managed is access to the commutator which I thoroughly scraped, cleaned and leveled. The gaps between poles are full again, but it runs ok with the 2 supplementary gearboxes removed. I found the first box a bit stiff; it seemed to have too much black (molybdenum?) from the next box and not the green stuff which had dropped out the bottom. A clean and re-grease with surplus grease made it feel a bit better.
A few months ago I dropped a tree on the gate motor. A big tree. The motor had been a bit worse and when I finally took a closer look, all 3 rods that run the length were bent, and, worse, the end caps had fallen apart. This meant that hold the whole thing was flapping about a bit.
The rods straightened quite easily, and the end caps are back in place, but still in pieces. A few stainless washer stop the rods from pulling through the caps.
Off load running current in is 1.1-1.2A, out is 1.2-1.3A. I think this is a bit high, but normal for this motor.
I think I was conned when I bought this off ebay. The electronics are dated 2007, but the motors are dated 1998. The part number (3j3712 johnson) gives nothing. I think it's a HC785LP-025 42mm diameter https://www.johnsonelectric.com/en/product-technology/motion/dc-motors/industry-dc-motors.  Datasheet readily available.

Water meter sensor

For nearly 5 years I've been monitoring water usage.  Thoughtfully, the water company provided a meter with a special slot to insert a reed sensor, which I used for about a month until they decided to install an automatic reader. Whilst having brass case, there must be some magnetic shielding, as a reed sensor adjacent detects nothing.  
Undeterred I bought an AH3503 electronic sensor. A single one will detect the meter magnet, but the variance is in the order of 30mV. Detectable with a comparitor, but it doesnt take much to ruin the reading. So I put 2 sensors back to back into a differential amplifier. It worked well, and I got an output of about 0.6V to 2V with the meter. I made a sensor, and put a ferrite in for good measure, as this somehow magnified the effect.
Several times per year I had to repair it, usually some sort of water ingress (the meter is underground about 70m from the house) despite conformal coating. You can see the home made vero board and the black heatshrink (~65mm long) removed from the sensor pair on the right. The adjacent device is the sensor and this was the latest failure. Despite being sealed in glue lined heatshrink, verdigris got in rotted off the legs. I started off with a LF351 in a socket, then removed the socket, then bodged in a LMV321 rail to rail device covered in wax.

new pcb left, old sensor + circuit right

new sensor sealed up

I had a bit of space left on a recent pcb order, so I made a compact replacement sensor. It's small enough (double sided) to hold both sensors soldered on the bottom, 4 resistors, 2 capacitors, a diode and a SOT23 LMV321 opamp. A very respectable output of 0.06V to 4V (5V supply). The finished device (4 coats of hair spray) and heatshrink is little bigger than the original sensors alone. The output in situ is 0.1V to 1.6V as the magnet moves in the meter. Supply volts are around 4.6V once it's made the 70m trip on cat 5 CCA cable. Current consumption is trivial.
Hopefully the water company won't think I'm trying to frig their meter somehow. I say their meter. I had to buy it and pay for the install.
1/6/20 random readings.  Either the sensor has been touched or it just moved. It was at an angle so a bit far away to register. Tested with tip of little yellow screwdriver and got the range as above. It was below the official sensor, but it fits above a lot tighter. In use it goes from 2.215 to .

Gutters

East and north gutters cleared. Plenty of moss on the roof needs to be removed.

17/11/20 cleaned all gutters. Full of oak tree leaves.

Hedge

East hedge, 80m cut front side in ~2 hours. Ran cubster over to shred it all. 2 punctures, self seal.
Cut front bamboo down to 2m.

Shutter paining

1 day

remove masking off 6 windows

remove, sand, clean, paint 2 coats 4 windows 1 side. 60x80, 60 x 1.2

1 day

remove, sand, clean, paint 2 coats 8 shutters both sides 60 x 1.2

Cubster mini service

Thanks to 2 badly made replacement rollers on the main drive train (bearings not crimped properly in place - lasted 3 hours) I had to take the deck off to repair them. I took the opportunity to clean the grass off and sharpen the blades. Not bad condition.
Bearings crimped back in securely and all is quiet again.
50:57/ 163 hours

Now that's what I call an extension lead

Brennenstuhl 1208440. 2.5mm2, 25m. Why this was listed on a UK site is anyone's guess, when it has German/EU sockets. £13.

Shower mixer

Finally bit the bullet and bought a Grohe 800 34566001 Thermostatic Shower.
Why do Grohe sell it will a 1.25m flexible pipe. How big a shower do they think I have.

Strimmer

The FS280 finally wore out. The main shaft has rounded over. About 90€, but it needs a new carb, and ideally a new tank.
Bought a FS131
Air filter 4180 141 0300

Bosch 10.8V impact driver

Bought used many years ago. Always had a intermittent fault in that the lights would come on, but the motor wouldn't turn. Jiggling the fwd/rvs button usually got it working.
Finally took it apart and there was a loose wire into the main block - a push quick connect terminal. It played up at first use, but seem ok. Maybe the switch block needs stripping.

Servicing

Junior. 0.55 L 10w40. Had been chugging a bit, so new carb membrane, plug cleaned, new foam filter + primer bulb (routine change old one ok).

Strimmer. New fuel filter, Araldite fuel tank, new cap. Was ok, then started stalling low revs. Crap in carb + adjustment, but still doing it.

Satellite dish

A few years ago I researched the market for a replacement LNB. I needed a low noise floor and high gain. I bought a Black Ultra and I was really pleased with the signal.
Today, 28/3/19 I bought a professional satellite alignment tool. The dish was quite a long way out - I gained 6dBuV to 51dBuV. I then swapped back to the old LNB which must be 30 years old, and gained another 7dBuV. I seem to remember that the bandwidth of the old lnb is less, so it can't get some of the channels like 4/7. But it might mean that BBC is better in the coming month - can't get HD currently.

Tree fall

No, I spelt it right. Tried to fell a 16m birch into the forest to the side of the house. The tree was coming out as it was already too big to manage and its roots were in a drainage ditch. I'd jokingly wanted it gone for a few years as it blocks the morning sun on the PV panels.
Climbed it, took out the branches that made it lean towards the gates, cut the wedge, and whilst cutting the fell cut towards the hinge it fell towards the gates. I'd opened the gates just in case, but one took a hit and it's bent a bit.  Needs a bit of welding and hitting.
The biggest casualty is the friend's pride who was guiding me!
Still, we chopped and cleared and swept the drive in double quick time.
It's around 2m3 of wood. About 2L of petrol and 10 hours of labour. And it still needs to be moved 60m, stored and split. It's an average timber for burning. Each round is 25cm long and weights about 30kg, and I've got 30 odd pieces, plus branches. All the tiny bits went in the trailer to the tip for turning into compost (another 2 hours work).
I could have had 2m3 of oak delivered for ~110€ in 50cm lengths.
In the second photo the last tree on the right has now gone (23/3) Taken down branch by branch. It was a willow, so too risky to climb that high. A 14m tree, and the highest branches came down on  a rope, the worst being pretty vertical and ~6m long. The top had moved about 1.5m from the stump.
We left a 3m stump to encourage it to sprout.

Before



After

Hedge

Hedge cut from road to compost heap, about 110m. ~30cm off the front, and the top where it's gone mad. 
2 trailer loads. ~3 hours of cutting.

Cubster mantenance 2019

The gearbox k46 has always been a little growly and hesitant when cold. Not just winter cold, but even in high summer before a period of use. I've previously topped up the oil, which seemed to improve things.
I decided to change the oil. Tuff Torq recommend this at 50 hours and 200 thereafter if it gets tough use. There is no drain plug, so you need to remove both linkages behind the lh wheel, remove breather and steel plate, remove the roll pin on the neutral lever if possible with the fan in place, remove fan if possible (m6 bolt on pulley is normal thread, glued in) remove stay bar on tow hitch,  axle bolts onto chassis, and lower on jack. Takes about an hour.
Tip over into oil tray and leave overnight, although it comes out pretty quick. This was grey/black. Refill with 5w-50 fully synthetic from Carrefour. About 2.2 litres.
A bit fiddly to put back, but about 2 hours including filling and checking.
Seems the manufacturer's data on checking levels through the vent don't correlate with this box. Purged with a drill clockwise in neutral, the forward/ reverse. Oil level unchanged. Then refit and do the same with the engine. Check levels (increased wtf) fit wheels, repeat as above then go for a ride. 
Still growly, but goes quiet in less than 5 minutes on hills.
About 25 hrs on gyro.

Sharpened blades. Cleaned air filter. Oil not due.
Cleaned out a ton of grass as I'd not inserted the grass chute correctly last time and the deck belt sliced the end off. There is no space to replace with a metal strap. A replacement is special order and about 80€. Plastic welding was called for. I couldn't find any suitable polypropylene , so robbed a piece off the rh deck nanny guards, about 25 x 4cm. Hot air max speed, 320C. V prep. Looks a bit ugly, but seems strong. Generally followed
https://www.eastwood.com/steinel-heat-gun-how-to-plastic-weld-plastic-welding-tool

Also need to put a washer under rh deck blade pulley to stop the belt rubbing the deck near the chute clamp.

at 30h11, put new belts on both drive & deck. Deck belt is readily available. Drive belt is listed oddly in ipl, but should read 4L106 (14€). The price for the official belt 754-04304 is between 99 & 153€ + delivery except in Poland where it's ~20€, but I couldn't find anyone prepared to send one. I can't help feeling the belt is a tad long, and running the old one along the floor, it's closer to a 4L105 (~10mm longer) than a 106 (I measured 105 + 106 from a shop). However, the outside will wear down making it shorter. The top to bottom of the old one was 0.8mm larger than the new one. The sides and top about the same. The sides were pretty smooth on the old one. Plenty of play in the mechanism to take up the slack.
However, the hesitation continues, but is less at high revs and after ~5 mins of use. I can slacken or tighten the belt whilst riding, and this makes no difference. Pump on its way out?