Combistrim teardown

There are 5 release points on the line cover.  The cover clips on at the front.  There is a clip immediately behind the spool (big one), 2 smaller ones to the side of the spool and two stiff ones at the rear.  Release the rear ones first, and hopefully the middle one will come loose.  The ones on the side are minimal.

With the spool facing you, remove all the screws and ease fast the red angle adjustment lever.  Remove motor etc as required.  The spool is glued onto the spigot.  Once off, the motor can be stripped and the bearings pulled (2 long screws).  Brushes are easily accessible 5x8x20mm.  24 segments on commutator.  Top bearing marked WT00 698Z.  Resistance L to brush is 5.9R, L-N 22.0.  Same with N. (Isotech meter)
Small drop of oil put on bearings
Reassemble and glue long motor screws and spool.

This was the first strip from new (2007) as there were no marks on the plastic.  Minimal grass inside.

(more) Strimmers

Well, in keeping with the purchase of aging gear, today saw the purchase of a Jonsered (now Husqvarna) strimmer GT24L.  And a much newer (5 yo) Bosch electric strimmer.  €45 for both.

The strimmer had been well looked after but had 'choke problems'.  It looks like a carb repair kit and some new fuel line will cure this.  It has run well, but the carb just choked up again with grot.

The electric strimmer replaces a really poor quality Stihl FSE31/41.  It's hard to know where to start.  Only 18 months old and was bought to replace a cheap Black and Decker strimmer that was 20 years old and had never once had a problem.

The spool holder cap is too thin, flexes and now has broken.
The rivets on the spool holder have almost worn out
There is no moulding to stop long grass wrapping itself around the shaft.  The spool housing is not removable, so you have to spend some considerable time fishing out grass in the garage.
The guard is very loose and wobbles
Not a design issue, but poor environmental consideration.  The spools are designed to be consumable. If you do re-fill them the bump cap wears out in no time.

Stihl's response to this was 'we've had no other complaints'  As far as I'm concerned 'we will not purchase Stihl anymore' or other brands they own, such as Viking

Patio doors

Anonymous double opening patio doors
Doors can be individually removed
to remove :-
remove black nylon brushes in middle / top of frame 2 x posi screw
internal door only, remove curved white plastic trim, up top in middle on door, by carefully prising from below, then lift up & off.  Can't lift door enough if fitted.

Lift door up, then lower either in or outside onto wooden chocks.

the roller housings are marked 4401B and can be individually and easily prised out.
the white nylon (?) rollers are 23 dia, inner 20 dia (bit that contacts the rail)  The bearing is needle type, marked Nadella HK 06-08 made in france (http://www.nadella.fr/produits/pages/roulements-a-aiguilles.htm).  Rod that fits through is 5.97mm dia. Outer bearing dia is 10mm nom (maeasured 9.86mm) and is pressed into the roller

The alu rails that the doors run are loose and I imagine can slide out, but this will mean removing the entire frame.  Tricky. Meaure 3mm ride, 1.88mm tall.
Worn rollers result in the edges running on the side of the rail.

26/8/15 Have found a supplier in Poland that makes a 22od rollers cast nylon with 5mm shaft.  Close enough and around €2,50 each, rather than the €7,50. 
They fit ok on door out to covered area. Tried to get them to 6mm, as did the supplier, with no success. Hardened. Used M5 bolt and strips of aluminium to make up the difference.
23/12/15 ish. Have found a supplier on aliexpress that makes an almost exact item, but the delivery never appeared and they wouldn't re-send. Another supplier has the same thing a few months on, but the Polish rollers are holding up well.

Rollers are called V groove or U groove

Pictures on file + copies of nadella catalogue

23/7/16 re-machined the old pair of rollers using a 4mm drill on ID to about 18.5mm and a large drill to turn down the OD to about 22mm using a drill on high speed. Quite smooth.
Polish rollers are holding up well on the most used patio door. There may be a slight ovalness creeping in.
See post 7/3/18 for replacement roller dates

Wood shed

With our thoughts turning to winter - well we've had a very long spring  and summer is nowhere to be seen - the wood shed needed an extension to both tidy up the space, and somewhere to start drying off the trees cut 18 months ago.  A gross size of around 7m³, but the bin lives in there and boxes for tinder etc.  There should be space for around 6m³; we use about 1.5m³ per winter, so there should be 3-4 years fuel.

The intention is to put a trellis over the panels and across the garage and grow something...

RIP Porcie

13 month old Porc noir (Porcie) didn't roll in for breakfast this morning.  We found him dead by the side of the road around 1pm.  Poor kitten.

11 tonnes of gravel

11 tonnes of gravel sounds a lot until you realise this is only 30mm over 140m2, which is roughly the parking area we now have.  The drive, due to be concreted is another 150m2.

The lorry really struggled to get up the drive, partly because it's rained since Christmas and partly because he did it in reverse, uphill, and managed to get the rear wheels off the drive which then slipped on the grass.

We also dug out another metre on the parking area and gravelled this.  All in all, we've used about 10 tonnes and I've shovelled the rest to the edge of the turning circle.  Did this in less than a day, so we're quite tired now!

Just a small pile of surplus now.

Digger

Allan came over with his digger and dug out the turning circle and the pond.
4 hours for a small extension to the drive and about an hour to enlarge the old ditch into a pod.

And another hour the following day to get the digger on the trailer