Hobbies
The Tale of my Old Dumper, Part Four
Perhaps it’s worth mentioning the tool I use for cutting sheet and plate steel, a standard 4.5 inch angle grinder. ½ inch thickness can be dealt with quite easily and if you mark the job [more…]
building
Hobbies
The Tale of my Old Dumper, Part Three
The next component that I needed was a so-called ‘’spool valve’’ with is basically a device with a hand operated lever that ports the hydraulic oil to either end of the hydraulic rams according to [more…]
Hobbies
The Tale of my Old Dumper, Part Two
This dumper, one of the first types to hit the scene has no hydraulic system and the skip is basically unloaded by pulling a big lever which releases a hook and the entire skip rolls [more…]
Hobbies
The Tale of my Old Dumper, Part One
The beginning This story starts roughly six years ago when we moved to Cumbria having purchased a small farm cottage with adjoining derelict barn which we planned to convert to domestic accommodation. Firstly a warning, [more…]
Engineering
Le Château de Guédelon
Introduction I suppose it is only natural when confronted by an ancient architectural marvel such as a Roman aqueduct or a mediæval cathedral to stare in wonder and to ask oneself, ‘How on earth did [more…]