Stuff you have made today

[finyuk2005]

Do you mean from CO poisoning, explosion, both?
I do use a CO monitor/alarm & gas dropouts, and the rear of the fridge & exhaust are properly ventilated.
I've used one (this one and one other i still have) over an 11-year period (not continuously of course) without any issues so far.

I know lots of people building campers don't use gas & prefer to spend an absolute fortune on induction hobs, compressor fridges, huge inverters, solar arrays & huge Lithium Battery banks instead, while I use an lpg hob/grill & fridge - but I think the (managed) risks of lpg are preferable to a possible Chinesium Lithium Battery fire.

Those gas fridges are brilliant,
Have one on an island we have sheep on, near the start of lambing the gas fire fizzled out, so i swapped the empty cylinder for the fridges full one, and to my surprise the fridge fired up again and ran for the next 2 weeks on the empty gas cylinder!

 

[DAPPH]

Those gas fridges are brilliant,
Have one on an island we have sheep on, near the start of lambing the gas fire fizzled out, so i swapped the empty cylinder for the fridges full one, and to my surprise the fridge fired up again and ran for the next 2 weeks on the empty gas cylinder!

When you see the heater tube and the tiny blue flame that heats the condensing tube it's not really surprising how little gas it take to run the fridge, likely less heat than a burning match

 

[Morrisman]

Either weld the chuck key to a big lump of metal after taking it out the chuck or take it out and chuck it in a bucket of dirty oil or if there is one the cutting fluid tank.
Then tell them why it happened .

As an apprentice leaving the key in the chuck of the lathe or drill was a safety offence ,usually punished by the loss of a weeks wages & weeks restriction of privileges , along with loads of menial tasks around the barracks or cook house in your own time . Out in the regular adult army it usually got dealt with by having to volunteer for four extra 24 hour duties , two on a Saturday or Friday night or lose a weeks wage & have your cards marked for such an offence .

One lathe I worked on had some wierd spring mechanism on the chuck key, and you had to push it in against the spring to use it, and once you released it it basically fell out of the chuck.
It was bloody hard to use, and hard-work to clear the chuck after stopping it. .

 

[GRW]

When you see the heater tube and the tiny blue flame that heats the condensing tube it's not really surprising how little gas it take to run the fridge, likely less heat than a burning match

Nice, simple, robust fridges that are amazingly economically & efficient.
They do take a while to chill down (but you can put the fridge to AC on the hook-up at home before a journe, plus the DC can be used whilst driving to offset that).

On a self-build camper forum though it's so biased towards electric over gas, complexity & expense over pragmatism, that I quickly got disillusioned & pulled the plug
The peer pressure and "advice" was all about electric everything, with Solar, MPPT, B2B Chargers, 2000w+ Sinewave Inverters, Compressor Fridges, Induction Hobs, AC Air Friers, and a quarter-tonne of Lithium Batteries to (try) to run it all.

The reality? People were spending as much or more to do a self-build (often using a starship miles ex-parcel van as the base vehicle) than if they'd gone and bought a coachbuilt. A guaranteed way to waste hundreds of hours of your life, to build something with a value of 35-50% of what was spent to do it.
(People are spending £8k+ on doing a fit-out, not inc their labour & the base vehicle cost!)

A cynic would think that perhaps that Forum had a vested interest in promoting such, as any mention of budget-conscious, practical, affordable old-school lpg that's been cheap, reliable and safely used for decades.... got "moderated". Stuff that!

My van won't be anything special to look at (I'm not good enough at finishes nor about to go silly on the Spend) but it'll be warm, comfy, practical - & it won't have cost me at least double what it's actual value is either.

 

[Red'n'Black]

A guaranteed way to waste hundreds of hours of your life, to build something with a value of 35-50% of what was spent to do it.

Sounds familiar.

Back in my 20s I bought mine, an old Merc 307D, off a crustie who'd used it for festivals, in a partly converted state with moon-and-back mileage.

Spent three months and several K fitting it out.

Had a few summers' use out of it and then the engine died, sludged up oilways. Would have needed a complete rebuild.

I put it in the too-difficult pile and left it parked it up over winter. But I'd not put the engine cover in the cab back properly and then the mice got in and destroyed everything.

That was the last straw. Weighed it in for £25. It's put me off big vehicle projects ever since.

 

[jsf55]

I'll never forget the day in school where one bright lad was edged on by the others too put his square table leg in a 3 jaw chuck too reduce the size too make it level luckily the teacher saw it and stopped them. They never did o level metalwork
Did i mention it was fully assembled !

 

[JOEPRO]

Starting to rebuild my doorstep

View attachment 446500

View attachment 446501

It was tiled and was always a disaster with tiles coming loose no matter what exterior grade stuff was used.

So I'm rebuilding it in concrete edge bricks and infill concrete paving for a permanent solution. Many hours work to go yet but will get there.

I get about 3 hours every evening after work to work until dark! This is where I got to tonight



All working out great dead level along the front and a good 1.5mm per paver fall outwards for drainage. Next up is to start forming the 2nd and last step up with more of the grey kerbs. It's been laid out in CAD first so no kerbs need cut and top landing will be 4no pavers wide to again avoid cutting.

This is my first paving / brick diy project. What I find works well is one of the diamond grinding cups for my m18 grinder. I use a con saw to cut the paver length wise a couple mm too long then buff off the last bit with the grinder to make it a perfect fit.

The paving is A&G Fiamatta long stone paving. Basically a concrete paver with a nice variation in colour through it. Matches very well with the golden oak door and existing stone cladding on my house.

 

[DAPPH]

Nice, simple, robust fridges that are amazingly economically & efficient.
They do take a while to chill down (but you can put the fridge to AC on the hook-up at home before a journe, plus the DC can be used whilst driving to offset that).

On a self-build camper forum though it's so biased towards electric over gas, complexity & expense over pragmatism, that I quickly got disillusioned & pulled the plug
The peer pressure and "advice" was all about electric everything, with Solar, MPPT, B2B Chargers, 2000w+ Sinewave Inverters, Compressor Fridges, Induction Hobs, AC Air Friers, and a quarter-tonne of Lithium Batteries to (try) to run it all.

The reality? People were spending as much or more to do a self-build (often using a starship miles ex-parcel van as the base vehicle) than if they'd gone and bought a coachbuilt. A guaranteed way to waste hundreds of hours of your life, to build something with a value of 35-50% of what was spent to do it.
(People are spending £8k+ on doing a fit-out, not inc their labour & the base vehicle cost!)

A cynic would think that perhaps that Forum had a vested interest in promoting such, as any mention of budget-conscious, practical, affordable old-school lpg that's been cheap, reliable and safely used for decades.... got "moderated". Stuff that!

My van won't be anything special to look at (I'm not good enough at finishes nor about to go silly on the Spend) but it'll be warm, comfy, practical - & it won't have cost me at least double what it's actual value is either.

I wonder if their road sense and quality of driving was as high grade ? Sounds like a heck of a lot of expensive silly one-upmanship

 

[DAPPH]

I get about 3 hours every evening after work to work until dark! This is where I got to tonight

View attachment 446965

All working out great dead level along the front and a good 1.5mm per paver fall outwards for drainage. Next up is to start forming the 2nd and last step up with more of the grey kerbs. It's been laid out in CAD first so no kerbs need cut and top landing will be 4no pavers wide to again avoid cutting.

This is my first paving / brick diy project. What I find works well is one of the diamond grinding cups for my m18 grinder. I use a con saw to cut the paver length wise a couple mm too long then buff off the last bit with the grinder to make it a perfect fit.

The paving is A&G Fiamatta long stone paving. Basically a concrete paver with a nice variation in colour through it. Matches very well with the golden oak door and existing stone cladding on my house.

View attachment 446967

Have you put a water barrier .. bitumen paint ,lead sheet plastic or whatever between the blocks and the buildings wall to stop damp bridging over the damp proof course ?

 

[GRW]

Sounds like a heck of a lot of expensive silly one-upmanship

Spot on DAPPH - nail on head. There's big peer pressure and a lot of keeping up with the Jones ' p1$$1ng contest nonsense, with fools draped in trendy labelled clothing spending big so that strangers will applaud images of their camper on Instagram or FB.

The concept of building a van affordably, to meet your specific needs and budget, for the simple purpose of facilitating & enhancing your enjoyment of getting away, hobbies etc - has been hijacked & corrupted into a weird posing contest
People are strange.

 

[JOEPRO]

Have you put a water barrier .. bitumen paint ,lead sheet plastic or whatever between the blocks and the buildings wall to stop damp bridging over the damp proof course ?

Hi, the damp proof course is at finished floor level which is the bottom of the white painted render bellcast. So this all occurs below the DPM.

In any case there wasn't a DPM on this step before but I will still be adding one where the new paving on the top step abuts the door threshold area for good measure.

 

[nickk]

Beginning of another helical staircase,full of ups and downs!

 

[JOEPRO]

I get about 3 hours every evening after work to work until dark! This is where I got to tonight

View attachment 446965

All working out great dead level along the front and a good 1.5mm per paver fall outwards for drainage. Next up is to start forming the 2nd and last step up with more of the grey kerbs. It's been laid out in CAD first so no kerbs need cut and top landing will be 4no pavers wide to again avoid cutting.

This is my first paving / brick diy project. What I find works well is one of the diamond grinding cups for my m18 grinder. I use a con saw to cut the paver length wise a couple mm too long then buff off the last bit with the grinder to make it a perfect fit.

The paving is A&G Fiamatta long stone paving. Basically a concrete paver with a nice variation in colour through it. Matches very well with the golden oak door and existing stone cladding on my house.

View attachment 446967

Tonight's progress:

 

[Memmeddu]

Repaired my Punto.
Kinda ,I couldn't get the crankshaft pulley off so I've noticed it has got stuck in position.
So I've got the engine timing almost right (the dots on the pulleys cannot align perfectly to the flywheel) .
It runs kinda good.
Slow at the throttle release .
But drivable.
I'm more than happy.
But I've already parked it outside a mechanic shop to get the pulley replaced in those days.

 

[Munkul]

Cut lots of bits of metal. 447 pieces, to be precise. I managed to cut most in bundles of 9 at a time, its tedious work.

 

[lchris21]

Spot on DAPPH - nail on head. There's big peer pressure and a lot of keeping up with the Jones ' p1$$1ng contest nonsense, with fools draped in trendy labelled clothing spending big so that strangers will applaud images of their camper on Instagram or FB.

The concept of building a van affordably, to meet your specific needs and budget, for the simple purpose of facilitating & enhancing your enjoyment of getting away, hobbies etc - has been hijacked & corrupted into a weird posing contest
People are strange.

....yup agree, people keep asking me when Im going to fit the kitchen sink, cupboards and wardrobes. Ive told em its finished .
A van you can still use as an errrrmm van, plus sleep comfortably in, which I did last summer in France for two weeks. Try carrying an large motorbike, bike or a ton of bricks in an Instagram camper.....theres only room for a potted plant and wine rack in them

 

[Blobber]

My first top hat washer on my new to me lathe, nothing complicated or special to all you seasoned machinist out there but a big deal for me

 

[DAPPH]

Cut lots of bits of metal. 447 pieces, to be precise. I managed to cut most in bundles of 9 at a time, its tedious work.

View attachment 447054

Wodzzitfore ???

 

[Munkul]

Wodzzitfore ???

Stair balustrades. near 100 straight ones and 40 odd window shaped ones. I've done loads of these by now and it's not super interesting, but it's a nice steady trickle of income.

 

[GRW]

....yup agree, people keep asking me when Im going to fit the kitchen sink, cupboards and wardrobes. Ive told em its finished .
A van you can still use as an errrrmm van, plus sleep comfortably in, which I did last summer in France for two weeks. Try carrying an large motorbike, bike or a ton of bricks in an Instagram camper.....theres only room for a potted plant and wine rack in them

View attachment 447076View attachment 447078View attachment 447080

Yup - it does what you need it to.
Mine has a large under bed "garage" & services area for mountain bikes. Yes it eats space but that's what a van with me gets used for quite a bit. It'll also mean I have a reading blend space to carry other crud as & when (also I'll be fitting a thru hatch from garage to living space aisle - for 2nd access but also to allow for longer items).
I will have a fixed bed, loo cubicle, hob/grill/sink, pressurised water system plus fridge & Webasto diesel heater - but they are all re-purposed units, not spendy Smev / Dometic trendy stuff.