All time best

[biff]

clockman,
          i have to admitt it but shaun the sheep is brilliant and full of ideas,brilliant on human nature as well.so so possible.
                                                biff

[RobNute]

Here is one of my ideas that at the time was satisfying as it actually worked. The problem was to do with the noise made by the waterwheel caused by the water entering the buckets, they make a kind of thump thump thump a bit like an old large single cylinder stationary engine. My idea was to cut a v in the launder which was a bit of a risk as it was nicely made and not easily repaired, anyway it worked, now the wheel just turns to the sound of running water instead of the backbeat of a drum & bass tune! The v spreads the water over 3 buckets at a time instead of just one, I think the noise was caused by the next bucket smacking up against the falling water as it comes around and resonating in the empty bucket as it falls in a v shape now it does not strike in one long hit. I have not seen anything else like it so I guess it's an invention of sorts?

[billi]

Sorry of topic ......

Rob ,is this  cobble stone area in the picture new  or old ? I love it

I still enjoy to lay them ,  and this was my  first big job , just arrived in Ireland ,13 years back in Dublin ,but i should have  saved the wage  for a water wheel    not in the night live

[RobNute]

Brilliant cobbles Billi, the ones by the wheel are new as well, another crazy time consuming thing that my dad likes to do. I had a go at our place about 8 years ago and it always seamed to be drizzling, cold and hard on the back so I can't say that I enjoyed the experience but I am glad that I did it, they will outlive me. Here is a pic of my efforts. I suppose they could be considered a bodge as I made the cobbles by putting a couple of buckets of fist sized lumps of granite in the mixer with one bucket of water and let them rattle around for about 20 mins untill they look like old natural river cobbles, bit noisy but you do end up with a very clean mixer drum!

[Bodidly]

Here is one of my ideas that at the time was satisfying as it actually worked. The problem was to do with the noise made by the waterwheel caused by the water entering the buckets, they make a kind of thump thump thump a bit like an old large single cylinder stationary engine. My idea was to cut a v in the launder which was a bit of a risk as it was nicely made and not easily repaired, anyway it worked, now the wheel just turns to the sound of running water instead of the backbeat of a drum & bass tune! The v spreads the water over 3 buckets at a time instead of just one, I think the noise was caused by the next bucket smacking up against the falling water as it comes around and resonating in the empty bucket as it falls in a v shape now it does not strike in one long hit. I have not seen anything else like it so I guess it's an invention of sorts?

Nice one Rob
That's just what I was hoping for with this thread.

The cobbles are lovely, I like the rounding them off in cement mixer.

The hedges in the picture look like they are in Devon style or am I imagining that?

[RobNute]

Thanks Bodidly, the hedge is a Cornish hedge that I built as well, another job that I am glad I took on but have to admit that it was hard going, there is a lot of material in a cornish hedge as its basically two stone walls leaning in on a pile of earth / bad stones, about 4.5 ft thick at the bottom and maybe 3 ft at the top. Again it was worth the effort as we tried to do as much as possible to make the place look right. I will try and get around to putting up a post about the place soon.

[CeeBee]

...cut a v in the launder...
...I have not seen anything else like it so I guess it's an invention of sorts?

Patent opportunity! Just think of all the royalties from folk upgrading their water-wheels. Or maybe you're a century or two late.

Something I'm pleased with, though not 'renewable bodging', was deciding to try to grow Aloe polyphylla - an endanged plant native to Lesotho. Back when I started, mid 1990s, it was reckoned to be near-impossible to grow. I'd tried a number of the cacti and succulents that have this reputation, and usually they entirely lived up to it by not lasting long after I'd germinated the seeds. But after paying $50 for a few hundred seed from someone growing them successfully in California, I never looked back. Plenty germinated, grew quickly, and after some years the plants flowered and I was able to cross-pollinate and produce seed of my own. I think it likes the UK climate, and can only suppose that it was difficult when people tried to grow it in hot countries. It's hardy outside if you're lucky, at least when large - mine grow in pots outside, and even the small ones have been left out so far in this non-winter we're having (I'd bring them in if persistent hard frost threatened).

Full story so far at http://www.viridis.net/cactus/aloe_poly.html (it's not a cactus, despite the path in my URL). I sell seeds and plants sometimes, at least when I can face doing the P&P. I think more people are gradually realising that it isn't difficult, so I ought to sell more before the market collapses! Whatever happens back in Lesotho, the plant is now at least safe in cultivation.

[RobNute]

Thanks CeeBee,

"Patent opportunity! Just think of all the royalties from folk upgrading their water-wheels. Or maybe you're a century or two late."

Haven't you seen the global advertising campaign, it should be rolling out to a billboard near you anytime soon, I am expecting huge interest from mill owners the world over to allow me to take money off them and give them the green light to go and cut a v in their own launder, you too can be in on the action if you just send me a stamped addresed envelope and 5 grand in cash and I will send you a franchise pack and a free gift. Hurry now as this offer is only available to the first 3 million callers and will expire in 15 years.

(Please read the small print, waterwheels may go around as well as down , up and sometimes sideways, any risk is with the millowner and his/her next of kin, any damage caused mentally or physically is not the responsibility of the franchisee, gift is not gauranteed to be worth more than the packaging and is unlikely to survive the postage)

Yours sincerely

Rob Nute


managing director

LaunderV Global Inc

[JohnS]

(Please read the small print, waterwheels may go around as well as down , up and sometimes sideways, any risk is with the millowner and his/her next of kin, any damage caused mentally or physically is not the responsibility of the franchisee, gift is not gauranteed to be worth more than the packaging and is unlikely to survive the postage)

And stop when their bearing sieze up.   

[desperate]

Excuse me Mr RobNute,

I represent the V launder accreditation and inspection authority, it has recently come to our notice that you have some plant and machinery that does not appear on our database...........

Desp

[Rodney]

Heres an idea I had, maybe someone can develop it. I want a bar code reader that can read the stripes on my cats, this can then operate the lock on the flap to keep out unwanted cat burglers (keep pinching the food) and draughts.
Luckily they are all stripey tabbies, but I can't get them to wear collars with those magnet gizmos.

Desp

Put a tread mill on the inside of the cat flap that way you can get some energy when they enter be it friend or fo.

[Bodidly]

OK this is my bodge which has pleased me the most.

This is a hover pad under my 1 tonne woodworking machine. The machine sits on a 1.5 meter disc of MDF with a clip in door seal fitted around the edge and the old Hoover blows air underneath the board lifting the machine so I can move it around the workshop.

The only problem is the floor has a slight slope on it so it is much easier to go one way than the other

[RobNute]

Hey Bodidly, as a fellow woodworker I can see a marketing oportunity use for your vacuum device. It a novel idea that i am sure you could sell to the yanks as they love any workshop gizmo even if its useless. So here it is, you sell the vacuum and pad to them so that they can install it under their saws, spindle moulders, 4 cutter etc and tell them that its a new European workshop system where the timber stays still and the machines move around the workshop, also insist on new sloping floors as that can be the low energy self feed system. 50/50 split on royalties please! The Kiwi's and Ozzies love anything marketed as European so they may be into it as well.

Rob

[Bodidly]

Nice one Rob

I like the idea of using the slope as a power feed you made me laugh out loud.

Beau