What have you fettled today?

[Feanor]

Epilogue

I've just replaced all 15 50w Halogen lamps in the downlighters I have here with 5w LEDs. That's a reduction in power consumption ( and heat ) from 750w to 75w. Anyone want a bag full of part-used 50w MR16 Halogens? No, thought not.

[Mrs Pingu]

Epilogue

I've just replaced all 15 50w Halogen lamps in the downlighters I have here with 5w LEDs. That's a reduction in power consumption ( and heat ) from 750w to 75w. Anyone want a bag full of part-used 50w MR16 Halogens? No, thought not.

Stick another log on the stove, brr.

[Feanor]

Halfways into a bath, one of the LEDs has had an attack of the severe flickerings.
Swapping the lamp ( nekkid and wet ) didn't help.

Will replace the PSU tomorrow.
I anticipated a bit of this, and bought a few 12v DC LED-specific PSUs as a precaution.

I've had to replace one PSU during the original replacement program yesterday.
In that case, one lamp in a set of 5 failed with the Flickering-o-death. All 5 had the same 50w PSU, installed by myself at the same time.
Seems that some of them are a bit marginal with the low current LEDs.
Replaced with a LED-specific 12v DC unit, the problem was fixed.
TBH, I was surprised how few PSUs I've had to replace; they mostly 'just worked'.
I expect the same result tomorrow when I replace this unit.

I plan to simply replace the PSUs as required; I don't plan a wholesale pre-emptive changeout.

[Kim]

They'll wait until you're wet and nekkid again.  These things *know*.

[Ian H]

Not me, but a friend asked if I happened to have a spare stem, around 100mm, to fit a 26mm handlebar (apparently becoming rare).  Of course I did, so he collected it and has presumably fettled & fixed his fixed-wheel machine.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Fitted a Sunrace 11sp cassette and Miche chain to HK’s Kinesis. I will give it a week and see if I need to swap it to a KMC chain.

Dismantled and cleaned the old Topeak Road Master Blaster pump that lives on my trike. The last time I used it, it tried to be a suction pump, rather than a pressure pump. It seems to do the job properly now.

[The Family Cyclist]

Not me, but a friend asked if I happened to have a spare stem, around 100mm, to fit a 26mm handlebar (apparently becoming rare).  Of course I did, so he collected it and has presumably fettled & fixed his fixed-wheel machine.

Yup had to resort to the Internet when needed one as LBS couldn't oblige

Today I fettled out front door. It's got draughty but a quick search of how to adjust UPVC door and a bit of hex key work and now no draught, needs a bit more fettling as slightly stiff to shut but much warmer in hallway now

[Jayjay]

I drained the water out of Saphira's brake cables and put lubricant in there instead. Braking is impaired, I find, with ice in the cables

[T42]

As mentioned elsewhere, got the RD, chain etc. out of Trek's back wheel.  Took the Ti Warhorse off the home trainer and gave it a sponge bath: it's going to the not-so-LBS where it was built tomorrow for a new headset bearing so it has to sparkle.

[Feanor]

The final chapter in the Halogen to LED replacement project.

It's always the last one, isn't it?

A single halogen downlighter in the downstairs shower cubicle.
Simply replace the lamp: really bad flickering.
No problem: just replace the PSU. The old one will be on flying leads, and I can just pull it down through the ceiling hole, right?
Wrong.

The transformer unit has been screwed to the top of a joist some 6 inches away, and the wiring is in a junction box screwed to the joist beside it.
This was fine when there was access to the top of the joists.
But the loft space has since been converted to living space, so access from above would involve cutting into expensive flooring!
So I need to cut an access hatch in the ceiling from below. Fine.

Turns out the ceiling above the shower has undergone several revisions over the years, each layered over the previous.
Working my way up, like the Very Hungry Caterpillar, I had to cut through:

2 layers of plasterboard;
1 thickness of ceramic tiles ( avocado coloured );
The tile cement, and then a cement or very hard plaster layer;
A steel mesh;
More cement;
2 further layers of plasterboard.

The total thickness was over 3 inches, and it's taken me several hours to cut the access hatch.
This is the only time I've ever has to use an SDS drill to gain access to a ceiling void!

[Mrs Pingu]

Who tiles a ceiling? 

[Feanor]

I think that was in the 1970s strata.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Epilogue

I've just replaced all 15 50w Halogen lamps in the downlighters I have here with 5w LEDs. That's a reduction in power consumption ( and heat ) from 750w to 75w. Anyone want a bag full of part-used 50w MR16 Halogens? No, thought not.

Stick another log on the stove, brr.

I made some breakfast and coffee
Look out my window, what do I see

[robgul]

Too cold to go out on the bike so (almost) finished a carpentry commission to build a fruit and vegetable rack on wheels for the local corner shop - the rack is about 1.2m wide x 60cm deep x 1.3m high, so a big bugger using loads of wood.   He already has a similar rack I made a few months ago for plants and stuff - this rack and the new one get wheeled out of the shop each morning and stand on the pavement.

Woodwork to me is almost as therapeutic as servicing bikes 

[Mr Larrington]

Epilogue

I've just replaced all 15 50w Halogen lamps in the downlighters I have here with 5w LEDs. That's a reduction in power consumption ( and heat ) from 750w to 75w. Anyone want a bag full of part-used 50w MR16 Halogens? No, thought not.

Stick another log on the stove, brr.

I made some breakfast and coffee
Look out my window, what do I see

• Some other cat lookin' over his shoulder at you
• Two rabbits runnin' in the ditch
• Beatniks out to make it rich
• David Cronenberg concealing Nicole Kidman's corpse under the ice of a frozen lake
• [“That's enough Donovan references!” – Ed.]

?

[trundle]

Cleaned the chain, the cassette and the jockey wheels: The later was impressively caked on - but very satisfying to peel off.

Good for the bike - not so good for the floor underneath the bike <cough>

[hatler]

Yup. You don't want to get that gunk into your carpets that's for sure.

[trundle]

Yup. You don't want to get that gunk into your carpets that's for sure.

It's like an everlasting marker pen 

Luckily carnage limited to an easy to clean surface.

[T42]

Put together a home trainer for MrsT. Heavy great thing, 40 kg. Getting it upstairs was hell.

[Kim]

Put together a home trainer for MrsT. Heavy great thing, 40 kg. Getting it upstairs was hell.

That's presumably where the training comes from.

[T42]

You left the initial S off what happened to my back.

[SteveC]

Chap I shared a house with many years ago, decided he needed to get a bit fitter so bought some weights from Argos.
He assumed they would be the sort you filled with water or sand or some such once you got them home.
Wrong!
It took two shop assistants to carry the box out of the store to the counter. He then had to act the hard man and pick said box up and walk out of the shop.
It took him several hours to get back to the house, a distance of about a mile.
The weights remained in their box for many days after that.

[T42]

Finished putting a longer stem on MrsT's unused trail bike so that I can use it.

Washed the Trek thoroughly prior to replacing the derailleur. It was pigging: the roads here are aslop with agricultural crud.  Maybe I should fit real mudguards, to date I've only used Raceblades.

[T42]

Chap I shared a house with many years ago, decided he needed to get a bit fitter so bought some weights from Argos.
He assumed they would be the sort you filled with water or sand or some such once you got them home.
Wrong!
It took two shop assistants to carry the box out of the store to the counter. He then had to act the hard man and pick said box up and walk out of the shop.
It took him several hours to get back to the house, a distance of about a mile.
The weights remained in their box for many days after that.

This thing has wee rollers at the front, the idea being that you tip it by the bars so that these contact the floor, then you can push it about.  Only when you do this the heavy end, maybe 90% of the weight, is effectively pulling down at the end of a lever opposing you.  You need to exert a lot of strength to pull it over, and then put quite a lot of weight on it to keep it tipped. Downforce through the wheels is maybe 80 kg in all, bearing on a surface area of maybe 6 cm².

This would be fine on a hardwood or tiled floor, but our spare room is carpeted.  In the absence of Omar the Trussmocker that machine ain't going nowhere.

[rafletcher]

Finally swapped the summer and winter wheels and tyres on the car. The 19” winters are a lot quieter than the 20” summers, and quite a bit spongier too.

Then I swapped the dead built-in microwave for a new one. Shane that the old was 20l and this is 17l, but it’s only a small ‘ole and only one currently made microwave (ok, it’s available as about 5 brands, but under the skin it’s the same) will fit, and that with 3mm to spare. ‘Twas easier than I expected, 6 screws to undo to get the old one out, and 3 screws required to fit the new one.