Fixing the shed

Posted on 24th Oct 2022 by martinwbrown

This blog has been quiet for the last few months as I’ve been working on a big, fairly dull, project.

We’ve got a concrete sectional shed at the bottom of the garden that was put up by the previous owners of the house. Nice building – suspended ceiling, chipboard floor, plasterboard walls, good lights and lots of electrical sockets. Only problem was damp.

There was a damp proof membrane in the concrete floor slab. One problem was the membrane was 150mm underground. One end of the slab was embedded under a retaining wall; the uphill side of the building was paved level with the slab and had no drainage other than across the top of the slab.

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Tesla Model 3 Long Range Review

Posted on 19th Sep 2022 by martinwbrown

We’ve had a Tesla Model 3 Long Range for over a year and 18,000 miles so it is about time for a review.

There are lots of general reviews on the Internet so I won’t bore you – I’ll just try to summarise my impressions.

Overall, the car is good. Fit and finish were fine on delivery and have continued without issues. The electric bit is very good – range of around 330 miles plus Tesla charging stations means long journeys are not an issue. I would happily drive it to the other end of the country without range anxiety.

The sound system is very nice – good accurate sound across the front of the car. Having Spotify built in means you can listen to pretty much anything anytime.

I do have some issues:

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Bass pickup

Posted on 27th May 2022 by martinwbrown

The bass ukulele now has a pickup. I drilled a hole in the back to install it.

The hole was just big enough to get my hand inside the case. I installed a SilenceBan pickup with 3 piezo transducers from EBay. It seems to work fine and is certainly loud – no preamp required.

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New Halyard for Custard

Posted on 27th May 2022 by martinwbrown

I mentioned before that I’ve had problems with my hands from pulling the sail up. Part of the work to sort this out was changing the 2-part block system to a 4-part block system. That all went fine and the sail is now easy to raise. However, I goofed and bought a new rope that is slightly too large for the existing fittings. On the plus side the larger rope is easier to grip – good for my hands. On the down side I had to make a new fairlead for where the ropes go through the deck next to the mast.

New fairlead – before finishing and polishing

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DIY Sopranino Ukulele Part 11 – Finished!

Posted on 23rd Feb 2022 by martinwbrown

Repairing a tear-out – glue in tiny bit of wood then sand down

Bridge attempt number 1 – made too fast and under-surface uneven

Bridge attempt number 2 – complete with wings

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DIY Sopranino Ukulele Part 10 – Soundboard and Fretboard on

Posted on 10th Feb 2022 by martinwbrown

Got the soundboard and fretboard glued on.

I had to make clamps for the soundboard from threaded rod and bits of wood.

Making the clamps took longer than anticipated due to the number of them but they seem to work ok. I drilled the wooden bits at a very slight angle so they apply the force at the tip rather than near the threaded rod. Padding was via neoprene sheet glued on with Titebond – I’ve got a big sheet of the stuff left over from boat window gaskets and it works well.

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DIY Sopranino Ukulele Part 10 – fretboard and fitting neck

Posted on 4th Feb 2022 by martinwbrown

I’m reusing a reclaimed parquet floor tile for the fretboard and other fittings. I think it might be walnut – not sure. What I do know is that the grain is very wavy and horrible to work – tear out is hard to avoid. I also found out what happens if you use hand tools to plane down the top surface of a used parquet floor tile – it took me a long time to work out why the tools became blunt almost instantly. I assume that bits of grit had become embedded in the top surface. Memo to self – saw off the top of the next tile!