Any question answered...

Anyone know of UK stockists of EAI cogs before I order one from another country?
Need a 19t

Is there a 7-speed screw-on freewheel which has removable gear plates and separate spacers? I think they do/did exist but I don’t know which one(s).

HubJub

Most have removable plates and can be disassembled, problem is that replacement cogs might not be available.

IIRC Campagnolo used to have a full set of cogs and spares available for its freewheels. Maybe Regina too.

Campagnolo used to have a full set of cogs and spares available for its freewheels. Maybe Regina too.

As did Shimano, Suntour and Maillard when screw-on multiple freewheels were a thing on proper bikes. They have been limited to BSOs for at least two decades by now, so spares support is non-existent for the low end models still available.

Looking into whether an old printer can still be used after a few years, downloaded drivers etc. Plugged it in, switched it on, green power light came on for a few seconds... then off. Now unresponsive. Power cable fine. It's a 2-prong figure-of-8 socket shape s so quite common, not involving a transformer. Is it possible to fry something in the printer that way? Is there a fuse that can be accessed/changed?

Might be a fuse in the actual plug.

That it immediately went dead (and blew the fuse?) on getting power is bad a sign though.

Power lead and its plug is ok - currently powering other things.
Yeah, annoying. It's been sitting at my dad's gathering dust for 5 years, he wanted to try using it for remote working recently and couldn't get past driver issue. I think I've got the drivers but now printer seems a bit ded.

It’s not for the ability to replace the gear plates, I’m looking at re-spacing them with thinner spacers to make an older HED wheel compatible with my retro indexed 10-speed setup. Just meddling at this point!

+mdcc_tester is your man!

Does anyone know who stocks Chris King crown races in the U.K. other than Winstanley?

I’m looking at re-spacing them

Never gonna happen. Sprockets smaller than 16T are mounted on the stub which extends outboard of the freewheel mounting thread. The 16T and up sprockets which wrap around the actual ratchet body are necessarily on a bigger spline. This means that you have a big shoulder on the body forging which has 3-4 large sprockets on a large spline, then a drop down to 2-3 smaller sprockets on a small spline, then 1-2 smallest sprockets with a built in spacer threaded to the body/one another to hold it all together.
The probability that you can move the big sprockets outboard with thin spacers and move the small splined sprockets inboard with thin spacers and grind down the built in spacer on the smallest sprocket(s) and still have it all assemble tight and correctly spaced for 10-speed is vanishingly small.
There's also a distinct possibility than the 3/32" 7-speed sprockets will be too thick to run and shift 11/128" 10-speed chain in an acceptable way.

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I think you’re right, I’m going to forget this idea. I’ve actually got a couple of 6- and 7-speed blocks I didn’t know I had and they’re all as you’ve described. Some of the smaller cogs in the stack look like the spacer is part of the gear plate. Also, as 3/32” gears go, they’re definitely on the taller/thicker end of the scale and don’t look like they’ll go in a 10-speed chain.

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Also, as 3/32” gears go, they’re definitely on the taller/thicker end of the scale and don’t look like they’ll go in a 10-speed chain

They definitely won't, my friend tried putting a new 10 speed chain on a 7 speed and it broke on the first pedal stroke. Apparently a 1 speed difference either side in chain size is the limit, so he could have done an 8 speed chain on the 7 speed cassette, but the 10 speed was too narrow inside. It pushed the side plates apart.

8 speed chains are 3/32" so the same as 5,6 & 7, they started getting thinner from 9 speed.

they started getting thinner from 9 speed

And then stopped. There are just the two roller widths, all the other changes are in plate thickness/pin length to make the outer width narrower with each increase in sprocket count.

Could be that something in the power supply gave up the ghost. Electrolytic capacitors are the most common culprit. The electrolyte can dry out over time and then they can go pop

Indeed, you probably taught me that years ago.

I found this, looked promising, take it out, put it back together again... nothing. Circuit board in the power module bit "looks" okay (nothing loose/burny), but I don't know enough to start prodding things, especially not capacitors.

Be careful around power supplies btw - the large capacitors (cylindrical things) can hold a charge after it's been turned off and give you quite a zap.

Certainly reseating connectors is worth a shot, but I wouldn't hold out a great deal of hope for that working.
You really need to get out some test gear and measure voltages I think.

the large capacitors (cylindrical things) can hold a charge after it's been turned off and give you quite a zap

Yes that much I know! Just frustrating that I thought it would be simple to get it working with a bit of internet hunting for drivers. Now it's currently a brick.

Any idea who's reasonable for posting a long thin item (bars - so roughly the size of a wrapping paper tube)? ParcelForce want £12, which given they only sold for a few quid each on eBay is a bit steep.
And yes, I should have checked before I listed them..

Looking for alternatives to Shimano D03s disc brake pads (zee etc). Anything out there that’s decent?

parcel2go.com

parcel2go

edit: new page ditto