Home DIY

Out of the many ideas. We want to use a scaffold board as a measuring guide for the kids. What is the cleanest way of attaching to this a wall other than Screws and rawl plugs at both ends?

No more nails :)

It's great - you really should.

I would recommend the reflective film for Velux windows though as they remove 89%+ of solar heat. Because they're facing the sky, it doesn't matter if no one can see in.

We used the 50% solar energy removal stuff because we didn't want reflective film when we were in the garden.

Retractable awning perhaps?

Having battled with the old ones that came with the house for a few weeks and today finally gotten everything to work properly, I can recommend the phenomenon. I believe new quality ones are very expensive though (which was why we refurbed ours).

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Looks fantastic!

Also, pallet furniture corner finished. Was great as the mrs got interested and picked up the toolbox to finish the backrests while I was at work so feels like a shared victory.

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I like that pallet furniture a lot. Standard cushions from somewhere, or are those homemade as well?

This afternoon's project - a shelf with a hanging rail underneath it, made from bits of wooden curtain rail and fittings I had lying around. Dremel router attachment is very useful!

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Managed to rescue my Mum's Bernina 707 sewing machine that was about to go to the dump.

The capacitor has failed (otherwise it is in great condition). Having looked into it, it appears that replacements are obsolete. however I've found a few references to recreating the same capacitance using new ones from Maplin, etc. People have mentioned just wiring a couple of 0.1 µf in series (400 or 500v?), and connecting to the three non-earth wires. (apparently the motor is double insulated so you don't actually need to connect the earth wire).

Usefully, the capacitor has a wiring diagram on it. I have the soldering iron & kit to do the repair, but if someone could help me identify exactly which capacitors to get (from RS?), and how to connect them, that would be awesome!!

Photos here, including the wiring diagram. Any pointers much appreciated!!

Edit: If I don't need the earth wire, then that takes two of the capacitors out of the equation (see diagram in the link above), so would this then work with a 0.06µF and 0.02µF connected across the white, black and grey wires? What voltage / which components should I get from the myriad on RS?

Those look great, though I might paint the wood or make the cushions more monochromatic.

Glancing at that first photo I was under the impression that Dremel had entered the home barista market.

The voltage needs to be 400V or more, as that's the peak of the 240V AC mains sine wave. Higher ratings do no harm.

Here's a forum thread with some specific part numbers. The X/Y classes discussed are safety ratings that guarantee the capacitor won't fail short circuit across the mains and explode.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/equivalent-of-obsolete-mains-rated-capacitor/

(Does it run with the failed capacitor? These small values imply the cap is only for noise/spark suppression. If it doesn't run then there's something more up)

Hey I have no idea about this my self, but I personally know and recommend this guy : http://thesewingmachinedoctor.co.uk/ - I’ve known Tim for years, a true gent and knows an incredible amount of stuff on many many subjects, (brewing beer, photography etc) give him a call and talk it through with him.

Standard cushions

Yes, IKEA. And thank you.

I might paint the wood

Very kind of you! I couldn't be arsed but we're away for a few weeks now so feel free to have a go 😉

Are they waterproof?

Which option tho?

Pallets? No, just regular untreated wood. Cushions are synthetic stuff, polyester I think, not waterproof but wont instantly go moldy/decompose.

We just picked up a second hand elm kitchen table off of eBay.
It stated it had some water damage and showed one plank with a black area. We took a punt knowing I would sand and refinish it. However.....
It just turned up and the main water damage isn't the black area, it's that there are three planks that have significantly raised off away from the surface of the table. Pretty impressive how the seller managed to conceal that in all the photos.

Looking to get some money back from the seller now, but we are now trying to work out how the planks were adhered to the wooden board underneath, and how difficult it would be to replace them.

Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? @dbr any thoughts?

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Difficult. Could make a cut the depth of the bent bits, remove and glue new planks in, then sand back and oil the whole thing. Or inject epoxy glue under the bent bits and hope lots of clamps and a couple of pieces of wood could keep things pressed together until the epoxy cures, then sand and oil/laquer. I am not an expert.

Weird construction. Are they like 6mm elm planks glued / screwed into something else?

From what I can tell that's exactly right - there's a proper wooden (I suppose elm) board underneath, and judging by the way it's coming up it's just been glued down. I guess the other 'fixings' are just for show?

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Hard to tell from the photos but it looks to be ~ a 2mm veneer that is cupping badly. Replacing it will be difficult as you will struggle to get anything to match the level of wear and grain raising that is there. Although it does look like someone has tried something in the past, that rectangular patch that has been pinned in place is a bit weird.

Can you push the edges of the veneer flat without hearing any nasty cracking sounds?

If so you could try flooding the area underneath with some wood glue titebond II or III would be ideal then clamp the edges of the veneer down with some cauls, or if you can; borrow a vacuum bag and pump. There is no guarantee this will work but if it does I'd consider flooding the edges of the veneer with some medium consistency CA glue and then using an accelerator to set it . After this you will need to protect the veneer from further moisture damage a good quality varnish would work but you'll need at least 3 coats. You could also consider sealing it with some low viscosity expoxy.

It's not a veneer - the boards are solid elm.

The line down the middle at the end is dried glue.

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