Any question answered...

Our flat (rented) needed work done to fix damp, so we moved out for a few weeks in december. Our letting agency agreed to 100% rent reduction and agreed to have the place cleaned for our return.

When we got back in, it was clear the place had barely been touched, cleaning wise. The dust from the plastering was everywhere and the floor was very dirty from 2+ weeks of laborers traipsing around.

We complained and had a 'sorry if the cleaners were poor' answer but no offer of a second clean, so we cleaned it ourselves.

In addition, the place was quite rough left from the building. Skirting not completed, walls no painted, windows and floor dirty with stuck plaster/mortar.

I asked for a further rent reduction for january, given the state of the place but have been shot down. I expected not to get 100% and was ready for an offer of 50% or something but they're refusing.

Am i wrong to expect further recompense?

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They are a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC, so about as ethical as their parent company, i.e. not at all.

The obvious choices are Smile.co.uk - although their 'new' website is the biggest pile of shite I've ever had the misfortune to use, whoever 'designed' it should be hounded out of the industry - which is part of the Co-op, or Nationwide. There are also some eco banks like Triodos or Ecology, but I've never used either.

Cheers bud. I'm vaguely in the market but I've got a few options.

Co-op here. Mobile phone app works well for transfer between accounts and paying 3rd parties. Text alerts etc. Don't need plastic gumph once payees are set up.

Try asking here.

Your first port of call will be your contract, then probably citizens advice.

I don't think you are wrong to expect that to be put right - it looks shit. You should also make sure the 'new' condition of the place is officially recorded so that they don't fleece you for 'damage' when you leave.

Am i wrong to expect further recompense?

Does your lease have a repairing obligation requiring the landlord to keep the premises in repair? It would help if it does.

My wife banked with Co-op for a while. They were ****ing shit and we are 99% sure they sold her details to a marketing company which resulted in years of nuisance calls.

I would avoid.

We've had a mortgage with Nationwide for many years - never had any problem with them. Also used YBS for savings and they were fine. I've not had a current account from either so can't comment on how good or otherwise they are for that service.

I love this thread.

So I need to remove my Shimano BB-7400 bottom bracket to attempt my first service and am wondering about what tools I will need. Looking at diagrams, I will obviously need a lockring spanner, which I have, but do you need a pin spanner to remove the cone separately? Also, would it be beneficial to remove the other cone with the two long flat spots to get to the other bearings, or should I just leave it on for a service?

To do the job properly, you'll want to remove both cups.

A Park Tool HCW-4 has both the other tools you'll need, although there's not much leverage and it doesn't look particularly comfortable if you need to give it some welly.

The separate Tacx tools are longer and have rubber handles: drive side, non-drive side.

Thank you so much for your reply.. especially highlighting the two brands. I knew about the Park tool option but hadn't seen the Tacx. Cheers for that.

You're welcome.

Not necessarily endorsing those brands, but I do have the Tacx DS spanner, just examples of what you need: there's plenty of choice.

In fact I find the cheaper Park Tools products, such as that one, to be poor value for money.

How do CNC machines work?

In my head, you use code (or a recipe) to tell the machine what to do, then feed it the material (metal) and press the 'go' button. Is that broadly correct?

My understanding is that machining an item is a series of operations - rotate tool head at x-speed, move tool head x-mm in x-direction, stop, move in y-direction for y-mm etc etc.

CNC machines allow you to enter these operations programatically so the machine will perform them in order, ending with your item (if you got the program right) or some scrap metal (if you got it wrong).

There is an option on some manual mills to attach a CNC controller - if you perform the same series of operations over and over this is a big timesaver.

Are mini pc (like chrome box or the intel NUC) any cop? We've got a desktop that's big and taking up a lot of room. It might be nice to replace it.

i'm wondering how transferable the operations are - lets say there's a CNC design that produces something that I want.

What format would these come in - plain text? Or are they too complex to be useful in plaintext. Or is it a proprietary format?

Assuming I got a hold of a particular set of operations - could I hand this over to somebody (with CNC experience) and have them make me the same thing?

I suspect you model what you want in 3D modelling CAD / CAM software first. The output of that is then raw code (G-code?) for a CNC devices. I'd be surprised if the code was human readable.

Kinda looks like this, apparently

O1000
T1 M6
(Linear / Feed - Absolute)
G0 G90 G40 G21 G17 G94 G80
G54 X-75 Y-75 S500 M3  (Position 6)
G43 Z100 H1
Z5
G1 Z-20 F100
X-40                   (Position 1)
Y40 M8                 (Position 2)
X40                    (Position 3)
Y-40                   (Position 4)
X-75                   (Position 5)
Y-75                   (Position 6)
G0 Z100
M30

it can really change day to day. There's always some people who are very quick but haven't raced much, and some people who struggle to ride in a straight line. When it's just 4's or 4's+3's generally there is a bit less cohesion than with the higher cats. People are less willing to ride on the front or help chase down breaks. This means if you've got some good fitness or a strong sprint it's easier to sit in until the right time then take a flyer. At Lee Valley the cat 4's were never slow, only a few mph less on average than the 1,2,3's, it's just a mix of people that don't have enough experience to know how to win or can't regulate their effort.

so - assuming I have this raw code on a thumb drive and hand it a CNC operator - they can produce what is on it?

From a quick google it looks like it.

Assuming the code is an industry recognised standard, rather than a proprietary code for a specific mill. The inudstry seems to have settled on G-code.

Are you doing industrial espionage? Sounds fun!

Very helpful @Dammit and @Howard, thanks!

it does look a bit like that, doesn't it @TurtleRecall

You might not get the part you expected if the bit isn't the size that was set when the g-code was generated.

assuming I have this raw code on a thumb drive and hand it a CNC operator - they can produce what is on it?

As others have intimated, there are things in the G-Code which apply to the specific set up of the machine which is known to the person who generated the code. Some G-Codes are specific to manufacturers or even particular machines, but the main thing if you're not using any odd codes is that the person generating the code will have used a particular tool library. In the snippet @Howard posted, T1 could refer to anything, and the person generating the code either knows what the tools are in the machine, or he tells the operator which tool to use as T1. There's going to be quite a difference in the end result if the programme assumes a 1mm end mill and the machine is actually loaded with a 150mm shell mill :)

The feeds and speeds might not be appropriate for the other machine either, a cut which is fine on a big VMC with a 30HP spindle could stall a <1HP hobby mill

TL;DR: Get the 3D CAD model and program it for the machine you're actually going to use.

Waterproof overshoes.
Any recommendations?
Failing that, any brands/models that are to be avoided?