Roselea

Category: Repair

  • Big Trolley repainted

    We bought a big hand trolley (2.4 m x 1.2 m, 1000 kg load)  back in 2002, and have used it extensively since. The steel frame has been desperately in need of a de-rust and repaint for a few years now! When we had finished using the trolley as the base of the soil sifter, we removed all the wooden framing and platform and started to remove the old paint and rust with a wire brush on a angle-grinder (this was in December last year) and then we left it in the workshop until today.

    We finished wire brushing and cleaning it this morning and then painted it this afternoon (we will probably only give it one coat as it really was very rusty and will need to have the platform support frame replaced in a few years (if we don’t discard it as no longer needed)).

    Large-Trolley-Re-Painted-2

    Large-Trolley-Re-Painted-2

    Large-Trolley-Re-Painted-1

    Large-Trolley-Re-Painted-1


  • Mini Trolley Repaired

    Stephen repaired the mini trolley on Thursday afternoon and this Morning. The rear wheels were completely broken and the axles bent badly. The front wheels which had been already reinforced (after being bent while moving a load of concrete blocks – 13 of fat ones!) survived but the axles were bent as well.

    The bent axles were cut off and replaced, then the new metal was painted. The broken edges of the plywood top were trimmed off.

    We bought two new wheels (which were re-enforced by welding 4 struts from the central hub to the disc and rim, see pictures) for the rear wheels.

    Then everything was re-assembled and the trolley was good as new!

    Small-Trolley-Wheel-Before

    Small-Trolley-Wheel-Before

    Small-Trolley-Wheel-After

    Small-Trolley-Wheel-After


  • Starter Button Fixed!

    The truck now starts! We have Noise and Action again!

    The wire had corroded and come off the connector to the starter button
    circuit. We conclude that there is enough conduction when rain gets in, with
    the 12V and the differences of the metals (copper wire soldered (lead and
    tin) onto a brass spade terminal connector), to allow the copper to
    “oxidise” and turn into dust.

    We had already started coating other joints with the plumber’s LSX to
    provide a waterproof protection, but this one was an old joint and we had
    missed it!

  • Dumper Truck Won’t Start!

    Oh Dear! Our dumper truck “starter” button doesn’t work anymore! It seems
    that something has disturbed the wiring inside when the last maintenance was
    done on the truck last week.

    We had to resort to our newly mended platform trolley to transport over 3
    loads of 10 blocks and an odd quick load of 4 blocks!

  • Mini Platform Trolley Mended

    We repaired the bent wheels! The front two wheels suffered under the strain
    of hoisting the concrete blocks! We were (and still are) loading 10 blocks on the trolley (this weighed in at about 270kg!) and that started the problem but really it was when we put on 13 blocks (a total of 351kg!!) .. that did the real Damaged!

    I welded on some extra steel pieces to reinforce the axle to the
    flange of the wheel. We only hope now that the ball bearings will survive!!!

  • Battery and Solar Charger Inspected and Fixed

    The battery was successfully charged up using the mains charger overnight.
    But when we tested the solar charger, we discovered that there was only
    4volts coming out! Oops!

    But after chasing down the wires and switches and relays, and not
    discovering what the problem was. There was a mysterious drain of 150mAfrom
    the battery and there wasn’t nothing wrong with the solar cell (it produced
    24V in the bright sunshine we were having).

    We slowly realised that an old keylock switch we don’t use any more, was in
    the “heating” position, for warming up the engine when it is freezing out
    there, and we suddenly remembered that we used the heater last week for that
    exact reason .. it was blooming cold!!

    But it seems that the switch was left in that position all this time – oh
    xxxx!!

    So the problem is now solved – because there wasn’t any in the first place!

  • Roof Repair on Store room

    We took the opportunity to put on a new roof covering on our store room this weekend. It was lovely weather and quite calm thus avoiding the problem of 10metres of roofing felt being blown about!

    We bought 5 new rolls of the cheapest roofing garden felt and 3 tins of glue. but after all we only needed one of the new tin as we had an old tin almost full!
    We will get our money back on the other two tins!

    Everything looks good now and hopefully this will be the last time we have to put on a new covering – on either roof!

  • Dumper Truck is down in the Dumps #2

    Yippeee! We managed to jump start the dumper truck! We tipped the load and drove it back to the house to connect the battery charger!

    Phew! That is a great releif and thanks to our cousin Neil over in Blackpool for his 20 years of expert knowledge of heavy machinery and everything with a engine in it. Cheers Neil!

  • Roof Repair!

    We decided to repair our temporary storage come accommodation’s roof. The wooden building is over 8 years old so the original roofing felt is cracking up! We had the job on our list of things to do and since we were waiting for our building control to approve our plan B in installing our Earth Tubes so we did the repair job instead!

    We got the cheapest felt money can buy and a couple of tin of black sticky glue and got up on the roof! No Nails this time and new felt straight on top of old! It only has to last a couple of more years!

    On the Roof – Monday 9th August