Foggy, cold and still isn’t it? I bet the grids on squeaky bottom time and they windmills must be really kicking out today round my way. Oh, right; not a breath. Never mind, they solar panels will pick-up the slack. No wot shining? Damn!
Before posting about the title, what’s to do regarding Brexit now? I accept I’m only a tad smarter than a rock and thus am completely lost on where we stand. One thing I have noticed from the news{?} today, is that those super intelligent folk wot are responsible for running the country and wot rule over us, have cancelled their February holidays, poor things, and it’s also suggested that the date we leave the EU could be cancelled owing to the huge amount of work to be done before we are ready to actually leave.
This begs the question, where have they been and what have they been doing since us common folk delivered the instruction for them to ensure we leave the EU? That instruction was duly delivered and accepted, in the same breath he announced he quit, some two and a half years ago, by boy Cummerbund. For two and a half years all the talk has been of ‘crashing out’ and ‘cliff edges’ and they’ve left it all to the last two months to sort all this out? And we’re expected to trust these folk with our country? Pease make it stop.
Anyhoo, a door handle failed this morning. I removed him and found it was the handle spring wot had parted. There are two doors in the sitting room with matching handles. Wot chance of finding a match after all these years? Off to the DIY mega store and first thing of notice was how scary it must be running one of these places; it’s truly huge and there can’t have been more than thirty folk in the place – and twenty of them were staff.
I found the isle for door furniture and after a quarter mile walk along it found the exact self same handles. Okay, I seem to remember that way back, they cost seven pounds a pair and are now nine. No big surprise there then.
Got them home and discovered they are indeed exactly the same. Except... Yup, the new ones are exactly an eight of an inch shorter thus throwing the lower screw positions out just enough to run the risk of a screw slip resulting in a big hole with no hold.
Got it done by utilizing the magic of plastic wood to reinforce the old holes but it’s interesting to see that it’s not only stuff such as cakes and biscuits that are getting smaller. Two pounds up and an eight of an inch down. Inflation and deflation; working hand-in-hand.
Quote; Jacques Rueff.
“Inflation consists of subsidizing expenditures that give no returns with money that does not exist.”
2 comments:
How to fix a screw hole in wood: I've been using this technique for years, not only to re-fix screws in wood where the thread is buggered and the hole has got too large, but also to fill and hide screw holes.
Start by drilling the screw hole out to 8mm. You've seen those 8mm fluted dowels that they use in flat pack furniture? Take one of those and coat in wood glue (Evo Stik Resin W is good stuff, stronger than the joint itself). Tap the glue coated dowel into the drilled out screw hole. Any dowel left sticking out can be cut off flush with a wood chisel and a sharp tap from a hammer. Drill your new holes. This trick is also good for door hinges with worn out screw holes that keep coming loose.
Its worth keeping a bag of those dowels around, you can get a bag of 100 very cheap and they make amazingly strong rawlplugs too in brick, taking around 3 times the force to pull out as the conventional rawlplug.
Things getting smaller: Manufacturing cost is a factor, but in the engineering world there has always existed the mentality that using more material than is needed is wasteful in more ways than one. For example, why use 3mm thick plate to do a job when 2mm has more than adequate strength for the task? Ask yourself if the 1/8 of an inch missing from your handles was actually needed in order for them to do their job. It is in this way that things (edible items aside) become leaner, better, faster etc. The cost saving is a bonus that makes the company more competitive so in a sense that saving is passed to you.
To put things in perspective, an optimist would say that their glass is half full, a pessimist would say that their glass is half empty. An engineer would say that their glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
Ripper,
Now that's a great idea. Front and centre tonight.
I take your point regarding size an' such; very true.
Last para? I'll put a tune up tonight for you. Enjoy...
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