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  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
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Hobbies 2021

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I am using PLA (Polylactic Acid) Filamet. It’s made from corn, so is biodegradable. You buy it in 1Kg rolls, and it’s all coiled up like string, 1.75mm diameter.

There is a stepper motor with cogs that pushes the filament into the hot extruder that has a nozzle of .4mm diameter. Effectively, it melts and is squeezed out like toothpaste.

You can either 3D model the objects if you wish to make in a programme like Auto Cad. I am using a programme called Fusion 360. Alternatively, there are now millions of 3D models that people have produced already. Just google 3D models. I quite like some of the anatomical models.
Thank you very much,it sounds fun,this could give me a retirement interest, I shall start to investigate it more closely, again thanks.

Bob
 
A few weeks back i found this rather nice Michael Kors watch. I bought a gizmo to get the back off & replaced the battery. Now i need to replace the broken strap/band but i can`t figure out how to remove it other than cut it off with a hacksaw which i`m bound to mess up. If anyone has the knowledge & can help then would be appreciated. PS, i did advertise that i found this watch but nobody claimed it.
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This should tell you how to change strap etc

Thanks mate but ive seen that one & a dozen others on youtube. None of them say how to remove links without the pin hole, especially the link that joins the watch itself. The heel bar in the shopping centre wanted £24.50 just to change the battery !! I shall try pliers & if that doesn`t work then it`s try the hacksaw. Michael Kors website state £77 to change the strap.
 
Thanks mate but ive seen that one & a dozen others on youtube. None of them say how to remove links without the pin hole, especially the link that joins the watch itself. The heel bar in the shopping centre wanted £24.50 just to change the battery !! I shall try pliers & if that doesn`t work then it`s try the hacksaw. Michael Kors website state £77 to change the strap.
Can you show us a rear view of the watch & strap connections?
Does one of these unscrew with pliers or very small spanner and pull through?

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Looks to me from side view there are octagonal nuts at the ends near the watch. Have you tried unscrewing them. Sadly I can't remember now how to remove a link. My dad used to do watch repairs and I used to see him remove links but age caught up with me.
 
Can you show us a rear view of the watch & strap connections?
Does one of these unscrew with pliers or very small spanner and pull through?

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Looking closely at these photo`s they do look like the fixings on the watch so probably pliers or a very small spanner Do you think i should give the pliers a go? Can`t think where i would get such a small spanner.
 
A pair of pliers & pincers did the job, so fiddly. Now i need to buy & fit another bracelet & if successful i shall give the watch to charity. I just hope the person who lost the watch doesn`t turn up when i`ve repaired it. Thanks for the help.
 
A few weeks back i found this rather nice Michael Kors watch. I bought a gizmo to get the back off & replaced the battery. Now i need to replace the broken strap/band but i can`t figure out how to remove it other than cut it off with a hacksaw which i`m bound to mess up. If anyone has the knowledge & can help then would be appreciated. PS, i did advertise that i found this watch but nobody claimed it.
why did you not hand it in to the police? it is someones pride and joy
 
why did you not hand it in to the police? it is someones pride and joy
Pete, the fact it was almost buried in a tractor tread & when my mrs dug it out strap broken & battery dead i didn`t think much about it but i did advertise in the local shops & the wife's hairdresser said she would put it on facebook that was probably better than handing it in to the police. I`ve replaced the battery & removed the broken strap & when the job is finished i shall give it to charity. No profit for me in fact i`m out of pocket ( but i`ve enjoyed the challenge of fixing it )
 
My lockdown music hobby has been to sight read sheet music and play it on my keyboard. I bought a midi keyboard which plugs into my laptop and a foot switch to control turning the page. At first I tried using pdfs but experimented with PowerPoint (finally found a decent use for it). The foot switch controlls the page turning in ppt easily and I can programme the order the pages are shown to allow for repeat verses. To move my playing on (just used to vamp chords and play the melody before) I bought some interactive emedia software. My headphones mean I can practice without annoying people.
I use a programme called 'OnSong', this allows to use a foot switch to turn a page or have it scroll by. You can import .doc or .ppt music sheets.
Another good programme is 'PDF Sam' this allows you to split a .pdf file into single or double sheets.
 
Pete, the fact it was almost buried in a tractor tread & when my mrs dug it out strap broken & battery dead i didn`t think much about it but i did advertise in the local shops & the wife's hairdresser said she would put it on facebook that was probably better than handing it in to the police. I`ve replaced the battery & removed the broken strap & when the job is finished i shall give it to charity. No profit for me in fact i`m out of pocket ( but i`ve enjoyed the challenge of fixing it )
brill that is could of you. i found one and handed it in 3 months later it was mine,i still have it. my nan found one in 1936 on blackpool beach a old gold ladies. watch when she popped her clogs dad give it me.i keep it for sentimental reasons. if i find dosh on the beach thats pete's:grinning::grinning:
 
I am making a Harry Potter themed book nook diorama based on Knockturn Ally. As you Harry Potter fans know, Knockturn is off Diagon Ally, the place where all the baddies hang out. All dark and mysterious.
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That looks really good, I used to make such models for a living and made all kinds of models inc Victorian era streetscenes in 1/12th scale for collectors & museums worldwide
 
Do you have any photos?
My old websites are still up long after I retired, there are streetscene photo's but the special Diagon Alley model went to a famous collector in Florida who requested ( & paid extra!) that it was not put on my website as she did not want anyone else to have the same, after all that the model appeared in a magazine a few months later :confused:

The mills website shows all the models I made for Bishops Lydeard Mill & Museum in Somerset


Watermill models



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You can see me on TV making one of the models for a TV programme "Collectors Lot" in 1998, originally recorded on VHS tape but after finding it again I managed to edit my bits out of the 5 episodes and copy it to DVD, the lower Youtube resolution is not so good unfortunately

 
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You can see me on TV making one of the models for a TV programme "Collectors Lot" in 1998, originally recorded on VHS tape but after finding it again I managed to copy it to DVD, the lower Youtube resolution is not so good unfortunately

Thanks, Ill take a look at that later.
 
Fascinating, Vic, and a nice momento of your working days. Did you originally start in modelmaking or did you progress to it from another trade? I spent 12 years in cabinetmaking (late 1960s & the 1970s), but sort of accidentally moved into it from being an export agent. That's obviously a niche market, but a very interesting one.

Maurice :cool:
 
Fascinating, Vic, and a nice momento of your working days. Did you originally start in modelmaking or did you progress to it from another trade? I spent 12 years in cabinetmaking (late 1960s & the 1970s), but sort of accidentally moved into it from being an export agent. That's obviously a niche market, but a very interesting one.

Maurice :cool:
I used to work for BBC TV scenery contractors starting in 1979. practically everything produced by Pebble Mill came via our workshop so very little scenery was produced in house. We did nearly all the Dickens classics, Howards Way etc, just about every programme you can think of that was produced at Pebble Mill.
We also did stuff for London Shephard's Bush studios such as Are you being served, Acorn Antiques, Allo Allo etc

Later we also started doing Central TV scenery such as Spitting Image.
 
Vic,

Interesting stuff nevertheless, you just miniaturised it! I used to set up distributors overseas for small British manfacturers. One of my customers used to make football tables and in addition used to take on a few cabinetmaking contracts. When they went bust, they still had a contract for video recorders cabinets for the American Ampex company still outstanding, so their Sales Manager, who was a cabinetmaker, and I took over that contract and eventually moved into furniture making. He had a home sideline making Gonks, which were all the rage then, and eventually left to make those full time. By 1979 I was employing five, but a slump was on the way and I found myself spending more time chasing money, so I sold the business, went back to uni, and spent the rest of my working life as a software engineer.

Maurice :cool:
 
My old websites are still up long after I retired, there are streetscene photo's but the special Diagon Alley model went to a famous collector in Florida who requested ( & paid extra!) that it was not put on my website as she did not want anyone else to have the same, after all that the model appeared in a magazine a few months later :confused:

The mills website shows all the models I made for Bishops Lydeard Mill & Museum in Somerset


Watermill models



View attachment 157627
WOW Izzy!

Wonderful wonderful work!
 
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