Something Else

[Fanie]

This getting older is a load of dung.  No seriously, I feel very deprived 

In my time I had three Suzuki GSX1100 scooters, at the time these were considered the fastest around, capable of doing over 200km/hr.  I usually drove from Pretoria central (when it was still Pretoria) to home here in Centurion in about seven minutes (and get off on shakey legs), which is normally about a 20 minutes drive.  Never got a speed fine either.

Nowadays you get bikes reacing 400km/hr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnGMXfpxQDg
Top 10 Fastest Bikes In The World 2023 (With their Videos)

My friend's son has a Hayabusa, he showed it to us here the other day.

And I could not even say to him - When I was your age 

Back then, the girls was a lot easier to impress as well.  The first time my mother (now 85) saw my scooter, she slammed her hands together and said good grief ! it's a monstrous thing !  What kind of a girl do you think is going to ride with you on this thing ? 
The answer was of course - the right kind 

When I told the wife the bikes can now do 400km per hour, she just pulled a face and didn't look impressed at all.
I should have knowed, old people like the wife at grandma age is impressed with few things... and I have to sleep with a grandmother at night, which is no joke.

[Fanie]

We have a solar geyser, which works awesome (85%+ efficient) - IF - the sun shines on it during the day.
The problem is the wife planted a palm tree (before I met her) and this thing grew into a massive monster.
So in winter when you need it most, the solar geyser sits in this palm tree' shade, and if you know me, I'll rather walk around dirty for six months before taking a bath in cold water.
So the tree had to go.

If I measured correctly, the top of the tree was about 18m high.  I couldn't find anyone who was willing to cut the tree for me from the top down in pieces and the listed prices was ridiculous.
So the obvious thing to do is to consult Youtube (they know everything), and see how it's done.
It was obvious that you cannot strip the skirt from the bottom.  Apparently a number of people die every year when they try to take the skirt off.  That is because the dead branches that form the skirt, interlock by gravit around the trunk, and if you mess with it and a portion of the branches breaks loose, they can fall on you and you suffocate.

The only way is to get to the top and cut the top off and from there on down get the branches off.  To do that I had to climb vertically up on the outside of the skirt.  There is video's on youtube showing the knots to use and how to climb up vertically on a rope.  So now I have to exersize this... 

I climbed on the roof, cast a fishing line over the tree, tied my 10mm line to it and pulled it over the tree.  I then tied one end to the bottom of the tree, so I now had one end that I can climb up with, and I can start exersizing the how to climb up vertically.  I made a harness for it too.

The climbing works like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcUmdGIf21o
How to Ascend Climbing Rope
It's a matter of sitting and standing, sitting and standing, especially easy if she does it.
It looks comfortable when she does it, probably because she has a layer of fat to protect her 

So the second day "exersizing" I was making progress, and I thought what the hell, I'm three meters up already, I can just as well keep on going.  So I kept on going.  The worst of course is the thorns on the branches which hook towards the tree, so every time you move you risk getting stuck.  And as bad was the dust in the branches which burns your throat and nose and dry your mouth.



Sure you can see me there.
Have you ever found yourself in a place and you wonder that the    am I doing here ?  It was not pleasant looking down from up there, and by now that rope looked awefully thin.  I seccured the rope around the tree and started cleaning around the tree so I can cut the top off.



While up there the neighbor's two boys were shouting to me from their porch
"Uncle Fanie, what are you doing ?"
So I thought I'd answer them in a way they can relate... and I shouted down I'm just climbing the tree a bit 

Oh well, you can only die once.

I got the top cut off, it was massive.  One can hardly move it it was that heavy.



I also had to cut the rest up so the wife can move the pieces

Unless you did something as reckless as this, you may not understand why, if someone asks me how are you, I can honestly say - no, from the shoulders on downwards I'm ok !
The wife took the pictures, and for a change she didn't cut my head off in the pictures, I'm actually in some.
And not one branch fell on the wife.  Well, she's always cleaning up while I'm working and always in the way.  The best way is to shout at her so she goes into stiff upper lip mode (wonderful English expression) and then she'd go sulk somewhere out of the way.
All these young blokes, like our kids, are suddenly very quiet when I mention there are three more trees to fell, much smaller though.

Did I learn something ? 
1)  Hell yes.  We do not evolve from apes, we defenately evolve into apes.  At that high up, you have very little brain function, and there is only about three or so thoughts recurring, as proof the brain definately shrinked.
2)  Watch what your wife plants in the garden !!!
3)  Knowing some knots are awesome !
4)  Palm trees are terrible, not even the wood is good for anything 

Will I do it again ? 
Mmmmm... maybe if she's really good looking and are willing to go to new heights 

[ken_k]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86zpNhiPr48

[Fanie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86zpNhiPr48

I saw that... my next pellet gun 

[shantanu@india]

Good 'ol Fanie entertaining us with his apish antics!!
Have you heard about Hanuman , the mythical monkey of Ramayana who jumped from India to Sri Lanka in a single leap? He then used his lighted tail like a magnesium wire & torched the entire kingdom of Lord Ravana.
Inspirations are found everywhere!!

[John Drew]

Heck Fanie will you come to my place and climb my tower to fix a couple of antennas?
You're a brave man or have a determined wife. Maybe the latter 😀
John

[TimB]

Living in the UK and being a self confessed "Palmophile" I'm HORRIFIED at the idea of chopping down a palm tree (I have a few trachycarpus)

However if you have to do it you have to do it. But no way would I be nuts enough to climb up one and chop it down. But then again I would never drive a bike that could top 80. I love my bike but 55+ and I loss my nerve.

I'm glad you are here to recant the story. I prefer first person stories to eulogies.

[JonW]

VERY nice Tim!!

[Fanie]

Have you heard about Hanuman , the mythical monkey of Ramayana who jumped from India to Sri Lanka in a single leap?

Easy to do if you are right on the border, of course.  Here, I can take one step to go from the Transvaal into the Freestate, I don't even have to leap !

Living in the UK and being a self confessed "Palmophile" I'm HORRIFIED at the idea of chopping down a palm tree (I have a few trachycarpus)

Sorry to hear about your Palmophillic handicap Tim
We consider them a pest.  We have hordes of the seeds sprouting all over, and the fruit attracts rats.

Let me show you.


My shoes are about 340mm long to give you an idea...

It started a few years ago when a cluster (or is it a swarm, or a herd, or a flock ?) of rats moved into the house and created havock.  So I loaned my friend's old Chinese breakneck pellet gun and managed to lure a rat into a 3m pipe which I pushed against the wall,  I could now lie on the floor and send it to rat heaven.
It finally did die, but only after about 50 shots.  It looked like a scaly pangolin when I got it out from all the pellets...

Long story short, I decided to arm up against further rat invasions.  I fixed the terribly underpowered pellet gun and shot 10 rats in a week.


This is No 8 the wife is posing for a picture.  As you can see, she is very impressed 

After no 10 the surviving moved out of the house, they realized it was too dangerous inside, and then kept us awake at night running over the roof, and even fighting sliding down the gutters with their nails screetching.
Around the same time I got some chickens, and after a bit the rats got serious.  They bred under a bird cage in an Afrikaner's yard on the one side and on the other side lived an African in a wendyhouse.  At dusk the party starts and they'd intermingle by running across on the telephone lines, and of course terrorising the chickens.


This is me with a telkom line rat trophy and the new breaknek pelletgun.

I shot 47 rats in two nights when I finally got a working nightsight for the pellet.
It wasn't as accurate as I wanted and I bought my first PCP, which I later gave to my son.
It was the wife's idea, since I wasn't using it as much...
so I got myself a Hatsan Blitz 

This is a serious pellet gun.  Watch the video's on youtube. 
I don't shoot it in auto mode, it's a waste, but the semi is awesome.
I have an IR Paard fitted on a Discovery FFP scope with a 5 inch HDMI LCD display and a 30Ah 3.2V LiFePo4 battery for looong working times.
I also built a shooting chair for it.  At 10m I can repeatedly shoot a 5mm dot.

My one Afrikaner friend asked me to shoot some rats bothering his chickens, so I went one night.  I shot six, and while we were waiting to see if more would come around, he said sounding very upset - Hey Fanie, you are busy shooting ALL my rats.
He was joking of course.

I like Squirrel Hunter's video's on youtube.  He start all his video's with WARNING ! (and nobody leaves after that )

[ken_k]

Have you heard about Hanuman , the mythical monkey of Ramayana who jumped from India to Sri Lanka in a single leap?

Easy to do if you are right on the border, of course.  Here, I can take one step to go from the Transvaal into the Freestate, I don't even have to leap !

Living in the UK and being a self confessed "Palmophile" I'm HORRIFIED at the idea of chopping down a palm tree (I have a few trachycarpus)

Sorry to hear about your Palmophillic handicap Tim
We consider them a pest.  We have hordes of the seeds sprouting all over, and the fruit attracts rats.

Let me show you.


My shoes are about 340mm long to give you an idea...

It started a few years ago when a cluster (or is it a swarm, or a herd, or a flock ?) of rats moved into the house and created havock.  So I loaned my friend's old Chinese breakneck pellet gun and managed to lure a rat into a 3m pipe which I pushed against the wall,  I could now lie on the floor and send it to rat heaven.
It finally did die, but only after about 50 shots.  It looked like a scaly pangolin when I got it out from all the pellets...

Long story short, I decided to arm up against further rat invasions.  I fixed the terribly underpowered pellet gun and shot 10 rats in a week.


This is No 8 the wife is posing for a picture.  As you can see, she is very impressed 

After no 10 the surviving moved out of the house, they realized it was too dangerous inside, and then kept us awake at night running over the roof, and even fighting sliding down the gutters with their nails screetching.
Around the same time I got some chickens, and after a bit the rats got serious.  They bred under a bird cage in an Afrikaner's yard on the one side and on the other side lived an African in a wendyhouse.  At dusk the party starts and they'd intermingle by running across on the telephone lines, and of course terrorising the chickens.


This is me with a telkom line rat trophy and the new breaknek pelletgun.

I shot 47 rats in two nights when I finally got a working nightsight for the pellet.
It wasn't as accurate as I wanted and I bought my first PCP, which I later gave to my son.
It was the wife's idea, since I wasn't using it as much...
so I got myself a Hatsan Blitz 

This is a serious pellet gun.  Watch the video's on youtube. 
I don't shoot it in auto mode, it's a waste, but the semi is awesome.
I have an IR Paard fitted on a Discovery FFP scope with a 5 inch HDMI LCD display and a 30Ah 3.2V LiFePo4 battery for looong working times.
I also built a shooting chair for it.  At 10m I can repeatedly shoot a 5mm dot.

My one Afrikaner friend asked me to shoot some rats bothering his chickens, so I went one night.  I shot six, and while we were waiting to see if more would come around, he said sounding very upset - Hey Fanie, you are busy shooting ALL my rats.
He was joking of course.

I like Squirrel Hunter's video's on youtube.  He start all his video's with WARNING ! (and nobody leaves after that )

Maybe sell the rats.


https://www.etsy.com/au/market/mounted_rat

[Fanie]

Maybe sell the rats.

Reminds me of the Portuguese who cought and tinned a bunch of Portuguese (of course) sardines.
These they sold to the English, who sold it to the Germans, who sold it to the Canadians, who sold it to the Americans, who sold it to the Argentines, who sold it to the Afrikaners in Sick Africa who sold it to the Chinese, who sold it to the Australians.
The Australians opend the cans and found the fish was not suitable for consumption 
So they complained to the Chinese that the fish was rotten.
The reply back was, the fish is for selling, not for consumption 

[ken_k]

Maybe sell the rats.

Reminds me of the Portuguese who cought and tinned a bunch of Portuguese (of course) sardines.
These they sold to the English, who sold it to the Germans, who sold it to the Canadians, who sold it to the Americans, who sold it to the Argentines, who sold it to the Afrikaners in Sick Africa who sold it to the Chinese, who sold it to the Australians.
The Australians opend the cans and found the fish was not suitable for consumption 
So they complained to the Chinese that the fish was rotten.
The reply back was, the fish is for selling, not for consumption 

I see, so the Australian broke the cycle of madness and demanded a refund from the Chinese. 

[Fanie]

I made a solder feeder to speed up dispensing solder on pads...
It works quite well.

On the left is the holder we usually use, but it is frustrating to use if you do a lot of soldering.
There is an overkill (I had the motor) 24V geared motor doing about 2rps @ 24V, runs now off a small Chinese adjustable down supply to 6V and I finger tactile switch it with a FET with a 10k on the gate to 0V and the tactile switch the 6V to the gate.
The motor has a 22mm rubber roller and the other side is two 12mm bearings, all parts I stripped from an old copy machine.
The 4mm tube is the same as is used for the 3D printers to feed the filament to the print head.

Made a feeder for the tig welder years ago that feeds the SS off the spool to the weld, using a wiper motor.

[LeonJ]

Hallo Fanie,

(Sending this message to Fanie in 2 of our 11 official languages)

Het PM gestuur. Sal graag direk kontak maak. Ek is op Donkerhoek oos van Pretoria. Groete, Leon.
Sent you a PM. Would like to make direct contact. I'm at Donkerhoek east of Pretoria. Greetings, Leon.

[Fanie]

Whatsapp my op 0 agt 2 4 vyf 6 ses 925.

Suustog... Dan is jy nog op Donkerhoek in donker Afrika, dit moet sowaar donker wees daar.
Ongelooflik oor die sg 11 amptelike tale, dit is my land maar my taal word nie eers erken deur die uitlandse parasiete nie ne' !

[Fanie]

I made a ginger dough ball roller for a bakery.

Works like a dream.
A ball of dough is placed between the white rollers (the top roller hinge up) and the dough is rolled until the top roller reaches a mechanical stop which determine the desired dough diameter.
The top roller is then lifted and the round dough taken and placed on-in between the black rollers.  These roll and cut into the size and the balls fall through into a tray.
The white rollers run at the same speed, while the front black roller is double the speed of the rear one.
I achived this by removing one gear and arranged the others in the motor's gearbox.  The rear black roller rolls the dough out while the front one rolls it in at double the speed, which has a cutting effect while rolling.
You get balls which are the same size and two people rolling balls by hand takes 2 1/2 hours per mix while this roller does it in around 20 to 30 minutes.
The idea is always that the machine must wait for you, you must not wait for the machine ;-)
The motors were stripped from old copy machines and I have a box of them.  Ten years ago my female intuition told me I'm going to use these for something usefull  .
These are 24V motors I run off a 12V 5Ah lifepo4 battery I made up from cells and a balancing circuit (of course) and a step-up boost voltage converter.
A 10W solar panel keeps the bakery batteries charged.
I 3D printed the motor mounts.

[Fanie]

I made a wire cutter for the wife 

I modified the bobbin winder I built before to accept the wire cutter extension. It simply hooks on the side of the winder box.  I'm lazy, so I wasn't going to build a complete seperate controller just for that.

It uses two stepper motors, one to feed the wire and a second to cut the wire at length.
An actual sidecutter does the cutting, a cam with bearings on the one stepper press the sidecutter handle in one turn rotation.
Two rubber rollers feed the wire through the 3D printed housing.
I wrote a simple code to repeat the same feed length 20 times.  Every now and again we get an order where lots of wires are neede for switches and buzzers etc. and this makes them quick and easy to cut.

The winder has two axles, X and Z, the X is for winding and the Z feeds the wire level across a bobbin or core housing.  To make the Z the cutoff, I made a plug where I can plug the winder's Z feed, in or the cutoff motor.

Here's the kicker 
The wife is scared of breaking something or doing something wrong and she's still cutting wires by hand.
The advantage is it keeps her busy and off my back  . 
Like they say, every cloud has a silver lining

[trastikata]

I made a ginger dough ball roller for a bakery.

Nice little machine. But I like the rollers more  , did you get them from I-net? Any idea what polymer was molded on those rollers?

[Fanie]

The white rollers are 110mm PVC tubing (sewage pipes cough... cough... new ones though  ) and I 3D printed the ends, and the black rollers are Polyethylene cut on a lathe.
Polyethylene is food grade and does not absorb moisture.  The SS shafts are threaded and I screw them in the ends untill they seize.

[trastikata]

Ahh, I see ... I thought the white rollers are rubber rollers like in the old laundry wringers for my ball mill.