Wilmac bandsaw restoration.

[pwdrive]

Seem to remember an auto mute add on for ads, average sound level is higher on ads so should be able to detect and mute, not sure how well it would work.
They used to transmit some kind of time signal as well at the start of the field, not sure if that was ad related, can't remember.

Lawrence.

[pwdrive]

I knew I wasn't dreaming....

""Cue dots in television

In television, a similar idea is used to signal to a control room that a transition of some sort is about to occur on the broadcast (such as a commercial break). The most common type of television cue dot is the IBA style, used around the world, which consists of a small square in the top right corner of the screen, with black and white moving stripes. The other is a proprietary system used principally by the BBC (who do not air commercials). This version is a static square in the top left corner with a white-black-white pattern.""

Lawrence.

[Joe]

I remember seeing that square popping up. I don't know if it's still the case, and Lawrence's information must be quite old as it refers to the IBA.

The only televisions I owned had old-fashioned mono sound and I was never bothered by excessively loud adverts or intrusive background music but this certainly isn't the case when I've been watching other people's stereo sets.

Broadcasters deny upping the levels but even IF this is technically true they're doing something with EQ or compression that has the same effect.

No commercial broadcaster is going to make avoiding adverts easy, though I often wonder how many people are put off products by the adverts for them spoiling their viewing or listening - to this day I won't buy pusser Oxos.

- Joe

[pwdrive]

I don't know off hand if cue marks are still used, I can't see any on my telly but then again maybe mine is set to frame over scan, I know they used to appear and disappear at a set time before the adverts back in the old days. I also seem to remember that at the end of the advert run there was an unusually (comparitively) long spell of black level, I suppose in theory that those to events could be used to trigger auto sound/screen muting.

The cue marks as I remember them were towards the end of the horizontal scan and a few lines down from the top of the start of the field scan.

I think the increase in volume might be due to compression as if they exceeded the frequency deviation limits that might cause other problems.

Lawrence.

[Retired]

Hi,

I simply don't like adverts and excellent point Joe; when I do see these annoying adverts time and again I avoid the product completely. I find the introduction to the BBC news most annoying because it rattles our TV.

Tonight I tried watching "Still open all hours" and "Death at Pemberley" why don't they let the old series die in peace whilst they remained good; ten minutes of each was enough for me; I'd rather watch machinery enamel dry.

My old 2hp compressor has now been sold for £60 cash and has already been collected. Brand new 2hp compressors with the same size tank can easily be bought for similar money but the quality these days is vastly inferior; I just hope my new 3hp compressor is a good one when it arrives?

John; the guy who has just bought my old compressor worked as a boilermaker so of course we had a jolly good natter and John told me that he has actually done work on the late Fred Dibnah's traction engine; when I sell items I meet lots of interesting guys. I'm about to send John details of the Paragon paint I used on the Graduate because John was so impressed by the finish.

I wanted to remain within eBay rules so tried to add a £60 "Buy Now" onto the posting but this was not allowed so eBay has made nothing because I've now cancelled the eBay auction reason goods no longer available and as it was a free listing day I don't expect a bill. I've been looking at Gumtree which is totally free for normal sales so I might give Gumtree a try next time I want to sell anything; I recently bought the Graduate lathe through Gumtree which was a perfect sale entirely without hassle. Selling through eBay and using PayPal I might as well save the trouble and run everything directly to the tip saving me time and effort?

Christmas now over so back to normal tomorrow meaning I can do some paint blasting once the new compressor arrives; whoopee.

I've also posted two of my vintage radios on eBay this afternoon one of which is generating a lot of interest; should I have posted these on Gumtree?

Kind regards, Col.

[Refugee]

On the topic of adverts and cue dots.
They got rid of cue dots as soon as software to detect them came along.
Advert detecting VCRs did work for a time as the adverts were not gen-locked to the transmission so there was a second or two of black level transmitted and if you increased the brightness a little a bit of faint frame roll could be seen. The VCR just had its own long time constant PLL that created the stop and start pulses to cut the adverts out of the recording.
They now lock all signals so that does not work any more.
With the sound they transmit the adverts at the correct level. The programs are transmitted with low sound.
Channel 5 were the worst of all. They used to fade the sound down a bit before the first advert during movies.
The routine was to pick up the remote to get the last few minutes of the dialogue on the film but do not put it down as your finger has then to be hovering over the mute button.
In the days when I had TV I can remember switching a movie off in disgust at there being adverts so soon after the start of the film.
I used to watch the James Bond films until they cut them in half with 15 minutes of news and 20 minutes of adverts in three brakes in the middle of them. The news was scheduled as half an hour but the adverts added another 5 minutes before and after the news with another load of them in the middle of the news itself.
The other adverts that I got sick of were for up-coming programs on the BBC. See one of them three times on a Sunday and you bet what we want to know about the schedule will be missing. Set the VCR for a couple of hours if you put it on for The Sky At Night. That will not be on at the scheduled time for sure!
I will keep my rusty satellite dish and show it off to the TV tax man. Last time I invited him through to see it the expression on his face was amusing to put it mildly.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Refugee. In short TV is not worth having? I'd forgotten about 30 minutes news being shown half way through a movie and we too never watched these movies because of the interruption. Imagine going to a cinema and seeing adverts every five minutes or 30 minutes of news during a movie; the cinema would be trashed.

Bron and I dislike sport so why don't the BBC correctly name their news to BBC sport? The number of times I've switched on for BBC News to find a ball being kicked around or some manager crying about his teams latest defeat; I've got news for these overpaid managers; their team lost because they didn't win so get over it.

Enough moaning; today is another Pooh Bear blustery day doing its best to bring the bungalow and remaining trees down. Now with 10ltrs of chain oil a new chain installed and two new chains in stock I'm ready with the chainsaw so the wind can also take a hike. I'm now fed up of complaining so will try my best to ignore the dire climate and simply get on with life. I'm in fighting spirit this morning; the car is on the drive and later I'll wander into the garage.

The compressor I sold yesterday fitted very neatly between wall and water meter but I think once the new bigger compressor arrives the water meter might need moving? I've got lots of hardwood turning blanks which I need to make a home for and the garage conversion to workshop can resume.

Having been asked if she could have the logs from the storm damage this lady and her husband/partner collected three full loads with a promise to collect the remainder during the following week. We waited all week but the logs remained until I did two trips on the Sunday to the tip just before the tip closed clearing the lot. This morning I've popped into the store where this lady works and politely informed her the logs have now all gone. In future all logs will go directly to the tip. This year this has happened three times with locals asking for logs then cherry picking; 2014 is a fresh start and I'm taking control.

I've now got good heating and lighting in the garage so can work in comfort; plenty of new toys to play with. I'm clearing the old workshop out and will return it to third bedroom status with new carpet etc. The front spare bedroom is also going to get a severe tidy up. My enthusiasm returned in abundance this morning; the nine days exercise clearing the storm damage must have done me some good so its not all doom and gloom after all. The wind and rain is battering the front door near my elbow as I type and looks set in for the day. Now where can I make space for the turning blanks?

Kind regards, Col.

[Retired]

Hi,

The new 3hp compressor arrived very early this morning and I've been busy setting it up. Assembly was very easy but when I came to plug my hose in the connectors were different so now the compressor sports two different connectors because I've just changed one of the two to suit my equipment. This compressor is handy in having two separate air outlets.

Slight transit damage to one of the cylinder head fins but not detrimental to performance and out of sight covered by the plastic safety guard.

Brilliant value; I'm delighted with it and it's not any noisier than my old 2hp compressor.

I'm now pretty well sorted regarding compressors in owning three new ones; The smallest is an air brush compressor; the middle one is a brand new SIP which was supplied with a nice brad nailer and is fully portable and now this new big 3hp for heavy jobs. I'll be on the lookout for more new toys to buy this year.

The weather is terrible with high wind and showers so I'm still unable to try the new soda blaster out but the day will come?

Kind regards, Col.

                           

[Retired]

Hi,

Finally; yesterday afternoon I had a window of opportunity but only for a very short time. It took a while setting the compressor and blaster up and I also added the second in-line air/water separator but this meant I had to use the coiled plastic hose from my SIP compressor in order to couple up and I detest these kinds of hose with a passion.

I finally switched the compressor on and as pressure began to build I found a huge air leak to the top of the second air/water separator; in disgust I disconnected and hooked directly into the compressor using my much better hose; the blaster has an on-board air/water separator but a second separator was recommended.

The day as usual was a black hole with blustery wind but a miracle occurred it wasn't raining. First job was my personal safety and to this end I donned my dust mask; goggles; ear defenders and rigger gloves; I was already wrapped up like Michelin Man against the cold wind.

How wonderful it was to finally see paint being so easily removed by simply pointing the nozzle of the blaster. After a while the blaster stopped removing paint and I thought it's surely not already run out of hard blasting medium after all I had charged the blaster with half a bag? At the base of the blaster is a blow off valve with a short hose attached and this is to clear blockage so I gently opened this valve to see a stream of blasting media shoot across the drive then I closed the valve and continued blasting. Further blockages happened but now I simply tapped the valve with a spanner whilst the nozzle valve remained fully open. I just about completed one side of the main casting and some of the edges when it became too dark to carry on and rain appeared so I quickly abandoned blasting. Even only after around 30 minutes blasting our driveway resembled a dirty beach; I swept the driveway but then had to stop as the rain was gathering strength.

I'm pleased I sold my 2hp compressor and bought this new 3hp compressor because using the much bigger compressor it was running constantly during blasting but delivering enough pressure to allow continued blasting so I believe a 3hp compressor is a must unless lots of waiting is allowed for whilst air pressure builds up if using a smaller compressor.

I couldn't understand what had happened to my personal black cloud in allowing me to blast for 30 minutes over the last two weeks since I bought the blasting kit? I hoped to continue blasting this morning but it's only just getting light but of course everything is now soaking wet outside; this climate is dire.

I'm very impressed by the blasting results though and enjoyed my brief blasting session; the casting is down to bare metal having a lovely etched surface ready to accept new paint once the casting is dusted off. It's brightening up outside so I'll sneak out to try to do a bit more blasting before the snow arrives?

Update; I've just spent an hour and a half on our wet driveway blasting the front of the bandsaw door.this door is aluminium and the hard medium has roughed up the surface a treat just right to accept paint. I've had to knock off because I'm feeling frozen due to the bitter breeze coming up the valley and it started to rain but now the sun is out.

The blaster kept blocking up and this I believe is due to water in the compressed air because as I tapped the bottom valve with the spanner a jet of water and blasting medium discharged from the nozzle; I'm sure this would be much reduced given a nice warm dry day but then I can dream on? The extra pictures show the door and what a tremendous difference. The last picture shows what a mess is made during blasting and this onto a wet concrete drive; I just love cleaning up.

Kind regards, Col.

                       

[Radio Fixer]

Nice result Colin. Just like my old radio chassis used to come up. Is it very roughened, just a little for a paint key?

Mess is a mess. I would have thought even an opened top box, or one with a large hole would catch a lot.

Gary