Tight squeeze in garage.

[pwdrive]

It looks easy to tip...!

About 2 - 3 years ago I hired a powered barrow to shift a load of hardcore for the land drains, I was impressed....with it's performance that is, although the which way that way wot way this way levers took a bit to get used to.

Lawrence.

[AlanBeckett]

Me and a mate used a couple of Powered Barrows to move a load of Premix round to the back of his house - splendid gadgets. They were actually narrow enough to go through doors although we didn't need that feature.

In truth the Iron Horse was pretty lethal, although not as badly balanced as you might think, provided there was an attachment on the back. If you look at this one some people have added a 'leg' to the front - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33eTPdBBQPs

They have a Reverse Gear and there are stories of people being killed by getting it wrong, usually by falling over or getting squashed against a tree or some such.

Alan

[pwdrive]

Yes indeed, powered barrows can save a lot of work Alan, I soon got the hang of it, the hard part was loading the hardcore by hand, about 15 tons worth in all with a shovel over the course of the job, but for moving from A to B it was unbeatable as it was our only option due to tight access up and around the garden, the hire charge was very reasonable considering the work done with it, economical on fuel as well.

Lawrence.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks for the assorted videos; I spent so long watching them last night I ran out of time.

How quaint with the horses and this is how logging used to be done but fortunately for the horses machinery took over; I noticed one of the horses stumble on a small log and thought how dangerous to the horse this was?

Here's a modern way of moving logs from a forest;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoZbgZIMTHs

Thanks Colin; I had left the LED floodlight in the workshop and as it was pouring with rain I lit up the black hole (garage) using the welder and with both strip lights switched on managed but then I'm used to the black hole.

Thanks Ed and Lawrence; the ping pong ball is a common idea Ed for using as a reversing stop but well worth repeating; a friend of mine used to use a tennis ball. Concrete blocks would surely work Lawrence as long as I didn't fall over them; a wooden chock with a peg to locate in a bored hole in the garage floor would also work and the block could be removed when not needed but as Colin says such things tend to be taken for granted until one day they are not replaced into position. Reversing to a stop isn't so much of a problem to me but the width limit is; next year we plan to buy a Skoda Fabia which is bigger than our current Aygo so I'll need to be extra careful.

I found the log skidding machine videos fascinating and thought these machines to be very well designed especially in how simply they lifted the logs. I particularly liked the tracked machine which is so versatile and yes Lawrence it would easily cope with my rear garden; now one of these would be a lovely toy to own but I doubt they will be cheap to buy for home use?

Nice one Big Al; you've seen our rear garden so just imagine me being half way up the incline hanging on to one of these Anzani beasts and accidently hitting neutral; it would firstly flatten me then be off like a rocket demolishing the bungalow on the way down the valley; such a machine would be fun to own though.

There is no doubt mechanical handling saves a great deal of work; I recently bought a new cement mixer to remove most of the mixing backache out of one job then sold the mixer which proved to be cheaper than hiring because I owned the mixer for quite a few weeks.

A smallholding would be my ideal property; Bron could have lots of animals to care for and pamper and I could have lots of big machines to play with; barns to work in and store materials; a fork truck and trailer to move items around; I even have a fork truck license (counterbalance) but I can dream; with such a set up I would seldom be in the house.

Regarding ideas for reversing a vehicle to a stop; what about one of you guys coming up with a radar stop which could be located in the garage? I believe many modern cars now are fitted with such a device but I've never seen or used one? This would make a nice project for someone. My electronics experience is very limited but I believe I could rig up a light beam across the garage; this beam could be aligned with either the bumper or tyres and when broken could sound an alarm? We used such light beams as conveyor stops at work.

Isn't it wonderful how simply painting a white line on a garage floor sparks off so much interest; this is such a great forum for giving and obtaining useful information on a vast array of subjects.

It poured with rain most of yesterday but so far today it is fine so time I cracked on with my VFD project in the garage before another day slips by. Thanks everyone for your replies.

Kind regards, Col.

[camallison]

Backing up .... I bought a couple of reversing sensor kits, one for the car and one for the van. They were surprisingly easy to fit, even coming with a boring tool to fit the sensors in the back bumper. I seem to remember they were about £40 each and took about an hour to fit tidily. We have a reversing camera on the van, but it is still useful to be able to "hear" that last foot or two. At 7.3m long, it helps, and the insurance company gives an extra 10% PER item for the camera and sensors too.

Colin

[ed731pdh]

105 uses for carpet squares, stuck to the wall of the garage where the door opens to stop you dinging the paint work on the brick wall.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Colin; I hadn't realized these parking sensors were so readily available and also very cheap as seen here;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CAR-REVERSING-...Technology&hash=item2c5021e795

Good idea Ed to use carpet tile on the garage wall and a cheap idea which always appeals to me. I bought plastic strip door protectors which protect the door edges; these to are very cheap; easy to fit and do a good job.

Another good use for a carpet tile in my garage would be to protect my head when I bang it against the wall after doing something stupid as I've done this afternoon.

I've been making a steel enclosure for the Jubilee VFD and finished the welding etc this morning so I rubbed it to bare metal ready for painting. It's ages since I used my compressor and spray gun but after dinner I set everything up. I found a part tin of primer and gave it a good stirring adding thinners then filled the gun.

I forgot to adjust the compressor so started blasting the paint on at around 100 psi which of course caused a huge fog. I was spraying just inside the garage having protected the garage floor with a large tarpaulin with my back to the sun. As I looked at the newly painted surfaces I thought I had been using anti-slip paint as it looked like gravel? The paint is only about 12 years old? I always wear my proper respirator whilst spraying.

I carried the enclosure onto the drive and let the sun bake it dry. It's so rare to get a perfect spraying day so I wanted to make the most of it. The primer will easily flat with abrasive paper. I poured the gun contents back into the can and cleaned the gun then I filtered the paint into a clean glass lidded jar; pity I didn't do this before starting to spray but I've enjoyed pottering around. Yesterday it poured down all day and today it's a beautiful summers day; what a contrast.

Kind regards, Col.

[camallison]

Just goes to show how prices fall over time - that is the exact same kit I used 5 years ago that cost around £40 a time.

Colin