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38 minutes ago, DJ360 said:

I suppose what I was trying to say is that it's too easy for manufacturers to put in things which are really not much more than gimmicks.

 

One of the best examples of that is headlights (and bulbs) on a number of modern cars.

 

In the old days, if the bulb went, you just bought a new one for a few £s and put it in. Now, in the cars which have fairy lights and christmas tree displays, you often need to buy an entire new light unit for several hundred £s, just because the bulb failed. (Audi being a very good example).

 

 

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Just got back from QMC again........the last eight days have been a bit Traumatic to say the least,,...blood tests,,X-rays,,and today a visit to a Consultant........cut a long story short......problem

Result........CT Scans all clear......just got letter..been sweating for a fortnight......

Two years ago today..........my life changed forever,,,about this time i was on my way down to the operating theatre for what turned out to be a ten hour operation...........its been life changing in

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A man with no tools is like a pub with no beer.....There's a song title somewhere there..LOL

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There's another discussion point, BULBS on cars, Quartz Halogen, LED or High Discharge Lamps, which???  I recently bought a pair of discharge lamps for the wife's "Hi Beam" in her car, haven't had a chance to swap them out yet.

 

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4 hours ago, letsavagoo said:

We sometimes used to go there when it was a pub. I think it was the Star and Garter

I have bad memories of the star and garter, whilst learning to drive, my mate (a qualified driver) said one foggy night, "let's go to the star and garter" basically we ended up in a ditch!!, Which, according to my mate should have been alot further down road!!. Needless to say, we had a long walk home, back to st Ann's. Never got to go to the star and garter and missed out on a certainty, again, according to said mate!! Plus, i was one minivan out of pocket!!!

 

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2 hours ago, Ayupmeducks said:

A man with no tools is like a pub with no beer.....There's a song title somewhere there..LOL

 

Oh its lonesome away from your kinfolks an all

By the campfire at night

Where the wild dingos call

But there's nothing so lonesome so drab or so drear

As to stand in the bar of a pub with no beer.                    Slim Dusty.

 

An all from memory, no Google.   Must have been mid 50s.

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I'm guessing late 50s.. or even possibly early 60s. 

 

Now I've guessed I'll have a look in my trusty Guinness book..

 

You'll have to trust me to be honest....

 

OK.  It entered the UK chart on 30th Jan 1959 at No.3 and stayed on the chart for a total of 15 weeks.

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Today I spent mostly on returning the Grandkids to their parents in their new home.. followed by putting up curtain poles and so on.  On the way there, I called at youngest daughter's to sharpen a couple of knives for her,and also show her the simple trick of using the back of one knife as a 'steel' to burnish the edge of a blunt knife.. Also showed her what I had Googled about getting her microwave out of 'demo mode'...something she also could have done.

For a talented designer who uses IT all day long for design work and communication.. she can be remarkably dim at times.   Or is is just easier to get Dad to do it?

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20 hours ago, Cliff Ton said:

 

One of the best examples of that is headlights (and bulbs) on a number of modern cars.

 

In the old days, if the bulb went, you just bought a new one for a few £s and put it in. Now, in the cars which have fairy lights and christmas tree displays, you often need to buy an entire new light unit for several hundred £s, just because the bulb failed. (Audi being a very good example).

 

 

My car has 2 small spotlights mounted in the bumper. One got the glass holed with a stone chip. I took it to VW and got a quote of £165 + vat. I questioned it after I’d recovered and they decided it could be done for about £130. The small light unit alone just a plastic mould with a glass front was £60 +vat. I should think the cost to make and transport to stock was less than a tenner.

I got one from eBay from a scrapper for £20 posted and my son fitted it. Not a big job at all. Wheel off, liner off and screwed in from the back. 45 minutes. Would have been much quicker with a proper lift etc. 
Not much seems to be fixed properly these days. Just whole big units changed out, not actual smaller parts repaired. Years ago the powder dispenser on my dishwasher stopped working so I took it apart and dismantled the dispenser unit. I found that the solenoid that flips the catch to let the powder door open was open circuit. It wasn’t hard to get at the solenoid but Bosch didn’t supply one but would only supply the whole of the back of the door completely, I mean the large door size back complete with the powder dispenser unit.

I eventually went to the shop that used to be Wealthalls greengrocers in Radford which was then selling second hand fridges etc and found a suitable solenoid in a scrap pile. £3.00 fixed. Not only the cost here but the waste of materials and plastic waste. 

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Had a drive into Bulwell for breakfast this morning,,,,sat with a bloke i'd not met before,,,soon got talking about health issues for over 60s,,,(he was 65),,his tale was sad but funny..

              Told me he suffered from 'Depression'''.......and tried to commit suicide a few years ago,,by jumping from his 4th floor flat,,,told him 'you seem ok now,,are you?.........''''..yes mostly''' he said,,,..............i asked him if he still lived in same flat?.........Oh no,,he replied,,they moved me to 12th floor,,,,

Both of us laughed,,,meet all sorts in Bulwell...........

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5 hours ago, letsavagoo said:

I got one from eBay from a scrapper for £20 posted and my son fitted it. Not a big job at all. Wheel off, liner off and screwed in from the back. 45 minutes. Would have been much quicker with a proper lift etc. 
Not much seems to be fixed properly these days.

It would appear that nowadays, there is no such thing as a mechanic, only fitters. Mainly due to NVQs and no real apprenticeships. Sadly, a bit more of a demise of the British industry and the skills that we once had and decreasing day by day, literally!!

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good idea Jill,,,he seemed a real happy chap,,,full of funny one liners,,,told me he did a really boring job for over 40 years,,,and been a lot happier since not working................found him interesting for his honesty,,,and realised how lucky iv'e been with always enjoying my work.....Must be awful to spend 40 years being 'Bored' with your work....

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Technicians these days, they tend to specialize, like engine techs, transmission techs, auto electric techs. Mechanics were always known as fitters in my day. Diesel fitters, auto fitters. Even the mechanics I worked alongside "dahn pit" were called fitters. I was classified as an Electrical Fitter in Oz.

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Your probably right in that respect, but at least yesteryears "fitters" could fix things, instead of swapping parts until they find the problem!!

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Part and parcel of fault finding, sometimes you have to swap out something to get to the bottom of things. Back when I started my apprenticeship as a colliery electrician, control gear and starters were pretty simple, when I retired you needed a degree in rocket science...LOL Belt starter control units at Boulby were pretty complicated, and the switchgear had loads of electronics in them, so much that when we had an intermittent fault occur, it was almost impossible to locate until it gave us a clue.

The shearers I worked on in Oz on the coal face were highly sophisticated machines, both electrically and mechanically, as were the self advancing roof supports which were controlled by micro processors.

Auto's these days are beyond the back yard mechanics, the engine has so many sensors you need expensive scanners to locate a problem.

 

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The problem with technical trades was keeping up with technology, we did get refresher courses at the NCB training centres, but in outside mining companies, it was your responsibility to keep up with technology.

I'd be stuck on PLC's, as I never encountered them, but it seems from what I read they are appearing in the big several million dollar coal cutting machines these days, with radio control too and telemetry on the machines diagnostics.

I was lucky in that electronics was entering the mining industry during my apprenticeship, so I was prepared.

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Technology moves at an ever increasing pace. Cable jointers once served a four years apprenticeship and that's just for low voltage, now it's 16 weeks.

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On 11/30/2019 at 9:33 PM, philmayfield said:

Star and Garter

A great riverside pub. We often used to swim across the Trent to Hazelford Island.

The Bromley arms at Fiskerton and the Unicorn at Gunthorpe were great riverside pubs too.

As kids we often played on the little fairground at Gunthorpe. I loved the swingboats

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You were very brave to swim the Trent in those days. It was not far off a sewer. Nowadays it’s very clean and you can stand on the bank and see the bottom. The ‘official’ way to get to Hazelford island some years ago was by boat. The means of propelling the boat was by grabbing a rope which was stretched from bank to bank to bank and moving it hand over fist. There is now a footbridge but you do need a waterway’s key to gain access. Someone does live in the lock house but the lock keeping duties on the Trent are now carried out by volunteers who attend on a daily basis. The only ‘officially’ manned lock is at Cromwell where the tidal stretch begins and you are only let through at high water.

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Cable jointers in mining, were called electricians., I've terminated many an armoured cable, and box joined them in my time, from 3.3Kv to 6Kv, not live of course.

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I used to swim in the Trent as well Phil., when I were about 11-13 years old. We used to swim next to Trent bridge, but another favourite was the railway bridge just below Wilford toll bridge. Some of us were that fanatical (or crazy) that we'd swim there and keep our clothes under the arches out of the snow ! Have gone in the water on Victoria bank side and finish up on the other side about 200 yards downstream due to the current. Absolutely Barmy or what??

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You obviously lived to tell the tale. A friend of mine said he always had a stomach upset when he went waterskiing on the Trent. There is the occasional salmon spotted now so conditions have much improved. You don’t get the suds and foam and noxious smells at the weirs anymore.

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