PBO

Wiggo

Wiggo

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Now, I may be about to post a 'PBO style' thread in the not too distant, and I have been known to do a bit of DIY, but...

I bought a copy of PBO the other week as I wanted something to read to kill time waiting for someone. There was an article in there about a guy who didn't want to run his main engine to charge his batteries so he built his own gennie.

He built it from a 4hp 4 stroke engine, a 75A alternator, a coupling and a custom made steel frame, total cost about £200. Am I alone in wondering why he didn't just buy a £50 Chinese petrol gennie and plug a mains charger into it? 75A at 12V is 900W, but the Chinese things (using, in all likelihood, the same engine he bought) put out 850W and he gets the benefit of 240V mains to boot...
 
I would say there is not enough of this type of thing around.
I used to have a file of my favourites from PBO of the seventies:

Why pay a fortune for a mast? - use bulldog clips and a telegraph pole
Safety on a budget - Home made safety harness using car webbing from the scrappie.
Dive for a dime - Make your own wetsuit.

Aye men wer men in them less pampered days
 
Hmmm. There's part of me that agrees, but to build something that costs four times the cost of a bought item?

Now, the teak gratings in my heads and shower finally gave up the ghost after 5 years (they were home made) and I wanted to replace them. Onward Trading want over £500 for a sheet of grating, and that doesn't include the edging strips for DIY. Howells wanted about £200 per grating for materials as a DIY job, and Lord knows how much to make up custom shapes. So I bought a hardwood table from Focus for £54 and canibalised it for the timber. I'll post some photos later, but I'm quite pleased with the results, and I've got the costruction method worked out so they should last a lot longer than the last set.
 
Wiggo said:
Hmmm. There's part of me that agrees, but to build something that costs four times the cost of a bought item?

Now, the teak gratings in my heads and shower finally gave up the ghost after 5 years (they were home made) and I wanted to replace them. Onward Trading want over £500 for a sheet of grating, and that doesn't include the edging strips for DIY. Howells wanted about £200 per grating for materials as a DIY job, and Lord knows how much to make up custom shapes. So I bought a hardwood table from Focus for £54 and canibalised it for the timber. I'll post some photos later, but I'm quite pleased with the results, and I've got the costruction method worked out so they should last a lot longer than the last set.
Click to expand...

Wow, unless I ve misunderstood, thats alot of routing isnt it?
 
Not too much routing - the table was a slatted one so most of the work was cutting the slats and making the tongues on them. The frames are routed on the inside edges to take the tongues on the slats, and biscuit jointed at the corners. I just need to work out what colour to stain/oil them now, plus a bit of fine sanding...

2010-09-07_11-56-50_466_null.jpg
 
Ah, right, bit like the Ikea tables, I guess.
I used Danish Oil, as it doesn run and dry like varnish.
 
Talk about pot, kettle black ;)

Wasnt there also something about replacing a bit of foam sponge by dismantling a sprung mattress ;)

Only joking ,that was an exception post,
regarding the generator, the cheap 2T generators only produce small amps @12v
as soon as you plug it into a half drained 330 amp battery bank that demands 20 amps it trips out.
 
Wiggo said:
Now, I may be about to post a 'PBO style' thread in the not too distant, and I have been known to do a bit of DIY, but...

I bought a copy of PBO the other week as I wanted something to read to kill time waiting for someone. There was an article in there about a guy who didn't want to run his main engine to charge his batteries so he built his own gennie.

He built it from a 4hp 4 stroke engine, a 75A alternator, a coupling and a custom made steel frame, total cost about £200. Am I alone in wondering why he didn't just buy a £50 Chinese petrol gennie and plug a mains charger into it? 75A at 12V is 900W, but the Chinese things (using, in all likelihood, the same engine he bought) put out 850W and he gets the benefit of 240V mains to boot...
Click to expand...

£50 genny + £200 mains charger = £250 for something that will charge a battery at 30a, tops.

£200 home made, petrol battery charger, charges your batteries at up to 75a.

Maybe that was his point ?
 
Wiggo said:
Hmmm. There's part of me that agrees, but to build something that costs four times the cost of a bought item?

Now, the teak gratings in my heads and shower finally gave up the ghost after 5 years (they were home made) and I wanted to replace them. Onward Trading want over £500 for a sheet of grating, and that doesn't include the edging strips for DIY. Howells wanted about £200 per grating for materials as a DIY job, and Lord knows how much to make up custom shapes. So I bought a hardwood table from Focus for £54 and canibalised it for the timber. I'll post some photos later, but I'm quite pleased with the results, and I've got the costruction method worked out so they should last a lot longer than the last set.
Click to expand...

I needed a table for the boat, had to be build round the mast support so no standard ones would do. I brought a Ercol table from ebay for £40 and "modified" it.

04042010019.jpg


04042010018.jpg


Couldn't buy the wood for less - solid elm.
 
Wiggo said:
Sorry, Bendy, that doesn't count: you're a raggie, you're expected to do things like that...
Click to expand...

Yeah and it needs rubbing down and varnishing properly, the leaves don't match the centre section. So a few more threads to come. Which sandpaper to use, which varnish, how many coats?

Ooooh this could run and run
 
Wiggo said:
Now, I may be about to post a 'PBO style' thread in the not too distant, and I have been known to do a bit of DIY, but...

I bought a copy of PBO the other week as I wanted something to read to kill time waiting for someone. There was an article in there about a guy who didn't want to run his main engine to charge his batteries so he built his own gennie.

He built it from a 4hp 4 stroke engine, a 75A alternator, a coupling and a custom made steel frame, total cost about £200. Am I alone in wondering why he didn't just buy a £50 Chinese petrol gennie and plug a mains charger into it? 75A at 12V is 900W, but the Chinese things (using, in all likelihood, the same engine he bought) put out 850W and he gets the benefit of 240V mains to boot...
Click to expand...

You really didn't need to buy PBO; you could have read it all here
 
Wiggo said:
Not too much routing - the table was a slatted one so most of the work was cutting the slats and making the tongues on them. The frames are routed on the inside edges to take the tongues on the slats, and biscuit jointed at the corners. I just need to work out what colour to stain/oil them now, plus a bit of fine sanding...

2010-09-07_11-56-50_466_null.jpg
Click to expand...

Nice job Wiggo, I'm impressed. You sure you need to stain/oil them?
 
Graham

Good bit of handywork there.

We recently had an oak staircase built, and I was recommended to apply Osmo Polyx Oil to the raw wood if I wanted a pukka finish.

It's not cheap but the finish is outstanding.

I've got quite a lot left over and could let you have some if you're interested in tryiing it out. There's no going back, so could try it on an off cut first maybe?
 
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