'Living with an old Synchro' and other tales from my shed.

[tom osselton]

Sorry to hear that but  it sounds like you got of easy I have been hit probably 15 years ago and now have the garage monitored  24 /7 this year there will be video cams watching the alley and house.  You could pick up a motion detector alarm to scare the b*sstards away its a cheep fix.

[DavidA]

Tom,

That's next on my to-do list.

Dave.

[awemawson]

Dave I feel your pain

It would appear that we now live in a world with many scrotes willing to ruin others lives for a very marginal gain for them selves. I'm lead to believe that much of the crime these days is to pay for drugs and that 40% of the inmates of our prisons are there for drug related issues.

I do hope that you can make your workshop fully secure and replace your losses. When I converted my barn to a workshop I deliberately omitted the various windows that were on the previous owners plans to avoid prying eyes and reduce the entry possibilities, and built the lower walls in concrete blocks.

It's a sad world that we live in 

[tom osselton]

There is also quite a few out of work here that are ending their unemployment insurance! The Goverment's answer was to introduce a carbon tax on everything!

[krv3000]

hi not nice had the same dun to me but the  thief fell while trying to get out of me workshop and split his hed open and broke his arm  all the plod was concerned off  is why I had so much tooling and contacted the powers that be as they was concern they my get cancer of me fibber board roof
it was watt they brort out when the asbestos crap happened

[tom osselton]

Lol " the  thief fell while trying to get out of me workshop and split his hed open and broke his arm"
SWING BATTER BATTER!   I wish it was that easy!
I hear you though going through the garage is like learning to dance! If you don't know where your feet are your done!

[mechman48]

Know what you went through; my garage got turfed over back in 2014, managed to disturb the scrotes before too much was 'relocated' the low life had most of my tooling & power tool laid out between the car & fencing (dark side) ready for pals to come back & collect. The compressor plus airline, power sander, Bosch battery drill had already gone, what pissed me off was the first model I made, a vertical oscillator, went as well with the first batch. Fortunately at that time the plods came out took details, & gave me a crime #, the SOCO came out the next day & dusted the garage but what prints were there were smudged... gloves the SOCO says. Needless to say the garage is now alarmed & extra bolts fitted to main / entry doors, outside lighting both front & back, so far so good....  I'm sure if I'd got out earlier the low life may well have been scared enough to trip over the block paving & the fence could well have jumped out & hit him...  ...    

George

[Biggles]

My sympathies Dave, the cops didn’t come for two days when some b. forced the front downstairs window and got in when I was sleeping upstairs. They told me not to touch the window and someone will come round to look. As a law abiding citizen I did what they said and had to push it shut with a stick, leave a non-locking broken window for the two days until they came and dusted. Tis the sign of the times we live in I’m afraid. 

[DavidA]

Also found today that two chainsaws have been taken. My brand new electric one and an older McCullough petrol saw.
I contacted the law to add these items. And reminded them at the same time they were going to email me the crime number.  Turns out they had the wrong email address.

But I had no expectancy of anything being done.

The police are massively under staffed. So I can't totally blame them. However it has reached a stage where things have to be pretty serious to draw any attention.

Dave.

[DaveS]

Dave         Sorry to hear about your visit from the low life

I had one attempt at my last house but they ran off when a factory volume Klaxxon went off as they tried to pry open the shed door.I had it wired through a micro switch screwed to the door.
For the last 4 years I've had a wireless alarm which suits my needs.
It's called XL wireless shed alarm from Ultrasecuredirect .com based in Northampton.
Looking at my invoice I paid just under £59 ex VAT now it's similar price with VAT

Dave

[DavidA]

I think the first thing to do is place an outer door in front of my main shed door (there is only one) and alarm this.
A false door handle with a switch to trigger a loud and uncomfortable siren.  I imagine the first thing a thief would do is to try the handle,'just in case'.
Hopefully they won't get as far as the locks on the actual door.

Did I mention this is the eighth or ninth time this has happened; twice to our houses and the rest to the sheds.

You never get used to it.

Thanks for the support guys, much appreciated.

Dave.

[awemawson]

When I owned some Launderette I fitted some cheap hasps and padlocks over the actual 'proper' lock on the drier coin boxes knowing that any scrote breaking in would simply snap the padlock off. What they didn't know was that there was a micro-switch under the hasp that was wired to a loud alarm 

[tom osselton]

When I owned some Launderette I fitted some cheap hasps and padlocks over the actual 'proper' lock on the drier coin boxes knowing that any scrote breaking in would simply snap the padlock off. What they didn't know was that there was a micro-switch under the hasp that was wired to a loud alarm 

That's a good idea I never thought of that!
Using a arduino you could add a time delay to the alarm for you to enter if its homemade or a motion detected verbal warning on you shed.
One of the pains with mine is one keypad in the house while your outside "I think it's off"!

[Biggles]

 

[chipenter]

Recently theives cut and ripped up over 600 feet of aly track , at Caterbury model engineering club they twisted and bent that they could only take half , what was left compleatly usles and only worth about 20 quid as scrap , it will take weeks of work to replace .

[DavidA]

This is the real killer.

Not the financial loss; tho that can be high.

It is the effort that is often wiped out. All for nothing.
And the psychological stress.
There is always that thought at the back of your mind that your privacy has been invaded and it can, probably will happen again.
A few years  my car was stolen by someone who actually crept into the house and stole a coat which had the keys in the pocket, and I was sat less than six foot from the coat in another room.

For years afterward every time I walked out the house I half expected the car to be gone and subconsciously prepared myself for the discovery.

I supposed the correct phrase is traumatized.

But after eight attacks of this kind I suppose it is to be expected.

Dave.

[tom osselton]

Where I am there is a back alley and then baseball / socker field. Some neighbours got together and put in some streetlights the cost gets split and put on your electricity bill. I had the garage redone on the outside and had this added to the roof for the video cameras I also have two led lights that come on at dusk that light up a good area.

 The bad part is the summer people going to their games all looking at what you have!
Not to mention that piss poor lock on every garage!

[DavidA]

When I first reported that my stuff had been stolen I wrote...

..No doubt I will find that some other bits and pieces have also gone. But I won't know which until I need them and can't find them...

and today I went out to get my 1/4" drive socket set. But it wasn't there.  And I decided to carry on with the battery charging experiments I had been reporting here.
But there were no batteries in the shed. All ten of the old batteries had gone. Now I know why they stole the wheel barrow.


But there is a glimmer of light at the end of this dark tunnel.

Tonight a relation who has friends in dark places gave me the name of the thief.

It seems that a 'friend of a friend' has heard this villain bragging about his exploits. And the word has now got back to me.

So tomorrow I will go down to the local police station and pass on this info. Clearly I will not say from whom it came, but it may lead to better things.

Things may be looking up.

Dave.

[JohnC]

Hello All,
I don't want to hijack David's thread, but I have acquired a Synchro 280 so am after any information. I have the Denford manual - which is not over informative!  In the thread there is talk of removing the top cover - is this just held with the four cap head screws? I take it the speed control lever comes off with the cover.  Also, is there information on the metric conversion, with a pitch table?
David, you have a pm
Edited to add: I'm on the Denford website and trawling through the mine of information there.

Many thanks,
John

[Pete.]

Hi John.

The speed control lever has a nut on the end of the shaft underneath. Remove that nut and the lever will pull out upwards. You might have to release the speed adjuster nuts to effect this, or at least to put it back. Mind you don't lose the spring and plunger when you pull the lever out.

Four bolts hold the top plate down. It's flat underneath so you can actually undo the bolts and spin it out of the way without removing the lever. It might be stuck down with gasket sealer.

[JohnC]

Thanks Pete,

I did just what you suggested: I undid the four screws and rotated the cover around the speed lever - job done.  Thanks again.
I have a few more questions now, though.......

I changed all the oils as per the manual.  Messy business!  Nowhere in my manual does it mention the sight glass for the headstock oil level behind the rear shear.  I only found it after I had the top cover off, by dipping the oil level to the rear of the cavity.  The gearbox oil change was fine.  But the apron....there is a filler plug and a sight glass, which was empty.  When I unscrewed it a trickle of fairly dirty oil came out.  I flushed the apron with thin oil and then refilled with ISO 68 - most of which ran out of the rear of the apron, leaving the sight glass once more empty! Am I missing a plug somewhere?

The High Speed - Low Speed change lever is temperamental - sometimes it moves smoothly and others is is a pig to shift. I know it has to align with two sets of gear teeth, but is this normal?

Many thanks again for any answers,
John

[Pete.]

The high-lever will move easily when the machine is cold and be tight when the machine is warm/hot. It's a known issue, the plastic gear grows and binds on the pinion behind. The drawing was revised to make the gear 10 thou smaller to give some extra clearance bt I think the main problem is that the plastic used (some obscure stuff called Technyl A90 that you can't get any more) absorbs oil over time.

I've made a few sets of those plastic gears now for people. I made them from Delrin which is not only stronger but is very resistant to oils.

[JohnC]

Thanks Pete, much appreciated!  What do you reckon to the saddle oil level?

[Pete.]

I never worried about it the apron gears turn so slowly a squirt from an oil can once in a while does the job.

[JohnC]