CurtisRider

I needed to build a bar for my upcoming wedding, so why not use up an old piano that's been in my workshop for 2 years... It was very knackered and needs lots of TLC to get it to stay together but it's solid enough now. So far I've gutted it, lined it out, made space for a mini fridge, and made it so the front completely hinges and creates a canopy for lights. I've never sprayed wood paints before, nor water based so that was fun.

@Tom Booth I got myself some aluminium channel, it's far better now

@Tom Booth I plan to get some Z purlin and replace the wood altogether eventually, the trouble is local suppliers didn't have any in stock or less local ones wanted very high postage (Understandably) so the wood had to do for the up coming jobs! We didn't get issues from cement sticking yesterday, but the ballast did cause a couple of small splinters that left a light mark, this ended up being the least of our worries as a bird decided it wanted to have fun on the slab last night and has left its mark It'll get covered in mud anyway so doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. The machine did it's job well so we can't grumble!

I need a beam screed as I have a load of concreting to do on the farm and it makes for a far better quality finish than doing it by hand. We rented one last time we did some and it was great, the trouble is it was £150 for 3 days and we need one for 2 weeks and then again later this year. They are £1500 new which is absolutely ridiculous and command decent prices secondhand. They are very basic, using an off balance shaft driven by the engine to vibrate the beam, bringing air to the surface and creating a decent surface for outdoors or for further trowelling later if you want it super smooth. So I delved into my scrap bin for my finest rusty off cuts, ordered some bearings, pulleys and a belt. I found a Honda GX160 clone for £50, shoved a new carb on and gave it a service and it ticked over as good as new. Some choppy choppy, melty stick, recycled belt guard, sloppy paint, crossed fingers later and I have a menacing, vibrating, piece of wood with an engine on top! Under £100, a day to build and it seems to work when running on a solid surface, it'll get its maiden run tomorrow

@Pete.M I didn't make mine, they are from CJ Autos. They are pretty crude and my first set snapped in half, they swiftly replaced them with a new better made set (but still a bit shit) and they have been fine since, mine are the HD versions. For the price I am disappointed with them quality wise, I've had several issues with the hydraulics too, again they have swiftly sent new parts but I still feel miffed that I've had to deal with these problems. If you want some photos/dimensions for copying and improving then let me know When they aren't falling apart they are bloody handy and I can't be without them now!

Crumbs, that things a bit naughty isn't it! Nice work (and driving!). Please tell me you will make it road legal....

@Tom Booth Just cancel on him, if he is already a dick then he won't be any better when you actually meet him. I had this with my T25, got fed up with retards turning up offering sod all

The unit is impressive but getting it into your house is even more impressive! Nice work!

I have had some fun making an attachment for my little digger. I have quite a lot of soil with bricks and rubble in to sort through and wanted to screen it fairly effortlessly, unfortunately they start from around £4000 and my budget wasn't going to stretch to that. So this is a soil screener built from scrap, mostly an old cement mixer and fertiliser spreader, the only new parts are the guide wheels, rubber mounts, hydraulic pump and hoses. The plan was to keep the cost at £500 all in...including labour! Landrover gearbox mounts keep the hydraulic motor and guide wheels isolated from vibration, longboard wheels for the guides and an old ram piston was perfect for the bracket pins! It's rough and ready but seems to be solid enough for my needs, the wall thickness of that tubing is pretty mighty! Unfortunately I've not had soil dry enough to test it properly but it is working pretty well with the wet stuff I've got so I have no doubt it'll work fine when dry!

So after looking after a Touran for 6 months, I'll now be looking after a Clio 182 for 18 months which will be a slightly more interesting time Apart from the usual wear and tear items is there anything in particular that I should keep keeping my eyes peeled/ears open for? I want to keep it in good condition for when it is returned to the owner as even though I'm doing him a favour storing it and keeping it running, he is also doing me one as It means I don't need to buy another car for a while!

I managed to get this mint condition Giant frame and carbon forks for £40 and swapped all the bits off my Raleigh Airlight along with a few new bits (105 braze on front mech, Continental front tyre as my other one was too tall and fouled the brake and an Ultegra rear brake that has just arrived). It rides so nicely, I'm very happy with it considering it has cost me a smidge over £100 to build overall and pretty much everything is new/like new Obviously not bike porn but more than adequate for the occasional rider!

I've been looking after a 05 1.9 TDI Touran for a friend whilst he travels and I've been pleasantly surprised by how capable, spacious and even though its only 100bhp it doesn't actually feel as horrendously slow as i had expected. It has done 189k and apparently has wanted for very little for the 130k he has put on it. Well worth considering and pretty cheap. Unrelated news, we got a MK6 Golf GT 2.0 TDI the other day to replace the Astra H, I know it's just a Golf but I'm always impressed by these old things as they seem to age far more gracefully than most other brands. We went with an automatic this time and it's so silky, for an everyday car for A to B I don't get why people bother with manual boxes anymore.

I've got the Dewalt one (more powerful than yours I believe unless Milwaukee have upped the spec since I last looked) and its sooooo good, they are such handy machines! I use it for driving 180mm coach screws into oak without predrilling with no issues as well as on the farm equipment. I'm keen on having some of the smaller ones so it looks like I might have to try the Milwaukee M12 stuff

Missed that advise and got it coated... No sign of shrinking, a 4 bottle pack just about did the 10x5 foot trailer inside and out! Fingers crossed tomorrow it will still look the same...

I've ordered some, I didn't want to spend any more on it but I also want the sodding thing out of my workshop! Fingers crossed it works! Yesterday I tried painting red oxide on the chassis over the top of the stonechip and it didn't react at all, I don't get it?! Anyway I'm just going to blast a load of waxoyl style stuff underneath to ensure water can't get in too easily and that'll have to do, it'll only get used on local roads and most of those don't get any salt during the winter anyway!

Cheers Tom, I left the red oxide a day which is what I would usually do and never had issues before. The previous paint is of unknown type, likely cheap and cheerful (or not in my case) though. I was looking at the Raptor paint, the trouble is I'm not ready for 2k paint yet as I don't have the mask as per your advice and I'm not in the position to buy one because of this bloody trailer! I assume there isn't a 1k equivalent?

Not quite car related but it's for my car and it's paint, I know @Tom Booth will probably have the answer! I bought an Ifor Williams trailer recently, it's galvanised but has been painted in the past as some areas have become worn and rusted. I stripped it down, sanded back the paint to key, treated any rust with the Bilt Hamber stuff and primed treated areas with red oxide. Now because the thing is a bit beaten I thought covering it in Tetraseal stone chip would be a good idea as it'll resist wear and tear and when applied with a Schutz gun it leaves a textured finish to hide any sins. Unfortunately the stuff has reacted (crazing as it's shrunk) just about everywhere and I can't understand why as I've had success with it before. I feared that I had maybe put it on too thick, but when I experimented in other areas it didn't make a difference, I'm assuming it's too high a solvent content that is causing this. I really can't be arsed with stripping it all back again, I haven't got time and need it operational within a week. Is there any other type of paint i can slap over that won't react? Do I resort to using Hammerite as that seems to stick to just about anything? Do I need to give the stone chip some more time to fully harden before I can coat over?

Fair enough, I guess you probably don't have massive bits of steel handy either like I was fortunate enough to, I need to get round to shoving in a massive hydraulic ram to up the oomph a bit more

Pfft, should of made your own out of scrap

Dick move, I'd be steering well clear of him.

Cheers chaps, I'll just give them a quick spray and put some dirt jumper stickers on and hope they sell! I sold some wobbly worn out base level Pikes for £50 recently, the amount of people that wanted them was ridiculous!

Are you still swapping it for that other mahoosive tank? I got myself a MOMO Corse steering wheel and boss for the Porsche as well as a stack of other parts are accumulating in a heap ready for when I make a space in my workshop for the Porsche to live. I've been a bit switched off from cars for the past few years but suddenly I feel pretty excited to get stuck in and crack on, that will probably last all of 5 minutes once it's in pieces and I realise how shit it is again

My concern is I don't massively want it to break mid turn! Did your budget one seem as well made as the branded ones Adam?

I've just bought a Momo steering wheel for my 924, it came with an MX5 MK2.5 boss which unfortunately isn't suitable so I need a correct one. I've seen a variety available online, from branded to suspiciously cheap. Are there any particular ones to go for/avoid?

2.5kg iirc for the steel stanchion versions, the alloy versions were much lighter though Any idea of value of these? The prices seem to vary wildy and i know longer travel straight steerer 1 1/8th forks are sought after as they are thin on the ground. I was thinking £80-100 with a respray, fresh decals, seals and oil