The grumpy thread

[New POD]

Cut it up with a saw. Leave in loft. 

[Parky]

Grumpy with myself for venting yesterday.  I was having a bad day and am under a bit of stress at the moment so would like to apologise for losing my cool.  Usually I would be fine with everything that’s going on but the added pressure of having to submit a (very complex) set of exam essays which will totally determine whether I secure a job or not was just an extra layer I didn’t have capacity for.  

Straws and camels backs, etc.  Sorry everyone.

[loserone]

Hey Parky, that's what this thread is for.  Sometimes venting is what you need.

 

Good luck with the exams

[High Jetter]

It's fine, AS safety vent worked automatically, hope it helped you.

[Parky]

  On 14/03/2021 at 23:41, High Jetter said:

It's fine, AS safety vent worked automatically, hope it helped you.

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Yup, it did.  My mental health needed that vent as sometimes the stiff upper lip just keeps it all buttoned up until the pressure has nowhere to go.

Exam wise there are four parts.  Today I finished an essay which I can submit so that’s out the way.  I need to pass two multi choice tests, one of which is finished and passed, the other has two questions outstanding.  I have one shot left at that or else I fail but I know what I need to practice and rehearse so I will do that until I am fluent in bollocks before the final attempt.

Last thing is a live advice interview.  No worries there but the instructions are to use your companies forms and declarations which I don’t have as I don’t work for anyone.  So I need to create a set of compliant standard papers despite not knowing exactly what they are as have never seen any!  This should be a laugh.....

[Ghosty]

Bought a welder from Machine Mart, alas the one I wanted they only had the display model, but were willing to sell me it. They declined to discount it as shop soiled though. 
They asked if I need the box, I declined as it wouldn't be much use, and all the accessories were contained inside. 
However it transpires that parts of the provided mask are missing (nothing to hold the lens in), half the gas bottle holder, and several tips of different gauges. I needed to go back for more tips anyway as they were out of 1mm, but now I have to ask for a load of bits off them too. If I'm paying full price, I want everything... 

 

[dean36014]

To be fair the best investment you'll make will be a decent auto dimming mask. If you're intending to work on cars 0.6mm wire and tips is adequate

[Talbot]

  On 15/03/2021 at 21:22, dean36014 said:

To be fair the best investment you'll make will be a decent auto dimming mask.

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This.

I basically cannot weld properly without one now.  I can just about use a fixed-shade nod-down helmet when working at the bench, but when you're contorted under a car, an autodim is essential.  They're barely over a tenner on ebay now, and the one I bought about 18 months ago is still working just fine.  Seems amazing that they were £150 about 15 years ago.  The hand-held load-of-old-crap that they give you with the welder should be thrown directly in the bin.  Possibly used by spectators only.  It's basically only supplied to cover themselves so that when some idiot burns the fuck out of their retinas and then tries to sue them, the supplier can absolutely show that they covered their duty of care by providing a welding shield.

  On 15/03/2021 at 21:11, Ghosty said:

I needed to go back for more tips anyway as they were out of 1mm

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No single-phase welder can use 1mm wire or tips.  0.8mm is the largest you'll ever need with 0.6 definitely being preferable on thin car body.  To make use of 1mm wire you need to be up into the 300A 3-phase machine running quite hard, welding 8mm+ thick plate sort of welding.  Even then you can just use 0.8mm run a bit faster, it's just that 1mm wire is a (fractionally) cheaper way of doing it.  Ask them for a pack of 0.6 or 0.8mm tips instead as a "well, this was a display unit, I know you can't give me a discount, but you can chuck some other bits in, right?"  Or even a set of shrouds.  Is it a hobby torch or a euro torch?  Euro torch shrouds tend to last quite well, but the hobby ones will burn back eventually as they are so small and thin.  I went through several when I had a hobby machine.

 

 

[Ghosty]

  On 15/03/2021 at 22:52, Talbot said:

stuff

 

 

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Yeah, I've got a nod-down helmet as a starting point (and as I need this thing MOTd stat) but I'll have to look into autodim for the next project. Thankfully light isn't an issue in the 106, and I do need a spare mask in case dad is supervising. 

0.8 tip is all well and good for 0.7mm wire, but the provided 0.9mm flux core wire won't go through that and I was advised by MM that I'd need 1mm tips for that. 
I'm arguing the toss on general principle basically, if they're going to sell me a welder at full price I expect everything listed in the manual to be present, or money back - especially at a price point well into three figures. 
It's also safety as at the current point in time and ignoring the mask I bought separately, I can't use the welder as a) it'd blind me and b) I can't mount a gas bottle to it with half the mount missing. 

[Talbot]

  On 15/03/2021 at 23:54, Ghosty said:

0.8 tip is all well and good for 0.7mm wire, but the provided 0.9mm flux core wire won't go through that and I was advised by MM that I'd need 1mm tips for that. 

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MM haven't got the first clue what they are on about.  0.8mm tip is used for 0.8mm wire.  1.0mm tip is used for 1.0mm wire.  It's been a while since I've used it, but flux core wire is 0.8mm, so you need a 0.8mm tip.  if you have 0.9mm flux core wire then you've got something very odd there, and a 1.0mm tip will be a bit crap.  yes, it will likely work, but it will be a bit intermittent.

Check carefully it's not 0.8mm wire, and the tips are just shit. I've had them before now where the copper has deformed, so you have to run a 0.8mm drill bit through them before the wire will feed properly.  Especially on hobby torches, as the tips are thinner material and more easily deformed.

Actually, I'm not even sure you can get 1.0mm tips for a hobby welder.

Edit:  Evidently I'm a bit wrong here.  According to a quick google, Machine mart do indeed sell 0.9mm flux-core wire.  Nevertheless, you'll need a 0.9mm tip to go with it.  That will either be a bought 0.9 or run a 0.9mm drill bit up a 0.8mm welding tip to make one.  1.0mm will be too much clearance to work properly.

Generally the tip should be a very close fit to the wire, and a 0.1mm gap is too much.  It can be very noticeable when you have a worn tip in a welder as the weld becomes far more difficult to maintain.  Even then, the wear can be barely visible.

I've also tried running 0.6mm wire through a 0.8mm tip.  Could barely strike an arc.

[wuvvum]

I bought this one.  £8.78.

I had auto dimming goggles already but wanted a bit more face protection.  Feck trying to weld with the crappy perma-dark handheld mask which comes with most welders.

[Ghosty]

  On 16/03/2021 at 00:19, Talbot said:

Actually, I'm not even sure you can get 1.0mm tips for a hobby welder.

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There were 1mm Clarke tips on the shelf but out of stock. The MM employee called them 'industrial' though.

[wuvvum]

My new welder came with a 1.0mm tip in a little bag, along with a 0.7mm.  Haven't looked to see what's in the torch at the moment but assume it's 0.6 as that's the size of wire it came with.

[Angrydicky]

  On 15/03/2021 at 21:11, Ghosty said:

Bought a welder from Machine Mart, alas the one I wanted they only had the display model, but were willing to sell me it. They declined to discount it as shop soiled though. 
They asked if I need the box, I declined as it wouldn't be much use, and all the accessories were contained inside. 
However it transpires that parts of the provided mask are missing (nothing to hold the lens in), half the gas bottle holder, and several tips of different gauges. I needed to go back for more tips anyway as they were out of 1mm, but now I have to ask for a load of bits off them too. If I'm paying full price, I want everything... 

 

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I, on the other hand, couldn't have had a more different experience when buying a welder from a local branch of Machine Mart. The staff were falling over themselves to show me the different models and accessories. And the one I eventually went for, the only one they had in stock was the display model so they knocked a few quid off for that. I got a decent auto-darkening helmet at the same time with the money I saved on the welder, and a large roll of .8 wire. I did take the box containing the accessories too! Welders, I think are slow moving stock so it's in their interest to sell them whenever someone expresses an interest.

I went for a Clarke 130 turbo, and it's been absolutely brilliant.

Sadly, I suspect Machine Mart's days as shops are numbered, it wouldn't surprise me to see them go fully or mostly online. 

[PhilA]

My uncle Tony was admitted to hospital yesterday morning, just got call today that he died at 9:30.

Well, that blows.

 

Phil

[New POD]

  On 15/03/2021 at 21:22, dean36014 said:

To be fair the best investment you'll make will be a decent auto dimming mask. 

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And ear plugs if welding upside down. 

Where did the weld splatter end up? When welding the back of the sills on a mk3 cavalier.   Oh yes. Down my fucking right ear.  No.permanent damage.

 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Trite in the scheme of things here but Lady Grumpius asked me to just give her car a basic once-over before its MOT on Thursday.

Go out at 7.30PM.  Check tyres.  All fine.  Put on headlights to check bulbs.  Hmmm.  Looks like a sidelight is out.  Grab screwdriver, take headlight out and swap over the H1 bulb.  Switch lights back on to check.  Nope.  Hmm.  Works on full beam, works with dipped, it's a sidelight.  Ok. 

Look up 'sidelights out on one side' on Google.  'Check the number 53 fuse'.

Now imagine, if you will, a 19-stone, 6'2" former Rugby player whose playing days are behind him and hasn't seen a salad in a while.  For the knowledgable Ford Fondlers amongst you will know that the fuse box of a MK2 Focus is in the passenger footwell.  Well, I can only get into the drivers door so there I am, feet in the air, lying across the drivers seat with my arse digging into the handbrake, trying to get the 53 fuse out with the fuse puller from my Golf.  Ten minutes of swearing and nothing, can't get any leverage.  Eventually after fifteen minutes, I grab a multitool from my car and used the corkscrew to get some leverage from the point and pull the fuse.  Pull the 54 as well (the RH side one) and nope, they're both fine.  For fuck's sake.

Went back to look at the car and had another look.

'Grumpius' I say to myself.  'You are a total twit'.  For there are THREE bulbs in the cluster.  An H7, an H1 and a 501 that had completely missed.  Go to the back of my car, grab a spare 501 (I have a stash in the boot floor recess), change the 501 and it works.  Well, had to wrestle the light cluster back into position but got there eventually.

A five-minute job turned into 50 because of my own lack of observation.

In conclusion:

[High Jetter]

Maximus...sillyous. We've all been there at some time.

[Spiny Norman]

They've rebuilt the steps at the back door to our flats after fixing the drain that was underneath. There's only three but the middle one is now about two inches higher up than it used to be and today the inevitable happened when I was taking the bins out and I went arse over tit on it and smashed my knee on the floor, which took a fair size chunk of skin off it.

However that's only part of the grump, because in putting my hands out to brace myself as I went down I jarred the torn shoulder muscle that's been slowly healing these past couple of weeks and now I'm back to square one with that as well.

Fucksticks.


 

[Ghosty]

  On 16/03/2021 at 07:02, Angrydicky said:

I, on the other hand, couldn't have had a more different experience when buying a welder from a local branch of Machine Mart. The staff were falling over themselves to show me the different models and accessories. And the one I eventually went for, the only one they had in stock was the display model so they knocked a few quid off for that. I got a decent auto-darkening helmet at the same time with the money I saved on the welder, and a large roll of .8 wire. I did take the box containing the accessories too! Welders, I think are slow moving stock so it's in their interest to sell them whenever someone expresses an interest.

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Oh, I won't deny the staff are more than helpful - it's always the same two on the counter and they're knowledgeable and starting to recognise me as I'm in weekly at the moment. 
They were much the same here, more than willing to show me everything and explain it and knew how to answer all my questions. 
However I did note that they didn't stock 0.9mm tips for flux core gasless welding so I eBayed some. 
~ 
Phoned them up today and they thankfully still had the box for my welder and all of the missing accessories were in it, so I went down and they were handed to me with apologies. Nothing for the inconvenience, mind. 
The welder works perfectly though so that's all good. 

In other 'argh!' news, I took a Halfords Advanced 3/8" ratchet in for replacement as it didn't hold sockets any more. They still replace them no questions asked, alas they had no 3/8" ratchets in so it was either take a stubby ratchet or order one, I went with ordering one. Alas they've taken my ratchet off me... that has potential to be interesting* .
 

[loserone]

Got a receipt?

[loserone]

@PhilA sorry to hear of your loss.  

[chadders]

  On 16/03/2021 at 15:17, PhilA said:

My uncle Tony was admitted to hospital yesterday morning, just got call today that he died at 9:30.

Well, that blows.

 

Phil

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Sorry to hear that Phil.

[PhilA]

  On 17/03/2021 at 09:34, chadders said:

 

Sorry to hear that Phil.

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  On 17/03/2021 at 08:25, loserone said:

@PhilA sorry to hear of your loss.  

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Thanks guys.

[Zelandeth]

One of our family started a new job a few weeks ago, software development in a major national data provider.  One which has a pretty good reputation as being a good company to work for.

She's just been literally in tears because she feels so lost and doesn't have a clue what she's doing.

Neatly three weeks in she's still not been set up on half the systems, doesn't have a clue who her manager actually is, had any introduction to what the project she's working on is or a primer on how anything works or been given anyone she can ask for help.  If this were a physical office they've basically handed her a mouse, a keyboard and said "Go be productive, by the way the coffee machine's broken."

I don't doubt for a second that this would all have been sorted in minutes actually in the office, but they're a group who *really* don't seem to have adapted to remote working well.

This was really meant to have been a good thing, yet it's looking like it's actually just going to end up being another massively stressful mess.

 

[artdjones]

I wanted a Shipley quote for bringing 2x 5litre cans of paint , a 5l can of thinners and a 1kg tub of filler from Brighton to County Cork. It took 11 days to arrive and is for £201.

[mitsisigma01]

😲 What's the hassle of sending paint and thinners, just flammable or a n other reason 🤔

[beko1987]

  On 17/03/2021 at 14:35, Zelandeth said:

One of our family started a new job a few weeks ago, software development in a major national data provider.  One which has a pretty good reputation as being a good company to work for.

She's just been literally in tears because she feels so lost and doesn't have a clue what she's doing.

Neatly three weeks in she's still not been set up on half the systems, doesn't have a clue who her manager actually is, had any introduction to what the project she's working on is or a primer on how anything works or been given anyone she can ask for help.  If this were a physical office they've basically handed her a mouse, a keyboard and said "Go be productive, by the way the coffee machine's broken."

I don't doubt for a second that this would all have been sorted in minutes actually in the office, but they're a group who *really* don't seem to have adapted to remote working well.

This was really meant to have been a good thing, yet it's looking like it's actually just going to end up being another massively stressful mess.

 

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I went through the same within a top ranking marketing agency last year but with an internal transfer, the full shit hasn't hit the fan yet on the stuff I know I've not done... 

Feel for her, she needs to be vocal and with a paper trail of it, got me out of some very sticky shit last autumn. 

[New POD]

Wife is in grief.  This basically entails lashing out emotionally and making me feel worse, by being quite aggressive towards me.

 Pointed this out. Clearly this was the wrong thing to do, but I've been trying my best to say and do the right thing for 2 weeks. Last night she had a screaming fit at me, apparently our marriage is a sham and I'm cruel. 

Of course this was going to happen eventually.  I know she's in lot of emotional pain, but is there any let up in this?  Whatever  I say or do cannot be right. Unfortunately I also said that. I'm making excuses for my behaviour. Getting to the end of my patience and asking her to stop blaming me, made it worse some more. 

My blood pressure is up and my anxiety levels are through the fucking roof.  I can't say that though. She'll tell me I'm blaming her.  I wish I could help her. She no longer wants my help.  It's like a fucking night mare. 

 

[Zelandeth]

  On 17/03/2021 at 16:25, beko1987 said:

I went through the same within a top ranking marketing agency last year but with an internal transfer, the full shit hasn't hit the fan yet on the stuff I know I've not done... 

Feel for her, she needs to be vocal and with a paper trail of it, got me out of some very sticky shit last autumn. 

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She's been trying...but it's hard to be vocal when there's nobody to be vocal at.  About the only point of contact she's really got is the HR person who handled the actual recruitment side of things (they came to us rather than us applying for a job), who can't do much as they're a totally separate department.  We've been given suggestions of folks to contact, but they're all people who never answer phones or emails.

Just nobody will take ownership of the situation.

My own grump of this afternoon was going to order new rear brake pipes for the BX.  £32 apiece, fair enough.  Then went to click order.

They want HOW bloody much for shipping?!?

It would probably be cheaper for me to drive there and collect the damned things.  In the Jag!