With nothing to do in the garden....

Igloo is north of The Border but after the Forth Road Bridge is fixed, I'm a doddle to get to from The South? Got the picture re your tutor, my late father was a serious rugby player and likewise my older brother, neither were best not to be messed with! Whatever you felt like at the time the teaching has produced a great pupil.

 

Time for another small project.

A while ago, the Tecumseh H50 engine in my old shredder died. As the company went out of business back in 2009 or so, spares are impossible to get hold of. So, a few weeks back, I started to look into the possibility of using another make of engine in it. A bit of online research seemed to indicate that a 6.5hp Briggs & Stratton could possibly be used.

This first photo shows the old Tecumseh still in place on the partially stripped Shredder...



...not a pretty sight! The first problem turned up when the replacement engine arrived, and were compared. The crank - to which the Shredder flails are attached - were at different heights...



...

...the old crank on the left, new on the right. However, thanks to the fact that americans dont seem to have any idea as to what the word "tolerances" means, it did not prove to be a problem, and was close to being perfectly centred in its hole. Even the bolts lined up...



Briggs engines have two mounting faces. The vertical one used in the above photo, and a horizontal one. By pure luck, four holes for the horizontal face already existed...



...and after elongating them, were useable. Soon after, the new engine was in place...



The final job to complete the project was to make up a new set of flails...



..its easy to see in the photo which they are. Everything was reassembled, and given a short test. There is plenty work for it to do over the weekend, so I'll add my impressions after its been used properly.

 

Beautiful woodwork @Sandy Ground

 

Nice one Sandy, love a good engine

 

Nice job sandy ! Great workshop you even have a sand/glass blaster their
Wish you lived next door to me , with all them tools

 

Perhaps I shouldn't have moved here!

I must admit, I enjoyed doing this conversion for quite a few reasons.

First, if I had bought a new one, then it would have cost me perhaps 3x as much as it did.

Second, there are still quite a few pieces of garden machinery out there with worn out Tecumseh engines that can be bought for peanuts and converted. Its easy to do, only hand tools are needed. I personally find it rewarding to be able to repair something rather than buy new. In a parallel, its like fruits from your own garden always taste better than shop bought ones.

Third, maybe, just maybe reading this will inspire someone else to do something similar.

 

I've managed to do some shredding with it today. About four hours worth. The biggest improvement seems to be in fuel consumption. Despite the engine being slightly more powerful, it seems to be using noticeably less fuel.

I'm pleased with the way it shreds also. The electric roller one that I have shreds like this...



..which I dont think is all that good, when compared to the way the petrol one shreds...

 

No end to this man's talents and here was me thinking I'd done quite a good job with the Polyfiller prior to painting some walls in the spare room. My efforts are not remotely in the same class! I have an enormous pile of stuff waiting to be shredded....if you are free next week........

 

Crikey, that is a significant difference! That will definitely speed up the composting process.

And I'm sure you did It's horses for courses, that's all (are you going to post Polyfiller Pix?) I can't even polyfiller

 

Ladies, you have taught me something. I always thought polyfiller was parrot food!

 

And I'm sure you did It's horses for courses, that's all (are you going to post Polyfiller Pix?) I can't even polyfiller [/QUOTE
No I will not be taking photos. I am decidedly off the whole affair of decorating. Spent most of today filling and painting while in some extremely uncomfortable positions. Did however have the good idea of donning my knee pads normally used when weeding when painting the
skirting boards. This was the good idea. What wasn't so smart was me managing to traipse paint all over the place as had some on the bottom of my shoe. These little fiascos remind me why I don't go a bomb on DIY!

 

That bench is quality. Have you put it out yet?

 

The usual time to put garden furniture out here is Easter. As that was so early this year, its looking more like this weekend if the weather improves.

 

Think you need one of these: