Friday, September 28, 2007

Tamamushi

I've worn myself to a frazzle with another day of non specific fiddling. I visited a friend yesterday and popped in at the junk yard on the way. There was a huge bin of bearings pulleys and shafts that I dug about in for a bit. I had nothing specific in mind, but found a short shaft that would fit two bearings and a few pulleys that looked hopeful, then tossed in another few bearings that looked about the size of stuff I had already. There were also a load of tool steel teath for some kind of nasty machine, so I grabbed a few of them as well. I had taken in a carton of copper offcuts that had been lying around for ages, so it was a little exchange deal. The junk yard chap is a kind of acquaintance as he does the load up for the recycling collection at the primary school the kids went to and I helped out on that many times.
I used one of the pulleys with a shim to get to size on the bandsaw. That has taken the rotation speed of that at its minimum down to a place where it is OK for steel at a push, so that was a good find. More fiddling about with spanners in confined spaces. Also repairing a gripey jigsaw and a couple of other mechanicals.
Meanwhile the insect morgue is filling up as the autumn comes in. This is a Tamamushi that expired in my little shed area, not too common these days, but I usually see a few about. They are particularly nifty when flying as their long pointy wing cases are held up to dazzle in the sun.
One of the snazziest local beetles.