Hugh Potter
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you should look into geting on the UN committee Keith, you’re right on !! i reckon most of the worlds probs could be sorted the same way, we’re all so woried about other countries business, that we dont look in our own back yard, sure we’ve learned lessons about nuclear power etc, and i think that we should be pushing restrictions on certain countries, but we cant do everything for them,
i’ve long been tired of the constant chain of charity things that come through the door, or on tv, begging for money all the time, i used to give loads, but now restrict my donations to a healthy donation to the british legion poppy appeal and the macmillan nurses, occasionaly i’ll also put money in the collectors pots in the high street if i agree with the cause. I also do a few hours a fortnight at a local home for adults with learning difficulties, i like to do my bit, but so many constant appeals just seem to get on my nerves now !!
btw, my dad was born in kenya, a brit national, he spent his first 18yrs out there, parents owned a farm, his dad was a national park game warden and railway inspector, when he left, things were good, fields green, schools full, medical centres stocked etc, he went back for the first time last year and was near to tears over how it had changed, roads all shot to hell, crime rate gone mad, schools in ruins etc etc, whislt kenya isnt a particularly bad example, it des show what corruption does !
tough call, i agree with keith, and as strict as i now am about where my money goes, it still remains hard to turn your back, could the world do it i wonder ?????????
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lol, he is, he’s 63 i thnk, left school early and somehow did a college at course and a full apprenticeship, real nice bloke, funny really, he said about 12 yrs ago about an apprentice, nit aimed at me but i never pushed, wish i had !
just trying to presuade him that he’d feel so much better for sharing his knowledge and passing on his wealth of experience !
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now that would give me a little more confidence than hand drawing !! i have a box of bits that came with the plotter last year, spare blades etc, but i miust admit, other than the quick set up quide i didnt read the destructions regards the other capabilites of the plotter !!
i guess the pounce tool is like a hollow punch ?
i have a friend who had been a traditional signwriter for nearly 45 years, full apprecticeship etc, the lot, he packed it all in a couple ofyears back (basically after paying off the mortgage and geting the kids thru college) and now works for tesco’s part time for pocket money, i’m still trying to persuade him to teach me the basics !!
thanks for the answers btw.
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when my microwave blew up about a year back, a friend said he had a spare and would drop it round, his spare turned out to be a pro catering cmobi oven thing with microwave etc, it was around ten years old but still better than you could buy today for a couple hundred notes,
i managed to find the manufacturer online, gave em the model No etc and said i was after a user manual, they phoned me a few days later and offered to send me photocopies of all the info they had, FREE !! so i took the offer and got the wiring diag’s thrown in !
worth a go dude !
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ok ! dumb question now, what’s ‘pounce’ ? 😳
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i supply vinyl stickers to a well known club, and have noticed a few of the guys putting them on their helmets, where can i find out any info on the subject that might help me advise them ?
on a similar note,
i’ve just stripped my race helmet stickers off with the plan to put my own design on, to be honest, i’ll say whatever i need to say to a spec guy if he asks. i’m strapped so tight in the seat that should i roll it i’ll not be banging my head on owt, and should the car be on fire and flames licking around my helmet (ooh er), the last thing i’ll worry about is a little hot drippy vinyl coming off !!i guess the real problem could lay in bikers helemts, they’re not protected by any tin or a fancy roll cage so i guess the condition of the lid is more important.
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Well said Dude !
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great work Jill, love the avatar pic btw !,
do you paint free hand, or do you use like a vinyl stensil / mask and draw the outlines from them, or paint thru the stensil or……??????
i dont like painting generally, so i’d love to know how to achieve better results, i certainly wouldn’t consider myself good enought to sell my painted work t my customers !!
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i agree with Jobe (and some of the other comments), we have more than enought mess in the Uk that needs sorting out, many people, in fact most people, live hand to mouth every week, do not take loads foreign holidays etc ! too many people are on the streets, for varying reasons,
it does sadden me to see these people in africa and other parts of the world, i guess we’re partly to blame for some of it, i mean, look at the tribes of south america, they still get on just fine without out influence, then we go in and introduce the common cold which can kill em ! africa is an odd one really, yes we went in there and exploited the place, as we did with australia, new zealand, america and many other places,
whilst we did exploit them, we at least introduced education and other beneficial programs, independence from us (including other european countries) is where it started to go wrong, look at zimbabwe, the white rulers hand back the country to the people, in zimbabwe’s case, to a sellf obsessed and corrupt Mogabe, who kicks out any white farmers (who are providing education and medical care for the people who work for them, and who provide a stable income for the country) and then slams the country into utter poverty and destruction within a few years, how can we help those countries wh’s own leaders won’t even make the effort,
lok at the recent ethiopian troubles, we releive them of their debt and they then go and prove that they’re still not a democracy, despite all the shiny teeth and handshakes for the cameras.
damn, dont get me started !!! I’m half sheep, sorry, i mean half welsh, and half english, and i’m deeply patriotic when it comes to the UK, personally i’d stop handing out 30 odd billion a year to europe and start to rebuild this country, we can still help others while we do that, all our money does in europe is to fund an extravagant life style for a bunch of self elected idiots, and are supporting other economies who flooding us with cheap produce so our farmers, miners and fisherman can’t compete, leading to decimation of our own industries,
who are they, to tell us, how to run our own country !
hmmmm, I’ll get me coat !
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well despite being divorced, i have four great kids who i see loads, the two boys have taken a real interest in the vinyl cutting, and my oldest lad (12) has had me instal corel 12 onto his pc at his mums so he can do design too, he wants to go down that road for a career so maybe he’ll end up working for me at some point if it all works out, he prob knows more about computers than i do ! so that has also given me an extra boost to make this work, for their sake.
i have a wonderful girlfiend of four years now, she’s simply awesome, i couldn’t ask for a more positive or supportive partner,
the kids love doing what they call ‘the parent sitting shifts’ (6 days here 8 at mums !), and often simply say ‘i love you dad’ followed by a cuddle, there’s little more wealth than that !!i have two great parents who are always supportive of what i do, even tho mum always cringes when its something to do with the drag car !!
basically i’m pretty healthy, i’m happy in what i’m trying to achieve with this new sign making venture, and or the first time in a long time, i’m pretty content with things, i’m still skint, and i guess i do place alot of value on money, if for no other reason that to enable me to get completly off of the meagre benefits i do receive,
i dont have any aspirations to be a millionaire, tho it would be rather nice ! i just want to have a few hundred quid at the end of the week and to be comfortable, if ya can pay the bills and not worry about how to afford the day trip out with the kids, then things are ok in my book !!!
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have you tried asking the manufacturer ? phone maybe and ask to speak to a service engineer if poss, might work !
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aint that the truth !!!!!
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is that really it ? could swear it was something more tech laden than that, oh well, i’ll call the men in coats, th memory’s completely shot now !
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its something a little more techy than single drill speed, i remember that much, like i say, i used to be quite chuffed i knew when customers asked me, but the ol’ brain aint quite what it was !
i’ve just dne a google and cant find it on there either, i used to read all the metabo trade bulletins for the new products etc, an got it from one of those, i’ll have a rummage through the shed and see if i’ve still got any paperwork there !
damn, dont ya just hate it when you cant remember something you used to just reel off no probs !!
smasherupper drilling somethingorother ?? !!!
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lol, i was quite proud about how much i knew about power tools way back when, guess i must’ve ben a little full of myself back then !
ok, the actual sds abbreviation has eluded my memory, but basically its a very heavy duty ammer drill, giving far more weight behind each blow than a usual hammer drill, many of them also have the option of stopping the ortation so it can be used as a chisel too, the drill bits are quite expensive, but will last longer, they also have a different type of chuck that has lugs inside which fit into hollows on the sds drill bit shank, elimnating any slip, never use a normal hss drill bit in there when the drill is on ‘sds’ setting, you’ll likely blow it to pieces and shower yerself with bits of hot steel !
that about covers it,
my comment about metabo introducing the sds drill, n hindsight, was possibly wrong, i seem to remember an argument over whether bosch has brought it out first, but i know we had metabo sds a good 6mnths before the bosch ones.
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touch wood…. i’ve never yet had a snap on tool fail me, and trust me, they get some abuse, try putting a 4ft scaffold bar on a halford spanner to break a stobborn nut loose, nd when it breaks, try getting it replaced !! snap on arent as big as they ae for selling cheap tat…
Metabo are the same, none of my metabo tools have ever let me down, they may be expensive, but they last, i still see trademen who i sold metabo to ten years ago, no-one has ever said they thought i robbed em !! trust me, metabo IS, in my opinion, the best power tool you’ll get,
yes other makes are good, i’m not saying they’re not, but…. imagine you you have a skoda, bmw and aston martin,
skoda might be the low end diy screwfix throw it away stuff (false economy )
bmw might be the mid range stuff like dewalt, makita etc, good strong tools that will probably be ok over time,
then you have Aston Martin, this is where metabo are, elu and hilti can join too !!, metabo lead… others follow, believe me, check out metabo’s tool range, then check the competitiors in a years time, they’ll just about be catching up then !!
having sold just about every mid to high range tool on the market, i think i’ve got a fairly good idea of the tools we’re all talking of, i dont have shares in metabo so i don’t have any particular ageda here, i’m just impressing my somewhat educated opinion on a tool i consider to be the best on the market, you dont compare a bmw 5 series with an aston, do you ??? a 5 series might be nice, but it’ll never be an aston !!!!
if you plan on using a tool once a month then go for mid range, hell… my dads old grey black and decker must be 30 yrs old at least, but it doesnt mean you could use it all day every day !!
hmmm, i think i’ve made my point, i’m getting off this topic now, each to their own, i can only offer my advice on a subject i know a little about !
btw, sds was first introduced in this country by metabo, as was a brake lock, as were many other features enjoyed now on other tools -
the general lee was owned / driven by one of our club members,
we had out own scrap heap challenge that week, took a gold datsun laurel, rubbed it down, resprayed it white with masks on for the badges, fitted lights, decals and a siren (all in 24 very very long hours ) and turned it into a sheriff / cop car. it originally failed its mot at 4pm, you shoulda seen the mot testers face when we turned up with the same car in disguise !! we had intended to gatecrash the radio 1 convoy on route, the gits put the cars on a transported for most of the journey tho, so we didnt get to have so much fun !
re: working neked, i’m not too sure about that, i’m rather accident prone, and being as i use a scalpel alot ….. 😮 🙁
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I went to spec savers 😮
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i could, but i’m not sure it’d be a pretty sight !!!!
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i’ll conceeed that dewalt, as well as other makes have come on a long way, but metabo is still the daddy !
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still finishing the shop signs,
ever had that feeling that working from home is not really ideal ???!!!!
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i know this thread is getting on a bit now, but here’s my two penneth worth,
i’ve been on both ends of the power tool market, years ago managing a powertool dept of a builder merchant, and later on, using them on sites,
without a doubt, i would reccomend ‘Metabo’ power tools, they aren’t your average cheap tool, and will out do everything except Elu which i would place on a level field, infact elu bought metabo to cash in on the product that was doing them so much damage !!
my old metabo 9.6v hammer/screwdriver is now nearly 12 years old, i’ve replaced about 3 batteries in that time (i have about 4 i keep going all the time) and it has never EVER let me down, i can go on screwing and drilling all day long !!!
Makita is an economic tool, use it for a year or two, throw it and buy another !
Hilti is heavy duty gear, fine for demolition and heavy work, but we’re drilling holes here right ?!
dewalt is another name for black and decker, i’ll say no more !!
I would liken Metabo to the power tool market, as i would ‘snap on’ in the automotive market.
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doh !! should’ve figured that !! thank you !
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its not so much the lettering that was the problem, the text was tween 20 and 30mm tall, about 3mm thick, it was the bike logo that was tricky, the bike logo was their design, made of lots of swooshy lines that came to points, giving a stylised bike image, these (2mm max) lines were lifting all the time, i spent so much time on one batch trying to weed the bikes seperate to the text, that i just lost it and threw 30 of em in the bin !
the time saved using oracle over this stuff, in my case, is massive ! i can do 30 stickers in around 1 1/2 hrs with oracle, thats start to finish masked and cut, i spent that on the first 15 with the LG,
like i say, i used it on a big cut with no intricate weeding to do, and it was grrrrreat, just didnt like it for the small stuff,
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the other possible cause of this offer is probably the most common,
His mate was bidding it up for him maybe, and ended up winning it hence the sudden second chance offer,
i’d offer less than your bid to be honest, if he’s desperate he’ll sell, check his feedback and recent auctions to see if the winner has won or bid on anything else of his, its often the case that when you start to dig in their history, you’ll find common names among auctions !
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i’ve learned to only do a test cut when changing brands, in this case i did do as i’d been using oracle earlier on, but in fairness, the design is real small and tricky, oracle lends itself great to smaller work, i’m not saying its bad vinyl or owt, it just didnt suit my need for something that would weed small…. we’re talking about 225mm x 30mm with a stylised sports bike logo,
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i recently bought three rolls of LG chem 5-7yr as it was the same price as oracle 651 and i thought i’d give it a go,
i started on a big cut and had no prob, when i went to do a small run of website addresses for a biker club i had a hell of a job to weed it, i got on the phone and swapped em back for oracle which suits me better for the small repeat jobs.
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thanks !!!
i’ll post a pic when i find one, the only pic of me on the pc is either with the kids or in the race car wearing a helmet, tho the latter may save ya’ll the shock !
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in the vein of useless trivia, there are around 20-30 ‘original’ general lee’s around, most of them saved from scrap yards, where the other 300+ all went too !!!
not sure about the cop cars, i guess the figure is higher, but i think it was in the region of 400 1968/69/70 dodge chargers got trashed making the three tv series !
i’ll post pics of the General when finished,
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i tend not to have too much waste (not too much work as yet either !),
the forgetting to mirror is probably my biggest annoyance, or not thinking and slicing thru the end of the design because the cutter didnt finish at the end of the job, and i forgot to check !
i keep everything i mess up, just roll it up and stick it in a box, every couple of months i’ll sort through what are small useable sizes (never know when you’ll need to cut just one letter to replace a cock-up ! ), then i make my little girls school teacher real happy cos i’ll turn up with a box full of vinyl bits for their arty stuff, i even throw in the bodged work, they seem to like stuff with letters in !!
re: the appl’n tape, i’m pretty good with that too, generally, if i’m cutting lots, various shapes and sizes, i’ll trim the vinyl down before weeding, keep the offcuts (for afore mentioned reasons), and lay the work out on the masking table, then when i have enough weeded work to cover with minimum waste, i’ll tape it, saves alot with the small run stuff i tend to do alot of,
even us southerners can be tight fisted !!!
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they’re good ole boys really !!
here’s another one (far right) just for you !
this was our mopar (chrysler / dodge / plymouth cars) clubs annual ‘southern’ club meet at brooklands motor museum at the end of may, there’s two more generals in the club too !
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i’m glad i’m not alone !! i’ve bought some builder knee pads now, i might look odd when i’m ‘only’ sticking race car stickers on but it sure helps, now if only i could get some spring loaded ‘leg helper uppers’ for when i’ve been crouching / squatting for more than a few minutes !!
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lol, what isnt made abroad these days !!
my first query would be the issue of customs / vat, first, being supposedly an indian company, how can they charge UK VAT @17.5% ?
secondly, i import plenty of parts for my race car, customs duty is payable on nearly everything i buy, whether its from something from france or the US, i would certainly want to ask customs about that,
these people are little more than deceptive, i have a friend who bought a laptop off ebay, brand new top spec vaio, got it for about 1/2 the shop price, turned out it was coming from hing kong, not kidderminster ! he ended up paying almost £300 in import duties and tax ! not so cheap !
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more
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excuse my ignorance here, but what are they for ?
i mean, i dont see that they’d diffuse much light !?!?!?
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something like that !!
i live with the mrs (girlfiend) part time, all of the cutting and mucky stuff is done here at the flat, but if i’ve still got stuff to do, i’ll get it all cut and take it over to hers and weed out on the kitchen table, so i kinda get in the way, the shed has just been erected at hers, the power is now in, and all i now need to do is to ply-line it all out and make it nice and clean and build the benches / lightbox etc,
as much as anything its so i actually get on with some work, being as i’ve only started this full time recently, i could probably get a days work crammed into about four hours, trouble is…. that being in the house/flat, everything is there to distract you, like all those little jobs i need to do (here or there) such as fixing a shelf, housework 👿 etc etc, so i end up starting sometime in the morning, and still sitting here doing them at this time of night, eg, i’ve been on this board browsing now for about 2 hours whilst a whole shop worth or cut and weeded vinyl is sat awaiting masking, it’s only been there since midday… yesterday !!!
so the shed move is to give me a dedicated work time, where i have no distractions from doing what i need to get done, and let me organise my day, whether designing (i use the word loosely !) cutting or making, it will also allow me to actually ‘make’ signs as apposed to trying to cut a 5mtr long sign board or facia in the hallway !!! i’ll have space to use / store powertools / vinyl etc too, i must have 20 rolls of vinyl hidden in every orifice of the flat ! i’ve got most forms of power tool, and know how to use them properly, there’s so much more i can do once i get organised ! it getting a pain now so the move is long overdue !
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LOL, plenty of error on those annoying compound curves on cars…Grrr !!
i’m sure i’ll enjoy it here, thakns
