Steampunk at the Museum of Power

On, what has turned out to be, our annual Steampunk outing, we went to the Museum of Power in Langford, near Maldon in Essex. That's just 10 minute drive for us, which is why we like to go there.

It's a great place and the Steampunk style fits in very nicely with the steam pump engine :-)

We met some great people who keep the engines running and Shelley knew one of them. Yet again, a small world.

As usual, Shelley got excited about the miniature steam train and took two rides.

We had a guided tour of the workings 6 meters under the engine.

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A-S-Fit Standard tripod camera mount

“Cameras can be quickly mounted on any tripod”

Overview
Most tripods and other camera supports now use some form of quick release mounting system. There are a few common versions available, mainly proprietary systems. Each manufacturer having their own system that is not compatible with other vendors’ equipment.

Over the last few decades many photographers have migrated to using a tripod head mounting plate that conforms roughly to a design produced under the brand Arca-Swiss. This gives some level of inter-operability between tripods from different suppliers.

It is commonly acknowledged that the Arca-Swiss brand has produced exquisitely engineered tripod heads that photographers have aspired to. That has led, over the years, to a number of similar designs being produced at a lower price point referred to as Arca-Swiss style or inspired by.

The ‘inspired by’ versions do not conform to any standard and have evolved to a loose format of their own. Unfortunately, with no formal document to work to, the various manufacturers products are not always as compatible as consumers would like.

In an attempt to overcome the differences between the various products I have attempted to produce a standard based on a small selection of the Arca-Swiss style products that are on the market. The hope is that future products based on this standard would be able to inter-operate with each other. Any plate will fit any other receiver.

This is not an attempt to make those products compatible with the Arca-Swiss branded products.

The proposed standard can be downloaded from here with associated drawings and models.

Downloads:
A-S-Fit proposed standard document (PDF file)
A-S-Fit Drawings (Zip file containing PDF and DWG file formats)
A-S-Fit Branding (Zip file containing EPS, PDF, PNG and SVG file formats)
A-S-Fit Example 3D models (Zip file containing Fusion360 and STEP file formats)
A-S-Fit Licence attribution - copyright branding


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Please add comments to this page to discuss this proposal...

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Fix Bob's pulley

Bob is the name of our ride on mower. He's a Hayter Heritage RS102H. We've had him nearly 14 years so he's getting on a bit and I've done a few services and repairs on him over the years.

Last weekend, Shelley brought him back in, from mowing the long bits in the paddocks, noting that the cutter belt had come off.

When I took off the cover to put the belt back I found that the idler pulley had separated from it's shaft and upon closer inspection the bearing had disintegrated.

The Hayter RS102H is long since obsolete and no one, that I could find, stocks spare parts. Luckily it is the same running gear as various AL-KO models, like the AL-KO T18-102HD Powerline. Even easier the numeric portion of most of the part numbers are the same and I have parts diagrams for both.

I was able to get the pulley, a spacer, a replacement tension spring and even the plastic cover that had been worn through by the pulley. I've raised the new cover up with thick washers in the hope that's enough to stop it wearing out.

The pulley was an easy swap and I'm getting better at putting the belt back on.

In the past I have tried to get the belt over the spring loaded idler pulley but I found it much easier to put it on the sprung idler first and then lever the belt on to the static deck pulley. I released the tension as much as I could by putting a very long screwdriver in the coils of the tension spring and levering it with that.

All back together and up and running.

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RHS Wisley

A few photos from the day trip to the flower show at Wisley.

Shelley with her Canon EOS M50 and 18-200mm zoom

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Camera:
Canon EOS 750D
Sigma 18-200mm lens
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Tripod mount plate for the M50

When using a tripod with Shelley's Canon M50 the quick release (QR) plate blocked the battery compartment flap.

It required removing the tripod plate every time we needed to change the battery. As it's a mirrorless camera it uses more power than a DSLR because the view finder is electronic and Shelley likes to use the touch display.

I took a closer look at the Arca-Swiss style QR plate and with a bit of modification I was able to adjust the plate to give enough room for the battery door on the camera to open far enough to replace the battery without having to remove the plate.

I cut the sides away above the mounting angles and then filed slight notches in the peaks.

Obviously this was only any use if the plate could still be used on a tripod head, which it can.

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