Ross Finlay sent us an email with some of his wide range of tinkering projects.
Hello, My name is Ross & I am a tinkerer. I grew up in Glasgow where engineers used to get more kudos than pop stars. Mechano was my favourite toy, then as a teenager I took washing machines and TVs apart, I even got a Vespa scooter going, which had cost me 5 at a jumble sale. It had broken down, been dismantled, and had cement in the cylinder.
On leaving school my hardest decision was whether to study mechanical or electronics engineering, I went with electrical & electronics in the end because it had more overlap with my apprenticeship on washing machines & TVs.
Favourite projects:
DIY Rain Tanks:
To combat the Melbourne drought I have invented my own collapsible rainwater tanks for the suburbs. They are small enough (1m square, 800-900 liters) to fit in unused parts of the garden. I have 18,000 litres of storage in my garden, and the toilet & laundry are connected. I had to put a small header tank on top of my shed and change the inlet valve on ther washing machine to low pressure version. Our consumption is at 45% of the 155 litres / person / day, includingusage from evaporitive aircon & two daughters with long hair.
Who would have thought that taking washing machines apart in Glasgow would help reduce the effect of the Melbourne drought?
Big Flexible Rockets (BFRs):
In 2000 I learned how to make (working) model rockets at a 5 rocket workshop. Two years later I had a British & unofficial world record, not for the altitude the rocket goes to, but for the hight it is on the launch pad. Goliath was 25 , The fool story is in the UKRA Magazine "David & Goliath - A Tall Tail" see page 24 of:
To be so tall yet weigh less than 1500g and fly on limited power Goliath was different from other rockets - The motors were at the front, the rocket is hollow, and it has no fins. A year later I tried for 35 (10m) but Colossus had problems, (the rocket did not let go of the string attaching it to a fence post).
Last weekend (15/11/2009), in Melbourne at Rocketfest X, I flew Colossus II successfully so at 10.67m it should be an Australian & World record for a model (not high power) rocket.
Chimney Channel:
Five years ago we were fixing up our house for sale before moving to Australia. The plumber said we would have to spend 5000 to put a metal liner in the chimney. Our smoke was coming out of our neighbours chimney as well as ours. Apparently 100 years of Scottish rain had leached away the mortar between the bricks inside the chimney. Wouldn’t it be better to replace the mortar, I said. “That would be fine if you had eight foot long arms” Alan responded. Hmmm I thought.
Some open channel rectangular electrical conduit worked well as a chute for the mortar to slide down before slapping into the gap between the bricks. It took a week, but I was so pleased, I videoed the process, and on occasion I am still sad enough to watch Chimney channel .
Now I must go and pull the string on our fridge, which stops it making that terrible noise!
