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The Reassembler - James May rebuilds old stuff on BBC Four


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Old 06-04-2016, 10:16
lundavra
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I'd be surprised if some of those wires weren't crimped into their connectors, might well have been soldered too, mind.

I don't know what's wrong with crimps and rivets or interference fit either, they've all got their place, in the scheme of things.
GPO used to use 'tinsel wire' - or at least that is what I always called it, very thin wires wrapped around silk or cotton to make very flexible. These would have a spade connector crimped on the end. I think some of the internal wiring of phones would use it.

Surprised he did not see the circuit diagram until late in his assembly so probably just scripted that way. Just about every GPO item had the circuit on a piece of paper inside.
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Old 06-04-2016, 11:15
mike65
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I was impressed that the phone came with that diagram insert at all.
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Old 06-04-2016, 13:52
Bonnie Scotland
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I liked when he used his smart phone to light the underside for the dial screw insertion. Perhaps a little nod to the past and present, the old and the modern etc.

I sometimes think if they could bring folk back from the dead it would be great to see the look on the faces of people that were credited as inventing things e.g. the phone, car, train, plane etc, showing them the modern equivalent of their invention.

'So Mr Bell, this is what we call an iPhone ...'
'So Wright brothers, this is what we call an Airbus A380 ...'

And so on ...
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Old 06-04-2016, 14:06
Doghouse Riley
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I remember in the 1960s our rented TV often needed repair. For the most part the engineer would open up his case of Mullard valves and just keep swapping them to get it working again. Very little soldering was ever done apart from when the voltage drop resistor (like a green cigar tube) burnt out. If the tube went though it meant taking away the TV for days. If you were lucky you might get a stand-in replacement, I recall one we got only showed BBC. I still watch very little ITV!
In my early twenties, I managed a radio/TV/ electrical appliance store in North London.
We had a lot of TVs out on rental. One of them was very popular, the Ultra 1775.
This had a bad habit of "rolling," probably a design fault. There were that many call outs for this fault, that the engineer would walk through the customer's front door, take the back off the set and replace the PCL82 valve, then put the back on again, turn on the set and sometimes, if the customer was having a moan at him, "pretend" to leave before the set had warmed up. By the time the customer had started to ask him if he was going to check it, the set would have come on and the picture would be fine.

Once with a little old lady, after fixing the fault, she thanked him, but he said; "Don't you want me to fix those big black gaps top and bottom of the screen?"
The set had a partial frame collapse
She thought that everything was now being transmitted in "wide screen."

Happy days!
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Old 06-04-2016, 14:18
swingaleg
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MY 11 yr old watched this completely transfixed. I think he would happily watch James May talking about paint drying. He is a very underrated presenter.
I always look out for James May's shows but I've never seen an episode of Top Gear......

I like his solo stuff or the ones with Oz Clarke
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Old 06-04-2016, 15:37
gallopinhairpin
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Didn't anyone notice that when reassembling the lawnmower he didn't oil any of the parts?

I found that episode disappointingly short on detail, obviously unavoidable when cutting 10 hours of material down to 30 minutes. There was easily enough scope for a 45-minute or 60-minute program.
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Old 06-04-2016, 15:47
JeffG1
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I didn't watch the lawnmower one, but apparently, after loads of similar comments, he tweeted that, yes they did oil the parts, but it just wasn't shown in the final programme.
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Old 06-04-2016, 15:49
ClarkF1
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I was in a museum today and heard a kid point to one of these and ask what it was:

http://www.phone-pages.org.uk/trim1.jpg

It was next to some "brick" mobile phones.
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Old 06-04-2016, 16:01
Galaxy266
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Didn't anyone notice that when reassembling the lawnmower he didn't oil any of the parts?

I found that episode disappointingly short on detail, obviously unavoidable when cutting 10 hours of material down to 30 minutes. There was easily enough scope for a 45-minute or 60-minute program.
Yes, I noticed the lack of oil on any of the assembed parts and that would have been my comment.
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Old 06-04-2016, 16:10
Doghouse Riley
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I was in a museum today and heard a kid point to one of these and ask what it was:

http://www.phone-pages.org.uk/trim1.jpg

It was next to some "brick" mobile phones.
The problem with the "Trimphone" was that they were so light, you had to hold it with the other hand whilst you dialed, as otherwise it wouldn't stay still.
As I remember, they cost an extra £1 a month on the line rental.

Didn't anyone notice that when reassembling the lawnmower he didn't oil any of the parts?

I found that episode disappointingly short on detail, obviously unavoidable when cutting 10 hours of material down to 30 minutes. There was easily enough scope for a 45-minute or 60-minute program.


"Car SOS" is even worse they miss out lots of the work.
There's usually the names of up to half a dozen mechanics in the credits, who probably do the serious stuff.
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Old 06-04-2016, 16:27
Mr Oleo Strut
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I like James but has he changed his tailor and hairdresser or taken up religion? Good, slow stuff to mull over. Can't wait for him to get inside a DVD player .
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Old 06-04-2016, 16:29
watermeade
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As an ex BT engineer I was of course interested, but found it a bit lacking in any detail, and looking at the tools he was using (including the screw placer which I used to have) they all appeared to be BT standard issue, so suspect there was a BT type behind the scenes. Here are a few good sites if anyone wishes to gain some more info on telephonic apparatus

http://www.telephonesuk.co.uk/

http://www.thg.org.uk/

http://www.lightstraw.co.uk/

and if you want a good laugh http://www.dennishanna.com/buzby's%20boys.htm
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Old 06-04-2016, 16:40
watermeade
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The problem with the "Trimphone" was that they were so light, you had to hold it with the other hand whilst you dialed, as otherwise it wouldn't stay still.
As I remember, they cost an extra £1 a month on the line rental.






"Car SOS" is even worse they miss out lots of the work.
There's usually the names of up to half a dozen mechanics in the credits, who probably do the serious stuff.


The other problem with the Trimphone was that the transmitter was not actually in the end where you spoke, but up near the receiver end, and the voice actually travelled down a plastic tube, the trouble with this was if you wanted to say something private about someone and put your hand over the mouthpiece it didnt actually mute it as the sound still got to the mic via the reciever holes.. I used to love telling subscribers (as customers were called) this and watch their faces when they recalled the times they had done it.. Also the dials were filled with radioactive tritium gas so we were advised not to keep them on shelfs to close to us in the van, very health and safety
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Old 06-04-2016, 17:07
lundavra
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As an ex BT engineer I was of course interested, but found it a bit lacking in any detail, and looking at the tools he was using (including the screw placer which I used to have) they all appeared to be BT standard issue, so suspect there was a BT type behind the scenes. Here are a few good sites if anyone wishes to gain some more info on telephonic apparatus
..
The PO tools were widely used by others and I think you can still buy them today. I still have several PO No1, No.2 and No.6 screwdrivers. Though there seem some modern BT issue ones with the same identification numbers.
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Old 06-04-2016, 17:55
Trappedin80's
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The best thing about the Trimphone, had to be the Trimphone impersonation championships.

In front of a panel of judges, late seventies/early eighties.

Very, very funny to watch, as they sometimes just fell apart with laughter at the preposterous nature of the situation.

Brilliant!
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Old 06-04-2016, 18:32
Rosebuddy
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Yes, I noticed the lack of oil on any of the assembed parts and that would have been my comment.
Agreed, putting the rings on the piston AND putting the piston in the cylinder without lashings of oil would have got a black look from my old garage foreman.
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Old 06-04-2016, 19:16
Doghouse Riley
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The other problem with the Trimphone was that the transmitter was not actually in the end where you spoke, but up near the receiver end, and the voice actually travelled down a plastic tube, the trouble with this was if you wanted to say something private about someone and put your hand over the mouthpiece it didnt actually mute it as the sound still got to the mic via the reciever holes.. I used to love telling subscribers (as customers were called) this and watch their faces when they recalled the times they had done it.. Also the dials were filled with radioactive tritium gas so we were advised not to keep them on shelfs to close to us in the van, very health and safety
The other amusing thing about the Trimphone, was that certain birds could mimic the "ring."
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Old 06-04-2016, 19:37
Galaxy266
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Agreed, putting the rings on the piston AND putting the piston in the cylinder without lashings of oil would have got a black look from my old garage foreman.
I think not heating the piston up before forcing in the gudgeon pin would have done so, too!
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Old 06-04-2016, 19:39
_ben
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Seeing as the same air starting at the front of the wing meets up again at the trailing edge, it must have moved faster over the top since it had farther to travel.
But it doesn't though - air going over the top of the wing doesn't arrive at the trailing edge at the same time as air going underneath the wing.
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Old 06-04-2016, 21:09
Fairyprincess0
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The archive footage. It was very brief, but I'm sure that clip of people waiting for the rolling stones was outside the old ABC cinema, hull.....

But I'm not sure though.
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Old 06-04-2016, 21:18
LostFool
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Brilliant stuff. I have no real interest in electric guitars or pottering about in a shed but May can make anything interesting. He'd be the best school teacher ever.
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Old 06-04-2016, 21:30
exstoker84
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What an amazingly simple yet enjoyable series.
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Old 06-04-2016, 22:10
_ben
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Brilliant stuff. I have no real interest in electric guitars or pottering about in a shed but May can make anything interesting. He'd be the best school teacher ever.
I was about to switch over as I have no interest in electric guitars, but he pulled me back in with talk of screwdrivers
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Old 06-04-2016, 22:14
Doghouse Riley
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I was about to switch over as I have no interest in electric guitars, but he pulled me back in with talk of screwdrivers
Orange and vodka, that's a girl's drink innit?
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Old 06-04-2016, 22:36
_ben
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Orange and vodka, that's a girl's drink innit?


The guy needs soldering lessons, looking at the state of that I'm surprised it worked!
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