ABOUT ME

I live in a camper van with a West Highland Terrier for company.
My passion is creating images but it is a work in progress.
I am always willing to share what knowledge I have and can be contacted through the comments on this post or e-mail ADRIAN
ALL IMAGES WILL ENLARGE WITH A LEFT CLICK

Wednesday 23 September 2015

MAGIC. (23/09/15)

I love messing with old machines but this machine is pretty modern, the engine starts without one resorting to naughty words, Eezy Start and and the booster charger. Everything worked with the exception of the left hand disc brake…….Yes it has disc brakes, it’s a high performance machine. It arrived late yesterday afternoon and we spent from then until dusk stopped play fiddling with it. Greasing round, adjusting the odd belt tensioner and sorting the brakes out.
_MG_2056_7_8_tonemapped
_MG_2062_3_4_tonemapped
_MG_2065_6_7_tonemapped
_MG_2059_60_61_tonemapped
This combine is thirty four years old so a spring chicken amongst most of the equipment here. It managed the narrow and tortuous lanes down to the field to be harvested. All is well with the world. I can’t wait to have a drive. It may be a while as I am limited by senior management to driving old tractors and if they are desperate the Tele-Loader.
After my tea last night I was checking voltages on the old flash guns. I need a strobe for the film cameras and though the Minolta is mechanical the Bronica has an electronic leaf shutter and I can’t find out what voltage it will tolerate on either the PC cord or the flash foot. Mine vary between 9v and 113v. I decided not to risk it and get a new strobe. This one is cheap and has good reviews.
Neewer TT560
It costs £30.00p and only has 3v across the foot and sync cable. I could use a Canon 430EX II but it doesn’t have a hole for a PC cord so I’d have to mount it on a Pocket Wizard. All a bit cumbersome. This unit is not ETTL but it is not too hard to divide the guide number by the distance. I have a flash meter so if I get a couple of PC cords then I can use it to fire the strobe and get an exposure. It will trigger the Canon ones; it would if I could work out how in heaven you get Canon strobes into slave mode. Has anyone got this flash? It seems a bargain possibly too much of a gift.

31 comments:

  1. You have lost me again on that technical stuff but I like the machines. Soon I will be showing you very old farm machinery working. I am editing the videos as we speak!

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  2. Great photos of the old farm equipment!

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  3. I want to come and play with the combine too. It looks like a nice old'ish bit of kit, hope you have fun with it.

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    1. Douglas, I will have to have lessons. It seems a big machine.

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  4. How many groats did your Scotch masters have to squeeze from their sporrans to purchase the "new" combine harvester? Most of the year they just sit there unused, waiting for the brief harvest-time. The same is true of combines!

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    1. YP, I didn't ask but it shouldn't have been much over £8K. My sporran doesn't even get an annual outing.

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    2. I would have thought a lot less. Our last Massey Ferguson cost £1000 a few years ago, with a massive cut. Nobody around here wants them these days, so we ended up using three on our farm and finishing harvest in a third of the time while we watched the others with one £150,000 combine stopped and not finished when the rains came.

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    3. Rachel, I'll take your word for it. This is either a 13' or 15' header. I'll check. New combines are ridiculous money and don't seem to do a much better job. At least this one has a hydraulic auger so you don't have to remember the power poles nor handball it in and out. I never asked what he paid as it seems a bit rude.

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    4. No, you shouldn't ask, none of your business. All our farm machinery is 35 years old or older, including tractors.

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    5. I agree, I was taught only to ask if I was buying.

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  5. Facinating--- the new (but old) combine looks like it's been well-loved. Glad you have a new toy!

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    1. Bill, it does look very good. We just need a bit of sun now and I'll get some video of it.

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  6. Adrian - came across your site through "Birding for Pleasure" - really enjoyed your video of the Deutz Fahr combine harvesting the barley. Keep videoing and editing!! Also good photos of the New Holland. Nice work. I too have a liking for the old machinery and like to see them in action. I have just completed two videos which will interest you - All the Fun of The Fair and Rosemount Vintage Rally which I have managed to upload this afternoon. You will see old combines (Massey Ferguson) at work and also Steam engines at Shane's Castle. There are some others which you may also enjoy if you like cars and trucks etc.I am new to this You Tube situation and have experienced some problems uploading - it has been a steep learning curve for the last 5 months or so!!
    You can watch the videos on my Youtube channel

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    1. I enjoy anything to do with machinery. I'll have a look at your videos when the bandwidth allows. It is terrible as I write this.

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  7. Thisis a foreign language, Adrian. But I'm so glad you're having fun.

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    1. Frances, I will try and translate in the next post. I am afraid it is the technical side of things that I find interesting. I'm not an artistic person. I know it's a bit boring.

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  8. Like you , I can only drive the very ancient stuff. that's why I liked the old combine. the new stuff has too many bells and whistles.

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    1. Red, I am sure given an hour or two I could master the new machinery. I need ten minutes to recover from the climb to the cab.

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  9. Whoa!...Adrian, they've been sold a pup...there's no cutter bar on it...!

    Cracking video in the previous post...I can remember, many years ago, going with my mum late into a summers evening to take a cheese sandwich and a bottle of beer out to my dad while he was busy with the harvesting driving an old MF combine. I remember that view as sometimes I would get to sit up beside him for a ride and even sit on his knee and have a little steer...happy days!
    I guess 'elf-n-safety wouldn't let it happen nowadays?...[;o)

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    1. Trevor, one of the reasons I have stayed here so long is that it is remote. A four mile road in and the same road out. I had two problems with the video one I couldn't focus as I couldn't see the useless screen and two I kept falling off my perch. I have now dug a climbing harness out so I can clip on. This is only a Ford six cylinder it looks like the engine they used in the old Thames truck. I engaged the toothed things that shift the straw and set the decks and discharge auger going and revved it up. You couldn't balance a coin on it but it was quiet and didn't rock on the tyres. Ken said give up...I said better something is wrong now than when it's stopped in a field a mile away.
      The header is extra.....Canon must have taken a leaf out of New Holland's book.
      Tomorrow looks like a busy day as the forecast is good....Put the header on last night in the field and it broke a tension spring on the cutter drive. Stripped it and barred the cutters across and they were a bit bent. A bottle jack has sorted that.
      The brakes caused a bit of a row. One piston seized, I freed it off and gave it a polish and it is fine but ken moaned when I used half a gallon of brake fluid. I bet it hadn't been changed from new it was all black and milky......Farmers assume that's what Hydraulic oil looks like.
      I love messing with these machines but they are quite complex. Ken has even ordered a re-con spool valve. I am slowly getting through to him or I think I am he was all for hanging a can with a nappy in to catch the oil leaking out of the header lift and drop valve. I haven't got him to invest in a full oil change but am getting there. I tell him time lost on a sunny day can't be recovered at harvest time.

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  10. Wow, that's not a simple and easy machine! Great photos and details.

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    1. Kovacs, they all work in a similar way. The modern ones don't have all the belts but do the same job.

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  11. I don't know which is the most Incomprehensible to me, the machinery or the camera. But I like the photos! :)

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  12. Pauline, the machine should be working this afternoon. The sun is shining and the rain is evaporating.

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  13. That third image scares the c--p out of me, Adrian, and I'm supposed to be of an engineering background! I'm too old to be tinkering with machines these days - at least that's what I tell the wife when she asks me to load the dish washer - only joking!

    One of the farms that I have an owl site on has a lovely couple working the farm, and making do with really ancient machinery. I think that you've possibly inspired me to a new mini-project. Thank you!

    My best wishes - - - Richard

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    1. Richard. they are a pain in the arse but I love them.

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    2. PS, Richard just help them. The old machines are great as is our grain dryer. Folk laugh but only the spawn of Thatcher think it's funny. Nowt wrong with knowing stuff.

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  14. An enclosed cab looks like positive luxury. Lots of belts and pulleys to play with but, I imagine, hell to get sorted when one breaks.

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    1. Graham. If I could just stop Ken from combining bracken it would be..Well...Tickety Boo....He doesn't realise he has bought a posh machine.

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