Innehållsförteckning för No 121 June - July 2025 från The Shed

The Series 1 Land Rover is the stuff of legend. The 1950s were a unique time in our history, and with ample funds available in New Zealand post-WWII, we embraced the Series 1 Land Rover wholeheartedly. Many of these early models are still around, some in various states of decline, while others are cherished and restored, like the one featured in this issue that was rebuilt by Ross Hayes. Ross knows what he likes; he bought his first Land Rover when he was just 17. The oldest Series 1 Land Rover in New Zealand is known as Number ‘20’. It holds the distinction of being the 20th Series 1 Land Rover produced globally and the first one imported into New Zealand. You may recall that last summer, this vehicle undertook…

The Historic Places Trust’s Hayes Engineering Works and Homestead stands at the edge of Oturehua, a small settlement in Central Otago’s hot, dry Ida Valley. The buildings, workshops, and homestead have been restored and serve as both a testament to New Zealand’s agricultural engineering industry heritage and a tourism destination. Ross Hayes is the fifth generation of engineers to have descended from Ernest Hayes, an Englishman who set up his engineering workshop there in 1895. Ross’s great-great grandfather, Ernest, built a homestead, workshops, and implements sheds from schist and mud bricks. The agricultural engineering implements invented and manufactured there were household names in rural New Zealand throughout the 20th century. “There’s no Hayes family over there now,” says Ross. “Ernest was my grandad’s grandad, so the genealogy of the five…

“His workshop was proof of the amazing amount of equipment you can fit into an otherwise ordinary, prefabricated metal garage” When I was asked to clean out my late father-in-law’s workshop, I knew that it would not be an easy task. My father-in-law was not one to suffer from an iron deficiency, and his workshop was proof of the amazing amount of equipment you can fit into an otherwise ordinary, prefabricated metal garage. The main problem involved how to get the machinery out of the workshop and onto a trailer for the 3.5-hour drive to Auckland, then offloaded at the other end. This machinery included a lathe weighing around 750kg. There was poor access to the workshop, which had a single roller door and limited access inside. Facilities on site…

I like those viewing screens on the back of cameras that save you having to squint through a little eyepiece, but I find that when using the camera on a sunny day, the screen is quite difficult to see well. My thanks go to Murray Grimwood for his article in The Shed Issue No. 115, in which he showed several projects he was working on. Among them was a sunshade shroud for his camera that he had made from a standard electronics box. “Just what I need!” I said to myself. My camera has a screen that swings out and rotates – a feature that I use a lot. So, I needed a shroud that moved with the actual screen and independently from the camera body. I also wanted to…

Like everyone else, I have been constantly frustrated with working in cramped workshops. Even relatively large areas, such as my last one, succumbed to the pressure of too many tools, too little space. When I moved again, I was determined to build the shed of my dreams. I started designing at 200m2, but cost quickly whittled that down to my current 160m2. I found a useful design tool online – most of the shed suppliers have them; this one was particularly good (although it was from a manufacturer in Western Australia), and I was able to try a series of different scenarios (https://royssheds.com.au/) which I could print off and get quotes for from local suppliers. The tools don’t expect you to have any CAD experience, it is very intuitive, and…

“The little two-cylinder engine disintegrated in spectacular fashion” To briefly recap: having recently retired, I decided that I needed a project to slow down, if not mitigate, the sedentary lifestyle that overtakes many of us in retirement. Consequently, I purchased a small 1968 Daihatsu Hi Jet four-wheel-drive truck to refurbish and take me to remote places in nearby bushland where I like to walk my dog. Those of you who have read my first article will be aware of the various travails that beset my project. One of these was the small two-cylinder motor that originally came with the little truck. To cut a long story short, I eventually managed to rebuild it and get it running, complete with new pistons, a repaired head, etc. Although it ran as it…

Now that my shed is actually finished, I can move on to the fun bit, using it. First of course, I have to fit it out with the usual benches and cupboards to store things. I have shelves full of fittings, fixings, solvents, oils and paints. Not to mention power tools and accessories. The challenge is to come up with storage solutions, ideally close to where they are most likely to be used, or should I have one centralised repository? Shelves or cupboards? Freestanding or wall-mounted? Then there is the subject of benches. I am planning on at least four and at least one mobile adjustable height workspace. The first will be the mitre saw bench. There are no end of YouTube videos on how to build one, but I…

Ross Hayes was 17 when he bought his first Land Rover. It was road legal, but that was about it. It turned out that it was cosmetically covering up a huge amount of rust, so it wasn’t going to make the long haul. Ross bunches his lips. “I got a bit disheartened and decided that if I couldn’t trust anybody to sell me a good one, I’d build myself one.” He bought a 1954 short-wheelbase Series 1 Land Rover in December ’96, just after he turned 18. “I paid $600 to a guy out of Naseby called Owen Rawcliffe, who’s since passed. I brought it back to Oamaru through the Danseys Pass and set to pulling it to bits.” He bought workshop and parts manuals from the UK and a…

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Our decision to buy a new 65-inch TV was not as straightforward as you might think. Our 15-year-old 42-inch Panasonic Viera had served us well, but we wanted a larger screen. The area in our small living room had only one place to put it, and it was 2400mm long, between a corner and a fold-back door to our deck. In addition to the TV, the space had to accommodate a curtain for the fold-back door and two speakers on either side. The speakers are 950mm tall and each has a footprint of 320x290mm. These are 200W AE speakers and are fed from a Rotel 160W integrated amplifier. The system sounds awesome, which is why we put our TV through it, preferring to use our stereo instead of a sound…

You know you are visiting a Wellington sheddie when, like a hobbit climbing a mountain, you ascend steep outdoor steps to access his shed – which stands as if it is propping up the rocky cliff behind it. Technically, this is one of three shed spaces used by retired accountant Bill Jackson. And despite tricky access, or perhaps because of it, it is his favourite. Bill’s not sure what this old building used to be, but an “old boy” once told him it had been a gambling destination for the horse-racing fraternity. It certainly feels like history. It is a shed with an old soul. The view is another advantage for a shed up high: the sun streams in, making it warm and light. Despite the steep steps, Bill and…

“The bikeblender problem was a nice wee exercise, right up my alley” Every now and then, a column called ‘Off the Grid’ needs to ask: Why? Why go off-grid? What is the driver? And the repercussions? This little offering was triggered by my better half asking me if I could build a bike-based smoothie maker after she had watched one being used at a recent event. Sure, no problem – but apart from teaching lateral thinking, what will it achieve? Will we really end up going that way? The pre-ponder I spent the ensuing days pondering. What we’ve done is climb a ladder of technologies, kicking each rung away as we’ve climbed and, thus, unless we rebuild a technology completely, we cannot go back. We always assume the present one…

1 What is the common name for dihydrogen oxide? (a) Rocket fuel (b) Water (c) Antiseptic 2 What is 4340 steel? (a) High-tensile steel (b) A grade of stainless steel (c) Mild steel 3 Which of the following is a cyanoacrylate? (a) Synthetic oil (b) Marking blue (c) Thread locker 4 What type of bolt is shown in the picture? (a) Plough bolt (b) Coach bolt (c) Countersunk coach bolt 5 The website info.cern.ch was famous for what reason? (a) The first search engine (b) Predecessor of Wikipedia (c) The world’s first website 6 If you connect two 12-volt batteries in parallel, how are the terminals joined? (a) Same pole to same pole (i.e., +ve to +ve) (b) Differing poles connected (i.e., +ve to -ve) 7 In the previous question, what…

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