Is this normal? Should I be worried?

[WillyChang 1814]

34 minutes ago, Falcon#5 said:

May I ask for a link to the sellers you buy from?

I don't have any set favourite sellers... each time I run low I just scout around fleaBay to find what's the best value. Search for "M3x10mm stainless button hex" is what I start with.

Don't bother buying self-tapping screws, they're not required. Use a machine thread screw into plastic part and it'll tap its own thread perfectly fine. Just go real slow if using powerdrivers.

Mostly China is cheapest for hobby grade quality; but for some time there were sellers in Sheffield UK that beat the Chinese & sent me some pretty decent quality fasteners. UK first class airmail much faster then chinapost too. 

[Falcon#5 594]

Thanks @WillyChang

[c64orinoco 667]

14 hours ago, WillyChang said:

Jaycar actually got stuff to buy? They'd stopped selling any decent copper bullets or spades only silly aluminium crimpon types. Even for electronics stuff haven't found anything I wanted instock recently... I go Altronics these days.

Yeah, I just discovered that. At least they had M3 bolts, I don't think Bunnings stocks stuff that small. Do Altronics carry proper bullet termials with the decent silicone covers? ie, Tamiya ones?

As for Lamys - I've currently got the Maroon AlStar (maroon is sort of my colour for stuff, I like and it means I can spot my stuff if people borrow it) with Crystal Agate and the classic silver AlStar with that nice turquoise blue. I also have two Rotrings, one of the long sketch-style ones and an aluminium one that is like a small ingot, it's pretty solid, sketch one with black and the aluminium one with the Lamy 'petrol' ink which is quite variable in shade, it seems very sensitive to oxidation. The Crystal Agate is like that too; it gets darker in the pen if left for a few minutes, I quite like the effect.

[lsear2905 1279]

3 hours ago, c64orinoco said:

Yeah, I just discovered that. At least they had M3 bolts, I don't think Bunnings stocks stuff that small.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/search/products?page=1&q=m3&sort=BoostOrder&pageSize=60 not much, but good in a pinch...

[WillyChang 1814]

14 hours ago, c64orinoco said:

Yeah, I just discovered that. At least they had M3 bolts, I don't think Bunnings stocks stuff that small. Do Altronics carry proper bullet termials with the decent silicone covers? ie, Tamiya ones?

Nah nobody else sells hardware that looks anywhere near Tamiya originals  especially the iconic ones like flange nuts, step screws etc. Spent a fortune going thru official routes to get that stuff.

Dont think I've ever seen Silicone covered bullets in oz even the DSE stuff was just vinyl & it melts. Probably better off wrapping with self amalgamating silicone tape.

 

 

[WillyChang 1814]

11 hours ago, lsear2905 said:

https://www.bunnings.com.au/search/products?page=1&q=m3&sort=BoostOrder&pageSize=60 not much, but good in a pinch...

that pinnacle zinc stuff is junk, slightest dampness & it rusts quick... couple weeks on a bike & it's all brown. Have to go stainless, they also have marine stainless for more $$. At least bicycles use M5 or M6 more commonly so Bunnings is ok.

Gotta go bunbun tomorrow  some unscheduled offers came up, think they're trying to match Aldi Xfinity with their Ozito PowerXchange. I no complain.

 

Many years ago I used to buy M3 ss304 from a local chain called The Bolt Bloke, then they became Coventry Fasteners. They're building trade suppliers but they still treated me well... always amused at the tiny quantities of tiny screws... didn't complain about counting 20/30/50pcs  on occasion I pitied them & bought the whole 100pc box.  Google maps suggests they're still around somewhat... try find your nearest outlet. 

[WillyChang 1814]

15 hours ago, c64orinoco said:

As for Lamys - I've currently got the Maroon AlStar (maroon is sort of my colour for stuff, I like and it means I can spot my stuff if people borrow it) with Crystal Agate and the classic silver AlStar with that nice turquoise blue. I also have two Rotrings, one of the long sketch-style ones and an aluminium one that is like a small ingot, it's pretty solid, sketch one with black and the aluminium one with the Lamy 'petrol' ink which is quite variable in shade, it seems very sensitive to oxidation. The Crystal Agate is like that too; it gets darker in the pen if left for a few minutes, I quite like the effect.

Petrol is so saturated, took me 3X as long to wash it out of the bucket of pens I processed recently. (I have small buckets that I chuck pens into when they run out or dry off... wash them all at one go when I get around to it.) 

Petrol & Dark Lilac differs in colour a lot depending on evaporation. I often top up the convertor with water to lighten their colour, otherwise it's borderline black.

 

I've branched off Lamy & got into trying Lamy clones & lookalikes too. I'm sure you've heard of Hero & Jinhao lookalikes... meh they ain't anything special. But there's some much closer copies by Yiren & Lanbitou that are pretty sweet writers, worth trying if you can find some. 

 

 

haha... this week's arrivals are a small sad set of vintage Staedtler tech pens  I love those beasts. Hope I can get them working again, could be 30yo+ dried ink in there!! Have been playing with techpens since schooldays... bit curious to see if Platinum Carbon can work with it - Ain't had any luck trying to find techpen drafting ink sold locally... paper or film ink. Used to be everywhere, especially at Uni... not surprised CoOp Bookshop is going bankrupt, nothing to buy there!

Plus some more PenBBS 494s... they're amazingly great pens! Got some in F last month, they worked immediately & didn't need any tuning whatsoever. Ordered some EFs which just landed... still very silky smooth.

 

[Falcon#5 594]

14 hours ago, WillyChang said:

Many years ago I used to buy M3 ss304 from a local chain called The Bolt Bloke, then they became Coventry Fasteners. They're building trade suppliers but they still treated me well... always amused at the tiny quantities of tiny screws... didn't complain about counting 20/30/50pcs  on occasion I pitied them & bought the whole 100pc box.  Google maps suggests they're still around somewhat... try find your nearest outlet. 

Coventry Fasteners is where I used to go when I lived in the city.

Never had any complaints either when I would go in there to buy a couple of items at a time for 1:1 cars and bikes, and little stuff for RC.

One time the poor bloke spent a good 15 min rounding up some tiny screws, bolts and nuts etc for RC.

I felt bad when the total charge was $1.75!

Customer service was always fantastic, even though whatever they sold me would've been at a financial loss to them because the labour costs would be more than the sell price of the items.

[c64orinoco 667]

14 hours ago, WillyChang said:

haha... this week's arrivals are a small sad set of vintage Staedtler tech pens  I love those beasts. Hope I can get them working again, could be 30yo+ dried ink in there!! Have been playing with techpens since schooldays... bit curious to see if Platinum Carbon can work with it - Ain't had any luck trying to find techpen drafting ink sold locally... paper or film ink. Used to be everywhere, especially at Uni... not surprised CoOp Bookshop is going bankrupt, nothing to buy there!

Plus some more PenBBS 494s... they're amazingly great pens! Got some in F last month, they worked immediately & didn't need any tuning whatsoever. Ordered some EFs which just landed... still very silky smooth.

 

Engineering or architecture, you must be.... and the CoOp? Uni in the 1990's? Personally I used Faber Castell tech pens. Yeah, all the cool kids used Rotrings, by I had to pay my own way, so I used Fabers. I don't know if I still have them; I still have the tech pencils because of course thy don't wear out.

[c64orinoco 667]

15 hours ago, WillyChang said:

Nah nobody else sells hardware that looks anywhere near Tamiya originals  especially the iconic ones like flange nuts, step screws etc. Spent a fortune going thru official routes to get that stuff.

Well, ****.

I'll just have to use XT60s or those EXD things from Jaycar. So much for the restoration looking authentic!

[WillyChang 1814]

17 hours ago, c64orinoco said:

Well, ****.

I'll just have to use XT60s or those EXD things from Jaycar. So much for the restoration looking authentic!

Battery plugs are commodity "molex" ... Jaycar does sell those  https://www.jaycar.com.au/2-pin-multi-pin-plug-socket/p/PP2020

 

But if you're willing to wait, go order wiring stuff from Hobbyking and they'll have plenty of generic plugs, silicone cables & whatnot. 

[WillyChang 1814]

17 hours ago, c64orinoco said:

Engineering or architecture, you must be.... and the CoOp? Uni in the 1990's? Personally I used Faber Castell tech pens. Yeah, all the cool kids used Rotrings, by I had to pay my own way, so I used Fabers. I don't know if I still have them; I still have the tech pencils because of course thy don't wear out.

Yup, tried pretending to be an E.Engie & CompSci... pre Internet era!! 

Love Staedtler MarsMatic - love it how they can be dismantled to clean, they're neatly modular and don't have/need external off board tools. They're a good bet to be able to be revived if it's just dried ink, long as nobody else has broken it earlier. 

Didnt have any affinity for Rotring brand; I did buy one FC TG-1 though (on an odd day when I decided to stray & try another camp). It had cool feature of a damp pad in the cap to keep things hydrated; but it needed their custom spanner to remove nib module. The green plastic barrel has also shattered with age