We've been busy, hence the long time between posts..............been moving, earthquaking, skiing etc etc.

So we have moved to Lake Hawea in the southern lakes region of the South Island.

Its a move back home for us and is nice to be back.

Have been shooting some pics though and enjoying the new camera I bought.
Check it out here.

Its a great start into shooting manual and long exposure images.



I've got a flickr site going to view the images in full size, here.

Thanks for comin.......

Weekend wine

Well here we are again, the weeks are flying by aren't they?! This week the drop is from Euro again, Tillieres, France to be exact. Another purchase from the local Mondo Vino, off their European shelf. Domaine du Colombier, Cabernet Sauvignon, promising nose, interesting start, rather like a flowery french perfume, but then comes the acid and becomes quite unbalanced on the back of the tongue. Finishes pretty quick and flat, with not an unpleasant after taste, also dryness to boot. Not too bad but a fair distance off the Torres that was sampled two weeks ago for the same price.

Weekend wine

Well here is a stella find, out of Catalonia, Spain. Sangre de Toro, 2007. Beautiful wine, deep plum with some old world mustiness on the nose, has some teeth/bite on the tongue, but lacks the usual acid hit from some of the NZ reds, finishes smooth as you like and leaves you waiting for more. Was nice company to the pasta that went along with it, sun dried tomato, spinach and choritzo. I walked into the local shop Mondo Vino, walked around the specials table and picked this up, $16.99, go find one now. Check torres wines here.
Also of mention is the Rippon, “Emma’s Block”, Mature Vine Pinot Noir, 2008 there was a commentary on the national programme today. I haven't tried it personally but if it is like any of the historical pinots to come out of Rippon it'll be one for the cellar. As described this arternoon- "musty, old dusty potpourri, earthy like an old damp log", Hmmm sounds good. Check it out and order it here.

final design

Here is the final version, I have the gearbox mounts done and the plates that drive the shock have changed. They use of some 3d machined plates from my balfa (the last ones I have!) that work and have a bigger step down to the shock eyelet than I had originally. I have sanded the foam mold and have some carbon tube and cloth ordered.

version 2

After talking with Rich today have done some changing around and smoothing around the head tube/tt area, also added a swingarm.




Looks a bit more complete eh? Rossco.

Heres the 3d starter version of the frame below

Well got motivated last night and got this done. Am pretty stoked, 3d is so good to check clearances etc. And I don't think it looks to bad either.






Let me know what you think, Rossco.

Look what I just bought............

Well I saw a very sweet deal going on trademe and I just couldn't pass with out hitting the reserve..........$600!! so here it is, i've been talking/wanting one of these for awhile now (much discussion with Miek and Rick on this one!)


It came "as is" so it doesn't have all the desirable bits and pieces that they usually come with like steadys, vertical mill att, 4 jaw etc. And on the bummer front it didn't come with the change gears for thread cutting or even the chuck key?!! But it is in excellent cond no play anywhere and is a good base for a very handy machine. Its gonna be great to use for those jobs that are frustratingly simple if only you had a LATHE!

And the next project......HA I haven't even started the one below yet! But this different, Rich has pretty much convinced me to try carbon, and so I got playing with autocad and came up with this

Its fun making the curves and being free to do what you want and put stuff where you want. It has freed up the repositioning of the gearbox mount from the steel tube version below.

Still got a ways to go on it though.