You wouldn't want to use paraffin in your bidet, Avant !
Ted
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Will someone please forgive my ignorance and tell me what a parts washer is? As this is a motoring forum I realise we're not talking about a bidet. :)
It's a single bowl sink, and spigot from which parafin (or similar cleaning fluid) flows with a drain to a sump, the pump in the sump recirculates the cleaning fluid back to the spigot on the top of the sink.
You wash bits of old car part in, before refitting them as new ;-)
Or it's more honest use is for cleaning crap off stuff, to inspect, renovate or repair, before refitting. If you get oil in your hair though, it's not a good idea to wash it in the parts washer, equally it does the hands no good..
We also had spark plug cleaners and vulcanisers (not a device to kill Mr Spock) in the olden days
Edited by davecuk on 09/09/2009 at 03:13
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...I realise we're not talking about a bidet. :)...
Avant,
Very close, actually.
We had a posh one where the cleaning fluid flowed through a short hose and a brush.
But as Dave says, basically a sink in which cleaning fluid flows from a tap, is filtered, and sent back through the tap again.
We had a little Champion spark plug cleaner as well - a mini-sandblaster.
Two spark plug diameter holes on top of a box.
Shove a plug into each, wait a few seconds, and out come the plugs all nicely sandblasted.
Remember to clean the thread with a wire brush before refitting, don't want all that abrasive stuff in the bore, do we?
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I suppose in that simple little question "what is a parts washer"? lies more than just that. It's how much we have forgotten or perhaps "lost". Recently in the Brooklands motor museum I was looking at one of the workshops of the racing drivers (a recreation with all the old tools and stuff). I realised with shock that I actually knew pretty much what every tool was, and all the machines. My father who was an engineer/mechanic (sadly dead now) has 100s of tools in his workshop...I know what they all are (I only got rid of the torch and bottles recently).
Not so long ago cars came in for faults, you listened, looked, pulled, rocked and perhaps drove them half a mile. New plugs, points, a coil, adjust tappets, clutch etc.. there were no electronic fancy diagnostics, but it was still very easy to find the fault. Often failed bits could be repaired, a part could be made, a part from a different car would fit. I was taught to be careful when stripping something down, so a customer didn't have to pay even more money because I broke an additional part. Bills were (even in relative terms) not as eye watering as today and perhaps there were less angry or sceptical motorists.
Modern cars are electronic marvels, very clever machines (and much more reliable)...sometimes though it seems all this electronic wizardry has isolated the mechanic too much, they believe all the numbers and some of them perhaps....have lost/or perhaps find it difficult to develop, the "feel" for it. Or I'm getting old and we have a new breed of mechanic/engineer.
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I know that this might be going of topic, but i agree with Dave
Cars today are great, comfortable reliable and a joy to drive ? they have all sorts of in cars, electronic features that enhance the driving experience
But at what cost?? Lift up the bonnet on my car and everything is covered by plastic. My 1st car lift up the bonnet and there was a engine underneath and a couple of cables. If something went wrong it didn?t need a warning light with a fault code. You could feel it. The flip side of that of course, is that the car would stop without ?limping home? however if you where lucky enough to get home the problem could easily be identified with a bit of poking around and a drive down the road for good measure.
These days it?s a ?we will need to plug in the car to find the problem? followed by ?the computer says this is wrong with the car?, then followed by ?we need to replace this sensor at a cost of x amount and this might fix it?
Where does it stop though, I saw a advert the other day for a major American computer company that has 3 letters to its name. where by they said that a car will be able to tell the mechanic what?s wrong with it BEFORE the fault has even occurred.
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Where does it stop though I saw a advert the other day for a major American computer company that has 3 letters to its name. where by they said that a car will be able to tell the mechanic what?s wrong with it BEFORE the fault has even occurred.
I suppose modern aircraft have vastly more electronics, sensors, monitors and safety features than any car. That doesn't mean they're foolproof. Leaving out the spectacular disasters, it makes interesting reading to take a look at the CAA online incident reports. Bits fall off, systems fail ...
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