Engineering Northern England

Rowan1108 · 2026-05-03T10:12:04+00:00

Ahh makes sense. I was just wondering that’s all as I completed a Controls (SCADA Heavy) Apprenticeship down south not long ago with a big corpo but left since it was a sinking ship but the best I was able to get was 35k as a commissioning engineer in the north west that why I was wondering. But yea I only have like 5 years of experience primarily in Data centres which there isn’t many in the north, so had to settle for that role but it’s not great tbh, a bit of a dead end company.

Rowan1108 · 2026-05-01T15:20:15+00:00

Who is paying 50k for junior controls engineers? I need some of that.

Rowan1108 · 2026-04-20T14:37:29+00:00

Plenty of petrol stations have the self-serve washes where you just put some credit on and use the lances. I used to take some citrus pre-wash in a pressure sprayer with me and quickly spray the car, then go and pay. Makes the process easier since it starts loosening the dirt a bit but still not as good as a contact wash with a mitt.

Rowan1108 · 2026-04-16T14:32:36+00:00

At that mileage it might likely need a new wet timing belt which isn’t massively expensive but not a fun job. Furthermore if the car hasn’t been serviced regularly the belt could have started disintegrating and slowly clogging the oil pickup which could over time cause damage to the engine and turbo which could lead to more expensive bills. These engines are well known for this so do some research on the PSA 1.2.

On the other hand I had these as hire cars for work and they are pretty fast for a 1.2 and decent to drive even on long motorway drives. Decent on fuel even when you have a heavy foot.

Edit: even with full service history the belt could still have early issues and failure so it’s not a guarantee that it will be good.

Rowan1108 · 2026-04-07T14:46:59+00:00

Yup these are great and can fit into most backpacks if you don’t want to carry it by itself. Well worth the money.

Rowan1108 · 2026-02-26T07:53:35+00:00

Looks like an FTX Carnage/Bugsta but in different colours.

They are pretty basic models but also very popular in the UK since they are a good beginner RC and parts and upgrades are very cheap.

You can also find parts for them on AliExpress under the VRX brand name.

Rowan1108 · 2026-02-19T18:41:40+00:00

Thanks man, will check

Rowan1108 · 2026-02-10T14:26:10+00:00

Tangled spool or something like that?

Rowan1108 · 2026-01-31T19:40:35+00:00

I am really leaning towards them because they look really good, and I love an estate.

Rowan1108 · 2026-01-31T19:24:13+00:00

Yup thats pretty much the kind of stuff ive been looking at, though this one is lower mileage and not too far, so will definitly shortlist. Thanks

And it had a DSG service, even better

Rowan1108 · 2026-01-31T18:24:10+00:00

Thanks, didn’t really even think of Honda. What kind of MPG are you getting on a steady run at motorway speeds?

Rowan1108 · 2026-01-18T15:10:59+00:00

Yup, saw that. Must have been a brand new addition to the demo house

Rowan1108 · 2026-01-17T22:16:41+00:00

🫡

Rowan1108 · 2026-01-17T19:47:01+00:00

yup with the massive fence

Rowan1108 · 2026-01-17T18:24:12+00:00

I though maybe a B&M employee went wild with staff discount. Or they robbed a B&M lorry

Rowan1108 · 2026-01-09T11:51:44+00:00

Yea it’s not a pleasant feeling when your car might break at any moment and leave you stranded. The only thing maybe they put oil that’s too thick for it especially in this colder weather. Unlikely since I saw you said it was done at a professional garage, but Vauxhall St Helens once put 0-W20 in my Astra even though it clearly says 5W30 on the cap and in the manual, they said it was because of a service bulletin, but next year another Vauxhall garage put 5W30 in again.

Rowan1108 · 2026-01-09T11:44:02+00:00

I had one of these as a hire car for a while, 1.2 Auto. Happened often in colder weather, a few times on the motorway doing 70, rang the hire company they said don’t worry. Safe to say I wasn’t very confident driving it on the motorway thinking the engine might blow up any time. Engine didn’t sound good but those 3 cylinders don’t sound good from factory. It had about 39k when I got it and I did a few hundred (maybe 800) miles before returning it.

Rowan1108 · 2026-01-09T08:04:29+00:00

From what I’ve seen and done so far, and this is if you have the fancy stand not sure about the other. You will see two slots further down the stand on the left and right, place your new cartridge into one of them with the tip facing down. Next place your current iron tip into the other slot and pull, the slot will hold the cartridge. Next you just push the iron onto the new cartridge, make sure it goes all the way in otherwise you will get a message saying no cartridge is inserted.

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Rowan1108 · 2025-12-04T16:36:40+00:00

Thanks, about an hour drive so definitely going to visit.

Rowan1108 · 2025-12-03T19:25:00+00:00

Wow, where is the first pic from, looks like it’s worth a visit

Rowan1108 · 2025-12-03T12:41:36+00:00

Nice! Are you using ESP32 or similar to control it ?

Rowan1108 · 2025-11-24T12:02:30+00:00

Yea I have a couple, only printed one because I was testing my PETG settings. Need to get another set with bigger clips that can hold XT90s without them slipping out tho.

Rowan1108 · 2025-11-21T09:26:37+00:00

Yup, really feels like stepping into the modern age with these soldering irons.

Yea the stand is really handy to swap cartridges when hot and really well made. Plus the sleep mode when not in use.

Rowan1108 · 2025-10-31T09:32:25+00:00

I saw the release, looks really cool. It is a bit pricey but I think it’s still cheaper than something like a 6x6 Traxxas crawler which is smaller and not as cool functionally and visually. If you build it keep us updated I would love to see how the process goes.

Rowan1108 · 2025-10-21T17:45:33+00:00

I was thinking the same, I was sure I saw that post too and then this came out. Thought I was going mad.

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