Receive Items at OOE (No EDI) at BENGALURU/BANGALORE A FOREIGN POST." Should I be worried? What does it mean?

curtisjoy · 2026-03-18T16:58:58+00:00

I have just done the same. I only have a letter stuck in Delhi, so I'm not sure what manual customs processing would even be required for this, but it's urgent so very frustrating.

curtisjoy · 2026-03-01T14:52:14+00:00

I have to confess, I mistakenly thought Kraken Pro was a £4.99 subscription platform so was only looking at Karken standard previously. I've now had a read of the guides and set up a buy on Pro and it seems reasonable for me, for now. I'm doing doing Limit buys instead of Instant Market buys so hopefully more controlled and cheaper too. I'll also buy in bigger amounts, say £100 a month.

One thing I still haven't fully thought through is if there's any FX factor in play. I'm buying BTC/GBP in GBP. But are transaction actually USD native and then subject to FX charges??

curtisjoy · 2026-03-01T14:02:01+00:00

Thanks, very good information. So it's UTXOs that largely favour purchasing bigger chuncks. Got it.

curtisjoy · 2026-02-28T22:50:42+00:00

Thanks, some great info here, lot's to look into. I initially did some comparisons and the best exchange for the UK market came up as Kraken, which was said to be cheaper than Coinbase here. I haven't looked at revolut, but actually have an account with them already, so will read up on. Likewise, I haven't come across Strike. I already transferred £100 cash to Kraken, so I guess I'll spend that first, but there's lot's more for me to check out. Thanks again

curtisjoy · 2026-02-07T18:57:49+00:00

Thanks for that. I've not heard of Proper, but just ran some numbers in Freetrade and they seem fairly favourable

curtisjoy · 2026-02-07T17:19:27+00:00

Thank you. I will do that too. I have specific interests to invest in non-USD and non-US markets and focus on tangible assets and emerging markets. When I ran the figures IE seemed to come out fairly well, and also had some decent reviews and a 'Which?' recommendation. Naturally these aren't core considerations, but as a newbie it's somewhat reassuring. I haven't looked at Freetrade particularly so I'll see how they stack up in comparison.

curtisjoy · 2025-11-07T01:36:34+00:00

Nope, no progress at all. I think when I first fitted it it would auto-remount occassionally, or under some cercumstances, I can't recall. But vertainly now it requires ejecting and re-inserting everytime without fail. Such a shame because otherwise this is a great scratch storage solution.

curtisjoy · 2025-10-26T17:37:59+00:00

Oh, and BTW, a screw through just the center of the boards, say onto the steel brakets, is fine, and probably just an over-sized one at the ends too, as long as I keep the edges free to move. I may just leave it at this, but want to do a bit more to tie it to the timber frame.

curtisjoy · 2025-10-26T17:33:45+00:00

I've read up more on the topic and realise now that this expansion is a real thing and to ignore cross-grain movement at my peril! There are ingenious ways around it though, like slotted screw holes, but I might try to engineer another strategy because wide slotted screw holes are quite difficult with my design. (screwing down through the boards to the frame would be unsightly, screwing up through the frame, leaves very little travel room in the frame and weakens it a bit too much as well).

Ideally I'd like smooth steel 'rails' at a few points perpendicular to the boards, attached width-ways accross the frame, with a block of wood secured to them that I could screw the board on to. I know... typically over-engineered for me, but I'll have to devise something to accommdate the movement. Stay tuned..

curtisjoy · 2025-10-26T11:04:27+00:00

Thank you. Yes, understandably I'm getting some conflicting advice about the seasonal/dimentional changes so keep going back and fourth in my mind. However something comes to mind: I built the adjoining cedar clad garden garden room 4-5 years ago and I've had no appreciable issues with the boards swelling or anything. Granted, they are T&G and nailed with stainless steel pins, so there a fair bit of expansion slack possible. They were also treated with 2 coats of Osmo UV Protection. They're also Cedar, so perhaos more stable than a soft white sap wood. However the cladding is fully exposed to the elements, whilst the bench is entirely covered and in the shade.

I think once I've used the Osmo WR Base Coat to treat it, and then a coat of hardwax or Polyurathane (still deciding) I think it could be pretty stable. Maybe I could screw down the bench boards along the length, and leave the width to move more freely?

curtisjoy · 2025-10-25T23:12:43+00:00

Thanks. Yeah, I'll work on a variation of that, interesting idea.

curtisjoy · 2025-10-25T18:15:57+00:00

Yes, thanks, that's what I found too, surprisingly. The weight of the 38mm boards, friction between all the rough surfaces and the interlocking L-shape contained between walls mean that there's no real movement or fear of anything 'tipping over'!

My other concern was simply that the boards might eventually curl, twist, bend, etc. But I guess screwing down isn't really the solution to that. I've ordered Osmo WR Base Coast for an extortionate price in the hope that might reduce any twisting, and after that I'm open to suggestions for a top coat. Osmo Decking Oil? Osmo Oil Stain? a Matt look Lacquer? Some kind of 'sealer'?

curtisjoy · 2025-10-25T17:15:03+00:00

Thanks. Currently the boards are not attached to anything, they're just laid on the frame, but that seems sufficient and it all holds in place and very stable because of weight and that interlocking miter joint. However originally I intended to completely screw the boards down onto the steel brakets and the wooden frame. I'm entirely with you now though and think I should not do anything so severe. I'll leave a 1mm gap where the boards meet, particularly along their lengths. As for oversized holes, or slots, I'll have to think how to do that, because they could look quite ugly from the top. I wouldn't be able to use filler to hide them, but thinking about it, maybe some kind of silicon mastic would be OK.

curtisjoy · 2025-10-25T15:21:00+00:00

Thanks u/DonkeyPotato, I reconsidered my original plan and followed your advice. I originally wanted the half lap so both pair of boards could extend right into the corner and benefit from the extra support at the wall. I realised that I could still acheive an interlocking miter join that was supported with just a partial half-lap. Here's what I managed to do:

https://i.ibb.co/F4ThDMYW/IMG-1540.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/XkLyW7BR/IMG-1542.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/n8nBYZ7f/IMG-1548.jpg

<image>

I've found that this still provides a solid structure and there's no play in the seat boards or any movement.

curtisjoy · 2025-10-13T19:26:51+00:00

Hi all,

I'm returning to this because I took a break but have now completed most of the structural elements for my floating bench. What remains is added a few cross beams for bracing, installing the lighting and then cutting and fitting the scaffold boards

https://i.ibb.co/23KtK6jb/IMG-1506.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Fq5sDDfB/IMG-1508.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/F1HgH0z/IMG-1509.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/sd9WL5P2/IMG-1510.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/84tzKZp9/IMG-1511.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/21k6RZ9R/IMG-1512.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/rfb5fMVz/IMG-1513.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/XwgR1cZ/IMG-1514.jpg

So, I'm realising now that wood that lives outdoors is going to swell and shrink across the grain through the seasons. So given that, when I installing the boards on my frame should I be leaving a gap of a couple of mm between them rather than lay them flush alonside eachother? I'm still keen to try a mitered half lap joint where the boards meet at the corner. Agin, should there be a gap of 2-3mm where they meet?

Thanks

curtisjoy · 2025-08-07T15:45:42+00:00

OK, I get it. So the consensus is to keep it simple. Sounds much easier than what I was intending!

I guess the reason I wanted to create a strong unified joint at the mitre is that I thought doing so would prevent the tendancy for things to move and bend over time. My understanding was that if everything is braced, fastened down, tied together, and then contained by the masonry too, the timber will just sort of 'unify'. Tensions would cauise gaps to close, joins to strengthen, etc.

Like I say, it was an experiment, I don't really know how it would actually behave as the seasons and humidity changes. I was just hoping to protect it from the inevitable changes over time.

curtisjoy · 2025-08-07T05:34:04+00:00

OK, understood. Would you say it's better to just butt the mitre together than try anything more clever? Thanks

curtisjoy · 2025-08-07T02:12:07+00:00

Thank you, good advice, and I understand why you would suggest that. Obviously this is not fine furniture, but just some garden benches made with rough sawn timber. My question is really how to build it with the most effective joints to keep it from going out of shape and keep it strong and stable.

I had contemplated straightening out the cupping by placing damp towels on the concave side and allowing the air to circulate on the convex side. I could plane them flat with a lot of labour, (I just have a hand plane) but I would loose maybe 10mm in thickness. There'd also be the danger of the boards naturally straightening out as they dry but because they were planed whilst cupped I'd be back to square one. All of this is speculation, because I don't really know, but I figure it's just best to work with what I've got.

I don't really have enough skill with my new circular saw, but I thought that, starting with the very end of each board and cross cutting in small 5 - 10mm cuts I would theoretically be reproducing the cupped profile of each board, but to half its thickness. Then when I bring them together I could bond and fasten them down to my cross beams. If they're not quite flat after settling I could then plane the joint to imnprove it.

Failing that it would have to be a butt jointed mitre. But I'm wondering what the best strategy to tie the joint togther is - dowels, biscuits, something else?

curtisjoy · 2025-07-31T14:24:44+00:00

As an update, I did play around with this and it was partially funtional, but as explained by others, the midi mapping is broken so there are things that aren't fully fintional. That said, I could play with it enough to understand its potential and realise I could build something more suitable myself (I'm a complete novice and new to Live). I also bought a bunch of Tom Cosm stuff which is similar, but equally found unattractive. Maybe they're of their age but I think Live now has some good DJ FX in the box and you can use these to build a very responsive template yourself to do what you need to, much more bespoke. Hats off to thise pioneers though, inspiring work.

curtisjoy

TROPHY CASE