Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?
It’s nice to see patriotism being shown all across any nation in the world. It’s good to show a love and a belief in all that your country and its people stand for. It allows everyone else looking in to know that its people can’t be walked all over and pushed around, they all stand together.
However in the Uk a good majority of its own people hate to see anyone showing any pride. You quite simply get labelled as being, far right, fascist, racist you name it. It’s just not fitting the current climate of opinion or agenda to show any patriotism.
What’s the point. Am I patriotic? Yes. But just like discussing religion or politics, I just keep it to myself. My business.
Label me if you must, but I’m not the idiotic one, take a look in the mirror and make a change.
This is our third visit to Iceland and today has been a long one due to us travelling for the most part of it. However I’d like to share these little snippets with you.
Last night was special we witnessed the Aurora Borealis right over our heads in the centre of the city. Quite a spectacular show. Aurora Borealis – Northern lights, Iceland
We also did a few touristy things and here is some of what we saw and did.
A bicycle for four
Some fantastic paintings
The old parliament buildings looking out towards the mountains. Looks so different without the snow that normally adorns the area
We popped in a local bar to watch a game of football and to grab something to eat and drink. The beer – local IPA was nice, the brand name was questionable though 😂
And I don’t mean Carlsberg 😂
And did you know what the third most popular tourist attraction in Reykjavik is? it’s probably not what you think but it is, the Icelandic Phallological Museum otherwise known as the museum of the Penis. Stay with me now…it’s quite an experience.
The museum is a collection of “Penis’s” from animals around the globe and every mammal on the island is represented. It all stems from the curators fascination with the form from an early age and this collection was formed as a result. That said there are also “representative” examples of creatures from folklore such as “Trolls”. Just have a look at the link I posted above to find out more yourself.
However the cafeteria and bar area is quite something itself with tee shirts, gifts and food a plenty all in keeping with the subject of the museum.
Phallic shaped wafflesPhallic shaped wine decantersEntry sign into the museumThe Big Cock ale was a nice pint….believe me.
The food and drink is of a very good standard, the surprising fact is that a massive 60% of all visitors are female. That is the very hing that strikes you as you walk in, just how many women work there and are also there as visitors. You do hear an awful lot of laughing and it is all mostly tongue in cheek fun. A day out. It’s worth popping your head in the door and having a visit though. I’ll save pictures of the exhibits for another day, as waking up to a barrage of penis pictures doesn’t feature high on everyone’s daily agenda.
Day one in Iceland has been full on since we’ve arrived, we had a superb flight, good transport to the city centre, and have had a jam packed day since just doing everything the tourist does. Including booking a number of tours off of the beaten track rather than the usual ones we have done in the past.
The Aurora above Reykjavik
We’ve had some dinner this evening and retired to the bar and everyone is very tired now. I doubt there is no one in our small group who hasn’t been up now for at least 19 hrs and we are all starting to flag. However, i have looked at the Aurora forecast map and it’s going to be a lovely clear night with at least a 40% chance of seeing the Aurora Borealis.
Just Bloody StunningWowNature put on a show for us tonight
Though most are wanting to hit the sack, I convince them to give me 20 minutes more just to take a walk down to the harbour. It’s blowing a hooley. The wind is biting and it’s almost -8 in temperature. It’s not a pleasant evening.
But, boy were we treated to a beautiful light show in the heavens tonight. Lots of people pay good money to go out on these Northern light hunting trips, when for nothing, tonight a show took place above the city as it usually does, when the conditions are right, for free.
What a fantastic sight, and whilst walking back to our hotel it was lovely to hear people say. “We are glad we followed your advice tonight Dave, and went out for that little walk.” The thing is that time in situations like this is precious and you have to make the most of your time. We could have missed this spectacular scene for the sake of being controlled by tiredness.
We’ve seen them in the past at a very low level, but tonight surpassed our expectations. It’s not often that nature puts on a show for free, but when she does, she does it in a spectacular fashion.
I’d be a liar if I said no. And so would a large percentage of everyone else.
The Uk is full of laws. Bye laws, little sub laws that we all fall foul of from time to time. Whether it be parking on a kerb in a hurry, accidentally dropping litter, allowing your dog to foul in a public area we are all guilty.
Come to Leicester and the quality of driving will shock you. There are probably third world countries (I don’t like that term) who have better road behaviours than what you witness up here. No one pays any attention to traffic lights, and by the way, Leicester have more traffic lights per mile than any other town and city in the Uk! Thanks for that you town planners.
Red lights here just mean go faster, you really do take your own life in your hands attempting to cross a road up here. Add to that everyone’s journey is more important than yours, and then that’s what adds to all the speeding and racing on open public roads. It really is utter madness.
Petty theft is high up here, shop owners lose an absolute fortune, however this seems to be a trend across the whole Uk as certain members of the general public decide, “ Damn, why should I pay? Nothing is going to happen to me anyway.” So under the coat it goes and then it’s away. The Police forces here are struggling to address this epidemic that is spreading across our entire country.
Personally it’s something I’ve never knowingly done, but if I did get away with not paying with something for some obscure reason, i very much doubt I’d go back to correct the situation. They’d have been a time when I would have, but I probably would not now. How times and attitudes have changed.
And this is it. It seems that petty crime, the breeding ground for more advanced crime has not been nipped in the bud and the consensus is, if they can get away with it then why can’t I?
Bang – there’s the problem. It needs addressing urgently.
So yes I have broken the law unintentionally on many occasions and I guess that’s the way it will be for the foreseeable future.
Attitudes and perceptions of right and wrong have changed, and in the good old fashioned way of following each other like sheep, that’s the way it will continue going. We lack guidance from the authorities, we have no shepherd to guide us anymore.
We have no law makers or politicians that have the necessary backbone anymore. And without good leaders you will never have committed followers.
Right, I’m off to probably break some unknown law or bye law. And I haven’t even risen from my bed yet. It’s a crime to be awake at this time.
We are safely ensconced in our prison on the Bath Road at Heathrow Airport. Luckily it’s only a one night sentence prior to moving off to Icelandic shores on the morrow.
Our view from our prison window for the night
To be totally honest we have a nice hotel room, it’s clean and comfortable and has all we require. The view to the front is right on the runway, however we are looking into the centre of the hotel.
View from the front
I’m only joking using the HMP and prison title, it’s been a good journey down from the East Midlands to West London with only minor delays on the way. We did it in good time.
If you are familiar with British Motorways I have a question. I Have lived between Hertfordshire and Leicestershire all my life. I use the M1 motorway more than I’d like to, I have all my life. So why is it I have never seen the M1 motorway without major works and speed restrictions my entire adult life? I have never seen it open at its full speed potential. What’s that all about? And don’t get me started on so called “Smart Motorways”.
Anyway we are in our room all comfortable contemplating dinner. For the moment it’s a coffee for me and an English breakfast tea for the wife.
Wow, from our friends at Hackaday, who would have thought the time would come when you could downland and print a camera. Even the shutter.
A nice read for those interested in photography and some good links to follow regarding the build. Don’t think I’ll be starting one as I’ve only just mastered the standard paper printer 😂
A couple of years ago we were excited to read news of an entirely 3D printed camera, right down to the shutter. We wrote it up back then but sadly …
If there was a biography about you, what would the title be?
Mañana man
Procrastination, thats me to a tee, or should i really say it used to be. I don’t know, ill tell you what, ask me tomorrow.
That’s me that is 👆
I used to always work in the future, always putting off until tomorrow something that could be done today. Even my bosses knew that i could be relied on to do a job, they just didn’t know when though.
They tried getting me to do daily to do lists, this worked for a while until i turned them into daily tomorrow lists. They gave up in the end and just subtracted 24 hrs off my weekly schedule to make it look like i was being productive on a daily basis. It made them feel as if they’d achieved something. Losers.
It’s probably why i loved visiting our friends in Cyprus so much. The procrastination levels there are through the roof and i thought i fitted in well. My mate would tell me he had a Plumber coming Wednesday, however the key thing he omitted to find out was just on what Wednesday they would be arriving! The levels of procrastination were skill level 2000, these guys were ultra professional.
Over time i have gotten better, but do you know what? It’s never really caused any issues and on many occasions my putting off doing things has fitted in extremely well when there have been changes made to plans along the way…I hadn’t wasted any time, unlike others.
And as for my wife and her numerous 6 monthly reminders..
Ill do it tomorrow
I always tell her it will be done tomorrow. And we all know that never comes.
Most EPROMS made around this time in the 1980s had memory that could be formatted by using a method of exposing them to high levels of Ultraviolet light for between 10-30 minutes. The Psion Datapaks required about 30 minutes of “exposure” in one of these units to format the drive.
The unit I have purchased a Mk1 formatter
By high levels of light, i mean UV light around the wavelength at or close to 253.7nm. A UV light you may have in your home or in the form of a torch operates at somewhere around 395nm, a considerably safer wavelength of operation than what is needed to format these EPROMS.
The UV light spectrum. As you can see the wavelength we need to format the Datapak at 253nm falls into the dangerous UVC Shortwave spectrum. The standard house hold UV light or torch falls into the much safer UVA Longwave category at around 395nm. Picture courtesy of The Hepacart blog.
This unit was purchased after I had spoken to the seller, a nice chap that specialised in old diy tools and computer peripherals, but wasn’t quite sure what this unit did or how it operated. He had stated that the red light was working, but nothing else. My concern here was that the UV light inside was broken, and these tubes i believe are known as low pressure mercury discharge tubes, and finding them in this size is pretty difficult to say the least. The UV tube in this unit could potentially be 40yrs old as this is a Mk1 unit circa 1984. I just don’t know if its tube has ever been replaced at all in its lifetime. Have a read of this post by Dave Curran who had similar issues sourcing a light supply for one of these units, it resulted in him having to make a hybrid concoction combining one of these units and a cheap Chinese import – Eprom eraser/upgrade
I asked the seller, John, if the Ultraviolet light inside was operational and I have supplied a screen shot of his reply:
The reply to my question
When I received John’s reply I jumped in with an offer and this was accepted. He had been so helpful. I’m now awaiting the unit, but I’m now a lot more confident that the unit, and most importantly the UV light is currently operational. However it’s probably going to be subjected to some pretty rough conditions on its delivery journey, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for now.
This formatter is a series one version that came out around the same time as Psions Mk1 organiser first appeared on the scene, circa 1984. It was used right through to when the MK2 organisers were released sometime between the years 1986/89.
Mk1 version (My unit) MK2 versionThe two available Psion branded formatters
This unit will be cleaned, opened up, checked for electrical and mechanical stability, its safety features will be confirmed and it will then be reassembled and PAT tested prior to use. Once this is done i will attempt my first format of a Psion Datapak whilst the unit is in my possession. However we have a little way to go just yet, before we can consider carrying out that task. The seller was very prompt at getting the unit out to me as it has arrived less than 24hrs later.
Dirty Filthy
The general condition on first inspection is that it looks good, but it’s very dirty and has a slight musky dampness to it. I have given the plug and the cable and case a good clean with a bit of degreaser and this has cleaned well. I’ve done this just so getting inside is a slightly more pleasant experience without my hands getting covered in gunk. The unit looks a lot bigger in the pictures. It only measures 19cm L, 10cm W and 7cm H, so in theory it’s relatively small.
Before I do go inside I have first checked the plug, it currently is carrying a 13amp fuse that is way to large for this unit. It only requires a 3amp fuse so I have replaced this. I haven’t used the Pat tester yet I’m just using the multimeter, and I’m a bit concerned as there is no continuity between the earth pin and the unit case. Time to get inside.
Inside the unitWait! No connection to the earth wire.There was a potentially dangerous earthing problem
Inside looks tidy but I then become aware of a problem immediately. The earth wire from the mains cable is just sitting there in mid air connected to nothing. No wonder there was no continuity. I have now connected this back in place where it should be and I now get a good earth continuity throughput the casing. All other connections checked and tightened accordingly. This proves that the Pat test would have failed miserably. This was a potentially dangerous situation, that’s why it’s best to carry out these checks on any old powered units you get from a third party. Trust no one.
Next I need to check that the safety switch that turns off the UV light when the drawer is opened is operating. Again I use the multimeter to probe the switch and this seems to be ok. A good listen to the action confirms that it is clicking in and out. A quick clean inside and then the internal checks are complete.
The safety switch clicking in and out
There is no real way to test for actual operation until the safety case is back in place, that’s the safest way. Case on and another quick clean and the unit is looking good .
BeforeAfterLooking nice and clean
At this point I’ve carried out the Pat test before plugging it into the mains and the results have come back good and it’s a pass, the earth is good. I’m now confident about plugging the unit into the mains.
Door closed light is on inside Door open, light offThe safety switch confirmed as working
Everything seems fine I now just need to place a Datapak inside to see if the format process works. Also it’s a good time to check if the 30 minute timer is working. No time like the present, so I’ve found a suitable candidate and what better way to do the 30 minute countdown than with a Psion organiser I just happen to have hanging around. Here goes 🤞
The unit has been on about 15 minutes and all seems fine, the unit is not overheating and there is nothing occurring that shouldn’t be occurring. Fingers still tightly crossed. 🤞 The Psion timer duly sounded at the 30 minute mark, the unit turned itself off about 2 minutes later.
It continued about another 2 minutes after the timer finished
So 32 minutes seems to be the actual time under the lamp. Not too bad considering its age. The unit was only slightly warm to the touch after this time. I’ve left the Datapak to allow it to get to room temperature before testing it .
Success the system is sizing
Here we go, and it’s fantastic news as the format has worked. When plugged in it has informed me it is going through the sizing process that occurs on these organisers when you put in a newly formatted pack.
BeforeAfter
And when you go to check the info you can see the previously stored old data has now been deleted.
I now have a very useful, safe and working item of equipment. A very slight mustiness remains but that is only to be expected with an item that is 40 years old that you have had no input into how it is stored. I’ll probably store this in a sealable bag with some silica gel sachets to try and draw that mustiness out. I’m really pleased with this project and now have a very handy piece of kit to boot.
As I said earlier, make sure you always check thoroughly any items electrical such as this, coming from a third party. It’s your life, preserve it, safety first and trust no one. It’s a good mantra in this aspect or restoration.
Another item saved from landfill 👍
Thanks for taking the time to follow this project.
I know this sounds like a stupid title for a post, it is really, it’s one of those impatient child like statements that we, so called adults make from time to time.
We’re off to Iceland again this weekend and it’s always been one of my dreams to be able to witness an erupting volcano. However not a massive one, a small inconspicuous non invasive one would do just fine.
Picture courtesy of Perlan
At the moment the weather in Iceland is actually warmer and better than it is here in the East Midlands, and that always confuses me due to their proximity to the arctic circle. I lay money on it, what usually happens is we head on home and then the land blisters and there is a new eruption for a few months. But when we plan to return the land seals up like a small surface cut and then scabs over.
It’s quite frustrating
Icelands volcano cams
I constantly check in with the local news streams, as well as looking at the large amount of Volcano cams that are online and providing live coverage of the most susceptible areas.
That said we are really looking forward to our break in the land of ice and fire, however at the moment there doesn’t seem to be much of either.
I recently purchased this camera and wrote about it in a previous blog entry Werra 1
I’ve commenced taking the Werra to pieces. The winder was not working and the shutter was not firing. Before starting this work I’ve viewed this page at Everything Vintage where they have recently carried out a full strip down of the Werra and you can view the page HERE, it’s all great advice.
Getting below the top plate was relatively easy exposing the mechanics from 58 years ago, I don’t think it’s ever been opened in all this time. I always love to see the ingenuity that went into these old cameras in years gone by.
Werra 1 stripdown
The internals look dirty in the photo but to be truthful I don’t think the lighting is doing it any justice, yep there is a fine oxidation coating but it’s at a very acceptable level considering its age. When I get to the point of dismantling as much as I can, I will start to clean and lubricate these pieces. But at the moment my goal is getting to the shutter.
Werra winding system – shutter not working
In the video above I’ve managed to get the shutter cocking using the lens ring, however the shutter actuator does work intermittently, but there is no movement of the shutter (Or is there…)
The only reason I ask the question above is that after reading the “Everything Vintage” link in the first paragraph it appears there is a second shutter that closes the light path to the film back when you wind on. When you are ready to expose the film this shutter opens and then there is a second shutter that controls the exposure. if you watch the small video above I think it is this shutter you can hear when I wind the camera on. Hopefully this one is working, I just need to get the one on the rear working, and for this I need to remove the lens from the housing. To do this I need a tool I don’t currently have but have now ordered. More to follow when the lens ring removal tool arrives.
Lens ring spanner
The lens ring spanner has arrived, the ring is being right stubborn at the moment and Im struggling to release it from its 58 years of rigidity. I’m tired as well and don’t want to cause any damage to the shutter so I’ll come back to this later.
18 hrs later, I’m rested and have another go at releasing that lens ring, this time I’m successful and I manage to release it. Sometimes it’s better to sleep on a problem and approach it with fresh eyes rather than continuing whilst tired and prone to making mistakes.
Werra Lens ring removed
With the lens off the body, the shutter cassette can now be removed. It amazes me just how intricate this cassette is and the workmanship that must have gone into it. I’d estimate at least 10 small cogs and a number of tiny springs with levers and pivot points, amazing really considering it’s about 60 years old. It’s amazing how modern technology has advanced.
Werra lens breakdownWerra shutter moduleWerra lens – another shutter on the rear
It takes some time getting into the shutter cassette as there are springs and things flying off everywhere, you really do have to photograph everything you do just to be able to check what goes where and how.
Inside mechanism – where is that spring from?Complexity of the shutter mechanism
The shutter itself is rather clean apart from some fingerprints on the shutter leaves that must have been from years ago. I have cleaned this down with IPA and then used some finely ground carbon (pencil lead) as a dry lubricant and this has got the shutter moving just fine.
Werra shutter after being lubricated with carbon
I’m now starting to reassemble the lens and shutter as I’m happy that there is nothing else restricting the shutter and it is now moving quite freely. I will clean the camera as I progress and put some watch lubricant on the mechanics that are external to the lens and shutter assembly.
Werra 1 rearWerra 1 baseWerra 1 topWerra 1 front
Well it’s all been reassembled and is now back in one piece. It looks good, the shutter works fine and I’ve now vacuum packed it to go back into storage. I won’t be firing up a roll of film on it yet as I don’t have the time to did so at the moment. I’ll probably save that until the summertime when the weather is more favourable. I’ve really enjoyed this restoration even though at times it was very frustrating. This rebuild has taught me patience, or at least that I need to have more patience and just take my time. Intricate jobs on such old equipment need a clear head and a lot of concentration. I’ve learned my lesson and will endeavour to remedy that situation in my future dealings with such equipment.
Foxes Den 
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