The Shed, November/December 2019 issue no 87, in shops now

The November/December 2019 Issue 87 of The Shed, has a real electronics feel about it but there is also a lot here to keep all sheddies informed, entertained and well-skilled up.
Our cover story is about the goal of a Christchurch boat builder, architect, designer, sailor, Quentin Roake, to find a way to build waka in large numbers. He wants to recreate the appearance and characteristics of traditional craft in a modern version that is portable, durable, and economical to manufacture. Quentin has made it his mission to put Maori waka back on the water by marrying traditional knowledge with today’s technology

The November/December 2019 Issue 87 of The Shed, has a real electronics feel about it but there is also a lot here to keep all sheddies informed and well-skilled up.

Our cover story is about the goal of a Christchurch boat builder, architect, designer, sailor, Quentin Roake, to find a way to build waka in large numbers. He wants to recreate the appearance and characteristics of traditional craft in a modern version that is portable, durable, and economical to manufacture. Quentin has made it his mission to put Maori waka back on the water by marrying traditional knowledge with today’s technology. His journey is a very uplifting tale.



Staying in Christchurch, two sheddies combine to build an electric skateboard that can hit speeds of 45k plus! Gavin Bath and Mark Beckett walk us through the step by step build of this pavement rocket ship.
We have Part Three in our How to weld series, this issue it’s how to TIG weld before we head off to the shed of a record breaking electric motorcycle builders, Eva Hakansson and Bill Dube. This couples’ need for speed has seen them build the record breaking KillaCycle which reached a speed of nearly 390 kph and now a new and faster beast is being constructed, the Green Envy.

This issue sees the commencement of a new series of brewing tips from Bryan Livingston of Brewers Coop fame, Part One is getting to know your hops and some great brewing tips to enhance your own brewing skills.



Coen Smit shows us how to make the humble coffee table something of a talking piece in your home and Enrico Miglino starts out on his new adventures by upcycling vintage tech items. He first completely restores them then changes or adds to their range of functions. Part One is upcycling a mid 20th century Milliampere Meter.

Ritchie Wilson reviews the excellent book EXACTLY How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World by Simon Winchester before heading to the local workshop of electronic collector and engineer, Tim Pattrick.

Murray Grimwood shares his glasshouse building knowledge in this issue’s Off the grid column and then Ian Parkes heads out to the industrial area of Penrose in Auckland to meet Grant and David Lindsay the owners of Kiwi tool making company Linbide. Many of us will have used their great wee tungsten scraper but they also make saw blades and more.
Mark Beckett has been very busy this issue and gets making some Christmas gifts on his trusty CNC router, Hugh McCulloch uses 3D printing to repair his trusty mobile landline phone and Bob Hulme gets making some fireworks just  cos… it’s that time of year.

We begin to close this issue with a visit to a very talented multi-tasker, Anna Bates. Anna lives out in the West Auckland bush where she creates unique pieces in her newly restored railway-hut shed in her back garden. Prepare here for shed envy.
As usual, Jude Woodside closes the magazine and shares with us his success and the limitations of his newly installed solar power panels that generate 3-phase power, on a good day, for his workshop shed.
To purchase a copy or to subscribe head to https://magstore.nz/

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New Zealand Railways celebrates 150 years

In 2013, Railways in New Zealand marked the anniversary in October this year of 150 years since the first broad-gauge public steam railway opened between Ferrymead and Christchurch City in 1863, a distance of seven kilometres. The original gauge was five feet three inches (1600 mm) wide, although the standard gauge for New Zealand railways was to become three feet six inches (1067 mm).
As the Railways 150 Years Committee describes it, “People and goods were barged from the Port of Lyttelton to Ferrymead, then taken by rail to Christchurch. The Ferrymead Line operated for ten years from 1863 until 1873 when the 2.6-kilometre tunnel connecting Lyttelton and the Heathcote Valley was completed and commissioned.”
The celebrations for the anniversary in 2013 are focused on operations and displays at the Ferrymead Heritage Park during Labour Weekend and include heritage steam trips with the restored locomotive Ja1240 from Christchurch to Arthur’s Pass, Timaru and Ashburton. The Railways 150 Committee includes representatives from rail organisations such as the Ferrymead Railway, the National Railway Museum of New Zealand, the Mainline Steam Heritage Trust, the Plains Railway, the Weka Pass Railway, the Steam Canterbury Preservation Society and others. Additional help and assistance is provided by KiwiRail.

How to pimp your shed

The urge to decorate is universal, whether it be tattoos, floral designs on early Stanley rebate planes, or flames on hot-rod hoods, and sheds are no exception.
Big or small, simple or ultra-flash, sheds have one consistent feature – they all have decorations. These can be nostalgic, humorous, or more or less misogynistic (and often all three).
The mamo-centric female portraits which, in the past, were so common in garages and workshops are now rarely seen, perhaps because businesses which used to distribute complimentary “girlie” calendars can’t now risk the potential bad publicity. Or shed owners are embarrassed at the thought of their wives, children, or grandchildren seeing them. Or perhaps we have all become a little more mature.
Feminist relatives tell me that the purpose of pin-ups wasn’t decorative, but to make women visitors so uncomfortable that they wouldn’t linger, creating a woman-free zone. Sort of like farmers draping the skins of killed predators on fences to discourage their kin.

All hands to the tanks

The call goes out. The volunteers pour into the military camp at Waiouru in the centre of the North Island. The only war, though, is going to be on rust, handbrake cables,
driveshafts, seized brake systems, the battered cylinders of tank engines and the ongoing tussle to turn out new truck engine parts.
Here is a group of willing sheddies who meet about once every six weeks under the keen oversight of George Pycraft. Their job: to continue repairing the heritage vehicles of the Army Museum at Waiouru.
Their “shed” is a group of four storage sheds housing 85 vehicles in various states of repair. They are as diverse as tanks, the 24-tonne M41 Walker Bulldog, the Centurion, and Valentine tanks (the latter still in World War II Pacific theatre camouflage), a 1941 Canadian Pattern Chevrolet gun tractor, an MB Jeep still wearing its 1942 Long Range Desert Group livery, an M113A1 Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) painted in UN colours and of the type used in Bosnia, a 1943 Ford F30 truck, a 39-inch searchlight and an M816 recovery wrecker truck made by American Motor Corporation in 1969.
Pycraft, the museum’s Assistant Curator – Technology, says with the help and dedication of the museum’s volunteers they are slowly coming closer to having a complete running collection of heritage vehicles.