For now I've removed my section on Stock Photography as I'm not working so much on that. Too much competition for very little return has made it unrewarding, and all the large stock photo agencies can afford to be picky. I have added a new web page on Design Notes, intended for sundry articles on commerce and product design. Starting with the thorny problem of costs, markup and margins for non-accountants.
Do you have a Draper RHL185 rechargeable searchlight? I show how to refurbish the battery pack.If you own an older Draper-brand 6V RHL185 rechargeable lamp then this article is for you. It’s likely that the battery pack is showing its age or it might have failed altogether by now. You probably appreciate the lamp’s super-large searchlight but after so many years the battery is probably on its last legs, but you’ll also probably know that the Draper 6V ARHL battery pack is obsolete and nobody’s got any spares.
Don't throw away the lamp or battery housing! I show how to refurbish one of these battery packs and suggest a source of spares. Read more...
6V SLA, Draper ARHL I was recently handed a USB docking station that was sourced via Amazon UK – the USB dock’s a popular gadget that enables SATA hard disks to be read (or written to) using a USB port and it also reads memory cards. Problem is, the unbranded mains power supply included with it has a UK power cord that’s a Chinese counterfeit and extremely dangerous.
BS1363, fake Chinese mains plugs 
© Alan WinstanleyWith the emphasis on reducing energy bills – and making them easier to understand – you might have come across the term “Kilowatt Hour” or kWh when talking about the cost of electricity or gas. A new term 'Tariff Comparison Rate' or TCR is also appearing. Understanding what these terms mean is very straightforward as I explain here.
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The CTEK MXS 5.0 is an electronic charger that can plug into CTEK’s special matching connector wired under the bonnet. It assesses, fully charges and conditions the car battery, followed by a maintenance pulse charge phase. Clean and easy to use, it's ideal for keeping batteries in prime condition, also good for vintage cars, motor-homes, marine, ride-on mowers and more. Read more...
During WWII the British had a secret code-breaking facility housed in the stately home of Bletchley Park. Thanks to the creation of the Colossus valve (vacuum tube) computer, arguably the world’s first electronic supercomputer, British code-breakers were able to decipher intercepted messages produced by German Enigma machines and arguably it changed the outcome of the Second World War.
As I wrote here earlier this year, whilst Bletchley Park receives lottery funding designed to make the theme park appeal to today’s iPod generation, The National Museum Of Computing on the same site risks being fenced off and isolated altogether unless the two parties can be reconciled – something that the Arts Council is said to be working on. (The Museum is tight-lipped, at the time of writing.)
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Sponsor A Valve (click to see)Meantime the magnificent Colossus computer is being rebuilt – but the Museum needs all the funding it can get. Previous sponsors have includes HP, IBM, Google UK and PGP (Pretty Good Privacy). It’s possible to “Sponsor A Valve” and donate to TNMOC by buying pixels on a million-pixel image at www.colossusonline.org.
Pixels cost £0.10/ ten pence each, minimum ten pounds and you can upload an image and URL too. Payment is accepted by Paypal. There’s plenty of space available if you’d care to support the ongoing work of the museum and its battle to restore Colossus.
Bletchley Park, Colossus If you have an LCD monitor with a pivoting screen (landscape/ portrait) then this little article offers some ideas to help handle the rotation of images - possibly automatically, if yours has an auto sensor - and make your monitor more hassle-free. Read more...
iiyama, monitor pivot, monitor rotation With the sad demise of Atomz Search, I looked into alternative search engines to add to the EPE website. A summary of two or three alternatives including Google Custom Search is here.
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Click to enlargeMy new Introduction to Gas Soldering Irons has now been published for Amazon Kindle. It explains the operation of both simpler torch-type irons and catalytic types, along with more information about butane gas and practical hints and usage tips, helped by some 40 colour photos.
In Part Two I offer practical reviews of some gas soldering irons from Portasol, Iroda, FERM and an anonymous type commonly found on ebay.
Remember you don't need a Kindle device to read Kindle ebooks, as free readers for PC, Mac, Android etc are available from Amazon. 'Prime' customers can get to borrow a Kindle book for free. You can learn more about the Introduction to Gas Soldering Irons here
Prym zipper pullers are the ideal way of fixing broken zipsI’ve been wondering how to fix a broken zipper – where the puller snaps off leaving the rest of the zipper behind. Last time that happened, I had to have a whole new zipper fitted on a coat, which cost me £20. Well it’s happened again on a favourite coat, and after googling around I found the solution from a German manufacturer called Prym.
They claim to have invented the press-stud fastener and they make a useful range of zipper pullers that are dead easy to fit to an existing broken zip. Even a man can do it. Just cut off what’s left of the old puller to leave the zip runner in situ. The new Prym puller will loop through and latch into place. Job done.
Their website is not helpful but you can choose from various black, silver, bronze effect, brown leather, plastic and children’s styles, and they’re readily available on ebay for about £2.85. Just search for Prym zipper puller and watch for free P&P if possible.
I found a bronzey-looking one which was near enough and a black replacement for the pouch of my TomTom sat nav which gave it a new lease of life. A very good range is also listed online by Jaycotts which is definitely worth looking at.
At the same time, some drops of silicone oil on a cotton bud will lube the zipper to make it run smoother.
