@andyma Looks like my connecting rod won't arrive until some time next week so it may be a while before I can begin to assemble. I am getting more and more frustrated with the lack of information from the manuals and doing searches on Google. I only have one shot of getting this right since there are no replacement engines or shortblocks for this Ariens ST7524 blower. Reviewing everything again I see another potential issue which is confusing. If you look at the manual(figure 33 in original post), it states the marks on the connecting rod must align and face out. Simple enough, but if you look at the oiler assembly in that drawing, the concave side of the oiler is facing up. Now picture in your mind, the flywheel rotation is clockwise, in that direction the oiler would NOT be scooping up the oil as the design indicates, but pushing it to the camshaft side, rather than upwards to the piston cylinder. I hope that someone with experience will reply to this post and hopefully provide an answer before I assemble. You probably have the manual, but if not below is a link that you can download the Tecumseh L Head service manual. I hope it can answer your questions but I doubt it will. http://www.allotment.org.uk/assets/rotovator/Tecumseh-Engine-Manual.pdf

Hi Everyone. It has been an "eventful" year since I last posted. I *was* doing quite well up till the point I made the mistake of re-potting the orchids. I picked the correct time to do it etc., etc., etc., -- indeed it was "by the book", and even had my homemade "book" opened throughout the procedure. Long story short: every last one of them DIED, including the one I got to bloom. I swore off orchids for good... that was until I met someone with the Tucson Orchid Society, who connected me with someone else at the TOS, etc., suddenly I found myself a member of the Tucson Orchid Society. I am rebuilding my small collection with the exact same plants that died, and a few new ones including a seedling. One advantage of joining the TOS is they have a "Cat"(tleya) person who is willing to help me next year when it comes time to re-pot my one and only (so-far) orchid ( Blc Chia Lin 'Shinsu #1' AM /JOGA ), and it is in dire need of re-potting!! (I also have a seedling but it is being raised in a joint and protected environment until next year, so it has not been counted... YET!!) This time I will have expert advice as I go through the procedure. Me?!? I suspect it was not so much my technique -- though it very well might have been -- so much as it was the combined shock of the re-potting plus the extreme environment it which it was asked to re-establish itself in. The next time after the re-potting I hope the gentleman will temporarily house the orchid in his greenhouse just long enough until it can re-establish itself. I have one question for Sarah: I am very impressed by her "indoor" greenhouse -- the one with the shelving, and what *appears* to be some type of heavy duty transparent plastic on 3 sides. Is that what I am looking at?!? If so was this some type of do-it-yourself project?!? How much did it cost you to put together?? If commercial, where did you get it from and how much did it cost?? It really is quite impressive. In many ways is similar to a poor man's Wardian Case, which would solve the problem of supplying adequate humidity. I do have one question: Given that I live in a rental unit and the walls are made of Dry Wall, management would frown on mold on their walls -- they frowned on my hanging up sheer curtains on the porch to cut down the the HOT western afternoon sun, so mold on their interior walls is probably a non starter. Still the idea of having a small interior greenhouse shows great promise. I like your design. Has anyone else built an interior Wardian Case aka an interior greenhouse?? What types of problems did you encounter?? For those of us who are renters, have restricted space, or for whatever reason where building an external greenhouse is not possible, the building of an INTERIOR greenhouse / Wardian Case by a window might just be the just the ticket. I have attached to this post the picture of Blc Robert Ferguson 'Florida Sunset' that I got to bloom last year. This was the orchid that you may recall rode the wild Wind Called Mariah... that went flying, then crashed to the floor while in bud, the damage which can be seen in this photo. This will be my third purchase (I almost forgot the seedling, plus I have a raffle winner ). DesertLynx

I know you need to replace the tubes every saeson to start the vegetables Not necessarily, but probably. Post exactly what ballast or shoplight you have and the exact make and model of tube. Then we'll let you know whether you need to throw it away. A 20% light decrease would not be noticeable to your eyes but is significant to a plant. You'd be able to see the difference side by side with a new tube but not to the extent that you'd throw your hands up in horror. The light output of all plant lights decreases the longer they are run, also each time they are switched. Historically, as in 20 years ago, every single light lost so much light that it was more cost effective to buy new bulbs or tubes every 6 months than to run old lamps putting out less light. This is no longer true. Modern triphosphor fluorescents (but not the $1 tubes from China) running on electronic ballasts lose about 5% of their output even after 20,000 hours operation, so run them to failure which will be several years even running every day. Cheaper tubes, specialist tubes (wide spectrum, plant spectrum, actinics, etc.), compact fluorescents (the more compact, the worse), and anything on a magnetic ballast still loses a lot of light and should be replaced frequently. The best pulse start metal halides on exactly the right electronic ballast lose about 10% of their light output. Again, not worth throwing them away every 6 months. Probe start (ie. anything that doesn't say pulse start) bulbs and most bulbs on magnetic ballasts still lose enough light to need frequent replacement, and many metal halide systems still sold today are so horrible that you absolutely need to replace them every 6 months. HPS bulbs still lose something like 20% of their output relatively quickly. You should probably replace them every few thousand hours, but check exact specs on any bulb and ballast you have since I haven't looked at the latest data in detail. Lights which have been stored in sensible conditions will keep for years without problems. Excessive temperature variations can cause them to degrade.

I know I am an unknown here but having done extensive researched on growing aquatic plants under lights. I am sure you may well be well beyond my current level of understanding and I have many questions that I am sure you could answer for me. However if you are in search a fluorescent bulb with a high rendering index with a full spectrum out put, I would fist ask what color temperature do you need the bulb to be. Some plant only need 5700 degrees K some may do better under 8000 degrees K. The more complete and the quality of the rare earth ingredients present in the bulb will give you better results for a longer time. The most important number is the color rendering index, if it is below 80, the color spectrum will have veritable holes in it. This is the link to one good supplier in the USA. They should be happy to answer your questions, they have the best bulbs, and likely the best price. This is my fist post so I hope it has given a bit of help. These bulbs are around ten US dollars. http://www.thatpetplace.com/Products/KW/FISHPROD%2cT-8/Class//T1/F55%200495%200209/Itemdy00.aspx The color temperature may be too low. http://www.thatpetplace.com/Products/KW/zm0217/Class//T1/F55+0495+0217/EDP/23820/Itemdy00.aspx The color rendering index Ra on this one is 97 very acceptable and it is at 6500 K almost the best you are going to find for a grow light. Rare earth is what makes the CRI and that is what you are paying for make no doube and the ones a regular store know people don't know about CRI so why sell it. Wow I wrote all this I didn't notice you were in England. I have no idea if they will ship to the UK but my guess is that they will, because they are a giant store in the US. The next time you pop over the pond to do some shopping, at these low US prices, you may stop by as this store as it is one hell of a good show This a great link for some lighting terminology: http://www.schorsch.com/kbase/glossary/cct.html Good Luck, Here is a link that might be useful: That Fish Place That Pet Place