My 1996 Surf was suffering from the usual rusted through rear bumper. I could’ve got a stock replacement from Roughtrax, but I fancied having a go at making something like Bandit Runner’s. Fortunately, Bandit (aka Jeremy) offers customised plans for his bumpers. Jeremy was great to work with, and before long I had the plans. The bulk of the bumper is made from 3mm steel, but the main cross beam called for some 6mm angle.

My brother has got a Bosch cordless lawnmower that uses 36V battery packs. He presented me with the charger, which was completely dead – no LEDs lit at all when plugged in, and nothing on the output terminals. Checking the circuit board, there was nothing visibly wrong, so it was time to hit Google. I found an old post on a Polish forum that suggested that a 180k‎Ω resistor fails. The resistor looked fine, but after desoldering it, it measured open circuit.

I’m a big fan of Yubikeys. They’re nice and easy to use and add an extra layer of security. We use them at Code Enigma too, which means that I have a bunch of them for various tasks. The problem then becomes identifying which Yubikey is which. I could have just used stickers, but as I carry my Yubikeys on my keychain, I didn’t think stickers would last very well. A quick enquiry on the Yubikey forum confirmed that the keys are made from ABS.

With the space I’ve got at the workshop, I’d planned on building an 8’ x 4’ workbench. I was originally going to weld up a steel frame, but then I spotted a couple of bays of Link-51 pallet racking for sale locally for only £100. The racking beams are rated at 3.5 tonnes per pair, so it’s more than strong enough. I didn’t want the worktop to sag in the unsupported middle of the racking so I sourced some second-hand pallet supports from a local company.

I’ve been looking for a decent sized bin for the workshop. I wanted something metal with a lid, so that I didn’t have to worry about setting it on fire if I weld near it. You’d think it’d be a common requirement, but all I could find were fancy kitchen bins or ridiculously expensive industrial pedal bins. In the end, I found a store on eBay selling 205 litre tapered steel drumscomplete with lids for £23.