Anybody recognise this?

flipping heck the whole thing looks like a atomic bomb

I would surmise that the square panel on the control unit could be removed and replaced with a timer, possibly such as this one

Inside the control unit you should - hopefully - find a model number or pinout which would provide further information. (Switch off electricity before removing covers.)

Owain

Nothing like one.

I bet I have seen more bits of a atomic bomb than you ;-) up close and personal ,they might be shiny and white on the outside but not on the inside

no comment.

tis true and legal ex MOD

In message , Robin

Oh go on.... frighten him!

You realise the spooks are going to turn up to the uk.d-i-y meet now?

Naw they know that to make an A or H bomb is quite tricky but making a dirty bomb is much easier...

Making an A bomb is easy. Getting the materials is quite hard.

As for an H bomb.. that's not exactly hard either, just remember that there is no H2 in it.

Which, overall, makes it hard....

Still harder than a dirty bomb, for that you only need to have something go bang in quite a small way and push some fine powder up into the air and then tell the authorites it was a dirty bomb containing you choice of biological or nuclear nasty. The powder could just be flour but the authorities don't know that until they have taken samples and run tests. In the meantime they have to evacuate and decontaminate the area and down wind as if it did contain your nasties...

OTOH, have you ever seen a flour explosion? :o)

That was the mistake they made in the commons.. if you evacuate you spread the contamination. Best to lock the doors and leave them there until you know what it is. If they don't die its not a problem. If they do die, you did the correct thing to contain it. The only problem you get is if you have to shoot them to contain them and nobody dies from the attack.

I've seen a lab demo and pictures of destroyed buildings.