Stuff you have fixed today

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

The Ball pein hammer is the item that was fixed.

The head was cleaned up on a bench grinder wire wheel.
The Hole was heavily burred, a rotary file removed them.

The new shaft was hand trimmed to give a snug fit and about 4 to 6mm sticking out.

The wedge should be just a bit smaller than the head hole. It will not go to far, the surplus will be removed.

Head and shaft warmed up and coated with linseed oil.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

2lb Axe head was given to me as the one I brought was broken. This was a good thing, as being a bigger and heavier head it leant itself to be turned into a Kindling axe or a Thatcher's stay cutter.

The Burrs from abuse were removed with a flap disc.

Double wedged head. But due to a defect in the head, there was gaps, not an issue, but it looked untidy.

So a Two Pack Canadian Head glue is used to fill the ugly gaps.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

This was meant to be the head to be used as a Roofers Stay axe. axe, but it is split.

So it was welded up.

The wedge was a off cut of Oak, it was a bit tight to fit.

 

[qwakers]

merc is back in the workshop. mot tester noticed a clicking noise when the nsr wheel rotated. i guessed broken spring. i was right.

but that wasn't all...
what is wrong with this picture?

and the shoe shouldn't move like that...

top shoe retainer is missing

the auto adjusters have seized, the shoes are cracked, and the disks are destroyed on the inside face.

on top of that the hvac fan stopped working. i took it out and it was completely seized. got it free so it worked of a direct feed to the battery, but it still wont work in the car.
£100 later, i have ordered a pair of shoes, rear disks, hvac fan and resistor module.

 

[DennisCA]

Welding and grinding done on the Mazda, gonna have to go over it again and fill in some spots but it's coming along. Did the Fitzee Cut & Butt method for fitting the new part which worked real well.

 

[GRW]

Over last weekend & this, I started and finished installing a 10L Truma Ultrastore lpg/230vac water heater in the camper.
As its a retrofit (original plan was different) I ended up with only one viable site for it... and it was pretty marginal on size which made installing more of a PITA.
Plus - it was where my 6kg gas bottle lived, so needed a new site for that as well. The only viable spot was on the wheel arch box - which meant I needed to come up with a way to fit a gas dropout to the external. I ended up glueing a flexible duct pipe from the arch box lid, trimming it off and then sending it through the van floor in front of the rear wheel. I also sealed all the frame joints with a lip on the front so that if there were a gas leak from a cylinder, it should go where its supposed to.
Getting the height right to clear the van side mouldings and also clear under the sliding door rail, and also avoid having the aperture and flue well clear of a panel seam.... I spent ages being paranoid & measuring multiple times before cutting another big hole in the bodywork.

Packing insulation everywhere, and also running all the pipes in the garage in large rectangular plastic, lidded cable duct meant I could pack some insulation around the pipes (I also added extra insulation all around the body panel and the flue/heater assembly. The manual frost drain I didn't duct out through the floor - as the heater is on a raised platform, I can drain it into a container easily.
New AC feed, DC feed for controls & a ceiling light, an inline gas isolation tap and gas feed line and a cold water Feed isolation tap (& a one-way valve) in the cold feed, then a hit outfeed pipe (all 12mm Speedfit stuff).

The gas and electric heat controls were fitted in the living space dividing wall, accessed by the side of the sofa, and the control cabling routed back to the boiler.

All tested & working as of last night. I also fitted the extra garage/services area light by the hatchway from living area to garage, fixed the dashboard heater controls backlight, and fitted some new cheap door switches & got the cabin doors courtesy light working properly.

 

[DennisCA]

Did a Fitzee style repair, front fender was basically gone at the bottom (pictured earlier), but I fabbed a new piece using a leftover piece from the sill patch panel. Left the old rusty part in place and worked the patch panel until it fit well enough, then I tacked it onto the new panel and did the ole cut & butt (stick around!).

 

[Keith 66]

I just repaired a Dab radio for a mate, power supply socket broke, He opened the radio up & managed to disconnect two sets of power leads & forgot which ones went where. He has mild parkinsons so his unsteady hands damaged the tracks on the power supply circuit board. Could i solder it up?
I warned him about my usual electronics circus where the magic smoke invariably comes out usually accompanied by a loud pop.
But he said have a go got nothing to lose. So i put the magnifier on my head & saw that a tiny speck of black insulation was still attached to one of the broken wire stubs, that told me which were pos & neg (maybe).
Soldered it up & he took it away. Just had a phone call, It works perfectly!
Think we had better buy a lotto ticket!

 

[qwakers]

i. freaking. hate. drum brakes. the merc had a broken spring so i replaced the handbrake shoes disks and fitting kit. i would have just replaced the fitting kit but the disks where knackered and the shoes where heat cracked. i didnt want to replace the pads, so i might have used a da sander to flatten the nearly new pads off and refitted them.....

notwithstanding that they are always a pain, the merc ones are harder than necessary due to the drive hub being in the way. the last set i did was a kia sorento, much easier, before that was a mk1 clio, dead easy. i still hate them though

once i figured the knack out, i got the nearside together and adjusted up in about a hour.

the drivers side on the other hand, was not so easy. first someone had used permanent loctite on the brake caliper bolts, so they took way too much effort to undo. then the disk wouldn't come off due to the massive lip on drum. then the expander had seized (explains the lip) so once i got them together, even adjusted all the way off i couldn't get the disk on over the shoes. once i worked out what was going on i took the shoes back off, which was a pain, and used some channel lock pliers and wd40 to force it closed to free it up. back together and adjusted and its fine..

heater fan is working too, only needed the motor so will send the module back. all is well in the merc world again...

 

[Tigman]

Fixed this gate into place last couple of days!

 

[minimutly]

View attachment 484283

The Ball pein hammer is the item that was fixed.


View attachment 484284

The head was cleaned up on a bench grinder wire wheel.
The Hole was heavily burred, a rotary file removed them.


View attachment 484286

The new shaft was hand trimmed to give a snug fit and about 4 to 6mm sticking out.



View attachment 484289


The wedge should be just a bit smaller than the head hole. It will not go to far, the surplus will be removed.





View attachment 484290

Head and shaft warmed up and coated with linseed oil.

Congratulations on calling it by the correct name, usually called ball "peen"...
I've started re-handelling my late father's assorted hammers - everything from ball pein's like this to sledgehammers, all with his initials stamped on them...

 

[GRW]

I've fitted a new C/L Actuator to the rear doors on my Camper (fiddly PITA job) - only find the lower cable is fraying & the bottom catch doesn't like latching.

The cables aren't available aftermarket, & Renault wants about £70 for one - its only a basic cable. So I've ordered some cable ends and a mid-cable adjuster (no adjustment on the OE either) online to see if I can't knock up something instead.

(For best part of a fortnight here it's been clammy, high humidity cold as well - just the conditions that feel much colder than the thermometer says & eats into you. Doing any work like this outside is just utterly miserable & I'm totally fed up with it tbh. Loathsome time of year).

 

[Seadog]

Congratulations on calling it by the correct name, usually called ball "peen"...
I've started re-handelling my late father's assorted hammers - everything from ball pein's like this to sledgehammers, all with his initials stamped on them...

Tit, tut...

Ball Peins

 

[bricol]

Tit, tut...

Ball Peins

I nearly read that as something else at first glance . . .

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

This was acquired for parts, but when I had a chance I found out that it:
Is in better condition than the one I had.
It is Civil Defence item, all be it over painted.

Getting it into bits meant a lot of bending of tabs, due to age related damge.

A classic Brass wick gear, with a new wick.

A quick coat of paint.

I knew what I wanted to convert it to.

It is now a Civil Defence red Lamp, It will be joined with a Green one. As soon as I can fix it.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

i got this the other day.
It looked good.
But looks can be deceiving.

The frame, the tin had been bent, so it would jam open or jam shut.

So we had to tweak it back into shape.

The last time it was used, the wrong fuel was used. This destroyed the seals. The most damaging was the filler cap and pressure release was jammed.
The dangerous flame and fuel leak can be seen, This was a staged shot, to bring home to some one how dangerous using the wrong fuel is.

Correct fuel, correct pre heat and we are away.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Got this for spares, as the owner could not get it to work.

They had been using heating oil.

They also had rebuilt it back wards.

I have a few wicks.

New wick, new cork gasket and the fuel tank cleaned out.

Then put to work.

 

[dobbslc]

i. freaking. hate. drum brakes. the merc had a broken spring so i replaced the handbrake shoes disks and fitting kit. i would have just replaced the fitting kit but the disks where knackered and the shoes where heat cracked. i didnt want to replace the pads, so i might have used a da sander to flatten the nearly new pads off and refitted them.....

notwithstanding that they are always a pain, the merc ones are harder than necessary due to the drive hub being in the way. the last set i did was a kia sorento, much easier, before that was a mk1 clio, dead easy. i still hate them though

once i figured the knack out, i got the nearside together and adjusted up in about a hour.

the drivers side on the other hand, was not so easy. first someone had used permanent loctite on the brake caliper bolts, so they took way too much effort to undo. then the disk wouldn't come off due to the massive lip on drum. then the expander had seized (explains the lip) so once i got them together, even adjusted all the way off i couldn't get the disk on over the shoes. once i worked out what was going on i took the shoes back off, which was a pain, and used some channel lock pliers and wd40 to force it closed to free it up. back together and adjusted and its fine..

heater fan is working too, only needed the motor so will send the module back. all is well in the merc world again...

The big question is, did you use any lubrication on them there brakes?

 

[Melvyn Best]

The big question is, did you use any lubrication on them there brakes?

I actually enjoy working on drum brakes far more than discs , probably just because it makes a change?. Just waiting for the weather to improve a bit then I will be tackling my Ducato motorhome brakes all round

 

[qwakers]

The big question is, did you use any lubrication on them there brakes?

yes, a small amount of anti-seize(not copper grease) on the contact points only of the shoes, and the wings of the pads. nothing on the back of the pads of course, thats pointless and just attracts crap.

all as specified in autodata...