Stuff you have fixed today

[DAPPH]

That's good to know.

My GP tried to talk me into changing to a Libre last time & no doubt will try again next week at my diabetic review. Last time I pointed out that I don't have or want a smart phone & the Libre is pretty pointless without one. This will be a new bit of info I can use to deter them from forcing me to convert.

You can get a separate simple hand held reader module but it does not do internet reporting back to the clinic like a working smartphone does .. I have both thankfully ..

After many false down loads and strange events trying to set up the smartphone Abbot finally got back to me and said my A13 smartphone is not compatible with the Libre reporting set up & it does not read my glucose levels as quick as the reader module.

I chuffed with the hand held device as i'm learnign how & when my blood glucose levels vary and when to have food or plenty of fresh water to drink . Suddenly my life has started off again It's become a lot easier to avoid or eat less of the fast acting carbohydrate foods & drinks now I know how they affect me. Also having an indication of sugar levels then if needed doing a proper blood test is important before driving and after every two hours of driving ( It's a legal requirement for diabetic people to do a proper sugar test up to 2 hrs before driving & at every two hours of driving apparently ) .

 

[Keithmac]

Last time a did 2 pairs of steering tower bearings I vowed never again!.

What an arxxhole of a job.

Believe it's called Brinelling?, Piaggio pre-loaded the bearings far too tight and a few years down the line this happens..

It's not so much getting covered in grease, it's the brake and damper fluid bleeding at the end that's the worst bit.

Hey Ho!.

 

[DAPPH]

Offside grass roller spherical bearing housing had broken on my Bomford 6 foot flail mower. I must have gone over a brick or something but not aware of having done so. A simple bolt off - replace - bolt on job. But those bearing are £62 each with the VAT - ouch.

Had to be done - I was leaving scratches in the paddock !

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Is that a new bearing or a bodge to hold the old one in place?

Get a jacket/ mask plate made in 15 mm thick steel that will fit over the bearing housing shoulder , allowing you to simply bolt it on through the existing holes using longer bolts & new nylocknuts & bolt it in place for future failings

 

[DAPPH]

Have a requirement for a light ish SDS hammer chisel drill jobby to strip mortar off reclaimed engineering bricks and some 50x50 cm sq cast patio slabs with the intentionn of selling them off as a job lot . Not wishing to drop £ 200 or there abouts on a new machine I 've been looking on various websites .

This Metabo looked interesting and it's out of a tool sales shop Other than a coating of light dust it has few signs of hard use . On firing it it up it had a sluggish trigger response .
Repairing these things was my bread and butter for a fair time so I stripped it down and immediately found the live winding wire from the trigger to be loose , just touching the contact blade .( Common fault with this type of trigger setup ) .

I washed and cleaned the whole machine checking everything ,not a mark on the commutator segments , serviced it and sorted out the poor electrical connections.
Filled the flimsy vacuum pressed insert underneath with expanding foam to give it a lot of support , added two new over centre catches to the box as the original closers were missing , found and old SDS to chuck adaptor for it in my junk box .

It's now as good as new and for £39 I'm more than happy with it .

 

[awemawson]

Is that a new bearing or a bodge to hold the old one in place?

Get a jacket/ mask plate made in 15 mm thick steel that will fit over the bearing housing shoulder , allowing you to simply bolt it on through the existing holes using longer bolts & new nylocknuts & bolt it in place for future failings

No it's a complete bearing insert (1-1/4" spherical) with its housing. You can just buy the housing which was what was broken but it's 75% of the cost and you're never 100% they are compatible

If I'd wanted to bodge it I'd have cut a plate on my plasma cnc table, but I didn't !

 

[Brad93]

Offside grass roller spherical bearing housing had broken on my Bomford 6 foot flail mower. I must have gone over a brick or something but not aware of having done so. A simple bolt off - replace - bolt on job. But those bearing are £62 each with the VAT - ouch.

Had to be done - I was leaving scratches in the paddock !

View attachment 401487

View attachment 401486

i would have swapped that out for a generic one i think!

 

[bricol]

No it's a complete bearing insert (1-1/4" spherical) with its housing. You can just buy the housing which was what was broken but it's 75% of the cost and you're never 100% they are compatible

If I'd wanted to bodge it I'd have cut a plate on my plasma cnc table, but I didn't !

I think he was suggesting replacing that strap with a fabricated cover out of 1.5 thk steel, protect the bearing a little more.

Probably the inside that gets all the crap though?

I was quite surprised at the cost of a decent brand after you mentioned the price you paid - I could maybe save a tenner on a RHP flanged bearing when I looked it up. Could get a name I've never heard of for considerably less - but then you've no idea if you would be replacing it considerably more often.

 

[awemawson]

If you look at the first picture that I posted you will see one “ear” of the bearing housing has broken off presumably from a heavy blow on the roller that it supports, perhaps by going over a brick or some such inadvertently. No amount of placing covers on the outside of the bearing would save it from that.

 

[Keithmac]

Deja Vu this morning..

All back in one lump and all blead up ready for MOT retest tomorrow.

 

[DAPPH]

No it's a complete bearing insert (1-1/4" spherical) with its housing. You can just buy the housing which was what was broken but it's 75% of the cost and you're never 100% they are compatible

If I'd wanted to bodge it I'd have cut a plate on my plasma cnc table, but I didn't !

Cutting a sleeving plate on the CNC plasma table is not bodging, it is a well thought through skilled engineering repair.

 

[optima21]

Ive "fixed" the Wilesco D6 steam engine today ( the one on the right in the picture below) , it was working fine, but I wasn't happy with the performance with the standard fuel tablets as the engine runs too fast with then after a few minutes and wants to walk around the table due to the vibration.

when I got the SEL 1550 engine (the one on the left above), I didn't have one of the wick holders for it and so I tried it with solid fuel tablets using the burner from the Wilesco engine. When I then ran the engine on meths, and to burners I got a much more consistent performance. so this lead me to wanting to make a meths burner for the wilesco engine. which I made from 0.6mm thick brass.

as brass has a habit of snatching when you drill it, I thought I'd clamp it down to keep my fingers away.

also I try not to use snips for cutting into sheet metal as it distorts it , so for smaller pieces I normal cut it with a fine hacksaw and then will trim it with snips.

and the finished parts ready to be soldered together

the base and top were soldered together using a 50W temperature controlled Iron with a 5mm bit, I just ran it around the edges after applying flux. the bushes in the middle was soldered by putting a ring of solder under them and gently heating with a small blowtorch, as the solder melts the ring will then fall into place.

as the burner I made is slightly wider than the hole in the boiler casing, it was necessary to make that a bit bigger, which was done by filing it. i didnt want to make the fuel tank narrower as it would hold less meths.

and with the new burner in place just checking that it was working ok.

and there it is running again, and the cylinder is straight and not bent

it seems to run consistently with the new burner, so Im happy with that, and finally I made a restrictor for the whistle to reduce its steam usage as the hole the steam goes though is 0.8mm

and I got a flyer today for the show that these toy steam engines will be going to

 

[optima21]

Ive fixed my car horn, as it started randomly going off a few weeks ago for no reason (normally when turning), so I removed the horn push from the centre of the steering wheel and the problem went away. So this suggested that it was the horn push rather than the wiring which was the issue. The horn push has two brass plates with contacts on them, but nothing that would appear to keep them apart, and its been like that for the last 20 years, so no idea why it started to go off.

so the easy answer is to separate the two plates with something springy, and for that I used some 0.2mm thick hard rolled phosphor bronze which was bend to shape. the problem with this is that its conductive so it was held in place by nylon screws with pieces of 0.5mm styrene as insulators, so problem solved

and both parts of the horn push stuck back together

still no idea what went wrong though

 

[Onoff]

My lad and I fixed this Cricut Explore. An hour to strip last night, two hours to solder the new jack in and reassemble. A fiddly pig tbh. Worse bit was the high temperature solder holding the jack in on the double sided PCB.

It's now for my daughter to download Design Space and see what it does.

https://flic.kr/p/2oEE6GX

 

[mtt.tr]

Thursday week ago my landrover lost drive.
Lots of grinding in all gears, got it towed home box check output in lovely condition.

Lead me to believe clutch had spun it's centre, dropped the box on Thursday sure enough clutch was gone.

Ordered,
Hd Clutch kit
Main seal
Hand brake cable
Diff seals


Most of it completed today. Just need to drop the tunnel back in and give it a wash.

It's now selects reverse hurrah I think the clutch has been bad since I've owned it.

 

[DAPPH]

If it is a diaphragm clutch . a sharp kick back on the clutch pedal is a dead giveaway the clutch needs replacing

 

[mtt.tr]

If it is a diaphragm clutch . a sharp kick back on the clutch pedal is a dead giveaway the clutch needs replacing

With r380 early models would starve the output splines and knacker them take two minutes to pop the rear cover off.

On a plus I now know I don't have an early box but the better newer model.

 

[magnet]

Fitted a wire into the brim of my ancient sun hat. It's a game changer.

 

[Seadog]

Started to strip my friend's cassette deck which wasn't working. I knew exactly what to expect before I took the lid off.

Horrible, sticky bits of belt. Not as bad as the Eumig projector that I repaired a few years ago, but still messy.
Awaiting the arrival of 50 assorted belts.

 

[cheb]

Yesterday and today. Butchered the stop solenoid off a Berlingo so it can be driven to the scrappers.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

This British Army WW2 Pick Axe came my way.

The issues are:
Jammed head.
Deformed points.
Rough finish and splinters on the handle.
Plus it was not WW2.

The trader has refunded me 50% of what I paid for it.

It took some head beating to shift the head. There was a serries of burrs in the hole.
Here the handle has been worked over with a cabinet scraper.

The head was cleaned up, the burrs removed.

The tips were dressed to a point, the heated to cherry red. Diped into cold salted water to harden them.
Then tempered to a blue finish.

When it was still hot a wax/oil mix was applied.

Handle was finished with a glass scraper, then french polish applied. No sanding sealer, as you want a textured finish for grip.

The fit is now correct.

Finished.