Stuff you have fixed today

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Nice little repair.

Typical failed mantle on a Aladdin Oil lamp.

They do last a while, but will fail if disturbed.

A new one fitted, even through they are more resilient to being handled. Do not torch the mantle, your finger grease will cause an early fail of it.

Trim the old wick, make sure the fuel is fresh.

Do the next bit outside, as when it is first used it will flare up, a good 24" above the chimney.

Let it warm for about 5 minutes before going to full light and heat.

 

[qwakers]

audio upgrade time

i needed (heh, no i didnt, i wanted) better audio quality, less distortion and higher volume. voice command and internet radio was on the list too. rather than change the headunit, i decided to simply fit a echo auto and a decent pair of speakers.


old ruined worn out speakers...

new speakers

new connectors soldered on and fitted. couldn't use the factory covers without a spacer so I'm stuck with using the pioneer covers. that's a shame as I prefer the factory look.

then i needed power for the echo auto. i had a factory 12v port in the coin tray by my knee, but this was a proprietary connector. I changed it for a standard cigarette lighter socket and ran the wire up behind the dash to the echo. all nice and neat.

and bonus sleeping horses pic, because reasons

 

[Keithmac]

Gunnerside hike with our Scout group today, not fixed anything physically but very healthy for my body and mind!.

Absolutely stunning views.

Beats being at work..

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

This nice looking Tilley came my way the other day.
Nice looking is all I can now say about it. It was a royal pain to fix.

It was striped down, new seals, new cup washer and the tank cleaned.
The first issue when re-building the bore of the pump body was scored, so it tore up the cup washer.
So a quick raid of the spares bin and a better body was found.

The small pile of rust powder was from the brown top, the rust dust has an annoying habit of migrating into the pin hole on the vaporizer.

First lighting.
To those who do not know, the mantle should be bright white light, a gentle hiss should be heard. Plus no fluid leeks.

The mantle is burning with an orange hue and there are two leeks, control tap and from the pump to tank seal.

The tank seal failed, even through it was new. Striped down again and there was a very very very small burr on the top of the thread. Something I had not seen before. A fine grinding stone removed it, and a new seal fitted.

Lighting up again and the lantern blew out, meaning a lack of fuel.


The controll valve was tested and looked to be working. To test the vaporizer is simple, but best done out doors. 30 pumps on a half full tank, remove the whole top. Open the control valve and jet of fuel should come out, a good ten feet is a good sign.

This was the issue. Not well shown. The axil from the black knob to the body is bent. Another first for me.
A good tip, the seal you can see can be a pain to change. place it in warm water before fitting and that will help it slide on.

Done, bright clean mantle, even hiss and no leaks.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

A classic Surform. Well used and in need a quick tickle.

But a bimble round the WWW, I found a new method of making french polish.

Here you can see how modern varnish stripper works on the old style varnish.

The wood stain is instant coffee and meths. Here it has been just applied.

The bow in the side is not meant to be there, a small bow on both sides yes. But not this.

The star washer is there to stop the front handle from rotating when in use.

Handles are now French polished, wax will be applied.
A new blade was found locally, nice to see the old tools can still be found.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

At the Men in sheds, we have a motley bunch. some are well advanced in DIY and such. But some do not.
So sometimes a toll is restored for no other reason than education.

This half moon was in a very poor state.

As the new member has not been registered on the power tools this had to be done by hand. The liquid you see is rust killer, that was washed of before good going over with a wire brush.

The cutting edge was first done with a file, then finished off with oil stone..

The old screw fixing was drilled out, rattle can paint and the sun did the rest.

 

[sako243]

Fingers crossed, been having weird (read inconsistent) getting hot scenarios in the 110.

 

[qwakers]

my race car hasnt been in the workshop since February.

since jdm ive known ive got a failing low pressure fuel pump and consequentially a damaged high pressure pump. ive had both in stock to replace since shortly after jdm, however ive simply not had time to sort it. i finally got a empty workshop and time to stick it in the garage, so on the way home from yakushi i finally brought the car home.

now i postulate the reason the lp fuel pump failed is because of the way it was plumbed, so i needed to change that. i disconnected the hp pump and attached some hose to the lp outlet, and started draining the tank by running the pump. less than 5l into a nearly full tank the lp pump started pulsing and then only pumping intermittantly. that will be fault confirmed then. i stopped there and pulled the pump out(a nearly new aem, goddamnit... my fault though, not the pumps), to find about 15l left in the bottom of the pump side of the tank (probably nearly full on the other side) after swapping the new pump in i drained the rest of the fuel out no problem. the reason for this is i want to calibrate the level sender in the dash, so i need to start with a empty tank..

then the real repair started, i needed to replumb the fuel rail return and add a return from the surge tank to the main tank to stop the lp pump trying to dead head against a full surge tank and consequentially overheating and dying. to do this i replumbed the fuel rail return to go to the surge tank, and took a return from the surge tank to the an fitting on the main tank where the fuel rail return used to go. that should mean the lp pump has fuel flowing through it constantly and therefore stays much cooler. this was all a bit fiddly but not too bad as i set the system up to come apart without having to cut loads of wires.... except the relay feed to the pump. i will add a high current inline connector to re-join that wire.

left to do this afternoon is to configure the dash and move the battery charge point to the boot.

 

[qwakers]

last job for the security camera is to supply it with a permanant power source. this would have been considerably easier if i had done this before i put the ceiling up.

1st job was to cut a hole in the new ceiling (tbf this would need doing anyway as you cant have a socket with no access above the ceiling.


next was to pull one of the wires out of the socket on the wall and pull a new wire from the socket on the wall to keep the ring intact

then i shortened the wire i just pulled out and ran it to the new socket above the ceiling. the wire now going to the main socket also goes to the new socket, adding it to the ring correctly.

all wired up.

the transformer wire then run out the fascia board and around to the camera.

and the access panel glued up.

 

[Bobupndown]

As the new member has not been registered on the power tools this had to be done by hand

Do you have to get a licence to be allowed to use power tools in a Men's Shed

 

[bourbon]

Do you have to get a licence to be allowed to use power tools in a Men's Shed

Depends on the shed I think

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Do you have to get a licence to be allowed to use power tools in a Men's Shed

Depends on the shed I think

That shed runs a training routine to ensure your are safe to use the power tools. They had one accident when someone cut their hand on the band saw.
So they have simple training programme.

Not all MIS do this, but a few.
It means less accidents and for me less time fixing tools.

 

[Bobupndown]

Do you have to get a licence to be allowed to use power tools in a Men's Shed

Depends on the shed I think

I think they might be full of self opinionated people with hi viz and a clipboard. Don't think they'd be my thing!

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

I think they might be full of self opinionated people with hi viz and a clipboard. Don't think they'd be my thing!

Not that shed. Some are I agree

 

[Seadog]

Not so much fixed, as reassembled. Okay, I had to dab some weld on one of the bolts which had fretting, allowing the moving jaw to misalign.

It's been in pieces for, perhaps, a couple of years. Phil @hermetic I finally used the nut and bolt that you were good enough to send me
The whole was given a generous coat of Zebo. I'll polish that tomorrow then give it a smothering with a wax Polish to seal it.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

This tiny beastie was a challenge.

Getting it into the parts was easy.

Here the muck is being removed with "Meths."

But for the life of me I could not get a decent cutting angle on the blade, until this showed it self.

A stress crack. The plane was finished over the weekend, but I told my friend, who did the TIG fix, I would not post until he has received his 2 packs of choccy hob nobs.

The sides and the sole were polished on plate glass, 1,000 grit
and light oil.

 

[Onoff]

Fixed the n/s rear ABS sensor Saturday, jet washed the underside. Sunday morning I jet washed it again to get the bits I missed & sprayed underneath with a protective chain type lube. Tonight I did both track rod ends and changed the oil and filter.

 

[brewdexta]

We have chickens, so we have rats, that's a given. But recently they have become more numerous and destructive. I have Bill the ratter coming around with his terriers and other paraphernalia as they are blowing raspberries at the traps the missus has put out. I could get some better fen traps but would rather leave it to the professionals until it's under control.

In the meantime, I need to prevent them from making more damage to the chicken shed. They come into the shed in early evening looking for chicken food, then the light sensor on the self closing door kicks in, trapping them in the shed. They then start chewing at the main door and electric door to get out.

You can see the gnawing at the door surround.

And almost through at the side, the screw fixing the door slider at the bottom has fallen out. This is at most, 2 nights damage.

And the main door

And the other side

So, to the scrap bin, I knew those bits of old cable trunking would come in handy.

They are going to need carbide teeth to get through this angle iron.

Prevention is better than cure, so the rats days are numbered....

 

[E T]

I was drilling some 20mm holes through a bunch of hardwood fence posts on the drill press with a annular cutter last week.
I had the suction bit of my wannabe Henry shopvac next to de cutter to catch as much of the wood shavings as possible to prevent them making a mess of the oily vice and drill table. Of course at some point the cutter grabbed the plastic and tried to eat it.

Today I wanted to give the workshop a good clean, so I cut the damaged bit of the nozzle but now the tube doesn't fit anymore.
So I made an adapter from a short bit of galvanised tube I put in the 'This'll come in handy one day' bucket a long time ago.
Milled a 27mm slot in it for the valve on the nozzle with a 25mm endmill. Fits like a glove. Better then new.

 

[cheb]

I'd suggest putting suitable heatshrink over the tape, it stops the tape slipping over time and releasing all its lovely stickiness.