Stuff you have fixed today

[jmp49]

Reversing light kept blowing fuses.
Poxy mice.

So I ensured the Passenger Management Control Module was activated...

Do you get martens near you? I quite like them but they have a habit of eating wiring looms like that. You can get little 12v ultrasonic boxes to deter them that wire up to the battery.
I've got a picture somewhere of a merc van chassis with a nest in the chassis rail via a missing bung, with a stash of stolen eggs and the rear lights wiring loom eaten by the entry point, now the motorhome etc has one not had any more incidents.

 

[GRW]

Last night I replaced the rear engine mount on my Fiesta Van, and then the lower steering column UJ section on my Renault Master Camper.
Both jobs pleasantly straightforward and quick to do, while the part for the Ford was £14.75 delivered, and the Renault part £17.88 delivered off Evilbay

 

[OJCar]

Do you get martens near you? I quite like them but they have a habit of eating wiring looms like that. You can get little 12v ultrasonic boxes to deter them that wire up to the battery.
I've got a picture somewhere of a merc van chassis with a nest in the chassis rail via a missing bung, with a stash of stolen eggs and the rear lights wiring loom eaten by the entry point, now the motorhome etc has one not had any more incidents.

No Martens around here that I know of, bit further north there are plenty.
We used to have lots of Stoats, but their number has crashed just recently, so this winter has been a plague of mice and voles.
Hopefully the Stoats will be back soon.

 

[indy4x]

The shark cordless hoover. Any time I go to use it, it's blocked and she "never noticed anything". Except it's roaring it's head off and lifting nothing so how would you not notice ffs??

Stripped it apart and washed out the filthy filters etc so it should be ready for abuse again in a day or two when all dries out

So it's not just my wife and daughter that do this

 

[qwakers]

spot the bone head error i made masking the driveshafts up in the previous post, that lead me to have to cut away some of the masking tape and paint more of the shaft...

im a idiot.

looks good though


part of yesterdays clean up was some soap and water and a nylon scrubbing brush to clean the cv boots up. like new

all back together finally.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

all back together finally.

Whats that bolt on the pit rail?

 

[qwakers]

one of many spares. was using it for alignment.

 

[jmp49]

Got round to fitting new aliexpress rectifier to my generic cheapo big battery charger. I upgraded the specs a bit to a chinese 300a (so probably 150-200a) after it blew the 100a unit and was only charging for half the cycle at reduced voltage.
Its exactly the same rectifier with the same connections, it just has 8 more stud diodes for the rectification. They sell them as battery charger rectifiers, welding rectifiers etc, they're all the same two plates of ally with studs in and some flat bars to feed in the ac to the middle of the assembly.

Working again, the advantage of cheap chinese chargers is that they are built so simply and modular its just a question of buying the generic parts to fix them.
That and its so basic inside, there's hardly anything to go wrong (and when it went wrong, I was abusing its duty cycle heavily).


Chuffed with that, think Im going to order a 100a resettable fuse to replace the bit of metal between two insulated bolts that it came with originally next.

 

[sparkysy]

Today finally after 10years I fixed the electricity supply to my workshop!
No pictures as it's taken me all day until now and it's gone too dark to take them.
Killed my 9 inch grinder luckily on the last bit of cutting two 60mm deep grooves 5 meters.
Chiseled out the middle and bent some 25mm tube up to slip the Swa through, then mixed enough concrete to cover it back in.
Apart from being a good days graft it was well worth it, all these years it's been on a 'special' extension lead from a 32a socket.

 

[qwakers]

And a bit more....
View attachment 490403


Plus a load more purchased.
View attachment 490404

more block paving....

set up and ready to go...

that pallet of block.... this is what it looks like laid... doesn't go far does it?

was a slightly different colour so it was all laid in the corner to try and make it look deliberate.

then we laid the rest. 2 trips to the quarry for sharp sand later....

spot of maths.... all the block that was acquired over time, plus the block i got from derby, plus the pallet i picked up sunday comes to just under 2000 block. 2.2kg each. that's ~4.4 tons. plus 3.25 tons of sand. that's 7.65 tons. i've moved all of it by hand at least once, for the block stacked by the house i've personally moved it twice. all by hand, wheelbarrow and shovel. in 3 days (sat sun and today)

or to put it another way. i've moved the weight of the lorry in the picture when fully loaded.

i'm definitely done with block paving.... until sunday when we are going to finish the cuts, wacker plate the whole thing and sand the joints.

 

[brewdexta]

I've been retired 4 days and haven't done much in the workshop, yet.... I've been too busy sorting out post retirement bureaucracy, going on epic dog walks, playing drums and drinking beer

So I thought I would ease myself back in by starting on the little 5 minute jobs.

First job was the volume knob on this powered PA speaker i acquired a few weeks ago, along with 3 others.

Only one of the 8 knobs were present on the speakers so got a pack of ten off ebay. The shaft of the potentiometer had snapped on this one, I was going to replace it but after taking the back off, the potentiometer is inside a tin box soldered to the PCB. It's stilll working so decided on a different approach.

The knobs are in two parts, the smaller bit fits on the D section shaft and the knob fits on that at 90 degree intervals so you can get the line on the knob lined up. An M3 cap head Allen screw is a snug fit inside the small bit if you file a flat on it.

The remains of the potentiometer shaft drilled and tapped M3.

Screw inserted and knob lined up, it's very slightly wonky down to my drilling, but it works.

 

[Bullet2012]

I've been retired 4 days and haven't done much in the workshop, yet.... I've been too busy sorting out post retirement bureaucracy, going on epic dog walks, playing drums and drinking beer

So I thought I would ease myself back in by starting on the little 5 minute jobs.

First job was the volume knob on this powered PA speaker i acquired a few weeks ago, along with 3 others.

View attachment 490896

Only one of the 8 knobs were present on the speakers so got a pack of ten off ebay. The shaft of the potentiometer had snapped on this one, I was going to replace it but after taking the back off, the potentiometer is inside a tin box soldered to the PCB. It's stilll working so decided on a different approach.

The knobs are in two parts, the smaller bit fits on the D section shaft and the knob fits on that at 90 degree intervals so you can get the line on the knob lined up. An M3 cap head Allen screw is a snug fit inside the small bit if you file a flat on it.

View attachment 490897

The remains of the potentiometer shaft drilled and tapped M3.

View attachment 490898

Screw inserted and knob lined up, it's very slightly wonky down to my drilling, but it works.

View attachment 490899

see now you are retired , you havent got time to do anything.

 

[bourbon]

But does it go up to 11?

 

[dobbslc]

I've been retired 4 days

Don't rub it in son

 

[qwakers]

more block paving....

set up and ready to go...

that pallet of block.... this is what it looks like laid... doesn't go far does it?

was a slightly different colour so it was all laid in the corner to try and make it look deliberate.

then we laid the rest. 2 trips to the quarry for sharp sand later....

spot of maths.... all the block that was acquired over time, plus the block i got from derby, plus the pallet i picked up sunday comes to just under 2000 block. 2.2kg each. that's ~4.4 tons. plus 3.25 tons of sand. that's 7.65 tons. i've moved all of it by hand at least once, for the block stacked by the house i've personally moved it twice. all by hand, wheelbarrow and shovel. in 3 days (sat sun and today)

or to put it another way. i've moved the weight of the lorry in the picture when fully loaded.

i'm definitely done with block paving.... until sunday when we are going to finish the cuts, wacker plate the whole thing and sand the joints.

washed by hand, i must like this car (or im just feeling the pinch at the moment....) after yesterdays activitys it was looking decidedly shabby and i wanted that crap off my paint, so a quick snowfoam, pressure wash off then 2 bucket wash and rinse, and it looks much better.

 

[RichardM]

I've been retired 4 days and haven't done much in the workshop, yet.... I've been too busy sorting out post retirement bureaucracy, going on epic dog walks, playing drums and drinking beer

So I thought I would ease myself back in by starting on the little 5 minute jobs.

First job was the volume knob on this powered PA speaker i acquired a few weeks ago, along with 3 others.

View attachment 490896

Only one of the 8 knobs were present on the speakers so got a pack of ten off ebay. The shaft of the potentiometer had snapped on this one, I was going to replace it but after taking the back off, the potentiometer is inside a tin box soldered to the PCB. It's stilll working so decided on a different approach.

The knobs are in two parts, the smaller bit fits on the D section shaft and the knob fits on that at 90 degree intervals so you can get the line on the knob lined up. An M3 cap head Allen screw is a snug fit inside the small bit if you file a flat on it.

View attachment 490897

The remains of the potentiometer shaft drilled and tapped M3.

View attachment 490898

Screw inserted and knob lined up, it's very slightly wonky down to my drilling, but it works.

View attachment 490899

The like is only for being retired 4 days.

 

[jmp49]

Time to fit a fuse to the battery charger, this is what they supply it with. The two posts bolt from the other side with plastic insulated washers, one for the in lead, and one for the out which then comes out of a grommet in a space at the front, and you put a fuseable link of metal between the two.
Its covered with a rubber cap, but at higher charging rates that smokes and goes soggy and melts. Its in the -ve lead for some reason. The fuse is supposed to be rated at 100a, but I saw 120 before the first one melted testing it.


I prefer resettable fuses, and I like that the positive lead can be removed from the top, so its a bonus if we can make the -ve that way too as I have a anderson plug on the other end not clips, so then I could make up longer leads if desired and swap without fiddling round taking the back off.
The bits of plastic with brass nuts on the bolts to go through the panel is gone and replaced by a panel grommet and more sleeving on the lead.
The fuse unit itself is upside down because it maintains the flow in the direction the fuse maker specified, but originally designed to go in the +ve lead, so it reads upside down setting my ocd off a bit but I'll grit my teeth and live with it. I coated the terminals in liquid electrical tape in addition to the terminal rubber covers and heatstrink sleeves just to make it more splashproof.
You can press the red button for a quick emergency disconnect of the charger leads too, and just reset it to turn it back on. Me likey.

Now to call it totally done and banish it back to the barn workshop.

 

[DAPPH]

more block paving....

set up and ready to go...

that pallet of block.... this is what it looks like laid... doesn't go far does it?

was a slightly different colour so it was all laid in the corner to try and make it look deliberate.

then we laid the rest. 2 trips to the quarry for sharp sand later....

spot of maths.... all the block that was acquired over time, plus the block i got from derby, plus the pallet i picked up sunday comes to just under 2000 block. 2.2kg each. that's ~4.4 tons. plus 3.25 tons of sand. that's 7.65 tons. i've moved all of it by hand at least once, for the block stacked by the house i've personally moved it twice. all by hand, wheelbarrow and shovel. in 3 days (sat sun and today)

or to put it another way. i've moved the weight of the lorry in the picture when fully loaded.

i'm definitely done with block paving.... until sunday when we are going to finish the cuts, wacker plate the whole thing and sand the joints.

That's one of the disadvantages of buying a pallet or two then going back for more at a later date ............same with bricks .
The master builder mentoring me had me restack seven pallets of blocks on to new pallets , one off each pallet at a time onto the new pallet so they got well mixed up . Evidently it should happen with bricks too but judging by the mess of a lot of brick builds no one bothers as it costs time & money .. aesthetic looks don't seem to come into it these days .

 

[DAPPH]

Don't rub it in son

Hee hee ......... I've been retired 30 years & never been so busy or knackered .

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Hee hee ......... I've been retired 30 years & never been so busy or knackered .