What did you do "IN" your garage today?

[LeonardY]

Painted some more Snowman displays to give away. Yeah, they are late Christmas presents.

I reprinted and re-cast a set of ornaments for myself. I have a tendency to give all my ornaments away because I can always make another. Which I don't. So it's time to make them for myself. Before everything gets packed up in the house this weekend.

 

[DGersic]

Took off the failed LED “pond” lights from the snowblower. Put the original light housings back on, with new LED upgraded bulbs. Wired them up. Will probably test them tomorrow.

 

[Fixr]

Took off the failed LED “pond” lights from the snowblower. Put the original light housings back on, with new LED upgraded bulbs. Wired them up. Will probably test them tomorrow.

So, did you ever intend to use the snowblower in a pond?

 

[930dreamer]

There is a number you can call to find out! "Call before you dig"

My guess is a old oil/gas pipeline. I'm pretty sure I cut a section out (same pipe)while trenching the water line at the house 500 ft North. It's always a bit of a surprise when the sawzall blade gets through.... water, oil, gas nope we're good.

 

[DGersic]

So, did you ever intend to use the snowblower in a pond?

Nah. I wanted better lights, and conversion to LED. A few years ago, before there were other low power LED options. These worked fine, until the mounting brackets failed from a combination of rust and metal fatigue.

 

[CoogarXR]

Back in the days of land lines, I had a boss who went digging in a Bell Telephone right of way at the back of his property. I have no idea why he wanted a big deep hole on someone else's land, but there he was, digging away. He found these huge roots, which he proceeded to chop.

Once he finally cleared the hole of them, I think he eventually came to the realization that he'd done something very stupid, and filled in the hole. Well, it didn't take long for Bell Tel to realize that they'd lost communication with the Western part of the state, among other things. Their ability to trace down where the line break was, was very accurate. Then they found the disturbed earth and called the cops.

Upshot was that my very political boss used up all the cache, multiple people could have accrued in a lifetime, keeping out of jail. He only had to pay for repairs and losses. I remember the figure being north of $150K, back when I paid a tenth of that for a house.

About 20-some years ago, an up-and-coming cable company in our area sold the company that I did IT for "dark fiber" (called that because it's point to point fiber optic, the customers "light" it up with their own devices; you pay monthly for the empty fiber and do whatever you want with it). It was awesome when we were used to ******, flaky telco 128k frame relays. Now we could have gigabit speeds over fiber run to all of our locations! Wow, right? Well, once we got cut over, and it was blazing fast, doing IP calls to our other branches, sending files, life was good.

Until the mega-church up the road decided to put in one of those fancy LED signs out by the road. They dug up our new fiber and severed it. Sucked too because it was the main link from our corporate office to the other branches.

I heard it was quite an expensive mistake that they would have had to take up with the cable company. I didn't care, I just wanted it fixed, lol.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Nah. I wanted better lights, and conversion to LED. A few years ago, before there were other low power LED options. These worked fine, until the mounting brackets failed from a combination of rust and metal fatigue.

Rats. I was hoping. Did you ever drive one through a deep puddle? Just to see?

 

[Bob Heine]

Back in the days of land lines, I had a boss who went digging in a Bell Telephone right of way at the back of his property. I have no idea why he wanted a big deep hole on someone else's land, but there he was, digging away. He found these huge roots, which he proceeded to chop.

Kay, I've cut through the phone line in our back yard twice. I didn't realize it was four inches below the lawn. I also didn't realize it wasn't laid in a straight line. I repaired the breaks myself but now our land line is VOIP through an AT&T fiber cable (also real close to the surface). I should buy a fiber cable splice kit and practice.

 

[Bob Heine]

Rats. I was hoping. Did you ever drive one through a deep puddle? Just to see?

Now I have to find a deep puddle. A deep puddle blew out the driving lights in the PT Cruiser but I haven't gone though one since replacing the bulbs with LEDs. Hey, it's Florida so it's bound to happen sooner or later.

 

[Swanny1953]

Through early afternoon yesterday, it has been below freezing here since Sunday afternoon. Had to break up some ice on the pool as it froze the trap door on the skimmer part way closed, so the pump was starving for water. Pool and waterfall pumps worked 24/7 to keep things thawed, resulting in some icicles on the waterfall.
We live in a rural area, so everyone is on aerobic septic systems. This is what happens when it sprays during a deep freeze -

 

[Old Man Roger]

It sprays sewerage on your lawn?

 

[DGersic]

Rats. I was hoping. Did you ever drive one through a deep puddle? Just to see?

Does several inches of slush count?

 

[Snip's]

Started work on the 2nd Huot Drill Bit organizer I picked up a while ago at an estate auction..
This one handles fractional bits from 1/16" up to 1/2"... I lucked out and scored quite a few bits on the deal...
On this one the pull knobs are in much better condition... Has one drill hole in the top that will need some body putty...
My plan will be to use the same hammered silver I used on the last organizer... Here's the before pictures...

 

[Swanny1953]

It sprays sewerage on your lawn?

Naw - this from an explanation I found on the web - "Aerobic Treatment Units (ATUs) use many of the same processes as a municipal sewage plant, but on a smaller scale. An aerobic system injects oxygen into the treatment tank. The additional oxygen increases natural bacterial activity within the system that then provides additional treatment for nutrients in the effluent." At the end of the process, you're left with non-potable water, which is then sprayed on the property, in our case from 4-5 sprinkler heads. These aerobic systems are now required in most places where municipal sewer is not available - the days of drain fields are pretty much gone. We do have to pump the system out periodically, but we haven't had to do anything in the 7 years we have been here. We were forced to switch to an aerobic system at our lake house in E. TX when we did our remodel/expansion and added 2 bathrooms.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Back in the days of land lines, I had a boss who went digging in a Bell Telephone right of way at the back of his property. I have no idea why he wanted a big deep hole on someone else's land, but there he was, digging away. He found these huge roots, which he proceeded to chop.

Once he finally cleared the hole of them, I think he eventually came to the realization that he'd done something very stupid, and filled in the hole. Well, it didn't take long for Bell Tel to realize that they'd lost communication with the Western part of the state, among other things. Their ability to trace down where the line break was, was very accurate. Then they found the disturbed earth and called the cops.

Upshot was that my very political boss used up all the cache, multiple people could have accrued in a lifetime, keeping out of jail. He only had to pay for repairs and losses. I remember the figure being north of $150K, back when I paid a tenth of that for a house.

Perhaps he was like the guy I recently read about who became convinced there was treasure buried below his kitchen - he dug a hole 130 feet deep through the floor of his kitchen and then proceeded to fall in the hole and kill himself. No report of any found treasure before the fall.

 

[ObnoxiousFumes]

Perhaps he was like the guy I recently read about who became convinced there was treasure buried below his kitchen - he dug a hole 130 feet deep through the floor of his kitchen and then proceeded to fall in the hole and kill himself. No report of any found treasure before the fall.

How the heck did he dig a hole that deep by himself? That must've taken a long time. That's wild.

 

[Swanny1953]

I took the '40 Chev for its annual safety inspection last week and since the weather was nice (this was before the Polar Blast put us into sub-freezing temps from Sunday through Wednesday), I decided to give it a bit of exercise. The gas smell I had been chasing was minimal during the drive. On the way home, I filled the gas tank. From the station home, the gas smell was pretty significant. I had already torn the upholstery panels from the trunk in preparation for tracking down this issue. When I got home, there was raw gas pooled on the top of the gas tank indentation for the trunk struts and also in one of the indentations in the trunk floor

I shook the car from side to side to see if I could recreate the leak situation. That brief shaking revealed a leak around the fuel sender. There's not a lot of real estate in this area, so I had to remove the gas lines for better access.

Once I got the screws off the sender, I found there wasn't enough room to remove it from the tank. The existing gasket was deformed, hard and torn -

Obviously, the source of the leak. I was able to get a replacement gasket at NAPA and was able to stretch it over the sender body and reinstall the sender.
Now, I have to reattach the gas lines, reconnect the electrical to the sender unit and treat the floor to remove any residual gas. I found a recipe on the internet for equal parts baking soda, white wine vinegar and hot water to remove gasoline smell - we'll give it a try!

 

[Old Man Roger]

Naw - this from an explanation I found on the web - "Aerobic Treatment Units (ATUs) use many of the same processes as a municipal sewage plant, but on a smaller scale. An aerobic system injects oxygen into the treatment tank. The additional oxygen increases natural bacterial activity within the system that then provides additional treatment for nutrients in the effluent." At the end of the process, you're left with non-potable water, which is then sprayed on the property, in our case from 4-5 sprinkler heads. These aerobic systems are now required in most places where municipal sewer is not available - the days of drain fields are pretty much gone. We do have to pump the system out periodically, but we haven't had to do anything in the 7 years we have been here. We were forced to switch to an aerobic system at our lake house in E. TX when we did our remodel/expansion and added 2 bathrooms.

Hmm. Not sure I’d be cool with that, what if the system doesn’t do a good job of cleaning that water?

 

[Jeff Ivers]

How the heck did he dig a hole that deep by himself? That must've taken a long time. That's wild.

Absolutely no idea - the hole was only about 35" wide. This happened in Brazil and apparently he did hire some help with the digging. He was also considering using dynamite to remove a boulder he had encountered in his way. Link below.

Amateur treasure hunter plunges 130 feet to his death in hole he dug inside his home

A man died after falling down a 130 foot hole he dug under his kitchen floor after dreaming there was gold buried under his property in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

nypost.com

 

[Swanny1953]

Hmm. Not sure I’d be cool with that, what if the system doesn’t do a good job of cleaning that water?

These systems have been in use for decades! As long as homeowner does a good job of feeding the system chlorine (tabs or bleach, depending on the system), there aren't any issues. Wouldn't want to drink the output, but it's not going to cause any harm to the yard or pets. My daughters' dog likes to "bite at" just about anything, including sprinkler. She got several mouthfuls when she attacked the aerobic sprinklers, and no harm/no foul!!

 

[rd65]

These systems have been in use for decades! As long as homeowner does a good job of feeding the system chlorine (tabs or bleach, depending on the system), there aren't any issues. Wouldn't want to drink the output, but it's not going to cause any harm to the yard or pets. My daughters' dog likes to "bite at" just about anything, including sprinkler. She got several mouthfuls when she attacked the aerobic sprinklers, and no harm/no foul!!

since I don't know how the "quote" thing works I will just reply to this shorter post - on the '40 chev - when I worked at a motorcycle shop we would use spray on foot powder for hard-to-find leaks. Spray the area you suspect; powder will show the trail and is easily removed.

 

[GrayFlattop]

Perhaps he was like the guy I recently read about who became convinced there was treasure buried below his kitchen - he dug a hole 130 feet deep through the floor of his kitchen and then proceeded to fall in the hole and kill himself. No report of any found treasure before the fall.

That's because the treasure was 132 feet deep...

 

[Old Man Roger]

These systems have been in use for decades! As long as homeowner does a good job of feeding the system chlorine (tabs or bleach, depending on the system), there aren't any issues. Wouldn't want to drink the output, but it's not going to cause any harm to the yard or pets. My daughters' dog likes to "bite at" just about anything, including sprinkler. She got several mouthfuls when she attacked the aerobic sprinklers, and no harm/no foul!!

Never heard of it before, I guess it’s not much more of a risk than if a leach field failed.

 

[larry4406]

Naw - this from an explanation I found on the web - "Aerobic Treatment Units (ATUs) use many of the same processes as a municipal sewage plant, but on a smaller scale. An aerobic system injects oxygen into the treatment tank. The additional oxygen increases natural bacterial activity within the system that then provides additional treatment for nutrients in the effluent." At the end of the process, you're left with non-potable water, which is then sprayed on the property, in our case from 4-5 sprinkler heads. These aerobic systems are now required in most places where municipal sewer is not available - the days of drain fields are pretty much gone. We do have to pump the system out periodically, but we haven't had to do anything in the 7 years we have been here. We were forced to switch to an aerobic system at our lake house in E. TX when we did our remodel/expansion and added 2 bathrooms.

Hmm. Not sure I’d be cool with that, what if the system doesn’t do a good job of cleaning that water?

These systems have been in use for decades! As long as homeowner does a good job of feeding the system chlorine (tabs or bleach, depending on the system), there aren't any issues. Wouldn't want to drink the output, but it's not going to cause any harm to the yard or pets. My daughters' dog likes to "bite at" just about anything, including sprinkler. She got several mouthfuls when she attacked the aerobic sprinklers, and no harm/no foul!!

Never heard of it before, I guess it’s not much more of a risk than if a leach field failed.

I can see and hear it now!

Kids - Do not play in the sprinkler!

When I was a kid, at my grandmothers house circa 1966-68 they would tell me and my siblings to not play in the front ditch if we saw bubbles. House had no septic and everything rain to the ditch (Wisconsin).

 

[Hubmonkey]

I can see and hear it now!

Kids - Do not play in the sprinkler!

When I was a kid, at my grandmothers house circa 1966-68 they would tell me and my siblings to not play in the front ditch if we saw bubbles. House had no septic and everything rain to the ditch (Wisconsin).

The sprinklers are on a timer and unless your kids are playing in the yard at 2:00am they wont be getting sprayed...

 

[Wrench97]

Kay, I've cut through the phone line in our back yard twice. I didn't realize it was four inches below the lawn. I also didn't realize it wasn't laid in a straight line. I repaired the breaks myself but now our land line is VOIP through an AT&T fiber cable (also real close to the surface). I should buy a fiber cable splice kit and practice.

My mother got the phone and the cable lines once planting flowers in the back yard.......................................

 

[ObnoxiousFumes]

That's because the treasure was 132 feet deep...

Of all the luck eh? On the other hand, I guess he dug his own grave, so now he can guard the treasure like the pirates used to..!

 

[Hubmonkey]

Never heard of it before, I guess it’s not much more of a risk than if a leach field failed.

Leach fields are getting rarer. Around here you cannot have one if you are on a half acre or less or if your land does not pass a perk test.

The perk test they dig holes a certain size and put water in there to see the absorption rate. If it does not pass you have to use an Aerobic or Drip septic.

We have an aerobic and the spray that comes out is not considered safe to drink but it is not harmful to the environment or the DEQ would not allow it to be used. There are Chlorine tablet treatments or Bleach treatments. Mine is a Bleach and my moms is a tablet. I like the bleach one better as we buy liquid bleach a case at a time at Atwoods and its cheaper. They are 3 chambers, Trash tank that keeps the solids and settles to a treatment tank that aerates the water with a air pump and diffuser and then the final effluent tank that the chlorine treats before it is sprayed out.

 

[i4ni]

Not today but yesterday I had to reinstall the bottom weatherstrip that froze to the concrete in a few spots and pulled out of the overhead door. My son stopped by and helped put it back in because 4 hands worked much gooder. I hate artic weather.

 

[Magnum440d100]

Gettin pretty tired of near 0°F temps, and a truck that barely eeks out some lukewarm heat.

Had some random material floating around, so I did a quick and dirty fit and finish.

The grille is already broken and is being replaced, so I attached the material to it. I know it won’t make “much” of a difference, but every little bit counts. I covered the side where the trans cooler isn’t lol.

And for those wondering, I’m running a 180° Cummins thermostat. It’s what I put in there in SoCal when I had 2 motorad thermostats fail shut.

I will be ordering a 190° or so in the next couple days, and replacing the 180°. That “should” help some too.

 

[ObnoxiousFumes]

Gettin pretty tired of near 0°F temps, and a truck that barely eeks out some lukewarm heat.

Had some random material floating around, so I did a quick and dirty fit and finish.

The grille is already broken and is being replaced, so I attached the material to it. I know it won’t make “much” of a difference, but every little bit counts. I covered the side where the trans cooler isn’t lol.

And for those wondering, I’m running a 180° Cummins thermostat. It’s what I put in there in SoCal when I had 2 motorad thermostats fail shut.

I will be ordering a 190° or so in the next couple days, and replacing the 180°. That “should” help some too.

Yeah these trucks are way overcooled for just driving around unloaded.
I usually just slide a piece of cardboard (or coroplast, it lasts longer) between the rad and intercooler. It's like that spot was made for it.
Been having some issues with mine as well, between a possible failing tstat and a leaking fan clutch that seems to be cycling when it shouldn't, she's really not heating at all at -35°C or less. Got another 195°F motorad stat from napa, just in case, but I don't really want to use it, I think it's the same as the one that's in it now. But it was only $11. And I need to order a fan clutch... Hopefully that fixes things.

How old is your heater core?
Not sure but maybe it would help to block the hood louvres as well?

Side note: how do you like those newer-style mirrors? My buddy had a set like that on his half ton but he said they didn't adjust far enough in to see properly...

 

[mattthemuppet]

Made a concrete pad for my leaning rain water tank, which was my first time working with concrete. Used some spare 1/2” rebar held about an inch off the ground as reinforcement.



Also noticed a leaking outdoor tap. What a pita that turned out to be. The sealing surface was pitted, so turned that down on the lathe

Then I couldn’t get the screw holding the seal out and in the process of drill that put I snapped the drill bit. So I had to cut THAT out with a carbide endmill, followed by tapping for a new screw. Phew! Thankfully it all worked and the tap doesn’t leak anymore.

 

[jonesg]

My guess is a old oil/gas pipeline. I'm pretty sure I cut a section out (same pipe)while trenching the water line at the house 500 ft North. It's always a bit of a surprise when the sawzall blade gets through.... water, oil, gas nope we're good.

"no wonder theres no water at the taps, these pipes are full of wires."

The 3 stooges.

 

[Magnum440d100]

Yeah these trucks are way overcooled for just driving around unloaded.
I usually just slide a piece of cardboard (or coroplast, it lasts longer) between the rad and intercooler. It's like that spot was made for it.
Been having some issues with mine as well, between a possible failing tstat and a leaking fan clutch that seems to be cycling when it shouldn't, she's really not heating at all at -35°C or less. Got another 195°F motorad stat from napa, just in case, but I don't really want to use it, I think it's the same as the one that's in it now. But it was only $11. And I need to order a fan clutch... Hopefully that fixes things.

How old is your heater core?
Not sure but maybe it would help to block the hood louvres as well?

Side note: how do you like those newer-style mirrors? My buddy had a set like that on his half ton but he said they didn't adjust far enough in to see properly...

I think my fan clutch is not fully disengaging as well. I can hear it when I shouldn’t haha but only for just a minute or so. Usually upon startup.

I was going to stuff some stuff in front of the radiator, but I don’t have anything that is big enough.

Heater core is great. I get amazing heat when the temps are in the 30’s(F) and above. It’s just when it’s single digits or negatives that the heat disappears. I don’t know when or if it was ever replaced though. I keep up on the coolant flushes and such.

The hood louvers are going away this spring, before next winter. I need to find a “good” junkyard hood to cut the braces out to weld into this one. But all the ones on FBMP, are overpriced, and I haven’t found one in the pick a parts out here (rust belt).


The mirrors **** lol.

They were great when they were new. But something inside both has gone awry. When they’re flipped down like that, and I go to adjust them, down is right, up is left, left is down, right is up, etc etc. For both sides. But when they’re flipped UP, up is up, down is down, left is left, right is right, etc etc.

As far as visibility? When I pulled my 26’ enclosed, it was heads and shoulders above stock.

The only non adjustability issue I ran into was the passenger convex portion. It didn’t really affect much, just inconvenient.

 

[jonesg]

Naw - this from an explanation I found on the web - "Aerobic Treatment Units (ATUs) use many of the same processes as a municipal sewage plant, but on a smaller scale. An aerobic system injects oxygen into the treatment tank. The additional oxygen increases natural bacterial activity within the system that then provides additional treatment for nutrients in the effluent." At the end of the process, you're left with non-potable water, which is then sprayed on the property, in our case from 4-5 sprinkler heads. These aerobic systems are now required in most places where municipal sewer is not available - the days of drain fields are pretty much gone. We do have to pump the system out periodically, but we haven't had to do anything in the 7 years we have been here. We were forced to switch to an aerobic system at our lake house in E. TX when we did our remodel/expansion and added 2 bathrooms.

if you eat Mexican food more often....

 

[jonesg]

Made a concrete pad for my leaning rain water tank, which was my first time working with concrete. Used some spare 1/2” rebar held about an inch off the ground as reinforcement.



Also noticed a leaking outdoor tap. What a pita that turned out to be. The sealing surface was pitted, so turned that down on the lathe

Then I couldn’t get the screw holding the seal out and in the process of drill that put I snapped the drill bit. So I had to cut THAT out with a carbide endmill, followed by tapping for a new screw. Phew! Thankfully it all worked and the tap doesn’t leak anymore.

a simple method used on locomotive steam valves is to place a steel ball bearing on the sealing surface and hit it with a hammer and drift, steel being harder than brass gives you are perfect sealing ring.

 

[jonesg]

got a flex pipe for my volvo exhaust downpipe.

 

[isb cornbinder]

I did not go to the garage, but, my son went to the garage to get a snow pusher/shovel. We have 61cm of fresh snow on everything, and it is still snowing.

 

[niget2002]

Got a strip on the kayak.

 

[snorvet]

Finishing my tool cabinet build.