What did you do "IN" your garage today?

[kaymccampbell]

I saved some bucks today. I was rinsing the pool Hayward cartridge filter, and when I went to re-install the filter into the housing, I saw that the thumbscrew for the filter vent was broken-off, flush with the housing. The filter vent screw/thumbwheel is made of plastic and the filter housing is fiberglass. That shouldn't be too-difficult to fix, eh? It may be if you're looking for the proper plumbing hardware on Sunday.

What the thumbwheel pressure vent looked like before it broke-off (the little knob on the left):



I tackled the removal of the plastic screw first. It got drilled-out and I used a Cornwell screw extractor to pull it out. The remaining thread was in need of being drilled to a 1/4" NPT size to fit the pieces I was going to use, not yet bought.

I went to Ace Hardware and bought a 1/4" X 1/4" MIP hex ****** fitting and a 1/4" FIP SS ball valve w/a brass body.



The MIP hex ****** got teflon tape on both ends, and after I used my 44+ year-old Craftsman Kromedge tap & die set (bought new) to tap a FIP thread in the drilled-out filter body, in the ****** went.



Teflon tape, the 1/4" FIP tap and the socket I used to hold the tap:



Then the 1/4" FIP 1/4 turn SS ball valve/brass body was threaded-on. The top-half of the pool filter housing was cleared of any plastic debris from the drilling, and a schmear of plumber's grease was placed on the O-ring of the filter housing. Back together the filter housing went, and after cracking the ball valve open, the pool pump was turned-on.



When the ball valve started shooting water past me, I shut it off, and looked for any leakage. None was evident. I left the pool pump working, and checked on it occasionally until dusk. It was holding pressure, so it's good to go.

I checked Amazon Prime for prices on the Hayward filter top-half fiberglass housing, $327, w/tax. A new housing, complete, was ~$1100! The two 1/4" brass pieces were <$17. Looks like a savings of $310, if I had to buy the top-half of the filter housing, because I buggered the pressure relief hole trying to remove the broken-off plastic thumbscrew.

I did that a month ago. It makes a world of difference popping off the lid, and also the amount of time it takes to vent the housing on startup.

 

[micromind]

Does your set look like this? Mine is about 44 years old as well.

I made the wooden box because black box mine came in self destructed about 10 years ago.

I have the exact same one, it's still in the original black plastic case but the hinge is getting weak.

I've replaced a few taps and dies over the years but the majority of it is original.

Craftsman Khromedge was pretty good back then.

 

[niget2002]

Just came in at noon for a lunch break. I've been sanding on the kayak since 8:30am this morning. Still not done with the deck. Still have to do the hull and the interior. The deck has most of the runs and drips that I'm having to sand out, so the other two parts of the boat should go faster.

 

[Jgaz]

Started work on an adjustable stop bar to span the dog holes on my work bench.

Center drilled and tapped some 3/4” rd. stk.


Needed to reduce the ID a few .001+ for a nice sliding fit in the dog holes.
I didn’t want to file the dog in the drill press because of my set up.

ShopSmith to the rescue. This was actually pretty easy doing it this way.
And yes, I moved the car before this operation.

Damn, but I miss the access I had to a lathe when I was working.

 

[rcktpwrd]

Worked on low voltage lighting for the deck. I had picked up a flood light and a motion sensor a while back. Already had a plastic box to mount them to.


Installed above the door


Dog making sure I'm being productive!


Unfortunately, the motion sensor doesn't work, light is always on. Not sure if it's just a bad sensor or if I didn't wire it correctly. Have a brown, blue and red wire in the sensor. Have a red and blue wire in the light and then the low voltage power wire. Connected one side of low voltage wire to brown wire, connected the other low volt wire to the two blue wires and then connected the two red wires.

otherwise, the light is perfect

Just checked and sure enough, output is 12vAC!

I got a new motion sensor, wasn't able to find a 12vAC, so I got another 12vDC sensor. I have rectifiers from our Christmas light projects. Soldered some wires on to one of them and then wired it into the light/sensor circuit in the box. Light now turns on with motion like I wanted. I'll probably have to make some adjustments to the settings once it is dark out.







I also got some white cable sleeve to cover the green wires I used to connect the light to the transformer wiring. Made the wiring disappear for the most part.

 

[rcktpwrd]

My wife glued the tailgaters lettering to the backing board, she used some spray glue we had and then went around the letters with hot glue. She also added some custom touches to it, hurricane warning flags, we go to Carolina Hurricanes ice hockey games.

 

[GirchyGirchy]

Focus is done for now...new plugs and wires last night (blue NGK wires added a good 5 hp I'm sure). Today was new hose/caliper/pads/rotor on the "bad" side, flushed out the nasty old brake fluid, new radio antenna and PCV valve. Tossed the new tires on and torqued them up, then took it for a ride to bed in the pads - everything seems fine!

I'm waiting on a replacement right-side headlight, then will finish replacing the exterior bulbs and drive it to work at least a few days; should be ready to sell after that and a good cleaning inside and out.

Drained this out of the old caliper. Yes, that's brake fluid, not motor oil. The caliper itself looked ok but wasn't worth chancing it.

 

[niget2002]

I got the deck of the kayak sanded down with 60 grit. It took all day. I ran out of 60 grit before flipping the hull to sand the bottom. That will have to wait until tomorrow. I may use the RO on it.

On an unrelated note... These little shiny spinning things seem to be working well at keeping the sparrows off the rope where they were roosting and pooping on my truck.

 

[isb cornbinder]

I bought a bead roller off Craigslist. I paid $35. My first impression was, "Maybe it is only worth $35. The "C" frame is not strong enough to hold in place. It came with a big crank. At this point I was thinking, "this is a two person tool."
I was not able to get satisfactory results. I need to power up.
I had one of those foot shaped pedals from the 1950s. I milled a tilting base for the foot and mounted it all on a piece of square tube. A section of throttle cable from the foot pedal activates a bar that pushes on the drill motor trigger.
I had to build a bolt on side bracket to give the "C" channel frame some much needed strength. One of these "daze" that will happen. It has been a while, but I remember exactly where everything is, today.
So, did it work? Well, yes and no. I was thinking this POS needs more strength. It is still too fast. I am looking for a gear reduction and a way to have a quick reversing function. The best part is, it came with a full set of rollers.
Well, maybe I did not build this in my shop today. I did build it. Old age protects me from, when?

 

[LWB]

Home, but used tools from the garage. The toilet was leaking last night and left me with no water for a shower and a pump that ran the well dry. It was a nice way to wake up No shower so went for a swim! I had the part for the toilet here so that took 5 minutes. Primed the pump and away we go.

Cleaned the garage up and oiled the work bench. Getting ready to close in the elevated addition. 5/4 deck boards placed on the horizontal. I'll get that going after work tomorrow.

 

[Kent_B]

Last week my son asked if he could borrow my car & trailer to haul his tool box from my garage to his. About the same time he & his girlfriend went used furniture shopping in my basement. They scored a small chest of drawers, his old external frame backpack, his poker chips and some other odds and ends. So I backed the trailer into the garage and loaded up. Of course, he wanted to do it on Labor Day. My reward was getting to see the kids.

Now there's more room in my garage and basement.

 

[dwasifar]

Assembled two Ironside mailboxes, applied address numbers, and installed them on the post. Also repainted and refitted the finial cap, and touched up the metal post.

 

[dwasifar]

Did an oil change on my new to me 2014 Acura even though oil life was at at 30%. Was a spur of the moment thing. Was at Costco and it occurred to me that I should buy oil to have on hand when I decide to change it. Found it for sale at $3 a quart for full synthetic! Decided to stop at a dealer and pick up a filter and do the change today. Filter was $9.36 so the whole change cost me $24.36. Bought a crush washer but didn't use it as the one on the plug was almost a press fit and I went through that once where in I had to tear it apart to get it off.

I use that oil regularly. Good to see it's on sale, I'll pick up a few next time I'm there.

 

[Outlawmws]

Mostly preventative maintenance verifying all the brakes are good to go on the van; and trying to see if the 2 hitches I have can be reasonably modded to the Toy van. Nope...

Some little jobs,
Barge glued the sole back on one of my moccasin slippers;
repaired the handle on the mini pick I acquired a few weeks back and sealed it;
And disassembled the chuck on my smallest hand drill to get the jaws back in ligament, missing two of three springs explained a lot, found one that fit that I cut in half and stretched to fit for length, and after de-rusting, reassembled.

 

[rzims]

Spent the day making gifts for the guys that run our hunting camp....have 2 done, the last one will hopefully get done tomorrow then just need to finish vacuum shaping the sheaths.
The cool thing is that I've been using the cutoffs from my cutting board projects as handle material...

 

[Outlawmws]

Spent the day making gifts for the guys that run our hunting camp

Nice! I used to try to bring something for each guy each year, but the bigger crowd drifted away and my closest hunting buds retired out of state, and one recently passed away. Just me and my son these days...

 

[micromind]

Last week my son asked if he could borrow my car & trailer to haul his tool box from my garage to his. About the same time he & his girlfriend went used furniture shopping in my basement. They scored a small chest of drawers, his old external frame backpack, his poker chips and some other odds and ends. So I backed the trailer into the garage and loaded up. Of course, he wanted to do it on Labor Day. My reward was getting to see the kids.

Now there's more room in my garage and basement.

Double win!!

 

[rd65]

Yesterday - Finished cleaning up the outside of the truck trans and remove the pan. Plan was to do additional work on it today.
Today - Fetched some tools, light, and shop vac to do some de-icing work on the kitchen fridge. The drain line froze up and causes ice build up in the bottom of the fridge, it has bottom freezer drawer. Fridge is over 13 years old, may be getting close to replacement time. Just replaced two water heaters not two weeks ago. Getting to be an expensive summer.

 

[DAVE94LIGHTNING]

Started working on wiring up the truck lights. Designed a bracket for the relay and ran the wiring to the firewall. Printed a switch panel and mounted the switch. Waiting for a jumper to extend the switch as it is too short to enter the cab.

 

[rharman]

Does your set look like this? Mine is about 44 years old as well.

I made the wooden box because black box mine came in self destructed about 10 years ago.

I have the exact same one, it's still in the original black plastic case but the hinge is getting weak.

I've replaced a few taps and dies over the years but the majority of it is original.

Craftsman Khromedge was pretty good back then.

I have the smaller version of that set (does not have the machine screw sizes) in the original case as well as the metric set, also in the original case. Probably close to 50 years old now. They've never let me down.

 

[cannuck]

I am a few hours late for "today", but yesterday had Big Kid and #1 SIL over to help us move the 1440V down the slight grade from inner (heated) shop to outer (tension fabric covered) shop so I could pressure wash it down before taking engine apart. I foolishly just stuck it in before removing the hood assuming a 400 hour old machine was "clean". No oil leakage but dust layers from field use (mowing polo field) was too much to risk opening engine that way. Day before grandson and I went to polo field to see where front end loader is (horribly overgrown, so will need tractor and chainsaw to lift out and load).

Today I have to figure out how to optimize shelf space between drill press and hydraulic press and figure out how I am going to move new-to-me milling machine into shop. Probably take it to farm first where I can lift it with crane and scale to weigh. Will be a busy day. Also need to see if M-F dealer can cut a key from serial number.

 

[hobie18]

Now there's more room in my garage and basement

Hmmm.

 

[GirchyGirchy]

Last night, grabbed tools and parts from the garage and headed over to the parking lot. Put the wheel covers back on the Focus, then moved on to the Chevy truck; swapped one headlight (warranty replacement) and one taillight, then put the original trim rings and nicer set of center caps on the wheels.

I'm going to miss this truck.

 

[Hakeem]

Over the weekend, finished rigging up the lighting and clearing up the bench top on my garage. Finally!!! Wife moved her car into the garage from parking on the street and it forced me to get organized and make the most out of my limited space. A blessing in disguise.

There are so many nice, spacious, fully stocked garages on here. And I fully intend to have one to match someday. But for now I am very happy with what I have. I smile everytime i open the door and flip the lights on…. a garage I can be proud of

 

[ZRX61]

More damn sanding on the F350, RIGHT side steps pretty much done now. Started on the left side.

 

[Outlawmws]

left side steps pretty much done now. Started on the left side

Two lefts don't make a right, but three do!

 

[ZRX61]

Fixed it.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Last night, grabbed tools and parts from the garage and headed over to the parking lot. Put the wheel covers back on the Focus, then moved on to the Chevy truck; swapped one headlight (warranty replacement) and one taillight, then put the original trim rings and nicer set of center caps on the wheels.

I'm going to miss this truck.

If you like it why are you getting rid of it?

 

[kaymccampbell]

Unwrapped and assembled an arbor press. Fiddled with a new burner design.

 

[dcg9381]

Lifted the cargo trailer about 4" (axle flip, welded on new hangers). Installed a "wet bolt" (greaseable suspension).
I think I'm gonna turn this thing into a "bug out" trailer with lithium batteries, AC, and 100 gallons of water...

 

[dwasifar]

Workshop, not garage, but: added a wall switch for the vacuum.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Put a little Freon in the Jeep, checked the air in the tires of erythin, and checked the oil in erythin.

 

[LeonardY]

Killed half dozen mosquitoes with my Black and Decker electric swatter.
I can still see them but I not as quick at smacking them in my hands. I can easily get them with the swatter. And there's something strangely satisfying watching them go pop.

 

[rsparks64]

Spent the day making gifts for the guys that run our hunting camp....have 2 done, the last one will hopefully get done tomorrow then just need to finish vacuum shaping the sheaths.
The cool thing is that I've been using the cutoffs from my cutting board projects as handle material...

What is that silver/gray thing abutting the handle of the middle knife? Is that part of it? By the way, nice work.

 

[niget2002]

More damn sanding on the F350, RIGHT side steps pretty much done now. Started on the left side.

More damn sanding on the kayak. Most of the port side hull rough sanded with 60 grit. Haven't even started the other side.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Measured and disassembled the arbor press for mods.
Made an extension shaft out of a lolly column screw.
Center bored the pinion as a press fit to an extension shaft.
Turned and ground a weld clearance bevel on both parts.
Pressed them together.

 

[rzims]

What is that silver/gray thing abutting the handle of the middle knife? Is that part of it? By the way, nice work.

It's the plastic tip protector that is supposed to be on the blade....

 

[ZRX61]

More damn sanding on the kayak. Most of the port side hull rough sanded with 60 grit. Haven't even started the other side.

I'm going to resort to power tools tomorrow.

 

[dwasifar]

Organized my squares, rulers, and levels.

 

[Outlawmws]

Quiet stuff as it got back into the 90's today:

Made a base for the "model makers brass stock rack" I picked up (with some brass stock) so its less likely to tip.
Received Nickle rod for the portable plating setup I'm working on
re-ordered citric acid that I can't find...
reassembled the Panasonic Radio "Jig saw Puzzle" - Shipping damages to the case from Eprey
ordered more AAA Lithium batteries as I used the last of them but one last night.