Craptain
Well-known member
I'm envious of the Fluke. Until recently I only ever used Fluke but can't afford one now.
Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Bob Heine's Auto Emporium
- Thread starter Bob Heine
- Start date
Workspaces between 485 and 705 squarefeet.
You've gotten several good responses about the basics of bedding in brakes.
I shall now refer you to a bigger-picture view from the late, great Caroll Smith, race car engineer, about what in tarnation is going on at that friction material/metal interface:
Myths of the Braking System | Brakes-shop.com
Leading innovator & distributor of world class brake components and systems for race cars and high performance vehicles on the street and track.
www.brakes-shop.com
Mr. Smith with some kit car, somewhere in Florida:
gman007
Well-known member
@SquankumYou've gotten several good responses about the basics of bedding in brakes.
I shall now refer you to a bigger-picture view from the late, great Caroll Smith, race car engineer, about what in tarnation is going on at that friction material/metal interface:
Myths of the Braking System | Brakes-shop.com
Leading innovator & distributor of world class brake components and systems for race cars and high performance vehicles on the street and track.
Thank you for sharing the link. It is very informative and helpful.
Regarding the myth#1 the warped discs though, is the statement made in this article still true today?
Since the modern day discs unlike Mr. Smith times are so thin, is it not possible that they might be a lot easier susceptible (heat or otherwise) to warping (and since there is no meat on them, it is not advisable to turn and resurface them)?
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Yeah, Carroll Smith died in 2003! So maybe he wasn't around for the dawn of automakers decontenting rotors to save weight, and I would not be surprised if they are warping nowadays. (Or overheating from lack of heat sink (total mass) or some kind of ventilation failure (lots of cars have some thought put into getting wind at the front rotors now.))
Today I learned that Carroll Smith wore a jaunty hat...
but he was not from New Zealand! * I must have been thinking of Ken Miles. I even got to see him give a talk for about an hour one day in his last years, and I didn't think about it, or figured he'd been here for decades now.
___________
* Born in Oswego, NY.
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kaymccampbell
Well-known member
dif:
What is the name of this kitchen thread?
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Belated congratulations to you and Liane on your anniversary Bob. That's quite the milestone.
Craptain
Well-known member
I still have the digital Fluke like that but the display is gone. Couldn't find a replacement when I was looking for one a few years ago.Be green.
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
Display is getting a bit sunburned on mine, too. I bought a nice little one off Crapazon, so the Fluke lives longer as memorabilia. What I really need is a tan button. One of our many puppies yanked the button off without touching the rest of the meter.I still have the digital Fluke like that but the display is gone. Couldn't find a replacement when I was looking for one a few years ago.
drivesitfar
Well-known member
SQ and All: the What did you cook in the kitchen thread is here
there is also a recipe thread for those of you that cook or live with one like I do.
BOB: thanks for the 411 on your Milwaukee tools and I hear you on the 12v tools being a bit lighter. i've always loved their plug in worm saw, and *********** band saw so I might make the switch soon cause my grandsons have some interest in being handy so they'll need a few tools and my old Ryobi 18v and Dewalt 18v tools should work great til they want to get serious and upgrade later.
great picture of you and those huge pine cones. I remember stopping off the side of the highway in northern California on several trips to Reno in my past and OMG those huge pine cones were everywhere.
we had a Florida type day yesterday (maybe a winter day) cause it was 70 degrees and about 90% humidity here in the PNW.
there is also a recipe thread for those of you that cook or live with one like I do.
BOB: thanks for the 411 on your Milwaukee tools and I hear you on the 12v tools being a bit lighter. i've always loved their plug in worm saw, and *********** band saw so I might make the switch soon cause my grandsons have some interest in being handy so they'll need a few tools and my old Ryobi 18v and Dewalt 18v tools should work great til they want to get serious and upgrade later.
great picture of you and those huge pine cones. I remember stopping off the side of the highway in northern California on several trips to Reno in my past and OMG those huge pine cones were everywhere.
we had a Florida type day yesterday (maybe a winter day) cause it was 70 degrees and about 90% humidity here in the PNW.
Oh Boy! I step away for a bit and my thread explodes. My bad.
I always follow the instructions that come with the brake pads.
I never had shoes ground to match the drums. I did have the drums cut when replacing shoes but they took off very little material. I watched them do the grinding (trust but verify).
Thanks for the anniversary wishes.
It's not a full-on crisis but we're getting up there in the drought index in South Florida. On the eastern side of Florida, Miami-Dade county is the big one above the Keys with Broward county to its north and then Palm Beach County where we are. We're at the south-eastern edge so real close to the Red zone in Broward.
Rick, I think I paid $15 to have a battery replaced in a Cassio at Sears back in the 1980s. Figured a few special tools for $20 so I could put the $3 battery in myself was a good deal
I always follow the instructions that come with the brake pads.
Kay, when the pads didn't come with instructions (or were in Italian for the X1/9) that's what I did as well.
Rick, when we ordered our GTO in 1968 we ordered very few options. We ticked automatic transmission, power steering, AM radio and that was about it. The drum brakes were OK but in extremely wet weather they were close to useless. When the factory shoes wore down I replaced them with sintered metallic (individual pucks) shoes. They were a huge improvement when the brakes were warm but I made sure Liane new to ride the brakes for a block when leaving the house or they were as useless as stock wet brakes.
I never had shoes ground to match the drums. I did have the drums cut when replacing shoes but they took off very little material. I watched them do the grinding (trust but verify).
Kay, I always checked the shoes against the drums but they never appeared to need re-shaping.
Marc, my biggest souvenir from our 1955 trip out west was a Sugar Pine cone. I also got an antler-handled knife and sheath with carbon steel blade and several small trays of rocks from tourist traps close to National Parks.
Howard, I'm with you on following the instructions that come with the pads.
@Jgaz, The stock PT Cruiser and Cadillac pads produce huge amounts of dust so I choose ceramic pads with low dust ratings. The stock brake pads on the PT Cruiser wore the disks down past the point of re-surfacing at 30K miles. The rotor had "MIN. THK. 21.4MM" and my caliper read 21.19 mm. Decided to upgrade the front brakes to Turbo specs (larger, thicker rotors, bigger calipers [and mounting brackets] and braided stainless hoses). The Cadillac has less than 20K miles on it so the original Brembo pads will stay for a while longer. I bought Hawk pads for it and the instructions are pretty basic.These are the brake pad bedding instruction I received with my high performance pad kit for my Jeep.
Yes, this seems extreme
Yes, I followed them
Yes, there was an improvement after preforming this procedure. I was looking for (and got) better braking for my Jeep. I trusted this company so why wouldn’t I follow their advice.
No, I wouldn't have done this for an OEM brake job when I was a dealership mechanic.
I preformed something more like Kay spoke of.
YMMV (and probably will)
@Xti04, it's clear in the instructions that you have to let the brakes cool down so the snack and drink stop is part of that process. Well done!
Kay, I miss the days when the car's engine had one fuel line going to the carburetor and one hose going from the carburetor to the distributor vacuum diaphragm. That and two heater hoses and two radiator hoses.I found the valve. I took the only picture on the intertubes of the 2020 2.0L Escape purge valve in place.
The Fuel and Evap monitors were not in a ready state after clearing the codes. However, after driving it for a week, and then it doing the evap cycle after a fill-up, all monitors are green.
Thank you, Cane, Patrik and Andrew.
Andrew, I got the very small and basic meter because I was only trained to repair keypunches, verifiers and sorters. I was scheduled to go to IBM 1620 school but a run-in with a train derailed that plan. That would have meant an upgrade to the fancy meter you're showing.I don't suppose you used one ofthese at the time but I thought I'd share it anyway.
Congratulations Bob and Liane!!
Scott, Dan, Marc, Howard, Gil and Dennis -- thank you very much. I don't take the event lightly but we don't make it into a big deal. OK, our 50th and 60th were big deals and the family took us out to dinner for our 60th.
Drives, I didn't take any pictures of that meal but did take one of the meatloaf meal and one for a Midwest style pork tenderloin.
Chris, anything more than 7 is amazing these days.
Kay, the first digital thing I got from IBM was a calculator for a money-saving suggestion I submitted. I think the HP calculator came out a year or two later and made mine look like an abacus.
Thank you Lou, Jon, @zanyad and Cody.
Philip, even before I retired 30 or so years ago, we cut back on eating out. It seemed like such a waste of money, just like going to a bar to drink. These days we have cut way back on take-out and rarely eat prepared meals. The take-out places start everything with a scoop of salt and a big helping of fat.
Thanks for the anniversary wishes.
@gman007, I don't know how perfect we are but I do love the lady. I'm happy when it's just one more!
@bugnut, thank you.
Andrew, I've never felt wealthy enough for Fluke.
@Squankum, thanks for that link. I feel fortunate to have never had a major brake issue. On the return leg of our Alaska trip a rock punctured one of the brake lines on the '53 Olds, long before dual master cylinders came on the scene. Car went from locking up the brakes with a gentle nudge to flat on the floorboard with nothing. It meant driving down a mountain on a wet dirt road with just the electric brakes on the trailer. Sketchy stuff I want no part of.You've gotten several good responses about the basics of bedding in brakes.
I shall now refer you to a bigger-picture view from the late, great Caroll Smith, race car engineer, about what in tarnation is going on at that friction material/metal interface:
Myths of the Braking System | Brakes-shop.com
Leading innovator & distributor of world class brake components and systems for race cars and high performance vehicles on the street and track.
Mr. Smith with some kit car, somewhere in Florida:
@Squankum, we bought a couple of the Aussie versions of that hat.Yeah, Carroll Smith died in 2003! So maybe he wasn't around for the dawn of OEM's decontenting rotors to save weight, and I would not be surprised if they are warping nowadays. (Or overheating from lack of heat sink (total mass) or some kind of ventilation failure (lots of cars have some thought put into getting wind at the front rotors now.))
Today I learned that Carroll Smith wore a jaunty hat...
but he was not from New Zealand! * I must have been thinking of Ken Miles. I even got to see him give a talk for about an hour one day in his last years, and I didn't think about it, or figured he'd been here for decades now.
___________
* Born in Oswego, NY.
Kay, nice memorabilia.Be green.
See response from @drivesitfar below \/
Thank you Mike. You'll be surprised how fast the milestones sneaks up on you.
Andrew, even the best tools and equipment can succumb to age.I still have the digital Fluke like that but the display is gone. Couldn't find a replacement when I was looking for one a few years ago.
Kay, it's weird what the wee ones go after.
Drives, we've had more than our fair share of 70s weather lately, with some nights getting down into the high 50s. It has been real dry here lately so we're not yet in burn ban territory but we are under Moderate Fire Danger Index warning.
It's not a full-on crisis but we're getting up there in the drought index in South Florida. On the eastern side of Florida, Miami-Dade county is the big one above the Keys with Broward county to its north and then Palm Beach County where we are. We're at the south-eastern edge so real close to the Red zone in Broward.
PugetDude
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I nominate Bob for the Longest GJ Reply with the most Quoted posts, ever. 
Miss the Pontiacs
Well-known member
Late to the party! Happy Belated Anniversary 
The pace of my life has slowed dramatically from a few decades ago. It seems the side effects of every prescription drug I take includes "weakness" or something synonymous.
Behind a stacked block wall in the back yard, the ground has subsided. There's no evidence the dirt is leaving through the block wall so we immediately assumed it was a sprinkler pipe leak. There are no signs the ground is saturated but that didn't stop me from digging up the yard. I did use a 4" wide trench shovel to make a smaller mess.
When I dig up the yard, I always put a tarp down next to the hole and shovel the dirt onto the tarp. It saves me having to rake, sweep and wash the dirt back in the hole after dumping it on the grass. Didn't make much sense considering how little grass is left and even less sense considering I put down Weed & Feed in the area so there isn't even green weeds left. It did mean I got to hang the tarp on the clothes line and hose it off. Might even fold it up and put it back where it came from one of these days.
The nearest Toro sprinkler head is oddly tilted about 30° so that's where I started digging. As I'm digging I notice lots of dead roots in the soil. Didn't ring a bell so I kept digging. Problem with the tilted head was the ****** connecting the head to the PVC elbow. Replaced the ****** with a plug and continued digging a trench to the problem area. I found three 1.25" PVC pipes running through the area and expected one or more to have a crack or a cut from the guy who ground the nearby stump into sawdust. That thought should have lit a lightbulb in my very dim mind.
I tested all three sections and no sign of a leak. Lightbulb finally turns on and I suspect the huge roots from that ground down stump had rotted away and the dirt took their place. I took the tree down in the Fall of 2011 because an unusual cold spell the previous winter caused the tree to drop all its leaves and they never came back. It was a good size tree with some really hard wood so 14 years seems about right for the bugs to disappear the roots. Here's what the tree trunk looked like after my corded electric chainsaw grnawed it into pieces.
Having convinced myself it wasn't a gushing sprinler system, I replaced the ****** and put the sprinkler head back in place sitting much closer to 90°. Now it's a trip to the orange store for some bags of cheap garden soil. The stuff contains little to no nutrients but it's cheaper than a bag of sand. After that, a pallet of sod to change this section of the yard back into something green. The indentations are kinda visible in this photo.
Behind a stacked block wall in the back yard, the ground has subsided. There's no evidence the dirt is leaving through the block wall so we immediately assumed it was a sprinkler pipe leak. There are no signs the ground is saturated but that didn't stop me from digging up the yard. I did use a 4" wide trench shovel to make a smaller mess.
When I dig up the yard, I always put a tarp down next to the hole and shovel the dirt onto the tarp. It saves me having to rake, sweep and wash the dirt back in the hole after dumping it on the grass. Didn't make much sense considering how little grass is left and even less sense considering I put down Weed & Feed in the area so there isn't even green weeds left. It did mean I got to hang the tarp on the clothes line and hose it off. Might even fold it up and put it back where it came from one of these days.
The nearest Toro sprinkler head is oddly tilted about 30° so that's where I started digging. As I'm digging I notice lots of dead roots in the soil. Didn't ring a bell so I kept digging. Problem with the tilted head was the ****** connecting the head to the PVC elbow. Replaced the ****** with a plug and continued digging a trench to the problem area. I found three 1.25" PVC pipes running through the area and expected one or more to have a crack or a cut from the guy who ground the nearby stump into sawdust. That thought should have lit a lightbulb in my very dim mind.
I tested all three sections and no sign of a leak. Lightbulb finally turns on and I suspect the huge roots from that ground down stump had rotted away and the dirt took their place. I took the tree down in the Fall of 2011 because an unusual cold spell the previous winter caused the tree to drop all its leaves and they never came back. It was a good size tree with some really hard wood so 14 years seems about right for the bugs to disappear the roots. Here's what the tree trunk looked like after my corded electric chainsaw grnawed it into pieces.
Having convinced myself it wasn't a gushing sprinler system, I replaced the ****** and put the sprinkler head back in place sitting much closer to 90°. Now it's a trip to the orange store for some bags of cheap garden soil. The stuff contains little to no nutrients but it's cheaper than a bag of sand. After that, a pallet of sod to change this section of the yard back into something green. The indentations are kinda visible in this photo.
Dan (@Dan in Pasadena) kinda nailed it when he wrote: "The only thing worse than not having sprinklers, is HAVING sprinklers!"
My sprinkler system has the flu or maybe Long Covid. Started with the indexing valve cover. Cured that and discovered a sprinkler at the end of the driveway was gushing water. It was one of the Toro 570 pop-up spray heads. The ring that screws onto the housing had been cut off and the guts of the sprinkler head scattered around. Screwed a new top and innards on the old housing and called it cured.
The big sections of my yard have large RainBird pop-up impact sprinkler heads but the smaller sections and edges of the yard have the smaller Toro 570 pop-up heads that work quite well to spray water in different patterns. They are meant to attach directly to 1/2" Tees in the underground PVC pipe system.
The guts include a pipe of varying lengths (this one is a 6-inch), a gray guide ring at the bottom, a spray head on top and a spring that keeps the spray head and pipe below ground when there is no water pressure in the system.
Today I discovered the 'cured' sprinkler head was gushing water again and the thing I thought I had screwed back on was no longer attached to the housing. I removed the housing from the ground and discovered the damage from the first case of sheared off head had damaged the threads on the housing.
Once you remove the housing from its hole in the ground, it's quite likely dirt will fall into the Tee and eventually clog the spray nozzle. I normally just screw the new housing in and turn on the sprinkler to flush it out. It's quick and easy to just screw the assembled sprinkler in the hole but that means the spray head might be pointing in the wrong direction. That gray ring prevents the spray head from rotating so the guts have to be pulled and after lining up the spray head, sliding it down into the housing and tightening the top ring. I end up being unable to unscrew the guts without rotating the housing so the whole mess comes out of the ground and I start over.
I thought Toro or someone else would have a wrench to install and tighten the housing into the Tee fitting. No luck so I grabbed that piece of wooden shovel handle and made my own wrench. Cut four slots in the wooden handle to line up with the four tabs inside the housing and voila, I have a custom tool.
It worked great to get the housing back in the hole and tightened on the underground fitting. Cycled the sprinkler system until it flushed out the housing before re-installing the new guts into the new housing.
Now that I have this tool, I need a way to remember what the hell it's for so I planed one side of the handle and put a label on it.
I'm so proud of myself I hurt my shoulder again trying to pat myself on the back. Put all the tools away, took the new labeled chunk of wood to the shed and put it in the sprinkler head cabinet. Last task of the day was to run the sprinkler system manually through its cycle. Something in the next section didn't look right. There was a dry patch next to the road and when I looked toward my neighbor's driveway, I saw aother sprinkler head gusher.
Back to the shed, retrieve the tool, rinse and repeat. It appears the sprinkler housing wasn't tightened and it popped off the few threads holding it in the Tee fitting.
I put the guts back in the housing and called it a day. I'll have to manually cycle the system again tomorrow to be sure the fixes hold.
My sprinkler system has the flu or maybe Long Covid. Started with the indexing valve cover. Cured that and discovered a sprinkler at the end of the driveway was gushing water. It was one of the Toro 570 pop-up spray heads. The ring that screws onto the housing had been cut off and the guts of the sprinkler head scattered around. Screwed a new top and innards on the old housing and called it cured.
The big sections of my yard have large RainBird pop-up impact sprinkler heads but the smaller sections and edges of the yard have the smaller Toro 570 pop-up heads that work quite well to spray water in different patterns. They are meant to attach directly to 1/2" Tees in the underground PVC pipe system.
The guts include a pipe of varying lengths (this one is a 6-inch), a gray guide ring at the bottom, a spray head on top and a spring that keeps the spray head and pipe below ground when there is no water pressure in the system.
Today I discovered the 'cured' sprinkler head was gushing water again and the thing I thought I had screwed back on was no longer attached to the housing. I removed the housing from the ground and discovered the damage from the first case of sheared off head had damaged the threads on the housing.
Once you remove the housing from its hole in the ground, it's quite likely dirt will fall into the Tee and eventually clog the spray nozzle. I normally just screw the new housing in and turn on the sprinkler to flush it out. It's quick and easy to just screw the assembled sprinkler in the hole but that means the spray head might be pointing in the wrong direction. That gray ring prevents the spray head from rotating so the guts have to be pulled and after lining up the spray head, sliding it down into the housing and tightening the top ring. I end up being unable to unscrew the guts without rotating the housing so the whole mess comes out of the ground and I start over.
I thought Toro or someone else would have a wrench to install and tighten the housing into the Tee fitting. No luck so I grabbed that piece of wooden shovel handle and made my own wrench. Cut four slots in the wooden handle to line up with the four tabs inside the housing and voila, I have a custom tool.
It worked great to get the housing back in the hole and tightened on the underground fitting. Cycled the sprinkler system until it flushed out the housing before re-installing the new guts into the new housing.
Now that I have this tool, I need a way to remember what the hell it's for so I planed one side of the handle and put a label on it.
I'm so proud of myself I hurt my shoulder again trying to pat myself on the back. Put all the tools away, took the new labeled chunk of wood to the shed and put it in the sprinkler head cabinet. Last task of the day was to run the sprinkler system manually through its cycle. Something in the next section didn't look right. There was a dry patch next to the road and when I looked toward my neighbor's driveway, I saw aother sprinkler head gusher.
Back to the shed, retrieve the tool, rinse and repeat. It appears the sprinkler housing wasn't tightened and it popped off the few threads holding it in the Tee fitting.
I put the guts back in the housing and called it a day. I'll have to manually cycle the system again tomorrow to be sure the fixes hold.
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Miss the Pontiacs
Well-known member
Will you be patenting the T570PHW or selling prototype to Toro?Dan (@Dan in Pasadena) kinda nailed it when he wrote: "The only thing worse than not having sprinklers, is HAVING sprinklers!"
My sprinkler system has the flu or maybe Long Covid. Started with the indexing valve cover. Cured that and discovered a sprinkler at the end of the driveway was gushing water. It was one of the Toro 570 pop-up spray heads. The ring that screws onto the housing had been cut off and the guts of the sprinkler head scattered around. Screwed a new top and innards on the old housing and called it cured.
The big sections of my yard have large RainBird pop-up impact sprinkler heads but the smaller sections and edges of the yard have the smaller Toro 570 pop-up heads that work quite well to spray water in different patterns. They are meant to attach directly to 1/2" Tees in the underground PVC pipe system.
The guts include a pipe of varying lengths (this one is a 6-inch), a gray guide ring at the bottom, a spray head on top and a spring that keeps the spray head and pipe below ground when there is no water pressure in the system.
Today I discovered the 'cured' sprinkler head was gushing water again and the thing I thought I had screwed back on was no longer attached to the housing. I removed the housing from the ground and discovered the damage from the first case of sheared off head had damaged the threads on the housing.
Once you remove the housing from its hole in the ground, it's quite likely dirt will fall into the Tee and eventually clog the spray nozzle. I normally just screw the new housing in and turn on the sprinkler to flush it out. It's quick and easy to just screw the assembled sprinkler in the hole but that means the spray head might be pointing in the wrong direction. That gray ring prevents the spray head from rotating so the guts have to be pulled and after lining up the spray head, sliding it down into the housing and tightening the top ring. I end up being unable to unscrew the guts without rotating the housing so the whole mess comes out of the ground and I start over.
I thought Toro or someone else would have a wrench to install and tighten the housing into the Tee fitting. No luck so I grabbed that piece of wooden shovel handle and made my own wrench. Cut four slots in the wooden handle to line up with the four tabs inside the housing and voila, I have a custom tool.
It worked great to get the housing back in the hole and tightened on the underground fitting. Cycled the sprinkler system until it flushed out the housing before re-installing the new guts into the new housing.
Now that I have this tool, I need a way to remember what the hell it's for so I planed one side of the handle and put a label on it.
I'm so proud of myself I hurt my shoulder again trying to pat myself on the back. Put all the tools away, took the new labeled chunk of wood to the shed and put it in the sprinkler head cabinet. Last task of the day was to run the sprinkler system manually through its cycle. Something in the next section didn't look right. There was a dry patch next to the road and when I looked toward my neighbor's driveway, I saw aother sprinkler head gusher.
Back to the shed, retrieve the tool, rinse and repeat. It appears the sprinkler housing wasn't tightened and it popped off the few threads holding it in the Tee fitting.
I put the guts back in the housing and called it a day. I'll have to manually cycle the system again tomorrow to be sure the fixes hold.
. Good jobPugetDude
ALLIANCE MEMBER
3D printers, Mass production, marketing blitz on eBay, Amazon, and late night over the air tv. . Maybe get Sully or Phil Swift as the company spokesman.Will you be patenting the T570PHW or selling prototype to Toro?
So... "Heine's Helping Hand" or "Heine's Handy Helper" ?
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Bob... I'm amazed of the answers I've received from everyone on "bedding in brakes.". Thanks to everyone for that. I'm amazed that it is as big as it really is. Every time I do a brake job, there's a paper in the box.. I've not read the paperwork... I always specify ceramic brake pads for disc brakes. I've had cheaper, (semi- metallics) and they have really made deep grooves in the rotors. It takes more stk off of the rotors, turning them on my brake lathe. It seems that when I buy pads, there's three different price points to buy from. I never buy cheapest. But the ones I buy, I always ask if they're ceramic.. yep, is their answer...
I'll never cheat on turning a rotor or a drum. The books don't really give you that info.. it's stamped or cast in as a minimum thickness or a max diameter on a drum. Well, half the time the number is very obscured, so I buy new one, one time. Then, read the number, write it in my repair manual, so I know. I always stop short of the max dia for drums or short of minimum thickness on rotors. Leaving .015 for wear in the case of rotors.
Emil, I think I'm going to stamp: "Patent Pending" on it and wait for someone to copy it. I think it's easier to sue for infringement than file for an actual patent.Will you be patenting the T570PHW or selling prototype to Toro?
Scott, I have a Creality 3D resin printer in the workshop/shed. It has yet to produce even one Benchy. It requires Wi-Fi and although I have extenders to bring it to the shop, the printer doesn't recognize it. I haven't had the bandwidth to spend on something that looks too much like a toy.3D printers, Mass production, marketing blitz on eBay, Amazon, and late night over the air tv. . Maybe get Sully or Phil Swift as the company spokesman.
So... "Heine's Helping Hand" or "Heine's Handy Helper" ?
Rick, I'm as bad as most folks about reading instructions but when all else fails, I read them. Calling or chatting turns into a: "Have you tried..." session to go over everything I've already done. Maybe one out of five times the person on the other end of the line gives me a successful suggestion. Today was a perfect example.
Rick. I always had drums turned at least once but most new disk rotors are cheaper to buy new than the shops that turn them charge. And when they are done turning them, there's a good chance they've passed the thickness limit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AT&T delivered today's $hit $how.
I got rid of Comcast when the bill for cable and internet was a new number every month. I don't recall the bill ever being smaller when it changed. Since we already had Bell South for our land line I switched when AT&T offered U-verse and internet bundles. When AT&T offered fiber, I switched but in the process lost the actual land line. They provide VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) instead. It means we have only cell phone service during a power outage and I look like an idiot wandering up and down the street holding my phone up to the sun or moon to get a signal strong enough to call the power company.
Jasmine needs her Cushings prescription re-filled so Liane picked up the wireless handset in the kitchen and there was no dial tone. She thought maybe a phone somewhere else in the house hadn't been put back on its charger but I assured her that wasn't it because neither hard-wired Princess Phone had a dial tone as well. Left the house to pick up two prescriptions for Liane at Walgreens and one for me at the Lynn Cancer Center. Came back home and the phone was still dead. We normally get eight to ten Robo or Phishing calls every day and it had been quiet since we got up this morning.
Back home I called AT&T service to get the phone re-connected. The first ESL (English is Second Language) couldn't help me but transferred my call to the telephone service guru. Guru had an even harder to understand accent but asked me difficult technical questions like: "What's your phone number?" With several more difficult questions like: "It looks like your phone number was originally assigned to you by MetroPC so you'll need to contact them..." As my life flashed before me (or maybe it was behind me) I realized I needed to look for another VOIP provider. I was at least aware of Vonage being one of those providers so I checked my website while Grungo (that might just be what I heard) told me he was working on the problem. Looks like Vonage has a Domestic plan for $9.99 and a Worldwide plan is $14.99 a month. I know that isn't the total but that's pretty cheap.
Oh $hit! I've been paying $51.67 a month for mediocre and limited phone service from AT&T. It's a VoIP phone plan called " 'AT&T U-verse Voice 200', which provides unlimited calling to other U-verse Voice customers and 200 minutes of anytime calling to anyone else in the U.S., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Marianas." Other than the U.S. I have called people in those other places -- NEVER.
As expected, the actual monthly amount will be more than $14.99 but with all taxes, fees, 911 suport, etc., it's $22.04 a month. That's a savings of $29.63 a month ($355.56 a year!). Not only can I make unlimited calls to people in almost every country in the world, I can set up our cell phones to make calls through Vonage and conversely receive calls to our home phone through those same cell phones simultaneously.
On the bright side, our home phone won't ring until next week when the equipment arrives (Tuesday) and I set it up. They are waiving the equipment and setup fees so this might actually be less painful than I expected.
We really had a scare with our little cat the past week. ( I call her my "Little Buddy"). She developed something like "restless leg syndrome", could hardly walk, couldn't jump up on the couch, didn't spend any time in my lap. I had tears in my eyes, thinking the worst, that her diabetes and stage 4 kidneys were doing her in and we were about to lose her.... Cheryl thought about bringing her to the vet and asked me if it would be ok if the vet pulled the plug on her. I wouldn't have it. The past few days, she has gotten much better. She got over it. Cheryl feeds her tuna on the kitchen stove every morning. ( Glass top) She thinks Kiwi jumped up on the stove one day after she cooked something and the burners were still hot and my cat burned her toes... Makes sense once we think about it. The cat spent a lot of time, licking the pads on her back feet. Whew, crisis averted!!!
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Finallygotit
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Bob, we have an Ooma VoIP phone system. (I got really pissed when AT&T was jacking up rates for land lines and told them to buzz off.). The Ooma system costs us $6.53/mo with 911 service. I have Panasonic phones connected to the Ooma and those are scattered throughout the house. My wife's cell phone is also connected to the Panasonic phones so that when someone calls her cell, it rings on the house phones.
YMMV
YMMV
Grizz1963
Well-known member
Happy survival day Bob.
Poor Liane.
Poor Liane.
sawduststeve
Well-known member
I’ll be sitting next to the phone awaiting your call.
@WordMan, I just wanted to comment on something you said. I've said that the root of all evil is money. You wrote back with the idea of money and debt isn't such a bad idea. Or something along those lines. You made me realize that I've used debt completely wrong and that I am very biased against bankers, debt and everything else... I know I was at fault. I always knew that. But your kind words really made me feel better about my mistakes. Thank you very much for your thoughts. I'm no spring chicken anymore, and not old and ancient, either. But I still listen to my elders like I always have. I consider you as a a great person to get advice from. You, Kay, Bob, Nadogail, and many others. Even though I think I'm older than you. Age doesn't matter to me. In any case, I really like your writings and your responses to me.
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WordMan
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Thank you, sir. I'd offer to buy you a beer, but I'm afraid Wisconsin is a bit of a hike from east Tennessee!
One thing I have learned in my life; we all screw up. I've sure had my share of hard lessons! Another is; everyone can teach you something. I've learned from teens and I've learned from the elderly, and every age in between.
LeonardY
Well-known member
Bob,
This discussion happened in another thread while ago. Don’t ask me which.
It was the same discussion, where people don’t actually read what someone else posted. Make an another inaccurate comment And get indignant when corrected.
I’ll temp fate. I still have a landline with AT&T. It’s stripped down to the basic. I think it’s less than $50 a month. I called cussing service because the line had so much static I couldn’t understand what the scammers were trying to do to get me to do.
Called 611. Which used to be the service line. It was disconnected. Unbelievable. When I got a real person on the line, they tried to sell me VOIP. I said no thank you. Just have a service truck come out. Of course they told me there would be a charge if they had to come inside the house. No problem.When the tech showed up, I know him. He fixes it. Says me and my neighbor are the only people in the neighborhood that have landlines. He laughs and says, “They really hate people like you guys.” AT&T is trying to get out of landlines but California PUC isn’t allowing them too. So they have maintain the lines.
I actually rarely use it. My cell works great at home.
We still have a pseudo-landline. It's cable via Spectrum but presents in the house as POTS so easy to connect any device - including the new printer which has fax capability. Once in a great while, it still gets used.
POTS was a requirement for me when we got rid of our actual landline - due to all the carrier sellouts/consolidations. I did have to do a bit of handholding when the tech came out for the original install. I had run a CAT-5 from the phone demarc to the modem/router location in the house.
POTS was a requirement for me when we got rid of our actual landline - due to all the carrier sellouts/consolidations. I did have to do a bit of handholding when the tech came out for the original install. I had run a CAT-5 from the phone demarc to the modem/router location in the house.
Rick, sadly, our pets can't tell us what's wrong so we sometimes jump to conclusions. Really glad you figured out what was wrong with your 'Little Buddy.' On more than one occasion I have reached into the oven to pull a frying pan out when the item in it is done and forgotten to wear a mitten. You'd think I'd learn after one seared hand but nope, I did it again. I bed your little cat perches on the cool counter from now on.
Dan, I should have done a deeper dive. I'm feeling like the guy who goes with Verizon because it's on the top of the search list. I get my cell phone service through Ting and pay about $30 a month for two cell phones. I believe the Vonage setup does the same as Ooma and if Vonage screws me over, I might very well switch.Bob, we have an Ooma VoIP phone system. (I got really pissed when AT&T was jacking up rates for land lines and told them to buzz off.). The Ooma system costs us $6.53/mo with 911 service. I have Panasonic phones connected to the Ooma and those are scattered throughout the house. My wife's cell phone is also connected to the Panasonic phones so that when someone calls her cell, it rings on the house phones.
YMMV
Thank you Rian. Sometimes I feel like the King of my domain and quickly realize I'm just a vassal to the Duchess of Boca. I could be wrong but I think Jasmine is the Queen of our domain. When she wants something we respond and do her bidding. Not staying on schedule with her meals or treats has real consequences. I won't mention the consequences because she's like my cell phone and knows where I am, what I'm thinking and exactly how and when I screwed her over.
Steve, be careful what you wish for. Our children and grandchildren know a call to or from us is going to require a major time commitment.
Rick, I have taken on debt a couple of times, to buy a home and once to buy a car. I was grateful my two mortgages weren't like the "good old days." Before the Great Depression, banks required 50% or more down payments and the mortgage loan was 5 to 7 years, at which time you had to pay back the principal. Most people just took out another loan when that balloon payment came due. The FHA (Federal Housing Administration) was established in 1934 to help people buy homes. Most FHA loans required only 10% down and repayment periods of 20-30 years. My 13% car loan in 1989 was a great rate from the IBM Australia Credit Union (banks were charging 19%) and 5 years to pay it off. I believe I paid it off in 9 months.
William, I knew everything there was to know when I was 17. Four years later, when Mike Tyson was born, I discovered it was possible there were things I didn't know. Mike Tyson grew up and said something profound: "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face." As the years have passed, I seem to have forgotten a huge amount of stuff I knew as a 17-year-old and have learned how little I now know. Turns out you are right and a lot of people of many ages have taught me things I must have forgotten or didn't know in the first place.
Leonard, I was not smart enough to insist AT&T continue to provide a real landline when I agreed to a fiber connection. Another case of forgetting past encounters. When we were the last party on a 4-party line and New York Telephone (subsidiary of AT&T) really pressured us to switch to a private line. Liane asked how much more a private line would cost and said: "No thank you!" It was a huge increase, from $3.10 to $5.28 a month and despite our protests, they switched us. While $5.28 doesn't sound like much, IBM was paying me $2.16 an hour so I worked more than two hours to cover the monthly phone bill. Adjusted for inflation, that's $32.23 in today's money.Bob,
This discussion happened in another thread while ago. Don’t ask me which.
It was the same discussion, where people don’t actually read what someone else posted. Make an another inaccurate comment And get indignant when corrected.
I’ll temp fate. I still have a landline with AT&T. It’s stripped down to the basic. I think it’s less than $50 a month. I called cussing service because the line had so much static I couldn’t understand what the scammers were trying to do to get me to do.
When the tech showed up, I know him. He fixes it. Says me and my neighbor are the only people in the neighborhood that have landlines. He laughs and says, “They really hate people like you guys.” AT&T is trying to get out of landlines but California PUC isn’t allowing them too. So they have maintain the lines.
I actually rarely use it. My cell works great at home.
I carry a key in my pocket so I can unlock exterior doors in the house and shop buildings. I rarely carry my cell phone so when the landline phone rings I walk over to the nearest one and see what's on the Caller ID screen. We had four Princess style phones (laundry room, guest bath, and garage. I replaced the garage phone and added a workshop phone that match the AT&T cordless phone system in the rest of the house. To us, the portable phones are important. When someone calls the two of us (our kids, grandkids and friends) we each pick up a cordless handset and enjoy the call. Our son and his wife use their cell phone and I guess put it on speaker. One or the other of them seems to be off in the distance and very hard for us to hear. Being able to screen calls from any of the seven handsets is a blessing. The system also blocks spam calls and displays "Unknown Caller" with the phone number so we don't have to answer the phone. After one call triggers the answering machine, subsequent calls ring twice and then Hugo (voice mail message voice) gives the "Please Record Your Message after the Beep) announcement.
Roger, our house is wired for Plain Old Telephone Service as well. We have RJ11 jacks all over the house and I've run RJ45 CAT6 cable from the two office wall jacks to two WiFi routers in the attic with 8 RJ45 outlets. At the moment there are only four RJ45 wall jacks but there are dumb switches connected to those four jacks that give me another 16 LAN outlets.
I am pausing activity on the Garage Journal to take care of the latest $hit Show, this time with Wells Fargo.
Part of my daily routine is opening Quicken on my office desktop first thing in the morning. Today I took care of a few chores first and didn't log on and download the latest (yesterday's) account activity until mid-afternoon. Everything was fine until I checked Liane's Wells Fargo savings account, which indicated there was activity. I assumed it was just notification of a few cents interest being deposited the last day of March. Turns out, in addition to that one tiny transaction there were six larger transactions moving $5,000 out of the account to two new Wells Fargo accounts we have never heard of.
Checked our Wells Fargo checking account and once again, two transactions totaling $2,000 were made to those two new Wells Fargo accounts. I logged on to the Wells Fargo website and there were additional transactions totaling $3,000 more to those two accounts. They cleared after I did my afternoon download so they didn't show up in Quicken.
Called Wells Fargo (using my FU¢|<ing cell phone) to report fraud and got an ESL representative asking for information about my PIN being shared, my phone having a Wells Fargo App on it (NO!) and did anyone else have access to our information (NOT TO MY KNOWLEDGE) and on and on. I did not comment on who might have access to our information. That lost half-hour of my life led to being put on hold while they transferred me to the Fraud Department. The conversation went well with the second ESL representative and resulted in my accounts being locked so I can't check on them, Quicken being locked out so I can't download activity and eventually being told my phone was breaking up and she couldn't make out what I was saying when I answered her questions. When I tried to enter account numbers in my cell phone the machine voice came back with garbled and cut-off numbers. It appears the AT&T $hit Show has joined back in because I now have no alternative to the cell phone. My first thought was to call back using Liane's emergency flip phone from the PT Cruiser. Gave up on that because calling from another number would completely befuddle the people at Wells Fargo. I stood up to leave the house and return the call while wandering the street to get better reception and sat back down. I am grateful we keep some cash in the house for emergencies so at least we can survive a few weeks without credit cards and ATMs.
I was expecting the Vonage hardware to arrive today but it has been delayed and FedEx won't deliver it until sometime tomorrow. Liane knows to be on the lookout for it because I expect to spend most of tomorrow morning at Wells Fargo speaking directly to a human being. Based on how well they are handling this, I will be making daily visits to find out what transactions have cleared and what they are doing about the fraudulent ones. All but two transactions a year are handled electronically by Wells Fargo and they have assured me they will continue doing that for 90 days, by which time I have to have remembered and changed all the automatic payments using a new checking account number.
Feels great to have Wells Fargo in control of my future. I am allowed to enter my payment information into the IRS website 30 days before payment is due and choose the date the amount is withdrawn directly from our checking account. Last week I entered two payments to be made on April 15, 2025 to the US Treasury Department for my 2024 1040 Tax Due and my first 2025 1040ES Estimated Tax payment. I am more than a little nervous.
Part of my daily routine is opening Quicken on my office desktop first thing in the morning. Today I took care of a few chores first and didn't log on and download the latest (yesterday's) account activity until mid-afternoon. Everything was fine until I checked Liane's Wells Fargo savings account, which indicated there was activity. I assumed it was just notification of a few cents interest being deposited the last day of March. Turns out, in addition to that one tiny transaction there were six larger transactions moving $5,000 out of the account to two new Wells Fargo accounts we have never heard of.
Checked our Wells Fargo checking account and once again, two transactions totaling $2,000 were made to those two new Wells Fargo accounts. I logged on to the Wells Fargo website and there were additional transactions totaling $3,000 more to those two accounts. They cleared after I did my afternoon download so they didn't show up in Quicken.
Called Wells Fargo (using my FU¢|<ing cell phone) to report fraud and got an ESL representative asking for information about my PIN being shared, my phone having a Wells Fargo App on it (NO!) and did anyone else have access to our information (NOT TO MY KNOWLEDGE) and on and on. I did not comment on who might have access to our information. That lost half-hour of my life led to being put on hold while they transferred me to the Fraud Department. The conversation went well with the second ESL representative and resulted in my accounts being locked so I can't check on them, Quicken being locked out so I can't download activity and eventually being told my phone was breaking up and she couldn't make out what I was saying when I answered her questions. When I tried to enter account numbers in my cell phone the machine voice came back with garbled and cut-off numbers. It appears the AT&T $hit Show has joined back in because I now have no alternative to the cell phone. My first thought was to call back using Liane's emergency flip phone from the PT Cruiser. Gave up on that because calling from another number would completely befuddle the people at Wells Fargo. I stood up to leave the house and return the call while wandering the street to get better reception and sat back down. I am grateful we keep some cash in the house for emergencies so at least we can survive a few weeks without credit cards and ATMs.
I was expecting the Vonage hardware to arrive today but it has been delayed and FedEx won't deliver it until sometime tomorrow. Liane knows to be on the lookout for it because I expect to spend most of tomorrow morning at Wells Fargo speaking directly to a human being. Based on how well they are handling this, I will be making daily visits to find out what transactions have cleared and what they are doing about the fraudulent ones. All but two transactions a year are handled electronically by Wells Fargo and they have assured me they will continue doing that for 90 days, by which time I have to have remembered and changed all the automatic payments using a new checking account number.
Feels great to have Wells Fargo in control of my future. I am allowed to enter my payment information into the IRS website 30 days before payment is due and choose the date the amount is withdrawn directly from our checking account. Last week I entered two payments to be made on April 15, 2025 to the US Treasury Department for my 2024 1040 Tax Due and my first 2025 1040ES Estimated Tax payment. I am more than a little nervous.
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
Good luck. I spend way too much time wrangling BofA. I'll be so glad when the NWA moves banks.
LeonardY
Well-known member
**** Bob. Sorry to hear this.
I had someone draw money from my Wells Fargo account in branch. I went through the same line of questions. I ended going to a local branch to straighten the mess out. The customer rep admitted to me that it was an inside job. The biggest problem was I had a charter account that I had to paid nothing for. They closed that account and a few months started charging me. I went back to complain and the customer rep went to the manager and told him that my account had to be changed because of fraud. When he spoke to me he said that my checking account didn't have enough money to warrant a waiver. Closed my account and had all my other accounts transferred out. It was enough money to garner attention from the district manager.
Bob, IMHO Wells Fargo is the WORST bank I’ve ever dealt with when it comes to fraud.
We had NO accounts, ever, with Wells Fargo but when someone stole our identities Wells Fargo was the only institution the thief was able to con into issuing a credit card in my wife’s name.
There were three separate attempts to get cards issued in my name from other banks, all were blocked.
As well as an attempt with another bank to get a different card in my wife’s name, also blocked.
Only Wells Fargo accepted the fraudulent application.
After zero success with their phone service I went to the bank branch near me only to be told that the bank part of Wells Fargo could do nothing with anything concerning a credit card.
There was a lot more to this story but compared to the service I got from Chase bank during this fiasco Wells Fargo was worse than useless.
Short story long, they ****.
Good Luck brother
We had NO accounts, ever, with Wells Fargo but when someone stole our identities Wells Fargo was the only institution the thief was able to con into issuing a credit card in my wife’s name.
There were three separate attempts to get cards issued in my name from other banks, all were blocked.
As well as an attempt with another bank to get a different card in my wife’s name, also blocked.
Only Wells Fargo accepted the fraudulent application.
After zero success with their phone service I went to the bank branch near me only to be told that the bank part of Wells Fargo could do nothing with anything concerning a credit card.
There was a lot more to this story but compared to the service I got from Chase bank during this fiasco Wells Fargo was worse than useless.
Short story long, they ****.
Good Luck brother
kitdoctor
Well-known member
@Bob Heine ****** terrible situation. Feel free to coin a well known Australian saying "Not happy, Jan!".
Now that I have this tool, I need a way to remember what the hell it's for so I planed one side of the handle and put a label on it.
Garsh, Bob, all of your tools and you don't have a wood burner?
madison069
Well-known member
***** to hear about the **** show you're dealing with. Seems scammers are at an all-time high this year.
My wife had her direct deposit changed by a scammer recently. She noticed that her check didn't deposit in the banking account so when she got to the office Monday, she found a printed check in her office mailbox. Apparently, scammers emailed the payroll department a change of direct deposit form to them to change my wife's direct deposit information to their banking account. The payroll department was so stupid to this scam that they automatically made the changes without question. They didn't question the email address, the signature that wasn't even my wife's name, or even question the name of the bank that the checks were to be deposited to now. They wanted to say the hacking was done to my wife's banking account, but I told my wife it was the payroll department that got scammed. Her bank checked her account just to be sure and there's no indication of the account getting hacked. Luckily the payroll department prints the first check when any changes is made, cause if they didn't, they would have been eating a loss of fund due to their stupidity.
My wife had her direct deposit changed by a scammer recently. She noticed that her check didn't deposit in the banking account so when she got to the office Monday, she found a printed check in her office mailbox. Apparently, scammers emailed the payroll department a change of direct deposit form to them to change my wife's direct deposit information to their banking account. The payroll department was so stupid to this scam that they automatically made the changes without question. They didn't question the email address, the signature that wasn't even my wife's name, or even question the name of the bank that the checks were to be deposited to now. They wanted to say the hacking was done to my wife's banking account, but I told my wife it was the payroll department that got scammed. Her bank checked her account just to be sure and there's no indication of the account getting hacked. Luckily the payroll department prints the first check when any changes is made, cause if they didn't, they would have been eating a loss of fund due to their stupidity.