What did you do "IN" your garage today?

[niget2002]

Took stock of some materials to see what I needed to buy to build a foam cutter.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Took stock of some materials to see what I needed to buy to build a foam cutter.

Nichrome wire. Everything else is from the scrap rack.

 

[niget2002]

Nichrome wire. Everything else is from the scrap rack.

Close. Nichrome wire, bolts, and some wing nuts. Wing nuts are purely for convenience. Bolts because the bolts I have are the wrong length for the size I want to use. I just don't keep #8 bolts 2" long in stock :/ I'll have a few left over for future projects.

 

[JEFFREYWisconsin]

When I got my Polaris they gave me a wireless remote for the winch which is handy, it never had a dash button which made some things ridiculously difficult to do. So I bought and installed the button yesterday in the garage, the winter me will thank the summer me in a few months for doing this when I have the down time on the machine.

Now it operates from the dash or the remote seamlessly. Fairly easy install, kinda bad instructions from the factory though.

 

[oldman_pottering]

I have few of them:

The two on the left are Coleman 500s, the right are 500As. The 500As are custom paint jobs.

that's great ! are they older styles ? I've never seen a burner with that sort of top on it

 

[madison069]

Well, I learned that no matter how many times you see the same answer on the internet to a question, that doesn’t mean it’s right. Maybe my search terms weren’t 100% correct, but everything I saw said the the oil capacity was 2 quarts for the mule we have. Found out today that wasn’t true as the oil was about 4” over the full line on the dipstick. Tried to pump it out through the top with no luck so I tried loosening to drain plug just enough that it would slowly drain some out. That didn’t work either as it didn’t let anything out until the plug was completely out. Ran to town and got 2 more quarts of oil and put the proper 1.1 quarts in it.

Next time, maybe use the shop vacuum trick. Have someone hold the shop vac nozzle on the oil fill spout while the vac is running remove the plug and then shut the vac off just long enough to drain the oil amount you need and then turn it back on and install the plug. Then check the oil level and top off if needed with the oil you captured.

 

[Beerhippie]

that's great ! are they older styles ? I've never seen a burner with that sort of top on it

Left to right, they're a B (late half of the year) '47, B '51 and two Jan. '55. I'd have to look it up, but early '60s would be about the most recent manufacture. The burner on these is cast iron, unlike any of the newer Coleman stoves. They're big, with a base dia of 10".

I don't know if these were ever made or sold in OZ--Coleman did have a plant there.

 

[ATC]

Does my living room count?

I finally removed the safety switch on my M12 Hatchet. It was such a pain to use

 

[Outlawmws]

Left to right, they're a B (late half of the year) '47, B '51 and two Jan. '55. I'd have to look it up, but early '60s would be about the most recent manufacture. The burner on these is cast iron, unlike any of the newer Coleman stoves.

I don't know if these were ever made or sold in OZ--Coleman did have a plant there.

I'll add that the wind screen bit on those is all Timm/Beerhippie work.

 

[GX460DIYguy]

Next time, maybe use the shop vacuum trick. Have someone hold the shop vac nozzle on the oil fill spout while the vac is running remove the plug and then shut the vac off just long enough to drain the oil amount you need and then turn it back on and install the plug. Then check the oil level and top off if needed with the oil you captured.

I thought about trying that, but wasn’t sure if it would work. Tried using a suction pump with a long tube down the filler hole but it stopped before getting to any oil.

 

[Beerhippie]

Does my living room count?

I finally removed the safety switch on my M12 Hatchet. It was such a pain to use


(crotch shot deleted)

I need to do that to our new Stihl battery blower. The damned safety switch assumes my thumb is 6" long.

 

[Beerhippie]

I'll add that the wind screen bit on those is all Timm/Beerhippie work.

Yeah. Here's what they look like with out the windscreen:



Except for the part where I nickel-plated everything from the base plate up.

 

[JustVicingIt]

Decided to dive into insulating and drywalling the garage. First time ever doing both. ***** but cheaper than hiring someone else to do it, lol

 

[PassnThru]

Waxed the 2007 Explorer today. Holding up decently for it's age.

 

[Outlawmws]

Decided to dive into insulating and drywalling the garage. First time ever doing both. ***** but cheaper than hiring someone else to do it, lol

Both good skills to have, and not that difficult to learn.

 

[KwikFab]

Retired life means playing with the kiddo all day



But also retiring to the garage for that side hustle



Even saved a life today; dude was stuck in one of my glue traps in the garage



Nothing a little olive oil can't handle

 

[oldman_pottering]

Headed into the shed before work to sort out some seeds, just recently the area I live had its biggest flood in history so gardening has been on the back burner, prior to the flood the build up was many days of rain on and off but never allowed anytime for the ground to dry out, can finally get back around now but my gardens are toast

 

[JEFFREYWisconsin]

Retired life means playing with the kiddo all day



But also retiring to the garage for that side hustle



Even saved a life today; dude was stuck in one of my glue traps in the garage



Nothing a little olive oil can't handle

What in the hell?

 

[KwikFab]

What in the hell?

What part has you tricked, bested, outplayed, backstabbed, and quite possibly bamboozled?

 

[JEFFREYWisconsin]

What part has you tricked, bested, outplayed, backstabbed, and quite possibly bamboozled?

I would burn that garage down!

 

[KwikFab]

I would burn that garage down!

But why?!

 

[DGersic]

Called Delphi support. My new bushings don’t fit.

The M2 lower control arm bushing spec is 1.44” diameter. The old bushing I removed:




The new Delphi bushing:



Yeah, not going to work. These came from Rock Auto. They were new, unopened, and two separate boxes. Same measurement. A replacement set arrived today, one unopened, one previously opened with greasy fingerprints. All four are wrong. So it’s not a simple shipping mistake.

RA is refunding, no return needed, so that’s nice. Another set, Dorman this time, is coming.

Delphi guy I talked to is supposed to go find out WTF and call me back. We’ll see how that goes.

Can’t put things back together. Front wheels are off, so I took theme out to the driveway to clean them up.

 

[69charged]

Another test section.
This is my vinegar, tea bags and steel wool mix. I think I like it better. The first test area is too blue. Looks fake. Like I tried too hard!

If I can get to a middle ground, I’ll go with that.
More testing required…..

 

[niget2002]

Dug into the wife's car to install the auto start/stop eliminator. Then took the car for a test drive. I debated doing this today as the wife is taking her car cross country with the kids on Saturday. She's driving it all day tomorrow first, so we'll see if it has issues.

I checked all the fluids whole I was out there. Everything looks good.

 

[Outlawmws]

If I can get to a middle ground, I’ll go with that.
More testing required…..

Try strong coffee instead of tea.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Fought with a tablet. The software companies are getting sneakier every day.

 

[69charged]

Try strong coffee instead of tea.

Like how? Make strong coffee and use it instead of vinegar? Or put coffee grounds in the vinegar?

 

[nadogail]

I did some chucking and organizing today, not very much but still some was done.
My normal Saturday routine will be different because I will be present while a crew will be doing an interior repaint of a rental. My principal employee is certain that with the people who will be working that they can get the whole job done in a single day.

 

[Outlawmws]

Like how? Make strong coffee and use it instead of vinegar? Or put coffee grounds in the vinegar?

How are you using the tea? Same approach.

 

[69charged]

How are you using the tea? Same approach.

In tea bags. Maybe a dumb question, but I have never seen coffee in bags. But also never looked.

 

[Outlawmws]

In tea bags. Maybe a dumb question, but I have never seen coffee in bags. But also never looked.

They make or made instant coffee in tea bags. A buddy used them up hunting.

 

[Beerhippie]

In tea bags. Maybe a dumb question, but I have never seen coffee in bags. But also never looked.

Used to take them backpacking. Not very good coffee, but when you need caffeine to function....

But I've also just used my spent grounds in boiling water as a very nice, walnut brown stain for wood.

 

[Outlawmws]

Yep, still made: Instant coffee bags

Timm was faster than me.

 

[Fixr]

Yesterday, I ruined the patina on this old (early '40s) vise:









This AM, I performed thoracic surgery on a Rinnai C199 commercial-grade on-demand water heater:



It needed a valve and aorta transplant and some neurological work:



The "aorta" I had to replace:



Glad I caught that before the aneurysm failed and did any damage.

Back to work:



and ready to heat water to make beer. The setpoint readout should say 185.

I think I'll work on the vise some more once the sun moves behind the warehouse so I can grind outside in the shade. The jaws need some serious re-profiling before she's a user.

That vise. Man, how do you deal with all of that brutal northeast Oregon rust?

 

[Beerhippie]

That vise. Man, how do you deal with all of that brutal northeast Oregon rust?

Things left outside will rust... eventually. I once asked at a yard sale if they had any old Coleman stuff. The old fellow running the show said yep, there's a tree full of old lanterns out back--if you see anything you want, bring it up. I picked five lanterns from the tree (I guess they really do grow there). Of the five, four became runners. The fifth was rotted out from the inside due to really bad fuel.

This vise obviously spent almost its entire life in a machine shop. It was caked in a mixture of thick oil and metal grinding dust--I had about a pound of iron dust in the bottom of the bucket when I pulled it out of the ultrasonic degreaser.

 

[micromind]

Retired life means playing with the kiddo all day



But also retiring to the garage for that side hustle



Even saved a life today; dude was stuck in one of my glue traps in the garage



Nothing a little olive oil can't handle

Around here, we call that one a gopher snake. Looks full-grown. Harmless but looks a lot like a rattler.

If it stays around, you'll have no mice at all. Likely more effective than a cat.......

 

[KwikFab]

Around here, we call that one a gopher snake. Looks full-grown. Harmless but looks a lot like a rattler.

If it stays around, you'll have no mice at all. Likely more effective than a cat.......

Out here we call them garter snakes.

We have some vineyards (not ours personally) out back past our fence line so there's definitely mice back there that they're feeding on.

It's why I insisted on saving it - it was pissed as I carefully poured olive oil into the trap and help massage it out of the glue without hurting it.

We also have TONS of small lizards and they help with the bug population. The most I'll get are some 3-4 flies in my garage with the door open for a few hours. Then they're gone by morning due to the spiders.

 

[Beerhippie]

Around here, we call that one a gopher snake. Looks full-grown. Harmless but looks a lot like a rattler.

If it stays around, you'll have no mice at all. Likely more effective than a cat.......

Bonus: They eat other snakes--including the nasty types. We used to bring 'em home and toss into the attic to control packrats.

 

[GrayFlattop]

If you addressed a letter to Kay McCampbell, RD#1, New York. I would get it, and often did.

While we did have a zip code when my bride and I bought our first house in 1979, the post office at the time almost always figured out how to deliver the mail. My best man was back in the army for his last year of service and didn’t know our address. Back then, calling from Germany would have been insanely expensive for an E4. So he wrote us a letter with our names. For the address, he simply put: “the run-down house on the corner of xxxx street or xxxx avenue, where the hippies used to live- the one that used to have an American flag for curtains in the second floor window over the front door”. He didn’t have the street name correct, but had the city and zip correct. We received the letter 3 days after he posted it in Germany.

The house was a run-down s-hole that was infested with party animals (day 1 of working in the yard filled 6 big garbage bags with beer bottles and cans), actual animals and fleas. The previous occupants did take their flag with them when they moved out. As demonstrated with the prompt delivery, I’m certain that the postmen knew EXACTLY what house the sender had described.

 

[Beerhippie]

If you addressed a letter to Kay McCampbell, RD#1, New York. I would get it, and often did.

30-odd years ago, I received a package addressed to my name, Wallowa County, OR. It was delivered to me at the coffee house I used to frequent. The package was from an old GF and contained a box of breakfast cereal we once enjoyed together--Peanut Butter Capt'n Crunch.