Above 1200 Sq/FT The Action Sports Garage

[zanyad]

Bummer about the break-in.

Excellent work on that fixture!

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Grant, ya can’t mix pissedoffedness stuff with rockstar stuff. We only got one choice of emoji’s.

Thats screwed you got burned like that. I really hope that pos popped a bunch of those laxatives in one shot and mom has locked him out of the basement.

And everything else, well as usual

Bummer about the break-in.

Excellent work on that fixture!

Thanks guys! At last I feel that I had the last laugh with the car prowler. I put another pill bottle on there again for next time. Eventually they will learn or maybe they won’t but at least I know they be having a ****** day.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Had a guy come in with a Fox X2 from Europe
None of my factory tooling would fit the inner air can. Even looked up on the Fox site to see if they had another version of the tooling. Nada.

Not long after I started offering suspension jobs another shop in town called me and asked if I’d be interested in buying all of their tooling for a really good price. I did and ended up with a bunch of extras. They had some eBay knock off tooling in there. That stuff works but is no where near as nice as the factory stuff.

But was perfect to modify to fit. Ended up taking .1500 off to get it to fit. Damn nice having the mill. Funny how many times family asks why don’t you sell that big machinery. Do you really use it? I keep telling them I do. It’s just most of the time it’s for quick things like this so they never notice.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Back to the bench tester for the motors



I picked up an old bike trainer for dirt cheap. Figured the resistance unit might be perfect for load testing these mototors. First I need to make a mount. So quickly squared up some AL drops.


Used the calipers to scribe the width old school. Funny how I can easily do this with the DRO but still end up doing it the way I was taught. I really need to get a nice granite surface plate when I move into the new shop along with a height guage.

Then drilled and countersinked two mounting holes.

Being that these are blind I used a spiral flutted bottom tap. I’m at the point I try to only buy spirial taps whether they are gun or bottoming. They just work better, but if you do break one your f’d. See how it’s doing a good job of extracting the chips? This is why most standard taps break.

I then rounded off the top edges and dropped and teemed the mounting pivot.
The pivot block will attach to the base frame. I then need a hole bored at 45 degrees for a tension adjustment bolt.

Used an end mill to start the hole and give a good surface for the drill. That worked great.


Drilling started no problem, but was having a hard time feeding efficiency. I think part of the problem was more friction on one side of the bit plus effectively removing the chips. I resorted to peck drilling and vacuuming the bore every little bit. That went better but was surprisingly slow going even with a freshly sharpened bit. I don’t drill holes this way often so I’m sure there is a technique I’m missing.
I then tapped the hole in the bench vise.

 

[zanyad]

For a 45⁰ surface, you could have supported the workpiece with a v-block and held it in the vise instead of nodding the head over. That may have helped with the chip removal, too.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

For a 45⁰ surface, you could have supported the workpiece with a v-block and held it in the vise instead of nodding the head over. That may have helped with the chip removal, too.

I thought about that but this would have been at the top of a long section so a bit difficult to hold it up in the air and properly supported it.

 

[zanyad]

Fair 'nuff. Looking back at the photos I see what you mean. Maybe make/acquire a set of extended height vise jaws?

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Had another EP8 come in for a service. This one had a broken Sprag clutch carrier on the main drive shaft. So I need to transfer a clutch from a good donor. There isn’t a good way to hold these parts, and I’ve also been wanting something to hold them while pressing and removing the bearings.


Since the Lathe isn’t powered up yet, I used some lathe tooling in the mill vise to machine the brass stock down to fit the ID of the drive shaft. Not pretty but it works.

I squared up done AL plate and then rounded the edges. Using the vise stop made quick work of this as Im making two sets of tooling.

I then drilled it out, chamfered and reamed the hole to be a few thousands undersized.

I then face milled and polished up the parts.

I then added some retaining compound and then pressed the Brass rods in. You can see here that I chamfered them ends of them as well.

All done.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

To dive deeper into the Shimano EP8 motors I need to desolder the 3 motor connections from the controller board

Based on the recommendations here I bought a HAKKO FR301 desoldering gun.

And a bunch of tips to match the pin sizes. For the motor contacts I’m using a 1x3mm tip

You set the gun over the connection let it hear the solder for a few seconds then hit the trigger and suction it up. It’s amazing at how easy it makes what used to be a difficult task for me.

I now have access to the motor cover plate

And can the pull the rotor.

Got to use a puller to remove the bearings instead of a separator in the press to not damage the laminations.


New Ceramic Abec 5 bearings. More importantly these are sealed.

The rotors lower bearing rides in this bore on top of a pretty stiff wave spring.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Before I put the motor back together here is the full teardown. Two Sprag clutches, it uses two strain gauges on the drive shaft for the Torque sensor, the round magnet is for the Hall effect sensor for the drive shaft RPM. There is quite a bit going on in these motors.

Drive shaft sprag clutch and its metal carrier. I’ve seen these with plastic carriers as well.

Reduction gear sprag clutch.

Back to installing the rotor. I put it back on and bolted down the cover plate. Then used a fiberglass brush to clean the contacts and followed that with some denatured alcohol.

I then added flux to each of the contacts

PCB screwed down and then flux added to the pads

I then soldered all 3 contacts. The HAKKO 888 I purchased made soldering them a dream over the old soldering irons I used to use. To protect the soldered contacts I need to apply some conformable coating. I’m using Silicone

It just gets brushed on and then left to cure.

 

[Johanfpa]

Wow, looks like open heart surgery to me. Very impressed with your knowledge and skills.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Wow, looks like open heart surgery to me. Very impressed with your knowledge and skills.

Thanks. I’ve learned a hell of a lot from these forums. So hopefully I can pass some knowledge along as well

 

[Horror Business]

I genuinely enjoy your documentation of the process.

 

[SilverJimmy]

Have you considered Blueprinting these motors before they need rebuilding? Installing better bearings and adding more grease into the critical areas before damage is done? Back when I was riding dirt bikes the first thing you did on a new one was a full tear down and then reassembly with grease and suspension fluids!

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Have you considered Blueprinting these motors before they need rebuilding? Installing better bearings and adding more grease into the critical areas before damage is done? Back when I was riding dirt bikes the first thing you did on a new one was a full tear down and then reassembly with grease and suspension fluids!

Yes. I’ve had a few guys send them in for that already. I’m actually in the process of having custom seals made for them, but the supplier has to make molds / tooling first.

I’m now set up as a factory service center for Fazua and Brose now too. Going to start offering those plus Bosch once I get moved into a new shop space. Keep running into delays and issues with the developer on the place I was going to buy so now looking for another location yet again.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

It’s been pouring rain here all weekend. Was hoping to get a ride in with the kids, but I’m too old to ride in the rain. I’ll do mud, but I can’t stand getting soaked.

So Jamie and I took the kids to the Spark Museum here in Bellingham. They have one of, if not the largest collection of electrical things in the world. Everything from a massive radio collection to Edison’s very first Bulb ( and a bunch that came before him too) they even have a bunch of Ampere’s original lab test equipment (yes the guy to figured out Amps), along with a lot of Tesla’s and Edison’s just to name a few. They got a ton of the original test equipment from Benjamin Franklin and earlier labs working with static electricity and primitive batteries too. It’s really cool. They even have one of the telephones used for the first transcontinental phone call, a ton of telegraph stuff… etc. there is one of the very first electrical magnets, plus one of Teslas original Egg demonstration machines too. it’s really impressive. The museum alone is worth the trip. However the owner puts on an incredible show every Saturday afternoon. He’s got not just one but three Tesla coils, including one of the largest in the country. It’s so large he’s even lit the building on fire in the past…
It was mind blowing for the kids. Especially my son Stian. Who volunteered me to go into the massive Faraday cage. The show brought back some good memories of a college physics class where the prof brought in a Tesla coil… funny how that’s the only class I remember from the electric portion of the physics series. His display showing how he could still light up florescent bulbs inside of a glass insulator but not inside of a bird cage was really cool for the kids.


My son really wanted to go inside if the “cage of doom” and get zapped as well, but their insurance only lets you if your over 18, so he was a little bummed, but the owner came over after the show and gave us a pretty incredible tour. He’s clearly got a passion for showing his love of all things electrical with others and he’s got a real knack for making it interesting for the kids and got them asking a lot of questions. That’s the problem with modern education too much time is focused on learning theory’s from books and lectures and not enough is spent on applications. Buy seeing the application it sparked an interest in my son. Afterwards on the drive home my son told me that the show just further confirms why he wants to be an engineer (we will see if that changes as only being 8 hes got a lot of time ahead of him). He asked if I could find some things he could take apart to see how they work. Music to my ears. It’s interesting my son is top of his class in math… he’s pretty much at a middle school level despite being in 3rd grade. Which is amazing as it wasn’t a strong subject for me…. But when he was first learning it, I showed him how it applies to making things in the shop and let him run the Bridgeport mill using the coordinate system and it just clicked with him. When he saw in the show how math also applies to electronics it blew his mind. Sure wish my formal education was taught that way. I’m lucky in that my father did a great job of teaching me in his home shop ( learned far more there then I ever did in college) so it feels really good to have some success in doing that with my son. Especially after battling my Exwife for so long about letting him play in the shop with me.

 

[SilverJimmy]

As a child of divorce (mother married 4 times, father 4 times) I know the challenges that you face intimately. My mother blamed everything on my “worthless” father, my father just tried his best. Guess who I had a better relationship with. I will say that your son, like I did, just see everything as just what it is, it is his normal. As I get older and look back on both of my parents I cannot even imagine them being friends, let alone as loving partners. Your son is very lucky to have you as a father.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

As a child of divorce (mother married 4 times, father 4 times) I know the challenges that you face intimately. My mother blamed everything on my “worthless” father, my father just tried his best. Guess who I had a better relationship with. I will say that your son, like I did, just see everything as just what it is, it is his normal. As I get older and look back on both of my parents I cannot even imagine them being friends, let alone as loving partners. Your son is very lucky to have you as a father.

Thanks! After fighting like hell to have any time with him and still not getting 50/50 (despite not even having a parking ticket in my name) I’ve got zero respect for our legal system.

That being said, that experience made me into a better father. After fighting so hard so that I could take him skiing , biking etc. I’ve developed a very close relationship with my son… not from being a Disney dad that the legal system still tries to implement with its archaic ideologies, but due to the fact I value every minute I have with him. So I always try to make our time together quality. I don’t always succeed as some times, work and other life constraints get in the way, but usually it works out. Stian has really grown to love biking and skiing (same with Evelina at least with the skiing) and a lot of that is because he feels like he’s gotten pretty good at it, but the reality is he’s just gotten to practice a lot as I take him more than most of my friends with kids take their kids. It turns out having limited time with him still results in better quality time than most of my non-divorced friends have with their kids because I prioritize that time. Hopefully that stays true in the teenage, years but at least I’ll have a good baseline going into that phase…. Or at least I hope too.


After the Spark museum on Saturday we were looking for an inside project to do Sunday with the weather and trails being a bit wet and cold for the kids. They really liked these solder figure we saw at the museum, so I suggested we try it. Jamie took it a step further and had the idea they make some Christmas ornaments.
Both the kids were a bit intimidated by the soldering iron at first… maybe they heard me too well about it being hot. But after showing them, then letting them help me do one, they were off to the races bending the wire, adding flux and soldering all by themselves.

For having never soldered before. They picked it up pretty quick. It’s amazing how much of a sponge the mind is at 8.
The kids did all of these 100% by themselves.

Evelina was more into shaping the wire ( she loves art and goes to an art academy in town) Stian was way more into the actual soldering process. I think he’s already asked me 10 times if he can solder again. So I need to find a cool radio project to build with him. Do they still make those Heath kits?

 

[gearhead1960]

While I've never done these...I understand the Arduino stuff is pretty cool...see here.

 

[Cruzan80]

Do they still make those Heath kits?

While they don't make them exactly, there are "ready to solder" PCB kits out there. And an even bigger skill is diagnosing an existing issue (like what you do with bikes). So finding an old Heathkit, downloading the manual, and then having him measure the resistors/capacitors/etc, desolder and then put it back together working correctly may be an even better overall thing. Some of those are dirt cheap, all the way up to crazy expensive (usually around music amps). I know I have half a dozen of them that were under $30-40 each (O-scope, capacitor tester, freq generator, voltmeter, etc).

And he will have to learn a bit about the "Why" as he figures out diagnostics (like daisy-chaining resistors in serial vs parallel, and what that does to the measuring).

 

[Grant Gunderson]

While I've never done these...I understand the Arduino stuff is pretty cool...see here.

I’d like to start him with more analog stuff. Ideally something electromechanical. I got him a subscription to these Crunchlabs kits that he absolutely loves and he’s learned a ton from. The next series they have is their Hackpacks so I think that will be a nice stepping stone before doing an Arduino kit. Plus I’ll need to learn some of the coding etc myself as we go.

While they don't make them exactly, there are "ready to solder" PCB kits out there. And an even bigger skill is diagnosing an existing issue (like what you do with bikes). So finding an old Heathkit, downloading the manual, and then having him measure the resistors/capacitors/etc, desolder and then put it back together working correctly may be an even better overall thing. Some of those are dirt cheap, all the way up to crazy expensive (usually around music amps). I know I have half a dozen of them that were under $30-40 each (O-scope, capacitor tester, freq generator, voltmeter, etc).

And he will have to learn a bit about the "Why" as he figures out diagnostics (like daisy-chaining resistors in serial vs parallel, and what that does to the measuring).

I’d love to find something for him to tear down and reverse engineer. I was about his age when my dad brought this electrical mechanical device home from work for me to take apart. Can’t remember for sure but I think it was an early electric typewriter. I loved it. Pretty sure I was about the same age when he had me wire up some circuits too. Just gotta find the right thing. Complicated enough to be interesting but easy enough for him to see success and cheap enough I don’t mind him making mistakes and then having him learn to fix those mistakes. I got a drill press restoration project I want to get to, but that might be a bit too big and heavy for him.

It’s like when I did my 10EE restoration. I learned far more from that than I did in my 7 years getting my engineering degree.

 

[LXCam]

Keep it up Grant, it’ll go a long ways for an inquisitive mind.

I started off with taking apart AM radios and implanting the guts into popsicle stick houses.

 

[Cruzan80]

The nice part about the Heathkits is that they have instructions on how it went together, so you can start from the "end" and work backwards if needed. The upaide/downside is that the quality of work was vastly dependant on the prior owner. I would look on CL/FBMP/etc to see.

Once he gets good, he will probably move onto more PCB style stuff, as the Heathkit was vastly point-to-point wiring, which is like comparing a 50's USA car to a modern Eueopean regarding level of working room.

 

[Trapps]

He might be a bit young, but with your coaching a beginner robot kit from ServoCity might be worth considering. Build per instructions, tear down and rebuild. with your own designs, repeat, adding components as you go.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

He might be a bit young, but with your coaching a beginner robot kit from ServoCity might be worth considering. Build per instructions, tear down and rebuild. with your own designs, repeat, adding components as you go.

Those look way cool.... reminds me of a modern erector set.... but wow they are quite proud of them with those prices!

 

[gba2331]

Those look way cool.... reminds me of a modern erector set.... but wow they are quite proud of them with those prices!

You might see if your school system has FIRST robotics teams. I‘m a mentor with the HS team and it combines mechanical and programming skills.

FIRST | For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology

Leading youth-serving nonprofit advancing STEM education. Explore FIRST robotics programs for kids of all ages, in schools & communities around the world.

www.firstinspires.org

One thing to consider is that it may be hard to get on a team, depending on how competitive your area may be. Our kids need to make a commitment and have some skills before they join, so if this is something that Stian may want to do, it’s not a bad idea to have a plan on how to get there.

Here is a championship match from last season:

 

[Grant Gunderson]

You might see if your school system has FIRST robotics teams. I‘m a mentor with the HS team and it combines mechanical and programming skills.

FIRST | For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology

Leading youth-serving nonprofit advancing STEM education. Explore FIRST robotics programs for kids of all ages, in schools & communities around the world.

www.firstinspires.org

One thing to consider is that it may be hard to get on a team, depending on how competitive your area may be. Our kids need to make a commitment and have some skills before they join, so if this is something that Stian may want to do, it’s not a bad idea to have a plan on how to get there.

Here is a championship match from last season:

That’s cool! He’s in an after school Lego and robotics club right now 1 day a week, but being it’s at the elementary school (he’s in 3rd grade), it’s very basic. Not sure if it’s affiliated with the First program or not.

A few months back I taught him how to machine a cube on the Bridgeport.

He absolutely loved it.

Last winter I had him mount his own skis

He was 7 at the time. He really liked doing it and was proud of the fact he did it as he would tell his friends on the lift. He’s also figured out he can make a few bucks anytime someone drops skis of for a mount asking if they’d like their skis waxed… funny how no one turns down an 8 year olds sells pitch. I let him keep all of the funds from that and he’s already calculated how many skis he needs to wax to buy the new Nintendo switch.

He’s very interested in anything mechanical or engineering related and the museum sparked an interest in electronics, so just trying to keep finding projects to feed that passion and keep him interested/ building his own skills. I find it’s a fine line tho figuring out the right mix of interesting and challenging for him, yet simple enough he sees his progress so stays interested/ focused.

He’s going to need a new mountain bike this spring, and I’ve started my search for it. He’s really interested in doing a race series this year, so trying to find the right XS 27.5 for him, with a low enough stand over height. Once I do, I’m planning on having him tear it down to the bare frame and fully build it himself as I want him to understand how it all works and how to maintain it. It blows me away how many times I run into adults in the trail that are totally incapable of simple trail side fixes such as fixing a flat or dealing with a broken chain, etc.

It’s getting to be the time of year where we have limited time after school to ride before it gets dark, so it’s the time of year where shop projects are easier to focus on for him and I’d rather spend time with him in the shop then have him play video games.

I do know I’m on the right track when he keeps asking for a laser cutter and 3d printer for Christmas. His mom got him a kiddie 3d printer for his birthday and he quickly found the limitations to it so he now wants a real one. I may get a 3D printer once I move into the new shop space, so that may be a fun learning project for the two of us as well.

 

[SilverJimmy]

An 8 year old with machinist experience should be a shoo-in for a robotics club. I don’t think I could pound a nail straight @ 7 years let alone run a Bridgeport mill! If you do get your son a new bike I think it would be exciting for him to even paint it like he watched you paint all your projects. To have a basic knowledge of finish paint and how to do it correctly will probably teach him to be fearless in all tasks!

 

[Grant Gunderson]

An 8 year old with machinist experience should be a shoo-in for a robotics club. I don’t think I could pound a nail straight @ 7 years let alone run a Bridgeport mill! If you do get your son a new bike I think it would be exciting for him to even paint it like he watched you paint all your projects. To have a basic knowledge of finish paint and how to do it correctly will probably teach him to be fearless in all tasks!

I’m most likely going to pick his next bike up new. Between my industry connections and needing to find what equates to an adult bike in kid size there just isn’t a lot out there used. Plus I really don’t want him around the polyurethane paints. Too many health risks to subject a young growing person to.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

I
Got the kid out for a father son ride yesterday. We did 16 miles and climbed 3500 feet of vertical, a mix of trails and some quite steep road sections, (this is the wall on Galbraith) but what was really cool about yesterday is I didn’t have to tow him on any of it!

Ended up with a loaner Rocky Mountian kids E-bike. It’s setup with 24” wheels but will also take 26. I have mixed feelings about kids e-bikes as I feel like they got plenty of energy to burn. Made him leave it in modes 2 & 3 ( no boost) and he definitely got a work out from it. I let him use mode 4 for our last big climb and in hindsight should have let him use it the whole ride that’s closer to a typical e-bike trail mode as these are detuned a lot
Was able to get him out on some of the deeper, steeper and longer trails that were out of range to tie with my ebike.

Happy kid. Happy dad. We road to the top of Galbraith here in bellingham, then connected to lookout mountain club need up that dropped off the backside to the bottom then climbed back out and finished with a bunch of his favorite trails. He said it felt like it was built for jumping ( most likely because it carries speed better than an analog ) but he did say it felt nose heavy on the drops… not surprised as it weighs as much as him! I will say that this bike rewards good bike technique. Its wait will amplify mistakes and it really teaches them to keep pedaling through switch backs etc, because it’s not fun to push. The walk mode is useless.

I’ll most likely pick him up an analogue 27.5 for his next bike, but I gotta say I love the idea of doing even bigger rides with him and not having to tow any more.. so if I can find one of these for the right price, it would be hard to pass up.

Seems to me tho, it would be much better off packed with one of the lighter weight battery systems and smaller batteries to keep the weight down as they are light enough that would still give them plenty of power / range.

 

[boyboi]

Mind if I pick your brain on how you use the silca presta valve chuck with this set up? I have an analog gauge milton inflator and i currently use what is a supposed to be a lock on schrader chuck to hold the threads of the presta chuck but it always leaks. Just like an infomercial, I keep thinking there has got to be a better way!

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Well after lots of delays with trying to buy the space on the waterfront. I've had enough with trying to deal with the developer, Every time I've sent and offer over its taken months to get a counter back. The Port commission actually sued the developer and then fired them from the rest of the development for under performances, so moving on fro that space may not be the worst decision... too bad as it was the ideal location and I liked the idea of owning the space if I was putting money into building it out. That being said after a bunch of other locations fell through I finally found a place that I think is going to work. Dont want to get too excited yet, as still need to have some things confirmed.

But that brings me to needing to get a much larger compressor than the tiny Makita I've been using for years in my garage.

I'm looking at bringing in a large robotic ski tuning machine

This machine requires 14.1CFM at 105 PSI. Not sure If I will be able to get it for this season or not, as there is only one available in N.A and if I cant secure a space asap, I'll have to wait to have one built to spec. Lots of dominos needs to align for this to all work.

I may also pick up a second smaller machine that uses 3.53CFM at 90 PSI. Other than that most of the shop air uses, is minimal such as blowing things out, and of course inflating bike tires.


This is the basic floor plan of the space I'm looking at leasing. The workshop space will most likely come to the front edge of the bathroom, the show room will be the customer area and then the storage room will be the work area. The entire space is going to be an open concept, so only thing separating the areas is going to be a customer counter, so noise is an issue, especially for the compressor.

I really wanted to buy a building, but nothing is available in the right locations. This location is good enough that I dont mind spending some money building it out. I expect to here for for at least 5 years, and then either stay, or buy a building. A lot depends on confirmation if the floor can support the machine weights, and that we can get 3 Phase power brought in (Its in the down town core, so shouldn't be an issue) . Part of the Lease terms is having some tenant improvements provided by the landlord, such as a double front door for bringing machines in on ground level (Back of building drops off and there is offices bellow).

As you can see I dont want to be bringing machines in from the back! With the offices bellow I need the compressor to be as quiet as possible.

The Landlord will be building out the bathroom and has agreed to building it large enough to put the compressor in there for noise.

It's and older brick building that has recently been upgraded for seismic.

All of these shelves are going bye bye. This will be the main working area. but expanded father forward of the temp divider.

Evidently this space sued to be an ally between the two buildings and the City built the wooden platform for repairing vehicles, so the floor is quite heavy beams and 80 years old. So I am assuming these floors will help dampen the noise. No idea what is under those beams and above the office space. Waiting on the landlord to provide the structural information and confirmation on how much weight it can hold. The ski tuning machine is 6K#'s. My Bridgeport is another 2K#'s and my lathe is 3500#'s!

So my main requirements for the air compressor is low noise (will be located in bathroom to help dampen it). and 14.1CFM at 105 PSI with some overhead, so ideally around 20CFM at 105PSI. I will have 3 phase power as well. I would prefer the air compressor being standard 220V (easier to resell if I ever need more air supply), but open to options. Budget is TBD, I'm willing to spend what I need to for the right unit, but with all of the other build out costs, dont want to spend more than I need either.

 

[tweidman]

Have you looked at this.... https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-elite-80-120-scroll-air-compressor.html

 

[ericm]

Mind if I pick your brain on how you use the silca presta valve chuck with this set up? I have an analog gauge milton inflator and i currently use what is a supposed to be a lock on schrader chuck to hold the threads of the presta chuck but it always leaks. Just like an infomercial, I keep thinking there has got to be a better way!

I'd get a schrader to 1/4" adapter. Looks like they're mostly for the HVAC industry but should work.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Mind if I pick your brain on how you use the silca presta valve chuck with this set up? I have an analog gauge milton inflator and i currently use what is a supposed to be a lock on schrader chuck to hold the threads of the presta chuck but it always leaks. Just like an infomercial, I keep thinking there has got to be a better way!

Sorry for the delay... been busy trying to get a new shop space sorted. See bellow.

I'd get a schrader to 1/4" adapter. Looks like they're mostly for the HVAC industry but should work.

This, exactly. I bought these ones off of Amazon. They aren't perfect, but they are cheap and they work. Some good thread sealant helps too.

To be honest, I'm not a fan of that Silca valve. The lever is difficult to operate around the spokes. The prestacylce one works way better. Just push it on and its good to go.

 

[gba2331]

That’s quite a ski machine, which makes me wonder how much it costs? Looks very cool!

 

[Grant Gunderson]

That’s quite a ski machine, which makes me wonder how much it costs? Looks very cool!

The machine is significantly more of a financial commitment than the property is. And it’s big enough that once I install it I will be very motivated to not move it.

 

[Horror Business]

Sunday River put in one of those ski tuning machines a few years ago. Pretty fun to see it in action.

 

[boyboi]

Sorry for the delay... been busy trying to get a new shop space sorted. See bellow.

This, exactly. I bought these ones off of Amazon. They aren't perfect, but they are cheap and they work. Some good thread sealant helps too.

To be honest, I'm not a fan of that Silca valve. The lever is difficult to operate around the spokes. The prestacylce one works way better. Just push it on and its good to go.

Thank you for the link! I had searched for something similar, but could only find adapters with male schrader threads. The prestacycle chuck is actually what I have, so nice to hear a positive professional endorsement.
Cheers!

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Sunday River put in one of those ski tuning machines a few years ago. Pretty fun to see it in action.

I think you will start to see more and more of them as more shops invest in automation. Montana and Reichman also make automated machines. Reichman also makes a smaller one that might solve my floor weight issue too.

I’m back in the treading water stage of the on going commercial space search waiting on getting structural plans. It’s amazing how much time is waisted waiting on plans etc on these real estate deals. I find dealing with realtors is about the same as lawyers they all tend to be useless.


Jamie had a full panel of patients this afternoon and Evelina's dad is away for work so I was on pick up and afterschool duty. So got Evelina into the shop to do some more soldering. She wanted to make more of the trees and a pumpkin. Had her use a bench block for forming the hoops for the pumpkin.

I showed her how to setup the third hand tool. I’m thinking there has to be better versions of this out there.

She was way less intimidated with trying to do the solder herself this time. I think it helped that Stian was at his moms as she can be intimidated watching him do things. In fact I think that’s why she’s totally not into biking as she seems too intimidated by him now, even tho she’s a great rider. After I showed her how to heat both pieces of wire with the iron first, she was off to the races. Truth be told she’s got a much more steady hand for me for this kind of work!

She wanted to decorate the tree with some ornaments. Don’t have any beads here and I didn’t think of grabbing any from Jamie’s place, so I taught her how to use the Mayhew hole punch to stamp some out of brass shim stock and then she soldered them on. She really liked the brass.

She’s getting better / more confident at it. Not bad for a kid that’s 8 going on 9. The Pumpkin was pretty challenging. I need to pick up some slightly thicker / stiffer wire for this. I’d love to get her to try a make something in the Mill, but she’s like her mother and has zero interest in using any of the machines. Especially if she thinks they might be loud.

Evelina also has a birthday coming up in a few weeks. Been trying to come up with an idea of what Stian and I should get her. She loves art, and I’d like to discreetly push some stem skills her way too. I’m starting to think I should see if I can find a wire jewelry making kit for her as she seems to be interested in doing the solder projects.