What did you do "IN" your garage today?

[Beerhippie]

I'm contemplating remodeling that pressure washer cart to be usable. Seems I can do a little modification and flip the tray that holds the engine, pump and wheels around so the wheels are in the back. Re-locate the soap bin (not sure anyone has ever used it) to the front. Maybe even be able to move the props to the front. Then it would be pleasant to wheel around.

As it is, it's verging on useless. Moving it a couple of hundred feet from the shop to the front of the building was arduous to say the least. Tiny little steps with my forearms at chest level... curse words were spoken, and loudly.

Also, looking at the pictures, damn the sun is low in the sky already! The pics were mostly taken just shortly after noon. Damn, those shadows are loooong! But I guess it is mid-November already, even if it is unseasonably warm.

I'm gonna go find me a cloud to yell at....

 

[DGersic]

In the garage, I reassembled my yard vac. Then spent the day using it to clean up the leaves and bean pods. Sadly, it won’t vac up the fruits from the ginkgo, I’ll have to get those with a rake and shovel.

 

[rktinc]

Yes, factory paint by Kennedy. I actually called them for a history lesson prior to purchase. This was in immaculate condition. As close to N.O.S as possible. It houses my Starrett tools now. Love Red… Heres a few more of the box..Number on the side is a Gov id number.

Steve

Fantastic! Love a Kennedy box. Especially in red....

 

[kaymccampbell]

Or, at least, 'Doctor Skyman, the guy who hates tools that don't work as well as they should.'

As Timm so well stated a little further downthread, "People who don't use tools should not be designing them!"

I'll take that a step beyond, and say that no product should be released from Design Engineering to Manufacturing until people who understand what it should do and how it should do it have had a chance to make sure that it does and will. And that it can actually be manufactured, serviced and repaired, EASILY.

FIFY

 

[Skyman]

FIFY

Indeed you did!

 

[INSP380]

Fantastic! Love a Kennedy box. Especially in red....

Nice collection!!! I just added this one over the weekend…

Steve

 

[kaymccampbell]

Hunted the next couple day's meals in the deep freeze.

 

[Outlawmws]

Hunted the next couple day's meals in the deep freeze.

Can be cold hunting!

 

[TerryH]

In the midst of a major shop makeover. Not enjoying this part.

 

[niget2002]

I thought I'd toss the WLED controllers back on the house. Installed the right side and said, "self, we should test this before doing the other side." Plugged in the 24v power supply and it immediately went into over-current protection.

Dats not good...

Pulled the 24v->12v converter off the side of the house, flipped it over, and realized some dummy wired the input and output backwards. Shoving 24v input into the 12v output side of the converter makes things not happy.

Now I'm off to order a replacement converter. I'll have to rewire the other converter before putting it on the house as I did both converters the same way.

 

[niget2002]

I thought I'd toss the WLED controllers back on the house. Installed the right side and said, "self, we should test this before doing the other side." Plugged in the 24v power supply and it immediately went into over-current protection.

Dats not good...

Pulled the 24v->12v converter off the side of the house, flipped it over, and realized some dummy wired the input and output backwards. Shoving 24v input into the 12v output side of the converter makes things not happy.

Now I'm off to order a replacement converter. I'll have to rewire the other converter before putting it on the house as I did both converters the same way.

I re-wired the second 24v->12v converter and have it installed on the house. Half the house LEDs work now.

 

[Blue Chips]

I’m almost done refurbishing my 2001 New Holland GT18 garden tractor. Here’s what I’ve done on it so far (mostly in my garage/shop):

• Repaired the steering gear box.
• Replaced the original steering tie-rod ends with heavy-duty greaseable Heim joints with dust boots.
• Sanded out areas of light surface rust on the body and frame, and then primed and painted all of the body sections and other parts.
• Freed up the stuck seat adjustment mechanism.
• Reinstalled the fuel tank, which involved custom-cutting new foam rubber mounts/pads.
• Replaced the faulty fuel gauge with an aftermarket gauge of the same size and resistance range.
• Replaced the original rear reflectors with actual taillights with the same external appearance, which involved running new wiring.
• Refurbished the headlight reflectors.
• Upgraded the original headlights and the new taillights to LED bulbs.
• Replaced the plastic push-pins that secured the rubber foot-rest mats with stainless fasteners.
• Adjusted the hood hinges and latch for proper engagement.
• Replaced several pieces of damaged wiring.
• Restored the dashboard lens to clarity.
• Rebuilt the original carburetor, which I think is superior to the aftermarket carbs that I’ve seen.
• Replaced the engine’s crankcase breather tube.
• Bumped up the HP of the CH18 to what I believe is 20HP by removing the high-speed throttle stop screw and readjusting the governor (that could be the subject of another thread by itself).
• Replaced all engine and transmission oil and air filters.
• Plus lots of fiddly things too numerous to mention here (new fasteners, various adjustments, etc.).

I took it for its first long test drive today, and it's running great. While I wouldn't call it a full 'restoration,' I think it's looking pretty decent for being 24 years old.





I slipped an old seat cover over the original seat, which is still in pretty good shape, with only a couple of small hairline cracks that don't go all the way through. I may try some kind of conditioner on the vinyl to see if it softens up a bit.



There are still a few tweaks left to do on it:

• I need to make the final adjustments to the brake and motion-control linkages.
• The battery light is always on (it's charging fine) so I need to address that, either with a different battery light module or going to a voltmeter instead of a warning light.
• There's a wobble in the left front wheel, which I plan to replace with a good used rim that I got from a tractor forum member.

 

[nadogail]

Made a better stop block and cut some 72” long fence 6 inch (nominal) width fence boards to 36” long.
Worked out with my Fitness Trainer. Put away some tools from the other day.

 

[Skyman]

Eliminated this clusterf*ck of jackassery - on the drain side, at least:






Supply side is still ugly, but it's gonna remain so for the foreseeable future.

 

[Beerhippie]

Another easy day and two of the easiest fixes ever!

When I got in this AM, the brewers alerted me that one of our bucket elevators was making a horrible noise. That just about ruined my day right there, as the drive unit is on top of the elevator, which sticks up through the roof of our mill room. It's 40' in the air and halfway to the middle of the building. Accessing that requires the biggest cherry picker the local rental shop has, and that barely reaches at full extension. Working up there is not my happy place.

Well, I started the elevator up and indeed it made an awful noise--but not one that I'd associate with the drive unit or conveyor. It was more of a very loud rumble at about 60hz. Hmmm... there's a big, 60 rpm ******** motor mounted to the chute that feeds the elevator from the grain weigh bin to keep the grain moving at less than angle of repose. I put my hand on the chute, grabbed a 9/16" Gearwrench, tightened one nut and... problem solved! The old laying on of hands for the win again. Less than five minutes.

Then the kitchen dropped off a non-working steam table at the shop. Took the bottom cover off, tested the heating elements, thermo protection switch, thermostat. Replaced the cord with one I had on hand, put the cover back on and it's fine. One of the prongs of the original cord was no longer attached to the wires. Fifteen minute job done in fifteen minutes.

This kinda' **** could spoil me.

For the afternoon, mow mo' leaves, then clean and put the mower up for the season.

Now for the gutters... yuck.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Serviced the electric sprayer. Mixed weed killer. Pulled in and opened happy new Dingo tracks, so they can expand.

 

[DGersic]

Got out the leaf blower, used it to clean off the roofs and gutters. Then raked and shoveled four wheelbarrow loads of ginkgo fruits from the grass to the leaf pile out front.

While doing that, I noticed that the rear plastic fascia on the Camry looked loose at the passenger side wheel well. Some investigation showed that whatever was supposed to be holding it on was missing. Looking at the drivers side, found that it should be some kind of bolt. Tried removing it, only to have the bolt come out and crumble to dusty shards of used-to-be-a-bolt.

Some guessing with what I had on hand showed that it wasn’t a #10, or a #12, but it looked like a coarse thread, possibly going in to plastic. Local hardware store had some #14 x 3/4” stainless pan head sheet metal screws. Two of those are now holding the rear fascia to the car, seems all good now and shouldn’t rust away again.

 

[rharman]

Edison is killing our power Friday from 9:30 to 5:00 to replace a pole down the street. We've had this Coleman 1500w generator (Kawasaki powered) for over 30 years - bought it when I worked for a department store chain - we sold everything!

Still starts on the first or second pull but I wanted to be sure we're good-to-go for tomorrow so I replaced the spark plug and changed the oil - it's been a while since last done but it only gets used every couple of years maybe.

Found it only wants to run on full or almost full choke so I'll be dealing with that later. It'll get us through the outage tomorrow. In the meantime, I added some StaBil snake oil (cleaner) to the gas. I've had good luck with StaBil storage stabilizer for years so thought I'd give this a try. This will keep security cams, alarm, and internet going after the UPS runs down. We usually run the refrigerator for a couple of hours part way through an outage this long.

​

 

[Outlawmws]

Not a bunch, it was raining most of the day! I got those gutters clear yesterday just in time!

I did get the milk glass lantern fount and brass collar back as one with Plaster of Paris:

Can't get pics to load?

And found a chimney that fit from my "stock". All I need now it the actual wall clip thing.:

Can't get pics to load?

Put lamp oil in and fired it, but forgot to take a pic. Also topped off my mercury glass reflector lamp with a similar wall bracket since the jug was near empty anyway.

I got most of the oak leaves I blew off the roof yesterday into our green bin - wet - as it was a break in the rain late afternoon, and my neighbor across the street offered his green bin as well, as his was near empty this week, so I filed his too! BIG dent in that annual mess!

 

[bmwrd0]

Scraped paint:

to

Does give me faith that I am not the one who did a ton of damage to the original paint. I mean, I know I got a little too aggressive at times, but you can tell it wasn't just me.

Most of the front done, but I got a little tired of it, and so I did some test fitting

Still need to get the right motor pulley, along with a few other parts, the lower shelf cut out and stained, and the belt is a 3L while it needs a 4L. But now I know the size I need, and how far it needs to be away from the wall to cool the motor and such. Plus, sometimes you need a little extra light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[frenhie]

Cleaned on a C111 Hunter alignment machine I picked up over the weekend for a $1, It's in mint shape and everything works. The turn table and camber plates are in great shape also. I can't tell you how many alignments I have done on a machine like this back in the 80's, hundreds and hundreds.

I have one too. Lacked turn tables though so ordered new ones

 

[bugnut]

Just outside the garage did not like the hook ends on the trailer safety chain, looked at loop underneath. Grabbed the cutoff tool and removed the old chains. Replaced with newer chains and much better hooks, we're good to go!

 

[SMOKEYBEAR]

Drill the three pieces that will hold 5/16 ss rod for my bench. Used the first one as a jig/ guide for the other two...I didn't like the result, a bit off here and there. Clamped some other jig components I've used in the past and gave it a second go. The results are much better. Waiting on the SS rod to be delivered, so a bunch of sanding ... I have the top sorted out, need to chase some lumber down.

A table with a fence and T-slot for the drill press is now on the list.

 

[Mike65]

Messed with my wife's other motorcycle a 2014 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Custom. A friend of a friend came to look at it yesterday & possibly buy it & it would not start. We were just getting a buzzing sound like a starter solenoid we a low battery. We put my wife's jump starter on it & it read a full battery charge. Today I am going to put my battery charger on it & see if it starts.

 

[Outlawmws]

Just outside the garage did not like the hook ends on the trailer safety chain, looked at loop underneath. Grabbed the cutoff tool and removed the old chains. Replaced with newer chains and much better hooks, we're good to go!

I switched to these at least a dozen years back for tow "hooks" Not as fast, but far more secure.:

 

[Outlawmws]

Not a bunch, it was raining most of the day! I got those gutters clear yesterday just in time!

I did get the milk glass lantern fount and brass collar back as one with Plaster of Paris:

Can't get pics to load?

And found a chimney that fit from my "stock". All I need now it the actual wall clip thing.:

Can't get pics to load?

Put lamp oil in and fired it, but forgot to take a pic. Also topped off my mercury glass reflector lamp with a similar wall bracket since the jug was near empty anyway.

I got most of the oak leaves I blew off the roof yesterday into our green bin - wet - as it was a break in the rain late afternoon, and my neighbor across the street offered his green bin as well, as his was near empty this week, so I filed his too! BIG dent in that annual mess!

Think I worked out a different path for the pics:

I did get the milk glass lantern fount and brass collar back as one with Plaster of Paris:



And found a chimney that fit from my "stock". All I need now it the actual wall clip thing.:



Seems to have worked - what a PITA

FYI I reported the issue in the image posting thread and they are working ion it now.

 

[M.Brane]

Got a beer out of the fridge this morning. Worked a 12 HR shift last night plowing rocks off the road. Looks like it'll be the same into next week. Hopefully we can keep it open, but no guaranties. Once things get saturated big stuff starts coming down. Gonna have another beer then hit the sack.

 

[rd65]

Messed with my wife's other motorcycle a 2014 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Custom. A friend of a friend came to look at it yesterday & possibly buy it & it would not start. We were just getting a buzzing sound like a starter solenoid we a low battery. We put my wife's jump starter on it & it read a full battery charge. Today I am going to put my battery charger on it & see if it starts.

If it is carbureted, drain the float bowls.

 

[Beerhippie]

If it is carbureted, drain the float bowls.

I doubt that will make the starter work any better.

 

[rd65]

I doubt that will make the starter work any better.

Gee, really? Thanks for the help.....
If it sat long enough for the battery to drain down, draining the float bowls to get some fresh fuel to the carbs wouldn't be the worst idea.

 

[Mike65]

When we went out to the garage today, I put the battery charger on it. The charger has a scale from 0 to 6 & it went to 3. Once it charged for about 1 hour the bike started right up. BTW it is fuel injected, but thanks for a suggestion anyway.

 

[ATC]

Welded some hooks onto my second skidsteer bucket.

 

[Beerhippie]

Back to photographing the menu and weekly specials for the pub.





Bahn mi and Sheppard's Pie. I didn't realize that was Sheppard's Pie, or I wold have gotten a fork to pull a piece out to show that it isn't just a bowl of mashed potatos.

Sill need to hone my lighting some. I think I'm over-using soft lighting and need some more direct lighting. Waiting for some accessories to aid in that.

This is something I shot back in '08, and I prefer the more dramatic lighting:



I think I was using several Speedlites, mostly undiffused. I just wish I'd kept some kind of notes back then....

 

[Outlawmws]

This is something I shot back in '08, and I prefer the more dramatic lighting:

I agree - better colors.

 

[rd65]

The last pic is more vibrant and crisp

 

[JEFFREYWisconsin]

Back to photographing the menu and weekly specials for the pub.





Bahn mi and Sheppard's Pie. I didn't realize that was Sheppard's Pie, or I wold have gotten a fork to pull a piece out to show that it isn't just a bowl of mashed potatos.

Sill need to hone my lighting some. I think I'm over-using soft lighting and need some more direct lighting. Waiting for some accessories to aid in that.

This is something I shot back in '08, and I prefer the more dramatic lighting:



I think I was using several Speedlites, mostly undiffused. I just wish I'd kept some kind of notes back then....

the plate and the contents stand out against and sort of feature themselves against the contrasting background better too

 

[SMOKEYBEAR]

Found some walnut for my bench seat. It was pretty rough stuff, made a deal for all of it (better price) knowing I was gonna burn through most of it to get what I wanted. When searching for ideas..I came across a work bench, the top was purple heart, length wise, 1 piece full table length. I wanted the same for my bench, full length, 1 piece. So here's 27 50.5+ x1.75x.75 strips of walnut for the seat portion of my bench. I clamped them to keep them from going crazy before I glue them up tomorrow. I'll split it up into two glue ups, my planer only does 15". The goal is 1.5" thickness, so I cut them to 1.75 knowing I'll lose some after another pass or two through the planer.

Lots of lumber dressing to get to that stack.

I have lots of random walnut scraps that will turn into something else at some point..

Added a picture of the Purple Heart work bench that got me here.

 

[Beerhippie]

I did a little processing on the raw files:



That's looking better--if not a bit overdone.

 

[Beerhippie]

the plate and the contents stand out against and sort of feature themselves against the contrasting background better too

I agree. The Powers That Be are a little unsure about using a black BG, but I greatly prefer it.

I also don't like the vertical "potrait" orientation, but these are for our website and I guess most folks will be viewing it on their phones and don't know they can turn the phone sideways.

 

[vrstcv]

Found some walnut for my bench seat. It was pretty rough stuff, made a deal for all of it (better price) knowing I was gonna burn through most of it to get what I wanted. When searching for ideas..I came across a work bench, the top was purple heart, length wise, 1 piece full table length. I wanted the same for my bench, full length, 1 piece. So here's 27 50.5+ x1.75x.75 strips of walnut for the seat portion of my bench. I clamped them to keep them from going crazy before I glue them up tomorrow. I'll split it up into two glue ups, my planer only does 15". The goal is 1.5" thickness, so I cut them to 1.75 knowing I'll lose some after another pass or two through the planer.

Lots of lumber dressing to get to that stack.

I have lots of random walnut scraps that will turn into something else at some point..

Added a picture of the Purple Heart work bench that got me here.