What did you do "IN" your garage today?

[jimkinney]

I've tried. All they need to learn is carpentry, construction, design, welding, simple machining, electrical, electronics, brewing theory, high work, rigging, jury rigging....

Hasn't worked out yet.

In my experience, the jury rigging will be the hardest to learn.

 

[jimkinney]

I've been waiting for parking lot sale at Harbor Freight to buy the rest of the lights I want in my garage. On Tuesday after work I picked them up...9 more and yes they still had more when I left.
Tonight broke out the tools and ladder and hung two more...only 7 to go!!!

Oh well a little progress is still progress.

I've picked up several of these also. I attach them to the inside of my garage door so I have light when the door is open. Just use an extension cord for power when I need them.
They weigh almost nothing and the door opener doesn't notice them.

 

[DGersic]

No engineering, school, then?

Other sciences call it Occam's Razor--basically the same thing. But still, in a complex system, the simple answers just bite you in the ****.

Every complex problem has a simple, obvious solution that is wrong.

 

[larry4406]

I've picked up several of these also. I attach them to the inside of my garage door so I have light when the door is open. Just use an extension cord for power when I need them.
They weigh almost nothing and the door opener doesn't notice them.

Do the lights attached to the garage door stay plugged in to the wall all of the time?

 

[DGersic]

How old is that game? I think that was one of my faves, back 50 years ago...

1972.

Fireball is the first machine I can remember playing. There were others I played before it, but I couldn’t tell you what they were. We were on a family outing to Great America amusement park in Gurnee, IL. I suspect mom & dad were tired and wanted a chance to rest, so dad gave me a dollar to go play pinball. Games at the time were generally one for a quarter, but I found Fireball was one for a dime. Even a kid can figure that ten games for a dollar was better than four. Also, whoa, look at that backglass. And three balls in play? And zipper flippers. This was enhanced by being the first time I heard the Thwack! of winning a replay. I knew from the older kids that such a thing was possible, but had never actually done so before.

It’s funny what sticks in your head as a memory. Fuzzy, indistinct, but there. Later, older, played a lot more pinball in arcades. In college, bought my first game (Farfalla). Got involved in pinball as a hobby, meeting other enthusiasts online. And that memory came back. I had to figure out what that game was. Turns out, that was the easy part. Fireball is somewhat famous, and that artwork makes it easy to identify.

Eventually, I had to have one. Being famous, they’re easier to find, but more expensive because fame. I bought a basket case, and spent five years restoring it. Along the way, I reproduced the playfield plastics, because the originals are fragile and always broken. Made 100 sets, sold 98 of them, which turned a small profit over ten years. Took a long time to track down the dime mech and price insert for the coin door, but I had to have it.

It’s one of the two games I won’t sell. Farfalla is the other. The other games I have, I like, they’re fun, but they hold no special memories for me. I’m not selling any right now, but I could and it wouldn’t bother me.

Oh, and Fireball is famous thanks to *******. It was featured in the December 1972 issue as part of the ultimate bachelor pad, the accessory you just had to have if you were going to be the epitome of the cool single guy.

 

[DGersic]

Nice!

When you are bored, you can come work on my 4 mechanical pinball machines!

EMs are interesting to work on. I’ve had others. Ladder logic isn’t the way I usually think, so it takes a while to get my head wrapped around it.

Which four?

 

[Motorman55]

I've picked up several of these also. I attach them to the inside of my garage door so I have light when the door is open. Just use an extension cord for power when I need them.
They weigh almost nothing and the door opener doesn't notice them

I like that idea. However, my door is the full factory insulated panel type and the lights would stick out. Knowing me I'd break them the first week. Maybe I could use the flat string type LED lighting instead.

 

[GreenIron]

In my SHOP yesterday:

I cut to size, walls and portions for a 6-room Purple Martin bird house.
Pics later.

 

[larry4406]

EMs are interesting to work on. I’ve had others. Ladder logic is t the way I usually think, so it takes a while to get my head wrapped around it.

Which four?

Here are the 4 pinballs and links to some of the details of them.

Basement is in disarray with the ongoing master bath project. I hope to reset up the basement afterwards and get them back in service. I think I have the schematics for most of them. I bought them for $150 each back around 1995 time frame except I was given the Williams Stardust by a relative. She had bought it from the same outlet I did also at the same time. After her kids went to college and they downsized, I was given it.

They all play, but some have issues. There is/was a guy local to me that works on them for a reasonable fee; he serviced them last for me 10+ years ago but to my knowledge is still around. Also, a coworker of mine is into these and restores them as a hobby; I have not asked him to futz with mine.

Bally Aladdin's Castle - 1976

https://pinside.com/pinball/machine/aladdins-castle

Williams Space Odyssey - 1976

Space Odyssey Pinball Machine (Williams, 1976) | Pinside Game Archive

Find out everything about Space Odyssey (Williams, 1976) pinball machine; General game details, ratings and reviews, photos, videos, high scores, places to play and find machines currently for sale on our market place.

pinside.com

Williams Stardust - 1971

Stardust Pinball Machine (Williams, 1971) | Pinside Game Archive

Find out everything about Stardust (Williams, 1971) pinball machine; General game details, ratings and reviews, photos, videos, high scores, places to play and find machines currently for sale on our market place.

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Chicago Coin Casino - 1972

Casino Pinball Machine (Chicago Coin, 1972) | Pinside Game Archive

Find out everything about Casino (Chicago Coin, 1972) pinball machine; General game details, ratings and reviews, photos, videos, high scores, places to play and find machines currently for sale on our market place.

pinside.com

 

[rd65]

They come in lots of diameters, and are low voltage, could be wrapped around the quill, under the headstock. I don't think 16 or 20 LEDs are going to blind you.

 

[GreenIron]

Hi, my name is Darra....what's yours? Will you be good to me....keep me well lubed?

TRANSLATION
"We are not here to harm you"
"We need only a grease gun"​

 

[jshillin]

Not in my garage, but in my buddies. He is building a table and needed some help. It's made out of Kentucky Coffee Wood and the bowties are some Mahogany I had laying around. We cut the bowties in this week, then cut down the table to true it up and routed the edges. It's commemorating his father. In the epoxy, it has an old hunting license of his, fish books, spent casings etc. It still needs to be finished sanding the wood and treating it as well as sanding and polishing out the rest of the epoxy. Once it's done, it's going in his dad's cabin that was handed down to him.

 

[DGersic]

I think I have the schematics for most of them.

Nice. I had Aladdin’s Castle and Space Odyssey at one time.

Any schematics you need, Steve Young at Pinball Resource has and will sell you a good copy of.

 

[larry4406]

Nice. I had Aladdin’s Castle and Space Odyssey at one time.

Any schematics you need, Steve Young at Pinball Resource has and will sell you a good copy of.

Thanks for the info. I will check it out.

 

[DGersic]

The shadowing shown here is why the ring lights are a better solution for DPs and mills in particular - even more so with small bits and accurate centering to marks:

After staring at my drill press this morning, I’m not seeing a good way to make a ring light work. The quill is about 2 1/2”. All of the inexpensive “selfie” lights are much bigger, seeming like they get in the way of things like changing bits in the chuck.

Mounting it, I like that Bridgeport setup, but don’t have a lathe and a mill to create it. I could probably come up with something, one way or another. The Bridgeport quill looks a lot bigger, so better suited to the light he adapted.

So, I think I’m going to bail out of this particular rabbit hole. The shadow problem is real, but I think it can be resolved with two sewing machine lights. I have one now, I’ll add a second one, see how that works out.

If you come up with a good solution, I’ll happily copy it though.

 

[jimkinney]

Do the lights attached to the garage door stay plugged in to the wall all of the time?

If I leave enough slack they can stay plugged to the extension cord all the time. I usually don't, it's easier to unplug one, than pull the string on all of them to shut them off.

 

[Beerhippie]

After staring at my drill press this morning, I’m not seeing a good way to make a ring light work. The quill is about 2 1/2”. All of the inexpensive “selfie” lights are much bigger, seeming like they get in the way of things like changing bits in the chuck.

Mounting it, I like that Bridgeport setup, but don’t have a lathe and a mill to create it. I could probably come up with something, one way or another. The Bridgeport quill looks a lot bigger, so better suited to the light he adapted.

So, I think I’m going to bail out of this particular rabbit hole. The shadow problem is real, but I think it can be resolved with two sewing machine lights. I have one now, I’ll add a second one, see how that works out.

If you come up with a good solution, I’ll happily copy it though.

The biggest problem with using two lights is the one on the right-hand side getting in the way of the handles. I find one, slightly in front and on the left, is fine. Shadows are away from me.

 

[Outlawmws]

Not in my garage, but in my buddies. He is building a table and needed some help. It's made out of Kentucky Coffee Wood and the bowties are some Mahogany I had laying around. We cut the bowties in this week, then cut down the table to true it up and routed the edges. It's commemorating his father. In the epoxy, it has an old hunting license of his, fish books, spent casings etc.

That is an awesome table build - literally a new family heirloom.

 

[DGersic]

The biggest problem with using two lights is the one on the right-hand side getting in the way of the handles. I find one, slightly in front and on the left, is fine. Shadows are away from me.

I stuck one on, and the flexible arm clears the handle ok. It’s just a magnet, I can pull it off or move it if it’s in the way.

 

[SMOKEYBEAR]

That's awesome! I'm going to try that on mine. I have a larger than original motor I want to mount.

I'll share some more pics once I get it a bit further along. I'm headed to the shop now.

 

[Outlawmws]

After staring at my drill press this morning, I’m not seeing a good way to make a ring light work. The quill is about 2 1/2”. All of the inexpensive “selfie” lights are much bigger, seeming like they get in the way of things like changing bits in the chuck.

I agree the selfie ring lights are too big

I'd posted this Microscope ring light earlier I think it's a more realistic solution once a "mounting ring" is sorted for the collar for the depth stop (at least on mine)

Its even dimmable.

 

[CoogarXR]

Stepped up my storm-prep a little bit.

I thought the power grid at my new place was pretty decent, but I had a close call yesterday. The power right up the road was out for several hours when it was like 4-degrees. My power was unaffected, thankfully. But with this severe cold front coming, I decided to get my gear ready:

-Went to town, swapped my empty propane bottle for my portable propane heater
-Went to TSC and bought a 2nd 5-gallon Kerosene bottle
-Stopped to fill it ($5 a gallon! Jeez, it's been a while since I bought kerosene, that seems pretty damn high, lol)

Got back home, dug out the old Kerosene heater, and it was absolutely filthy from sitting in the corner of the garage, unused, for probably 10 years. I had ordered a rebuild kit for it a couple years ago, but I never put it in. Well, today was the day! I took it completely apart, cleaned it, put in the new wick, new igniter, new batteries, and put it all back together. I'm waiting on the wick to soak before I try to light it, but it should be fine. It used to work, it was just smoky because the wick was junk.

So, I'm ready for the sub-zeros to move in. I have a propane wall heater and my propane cooktop that don't need electric to run, my portable propane heater, and my freshly-rebuilt kerosene heater.

My wife is ribbing me that I didn't get her a wood stove this summer. Yeah, I should have. It would be nice to have that backup heat option as well. Oh well, we should be good to go now, even if the power goes out for a while. I have a portable generator too, but I probably won't need it in this case. It's not like food in the fridge will spoil, I'll just put it on the back porch, lol.

 

[TheClaw]

Hmmmm, lets see. What garage do I talk about. Garage #1 or Garage #2

Built a new shop this year. Started with this,





Due to a disfunctional building department I was on hold most of the year with an empty building.






Finally, after a couple of inspections, ended up with this,





I'm finishing up with the lights in the back and moving old workbenches and tool boxes over. Next thing is to unbox the new tool boxes and build a frame around them and get things in order.

 

[bmwrd0]

BMWRD0 - 1

Mouse - 0

 

[Beerhippie]

Spent some time organizing my sockets onto rails for my Toyota/Vanagon road tool kit:



I was able to assemble a pretty nice little collection of deeps sockets for 3/8" and 1/2", all from GS finds. The 3/8" dr. deeps are all made in in US--Proto, S-K and Crafty. A few are SAE cognates where I couldn't find a proper metric to fill the slot.

As I use these more, I'll be able to eliminate some of the tools--like tiny and large Allens, in particular.

I know what I'll be doing in the shop for the next while--the TG shop and Rocky's:

 

[SMOKEYBEAR]

Went 2-0 today. Drill press motor adapter plate completed and within a tolerance I'll accept without a re-do. Motor is wired, switch works too. It's amazing how much quieter a new $$$ Baldor motor is compared to the old factory Craftsman. I never considered the old one loud either.

It went as expected. The motor shared 2 bolts with the adapter plate, 2 counter sunk fasteners for the other 2 motor slots and 2 from the plate to the original mount. Zero complaints.

Used a level to check the height, the table slopes same as relationship between the two pulleys. I checked it over and over, I'm content with it. Height was adjusted using the factory adjustments.

I feel like the hard part is behind me. Just some paint and reassembly now. Weather is gonna challenge teh opportunity to paint..temp is dropping and a significant snowfall is in the areas future this weekend.

Pics, no order

 

[niget2002]

think I’m going to bail out of this particular rabbit hole. The shadow problem is real, but I think it can be resolved with two sewing machine lights. I have one now, I’ll add a second one, see how that works out

This is what I do on my drill press.

https://a.co/d/eP7H6zx

 

[rcktpwrd]

Among other things leaking under the wagon was the oil filter housing. I spent a couple hours this morning hopefully repairing and stopping what I think was the biggest leak. The underside of the car is pretty heavily covered in oil and gunk.
Getting the housing off was not too difficult, it basically fell out when I took the two bolts out. Only real snag I ran into was having to lower the torque converter shield, I didn't see that mentioned in any of the posts I read, not a big deal but the housing wouldn't come all the way out without loosening it.
Pleasant surprise was that the gasket came off the engine block completely and was stuck on the housing only. When I gently pried the gasket off the housing about 99% of it came off! I did get a can of Permatex gasket remover and used that on what was stuck to the housing, along with gently scraping with a razor blade and using a pick to clean the o-ring groove of some really stuck on stuff. The o-ring was still pretty pliable and not torn. I spent some time scrubbing and cleaning with brake cleaner and a brass wire brush.
The hardest part was putting it back together! Need three hands to hold the gasket, housing and bolts to get everything lined up... Once I got it all reassembled I drained the oil, car needed and oil change anyway. I installed a new filter, new drain plug gasket, added oil and then started the engine with the car still up on the jack stands. Didn't see anything new leaking or dripping so I put the car back on the ground. I really wanted to take it for a drive and then put it back in the air but it's been cold and raining all day. I did take it for a ride and all seems ok so far.

As a follow up to this, the damn oil pressure switch that I replaced less than a year ago is leaking pretty badly too... I have one on order, different brand, hopefully it lasts longer!

 

[Outlawmws]

This is what I do on my drill press.

https://a.co/d/eP7H6zx

Similar to what I put on mine - it's a 30 LED sewing machine light from Eprey 8 years back. Still throws shadows...

I'd rather it was USB powered and with this one I can probably set one up front and back and get it to wok. this one has an AC plug, complicating things.

Something like this one:

 

[kaymccampbell]

Glued up the fixed edge clamps for the burner. Snapped on a breaker.

 

[dwasifar]

Not in the garage, but garage-adjacent.

I had to cut out this section of wall when I noticed water coming in. Now that I'm confident the problem is solved, I'm closing it up.



The piece of wood is temporary. I'm trying to save the corner, so I dug out the old drywall from underneath it, slid the new pieces in under it, and glued it. The wood is a temporary clamp for the glue.

 

[Outlawmws]

Went outside to work on stuff for the first time in weeks. (allergies from the pollen of my alder tree...)

I needed to move the bed boards (1X12's) in the back of the van about 1" further back so the hood (the drivers seat sits on the hood of the Gen 1 Toy Mini Vans...) would open fully. even with a jack I added they limited the hood opening. that took the most time.

Once the hood was opened, I freed the kick done cable from being stuck. (would not shift out of first gear...) I need to do a better job of lubing that stupid thing, or see if I can find a replacement... (the trick there is its 39 years old...)

Had a thought while typing - that hood is in desperate need of one of those pneumatic hatch opener things to provide an assist to the weight of the sucker. I'l have to give that some thought...

 

[2001ZR2]

Confirmed diagnosis of the thottle position issues on my wife's truck. Then the ignition switch didn't fully shut down the truck...missed this so got to come home and deal with a dead battery. The GM side posts were hard to get good connection on so extenders ordered.

Parts order inbound and scheduled for delivery tomorrow so racing against artic air to get the fix in. The problem is worse at lower temps.

My son cone into town for the funeral of a long time friend's mother. But he mentioned that someone told him to check his taillights. Drivers side brake light was out...bad bulb. Getting the potential screws to remove the board with the sockets and bulbs presented a learning opportunity. He now know how to slot a rounded off Phillips head to use a slotted screwdriver. And he learned how use pliers to grab a screw and back it out.

Garage adjacent wrote letter to General Contractor on my siding and garage electrical saga offering to share the pain of his electrical contractor not delivering and being a "Richard". Expect this God fearing man to demand his 30 pieces of silver for less than steller work.

 

[Beerhippie]

I just decided to check on that controller. It was unplugged.

Fortunately, the tank is empty for now. Put a big warning label on it. Maybe that will work?

Finally diagnosed and fixed the solenoid valve problem.

ASCO piloted solenoid valves are one-way affairs. Some genius mounted the valve backwards--in which position, it never really closes. The word OUT cast into the port I had the inlet connected to was a clue.

Fixed that. Then someone mentioned that they wanted the whole thing reconfigured so it would use the third jacket of the cooling system--the cone at the bottom--so they could use the tank with low levels of product. Gee, you think it might have been easier to do that while I had the whole ******* thing torn apart?

Cursewords were used, with abandon. Project completed--until they change their little bitty minds again.

 

[Beerhippie]

TRANSLATION
"We are not here to harm you"
"We need only a grease gun"​

TAKE US TO YOUR LUBER!

 

[Beelzeboss]

I connected the downpipe to the rest of the exhaust on my Jeep Rod.

 

[DGersic]

I'd posted this Microscope ring light earlier I think it's a more realistic solution once a "mounting ring" is sorted for the collar for the depth stop (at least on mine)

Hmm. That does look like it might work.

 

[DGersic]

This is what I do on my drill press.

https://a.co/d/eP7H6zx

I have exactly that light. Several of them, actually.

 

[DGersic]

No pinball today. Today I took apart the new to me drill press to see why it was so slow to raise. Old nasty grease turned to glue. Had fun cleaning the old grease out of it.





Regreased, reassembled, and had a great time getting the return spring back in its holder.

For some reason, dad had this bit of plastic as the depth indicator. Made a replacement from some scrap stainless steel sheet.

 

[vwpieces]

You drilled the head for a push lock. Where did you get the push lock guts?

Kinda... didn't drill well, too hard. Got a starter hole drilled and carbide burr, hand filed real close. Final fit 320 grit wrapped on a sharpie.

For the Icon G1 1/4 drive flex head ONLY, Tekton small body, $9ea. 3 kits yields free shipping. I only used the toothed square drive out of the kits.

Can still see chrome layer on lower half, gray raw steel upper half.

Was some work but I got what I wanted.
Quick release, soft handle, small body flex head.