Stuff you have fixed today

[DennisCA]

Clear coated the mazda last night, had to skimp on getting the finish properly done, not enough time for another round of filler and sanding and primer. Oh well it's a user, not a looker. Still I will color sand the panels and polish it up once the clear coat has hardened enough. The bottom of the front and rear wheel houses are new metal, as is the bottom of the sill the entire length.

 

[DanZac]

Clear coated the mazda last night, had to skimp on getting the finish properly done, not enough time for another round of filler and sanding and primer. Oh well it's a user, not a looker. Still I will color sand the panels and polish it up once the clear coat has hardened enough. The bottom of the front and rear wheel houses are new metal, as is the bottom of the sill the entire length.

You just need to get that cat colour matched now and it'll look sweet.

 

[DennisCA]

The car would like nicer black IMO. I hate metallics, working with them anyway. It was so easy to blend a black patch I repaired on an older car.

 

[Bullet2012]

Used this

To repair this

PCB let all the smoke escape.

 

[Olderisbetter]

Found a historic bit of damage and loose paint on the moggy, i pulled the seam back into place and did a repair to match the surroundings, it will need some more messing but I'm happy.

 

[Olderisbetter]

More yesterday but my man cabin has needed a new roof for a while, no the price of OSB has dropped its time for a cure, the timber is on and ready for the fibreglass tjis week.

 

[Maker]

A Dymo label maker, I went to use it and was told "Good luck, it's a POS". I was a bit surprised as it's one of the posh ones that'll print on heatshrink. It turns out the blade doesn't retract fully so you need to pull it out to stop the label from birdnesting inside it, and someone hadn't, a piece of label had become wrapped around a roller and would scrape the ink off a freshly printed label, making the thing totally useless.


It's got to be one of the least user serviceable things I've ever used and serviced.





Cleaned the roller, bent the spring on the cut button slightly further and spent twenty minutes trying to get it back together, before declaring it "fixed forever".

 

[northwest]

Today I set to and fixed my pushbike, you know the one that tried to kill me! Anyhow it needed a new hydraulic brake line pulling through the frame and after a bit of investigating found there is a "special tool" . I took one look and figured I could easily make one. I found a 2.5mm long screw, cut the head off it and screwed a couple of nuts on, loctited them about middle-ish. Then a pin vice and the grinder, just so I could get the thing started:





It pulled through perfectly and although I had to use quite a bit of force at one point the two lines held onto the "tool" Had to cut them off when I had done:



Turned a nightmare into a two minute job.

 

[Arc Tourist]

Today I was finally able to finish installing the new clothes drying post I fabricated three months ago, when I fell off a ladder and broke my ribs. I made it with an Up haul & Down haul so the line can be taught along its length rather than bowing. I should have kept the old line, as the new one is slippery and took quite a few knots to secure it. Happy day.
.

 

[awemawson]

Guests in our holiday cottages stuck. Been to the pub, unknown person reversed into front of their rather posh VW van, broken ambient temperature sensor so engine management unit throws a wobbly and refuses to go at any sensible speed. "VW support" arrives in the farm yard, diagnoses the fault but spare not immediately to hand. OK says I to the support man who (actually is AA on secondment) - tell me what resistance it should be at the current ambient temp. He pulls the sensor from his (VW) van and we measure it as 680 oms at 32 degrees.

680 ohm 1/4 watt resistor pulled from my resistor stash, lashed in and all is sweetness and light - they can continue their planned holiday visits while support chap orders up the correct sensor.

Too bally complicated these modern vehicles - give me a moggy Minor with spark ignition any day

 

[500e]

One at each end ?

 

[awemawson]

My Ford 4600 tractor of I think 1979 vintage sits most of the year patiently waiting for me to start cutting hedges. And for this I have a darn great hedge flail left on it as it's such a pain single handed to get it on and off. Earlier this year it started dripping oil making quite a puddle. Rear axle / hydraulic oil not engine oil, and I was fairly certain that the seal on the PTO shaft was leaking. But getting to look at it with the flail and it's associated PTO mounted hydraulic pump still in place was neigh on impossible.

Well end of September those hedges need cutting so I can't put it off much longer. With bailer twine and much grunting I managed to pull the pump off the shaft and hang it out of the way so that I could at last see the PTO shaft. Well I never - the four bolt flange that retains the seal and bearing had only one bolt Looking back at pictures of when I bought the tractor it was like that when I got it probably 8 years ago and I'd never noticed. Although a bit of oil was coming from the seal, the main leak was round the flange - the one bolt was still mighty tight.

So drain the oil (40 litres!) remove the flange and oil seal, replace with new seal and gasket and a full complement of bolts - simples except I've been waiting on the seal for two weeks. Initially my fault as I ordered the wrong seal but today the right one came in the post.

I pumped the oil out as the drain plug is blocked by the pick up hitch and I wanted to re-use the oil - although it's probably 7 years old it's done very little work in that time.

So a ten minute job this morning changing the mechanical bits, and about an hour pumping the oil back.

. . . fingers crossed for no puddles tomorrow morning !

 

[500e]

No A check then

 

[awemawson]

No A check then

Explain ?

 

[dobbslc]

A Kawasaki hedge trimmer.

It used to run ok but started playing up and after a bit of farting around with the carb with no success I decided to go for one of the eBay carbs, it took over 3 weeks to arrive...

Spot the problem with the new carb on the left!
I knew this when I bought it so was hoping I could just spin the top or bottom around 180°.
The more I looked at it the more it seems the old carb wasn't correctly assembled or it was on back to front! The little pulse hole for the fuel pump was on the air filter side and not against the corresponding hole in the cylinder! The one with the oblong slot over it.
Not sure if that was me the last time I took it apart or of it was like that when I got it and I never noticed
That sorted it now unsurprisingly runs and although a little rich only needed a tweek to the idle screw.
So for about £10.50 I now have a running hedge trimmer

 

[Arc Tourist]

Today I put together and had a trial fit of a side stand for the Bantam bike. I modified both a ZZR600 stand and carpenter's prybar for the task. The stand will be bolted to the attachments for the pillion foot peg assembly. I also polished up the heads on the 3 Lb. Blacksmith's rounding hammer that I acquired awhile back.
.

 

[carbonarc]

Hi it looks like "A Check" is an add on sensor array for tractors. It is managed by micro electronics to improve ploughing accuracy in terms of tillage depth.

Explain?

 

[awemawson]

Hi it looks like "A Check" is an add on sensor array for tractors. It is managed by micro electronics to improve ploughing accuracy in terms of tillage depth.

Not a lot of relevance to a 1979 Ford 4600 with a hedge flail then

 

[carbonarc]

Not a lot of relevance to a 1979 Ford 4600 with a hedge flail then

There may be some sensors that you could fit to turn your hedge flail into an artistic topiary tool.

 

[Guzrik]

A roller at the back of my flailmower, it's dragged at maybe 5rpm.
The bearing was gone no balls anymore, shaft and outer race have more than 1mm play.
There were two 6206 ballbearings in and I am wondering if that would be ok? It is impossible to align with a little accuracy, so mabey it needs some of the selfadjusting ones like 11506?
My lathe is nowhere near big enough for this 150x1150 roller, so I'm thinking to put a few beads on the surfaces and file the shaft to size and maybe mill the bearingblocks out on the mill.