Stuff you have fixed today

[Dcal]

Today I "fixed" a mate's tractor.

Some clampit had wired the flashing beacon directly from the battery without even an inline fuse.
I don’t know why, because there was power to the switch from the correct fuse.

The only saving grace was they used bell wire and it burnt out before lighting the whole thing.
He was very lucky it wasn’t a total loss.
Needs a new roof lining, a bit of loom, the heater controls, radio and lots and lots of plastic.
I have everything working again so he can use it until he gets the bits to repair it properly.
Inside the cab is not an nice place to be now, so he might even get it sorted.

 

[Barking Mat]

Today I had a dripping TRV, which looks like a typo for a water leak on a Blackpool sports car, but strangely enough, not this time
I could turn this into another long-winded missive full of double entendres and naff similes, but since it's nippier in here than a Barbara Windsor film I'll keep it short (it's always this short when it's cold) and merely relate the facts in a straightforward, non-pontificative and unelaborated fashion, to wit:

I was in me bedroom, see (...and now I have Welsh accent in my head ) installing a cloth sheathing to the Continental quilt (there's lovely) when I chanced to notice a wisp of steam, from the general direction of the carpet, isnit?
Now you can call me a devout traditionalist but I don't subscribe to the Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen school of over-blown, pompous and faddy floor coverings like parquet veneer, rush mats and elephant hide, and try as I might I really couldn't remember buying a wool/polyester blend carpet whose USP was that it steamed of its own volition.
Closer inspection revealed, unsurprisingly, that the central heating was losing water.
Well blow me, I said, but got no response from the full-size poster of Kimberley Nixon clad only in welding mask, TIG gauntlets and gold stilettos. I say Kimberley Nixon, she has a mole in the same place as her so it must be.
Closer inspection still identified the culprit: a Drayton TRV4. Unscrewing the thermal cartridge (that's the knobby bit on the top for you central heating engineers) showed that water was escaping past the gland seal.
Off I went to the Screwfix website where I was edified to discover that they don't sell replacement seals, only complete new TRVs at £30 a pop.
Thirty quid, I muttered, I've got rid of wives for less. So I turned to the Duck for inspiration (other search engines are available) and found that Drayton offer a plastic valve setting tool and pair of new seals for £18. Eighteen quid? May as well buy a new valve for 30!
Then I had a vague recollection that somewhere in the boxes, bags, punnets and duckets around the place I have a spare TRV4. When I fitted... erm, got a Corgi-registered installer to fit... my new combi in 2005 I removed the old radiator from the bathroom and replaced it with a heated towel rail fed from the boiler. As best practice suggests, I used two lockshields instead of a TRV, hence the spare.
A good ransack ensued, and then I went and looked for the TRV
Drayton in their clever-dickiness designed the TRV4 to have its gland seal replaced without the need to drain the heating so I thought: Aha! There was a crap 1980s band if ever there was one... and then conceived a cunning plan. At this point you'd expect me to go all Blackadder so I won't. I merely removed the gland seal from the spare valve, reasoning that as it's done 15 years less work than the leaky one, it should be a simple swap. It was.
I turned the heating back on.
Ballcocks, I expostulated, as the bloody thing began dripping worse than a grandmother at a Take That concert.
Right then, what are the chances that if I swap the seals back and then change the whole valve, it'll stop the leak? Hmm, I have half an hour before I need to taxi my mother to her sister's.
Out to the garage, grab a length of Tricoflex, soften it in a kettle of water until it'll push onto the drain stub. Open the cock and let water drain. Spanners, tape, valve swapped, refill system. Wahey, no leak from the TRV!
Drive mother. Come back.
House like a bloody fridge. Climb in loft, boiler flashing more lights than an armed response unit on the way to Asda for some Krispy Kremes. Pressure gauge on the stop.
Bleed off the pressure, reset boiler, it tries to light but then trips out again. Repeat until p1553d off and with hands by now colder than a penguin's scrotum.
Lacking a penguin, warm hands on own scrotum.
Find manual. Delete crap joke about Fawlty Towers.
Flow switch? Whaddya mean flow switch? It was working fine two hours ago, how can the flow switch have died?!
Fanny about with flow switch plunger.
Remember that I was supposed to collect mother from her sister's.
Poke screwdriver in flow switch, boiler lights. Halleflippinglujah.
Collect mother. Remind her that she lives somewhere else. Take her there. Come home.
House colder than Ice Station Zebra. Climb in loft. Find screwdriver has fallen out of flow switch.
Notice that flow switch plunger now has more resistance. Rush off to Ladbrokes to place bet that system had airlock.
Refit flow switch. Heating fires up. TRV still not leaking.
Feel smug, especially with £30 saving. Celebrate with cold beer and bowl of ice cream.

You need to take up writing, that was beautiful, and very funny.

 

[Fraserb]

Today I "fixed" a mate's tractor.

View attachment 274743

View attachment 274744

Some clampit had wired the flashing beacon directly from the battery without even an inline fuse.
I don’t know why, because there was power to the switch from the correct fuse.

The only saving grace was they used bell wire and it burnt out before lighting the whole thing.
He was very lucky it wasn’t a total loss.
Needs a new roof lining, a bit of loom, the heater controls, radio and lots and lots of plastic.
I have everything working again so he can use it until he gets the bits to repair it properly.
Inside the cab is not an nice place to be now, so he might even get it sorted.

It makes you wonder about some folk right enough, our new tractors we just get the dealer to add any wires we need for radios or light bars, saves a lot of grief down the line.

 

[dobbslc]

Fixed this telescopic paint roller frame after my boy broke it painting his room, it went all floppy!
Bit of a bodge but it works!

 

[Cobbler]

That looks like one we had, after a lot of use the roller frame fell apart, I cut the handle off a cheap roller & welded it to the original frame. It gave another lease of life for a while.

 

[MattF]

Fixed this telescopic paint roller frame after my boy broke it painting his room, it went all floppy!
Bit of a bodge but it works!
View attachment 274818

You tight git.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

You tight git.

LOL.
I bet you would of used duct tape.

 

[Nick67GT]

Today I fixed our integrated Miele dishwasher.

It had been displaying multiple flashing lights (with associated beeping noises) for a few days, along with erratic wash functions as well as the drain pump running constantly. Switching it off overnight only provided a temporary fix.

Mrs. GT started looking at a new replacement and it wasn’t until she mentioned a like-for-like replacement was over £1000, I was galvanised into action and decided that it was worth dragging it out from where it lives to have a look see.

A quick search on the interweb pointed to the sump pan filling up with water and activating a float switch, as a possible cause.

Sure enough, having taken off an inspection panel in the front plinth, I could see the float switch and dripping water beyond it.



Taking it out and tipping it on its side to remove the sump panel showed no problem with hoses / clips or cracked housings, but a sensor dangling from its wire leaving it’s retaining grommet on the main pump open to the atmosphere. Pushed it snuggly back in, reassembled the tinware, and gave it a test run.



No visible drips or flashing lights so far!!

 

[dobbslc]

You tight git.

Needs must! The boy's been working since 9AM and is still going!!!
I've been crawling around in the loft space insulating it and laying those loft legs so I can floor it but still have 250-300mm of the itchy stuff underneath. Poxy job.

 

[Barking Mat]

Yep, been fixing stuff too.

Knocked up a bow thruster cover / protection grill, as the previous one had disappeared.

A bit of gas hob from a dead hob, some shocking mma chicken poo welding done last week.

In the post box at work was some new stainless rods I ordered. Never used 1.5mm diameter before.

Bit of chopped up stainless soap dispenser, a load of p.u. gloop.

If any fish criticise it, I'll discuss its strictly utilitarian use and how it's not cosmetic, a couple of niceish welds were found.

Then I got home to find a screw in the postbox, from the very kind Mr @northwest, which then got popped, or screwed into my vice, then discovered the locking ring was in th wrong place ever since I'd bought it, bit more fiddling, and it opens and closes as it should do for the first time since I bought it five ? odd years ago. Most happy Barking Mat !

I also fixed a bow thruster on another boat, with an intermittent, logic defying problem, but I won't bore you with that crappy story.

 

[Seadog]

The solenoid?

 

[Barking Mat]

The solenoid?

How, the bell did you figure that out? Yes, the bloody solenoid.

The M10 studs were loose, the cables were well bolted up between the nuts, no play there, but I guess over 10 - 12 years, something had loosened up on the inside, once I'd removed the nuts holding the cable lugs on, retightened the nuts against the body, attached the cables, more copper washers and nuts, it worked flawlessly. 300 amp relay, 12 volts, Dc, grrrr !

Time wasted on that.....

 

[123hotchef]

I dont have the kit to weld that up. I did get in touch with a chap, that welds and manufactures for a living, and the quote he gave me, was twice the price of the replacement

 

[123hotchef]

I fixed the winch some more today but then beer came knocking.

 

[123hotchef]

Yep, been fixing stuff too.

Knocked up a bow thruster cover / protection grill, as the previous one had disappeared.

A bit of gas hob from a dead hob, some shocking mma chicken poo welding done last week.

In the post box at work was some new stainless rods I ordered. Never used 1.5mm diameter before.

Bit of chopped up stainless soap dispenser, a load of p.u. gloop.

If any fish criticise it, I'll discuss its strictly utilitarian use and how it's not cosmetic, a couple of niceish welds were found.View attachment 274865View attachment 274861Then I got home to find a screw in the postbox, from the very kind Mr @northwest, which then got popped, or screwed into my vice, then discovered the locking ring was in th wrong place ever since I'd bought it, bit more fiddling, and it opens and closes as it should do for the first time since I bought it five ? odd years ago. Most happy Barking Mat !

View attachment 274867View attachment 274868

I also fixed a bow thruster on another boat, with an intermittent, logic defying problem, but I won't bore you with that crappy story.

are you going weld the crack/hole up?

 

[Barking Mat]

are you going weld the crack/hole up?

Eh? the crack / hole ? It's a fiberglass boat?

 

[123hotchef]

Eh? the crack / hole ? It's a fiberglass boat?

no man the vice!

 

[Barking Mat]

View attachment 274902
no man the vice!

Ahh, discussed this about ten minutes ago with wifie and my ex, she's off tomorrow.

It kind of is part of the vices story, I don't know if it's a casting defect, or it has been suggested the result of a peening hammer?

I only noticed the spots of weld spatter on it too this evening.

I could flap disk it down, weld up the crack, but it doesn't stop it from being a perfectly useable vice with 'history', I contacted the company in the state's over a week ago asking if they had any idea what date it was, they haven't got back to me.

Sorry, long day.

 

[123hotchef]

what kinda story is that then! lol.

 

[MattF]

Ahh, discussed this about ten minutes ago with wifie and my ex, she's off tomorrow.

It kind of is part of the vices story, I don't know if it's a casting defect, or it has been suggested the result of a peening hammer?

I only noticed the spots of weld spatter on it too this evening.

I could flap disk it down, weld up the crack, but it doesn't stop it from being a perfectly useable vice with 'history', I contacted the company in the state's over a week ago asking if they had any idea what date it was, they haven't got back to me.

Sorry, long day.

Cracked slide is a fairly common problem with them. Prentiss?