Stuff you have fixed today

[Keithmac]

C3 is increased clearances for an application where the bearing may heat too quickly before the shaft/housing can equalise, resulting in a race too tight & subsequent damage.

Are you sure it's c3 from factory?

If so, then i'd suspect either crank is bent or something is out of whack, balance or housing alignment.

Yes OEM is C3 clearance.

If it happens again I may have the crank machined to give less preload when the cases are bolted up.

C4 clearance is not uncommon either on 2 strokes (Yamaha mainly) and there is a bit of overlap between C3/C4 spec.

Will see how it goes, definitely not Oiling issue, crank is true and good quality oil being used (Motul 510).

Crank cases are machined as a pair and dowelled for alignment.

 

[dan.taylor.1]

Fixed the mega cheap oxy fuel hose reel I got at auction recently with 2 custom made seals, which admittedly were just shy of 40 notes, but that's still a third the cost the manufacturer quoted me, and made in less than a week from dropping the old one off to the new ones back on the reel.

Got it mounted on a standoff bracket I whipped up to clear the electrical conduit, debating if I could have made a swivel, but it's only 4 bolts if I get fed up.

Used some armoured cable cleats to keep the hose to the bottles from catching anything. That's after I moved the bottles from behind the mill so I can actually use full table travel now!

 

[blackolive (Ste)]

My other pair of binos have cleaned up well with some IPA. Some blooming/fungus on the inside of the objectives but its of no concern. They were a first wedding anniversary present off the missus and thirty years later still going strong

 

[Stueeee]

Actually 'fixed' over a few days. Having moved my old Colchester Triumph out of the workshop, I am working to get my DSG type 17 and my Smart & Brown Model M into the workshop and out from the garage where they're both taking up car space. This is a major piece of work as doorways etc. need to be moved and pretty well every machine needs to be moved too. So, started with my Bridgeport, which needs to be moved and have a riser block and slotting head fitted.

Took the head off before lifting the machine which the handbook says is just short of a tonne for what's left here. My travelling crane setup is only good for 1/2 tonne according to my structual engineer mate. So there's an Acrow prop halving the span which is out of shot. It's a 1 tonne girder trolley and a 3 tonne lever winch. I was swinging on the chain of my 1 tonne chain block that usually lives on the girder trolley. Having got the machine somewhere near its new position, I lifted off the head: all the Heath-Robinson rigging is an attempt to keept the head somewhere near level during the lift.

Then I fitted the 7" riser block, this has been sitting on my workshop floor for several years while I have struggled to get enough daylight to machine cylinder blocks etc. It turns out there are two versions of the Bridgport riser, one uses a second 'spider' to hold the head to the riser and uses two sets of short bolts; mine has 13" long bolts that reach down through holes drilled in the base of the riser to pick up the original spider in the base. Lining everything up and getting the bolts to pick up the threads was an absolute barsteward of a job which involves feeling all the bits into the correct position unsighted through the little trapdoor in the side of the machine. Still all back together now, so, one machine moved, only six more to do....

 

[Gragson]

One of the boys panicking - key will not go in the ignition no matter what..! - He's a top machinist according to mates/work reviews.... cobblers!

2007 Golf, sussed it was not electrical / central locking, went for me old as Gandalf graphite puffer into the the ignition barrel - jobs a goodun for now...

Started to explain benefits of dry lube in barrel lock situations, at which point he started yawning / looking at his phone.. at which point I twatted him round the ear and walked away .

He won tho, repeating what I was saying to the mrs who started yawning / looking at her phone, never heard the boy laugh so much

 

[Arc Tourist]

One of the boys panicking - key will not go in the ignition no matter what..! - He's a top machinist according to mates/work reviews.... cobblers!

2007 Golf, sussed it was not electrical / central locking, went for me old as Gandalf graphite puffer into the the ignition barrel - jobs a goodun for now...

Started to explain benefits of dry lube in barrel lock situations, at which point he started yawning / looking at his phone.. at which point I twatted him round the ear and walked away .

He won tho, repeating what I was saying to the mrs who started yawning / looking at her phone, never heard the boy laugh so much

Best dry lock lubricant I have found > " Hoppe's Teflon Powder "

 

[GraemeVW]

I've had this technics slp1200 for 15 years, but it's been out of action for the last 6 years. Legendary top quality cd player. Heavy, complicated professional beast. This one is ex BBC. As they are nearly 40 years old, and got alot if use, the lasers burn out. No new lasers have been available for 20 years though. However, there were some lower players that had the same laser.
1 cheap granny owned low hours technics midi system from Facebook later, and it has a new laser. Replaced all the micro switches as they get a hammering too.
Now playing perfectly and sounding great.
I dont own many cds (quite alot of records though!) And these are worth over £1k now, so it will be sold.

 

[Red'n'Black]

I've had this technics slp1200 for 15 years, but it's been out of action for the last 6 years. Legendary top quality cd player. Heavy, complicated professional beast. This one is ex BBC. As they are nearly 40 years old, and got alot if use, the lasers burn out. No new lasers have been available for 20 years though. However, there were some lower players that had the same laser.
1 cheap granny owned low hours technics midi system from Facebook later, and it has a new laser. Replaced all the micro switches as they get a hammering too.
Now playing perfectly and sounding great.
I dont own many cds (quite alot of records though!) And these are worth over £1k now, so it will be sold.
View attachment 409884

Good to see the display is still nice and bright, vacuum fluorescent displays tend to fade over time.

I have an old clock radio I was given circa 1987 that's now barely visible in daylight, and a 10 year old Sony DVR that's done the same.

There are supposed to be ways of rejuvenating them, I'll give it a try when I get around to it.

 

[GraemeVW]

Good to see the display is still nice and bright, vacuum fluorescent displays tend to fade over time.

I have an old clock radio I was given circa 1987 that's now barely visible in daylight, and a 10 year old Sony DVR that's done the same.

There are supposed to be ways of rejuvenating them, I'll give it a try when I get around to it.

What causes them to fade? Loosing vacuum?

 

[Red'n'Black]

What causes them to fade? Loosing vacuum?

No it's usually game over if that happens, you get a tell-tale white smudge inside the glass.

I think the filaments lose emission, some brands were worse than others for it.
The filaments normally run dull red so they're not visible, you can sometimes bring them back to life by running them at a much higher current for ~ 30 seconds to burn off the contamination. I've never tried this though so don't blame me if it burns out!

The other possibility is that the caps in the power supply have dried out, that's a much easier fix.

In the TV trade there was a similar trick for failing CRTs but it was usually a temporary fix at best.

 

[GraemeVW]

No it's usually game over if that happens, you get a tell-tale white smudge inside the glass.

I think the filaments lose emission, some brands were worse than others for it.
The filaments normally run dull red so they're not visible, you can sometimes bring them back to life by running them at a much higher current for ~ 30 seconds to burn off the contamination. I've never tried this though so don't blame me if it burns out!

The other possibility is that the caps in the power supply have dried out, that's a much easier fix.

In the TV trade there was a similar trick for failing CRTs but it was usually a temporary fix at best.

So they have a heater like a valve?
Luckily it's spot on still.
I've never really thought about this kind of display.
I build turntables, and have build a few valve amps, but that's as far as my experience goes really.

I was warned not to try and fix this cd player, but turns out it wasn't that hard really. Would be really nice to be able to set the focal distance exactly, but it requires specific test cds and stuff.

 

[DennisCA]

This is you fix a vacuum leak in a professional manner.

 

[RWD3M]

This is you fix a vacuum leak in a professional manner.

View attachment 409917

Brilliant! Took me a second to spot that

 

[Red'n'Black]

So they have a heater like a valve?

Yes exactly like a valve. The filaments are usually a set of parallel wires just behind the glass, you can see them on an IR camera.

Not used much any more for new designs, for much the same reasons as valves - expensive, fragile, power hungry and run on high voltage.

 

[DAPPH]

Finally fixed fitted back six hanging flower baskets to the new roof line plastics . We had a complete new re-roof ,along with the half inch and 1/4 inch micro bore clock timed micro misting system for them .
Going up the step ladder four times has seen me wrecked for a few hours due to disabilities and old age , " Heat lamp & bed rest to the rescue ". Only needed to climb the steps 30 or so times over the four days it'd taken me to fix them back up.

Also had to strip out the ECU control box on my electric wheel chair as it died in style with all panel lights flashing like crazy . found a secondhand replacement on EBAY for just under £100 inc P&P .

On stripping the damaged ECU out I found the watertight die cast rubber gasketed mounting box it was in was not quite as water tight as it ought to have been as it runs almost 2 inches off the floor .
There must have ben at least two teaspoons of water droplets inside tre casing and almost all components had suffered condensate shorting .

A desperate squirt with white vinegar. judicious use of a pigs hair artist brush to break up the verdigris and gunge then a quick rinse off with a kettle of fairly hot water ,. a quick Aquavax suck session then over night in the airing cupboard ....did it work ? NFC but only one red failure light came on this time so now it's in the airing cupboard opened up and will stay there for the next year or so to see if it does actually dry out . How did the water get in ..down the control cable where it enters a water resistance plug when i got caught out in a stonking rainstorm for three hours . . Fortunately I managed to get back to the car hoist the chair up on the hoist before it died on me , over night it died

 

[500e]

Not sure hand made Vark There is a faint marking in the slot on mine it looks like a segmented world

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Not sure hand made Vark There is a faint marking in the slot on mine it looks like a segmented world
View attachment 409944View attachment 409945View attachment 409946

If it is, the head casting on mine is piddle poor.
The shaft was clearly home made.

So was the wedge.

But it still a tidy tool.

No @Parm

 

[500e]

Handle is not original, head has had a bit of smoooothe!!! cant stand rough tools
Does it have the slot motif
Peddinghause have a selection of this style with a motif that could be what mine had they call it an engineers cross-peen
Had the head for years only just got round to pulling a handle on not quite right in the hand
No @Parm

 

[Blobber]

Its not just fraserb that needs tech on his tractor! got a little chinese phone holder for tech on the go but it failed miserably, a little rummage through the wing mirror box produced this nice looking non handed arm, a little bit of adaption and away we go!

 

[dobbslc]

That's a bit Flash Gordon