Stuff you have fixed today

[GRW]

Sort of fixed my rear brakes on the Master Campervan today.
Handbrake was poor, & these are I'm told known for failing rear calipers and generally iffy handbrake operation.

Had a big fight getting the caliper carriers off (they looked like they'd not been disturbed in some time). Map gas attack, a BFH, whacking some rust off then whacking a 17mm socket on... & got there. Otherwise the rear brakes aren't a bad job at all really.

Sliders freed and greased, worn discs cleaned up (for now), nearside pads unstuck from rust & gack in the carrier, & the offside caliper handbrake actuator unseized.

It's a temp measure & a learning exercise really - I'll need to fit new bits and have a good clean up before MoT in November.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

This came my way the other day.

It was complete but in need off some attention.

The issue.
The Lmp style twin wick holder was seized in place, the wick gears were jammed and the smell from the tank was of a heavy fuel oil.

The tank was washed out and it was a 'orrible task.
Then some gentle heat onto the boss holder, light oil was applied. You know when it is hot enough when small bubbles form.

The wicks were rotten and swollen with rust remains. remove as much as the rust as you can, soak the wicks in lamp oil and work the gears until they are free.

Salvaged wicks, from another dead heater.

Fresh fuel. In this case lamp oil with a bug repellant additive. When they wicks are burning nicely trim to suit.

The heat will turn the red oxide to black oxide in use.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

This was a nice educational restoration.
Well not a full one but more of a rescue.

A nice example, complete, but in need of tlc.

This one was needing seals, cup washers and a tidy. It has a mantle, but that was going mafe trouble later.

A new cup washer allowed it to be pressurised. The mantle is warming up here. But it was clear the low quality of it was allowing hot gas to escape. That will blow the glass.

A new decent Mantle was fitted, all the parts were cleaned up, new seals were needed.

Away we go.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Nice 120mm German camera was a nice find. I knew the shutter did not work. But that made a good haggling point.

Complete. But what was better was the manufacture had spares and they sent me instructions on how to fix the issues.
Best of all, the parts were FREEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!
If I returned the parts, in the SAE.

Spot the ne parts.

It works, I tried it with a new film, but it is a bit of a pain to use.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Sometimes a gentle and tactile approach is needed.
This was a case of not rushing in. Working out how to do something what will not damage the item.

This limited collection of 1971 Land Rovers was dusty dirty and looking scanky.



But when we got it onto the bench, we found out the packaging was still sealed.



So, a wee think and we made adapters and fixed a few items to clean the inside with out breaking the seals.
More on them soon.

The odd computer cleaning tools we adapted to clean the Land rovers.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Some times a full restoration of an item will render it priceless, as in diddly.
This is one item, witch we had to work hard not to have it de-rusted and re-painted.

This is one of those items.

The saving points are, still has all its stickers and the plastic parts are not broken.

Rust was treated with rust converter. The plastic cleaned with a car grade plastic cleaner and the paint buffed with silver polish.

I could not find the missing hub cap, oh hum.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

A nice set of Avery Scales. There should be a case to go with it. But that was long scraped. A terrible shame.

you can just see, top right hand corner, the difference between before and after in cleaning the metal.

Neat Bees wax and a bit oh white spirit to clean the wood. The rest came up a lot better.

There was history with it as well.

This was cleaned up.

There was a motley collection a weights, some very old, some modern.

Finished.

 

[zx9]

Free trial of Lightroom and Negative Lab Pro has convinced me they're worth paying for, the results are worlds apart from what I could do in Darktable, GIMP or DxO. It'll convert a whole roll of negatives in one click too, where Darktable would take me ten minutes per image and they'd still look a bit naff.

View attachment 461202

I do hear good things about NLP and have seen some good images made using it, both B&W and colour. I have the PS / Bridge / Light Room suite and have the trial of NLP but I do wish it had a stand alone version as I can never get on with the LR work flow. I really must have another go with NLP & LR, I suppose having used PS since PS3, thirty years is a long habit to break yes the ACR aspect is practically the same but it just seems wrong.
As an aside, which C41 kit have you been using? I had a sudden developer death incident with three rolls or 35mm in a CineStills kit which has put me off a bit. I think that my next kit will be the Bellini 1L one but I have not decided.

 

[GRW]

Sort of fixed my rear brakes on the Master Campervan today.
Handbrake was poor, & these are I'm told known for failing rear calipers and generally iffy handbrake operation.

Had a big fight getting the caliper carriers off (they looked like they'd not been disturbed in some time). Map gas attack, a BFH, whacking some rust off then whacking a 17mm socket on... & got there. Otherwise the rear brakes aren't a bad job at all really.

Sliders freed and greased, worn discs cleaned up (for now), nearside pads unstuck from rust & gack in the carrier, & the offside caliper handbrake actuator unseized.

It's a temp measure & a learning exercise really - I'll need to fit new bits and have a good clean up before MoT in November.

Update: Scoured online today, & managed to find a new pair of rear calipers with a discount code, and a set of rear discs & pads. Total outlay £106.09 (both off eBay UK Sellers).

Seeing as OEM aren't typically thought to last more than 2 years on these vans, I've taken a punt on cheapest pattern stuff - we shall see next week when the bits come!

 

[Bobupndown]

Also did a bit of brake fettling myself today, didn't think to take any pictures. Son's Polo had a sticky front caliper a few months back. Id taken it off and freed it up at the time but in reality it needed cleaning up properly and new seals. Duly took calipers off and fitted these. The same caliper piston was virtually seized again and took a bit of persuasion to remove. Well cleaned with 400 grit paper and rebuilt. That's the fronts done. Have a set of seals ready for the rears as well which is a job for another day.

 

[indy4x]

Update: Scoured online today, & managed to find a new pair of rear calipers with a discount code, and a set of rear discs & pads. Total outlay £106.09 (both off eBay UK Sellers).

Seeing as OEM aren't typically thought to last more than 2 years on these vans, I've taken a punt on cheapest pattern stuff - we shall see next week when the bits come!

I purchased a new rear caliper from my local factors 3yrs ago, still working fine and handbrake is good, other caliper is what the van came with which was 4 yrs ago

It doesn't get much use through the winter which may explain why they have lasted

 

[GRW]

I purchased a new rear caliper from my local factors 3yrs ago, still working fine and handbrake is good, other caliper is what the van came with which was 4 yrs ago

It doesn't get much use through the winter which may explain why they have lasted

I was wondering if the lack of use since December due to me working on the conversion had exacerbated the problem (combined with 7-months of almost constantly miserable wet weather).

 

[Keithmac]

We picked up a 1970 Honda C50 for a chap a few weeks back, poor runner etc.

He'd had a go but couldn't make any headway.

Managed to find some NOS gaskets (look at the box, proper old stock!).

Stripped carb down, good clean and inspection.

Had a job to remove it from the bike as both nuts had been stripped (ruining the studs in the cylinder head inlet).

Replaced studs and checked new oring would seal with a ruler, don't need a ruler to see how bent the carb flange is!.

Ended up hand filing it flat (and a bit of surrounding area to make sure it will sit flush on cylinder head.

All back together, just waiting for a couple of inline fuel filters before starting her up.

Something a bit different, did 40 hours of wiring repairs last week, not a fun week tbh..

 

[RichardM]

^^^^^^^ You need a milling machine.

 

[Keithmac]

^^^^^^^ You need a milling machine.

Would be nice!, and a lathe too .

 

[Red'n'Black]

We picked up a 1970 Honda C50 for a chap a few weeks back, poor runner etc.

He'd had a go but couldn't make any headway.

Managed to find some NOS gaskets (look at the box, proper old stock!).

Stripped carb down, good clean and inspection.

Had a job to remove it from the bike as both nuts had been stripped (ruining the studs in the cylinder head inlet).

Replaced studs and checked new oring would seal with a ruler, don't need a ruler to see how bent the carb flange is!.

Ended up hand filing it flat (and a bit of surrounding area to make sure it will sit flush on cylinder head.

All back together, just waiting for a couple of inline fuel filters before starting her up.

Something a bit different, did 40 hours of wiring repairs last week, not a fun week tbh..

View attachment 462824
View attachment 462825View attachment 462826View attachment 462827View attachment 462828View attachment 462829View attachment 462830View attachment 462831View attachment 462832

That's in nice nick.

Fair play to you, I'd never get that anywhere close to flat with a file.

 

[Brad93]

We picked up a 1970 Honda C50 for a chap a few weeks back, poor runner etc.

He'd had a go but couldn't make any headway.

Managed to find some NOS gaskets (look at the box, proper old stock!).

Stripped carb down, good clean and inspection.

Had a job to remove it from the bike as both nuts had been stripped (ruining the studs in the cylinder head inlet).

Replaced studs and checked new oring would seal with a ruler, don't need a ruler to see how bent the carb flange is!.

Ended up hand filing it flat (and a bit of surrounding area to make sure it will sit flush on cylinder head.

All back together, just waiting for a couple of inline fuel filters before starting her up.

Something a bit different, did 40 hours of wiring repairs last week, not a fun week tbh..

View attachment 462824
View attachment 462825View attachment 462826View attachment 462827View attachment 462828View attachment 462829View attachment 462830View attachment 462831View attachment 462832

Might be an idea to get a surface plate, spray adhesive a bit of wet and dry to the surface and then you can use that to finish your part off very flat

 

[Dcal]

And there is a very nice surface plate in the for sale section that would be perfect for the job.

https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/surface-plate.138989/post-2479906

It would also stop me buying it, because I have more than enough surface plates already.
I paid what @Brad93 is asking for one that was rusted red and needed scraping.

 

[Brad93]

And there is a very nice surface plate in the for sale section that would be perfect for the job.

https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/surface-plate.138989/post-2479906

It would also stop me buying it, because I have more than enough surface plates already.
I paid what @Brad93 is asking for one that was rusted red and needed scraping.

I think someone may be coming to collect that one today or tomorrow. But yeah it's been scraped properly and glides on my granite when flipped upside down.

Just needed to get it gone as i don't have the space for it - and they don't seem to fetch much money anymore now the scraping fad is dying down.

 

[Smouser]

I fixed my spare welding helmet today.

It is an ESAB Warrior Tech helmet and the 'low battery' led has been flashing for ages. It must have finally died as the helmet was completely dead.

I am unsure if the charging circuit (there is a small solar panel) is broken or if the battery was completely knackered.

To get the lens/circuit board out, you need to remove the knob on the side of the helmet.

The whole lens/circuit board can then be removed by unscrewing two thumb screws.

I used some picks to open the circuit board's enclosure.

This is what it looks like inside.

The battery (CR2450) is a 'permanent' battery, not designed to be replaced.
I snipped the welded terminals off and removed the old battery.

It will be replaced with a CR2032 battery holder.
A CR2032 has the same voltage as a CR2450 battery but less capacity.

I drilled a hole in the casing for the wires to pass through and did some dodgy soldering.

All done!

The helmet works again and I can replace the battery easily if/when required.