What did you do today?

[dbhost]

One of my tasks is to replace my old, cracking and clipped through I am blaming Larryl my saws previous owner for that although I honestly could have been the one to trim the end off, miter fence ends. I figured Safety orange looks like a fantastic idea so I printed my first one with the caps as well off. The end block is likely usable, not even going to photograph the caps. Too long of an unsupported span. Printing end Forum right now although it will take at least 3.5 hours to print, so when I get up in the morning it will be done...

Anyway here is what it looks like unsupported on the extended end.



That should profide I hope, enough support inside the extrusion. HOWEVER, I am not allergic if the one printing now with supports does it right, comes out clean making a third. Perhaps I am wrong, but the thought is, safety orange miter fence caps, AND the red line drawn would keep me alert enough to keep from sawing them off...

[dbhost]

Update, installed on the fence, and it fits fine, VERY minimal slop without the screw, as soon as the screw goes in it is VERY tight, and since there is little to no pressure on it, this should be no problem. Good deal because as soon as this is done, I have some Echo Dot mounts to print out.

Once the Echo dots are mounted and off of the desks, floor and bathroom counter, I should be able to move on to next projects...

[dbhost]

Printed out the 2nd end piece for my miter fence. Installed. Safety orance. These are different from my OE in that they take a second piece to install to keep the indicator and miter fence clamp from sliding off. My first attempt at printing those didn't infolve supports and as such failed miserably. I am in the middle of printing a Tie Fighter Echo Dot desktop holder that will take over 24 hours to print so, yeah not gonna happen to day.

[leehljp]

Bought a level at HF yesterday in Hot Springs AR. (Was there for oldest grandsons wedding.) I had not noticed these in my local HF. Machined from a solid bar, Sturdy, and reminded me of a flat straight edge checker - which is the main reason I bought it. Anyone here have a precision straight edge? I think I have seen a couple of people mention one on this forum.

https://www.harborfreight.com/24-in-...vel-69242.html

[LCHIEN]

I have one of those except it is a 9" model...Very stout machined from a single piece of aluminum! instead of plastic like the other ones I have.

https://www.harborfreight.com/9-in-s...vel-69223.html

The anodized red color makes me think Woodpeckers except it would cost about $75. :-)

[twistsol]

Tuesday night after work I ran up to Duluth/Superior with the truck and trailer to pick up some furniture at Daughter #3's house, Wendesday went out to the golf course and made it as far as the driving range and sprained my ankle stopping on the edge of the cart path. Hobbled back to the car and went home.

This weekend, tooled up the trailer, drove the furniture to Sioux Falls for a niece and then helped daughter # 1 build a retaining wall and some other landscaping projects at their house. Back in Sioux Falls next weekend to pick up the grandkids for a week. On the way home I mentioned I was tired of driving and LOML told me we are going there by way of Fargo, ND because a cousin is having a birthday party.

I may never see my shop again at this rate.

[dbhost]

Pulled the blown AC compressor out of the car, which meant since I am doing the condenser too disassembling half the front end of the vehicle. f*#$%ing modern automotive engineers.

Got hte system pipes, compressor, and consender put back together and hit it with the vacuum pump only to realize it won't pull a vacuum. The Delphi condenser didn't come with the fancy pants crush washer seals the OEM had on it, so I tried using the green AC O rings, I am betting that is the issue. Ordered a box of mixed size GM OEM, and 4 Seasons.

Finding a heating issue on the printer bed of the 3D printer. On long prints it heats up too much and melts a corner of big prints and makes it curl away. I printed out a PS4 controller / headset stand that curled up. Very disappointing... Working with Voxelab support to figure out what is going on. My unit didn't come fully flashed with firmware either so we may have some other issues to boot..

[LCHIEN]

Well, we have had contractors working on the house first time in 30 years and we are redoing the breakfast room, kitchen, pantry and utility room totally including ceramic tile, removing wallpaper and refinishing all the cabinets and special woodwork the original builder installed. So it is taking a long time.
I just ordered new knobs as the polished brass knobs mostly have the finish worn off. Got them today... 90 of them enough to do downstairs but not the upstairs.
I ordered satin nickel round knobs to replace the old oval ones. Brass is out they tell me and I spent a lifetime straightening knobs that got crooked with use. My wife said she never noticed that and I said its because I spent 30 years tightening and straightening the knobs on a daily or weekly basis as crooked knobs set me off. Round knobs need occasional tightening but they never get crooked.

So all the shelves and drawers in the Utility and Pantry have been repainted and fresh so there is not dirt and scratches from cans and stuff, so we decided to put plastic shelf liners in. Comes in 12, 20 and 24 inch widths so I have 5 rolls costing me 90 bucks from Amazon.

So I cut them to length with a rotary trimmer and a cutting board; some were 44" long.
Then I rolled them up and trimmed them to the exact width.... using my BT3 Table saw and SMT. Works pretty well and accurately. You do kind of get a kickback if you use the rip fence as a stop... I had to use my spacer block to keep the cutoff from jamming in the blade but its not bad even when it does that being kind of soft. I did need a sacrificial miter fence that supported the roll on both sides of the cut... its soft so it makes a mess if you don't support both sides and I don't have a miter sled.
Anyway that's my improvisation of the day - a lot better than cutting a thin strip off the end of 15 44-inch mats and a bunch of drawer liners..

[mpc]

Not woodworking... car stuff. Just replaced the FACE/FOOT vacuum actuator in my Conquest (1987 sports car); this actuator directs vent/air conditioning/heated air to either the FACE vents, the floor/FOOT vents, or splits it "bi-level" between them assuming the actuator actually works. It is a common failure on these (old) cars. It is somewhat like the old distributor vacuum advance units: a diaphragm acted upon by engine vacuum to pull on a rod connected to air duct doors... the FACE/FOOT actuator has vacuum ports on each side of the diaphragm so it can pull and push. The rod has a rubber bellows around it to seal the push side vacuum chamber; that bellows dries out and splits after many years. The result is you can have 100% FOOT ventilation airflow or bi-level but not 100% FACE airflow. The actuator hasn't been available from Mitsubishi (they made this car for Chrysler and Dodge, and also sold it as the Starion under their name) for 20 years or so and few (none?) used ones are healthy. Sealing the gaps/tears in the bellows, with epoxy, is a short-term fix but it always fails again at some other fold. Last week I found a viable substitute bellows - right size, not so stiff that it jams the actuator - for just a few bucks. At a R/C hobby store of all places: it is sold in a 6-pack as rubber boots to cover shock absorbers for radio controlled off-road cars! A little epoxy to seal it against the actuator body was all that was needed; it was an ideal length, flexible enough, and the "small end" fit around the actuator rod tightly. Getting to this thing is a bit of a nightmare as it is underneath the dash, screwed to a bracket that is in turn screwed to the side of the heater core assembly. Two itty-bitty screws attache the actuator rod to the vent door linkage in the heater box... and two screws that face forwards - towards the firewall of the car - hold the actuator to the bracket. Getting to those screws is a nightmare. You need arms with 4 elbows each. Oh, and you can barely see this thing... until you try to stuff an arm or two in there and totally block your view. Gotta do the whole job "by feel" basically. I've done it a couple times before as I have two of these fun-but-troublesome cars. It was a lot easier when I was 20 years younger! Two days ago I replaced the clutch hydraulics on this car as the old setup leaked out all of the fluid. This car had been parked in a garage for a long while... the reason I'm treating it now is I need to drive it to a smog test center within the next few days. A few months ago I drove it and everything was fine... while being parked again the clutch hydraulics failed and the fuel pump locked up. A whack with a screwdriver made it work... I have a replacement pump ready to install. That's another nightmare job as the fuel pump is mounted to the top of the fuel tank. That'll wait until AFTER the smog test and registration is done; as long as the pump stays working long enough to drive to the smog test center and back is all I care about right now. I did start it and let it warm up a little while ago; everything was fine. My air:fuel gauge (this car long pre-dates OBD-II and "check engine" lights) said the fuel feedback system was working so it should pass smog easily.

Woodworking shop? I'm half way through a jewelry box for a good friend's oldest daughter who just graduated high school. I'm two weeks late so far... The installation of hard-pipe dust collector ducting, over a year ago now, has worked pretty well and makes using the shop much more pleasurable. It's very nice to NOT have to move a flex hose around all the time. Re-arranging the various power tools (most on roll-around cabinets) so the BT3 outfeed passes over the lathe bed was also a success. A lot less shuffling tools around each time I want to use a different tool.

mpc

[twistsol]

Currently working on another loop of the upper Midwest. Last night we drove up to Fargo stayed in a hotel for a birthday party for one of my wife’s cousins. Tomorrow morning we had to Sioux Falls to my daughters house finished up a little bit of landscaping work and then on Sunday take the grandkids all the way across southern Minnesota to Nona to see my dad and then finally home. I think it’s a total of about 700 miles of driving this weekend.

[LCHIEN]

Emptied out the Pod I rented 30 days ago for pickup tomorrow.
HAd put all the breakfast room, kitchen, pantry and utility room stuff in it while we had the floors and walls remodeled. The walls are not painted yet as the wife is still trying to pick a color but we piled all the boxes back into the center so I can return the Pod. $220 rental for a month plus $100 each pickup and delivery.

I sold my old Miter saw, a Craftsman 10" compound single bevel with a Avanti/Freud 80 tooth ultra fine finish blade and a Irwin laser marker. Threw in some roller supports for it. 25 years old cast iron very heavy still very clean. Had the original manual. Made in Taiwan, not China. Retired it when I got a 12" Hitachi.
Got $85 for it, caller bought it no haggle 2 hours after posting.
Did I sell it too cheap?

[dbhost]

The 4 seasons sealing washer kit came in, and I got the compressor / condneser re-sealed. My $75.00 vacuum pump got a work out and it pulled 30 in mercury almost instantly once turned on and opened up, held it for honestly longer than many do, and let it pull for an hour. I know the reocmmendation is 10 - 45 minutes, but the sytsem was open or at least leaking bad for 2 days so I wanted to insure moisture / contamination was pulled out of the system.. Left it connected and it held vacuum powered off for 3 hours so no obvious leaks. Threw the belt back on, no fun in this car, and got the mechanical bits and bobs put back together. Went on to the next day. Yes I am staggering my work based on temps out in the driveway because it is in the upper 90s with 90% RH....

Anyway yesterday got the plastic put back on, air intake reassembled etc... and basically got the car screwwed back together. Those little plastic push pin things, more htna half borke pulling htem out, so I am waiting for a fresh box of them, so things like inner fender liner are attached but missing half the pins...

Threw a charge into the system, 1.75lbs of R134a, It was a pain in the tail.I had the AutoZone can with the gauge, I should have not used their gauge at all and just hooked up to my can tap and manifold gauge set, I got it to work, but it did NOT want to...

Anyway got the thing charged up. All the while adding coolant on and off as this car had the cooling system open to get the condenser off, and unlike a traditional auto cooling system, this has the expansion reservoir on the firewall, and you need to work the air pockets out of the cooling system, that I have found typically end up with the coolant tank puking and hten saying it needs coolant... At least 3x...

So THAT bit of car stuff is done. Next I do struts and shocks, then take it in for an alignment, and THEN it should be theoretically.

I should mention over Memorial Day weekend I got a brand new set of Goodyear tires installed at Walmart, and since then I got a nasty shake in the front end between 35 and 55mph. I have had them rebalance the tires, and sure enough it looks like they threw 6oz on one side of the rim. Obviously their tire tech does not know their job and never heard of tire clocking and checking for runout... I need to take it back in and get that fixed...

Crash coursing on the 3D printing, modified the miter fence end design and ended up finding a design already done. Gee thanks. Found out hte bed adhesion problem and am managing to get succesful 3D prints now. This is VERY helpful since I am printing up fairly large, for 3D printing, objects, particularly the PS4 controller and headset stands. I have 3 more for gifts to do but managed to waste enough black filament I need to order more.

My Pittsburgh Automotive 3 ton jack stands gave me the heebie jeebies even though these are the recall replacements. Looked at the Harbor Freight website, not sure if mine are included, but they DID include some red ones. Ugh...

[dbhost]

Did some volunteer work running recording for our services this morning. Took my wife out for lunch, finished up the 3D prints for my reworking of the miter fence end caps, all one piece, no fuzzing ends. I got it now...

Spent some time on Sketchup working a design for a wooden controller / headset rack for the PS4. The 3D prints are nice, but handmade wood is better than computer made plastic any day...

[LCHIEN]

Father's Day lunch at my fave burger place, Beck's Prime, with the Daughter and Grandkids who were not on the Boy Scout Camping trip

Evening a Italian dinner with the wife for our 45th Anniversary today.

[twistsol]

Father's Day, Breakfast in Sioux Falls with kids and grand kids and then drove the grandkids to Winona to my sister's house. My dad is blowing bubbles with a couple of the great grandkids before dinner.



We have the girls this week because daycare is closed.