What did you do today?

[LCHIEN]

Happy new Year!

NYE I cleaned the gutters and tackled the leaking gutter seam that I paid a guy and had him fix twice and still leaked. I cleaned it out down to the bare metal and caulked it with silicone. Waiting to test with some water or, maybe just wait until it rains.

While I had the ladder out, cleaned out the leaves. Have gutter screens but the leaves still accumulate in the valleys of the roof and the splash over guards at the base of the valleys. So many leaves falling I had to clean the leaves that fell between when I started the gutter repair and when I was done.

Then I cleaned the ladder - keep it hanging on the fence behind the garage so its covered with leaves, dust dirt and insects. Had to move two anoles (lizards) from it that had take up residence I guess.

Took the wife to Chinatown for some groceries, then picked up some take out food for lunch.

Took a nap. Cleaned up and put away the fishing gear and rods and reels still in the car from yesterday's fishing trip.

Worked on my current wood project a while, installed some 5/16" x 5" lag screws to hold it together along with some dowel pins for alignment.

For NYE no plans, just sat here and listened to the bangs and booms of the local fireworks going off, we live in an unincorporated area of town so fireworks are quite legal, unlike the City of Houston.

Half past midnight and now 2022. Time to put away the tools left out from wood working.

[dbhost]

Happy New Year!

Spent the day after raising myself from the dead. Since the neighboring fiesta de aņo nuevo went well into the morning...

Did our overdue grocery shopping. WAY too many hours on my feet at far too many stores to get everything on the wifes list. These items are only sold at store A, these other items needed for the same recipe are only sold at store B, and so on through 5 different stores...

Finished up our pork (Tamales) black eyed peas, cabbage, and not sure where my wife came up with this, but 12 green grapes for health wealth and happiness wishes for the new year.

Started installing the compressed air piping system, it is still quite warm in the shop. So I got out of the compressor, into the manifold, out of hte manifold and up the wall to the ceiling. Ripped out the hose that was feeding the old compressed air system.

I pulled the brass quick connects off of the old hoses, and transferred them to the new outlet blocks.

I need to move the overhead hose reel so I can finish the compressed air piping.

[LCHIEN]

Stores are out of a lot of stuff. And the stores NYE and XmasEve, in fact all thru the holidays, were packed.

[twistsol]

Installed an antenna, and disconnected Cable TV. I then discovered that the four TV's in the house are all different brands, have completely different operating systems and function differently. Roku, FireTV, LGSmart, and a stupid TV with an AppleTV box on it. I don't think that makes any of them qualify as Smart TVs

It's a good thing I'm not traveling so I'll be home to assist my technology challenged wife

[leehljp]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I completed the Marble Run on New Years Eve. Started it on the 30th. It was a Christmas present from LOML - that I told her I would like. Unlike normal wood working projects with saws or routers, I could only work on the Marble Run Puzzle for about an hour or so and then had to take a break for an hour before going back to it. My wife loves doing puzzles and she received about 8 from our daughters and me for Christmas. Although she likes for me to "help" her, I thought it would be good to do my own puzzle while she did hers, and occasionally help her out a bit - such as putting one or two pieces in on her puzzles.

For my "puzzle", it was at least working with wood. I was very impressed with the precision the laser cutouts on the 1/8" plywood, with about 8 sheets of approx 12" by 14". And 678 pieces. The larger pieces had several places where the laser cutout was incomplete at several junctures around its edge by probably .1mm or .2mm to keep them from falling out. On the first sheet was a "key" that aided in the punching out the tight pieces.

It says that it is for 14 years old an up. I understand what the "and up" means. It is not for an impatient person or inexperienced woodworker. If one rushes through this, there are points or pieces in which one can ruin pieces just by pushing too hard too fast to get the pieces out. The plywood is very good quality plywood, but some of the pieces can be easily be ruined by a ham fisted, impatient person, or an inexperienced kid or adult. Knowing how to handle delicate pieces helps. (An experienced scrollsawer (scroller) would be able to do this fairly easy.) Some of the fittings take quite a bit of pressure to put together, but again, experience is a huge factor or the tabs can be broken. I did break one tab and super glued it in place. I also broke one cog on a gear, but built it up with a pin drop of polyurethane glue, let it harden and expand and then filed it to size. Then I put a couple of coats of super glue on top, let it cure and filed it to size. That was on the main drive gear and it works perfect.

I made three mistakes with similar (but minutely different) repetitive parts that I corrected once it was complete or almost completed. In going back and looking at the instructions, there are very small notices that I overlooked at the mistake areas. There are many notations in the instructions and I followed them mostly. I did overlook the notes at the three mistakes, which were to flip the pieces either right to left or upside down from the way that I installed them. When testing out, the balls started down their paths, (3 different paths they could take) the mistakes showed up. OH and I bought some paraffin wax at the supermarket to use on the moving parts. It did include a small bit of paraffin about the size of a nickel, which wasn't enough in my opinion. Waxing is necessary for the pieces to work smoothly. I ordered some white graphite to put on the moving parts but it has not arrived from amazon yet.

It was a good puzzle to put together and I watched the marbles go their way for about an hour. (This one is motor driven) the movements do make the pieces come loose at certain junctures over time. Technically, it does not require glueing (super glue) but the vibration of moving parts or the balls hitting rails or dripping down a notch- caused a couple of the large parts to work their way out of the structure base over time, which caused misalignment enough to throw the steel balls off the track. I superglued those fittings to the base and solved that problem.


Now, I have to figure out what I am going to do with it. I will have something for the grandkids when they come now.

[dbhost]

Well, today I dragged the wife to Home Depot. I managed to lose my small tool dust colleciton adapter so I couldn't attach my orbital sander to the shop vac. I need to sand down some drywall repairs and want, not to collect everything as i realize that is a pipe dream, but to reduce the cloud to a more bearable limit.

Cut down the universal adapter to a nice snug fit on my Ryobi orbital sander. FWIW, using cheap orbital sanders on drywall work tends to chew them up. But it also tends to chew up expensive ones too. Might as well sacrifice the cheap ones.

Found some siding damage from critters, and the fact my siding is still Masonite (I.E. garbage). Can't afford a full siding job right now. Thinking about grabbing some T1-11 ply siding and just patching where I can, caulk the living snot out of it and painting.

I finished the run between the compressor and the overhead hose reel. In the ogirinal location for now. I have couplers so I figure I can move it when I am ready to move it. But I need the air system VERY soon and can't wait. The old rubber hoses were crumbling and I needed the replacement functional NOW... So at least I have

#1. Output of 29 gallon compressor, direct to manifold check valve. No quick disconnects. Recovered 2 quick disconnects.
#2. Output side of dryer / filter / regulator unit run up the wall to the ceiling, then a tight 90.
#3. Cross ceiling tubing run through the shop light mount the same way the old hose was, and then loosely curved to attach directly to the input of the overhead hose reel.
#4. Using the retainer clips, and memory / knowledge of where the studs are in the ceiling and wall, strapped the tubing down so it runs as straight as possible.

I have also connected the outlet blocks by the overhead doors, up the walls, to the ceiling, across the ceiling over the overhead door although it is not connected to the rest of the system. At this point, I am needing to move the overhead hose reel to between the overhead doors. At that point, I just make the connection from the reel, coming out with a 90, straight up to a T, forward to the elbow at the front wall, and back to the original hose reel location, where I will just use a snap coupler to insure the connection is 100%.

Once that was done, I measured, remeasured, marked, and then cut using my jig saw, the Thien Baffle for the HF DC. I am looking at various tests, and it looks like the baffle IN the separator ring has negligible impact to air flow. I am however NOT in a hurry to install it. I just wanted it cut down and stashed aside with the mounting hardware. I plan on keeping with the Neutral vane and letting that work for a while first.

Moved the shop vac and trash can separator to the master bathroom where we are doing the remdelling work, got it set up.

Mixed up what tiny bit of wall board mud powder and filled some gaps in the closet repair, letting that dry, it was a bit thin mixed so I guess I have to wait a bit longer for it to set... Once that is done I need to sand it smooth, or at least close, and move on to other smoothing of the drywall repairs. I am opting to keep the 8 gallon compressor mobile, so not piping it in. I will need to set the double compressor rig up for running the texture gun. Need to figure out which nizzle I need to get the popcorn finish...

Sat down here to take a break. Furnace somehow kicked up to 75 while we were out, I turned it down to 68 as 75 is just too warm to be working in here, wearing sweats and all... Bleh.

Watching Amazon. I ordered some HVAC tape 2 days ago, no delivery estimate yet. I need the stuff by Tuesday so I can start with completing my DC move... Probably gonna grab some when I go to Home Depot tomorrow.

FWIW, I am waiting on delivery of some DC collection bags, the 5x4x4 splitter, and that foil tape... I noticed the adjuster / lockdown screw for the dog on the bench vise is missing. Need to slide the dog out, and figure out hte screw size and go get a new one. It WAS basically a wing, bolt of sorts. Kind of like a star knob bolt but with wings instead of a star knob.

[LCHIEN]

Worked much of the day on my soon to be unveiled project. I had to repair the Bosch 1617EVS, power switch was not right after sitting for a while... this is my handheld 1617, the fixed speed 1617 is in the router table with an external speed control. 1617s are known for finicky non sealed power switches, it was a bit flakey so I sprayed some contact cleaner in it and it appears to be consistent now. Router was stored in the Plunge base, had to lube up the standard base to get it to move freely.


Then I took out my England made Marples chisels to use... big disaster. These were shiny and new last time I looked at them... and stored it away in what I though was a nice case. Obviously they did not get along well with the foam! Oh well, that's a project for another day.



Here is my router sitter I made a few years ago: Nice place to set it when the bit is still spinning, or you don't want to damage the bit and you don't want to risk knocking it over if you turn it upside down.

[twistsol]

Managed to get the final coat of paint on 12 drawer fronts this morning followed by a run to Sam's club, and then got the drawer fronts installed.

I still have 2 drawer fronts and 18 cabinet doors to go, toekicks and handles then the shop cabinets are finally complete. I only have drying space for 12 pieces at a time and they each need three coats front and rear.

[dbhost]

Got into, and did my morning staff meeting. Caught up on various team issues, and started my daily jobs.

Amazon arrived freakishly early for the first fo 2 packages due today. It was the 5x4x4 splitter for the shop. Installed it, cut the upper pipe to fit, The pipe enters the adapter probably 2" further back at the connection than the pipe is at the ceiling. I do NOT feel like moving everything on the ceiling to make this pretty, so it stays at a funky angle. It is all being held together with aluminum tape and friction fit at this time.

The way the DWV is being adapted to the ABS fittings is simple. I used my heat gun to heat up the DWV until it was soft and pliable, then slid it over the old ABS 4" fitting since that end wasn't broken, then ran a band clamp around it and tightened to insure it was drawn in against the ABS, and left to cool.

Once cooled, I took them out apart, and used the DWV for whatever fittings then were going to be used on. FOR NOW, the upper run is connected, the lower run needs to be disconnected and moved. That will wait until the compressed air piping system is completed. I need pressurized air in the shop after all!


Spent time working on the mast bedroom closet. The pole on my side stripped out of the plastic pocket thing,a nd managed to rip down the wooden mount board it was attached to. Looking at the way it was built, I am horrified that this house ever passed building inspection. Apparently whomever was the inspector here on the day my house was being inspected, did NOT do their job. The board had 12 nails in it, all driven and angles such that not a single one of them penetrated the back of the board , let alone the sheetrock or into the studs behind to hold the weight of the closet rod..

I am thinking the general contractor must have REALLY ticked off the carpentry crew that day because WOW this thing is badly done. Miters cut too short so a mitered board was installed backwards and filled with caulk to close up the now HUGE gaps... I am guessing Liquid Nails to hold these mount boards to drywall instead of screws or nails to secure them to studs etc...

If I haven't explained it yet, yes, my cloet rod fell, along with my clothes due to the #$%*( mounted mount boards, this in turn ripped the shelf off of its mount, and the rod, with its weight, drove through the drywall, falling stuff smashed drywall below close to floor level etc...I had to empty the closet to get it fixed...

To take advantage of this, the wife ripped a LOT less than carefully the 3 layers of wallpaper, I am guessing the builders junk, 1984, first owner upgrade between 84 and 90, then second owner sometime in the early 90s because I refuse to believe ANYONE would have picked that nasty stuff even as recently as the late 90s. It looked like a 1980s pop art project with basically paint splotches everywhere...

Anyway, her method left a good number of gouges in the sheet rock. I have re-skimmed with drywall mud, and am sanding it smoothe, and removing the popcorn texture from within the closet.
About to pop back over to the work computer and check the progress of my jobs.

While I am in there, the original linen closet shelves, which are only half depth, are going to be replaced with full depth shelves. Another call for 3/4" plywood. I am going to bull nose the outward facing end, wood putting any gaps, and sand it all smooth prior to painting and installation. But this should double our storage space in there, at least what is usable in reality.

And I am working on clearing the floor space below the area where the hose reel is to be moved. Hopefully today it will get moved and the comrpressed air piping system completed so I can package up, and put away the spare bits and pieces into long term storage.

[leehljp]

I have my Rockler Branding Iron and used it once on a small chair side table I made while in Japan. The Box is not convenient or strong enough for keeping the branding iron in on a permanent basis, so I almost pulled the switch on ordering a case similar to what Loring has, but then thought I don't want to spend $40 on a case. I'll make one. While I was at Lowes and HD, I almost bought some hardware to make the branding iron box, then decided "Not until I am ready to make it". I have sacks and several plastic shoe boxes of unused new hardware and specialty screws and bolts that I have bought to have on hand - for when I get ready for a project. Most of those projects have not panned out. So, I decided not to purchase the hinges or latches until I am ready to make the box.

I don't know what has come over me! Age? Frugality? Memory? Sensibility or Senselessness?

On the way home, several box designs went through my head - wood hinges stood out. That might make a good project, but the next several weekends are filled with traveling - Dallas, Atlanta, Springfield MO, for sure and maybe Little Rock - all for daughters and relatives. I may have a weekend spaced between them to get something accomplished.

[LCHIEN]

I picked up some unfinished wood craft boxes at Hobby lobby that would easily fit your iron. On sale just before Christmas for 40% off, around $5 bucks. Not on sale just $9. https://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-Ho...od-Box/p/28871

or look at these https://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-Ho...ox-Set/p/28872
Sure can't make them for that price.... not even buy the hardware.

The blowmold case I have was from a pawn shop. for just a few bucks.

[capncarl]

I have several cylinder shaped tins, shaped like Pringles cans. Some kind of cookies may have came in them. Looks like the iron will just fit.

[LCHIEN]

Believe it or not, I still have a lot more clamps left in the garage. My wife even commented on how many there were.
Was 51°F when I did the glue up.... I think they said Titebond III is usable above 47°F



Later I worked on a B&D Firestorm 12V cordless impact driver. It had 2 NiCd 12V packs and I stopped using it because the batteries no longer held charge.

Well, I found batteries for $15 a pack. NiMH or NiCd, on eBay.

But my charger did not even light up. The wall wart was hardwired to the charger and there was no output at the battery. This is where I went crazy, the charger had four recessed internal hex screws, I spent an hour and the hex is between 5/64 and 3/32 and also between 2 mm and 2.5 mm. What.....???? Does B&D live in some alternate universe with another unit system? The larger didn't fit and the smaller just spun, both mm and SAE. Took me forever to get those things out... a 5/64" cocked at an strong angle to touch both sides worked well enough. What idiot uses nonstandard fasteners?

Find the wall wart was supposed to output AC to the charger, but had no output.

I can get on eBay a 3600 mAH NiMH battery and a new charger correct for NiMH for $32+tax, free shipping. That would give me a spare Impact driver. I recall the impact driver itself worked pretty well.

Eh, I guess I don't need one, haven't really missed it any for years . I just have this inclination to fix things instead of tossing them.

Still can't get over those ridiculous Allen head fasteners.

Another freezing night coming, remembered to take the glue out of the garage and keep it in the house. Tomorrow Noon will be about 75 °F.

[dbhost]

Well, I see space for more clamps on that glueup... Do you need to borrow some? LOL...

[dbhost]

Hmmm. Emptied out my trash can / cutoffs bin, sorted through the pieces solid / large enough to be useful went onto the lumber rack, the smaller bits / broken bits got cut up and boxed into the living room next to the fireplace in order to be prepared for another hard freeze / power outage. Wife is freaking out about the potential again this year, Not sure why. I have 4 Coleman heaters, 20 gallons of white gas, 2 propane heaters, and 80lbs of propane. Plus I am planning on running to Texas City Buccees for ethanol free gasoline for the generator, and one more gallon of Coleman fuel for the camp stove.

Yeah I know maybe excessive, but it seems to keep the wife happy.

Of course it is warming up again so who knows...

So yeah, more shop cleanup, still so far to go...

I need to whip up table / fence extensions for the miter saw bench though. Need to include some T track so I can add a stop...

Mentioned elswhere, but I finalized the compressed air piping system. It did manage to bleed down after 36 hours and the compressor cycled. No visible bubbles when leak checking though. Need to double check it.

[LCHIEN]

Fended off a couple of possible disasters.

Kind of in between projects, decided to do some stuff I've been putting off.
The Fasttrak bandsaw fence I have has been pretty good but it has a feature - the fence mounts to an aluminum Angle about 2.5 x 2.5 x 3/16" thick. that screws to the front of the BS table. The top being 2.5" thick supports the track for the fence. But the front being that thick descends way below the table and has always been in the way - for example you can't open the bottom wheel door more than a couple of inches because it hits the downward projection.

So I decided I would finally cut this edge off. And do it using the BT3000 to rip it. I've cross cut some small pieces of aluminum extrusion on the miter saw and I have a 10" Freud non-ferrous metal cutting blade for aluminum, brass, etc. Normally I don't use the BT3 but I needed a rip and figured it would be OK with the metal blade.

So I found the blade, and installed it. put everything back in place and turned on the power and it hummed but did not spin, I was quick and turned it off and I cussed and asked myself why hadn't I spun the blade by hand. Anyway the Freud was about 1/8" larger in diameter than the WWII I took off and it hit the leading edge of the riving knife. I could not back it off enough to spin freely. So I took the riving knife off and found that I had fortunately been quick enough not to break any belts. Bullet no. one dodged. So I left off the riving knife for this cut.

I did my business with the aluminum and cleaned up all the chaff with the vacuum. No damage to anything from cutting aluminum and not using the riving knife. Bullet no. 2 dodged.

Then proceeded with the second part of the plan as I removed out the old blade back which was to lube the shims. So I did that using a paper towel wad I dipped in wax to do the top bottom, front and back of the shim ways. I'm usually real careful with the arbor nut and washers and spacers not to drop anything but as I was taking the wadded up paper towel out, I dropped it.

****, it wasn't in the shroud, and it wasn't in the belly pan, so it must have fallen into the 4" hose in the bottom of the belly pan. Probably fell about 2 feet down the hose, too far to reach in.

I'm going to deal with that tomorrow... sigh.
Probably going to turn on the DC to let it suck it down the hose and then take the hoses off at the Y entrance to the DC where hopefully it gets caught by the couple of wires it has before the impeller. Probably some other chips and thin scraps that fall in the throat plate when I don't use the ZCTP.

Its Pinewood Derby time again... that's why I was thinking about changing BS blades.

[dbhost]

Right before COVID started, an old college buddy of mine, while cleaning his garage, found, and subsequently returned an old Craftsman 1/4" drive socket set with a few of my Snap On Specialty sockets. 10mm Universal in particular, which I only found useful in swapping out Ford Escort timing belts which I haven't done in maybe 30 years...

Ayway, I loaned him that set of sockets when we were swapping out some of the interior bits and bobs on his 78 Chevy C10. Back in college, in maybe 2001 or 2002. Took him 19 years or so...

Anyway I dug it up again yesterday and found that the blow molded case and everything in it was just wet with motor oil.

So I went through with some CRC Brakeleen and shop rags in a box, and cleaned the snot out of it all.

I discovered one socket and the screwdriver handle were missing. Hey after all these years I guess that is good.

It should be noted that I had previously replaced this set, so really all I gained back where the few Snap On bits and pieces.

I continued on the cleanup I managed to clean evertything on the floor, including under the workbench, between the freezer, and the band saw. swept, vacuumed up. Not going to worry about the spilled paint and stains. Someday I might epoxy this sucker, who knows?

I then slid my oil drains under the workbench as that is kind of the only spot I have for them. And then placed down the interlocking foam mats.

I need to wash off the extra cushy mat that sits in front of the workbench. It's been rainy today, so I took it and put it out in the driveway.

Threw out the hunks of dry rotted rubber hose, which eventually meant I threw out every single bit of my original rubber hoses as they are all well over a decade old and cracked end to end. I am shocked I only had the one leak in the hose at the reel.

I need to make up a soapier batch of soapy water, and pressurize the compressed air system again, and trace down the slow leak. I am not sure why I feel like this, but I suspect it is somewhere by the hose reel. Just a gut feeling.

After all the sweeping up of shavings, taking small bits of cutoffs, bad hoses, cut off clamps etc... and general shop trash. I removed a full contractor trash bag full of debris from my shop.

And I have only just started.

The pile on top of the work bench is shrinking, but still astronomically huge.

I am knocking down the pile by putting tools back in their blow molded cases, and putting them up. Putting jigs back together etc...

I received a pair of Powertec clamps, the kind that slide into t track, and figure these will help with the dovetail jigs, mortiser, and drill press. They were sort of a B-day gift to myself. Not quite at the day, but meh. Not like it needed to be wrapped to keep the surprise either.

Lastly, again more shop cleanup. I know it doesn't sound like much, but I managed to clean up / off the first 18" of the workbench, by cleaning off the stuff from the rest of the workbench. I have taken the Craftsman circle jig off of the KM12VC router and put the router back where it belongs, put the bit back etc....

I am finding more of the SmartThings ADT sensors that were pulled out when Samsung abandoned its users in June last year. They need to go to the recyclers. I thought they were all gone.

While I am making headway, I looked, and somehow more junk got put on the bandsaw. Need to get that gone.

And tomorrow I will be back at masking off, and sanding in the master bath / vanity area. I hate wallpaper and drywall FYI...

[dbhost]

More shop cleanup. I am down to ONE layer deep of crud on the workbench, and maybe 3 on the miter saw cabinet and table saw. The band saw is cleaned off, as is the lathe.

My cut pieces / components for projects in progress are now in the cut offs bin (30 gallon trash can). more and more of the floor is getting exposed.

Spent way more time than I care to admit to sorting and organizing misc stuff. Just. well... stuff.

I have a feeling if I can keep this pace up and not get sidetracked by my wife, which I fully know I will, I should be done with shop cleanup, and WELL into relocating the dust collection ducting by next weekend.

Spent way too little time working on the master bathroom. I need to remove the sliding doors for the closets, and then the upper tracks to do some drywall repairs back there as well apparently...

Watched a few Youtube videos on the HF texture gun air requirements, and watched a couple of different renovations contractors running them with the same compressor as my little 8 gallon. The specs in the owners manual say 8CFM at 90PSI which sounded insane to me for burping drywall texture out of a hopper gun when pretty much every other hopper gun I come accross needs something like 2.4 CFM at 30 psi...

The guys showing how it is done are clearly illustrating Harbor Freights documentation is whacked.

[dbhost]

Measured up the width of the "spice drawer" that will be installed under the extension wing on the table saw. The drawer itself is simply speaking too wide. The joinery is simply glue and nails, and the glue was applied in 1969. I am going to pop this thing apart, shorten the front / back and bottom pieces by 6", and reinstall using glue and screws instead of nails.

The basic support / enclosure will be 7.5" tall and surround on 3 sides. I will simply round over the edges, and assemble / install using pocket screws. The side rails will have alternating pocket screws so that it will have a screw effect somewhat like driving nails at an angle criss crossing each other further resisting pull out.