Continuing Thread: What Are You Fix-It'ing Today?

[oldE]

I cut a new A hole for the Missus.
A friend of hers has several donkeys and she said when she asked her husband to cut openings lower in the stall doors so the donkeys could see each other, he called them A holes.
Last weekend the wife acquired a new addition to the herd. Yes, another donkey. So this morning I went at the stall door with a Sabre saw and, voila! An A hole!
I have to admit, I never once anticipated this.



I was hoping we could let age thin the herd over time, but the new addition is only about 9 months old.

Best
Les

[Baz]

Need a pic (or 5) of the new baby, Big Les!

Continuing the quest to outfit my Storage Unit....was looking at tool carts last night and saw this one on FBMP for $80. Pretty sure it's a Snap On.

The seller was getting rid of a bunch of tools and equipment at a storage unit he rents. This wasn't your average storage unit. It was more like a shop. Bathroom, TV, lights. Picture of his family up on the wall - I commented "Nice family!" He said of all the people who had been there.....I was the only who had ever mentioned that photo. Five kids and a really great family photo - why wouldn't someone mention something like that? Stop....and smell the roses....every day is an adventure....right?

[Baz]

Hey Guy....back on the subject of fairing repairs........I was watching a YT craftsman doing this and he was using this type of belt sander to help with some of the preparation work. So I bought one myself!

It's gonna be a very helpful tool with my motorcycle fairings. Not sure if it'd be the same for your aircraft stuff, but thought I'd share.

Most of my cordless tools are Ryobi, so that's why I got this model. Of course there are other brands - both cordless and corded.

[rsrguy]

It becomes an indispensable tool. Mine is the lesser expensive pneumatic hf unit. When it goes TU then I'll buy a cordless, I was an orange fan, but now I'm a team red guy... they even have a rivet puller.
I stop drill all my crack repairs but I use an angle die grinder with a 1" roll lock to buff down then smooth it with a da... 6" or 1".
If your team green they just won't last as long... I don't know if they have brushless, do they?

[rsrguy]

Originally Posted by oldE

I cut a new A hole for the Missus.
A friend of hers has several donkeys and she said when she asked her husband to cut openings lower in the stall doors so the donkeys could see each other, he called them A holes.
Last weekend the wife acquired a new addition to the herd. Yes, another donkey. So this morning I went at the stall door with a Sabre saw and, voila! An A hole!
I have to admit, I never once anticipated this.



I was hoping we could let age thin the herd over time, but the new addition is only about 9 months old.

Best
Les

As good as it gets here on pelican!

[911 Rod]

I think a lot of the old crusty guys here could use a new A hole.

[wdfifteen]

^^
Don't need a new A-hole, I still have my neighbor.

[Baz]

Oil and filter change today in preparation for a road trip in the morning to grab another Interceptor. 3 hours each way but all Interstate so not too bad.




I really like these 6 qt. smart change boxes.....makes it so easy!

[juanbenae]

Putting a new motor in my chainsaw.





Awful cold for late March so the shop woodstove is fired for work.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by Baz

Baz, no offense intended here, but friends don't let friends use Fram filters.

[juanbenae]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Baz, no offense intended here, but friends don't let friends use Fram filters.

Wix for life!

[oldE]

Baz, Another Interceptor?
Are we going to have to do an Inter(ceptor)vention?
How many will this make? 15? 20?
Will Florida sink under the weight?

Best
Les

[Baz]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Baz, no offense intended here, but friends don't let friends use Fram filters.

Yes, I've seen the disdain for Fram here.....but that's what I have always used and gotta say my 4.8 Vortec with over 240K miles on her runs fantastic - and oh so smooth!

I also probably change my oil more frequently than some others do.

Originally Posted by oldE

Baz, Another Interceptor?
Are we going to have to do an Inter(ceptor)vention?
How many will this make? 15? 20?
Will Florida sink under the weight?

Best
Les

LOL, Big Les! This will make my 7th '87 700. This one is the White version. The others I already have are (4) Blue, (1) White, and (1) White which was re-painted Yellow - which was my first one bought back in '97.

I also have (2) '86 700's and an '86 750, plus some other variations.

Not only that....today one popped up in New York - another White but an '86. Barn find! Man I was tempted!

Here's the one I'm getting tomorrow. Has a CBR 8 spoke back wheel - 17" instead of the 18" OEM. Hasn't run in a few years so will need the usual work on fuel and hydraulics but the fairings look really good...and no dents on the fuel tank!!!

[rsrguy]

Got some help the other day... she crawled into the tail of the 150 to vacuum rivet tails...
I have awesome grandkids.

[GH85Carrera]

Three of the four headlights were really low on headlight fluid. Just moisture on the inside of the lens. So I had to replace three of the four. 30 minutes to do em, and I am the super slow mechanic. And they ware up to 20 bucks each now days. We drove in hard rain for a 200 mile round trip. I guess the old seals gave up. Why I remember getting headlights for 4 bucks each!



This is the door into the bathroom in my garage. For the last 27 years it has had a round knob. It is useless if my hands are wet or oily. So I installed a new lever type handle. That was super easy and I love it. Now I can open the door with just a pinky finger if my hands are oily and get in to wash my hands.

So two projects in one day! Phew.

[rsrguy]

I was going to take it easy at home today but this composite job was a brain sliver so off to the hangar. On the under side of the cowl the paint cracks due to heat and flex... the beef up is my version of a hat section... it all went great until the bag decided to fight my efforts to seal it. As it turns out, who would of thought the inside of an engine cowl would be oily.... Anyway managed to get the suck on it after lots of fidgeting.

[Baz]

Looks great, Guy! I wonder if you'd be so kind as to explain the process there? What are those little strips and that material on a roll? Thank you!

[rsrguy]

The strips are simple dow insulation foam cut to 1/8"-ish thick then bonded to the inner cowling with double backed tape. Once those are in place the layup proceeds. A course of fg on the bias went down first then cf (also on the bias) then uni fg along the length of the foam stiffener forms. The foam is only there to form the cavity to create a composite hat section that will fight the flex on that compound curve of the cowling. The flex was causing the paint on the cowling to crack... Anyway stiffer than morning wood..... (not that I can relate any more) the other issue here is that lots of these builders use automotive paints... they aren't designed to flex. Anyway once the layup is completed a layer of peelply (dacron) and breather are layed over the top of the multiple layers of composite. Next a nylon bag material is installed and sealed. On this application it was tricky due to the inner cowl having oil residual, even after an acetone scrub down. We run an iv like line into paper towels(called a breather) folded up to provide a means of distribution of vacuum pressure(manifold) across the layup and to remove excess epoxy.
This bag didn't want to suck down.. it took my largest pump with a 1/4" tube into the manifold then turned on the suck. It collapsed the bag, which allowed me to chase leaks. I threw all my red knecked tricks at it. Ultimately gorilla tape and cheap dap Alex caulk into the voids... typically jamming caulk into a vacuum isn't the best option..... in this case the breaches are small enough that the caulk can stop them through forced capillary action.
At this point if your not like me you let the pump do it's thing with a switch controlled pump and vacuum reservoir.... in my case you go online and double check that your pump is rated for a continuous duty cycle and set it up outside the building in order to walk away and let it roll overnight..
Now... this is the stage I turn into a 7 year old on Christmas eve... I went back to shut the pump off this morning, the pump was still running and the bag looked good... no seized pump no leaky bag! The last Pic is of the corner pulled back, I'm stoked.

[gduke2010]

Added 2 outlets in the garage. Tested and broken ground on the line of the gfci. I added them 2 weeks ago and pulled the gfci today. The ground was missing from the panel. Seen only the black and white. The ground was hooked on the back of the box.

Fixed that today.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by rsrguy

The strips are -snip-

Fascinating, Guy......I had to re-read that several times before understanding the overall process! Thank you for the explanation!