I love finish carpentry projects. Installed this 3 piece crown. I say anything worth doing is worth overdoing.

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Worked on my F150. Replaced the wheel hub bolts, including tapping a hole that wasn’t fully threaded.

Replaced the oil pressure sensor as I was a getting low oil pressure light at start up.

Tightened the oil pan bolts, as I have a slow leak. Not sure if it’s the oil pan or rear main seal though

Worked on centering the steering wheel but need to take it for a spin to see if I need more adjustment.

While under the truck, I noticed dings on the rotors from me banging them loose a few weeks ago. Surprised that happened but maybe they’re getting thin after 187k miles?


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That looks very nice!

The continuous feed setup with blade is $290 (used lowest eBay price) or $400 (best new price I found). The batch bowl with lid and blade is $200 (best new price I found). So this Robot Coupe is not going to be “cheap” in the end.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/154636729301

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166261106155
https://www.ebay.com/itm/166261106155

Yeah, these are without blades and bottom disc. Keep looking. They appear. The bowl and blade are another thing, but really a good food processor approximates that. But nothing grates like a Robot Coupe. Or sell the bottom unit for 300 all day long. But I get the sense you really cook, and so its worth the effort.

Headed to the track Thursday.
Everything needed something fixed...
New engine in the race car, trailer electric jack issues, camper tweaks, it's ready for the 10 hour round trip to the track and 3 days of racing.
Going solo so if something fails just stuff it in the trailer and head home.
I'm retired it keeps me busy, should be able to do this into my 70s, fingers crossed.
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Not a foodie; (jyl is acutely aware of this, ha ha);and had zero awareness of this device but I was curious what the continuous feed mechanism looked like for the "Robot Coupe". And OF COURSE it's French, and OF COURSE it's pronounced robo

Holy spinach soufflé! Page after page of "Robot Coupe" on ebay. Industrial versions on stands that could double as woodchippers! Accessories galore for tabletop models. There's a kitchen world out there. Incredible!

Have fun! Visions of Peter Egan and his adventures.

I have picked up the bowl and blade, and am awaiting delivery of a used continuous feed assembly with 4mm slicer. I used the bowl and blade last night, worked fine of course - not really better than my Cuisinart DC-7 (Japan made) but I don't want multiple food processors on the counter.

Thanks that a nice association, it's all entertainment, preparing the car and rig, towing to the event, interactions at the event and lastly actually racing on the track.
We'll have 3 racer friends with our 3 V8 tube chassis race cars sharing a 4 car garage at the track for 3 days, so something interesting and entertaining will fill every moment of the extended weekend at the track.
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Looking good my friend!!!


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

Thanks Sir Baz,
Very kind of you to say that. Just a humble DIY guy babbling about the project.

Lost four days due to the Reno Air races so I’m scrambling to get it all ready for the pour on Saturday[emoji51][emoji1695][emoji51][emoji1695][emoji51][emoji1695][emoji51][emoji1695][emoji51][emoji1695]

Teeny bit of new grass showing up!

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My parents worked in real estate back in the late 70s through the 80s and people would leave things in the rental houses that the office managed. This is a vintage novelty lighter that was left in a rental along with a bunch of other trinkets. It has never worked but I liked the look of it so I kept it and had it on my dresser when I was a kid/teenager and after all these years I decided to restore it. It was originally black but the paint was chipped and flaking so when I was a kid, I sanded it down to the gray die cast metal and left it like that. After taking it all apart, I wasn't sure if I wanted to paint it back to the original gloss black or polish the die cast but I decided to go ahead and paint it. I have cleaned and polished all of the little pieces of the mechanism also and found the reason it didn't work was because someone had configured the striker wheel and the flint so that they didn't make contact therefore it would not create a spark, have no idea why. Anyway, here it is. It has been a process for sure and hopefully I will have it all back together soon, I just need to find a slotted brass screw like the one in the last picture so I will need to measure it and see if I can find one similar online. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d2123a6c00.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...0e0f146117.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e47f3913a5.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1e8d63805f.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...011b192016.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2598ad05bb.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...43bde3ba58.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3237b91d4e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...309b1c2a72.jpg

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I had no Idea Eastwood had brick and mortar stores.. I was in Edison, NY earlier, stopped at Dunkin for coffee, and this was right next door..



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

That is really, really cool!!!! Keep us posted on your progress.


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I am so jello!!!! I also didn’t realize they had a physical store. Probably a good thing your on the east side. If it was out here, I’d be broke between Eastwood and harbor freight……[emoji2957]


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

Ok folks, here it is……….. after all of my babbling all summer, it is done except electrical. Here are the final steps. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6a12d85373.jpg
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The original plan was to place the drain shown in the picture below, until…. we took a closer look at slope and where the water would most likely flow to and prompted the change to the placement shown in the picture above. This was not in the plan and I experienced my quality of compaction into the road-base layer under the larger gravel. That chit was like concrete due to how well it compacted. The pick bounced off of it like stone and I had to use the Hitachi demo hammer with spade tip to dig down into it. Anyone wanting a good base, I recommend a high clay content road-base, some water and a good compactor.
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Due to a much larger pour, I reached out to the local family owned concrete company that are truly a bunch of really good guys and inquired about a good finisher. Talk about a small world, I ended up reconnecting with a good dude who was on our property 17 years ago with his dad who I hired to do some bobcat work. He came out and helped form the steps on our project and made some suggestions on things I could improve. He also caught the fact the water would flow to the other side. The pour was calculated to take 4.5 yards of six sack mix and I requested “stealth fiber” to be added as well. I initially estimated just shy of 5 yds, he initially estimated 4 yards and then when we ran the hard numbers last night, we came up with the 4.5 yrds. The intended use for the lower pad is to hold a small hot tub that Mrs. Bugs ordered and our local home show. It’s nothing fancy and will do us just fine. It’s an Eco Spa E4, simple and effective. The spa vendors at the big home show in Sacramento wanted to sell us a tube large enough to hold a small rave party with 8-10 seats, a boomin stereo tied into the led light display….(no thank you)

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

Let the chaos begin….

0620
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We decided to go with a salt finish rather than a rough stone stamp. I did find it funny that Wes, the guy assisting with finishing commented how grossly over engineered this project was [emoji2957], usually folks use rebar if any, and then I added the high strength stealth fiber, top tier and cap stones all back drilled and rebar secured with the two part structural epoxy and the multiple layers of geo grid along with the same epoxy used on the blocks. I just told him I could use the pad and a landing pad for a small single place helicopter. LOL My name is Trevor and I tend to overbuild what I am working on, it’s called “Trevorizing”[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

I also just wanted to thank the folks of this form for allowing me to share this little project.

Cheers and until the next project begins.
Bugs
aka Trevor

This is what I started with on May 18th, 2023
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Reinstalled the spare tire on my truck. Then, replaced the oil pan that had been leaking. I thought it would take me three or four hours, but ended up taking six. Of course, I like to clean everything as I go, so that adds time.

The good news is, there was no trash, debris, junk in the oil pan or the oil pick up screen.

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Shot some tail surfaces today...http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1695696332.jpg
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Looks great Guy.

What sort of paint do you use for a plane? I'm a hobbyist level car painter.

Trev......it is us who should be thanking YOU for sharing this amazing project with US!

Adding to Wes's comments.....and as I said before....your posts w/accompanying photos and commentary here....just like the planning and execution of your projects......are truly THE gold standard.

CONGRATULATIONS - it truly looks fantastic! SmileWavy

Its a urethane made by consolidated aircraft coatings available through aircraft Spruce and specialty. It's designed to be extremely flexible as we use it to paint fabric covered aircraft, really good stuff.

Thanks, that's interesting.

I'm thinking aeroplane coatings get a lot of grief. Dramatic changes in temperature, high speed objects hitting it, and like you say flexing.

Haha, you reminded me. GF shouted me a trial flight in a Piper Cub. Oh chit. 1,000 feet up in something made of canvas and rattling aluminium. I had to go to a winery straight afterwards to recover.

I let the body of the lighter hang in a closet for a few days to insure that the paint would be fully cured before handling it. I polished the little brass decorative pieces, used a rotary tool and some liquid polish, and glued the pieces in place. That is all I wanted to do with it today. I will let the glue dry really well before reassembly. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...040d2321d9.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7cdbae9ade.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e73cc8a6b8.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a364f40c41.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9dfc86837f.jpg

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

Thank you very much sir!!! I enjoyed posting about it and did laugh at my own boneheaded mistakes. I will admit that it made me feel good when Mrs. Bugs smiled like a little girl knowing her tub isn’t far off from being delivered.
I now do have a query for the DYI hand-rail brain trust in the group. We need to construct a hand rail for the pad. Two section and I have never done anything like that before. For the giants that have walk before me… anyone have any pointers suggestions or ideas on how to make an nice looking curve and sweeping arc? We haven’t decided on the style yet but due like the cable type rails, although that type works for straight runs, not curves……[emoji2371][emoji2371][emoji2371]
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Beautiful results bugs!

Replaced the spark plugs in my 17 Tahoe today. I died a horrible death doing it. The job fought me every step of the way. The right bank was the hardest because the a/c lines were in the way.
Plus I'm starting to get arthritis ( I'm 64) in my left thumb so it's difficult to grab anything.
I gained a new respect for mechanics old and young that are wrenching every day

Thank you very much sir!!


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

Oh boy do I feel your pain….
Doing this on our 95 GMC K1500 5.7 is a PITA. I have learned to place a 2’x3’ piece of 3/4” ply on the top of the engine with a towel so I can lay across the engine to get to those pesky back plugs. My biggest challenge is getting the wire boots off without tearing them, thus causing a complete plug wire replacement. This last go around, two years ago prior to its smog test, I placed numbered stickers on the wires and cap so I knew where everything went at the rear of the engine. I also used some aviation anti seize on the boots and plugs in hopes to eliminate the cooked on issue. I expected to have to repeat it this year since smog is due again and with a current odom of 346,000 miles, I didn’t have confidence of it passing. To my suprise and after a “pre” test, it passed. sowing my “shocked” face. I was even more shocked when I did some pre-planning and inquired about a catalytic converter replacement due to the miles and was unsure where the smog would go. It was replaced in 1999 at the cost of $150.00, in 2023 that cost is now $997.00 WTF?!?!?!?!? I was very happy it passed.


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

Beautiful!!!! Has any of your work appeared on any of the STOL Drag airships? That would be some killer advertisement for ya.[emoji848]


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Nope... those guys don't really paint their stuff.

Replaced the high pressure power steering hose in the Vanagon. The original German hose is mostly NLA, only occasionally available and at a high price ($300+). But one of the US parts vendors has a pretty close replacement. There is a brass threaded plug, Allen socket, that you transfer from the old hose’s banjo fitting to the new one. Ok, a 4 mm Allen is too small, a 5 mm is too large, WTF is this the mythical and detestable 4.5 mm size? Took the hoses to an autoparts shop to see if they had that size. The manager found the needed tool, wire brushed the threads, applied thread tape, installed the brass plug - no charge, just old school good service. He’s the new manager, the shop has been running understaffed with no manager and employees working double shifts with no time off. This new guy is getting the shop in shape, it’s clean, well stocked, looking up.

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

Took a page from Baz’s parental property prep guide. Spent the last two days workin on mum n dad’s landscaping. Mrs Bugs n I were trimming and cleaning front and rear yards. Disclaimer….. I have no bloody idea how to properly care and trim palms. Went at it how my wee brain told me. Things were a tad out of control and now things look better and even installed new landscape led’s.. The “death fronds” were particularly nasty and punctured gloved hands and legs if you weren’t on your game. Ask me how I know this…….. dang things are like punji spikes.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...98b8175a8a.jpg
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Installed new Motorcraft front rotors on the F150.

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Not fixing. More assembling. We go all out for Halloween.

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

^^^^^^ That is freaking awesome!!!!!!

I keep eyeballing the 13’ Jack Skellington at Home Depot, kinda hoping someone will buy it so it’s out of stock and I cant spend $399.00

Mum sent a couple pics of our handy work at night.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6a5a75e385.jpg
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Mrs. Bugs assembling a couple of Adirondack chairs we got at Sam’s. 10yr warranty and better made than the thin plastic ones that crack after two seasons. Also assembled a fire pit for the ledge above the pad for the future hot tub.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...82cd0eec90.jpg
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Doing a test run with some hot chocolate.
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Bugs! Wow - once again you have confirmed your status as THE gold standard of this thread.

This time not by the usual well written and photographed exploits. Oh no. This time because you took care of Mom and Dad! I'm really proud of you, my brother. Much respect!

It really looks great and I know Mom and Dad are proud as can be.

That palm is a Canary Island Date Palm and absolutely quite ferocious if not handled properly. The entire Date Palm Family has very sharp spikes at the base of their fronds and some of them have such sharp tipped leaflets I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy!

I'll post a photo below of the same Cordyline australis at Mom's - as your folks have. I planted these in small 3 gallon pots along the side just to give some vertical accent in a very narrow bed and they've done great. Interesting because around here they aren't used that much - probably much more in CA.

Adding the lighting was a nice touch. A way of enjoying the gardens after dark in a way that provides a completely different & unique experience. Especially the last couple days with the full moon we've had - it's been just off the graph!

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Heading out, camper, trailer and race car all fixed for now.
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Basically go here and fix stuff for 3 days.;)
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