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

[A930Rocket]

Originally Posted by rsrguy

It's taken a long time to get everything in the fuse to this point...

How did you attach the material to the frame? It’s very tight looking. It looks like a plastic that you heat to shrink to the frame. Like they do for boats, for winter storage.

[Brian 162]

The solar panels on our outdoor lights were faded like a bad headlight lens.
I sprayed the panels with clear lacquer. The lights are good as new. They stay lit through the night.
I must add, a fellow Pelican posted a video on the YouTube thread on this very problem
Thank you

[rsrguy]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

How did you attach the material to the frame? It’s very tight looking. It looks like a plastic that you heat to shrink to the frame. Like they do for boats, for winter storage.

The material is called oratex. It's made by the German company lanitz. It's very much like the rc model covering material... some of those are stretchy mylar, but a few are dacron based. With rc covering the entire backside of the covering is coated with glue... This stuff has no glue on it.
You glue this stuff with a paint on water born glue... 2 coats, 2 on the airframe and 2 on the fabric where it attaches to the airframe, its heat activated. Its pretty simple, the legacy systems are much more involved.
With this system, once the perimeter is glued down, heat shrinks it tight, no painting is necessary, as the finish is applied at the factory. It's lighter than the older systems, it's a bit tougher as well... those are the upsides. The cons are, the amount of attention to detail it needs, it requires a different skill set and patience to get it right, it will shrink or stretch as needed, up to 30%. The other downside is the expense, it's almost double the cost of the older system of gluing the dacron to the airframe then saturating it with chemicals to a point which it will take paint. Both are excellent and I'm proficient with either.

[herr_oberst]

Such a good shot of the Comanche. I love how sleek and pure that shape is. The way the AH 3000's lines say "sportscar", the Piper's lines say "sportsplane".

Do you get to fly all the airplanes that you restore?

[rsrguy]

Restore is a loaded word. The comanche had a nice panel and interior when my brother acquired it so the paint work is more of an exterior maintenance issue.
The 12 is a most of the way restoration, that started of as only a recover/paint job.
Yes the comanche is form and function. I prefer the flight qualities to the early model bonanza I briefly owned, but the 540 ci comanche is the total package, it is a true 200mph demon that will damn near carry whatever can be stuffed into it.
I don't imagine I'll get to fly the 12, but it isn't my bird either so there's that. The cap10b i fly frequently as I'm a partner in it.

[HobieMarty]

Well, I took Monday through Thursday of last week off with plans of working around the house. Monday morning I was taking some veggies and fruit out to the woods for the deer, bent over, and wham, I nearly hit the ground with back pain. Ugh, so I've been working on "fixing" my lower back using ice packs, heating pads, and massagers. So, anyway, I didn't let excruciating back pain stop me and I managed to get the spindle replaced on the 46" mower deck. I also sharpened and balanced the blades and installed a new deck belt. I plan to replace the idler pulleys next weekend because they are getting a little loud, and there is no way to service the bearings in them. So, my back is slowly getting back to normal and my mower will be back to normal soon as well.

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[HobieMarty]

Does anyone ever balance their lawnmower blades?
I went down the YouTube rabbit hole concerning blade sharpening and balancing!!!
There are all sorts of ways to sharpen blades from things that help you maintain the angle of the cutting surface to sharpening machines. I used an angle grinder with a 60 grit flap disc to take out small nicks in the blade and also used a hand file for sharpening. There are also lots of methods for balancing blades as well from spinner contraptions to just using a trusty old nail. I chose to try the nail method. The blades I have are Oregon Gator Blades and they have a 6-point star mounting hole and they say you cannot balance them on a nail. Well, I beg to differ. I was able to put the center point of the star on the shaft of the nail and balance the blade. I used the mower a little the other day and I can tell that balancing the blades definitely eliminated vibrations. So, if you feel vibrations from your mower, be it a rider or push mower, try balancing your blades for a smoother performance.

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[pksystems]

Broke the BSP to NPT adapter on my oil pressure sensor. It's almost flush in the oil filter housing, so I get to disassemble half the engine to take off the housing so I can properly remove the broken piece.

[herr_oberst]

Replicating a few dozen copies of an 8 track tape for a wall hanging.

[HobieMarty]

Here is an example of one of the blades before and after balancing. It wasn't very far out of balance but you can see how it is dipping down on the left side in the first picture and is hanging pretty straight in the second picture. I installed these blades five years ago and used them right out of the box, no sharpening, no balancing. I have now learned that it is somewhat recommended to sharpen and check the balance of new blades. Depending on the manufacturer and quality of the blades, some can be pretty off-balance. The Gator Blades I use are very well-made and I have never balanced or sharpened them in the five years I have used them so, they were pretty well balanced from new. So, anyway. Happy Mowing!!!

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[TimT]

I've wanted one for years.. I finally found a decent CNC router on FB marketplace The cost of entry is kind of high.. plus the tariff BS.... This was local and came with many spares, bits, spindles, Nema stepper motors etc...

While I was out I stopped by my friends shop to use his drill press... and shoot the breeze...

I made a simple trammel bar..to check the spindle is running true.. (plumb in X-Y planes) Ended up spending a good bit of time at the shop.. balancing some Weber carbs.. (another post)

This tool is simple, clamp it to a bit on the spindle.. add another bit... rotate the spindle... all is good if it had the same clearance on the outer bit..

Nerdy yea..

[juanbenae]

Put my E Bike together. What a pain in the arse, almost rolled the thing down the mountain... No instructions, not a ton even after googling. Biggest pain was trimming and getting the dropper seat post cable cut the correct length. Charging the battery now for 1st ride tomorrow.


https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/full-suspension-mountain-bikes/ebikes-hal-eboost-m600-29er-electric-mountain-bikes.htm

[rsrguy]

I managed to shrink wrap the other half today... pretty nerve wracking just because everything inside needs to be right, because of access later.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by rsrguy

I managed to -snip-

Looking good, Guy!

Did you pick that colour out after seeing my Boxster?

[rsrguy]

Cub yellow is what was originally on it..lol

[oldE]

Do you suppose that's where Ferrari got "Fly Yellow"?

Best
Les

[rsrguy]

Hardly a chicken and egg discussion...

[A930Rocket]

I replaced the upper/lower control arms, tie rods and sway bar end links on our daughter and SIL’s 2010 Tahoe. Fortunately, it wasn’t too hot and I had my fan running, but it’s definitely getting harder to work on cars at 66 now.😢

[billybek]

Trying to get the roof to rain gutter re-sealed on the travel trailer. To wet this weekend to get it to happen. Cleaned the gutters and downspouts on the house yesterday while it was raining lightly and swapped over to the summer tires on the one ton.
Need to get back to work for a rest.
Today is a stat holiday an hope it is dry enough so I can caulk the one side of the trailer.
Will be fixing a prime rib roast on the Big Green Egg today too.... Yum.

[juanbenae]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

I replaced the upper/lower control arms, tie rods and sway bar end links on our daughter and SIL’s 2010 Tahoe. Fortunately, it wasn’t too hot and I had my fan running, but it’s definitely getting harder to work on cars at 66 now.😢

Ya, I could never do what I did in my 40's building my 911's. I still do fluid changes and such, but nothing I'm gunna be on the floor up & down all day.

My pops put a lift in his shop and will go down there for certain projects.