Spring time is here and my allergies are back in full force. Evidently I am allergic to Birch tree pollen. It bothers my sinuses and all things connected. While it is a bother, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love the weather this time of year. So, even though I feel groggy and sometimes nautious, I’ll be outside as much as possible. Enjoying the sun and getting things done – outside, the way life should be.
…i’m out.
I am ready for the weekend. So many things I need to get done on the homestead and I really want to get crackin’. Consequently, I really don’t want to be stuck inside at work and it’s hard to get motivated to get “desk work” done when you have “outside things” you’d rather be working on.
Back to (desk) work.
When it rains it pours. In the last couple months this is what we’ve had to do to our vehicles.
Focus:
Air filter
Fuel filter
PCV
Spark plugs and wires
Valve cover gasket
Serpentine belt
Catalytic converter
Ranger:
Air filter
Dash lights
Alternator
Plus we’ve done new wiper blades, oil changes and fluid checking etc. Also I need to install the motor mount I picked up for the Focus. The liquid filled one has blown again. This time we went with OEM Motorcraft instead of cheapy Dorman.
Last fall my electronic transfer case decided not to allow me into 4-Low. Normally this isn’t an issue, but I was needing to pull some trees around after felling them and didn’t want to burn out my clutch. I’ve always hated the electronically activated portion of my 4wd system, so I decided to get rid of it. I installed The Shiftster. A neat little device that takes the place of the electronic shift motor. It is designed and built right here in the USA which is great and only cost me $60, a new shift motor was 2-3 times that. I then disconnected the 4wd controller and made an access panel in my floor so I didn’t have to crawl under the truck during inclimate weather to put the truck into 4wd.
This is a picture of the Shiftster the day I installed it. You can see the make-shift access panel I had above it.
My first attempt at an access panel was quick and dirty. I cut the hole in my floor, then used that piece as the “door”. I siliconed on some rubber fuel line around the hole to “seal” it while closed – it leaked horribly. It stayed closed via 2 eyelets that 2 rods slid into and then a homemade latch using a hitchpin. I had to physically remove the panel to gain access and put the truck into 4wd. It took just under a minute to open the panel, take it in or out of 4wd and remount the panel. Not bad, but pretty bothersome.
Now that better weather is here and I can weld outside again, I’ve fabricated a better solution.
This is a picture of the new access panel closed.
Using 1/8″ thick 1×1 angle iron I made a “frame” for the door, this gave me a flat surface to work with. The hole measures 4″ x 4″. I used a scrap piece of Lexan (polycarbonate sheet) that I picked up from Portland Glass in Farmington for the new door. Then I used a hinge to attatch it, vinyl door seal to seal it and two harddrive magnets to pull the door down and give a positive seal. Works great and now I can check what mode the truck is in just by looking down (dash lights don’t work for 4wd since I disconnected the controller).
This is the new access panel opened up.
Sam Feller’s “Perfect Dunker” cup prototype.
Sam Feller, AwkwardEngineer.com, has created another invention. His first was the Panic Button light switch kit, which has been quite successful. This time it is an even more useful invention. The Perfect Dunker. This complex shape of a cup allows you to use only 8oz of milk and still dunk all of your cookies without rusking a partial dunk. Great design and great implementation of BPA free plastic. I hope this project takes off, I’ve already donated to it and think you should too. You only have 15 more days to send Sam a dollar so get on-board! He’ll appreciate it and so will the rest of us as soon as we can actually get our hands on The Ultimate in Cookie Dunking Technology!
It seems that Disney has decided to close down LucasArts entertainment. The good news is the only game they made that I liked was in 1995, “StarWars: Dark Forces”. My brother and I took turns (it was one player only) and put on countless hours playing in that game. We did all sorts of silly things including randomly blowing up our own guys in various ways, coming up with the most interesting ways to kill off your player and trying to “trick” the AI enemies. Good times. The graphics were top notch at the time too.
Between this game and Need For Speed II, that was pretty much the majority of my gaming until high school. Then I got into Age of Empires and most importantly, StarCraft.
I’ve been using my little 50 amp stick welder for a few small projects and have found that I really like how 1/16″ 7014 rod runs as compared to 1/16″ 6013. Now, for either rod it really makes sense to cut them in half first. This is because 1/16″ rods are extremely flimsly and due to this it is very hard to control them and maintain proper arc length. With more than 50 amps I could run a 1/16″ 7014 as a “drag rod” and not need to have an arc length, literally just running it across the top of the metal. But, due to my tiny 50 amp power supply, it makes life a little more difficult. That said, I’ve had good luck with it and have been able to repair and fabricate stuff up to 1/8″ thick with pretty good success.
My brother wants me to repair a gas tank for an ’89 Honda Shadow VT1100. I have ground down the rusted areas and there are some decent holes that need patching. I’ve decided that the safest long term repair will be for me to solder patches over the holes. I will use a soldering copper so that I don’t need to put a flame directly on the tank. Once the patches are fully soldered on I will coat the inside with POR15 liner. Then I will sand, file and shape the outside of the tank (possibly with the help of some JB Weld) until I am happy. Lastly it will receive a nice new coat of paint. When I’m done it should look and perform as if it was brand new.
We have continued on our concert series at New Sharon Congregational Church UCC in New Sharon, ME. I just hadn’t been posting about the concerts here. The concert series is now named “Brick Church Concerts”.
Below is our schedule.
January 19, 2013 @ 7 pm
Mt. Blue Jazz Band & Franklin County Fiddlers
February 16, 2013 @ 7 pm
Mark Phillips
March 16, 2013 @ 7 pm
Lissa Schneckenburger
April 27, 2013 @ 7 pm
Mt. Blue Voices
May 25, 2013 @ 7 pm
Sharon Buck and Dixon Road
June 15, 2013 @ 7 pm
Borderline Express
My 1954 John Deere 40T utilizes a oil bath air cleaner setup. In trying to explain it to my brother I realized I didn’t fully understand it myself. So I did some research. Here is a site that explains it wonderfully well: http://vintagetractorengineer.com/2009/01/oil-bath-air-cleaners-for-tractors/
The short of it is that the cup at the bottom is full of oil and air has to go through the oil. The air passes through but the dirt and dust get stuck in the oil and settle to the bottom. My tractor also utilizes a sediment bowl in the gas line as opposed to a fuel filter. I guess back in 1954 they didn’t like expendable parts, just expendable fluids.
Here comes the sun (doo doo doo doo)
Here comes the sun, and I say
It’s all right
Little darling, it’s been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it’s been here
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It’s all right
Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it’s been here
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It’s all right
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it’s been clear
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It’s all right
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It’s all right
It’s all right
Thanks to lyrics007.com for providing the lyrics.
