Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.
It turns out that dragging a USB cable across the top of the UPS for the PC (about to be) running the Sherline mill was enough to flip its flush-mounted hairtrigger power switch. Although I can’t recess the switch, adding a mollyguard should help:
Mollyguard – UPS power switch
The power switches on the new outlet strips also seem unduly sensitive and a preemptive strike seemed in order:
Mollyguard – outlet strip switch
Two layers of 3 mm acrylic just barely clear the switch, but should prevent casual trips. AFAICT, the little hexagonal shape fills the hole for an indicator LED this strip doesn’t have.
I am so glad methanol is a liquid, not a crystalline powder, because this could be totally misinterpreted:
Methanol package label
A recent LightBurn forum discussion pointed out methanol is a good solvent for borax to produce dark-brown to black laser engravings in wood. In round numbers, 20% w/w borax will dissolve in methanol at room temperature.
I understand the toxicity warnings and don’t plan to spray it indoors. OK?
One of the zone valves on the gas furnace developed a slow leak around its actuator stem, so (now that the heating season is definitely over) I’ve been refurbishing all the long-neglected rubbery bits and pieces.
The four zone drain valves showed signs of having leaked in the past, so I took them apart to replace the washers:
Furnace zone drain valve – washers
As you’d expect, the two most-deteriorated washers were on the valves with the most corrosion.
As I expected, the faucet washer assortment on the shelf didn’t have that size. Figuring the size based on the outside diameter produced a description of faucet washer size labels that confirmed my suspicion: it makes no sense whatsoever. In the event of link rot, a lightly reformatted version of his table:
Faucet Washer Sizes
Careful measurement suggested they were 3/8L, which fit perfectly:
Furnace zone drain valve – gaskets
I added the spares and a copy of that table to the washer kit, although I’m certain the next project will involve a washer with yet another nonstandard standard size.
Replacing the washers required dismantling the valves and the first valve produced a gasket that fell out in brittle fragments. Although the remaining three gaskets emerged intact, I picked up some gasket material and laser-cut four new gaskets from the 0.8 mm sheet.
The OD fits into the valve body rebate:
Furnace zone drain valve – gasket installed
Because these valves are closed in operation and even when open won’t operate under any significant pressure, the gaskets aren’t particularly critical, but I dabbed joint compound into the body threads just to be sure.
And, while I was ordering things, I got a set of knobs to replace the sad bent wreckage on their stems.
A large gooey puddle helped isolate a leak in the Dripworks main line pipe running the length of Mary’s Vassar Farms plot:
Dripworks Mainline clamp – injured hose joint
Much of the tubing between the transfer barb in the buried pipe and the cross coupling lies on the surface, where it’s subject to missteps. This being just a few feet inside the garden gate, it’s no surprise enough missteps caused the barb to no longer seal properly.
You’re supposed to wrap silicone tape while keeping its surface clean, which is obviously impossible in a hole rapidly filling with water draining from the plumbing but the clamp presses the tape firmly against the pipe and seals the leak.
There is, I regret to say, an 8-32 stainless steel washer lost somewhere deep in the muck.
I punched a new barb into the pipe with slightly longer tubing to the cross fitting, in the hope it’ll be more resilient.
Another clamp with its silicone tape snippet stands ready for duty:
Dripworks Mainline Pipe Clamp – assembled
For the record, the Micromark Cutoff Saw has a 3 mm offset between the side of the vise and the left edge of the blade:
Micromark abrasive cutoff – work offset
I still lack a Round Tuit for improving that vise.
I eventually tracked a distressingly loud rattle from the BOB Yak trailer to a fender mount failure:
BOB Yak Trailer fender front mount – aluminum fatigue
The screw clamped the round aluminum fender between two flat washers (the other of which has been touring the workbench). The hole in the aluminum started as a screw slot and eventually fretted away around the edge of the washers, leaving a trapped fragment to fall out as I loosened the screw.
As before, a bit of math conjures a chunky mount from the vasty digital deep:
Fender front mount – solid model – Show view
The first iteration didn’t have the hole for the threaded insert angled downward at 10°, but it’s easier to make better measurements with a “pretty close” prototype. I’m reasonably sure the angle is a glitch due to hand-brazing the frame tubes, but we’ll never know.
The inner plate angles to match the insert, thus keeping the screw & washer perpendicular to the surface:
Fender front mount – solid model – Mounts view
A brim around that chip of plastic ensures a good grip on the platform:
BOB Yak Trailer – fender front mount – PrusaSlicer preview
I suppose rounding the corners would make it prettier:
BOB Yak Trailer fender front mount – inner plate
The original screw was slightly too short, so that’s a shiny replacement from the Drawer o’ Random M5 Screws. If I ever have occasion to go in there again, I’ll use a button head screw, although there’s certainly enough clearance:
BOB Yak Trailer fender front mount – tire clearance
From the top, the gray PETG-CF looks like it grew there:
BOB Yak Trailer fender front mount – installed
I figured the mount’s radius by feeding measurements into the chord equation and assuming the overall curve is circular; the radius came out slightly too large, which likely won’t make much difference.
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
A no-assembly-needed earplug case from Printables will be more easily found in Mary’s purse than the previous small bag:
Earplug case
That’s the “grippy bits” version of the model, which really is easier to open than the straight-sided version.
I printed a few more, loaded them with earplugs, and put them where they may come in handy. In retrospect, I should have used clear PETG to show off the retina-burn plugs.
A spate of tidying-up led to mounting an outlet strip along the back of a bench:
Outlet Bench Mount – installed
Rather than drill holes into the top of the bench for those screws, they fit into M4 brass inserts heat-staked into the brackets:
Outlet Bench Mount – show view
The holes for those inserts aren’t centered side-to-side on the brackets, because the screw holes aren’t centered on the bent-steel angles forming the outlet strip endplates.
The bottom arm on the brackets probably isn’t necessary, but they kept the outlet strip from crawling away while I match-drilled two holes for the screws into the side of the benchtop.
For obvious reasons, the brackets print on their sides:
Outlet Bench Mount – build view
Another outlet strip from a different manufacturer is, of course, different, but changing three parameters in the OpenSCAD program summons a different bracket from the vasty digital deep:
Outlet Bench Mount – different brand
Parametric modeling and a 3D printer are exactly the right hammers for the job …
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 