The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

Tag: Repairs

If it used to work, it can work again

  • X10 Controller: End of Life

    X10 Controller Circuit Board
    X10 Controller Circuit Board

    After 30-some-odd years, the X10 controller we’ve been using to turn off all the lights at bedtime finally stopped working. For the last few months it had been occasionally jamming ON, even when nobody pushed any keys, and the only way to reset it was pulling the plug.

    The big silver can on the white cable is an ultrasonic mic, so perhaps the circuitry around that was getting cranky: the ultrasonic cleaner in the bathroom (which we use for eyeglasses) would reliably jam it. I think the controller was responding to the third harmonic of the 40-ish kHz cleaner power, delivered through the power line.

    As you’d expect, all the electrolytic caps were shot; ESR for the big one was “open”, the smaller ones around 5 Ω. The capacitance values were entirely within spec, of course. I replaced all three.

    X10 Controller keyboard
    X10 Controller keyboard

    While I had the hood up, I cleaned the switch contacts, even though that probably had nothing to do with the problem. Back in the day, they used actual metal deformable domes, stuck under an adhesive layer that did a fine job of keeping the crud and dust out.

    Put everything back together, fired it up, and it misbehaved the same way. I’d say we got our money’s worth out of it, though.

    A replacement is on the order of $15 from the usual eBay suppliers, so it’s not the end of the world.

    The new one probably doesn’t have the ultrasonic receiver, so it shouldn’t respond to the ultrasonic cleaner with the same enthusiasm.

  • “Clear Seal” Sealant Removal

    I attempted to assemble the Totally Featureless Clock’s case using Liquid Nails Clear Seal, figuring that it’d be easier to fixture than runny epoxy. I hoped that the joints would have enough surface area to allow curing, but was dead wrong.

    Hope is not a strategy and proper fixturing is your friend.

    Anyhow, I was left with eight surfaces on four dislocated panels covered with more-or-less cured sealant. I left ’em sit for a few days, then had to choose between:

    • Remove enough of the sealant to make the joints fit or
    • Machine new panels

    Turns out that xylene (from my can of Goof-Off) removes cured Liquid Nails Clear Seal just fine, without affecting the surface of the acrylic panel. Soak the corner of a rag, rub vigorously, and the gunk comes right off.

    Note, however, that Goof-Off comes in many different formulations. The one I have is mostly xylene, but the California “VOC Compliant” version is mostly acetone… which, I think, eats acrylic plastic for lunch.

    All of that stuff eats your liver for lunch, too.

    Don’t do like I did and use your bare finger in the rag. Alas, any solvent that actually works also eats any protective glove in my inventory for lunch.

  • Toolmaker’s Vise Repair

    Toolmaker's Vises
    Toolmaker

    Discovered that one of my toolmaker’s vises had a defunct screw securing the jaw to the body: one side of the head simply vanished over the years. Hadn’t mattered up until now, but I really wanted the jaw to not ride up when clamping the workpiece and the screw was rather loose.

    It’s difficult to tighten a screw with half a slot…

    Eventually I figured out that the screw has a 6-40 thread. My Brownells Gunsmith screw assortment (which they no longer offer) has, among others, 6-48 and 8-40 screws in flat, fillister, socket, and round head, but nothing in 6-40.

    After exhausting all other possibilities, I looked in the assortment box again and found four round-head crosspoint screws with captive lockwashers that I must have salvaged from some dead piece of gear.

    Of course, they turned out to be 6-40. Whew!

    Chopped off the lockwasher, added a dab of Loctite, and it fit perfectly. I flipped the sliding plate over, as it appeared somewhat worn, but I’m certain that didn’t make any difference.

    The screw must have a flat head (and you can’t flip the plate over) if you mount the vise on a machined V-way, but that’s not anything I’m likely to do. In that event, maybe I’ll just file the top off the screw and be done with it.

  • Sink Drain Pop-Up Lever: The Rot

    Rusted Drain Rod
    Rusted Drain Rod

    The drain in our black bathroom(*) stopped working: the pop-up drain seal didn’t pop up.

    I finally wedged myself under the sink, with my feet in the shower stall, and removed the operating rod. Turns out that we replaced the countertop and sink (nine years ago; nothing lasts) and the drain used plastic pipe.

    Except, of course, for the operating rod that sticks out into the drain. That’s chrome-plated steel, evidently with a few plating imperfections, and the end had simply rotted away. I suppose there’s a small chunk of steel decomposing in the trap.

    How much would it have cost to use stainless steel in this corrosion-prone application? Or good old brass (“contains an ingredient known to the State of California to cause cancer or birth defects”)?

    After a brief moment of consideration, with my feet still in the shower, I pushed the rod through the bearing ball so the other end stuck out by about the right amount and replaced it in the drain.

    Swapped Rod
    Swapped Rod

    Yeah, there’s an icky rusted end hanging out there in mid-air, but the next person under that sink will understand exactly what’s going on…

    (*) It’s the size of a large closet with wraparound black ceramic tile, a white tile shower stall, and a wall-sized mirror over the sink. We painted the walls and ceiling white, installed an ersatz gray granite counter top (it’s laminate, not anything spendy) with a shiny white sink, and it’s all good. The original half-century-old grout is in fine shape: some things really do last!

  • Tire Liners

    After putting Mary’s newly covered seat on her Tour Easy, I replaced the tire liner in the front wheel; the previous tube had gone flat, as mentioned there, due to erosion from the end of the liner.

    Here’s what the taped liner looked like: smashed as flat as you’d expect from 100 psi applied evenly over the surface. The tube had a rectangular imprint on it, with what looked like minute abrasions, around the outline of the tape. Nothing major, but it shouldn’t ought to look that way.

    Taped tire liner
    Taped tire liner

    I rolled that liner up, popped it in the Bike Tire Stuff drawer and replaced it with a Slime liner. This picture shows the ends of the two liners: the brown one (bottom) is about 90 mils thick in the center, the Slime liner (top, fluorescent green) is 60-ish.

    Tire liner comparison
    Tire liner comparison

    As nearly as I can tell, I’ve never had an abrasion flat with a Slime liner, while various other brands have caused troubles.

    I broke the edges of the Slime liner with a bit of sandpaper, just to see what that’ll do. Most likely, bad things, seeing as how I’ve never done that before…

  • KitchenAid KSM90WW Mixer Oil Leakage

     

    Oil in end cap
    Oil in end cap

     

    Our KitchenAid mixer gets plenty of use turning out bread dough, but it tends not to get moved around a lot, because it’s an awkward and top-heavy bit of gear. Mary moved it recently and discovered oil puddles underneath. The scene put me in mind of my parent’s 1957 Studebaker President: it had a bad rear main seal and the oil leaked out just slightly slower than we could pour it in.

    Anyhow, it seems our mixer isn’t the only one to have a slight incontinence problem, as a casual search on the obvious keywords will reveal.

     

    Rear housing view
    Rear housing view

     

    I usually leave the mixer angled up, which caused the oil to drain to the rear of the housing, where it followed the main support strut downward into the stand. From there, it spread out and dripped off several local minima, forming perhaps four puddles. Most folks leave it horizontal, whereupon the oil evidently drips out of the lower cover into the bowl.

    The rear view of the guts shows the oil oozing out both sides along the bottom of the joint between the housing and the end bell.

    A rag and some denatured alcohol cleaned things up pretty well, but I do wonder what’s going on with KitchenAid… I’m not looking forward to replacing the piece-of-crap plastic bevel gear that evidently strips out after a while.

  • Kitchen Sink Strainer De-gunking

    Skimming the strainer
    Skimming the strainer

    We have a (formerly) white plastic strainer in the kitchen sink that has acquired a brown biofilm layer. Bleach is moderately effective, but the surface is just ooky.

    Green tea is suspected, but the evidence is not, at least according to me, conclusive. More research is in order.

    Took the evidence to the Basement Laboratory’s Machine Shop WIng and skim-cut both faces, cleaned up the rim, drilled out the holes, countersunk the holes to get rid of the chaff, and it’s all good. The surface is probably too rough, but we’ll see what happens.

    I figure I can do that maybe twice more before I must make a new one; looks like a perfect match for CNC, doesn’t it?