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

Tire FOD

We rented a van to haul our bikes on a vacation trip, but the tire pressure warning alarm sounded when I turned into the driveway. Measuring the tire pressures showed the left rear tire was at 51 psi, far below the 72 psi shown on the doorframe sticker, and a quick check showed a possible problem:

Tire FOD – in place

The small circle in the tread to the left of that mark turned out to be a metal tube:

Tire FOD object

Their tire contractor determined the tire wasn’t leaking, the metal tube hadn’t punctured the carcass, and all was right with the world. After, of course, two hours when we expected to be loading the van.

The rental company was good about it, perhaps because I reported they sent the van out with the other rear tire grossly overinflated to 86 psi (!); obviously, their prep didn’t include checking the tires. Somewhat to my surprise, the space under the passenger seat for a jack was empty.

During the trip, the van laid an egg:

Transit Van with Egg

A good time was had by all, but our next bicycling vacation will definitely have much more bicycling and much less driving!

2019-11-12
Hiatus
Several home projects of steadily increasing priority will interfere with writing up Basement Laboratory projects through early November:

Mary – R foot – complete

Ground truths:
- No barnacles on her foot
- No sea creature eating her leg
I’ll be posting infrequently during the next few weeks.

All remains right with our world …
2019-10-10
Raspberry Pi vs. eBay Camera: Assembly Completion

I picked up a pair of Raspberry Pi V1 cameras, both of which arrived unstuck to their breakout board:

RPi V1 camera adhesive

Requiring the customer to peel off the white layer and stick the camera to the PCB helps keep costs low. They’re $4 if you’re willing to wait two months or $7 from a “USA Seller”.

2019-10-09
Bathroom Sink Drain: Epoxy FAIL

Apparently, “porcelain chip fix” epoxy survives about a year in a bathroom sink:

Bathroom sink epoxy – top

It came loose from the drain rim while I was cleaning the sink; I wasn’t doing anything particularly vigorous.

The stain in the lower right goes all the way around the epoxy:

Bathroom sink epoxy – bottom

For what should be obvious reasons, I was loathe to scuff up the sink surface to give the epoxy a better grip, so it couldn’t make a watertight seal all the way around.

A closer look at the stain:

Bathroom sink epoxy – detail

I’m reasonably sure that’s iron bacteria colony, rather than actual rust, as there’s no iron to be found anywhere nearby.

For lack of anything smarter, I’ll apply another dose of the same epoxy, although this time I won’t be expecting a long-term fix.

2019-10-08
Monthly Science: Concrete Bridge Flexing

Riding south on Rt 376 takes us across the Mighty Wappinger Creek on a four-lane concrete bridge built about 1995. This Dutchess County Aerial Access photo shows it in 2016:

Rt 376 – Wappinger Bridge – 2016 overhead

A pothole opened up on the south end of the span last year:

Rt 376 bridge deterioration – marker 1102 – 2018-05-07

NYS DOT patched it a while ago:

Rt 376 – Wapp Bridge – 2019-09-11 – 0490

This year, we’ve been avoiding a new pothole opening on the north end:

Rt 376 – Wapp Bridge – 2019-09-11 – 0295

It’s difficult to ride between the right side of the hole and the weeds growing from the curb joint under the guide rail, so we take the lane whenever we can. The extensive vegetation growing in the bridge structure can’t possibly be a good thing.

The bridge deck rests on steel beams across the creek, with plenty of corroded concrete along the edge:

Red Oaks Mill bridge – dangling concrete

The concrete seems to be failing by tension overload as the beams flex downward under traffic loading and pull the top surface apart. The surface has irregular transverse cracks across the deck width, not all of which look like control joints.

With potholes and surrounding cracks allowing brine into the deck, we expect much worse deterioration during the next few years.

My Professional Engineer license has long lapsed, not that I ever knew anything about bridge design, so this is mostly observational.

2019-10-01
Suet Feeder Bracket Painting

The 4 inch column on the rear patio holds a bracket, probably intended for a welcoming sign or some such, which keeps the suet feeder mostly out of reach. It desperately wanted a coat of black paint to match the railing, so I stripped the old paint and applied Evapo-Rust:

Suet Feeder Bracket Hardware – Evapo-Rust bath

The dark areas are iron oxide being converted to loose iron sulfide, which is what Evapo-Rust does for a living.

One could, of course, simply buy new eye screws & nuts, but we’re deep into historical preservation around here.

An hour of soaking and a few minutes of wire-wheeling got everything down to bare metal, ready for some rattle-can primer and black paint action:

Suet Feeder Bracket Hardware – installed

It’s a version of what Eks calls a “used car finish”: high shine over deep pits.

Discussion of why one should not paint threaded parts will be unavailing; in this case, paint serves as permanent threadlock. I re-spritzed the eyescrews & nuts after getting everything aligned, so as to produce a lovely two-coat over-all finish.

The birds won’t care one way or the other and, as long as the paint lasts, neither will we.

2019-09-28
Cateye Astrale Cyclocomputer Battery Life

The display on Mary’s Cateye Astrale “Cyclocomputer” had once again faded to gray, so it’s time for a new CR2032 lithium cell:

Cateye Astrale – battery change 2019-09-22

The old cell read 2.5 V, well below what it should be.

The notes scrawled on the cell become readable under better light:

Cateye Astrale – CR2032 life

Seven years (at 1942 mile/yr) ain’t bad at all!

To replace the cell fast enough to maintain the odometer reading, just unscrew & remove the battery cover, slam the back of the Astrale on the bench, and pop in the new cell.

Maybe I should replace the cell twice a decade, regardless of how feeble it might be?

2019-09-27