Tag: Repairs

If it used to work, it can work again

Whirlpool Refrigerator Drawer Support Re-Re-Re-Gluing

Spring cleaning provided the opportunity for Yet Another Episode in my long-standing battle with the Whirlpool ~~refrigerator~~ entropy generator:

Whirlpool Refrigerator – drawer support gluing

That little thing supports half the weight of the two drawers across the bottom of the refrigerator; how such a thin plastic member was supposed to be adequate to the task continues to escape me.

If we had to pay real money for all the repairs I’ve made to that piece of crap, we’d have replaced it long ago. The only thing that hasn’t failed so far is the compressor, so driving it until it drops continues to make sense; replacing a working anything seems like a bad idea.

2019-07-03
American Standard Kitchen Faucet: Valve Shaft Mystery

The latest in a continuing series of annoyances from our American Standard kitchen faucet: it became increasingly hard to turn it on with the handle all the way to the left in the “hot” position. Bear in mind this valve is less than a year old and I replaced its predecessor two years before that, after maybe a decade of service from the OEM valve.

Pulling it apart revealed the problem, which requires a close inspection.

The view from the “cold” side:

American Standard faucet cartridge – cold side

And from the “hot” side:

American Standard faucet cartridge – hot side

See it?

The valve handle stem pivots on the 4 mm shaft passing through the black “engineering plastic” shape inside the red hot-limit ring. This top view shows the overall layout:

American Standard faucet – hot limit ring

The shaft has worked its way leftward, toward the “hot” side, until it bumped into the limit ring. The right end of the shaft hasn’t come completely out of the inside of its pivot, but it’s apparently gone far enough to stop pivoting freely.

This may also explain how the previous hot-limit ring worked loose: the misplaced shaft applies torque to the limit ring as we move the lever to the “cold” side. I don’t know how the ring worked its way upward from its positioning notches. Overall, it seem plausible.

Installing a new valve isn’t going to get us a better design, so I must figure out how to keep the shaft in the middle of its travel. Perhaps replacing it with a slightly longer shaft will work around the problem, because it simply can’t slide in either direction.

Loosening the three screws holding the cartridge down (and applying pressure against the seals) reduces the force required to move the faucet, even with the shaft in the wrong position. This suggests the valve body distorts slightly, so I loosened all three and (roughly) equalized their torque; the valve isn’t leaking and we’ll see what happens next.

2019-06-30

Garden Soaker Hose Connector Repair

Two of Mary’s garden soaker hoses failed their pre-installation checks with leaks from around their connectors. The problem seemed to be a break in the hose inside the connector, with water spewing out of the connector around the hose. Having previously fixed a gash in another hose, I figured I might have some success at fixing these leaks.

The general idea is to squish enough silicone rubber inside the connector to seal around the hose, then clamp the hose and connector snugly enough to hold the rubber in place:

Soaker Hose Connector Clamp - Show view — Soaker Hose Connector Clamp – Show view

The enlarged recess fits around the brass connector shell, which is squashed loosely around the hose and from which the leaking water emerges. Of course, because this is a different hose, the previous model didn’t quite fit and I had to doodle up new geometry:

Soaker Hose Connector repair - Dimension doodle — Soaker Hose Connector repair – Dimension doodle

As before, I bandsawed aluminum backing plates to ensure the plastic didn’t get all bendy in the middle:

The hose clamp (!) around the connector on the far right ensures a split in the brass shell doesn’t get any larger.

They’ll spend the rest of their lives under the garden mulch, where nobody will ever see those bulky lumps. Life is good!

The OpenSCAD source code as a GitHub Gist:

	// Rubber Soaker Hose End Connector Clamp
	// Helps hold silicone rubber in connector
	// Ed Nisley KE4ZNU June 2019

	Layout = "Build"; // [Hose,Connector,Block,Show,Build]

	//- Extrusion parameters must match reality!

	/* [Hidden] */

	ThreadThick = 0.25;
	ThreadWidth = 0.40;

	HoleWindage = 0.2;

	Protrusion = 0.1; // make holes end cleanly

	inch = 25.4;

	function IntegerMultiple(Size,Unit) = Unit * ceil(Size / Unit);

	//———-
	// Dimensions
	// Hose lies along X axis

	Hose = [200,26.5,11.6]; // X=very long, Y=width, Z=overall height

	RimThick = 10.3; // outer sections
	RimOD = RimThick;
	RimFlatRecess = 1.0; // recess to front flat surface

	OuterOC = Hose.y – RimOD; // outer tube centers

	RecessM = 0.8; // back recess chord
	RecessC = OuterOC;
	RecessR = (pow(RecessM,2) + pow(RecessC,2)/4) / (2*RecessM);

	RidgeM = 1.6; // front ridge chord
	RidgeC = 7.5;
	RidgeR = (pow(RidgeM,2) + pow(RidgeC,2)/4) / (2*RidgeM);

	HoseSides = 12*4;

	Connector = [5.0,33.0,13.0]; // oval brass: X=snout Y=width Z=dia

	Block = [20.0,50.0,4.0 + Hose.z]; // overall splice block size
	echo(str("Block: ",Block));

	Kerf = 0.5; // cut through middle to apply compression

	ID = 0;
	OD = 1;
	LENGTH = 2;

	// 8-32 stainless screws
	Screw = [4.1,8.0,3.0]; // OD = head LENGTH = head thickness
	Washer = [4.4,9.5,1.0];
	Nut = [4.1,9.7,6.0];

	CornerRadius = Washer[OD]/2;

	ScrewOC = Block.y – 2*CornerRadius;

	echo(str("Screw OC: x=",ScrewOC.x," y=",ScrewOC.y));

	//———————-
	// Useful routines

	module PolyCyl(Dia,Height,ForceSides=0) { // based on nophead's polyholes
	Sides = (ForceSides != 0) ? ForceSides : (ceil(Dia) + 2);
	FixDia = Dia / cos(180/Sides);
	cylinder(d=(FixDia + HoleWindage),h=Height,$fn=Sides);
	}

	// Hose shape
	// This includes magic numbers measured from reality

	module HoseProfile() {

	rotate([0,-90,0])
	translate([0,0,-Hose.x/2])
	linear_extrude(height=Hose.x,convexity=4)
	difference() {
	union() {
	for (j=[-1,1]) // outer channels
	translate([0,j*OuterOC/2])
	circle(d=RimOD,$fn=HoseSides);
	translate([-RimOD/4,0]) // rear flat fill
	square([RimOD/2,OuterOC],center=true);
	translate([(RimOD/4 – RimFlatRecess),0]) // front flat fill
	square([RimOD/2,OuterOC],center=true);
	intersection() {
	translate([Hose.z/2,0])
	square([Hose.z,OuterOC],center=true);
	translate([-RidgeR + RimOD/2 – RimFlatRecess + RidgeM,0])
	circle(r=RidgeR,$fn=HoseSides);
	}
	}
	translate([-(RecessR + RimOD/2 – RecessM),0])
	circle(r=RecessR,$fn=2*HoseSides);
	}
	}

	// Outside shape of splice Block
	// Z centered on hose rim circles, not overall thickness through center ridge

	module SpliceBlock() {
	difference() {
	hull()
	for (i=[-1,1], j=[-1,1]) // rounded block
	translate([i(Block.x/2 – CornerRadius),j(Block.y/2 – CornerRadius),-Block.z/2])
	cylinder(r=CornerRadius,h=Block.z,$fn=4*8);
	for (j=[-1,1]) // screw holes
	translate([0,
	j*ScrewOC/2,
	-(Block.z/2 + Protrusion)])
	PolyCyl(Screw[ID],Block.z + 2*Protrusion,6);
	cube([2Block.x,2Block.y,Kerf],center=true); // slice through center
	}
	}

	// Splice block less hose

	module ShapedBlock() {
	difference() {
	SpliceBlock();
	HoseProfile();
	Connector();
	}
	}

	// Brass connector end

	module Connector() {
	translate([-(Block.x/2 + Protrusion),0,0])
	rotate([0,90,0])
	linear_extrude(height=Connector.x + Protrusion)
	hull()
	for (i = [-1,1])
	translate([0,i*(Connector.y – Connector.z)/2])
	circle(d=Connector.z);
	}


	//———-
	// Build them

	if (Layout == "Hose")
	HoseProfile();

	if (Layout == "Block")
	SpliceBlock();

	if (Layout == "Connector")
	Connector();

	if (Layout == "Show") {
	ShapedBlock();
	color("Green",0.25)
	HoseProfile();
	}

	if (Layout == "Build") {
	SliceOffset = 0;
	intersection() {
	translate([SliceOffset,0,Block.z/4])
	cube([4Block.x,4Block.y,Block.z/2],center=true);
	union() {
	translate([0,0.6*Block.y,Block.z/2])
	ShapedBlock();
	translate([0,-0.6*Block.y,Block.z/2])
	rotate([0,180,0])
	ShapedBlock();
	}
	}
	}

view raw Soaker Hose Connector Clamp.scad hosted with ❤ by GitHub

2019-06-27

Ooma Telo 2: Speaker FAIL

The tiny voice inside our Ooma Telo 2 box died, although the VOIP phone service continued to work fine. A bit of searching showed the speaker seems to be the weak link.

Well, I can fix that.

Start by prying the recessed top panel off the case:

Ooma Telo 2 – upper case latches

Remove the circuit board to expose the tiny speaker, taking care not to rip the tiny wires out of the tiny connector:

Ooma Telo 2 – OEM speaker to PCB

You can’t measure a dead speaker, but it seems to be an 8 Ω unit.

The speaker sits in a rubber surround, with a foam rubber cushion against the PCB, tucked into a walled garden stiffening the case:

Ooma Telo 2 – speaker port

I don’t happen to have a tiny 8 Ω speaker, but I do have a bunch of small speakers (Update: 28 mm OD), so I bulldozed those walls with a flush cutting pliers and a bit of cussing to make room:

Ooma Telo 2 – modified speaker port

Nibble an adapter ring to match the rim of the new speaker, thereby routing the sound out those little holes, and hot-melt glue it in place:

Ooma Telo 2 – speaker adapter

Hot-melt glue the new speaker in place atop the adapter, taking care to fill all the edges / cracks / crevices below it with an impenetrable wall of glop:

Ooma Telo 2 – replacement speaker installed

The sealing part turns out to be critical with these little speakers, because a leak from front to back will pretty much cancel all the sound from the cone.

Cut the wires off the old speaker, affix to the new one, replace the PCB, snap the case lid in place, and it sounds better than new.

Millions of transistors in those ICs, but Ooma can’t spec a good speaker? Maybe they should have used a bigger speaker to begin with; ya never know.

2019-06-26
Dell U2711 Monitor: FAIL

My landscape monitor, a six-year-old Dell U2711, died after a few days of flickering and failure-to-start. As you’d expect with any old electronics, particularly from Dell, it’s the electrolytic caps:

Dell U2711 Monitor – failed caps

All of the black-cased caps on the board had bulged cases:

Dell U2711 Monitor – failed FOAI cap – detail

They’re (allegedly) made by FOAI, for whatever that’s worth.

They’re not really capacitors any more:

Dell U2711 Monitor – 100 uF 5 ohm cap

I replaced all of them with cheap eBay caps to no avail. Spot-checking the other (“brown”) caps on the logic board showed they were still good, but the power supply board is firmly glued in place and I can’t get to the HV cap.

A new monitor arrived two days later and it’s all good again.

2019-06-25
Primitive Screwheads

Painting the patio railing required removing the short section on the garage, which stalled with a thoroughly galled / corroded nut on the 2 inch bolt going through the wall. Deploying a Dremel slitting wheel and bashing the slit open with a cold chisel saved the day, as shown in this staged reenactment:

Patio railing – square head bolt – extraction

It seems square head bolts have gone out of fashion, at least in the 3/8-16 size seen here, over the last half century:

Patio railing – square head bolts

I reused the lag screw with no qualms at all.

The local fastener emporium had square bolts ranging upward from 3/4-10, which wasn’t much help. Amazon has ’em, if you spend enough time rummaging around in the debris from its search engine, at a buck apiece in lots of ten. Fortunately, a local big-box home repair store had 3/8-16 hex head steel bolts and square nuts, so I needn’t start from scratch.

Start by turning off the hex head:

Patio railing – square head bolt – removing hex head

Thread the end, starting in the lathe and ending with a die turned just barely enough to accept the nut:

Patio railing – square head bolt – threading

Epoxy the nut in place and sand it to rough up the surface finish enough to hold the primer:

Patio railing – square head bolt – lineup

Yeah, that’s a nasty little zit. Fortunately, nobody will ever notice.

Prime & paint the railing, affix it to the garage wall, then prime & paint the bolt:

Patio railing – square head bolt – installed

Thing looks like it grew there; tell nobody about the zit.

The yellow blotches decorating the shiny black paint come from the pine trees across the driveway. The first day of pine pollen season corresponded to the second day I intended to paint; the dust clouds were a wonder to behold.

Bonus Quality Shop Time!

The far end of the railing around the patio has a bracket against the house siding with a hole intended for a 1/4 inch bolt they never installed, perhaps because there’s no way to maneuver a bolt into the space available.

The threads on the 3/8-16 bolt may be wrecked, but turning the shank down to 1/4 inch isn’t any big deal:

Patio railing – fake bolt – thinning shank

Part off the head with a stub just long enough to fit into the bracket, epoxy that sucker into the hole, and paint it black:

Patio railing – fake bolt – installed

The square post on the left goes down to an anchor in the concrete patio, the railing is welded to a 4 inch column a foot away, and the end of the railing isn’t going anywhere; the fake bolt is purely for show.

And, yes, the dust atop the railing is more pollen from the pine trees responsible for the weird green-yellow reflections on the vertical surfaces.

No boomstick required!

2019-06-24

Kitchen Blender Base Spacer

We don’t use the blender much, so the most recent bearing replacement continues to work. I never got around to re-making the overly long shaft spacer from the first bearing replacement, which I compensated for with a spacer kludge cut from a random chunk of bendy plastic sheet.

Which we put up with For. Eleven. Years.

The blender recently emerged from hiding and, with my solid modeling-fu cranked up to a dangerous chattering whine, I conjured a real spacer:

Blender base spacer - Slic3r preview — Blender base spacer – Slic3r preview

It pretty much disappears into the blender base, which is the whole point of the operation:

Blender base spacer - installed — Blender base spacer – installed

When the bearings fail again, I promise to make a proper shaft spacer and toss this bodge.

The OpenSCAD code as a GitHub Gist:

	// Kitchen blender base adapter
	// Ed Nisley KE4ZNU June 2019

	//- Extrusion parameters must match reality!

	/* [Hidden] */

	ThreadThick = 0.25;
	ThreadWidth = 0.40;

	HoleWindage = 0.2;

	Protrusion = 0.1; // make holes end cleanly

	inch = 25.4;

	function IntegerMultiple(Size,Unit) = Unit * ceil(Size / Unit);

	ID = 0;
	OD = 1;
	LENGTH = 2;

	//———-
	// Just build it

	Spacer = [48.0,66.0,1.8]; // LENGTH raises blade holder
	Aligner = [Spacer[ID],52.0,Spacer[LENGTH] + 3.0]; // LENGTH locks into base ring

	NumSides = 434;

	//———-
	// Just build it

	difference() {
	union() {
	cylinder(d=Spacer[OD],h=IntegerMultiple(Spacer[LENGTH],ThreadThick),$fn=NumSides);
	cylinder(d=Aligner[OD],h=Aligner[LENGTH],$fn=NumSides);
	}
	translate([0,0,-Protrusion])
	cylinder(d=Spacer[ID],h=10*Aligner[LENGTH],$fn=NumSides);
	}

view raw Blender base spacer.scad hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Not that it really deserves so much attention …

2019-06-21

Tag: Repairs

Whirlpool Refrigerator Drawer Support Re-Re-Re-Gluing

American Standard Kitchen Faucet: Valve Shaft Mystery

Garden Soaker Hose Connector Repair

Ooma Telo 2: Speaker FAIL

Dell U2711 Monitor: FAIL

Primitive Screwheads

Kitchen Blender Base Spacer