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

Desk Drawer Stops

The stops aligning the top two drawers of an old desk vanished, so I got the job of replacing them. They’re hammered into the wood frame:

Drawer Stops – width measurement

And stand up just enough to engage the back of the drawer face:

Drawer Stops – height measurement

Back in the Basement Laboratory Shop Wing, I harvested steel strips from a defunct PC case, rubber-hammered them flat, sharpened a cold chisel (un-hardened, so it always needs sharpening), and got to work:

Drawer Stops – chiseled blanks

The pointy sides should have sharp edges, which you get for free with a chisel. You also get a bench full of little steel slivers perfectly suited for embedding in human flesh. Wearing eye protection is more than just a good idea, too.

Introducing what will become the visible edges to Mr Disk Sander makes them marginally less hazardous:

Drawer Stops – in progress

A slightly fuzzy picture of a test fit shows the stops should suffice:

Drawer Stops – trial fit

Which they did:

Drawer Stops – installed

Nobody will ever notice the blob of hot melt glue behind each one:

Drawer Stops – glue blob

Done!

2018-12-13
Sterling Table Knife Repair

A sterling knife followed me home after a Thanksgiving gathering:

Sterling knife repair – powdered cement

The original cement, dating back to the middle of the last century, turned into friable dust around the blade tang:

Sterling knife repair – handle socket

I cleaned it out as best I could, buttered JB Quik epoxy around the tang and into the socket, joined the two, and let it cure in the natural position:

Sterling knife repair – curing

The rest of the knives in the set may need similar attention, but I’m not looking for trouble.

2018-12-09
Three Dead Mice

The rodents around here have great trouble with outdoor bowls, but this trio ended in a deep six gallon bucket next to the garage workbench:

Three Dead Mice

Even though mice don’t seem like cuddly creatures, they ended their days snuggled together; we’ll just ignore the cannibalism thing.

Heck of a way to go, even for rodents. I renewed the steel wool blocking a gap in the garage door.

2018-12-08
Imagemagick 6 vs. PDF
Come to find out Xubuntu 18.04 ratcheted the ImageMagick security settings up to a dangerous chattering whine:
```
convert p???.jpg "Machining D-bit Drills.pdf"
convert-im6.q16: not authorized `Machining D-bit Drills.pdf' @ error/constitute.c/WriteImage/1037.
```
Fortunately, someone who understands this stuff encountered the problem before I did and posted a great description of the solution.

To forestall link rot, the process looks like:
```
cd /etc/ImageMagick-6/
sudo cp policy.xml policy.xml.base
sudo nano policy.xml
… change one line …
 policy domain="coder" rights="read|write" pattern="PDF"
```
It is completely unclear to me whether ImageMagick (as of ImageMagick 6.9.7-4 Q16 x86_64 20170114 ) requires or merely tolerates the vertical bar in place of commas, nor whether it’s in my best interest to replace "coder" with "*".

In any event, I can once again stuff bitmap images into PDF files.
2018-12-03
Makergear M2 V4 Nozzle: More Silicone!

A Makergear forum discussion on PETG hair and the prevention thereof prompted me to take a look at the silicone coating I’d applied to the nozzle:

M2 – nozzle silicone – applied

That was ten months ago. This is now:

M2 Nozzle – worn silicone coat

The camera sees the nozzle in a mirror laid flat on the platform, making the image less crisp than a direct view.

So the silicone seems a bit worn around the tip, has acquired a few firmly adhered globs, and definitely isn’t as shiny.

Rather than (try to) peel it off and reapply a new coating, I picked off the globs, cleaned around the nozzle, and slobbered a thin layer atop the existing silicone:

M2 Nozzle – more silicone

Extruding a few millimeters of filament pushed the film off the nozzle opening and it now works as well as it ever did.

2018-11-28
Electrolux Vacuum Cleaner: Cord Protection

The ancient (Came With The House™) Electrolux canister vacuum cleaner long ago lost the plastic bushing around the opening passing its retractable cord, which I’d long sworn to replace. A recent trip around the Basement Laboratory paused near the recently relocated Box o’ Wire Loom & Braid, whereupon I snipped off a few inches of split loom and tucked it in place:

Electrolux Vacuum – cushioned cord cutout

Looks and works better than before, anyhow.

The blue flap dangling off the back should latch over the exhaust port, but failed long ago when the latch tab eroded. I attempted a repair, which never worked quite right, and won’t get around to attempting another for quite a while.

2018-11-27
Michelin ProTek Max Tube: Autopsy

The Michelin ProTek Max tube I installed two years ago developed a slow leak this year, which I eventually ascribed to the valve stem, because the sealant should plug any other leak.

Cutting it open reveals the perfectly good greenish-yellow sealant:

Michelin ProTek tube – sealant

The sealant also carries black rubbery grit / shavings / dust, perhaps intended to jam inside larger gashes while the sealant coagulates and binds it together.

There’s a lot of rubber floating around in there:

Michelin ProTek tube – rubber fragments

Dismantling the Presta valve stem show the rubbery crud on and around the valve seal and seat:

Michelin ProTek tube – fouled valve seal

Whenever I pumped up the tires, I finger-tightened the nut to ensure a good seal, as you do with all Presta valves. Obviously, finger-tight can’t handle that much crud between the sealing surfaces.

I’m sorry to say I was right about the leaky valve stem, because I think all the ProTek tubes will fail in exactly the same way.

The valve has small wrench flats making it easy to remove, so I can at least attempt to de-gunk them when they develop slow leaks.

Color me unimpressed.

2018-11-24