What’s the last thing you fixed?

@sadexpunk

are they actually worth anything?

Don’t know, it came from my Grandma’s house and it looks great in our hall. Please don’t sling it though, I’m sure someone would like it even if it’s worth nothing and would make a charity donation in return for it. Hell, I would. Where do you live, (not that I could collect it for a while)

ok ok, ill try and fix it then 😀

ill have a look at it tomorrow, altho wifes adamant its not going up, but youre welcome to it, fixed or not. (lincoln btw)

An annoying rattle in 1x SRAM brake rival brake lever – fixed with blue tack and tape and all quiet now!

Lincoln is the wrong side of the country for me sadly. But glad you’re not just going to chuck it. Put some photo’s up when you have it running!

New motor installed on my Rega turntable as the old one was losing speed all over the place.

The boiler.

Working on wednesday and wife says …no hot water.

Opened the boiler expecting maybe a pressure drop.

Nope. No power light, check the obvious.- there’s power at the spur , there power going into the board , the fuse on the board is good.

No power on the board beyond one of the caps.

No obvious signs of cap death

Look online , find the board needed. Phone several suppliers ……7-10 days – siting the need to get from manufacturer then forward on in uncertain post conditions.

What is the cap – can I change the cap as a temp solution…..not easily it’s an encapsulated board for outdoor use

Few more phone calls – my uncle an oil heating engine down south , he managed to get me one on account on next day and then next day ups to me. Arrived at mid day. Fitted by 12:40

We have heat and hot water again and I don’t have to keep the stove going 18hrs a day while the north wind blows.

I’ve got a couple of fixes in progress. Refurbishing two cast iron bench ends I saved from a trip to the dump, half way through the repainting before I try and track down new slats.

I could do with some advice on the second one. I need to replace the screw on this. I haven’t tapped or threaded anything before. Am I better off threading a blank screw or buying a threaded screw and tapping the handle? I presume the later is easier?

My old Cyrus One Amp had a sticky volume switch which eventually made it drop to one channel. Took the case off and blew out all the dust and dead spiders, then attacked the volume switch with a can of Servisol. Now it sounds like new again.

Then decided that it was time I got round to doing the controls on the Peavey Bandit 112 guitar amp I bought off eBay about fifteen years ago. It had never really worked as I hoped it would and had more or less given up using it, but was enough for practising through a clean channel when I had the house to myself. There are twelve pots along the front panel, and a handful of jack inputs/outputs, so I stripped them all down and gave each pot a thorough soaking with the Servisol. I also found the positive tip from a 1/4″ jackplug stuck in the effects return jack, which may have explained why the stomp switch never worked properly,. Absolute night and day. It’s a superb bit of kit!

Then the guitar decided to show an intermittent fault. I checked and resoldered the wiring, and again cleaned up the volume and tone pots with switch cleaner. They must have been really gungy as it sounds like a Strat again. That can of Servisol was possibly the best tenner I’ve spent in a long time.

Lincoln is the wrong side of the country for me sadly. But glad you’re not just going to chuck it. Put some photo’s up when you have it running!

doh…. i am a bluddy donut. clock doesnt work so whats my first thought? lets get into the gubbins then! lets take the back off and have a look. screws are seized. WD40. doesnt free them. 2 flathead screwdrivers to prise them out. sorted. the backs off.

hmmmmm……not much for me to go at. now, how does this thing work then? then it hit me. i remember my old man winding it up with a key. i dont have one, but thats probably all it needed! 😀

ill put it all back together and see if i can get a key from somewhere. a quick google says wind the left hand side 3 and 1/2 turns, right hand side 4 and 1/2 turns or something. can anyone confirm how you do actually wind one up? id hate to get a key, overwind it and break it after all this.

thanks

Deck on the lawnmower rusted through

New deck, all under body parts wire brushed and painted with anti rust paint

Onzadog
Member

An 11,000 Volt cable – but that is my day job so probably doesn’t count.

Not quite as high for me only 6,600 Volts as we are on an old circuit that us and Cains Brewery share.
Repaired the Buchholz relays on T1 & T2.

I’m a bit nervous around high voltage stuff (electronics engineer by trade so 24v is fine 😉 ) as in 2013 I was right next to a 1500Kva transformer that went pop, it was one of those full on brown trouser moments 😮
So glad we installed a new remote switching station 4 years ago.

Handsome clock! If it’s a similar to ours, and I presume it will be, one of the winders will do the time and the other the bongs. Right hand side is the time, (well it is here) They only wind one way due to the ratchet. 3.5 or 4.5 turns sounds a little light but you are right to err on the side of caution at first. It should run for a week, so maybe go the 3.5 turns and see how long it lasts on that.

Servisol is a great thing.

Fixed the beer tap that didn’t work. After stripping down the working ones to compare, it seems a rubber cone washer was too wide and stopping flow when the tap was “open”. Took it out and made a new one by using 3 normal rubber washers in ascending size order.

Might see about rewiring my Marshall 4×12″ tonight, go from single input only to two separate 2×12″s or a single 4×12″ – the way the newer 1960 ones are.
Or maybe look at why the Hope brake on the back of my hardtail is spongy again after bleeding it recently. Pads maybe, hmmm

one of the winders will do the time and the other the bongs.

@tthew thanks mate, any idea what key id need? will it be a specialised clock key or might there be something lying around the house that may do the same job?

ta

I fixed it for Perchypanther to milk a cow blindfolded

any idea what key id need? will it be a specialised clock key

You’ll need some kind of clock winder key, I can’t think of anything that be pressed into service that would do the square drive in the recess. eBay is where I’d look, but there are different sizes so you’ll have to measure across the flats and make sure you get the right one.

Fixed the fuse box cover in the bingo bus, the little Christmas tree screw had broken and I’d all but given up on finding a replacemt. Eventually sourced some for a BMW boot carpet but needed some adjusting. A session on the grinder got the head to the right diameter and now I don’t have a gaping hole in my dash.

Present project (when I’m finished night shifts) is putting the whirligig back up, the old spike had rusted on and the tip long gone, I cut that off with the angle grinder last week and wire brushed it the pole underneath before cutting 10mm off the end where it had rotted. Just waiting on rust remover for the inside and pivot heads and I’ll get it painted and back up.

Just remembered I have an old E4 needing unseized and a pair of J5s that met a similar end. Suspect the Juicys may remain that way. Also some garden tools needing cleaned up.

You’ll need some kind of clock winder key,

@tthew bingo! found it in the binbag it was stored in, just as i was clearing up 🙂

however, it doesnt seem to have made any difference, so maybe you can suggest my next move? ive glued the broken bit of wood back to the top of it, cleaned it up with wood polish and glass cleaner, and put it on the wall (wife at work obviously, theres every chance itll come down later :D)
i googled the left and right winders, which also bore out your ‘right hand side for time’, so started winding it. itll only go clockwise, it did 2 full revolutions then hit a stop, so i didnt push it any further. nowt was happening so i started the pendulum swinging, thinking maybe once it gets going itll keep going for a week or so. yep, started swinging and ‘ticking’, but it only lasts about a minute or so before stopping.

ok, lets try the LH side. maybe 1 turn before a stop, so again, didnt push it. so….. both sides seem to have been wound as far as they should go, but clock doesnt go for more than a couple of minutes.

any idea why?

Kinect sensor on my Xbox One.

It’s been flaky since I got it like five years ago, turns on when it feels like it and often needed either unplugging / reconnecting or a full reboot of the console to wake it up. I got it second hand from Cash Converters and I rather suspect that that’s why it was in there in the first place. I never bothered much about it because the times it actually got used were minimal.

Fast forward to yesterday, I thought it’d be good given the current situation to get Skype running on the Xbox. Trying to set it up, every time I enabled video the Kinect almost immediately shut down. A quick google suggested that they’re prone to overheating so I figured, I’ll mend it or end it.

Tore it down, which was a sod of a job. Discovered that the fan on the back is attached to a speed controller which throttles it down / off to save power. Snipped the wires to the controller, paid my blood sacrifice, put it all back together and it’s been working perfectly ever since.

any idea why?

It’s broken. 😁

Blimey, I’m no expert but yes, it does sound like it’s fully wound, or even over-wound. In fact on your picture of the mechanism I can see the right hand spring, (when viewing from the front) wound tight up.

It might be that the springs are bound up on themsevles, even if they aren’t you won’t be able to try anything else without the energy in them being released. To do this I think you’ll have to get the hands off, (there’s a little cotter pin retaining them, push that out and they should slide off fairly easily) and the face, which is probably bolted to the movement somehow. When you can see the front of the movement there should be a ratchet wheel and pawl, a bit like you get in a freehub.

With the key on the winder release the pawl but (this is the important bit!) DON’T JUST LET THE SPRING TENSION FLY OUT! Keep hold of the key and carefully unwind the spring. It’ll likely be a massive force on the key too, so be careful. If you let it fly out it’ll really knacker something. After that I’d try just wind it a couple of turns and see if it runs. You’ll need actual good advice if this doesn’t work. 👍

Mrs BWD’s reading glasses after a very small screw that clamps the lens in the frame on one side fell out, cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Screwed back in place using a watchmaker’s screwdriver and tightened the one on the other side so it doesn’t go the same way.

I should replace the wifi card in my MacBook along with the antenna, but I can’t really be arsed.

It’s broken. 😁

wow, i have no idea what youre actually looking for in that photo but ill take your word for it. just looks like normal cogs to me, cant see how you would know how they are overwound or owt, but ill bow down to your superior knowledge 😀

nowt to lose by trying what you suggest, and ill try and be careful. you just kow whats gonna happen dont you…… ill be posting later saying that everything flew off, or i havent a clue how to put it all back together. i fear the worst 😀

thanks for your help.

You’ll need actual good advice if this doesn’t work. 👍

bahhh, looks like i need actual good advice then :-/

did as you said. firstly the hands didnt come off ever so well so must admit i yanked em a bit, but finally got em off. face wasnt screwed to the gubbins, there were 4 cotter pins in each corner, so tapped em out. had a good look at it, still couldnt see what you saw in those cogs, but hey ho 😀
the pawls were pretty much as you described and it was quite an easy process to prise away and wind back half a turn or so on each spindle.
i then put it all back together, i worked out why the hands had been so difficult, id actually forced a cog away from the gubbins, but i worked out how to pull off the cover, get the teeth meshed again and re-cover.
cotter pins back in, the gubbins is as it was before but with no hands on the clock. i thought it doesnt matter about these yet as ill just see if the pendulum keeps swinging. it doesnt :-/
couple of minutes, starting with a nice regular beat tick, tock, tick, tock but i knew it was failing when the sound started to be more ticktock…..ticktock…..ticktock if you see what i mean, more irregular. then pendulum stopped.

im not missing anything simple am i? a schoolboy error? once wound up, i assume theres nothing more youd need to do besides start the pendulum swinging?

if not ill start a dedicated thread, theres got to be a clockmender (horologist?) in our ranks hasnt there? 😀

thanks again, its been interesting tinkering about, but i fear the worst now.

cheers

My CNC router. It was missing steps on the z axis, then stopped altogether. Not a great time to buy a new motor or lead screw. Stripped it down and eventually fount the bottom support bearing was seized. Not sure why as it doesn’t take much load. Luckily I had one the right size in my random bearings drawer. What could’ve been complicated and expensive turned out to be quite simple and free. Gave it a clean and oil too.

havent been able to do much since i broke my ribs and collarbone the day before isolation started, but i ordered a collarbone bra off ebay . straps were too uncomfortable so i tokk chin strap padding off a helmet(s)and another bit lying around and it all feels much better now

@sadexpunk
My folks have a similar clock. Apparently it’s all about getting it balanced perfectly; theirs is a mantle-piece one and is very temperamental. Once yours is in place on the wall and is dead plumb the pendulum should keep going itself. They have had a succession of clock repairers tinker with theirs, and it’s never cheap. I think there’s a reason electric movements became the norm…
Keep slightly adjusting the ‘verticalness’ of the clock and see if the pendulum keeps going.

hmmm ok thanks, ill get the spirit level out, cheers.

well, i think youve hit the nail on the head mate, thanks 🙂

i set it with the bubble, but was getting the same issue, tick-tock-tick-tock slowly becoming ticktock……ticktock…..ticktock, so i just started tapping the bottom from one side to the other until it was a more regular tick-tock-tick-tock again, and its still going!!

so then i thought hmmmm but the bubbles out so it cant be square. which then led me to the 2 screws under the shelf holding the clock….

id originally thought they were just screws to hold the clock in, but theyre probably adjusting screws for positioning. so for instance if i set the bubble square and it started stopping again, i could just raise and lower these until the ticktocks were more regular again.

just while ive been typing this tho i heard the clock go into the whirring mode ready for a ‘dong’, but the dong never came, its been donging previously (bluddy hell i cant believe what im typing here 😀 )

one thing at a time, ill see how it goes with the pendulum first.

of course, all this may be a waste of time when mrs ex-punk gets in from work and chucks it in the bin 😀

thanks guys

@sadexpunk – the other thing to try is a tiny bit of clock oil. I’ve got one that is weights driven rather than spring – it occasionally needs a little oil (I bought some clock oil of ebay) to keep the cogs turning. About once a year I put a drop on each of the axles and this seems to keep it running fairly smoothly.

From the pics I’d say its already had a bit too much oil over the years. Might be time for a deep clean before putting some more oil on.

Also, how many pairs of glasses are you wearing?

GEM80 Fast I/O analogue card at 3am this morning, fine soldering in the early hours with slightly shaky hands is not fun I can tell you.
Anyway all up and running but I’m slightly concerned as the base voltage at work has risen since so many local firms are not running we are now at 254v SP and 447v 3PH.
If any of you know Induction motors, they start to pull way over their FLC once the voltage goes past a certain point 🙁

The bumper on my car.

It had a few really big stone chips low down, quite a bit of paint was missing.

Took about an hour of sanding to get the paint round the area and the small divots in the plastic smoothed out then 3 rattle cans (primer, colour, lacquer).

I quite enjoy doing simple body work jobs on the car, with a bit of care and patience plus a few cans of paint you can do a really good repair and save yourself a few quid

Great clock knowledge!
The pinion that drives the regulator on my ‘bongs’ is really worn, so I don’t wind that up. It also doesn’t stop bonging through the night, which can be annoying so it just does the time.

@sadexpunk
The “whirring with no donging” might mean the chiming spring needs winding, assuming one winds the clock mechanism and the other winds the spring for the chimes. If it’s now keeping a regular ticking it sounds like your one step further forward. Of course, you’ll rapidly get fed up with the thing chiming every quarter hour, and eventually stop winding the chiming mech anyway!

grrrr…..thought id fixed it but noop…..

firstly the ‘dong’ doesnt work, no problem, that may be for the best, but its trying to dong 4 times when the clock says 20 past 8 for instance. yep, i realise what ive done, when i re-meshed that cog i just put it in any old place, the hands need to be exact.

ok, waited for it to dong again (twice), so i stopped the pendulum. right, its now two o clock, if i set the hands for two then we’re good to go. stripped it all down again, grrr, another little cog dropped off, wasnt sure where that went, think i worked it out, put it all back together. bit more fell off, stripped again, back together agin, did this twice more, then right, thats it, its going back on the wall…..

same old story with balance, it kept stopping, tapping it bit by bit, yessss…..got it so it kept going. pendulum been swinging now for 8 hrs, must be balanced, then 5 minutes ago the tick tock just stopped. it went quiet, pendulum gradually stopped. and i cant get it going again.
so….. even if it was sooooo slightly out as to stop after 8 hrs, youd expect another swing to get it going again even if for a few more hours?
nope, i just cant get it to tick tock again.

im at tipping point now, bin it or carry on trying to fix it 😀
wife is looking on laughing, waiting for me to bin it myself so she doesnt get the blame for it going in the bin 😀

what could be wrong with it now do you think? the ironic thing is, it was probably fine in the first place, just needed balancing, ive almost certainly fecked it by tinkering 😀

thanks

EDIT: ive wound it a few more turns again so its not that….

Found an old builders spade in a skip, clearly been abused.

Fixed it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_E7i-RjJzc/?igshid=1tv21gctcdfdx

The plastic handle had fallen off my edging spade ages ago. I tried to rivet it back on but wouldn’t work so it has been knocking about for ages on the verge of being binned. Using it yesterday, my 4yo took it and I had to explain to be careful because the handle has fallen off. She said “Use a bolt to fix it back on”. I did. It worked. She’s smarter than me.

eat your heart out kayak! 😀

wifes been badgering me for years to fix the lock on the garden gate. the whole gates like triggers broom these days, had so many bits of wood screwed on to replace broken bits where the winds smashed it against the house due to no lock and swinging freely. the metal latch and lock snapped ages ago so no time like a lockdown to look through the ‘bits and pieces thatll come in useful one day’.

cue a few cut-offs from our decking, a couple of steel eyelets, and a socket spanner thats surplus to requirements.
bit of trial and error placing the cut-offs so nobody can put their hands through from the other side to open (although a swift kick on the gate would smash it anyway) and shazam. itll keep out the opportunists anyways….

its the sh1ttest looking lock in the world but it makes me laugh when i look at it 😀

The two ends had been kicking around the garden as ornaments for a few years since the original slats rotted through. I had some treated planks that I cut to the right width, routed the tops for a comfortable curve and reassembles with stainless steel bolts

Been pretty productive here these past few weeks. Did the front brakes and outer CV boots on Missusalz’s TT and fixed the leaky Haldex, threw a fresh BB in the eldest’s mountain bike, rebuilt the ram in my Costco low entry trolley jack, and I’ve gotten stuck right back in to my 914. That just needs some fresh fuel lines and some dodgy wiring sorted and that’s ready to roll, too.