Fixit Log

Fixing and making things, what tools to get and what skills to learn, ...
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Ego
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by Ego »

I was in the living room. Mrs. Ego was in the kitchen. I heard a sound like, "dink", a rock hitting glass, then water pouring onto the bathroom floor.

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Imagine the mess in the two floors of apartments below had we not been home to stop the flood. The toilet tank was trying to refill as it was pouring out so it would have run forever.

I have never experienced anything quite like it. It reminded me of @sclass's story above. Had a tenant told me it just broke on its own I would have been extremely skeptical.

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Sclass
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Location: Orange County, CA

Re: Fixit Log

Post by Sclass »

Wow. Any ceramicists in the house? Maybe there is a process to anneal away internal stresses that wasn’t properly followed during manufacturing?

Edit - huh wrote too soon. Apparently Crane or American Standard toilets can do this. There are horror stories online about it happening when you are away. Ouch.

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Ego
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by Ego »

Well, I have to admit.... I called the plumber, sent them a few photos and schedule the replacement for 10am tomorrow. We can bucket flush until then or use the toilet in the apartment that was just vacated.

I don't think I would repair it even if I were paying for the replacement . With the possibility of flooding four apartments below, it just isn't worth the chance. I believe it is the same brand but a different model.

https://gooddaysacramento.cbslocal.com/ ... ing-years/

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Ego
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by Ego »

Apparently the wire bead in non-kevlar bicycle tires are made using spring steel. My friend shaved a piece of steel from a bike tire wire bead and shaped it into a new z-spring for the keyway. I now must reconnect the latch to the cylinder and reinstall it.

The paint arrived yesterday. I had sanded the case and masked the shiny parts. I set up a well ventilated work station and hit it with two coats of base chrome, two of black anodized paint and two red anodized topcoat. Came out nearly perfect. I had two small runs on the red coat but otherwise perfect.

I will let it cure for a week then spray it with two coats of epoxy clearcoat.

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theanimal
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by theanimal »

Looking sharp! Nice work.

davtheram12
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by davtheram12 »

:shock: Wow. That looks really good. Great work!

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Sclass
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Location: Orange County, CA

Re: Fixit Log

Post by Sclass »

Whoooo!! Not bad!

BTW - very interesting collection of things in background.

Married2aSwabian
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by Married2aSwabian »

@Ego, nice paint job on the suitcase. That is one that will last a looooong time, too.

That is bizarre with cracked toilet tank. Curious if in your part of the world it’s possible to find good plumbers for a fair price? Here in greater Detroit area it’s very difficult! Most want over $100 just to show up and another $120 / hr after that. Even then, you’re lucky to get them to show up as planned. For this reason, when we bought our current place, I ended up doing more plumbing work than I’m comfortable with, including installing a toilet and shower (kit). It came out great, after watching many YouTube videos and having installed a couple previously with a friend who knows what they’re doing! Sharkbite fittings are a great invention, too, for those of us who’ve not yet learned how to sweat copper.

Most of my more ambitious plumbing adventures have been in the basement (including the above mentioned bathroom) ... if I screw it up, the basement floor gets wet - so what? :D

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Alphaville
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by Alphaville »

Married2aSwabian wrote:
Mon May 31, 2021 7:23 am
Most of my more ambitious plumbing adventures have been in the basement (including the above mentioned bathroom) ... if I screw it up, the basement floor gets wet - so what? :D
:o

a flooded basement can create a mold problem which then becomes a remediation nightmare. seriously, i know a guy who spent 6 months every night after work cleaning mold from his basement with nasty chemicals etc. avoid that scenario like the plague it is.

https://www.epa.gov/mold/mold-cleanup-your-home

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Ego
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by Ego »

Thanks folks. So far, so good. Now I need to find wheels and a telescoping handle that will work. Barring any unforeseen circumstances I have 14 1/2 months to complete it for our next big adventure.
Sclass wrote:
Sun May 30, 2021 7:02 pm
BTW - very interesting collection of things in background.
@Sclass, it is all for sale. We use our home as a showroom. I now have about a dozen paintings and had to create a storage area in the mafia room in the basement. Today we are going to one of the antique malls where several of my friends have spaces. I am thinking about renting a spot and becoming a professional antique seller.

@Swabian, I agree. If it were my home I would have fixed it myself. I am an apartment manager and our plumber sends someone 24 hours a day with an $85 minimum usually within about 2-3 hours. The tank and toilet were a matched pair and the plumber claimed he couldn't get a tank to matchup and work properly with the old toilet. BS but I didn't fight it because I knew they would have said they couldn't guarantee the job if I insisted on keeping the old toilet. The price difference wasn't much. I think he charged a tad over $300 for a new American Standard toilet. Mrs. Ego pays the bills so I will double check and correct if I am wrong. He went to the plumbing supply house, fetched it, installed it and hauled the old one to the dump. Not bad.

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Sclass
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Location: Orange County, CA

Re: Fixit Log

Post by Sclass »

Ego wrote:
Mon May 31, 2021 8:09 am
it is all for sale. We use our home as a showroom.
:lol: :lol: :lol: I should have known!

white belt
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by white belt »

My car's Check Airbag light came on. I had earlier tried to determine the cause with a friend's OBII scanner but wasn't able to pull any error codes at the time. I had to bring my car to a dealership to get an unrelated safety recall fixed, so I finally asked the mechanic to look at the airbag light for me. I'm guessing he just plugged in his scanner and with 5 minutes of labor determined the cause was a faulty clock spring. They charged me $130 just for that diagnostic. Further googling pinpointed the clock spring was the exact cause because of the fact that the light would shut off if the steering wheel was turned all the way to one side (in hindsight I clearly should've done more research before having the dealership look at it).

The dealership quoted me $700 to replace the clock spring, but they would credit the $130 they already charged me to that total.* I declined and googled the fix. It turns out the replacement part costs about $50 and I found this video showing the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pISb-WDHi8

My landlord had all the necessary tools, just run of the mill sockets and a torx wrench. My landlord came out when I was working on the car and asked if I was a mechanic. He seemed impressed with the fact I had removed the steering wheel. It probably took me an hour total because I spent 10-15 minutes wrestling with the steering wheel bolts, but after that it was pretty smooth sailing.

After completion, I turned on the car and took it for a test drive. No more airbag light.

* = They also tried to tell me that my clutch was starting to go even though it was replaced less than a year and 8k miles ago. This is example #105456 of why to never take a car to a dealership for repairs, but I didn't have many options because I needed the safety recall fixed and other mechanics I talked to didn't want to deal with airbag issues.
Last edited by white belt on Tue Jun 01, 2021 11:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Sclass
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by Sclass »

Good fix! That’s some decent money you saved there. Airbags are scary. I have a Takata on a non opped civic that needs to be recall serviced. I’ve put it off because I just don’t care enough to drive around with a shotgun pointed at my face to smog and register the car before driving it down to the dealership. I thought about pulling the SRS fuse but I realized it would probably throw a code which would require diagnostics and clearing. I’ve heard the Honda dealer won’t swap airbags till the fault code is diagnosed and cleared. Eh, maybe I’m over thinking this.

white belt
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by white belt »

@Sclass

Yeah I think all 4 of the safety recalls my car has had have been from Takata airbags. The last one was a replacement of the passenger side airbag. I agree that airbags are scary and you of course want them to be functioning, but my understanding is that with proper precautions they are relatively safe to work on (or at least that was the case for my repair). I fully disconnected the battery and waited a few minutes before working on my clock spring fix. Of course, the thing with airbags is you can't really ever test if they are working so you just have to trust the sensors/codes that the car comes up with.

I'm likely making some sacrifices in safety by driving a car from 2005 anyway, but I haven't been concerned enough to buy a newer car. Maybe if I had kids I would feel differently. I plan on selling my car anyway because I have no use for it at my new location.

davtheram12
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by davtheram12 »

I repaired my sofa today. About 6 years ago the springing wire snapped and as a result the center spring became very weak. So I went on Amazon and bought a $17 sofa repair kit that included 2 springs, 8 spring mounting clips, 10 feet of springing wire and 10 wire clips. I flipped over the sofa, removed the material covering the springs and wires, replaced the weak spring, removed the broken springing wire, installed the new springing wire with new wire clips, stapled the material back and flipped the sofa back over. I was done within an hour and the sofa feels great!

My DW previously voiced the need to replace the sofa because of the broken spring. I'm glad I went this route instead of buying a replacement sofa. Even discounted sofas run upwards of $600 and that's for something that'll likely fall apart after a few years. No thanks. I'll keep making repairs as long as Im physically capable :lol:

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Sclass
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by Sclass »

Hey that’s a funny coincidence. I just added new S springs to the back seat on my Mercedes this morning. I bought 10’ of S spring, 9 gauge on eBay. $20. My back seat was getting really saggy. The old springs are 40 years old and tired. I just cut 9 short lengths of S spring and wired them in between the tired cantilever springs just where the seat needed a little lift. Amazingly my seat feels like new now. I don’t exactly remember how a Mercedes seat felt in 1982 but I imagine it was like this. Nice and springy.

The roll of s spring was sold for people who rebuild couches.

davtheram12
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by davtheram12 »

@Sclass
Great work on the seats! I know exactly how saggy that era of seats can get after decades of use. My younger brother once owned a 1988 bmw 325 that had similar S springs in the front seats. Great car but boy did those seats need a lot of love. Never got the chance to refinish them. He ended up selling it to a car enthusiast for a decent profit. Can't blame him since he was not mechanically inclined.

davtheram12
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by davtheram12 »

Found a nearly new K elite Keurig, in the original box, on one of my weekly walks. Brought it home, plugged it in, filled it with water and attempted to run it. It did not want to work. It kept turning off after it made a quick whirring noise. Took less than a minute to find the issue. Coffee grounds were stuck in the needle preventing water from dispensing. Took a paperclip to it and cleared it. Boom! Problem solved. Still can't believe it was thrown out. I guess some people have more money than sense. No matter. I eventually sold it to a nice gentleman for $30 :)

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Sclass
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by Sclass »

davtheram12 wrote:
Sun Jun 13, 2021 11:29 am
I guess some people have more money than sense. No matter. I eventually sold it to a nice gentleman for $30 :)
Good one. That reminds me of Ego.

I never understood the allure of Keurig. Expensive. Average coffee. Waste generator. Wildly successful. I guess it’s good if you need a shot of caffeine in the morning and you don’t have much bandwidth to make coffee properly. It automates coffee making.

Rather than rejecting it I should consider why it’s become so popular. I think it says a lot about where things are going.

davtheram12
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by davtheram12 »

Sclass wrote:
Mon Jun 14, 2021 7:34 am
I never understood the allure of Keurig. Expensive. Average coffee. Waste generator. Wildly successful.
I still don't understand it. Of all the methods to make coffee it is rather mediocre. Im surprised people are still willing to buy it used. This is the 4th used Keurig I've sold this year. I guess people love their coffee quick and easy.

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