Your recent repair? - 2021 to ?

[John Galt III]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister My Cuisinart food processor, 35 or 40 years old, had a bit of the plastic connector break right where it's critical for the connection, making it unusable. They haven't made the replacement part in many years, and none were available anywhere, not even eBay. The closest thing I could find was a whole replacement assembly for over $150, so I decided to try an epoxy fix of the old one. Less than $7 so worth a try, even if I was skeptical. Been using it for a month now and it seems rock solid. JB Weld to the rescue again!

Excellent! I have had luck with Plumber's Goop for fixing broken plastic toilet parts.

[John Galt III]

I am always loathe to break anything by applying too much force, so I was tentative when making my most recent repair. I had 2 leaks at the spout connecting to the hose. 1 leak at the packing nut inside the spout, 1 leak at the hose washer. Lawn was getting soaking wet and ponding under it. But both spots were nice and tight. Didn't think it would work, but I got a big wrench on the packing nut, loosened, then retightened with a Charles Atlas attitude, and that leak stopped. Did another Charles Atlas on the hose washer connection, and that one stopped too. Nothing stripped or broken ! Woohoo ! Brute force prevails.

[freedomatlast]

Out with the old, in with the new...master cylinder that is, on the old 1970 Mopar. The old one lasted 24 years.

[MichaelB]

I fixed a sticky doorknob. It’s only one year old and the latch wasn’t working properly. I’m impressed with Baldwin customer service. I bought some door hw from them a year ago and have called twice for assistance, both times they replaced all the hardware the same day even though it’s not clear they were properly installed.

The door hw is pricey but the customer service more than makes up for it.

[JoeWras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freedomatlast Out with the old, in with the new...master cylinder that is, on the old Mopar. The old one lasted 24 years.

Not fond of the job. Seems like I never get all the air out. I don't think I'll ever try it again.

[njhowie]

A week ago yesterday, I pushed the riding mower out of the shed to fire it up for the first time this year. Turn the key, silence. No click, nothing. Put a charger on it for an hour, come back, turn the key and there's whining. Engine isn't spinning, just loud whining. I pull the engine shroud back a bit, watch the starter, and it's spinning, but not engaging to spin the motor. I pull it out, and the shaft has hardened grease on it, so the sprocket can't spin up. Additionally, the teeth on the sprocket are a bit worn. I could have gotten a kit just to replace the sprocket and clean the shaft, but I figured the starter is 15 years old, I may as well just replace the whole thing (I'm keeping the old one for a spare just in case). So I order the new OEM starter from Amazon with free 4AM-8AM delivery the next morning so I can install it early, and have the rest of the day to mow. Everything went to plan, installed new starter, engine fired right up, got the front of the house and one of the sides mowed and then bent a blade. Figured it was a sign that I did enough for the day.

Yesterday, I get the mower out to replace the blades, and find that one of the spindles is broken underneath the deck. Back on Amazon to order replacement spindles (decided it was better to replace both), arrived at 5:30AM this morning, replaced, gave it a quick test, and we're back in business once again.

I am continually amazed at what the world has come to, that what once would have been a terrible pain in the neck to have to bring the thing to a repair shop and pay an arm and a leg for a repair, be out of commission for a week or more, or spend days hunting around for overpriced replacement parts, can be accomplished so quickly, easily, and inexpensively these days. So simple to find online parts diagrams for whatever you have, find the exact replacement part from a number of sources, have it delivered right to your door 12 hours later, find videos showing exactly what you need to do to repair, and so on. Simply astounding if you think back to pre-2000.

[Music Lover]

I got lucky today, the well pump at the cabin wasn't shutting off. There were no leaks so I was hoping it was just a sticky contact on the well pump switch. And...I was right. A 2 minute fix that cost $0.

It could have been worse, I'm pretty happy

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Music Lover I got lucky today, the well pump at the cabin wasn't shutting off. There were no leaks so I was hoping it was just a sticky contact on the well pump switch. And...I was right. A 2 minute fix that cost $0. It could have been worse, I'm pretty happy

How do you 'fix' a sticky contact? Burnish it? I guess I'd be afraid it will stick again.

Probably not a solution for your cabin, but when I was on a private well, I hooked up a micro-controller to email me if the pump ran outside of defined conditions (too long or too short of a cycle). I've got that set up on my sump pump now that I have a finished basement.

-ERD50

[Music Lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 How do you 'fix' a sticky contact? Burnish it? I guess I'd be afraid it will stick again. Probably not a solution for your cabin, but when I was on a private well, I hooked up a micro-controller to email me if the pump ran outside of defined conditions (too long or too short of a cycle). I've got that set up on my sump pump now that I have a finished basement. -ERD50

I used contact cleaner but although the contacts no longer stick, the area where the on/off adjustment spring sets is corroding so the pump still stays on all the time. It just ran one cycle and then the next time it stayed on.

So, the unit has to be replaced. That was my plan anyway as the pressure switch and tank plus some of the plumbing are under the cabin. I was planning on moving everything inside to the heated area as we are winterizing the cabin.

[Qs Laptop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freedomatlast Out with the old, in with the new...master cylinder that is, on the old 1970 Mopar. The old one lasted 24 years.

So the old master cylinder had unbalanced sized reservoirs (a larger front brake reservoir) whereas the new one has same sized reservoirs?

[freedomatlast]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qs Laptop So the old master cylinder had unbalanced sized reservoirs (a larger front brake reservoir) whereas the new one has same sized reservoirs?

Good eye, Qs. Yes, you are correct.

This car is equipped with drum brakes. The old master cylinder was actually for a car with disc brakes, thus the reason for the larger front reservoir. That's all that was available when I changed it out the last time, and is perfectly acceptable for use in this application. Both internal cylinders are the same diameter for disc and drum brake applications. You don't want to use a drum brake master cylinder on a disc brake car, but you can use the disc brake master on a drum brake car. Anyway, they now make new (not rebuilt) master cylinders for the correct drum brake application with the same size reservoirs. This one was a Raybestos brand master cylinder. Bled out easily and works like new.

[Qs Laptop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freedomatlast Good eye, Qs. Yes, you are correct.

As a past owner of a 1969 Roadrunner and a 1970 'Cuda, both of which I overhauled and rebuilt, I do notice these things.

IIRC, the Roadrunner had drum brakes all around and the 'Cuda had front discs, rear drums.

[freedomatlast]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qs Laptop As a past owner of a 1969 Roadrunner and a 1970 'Cuda, both of which I overhauled and rebuilt, I do notice these things. IIRC, the Roadrunner had drum brakes all around and the 'Cuda had front discs, rear drums.

Ah, ok, since you certainly know your way around these cars, I'll take the explanation a step further then. The master cylinder lid held down with the wire clip is actually for a '71 and the 70's actually have the bolt down lid. Because I've had trouble in the past with the bolt down lids sealing, I decided to go with the wire clip lid this time around. I also had a '70 'Cuda 340 back in the late 70's. Made a few dollars racing that one. Lots of fun!

[stephenson]

Have a rental house with very nice over range Kitchenaid combo microwave/convection oven.

Even when new, the switch interlocks in the case that hold the door closed and have microswitches mounted on them, simply continued to require loosening and repositioning.

Got another call on them - grrr - so, ordered new upper and lower interlock supports (brackets) and actuators (rotate on a shaft on the brackets - same for both upper and lower).

Pulled it apart (again) - easy swap - AND, the new bits do not exactly resemble the old, meaning here was probably some modification made - hopefully to fix whatever it was that continued to prevent long term operation. My sense was the actuator rotated too far, got stuck then snapped back - and, looked like it actually was causing wear.

Only anxiety was when two of the three switches popped apart (clearly not glued or sealed, just snapped together) - so I snapped them back together.

PartsDr.com had great chat support, knew their products and had best pricing!

[harley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 Probably not a solution for your cabin, but when I was on a private well, I hooked up a micro-controller to email me if the pump ran outside of defined conditions (too long or too short of a cycle). I've got that set up on my sump pump now that I have a finished basement.

ERD, do you have any references on how to do this that a non-EE but moderately technical person could understand? My newest house has a sump pump, and I've been considering a backup, but your solution sounds a lot better (ie. cheaper).

[Music Lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 Probably not a solution for your cabin, but when I was on a private well, I hooked up a micro-controller to email me if the pump ran outside of defined conditions (too long or too short of a cycle). I've got that set up on my sump pump now that I have a finished basement. -ERD50

I only skimmed your comment earlier. There's no internet at the cabin so I don't think that option will work. But I'm planning on installing a switch so the well pump can be shut off when we leave rather than having to flip the breaker.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley ERD, do you have any references on how to do this that a non-EE but moderately technical person could understand? My newest house has a sump pump, and I've been considering a backup, but your solution sounds a lot better (ie. cheaper).

The electrical part is easy if your sump uses an external connected float like this:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Superior...494794#overlay

I added a multi-tap to that plug, plugged a 5V charger and the pump into that, so I get a 5V signal to the micro-controller when the pump is running. Otherwise, you need to sense the current to the pump, or add a separate switch to the float on the pump to detect when it has flipped on/off.

The 'hard' part (but 'fun' for me, I just wanted the challenge and to learn about this stuff) was the programming of the micro-controller. My code has a ton of bells/whistles and a display, history for the display , etc. None of which I really use anymore, so the code could be made much. much simpler. But you do need to get set up with the Arduino programming application on your computer (pretty easy), and learn how to do some coding. But if I ever write up a generic version of this code, you only need to learn how to load code into the micro-controller, no actual code writing needed.

If I ever get the motivation (unlikely!) I'd strip that code down to the basics, and make it much easier for someone else to use. There really isn't much code for the basics. The email/text is a library, and you just fill in the blanks pretty much. Looping to detect the sump running is simple.

I've actually been thinking about updating this code, so there is a slight chance I would get to this. The change I want to make is to add a 'Factory Reset' option that would have it set up it's own local WiFi network, so I can get on that netowrk with computer or smartphone/tablet - the device would put up a simple web page to allow me to enter the info about my regular WiFi network name/PW, and the email/text addresses to send to. Right now, those are 'hard coded' and stored in flash memory, so if I change my network or email addresses, I have to reprogram the thing. No big deal really, but not 'user-friendly'.

Here's the microelectronic I use:

https://www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-Inter.../dp/B081CSJV2V

And here's the programming app (Win, Mac,Linux):

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide

I'll come up with some refs for the libraries I used later, and maybe some similar examples.

-ERD50

[38Chevy454]

Not a repair in the strict definition. Yesterday I finally opened up my pool for this year season. Been so cold here that I just kept the winter safety cover on for couple weeks longer than typical year. The process is not unlike a repair, in that need to take some things apart and put some together. Opening up the pool is mainly just removing the safety cover, hooking things back up, priming the pump and getting it started. The pool always has a lot of dirt and junk that settles in the water, so I vacuum the pool bottom and let the dirty water discharge to the grass. Then connect the filter, add chemicals, and run the pool sweep a couple cycles to get more settled junk the pool vacuum didn't get. Takes a few days for the filter to get the water clear again. Overall process is couple hours start to finish. Biggest hassle is trying to fold and roll up the safety cover, and then get it put away in the basement.

Now if the weather would finally warm up, the pool can start heating the water. Water temp is high 50s now. I don't have a heater, just the sun and ambient temp.

[Out of Steam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freedomatlast This car is equipped with drum brakes. The old master cylinder was actually for a car with disc brakes, thus the reason for the larger front reservoir. That's all that was available when I changed it out the last time, and is perfectly acceptable for use in this application. Both internal cylinders are the same diameter for disc and drum brake applications.

I was going to ask whether the original would have been a single reservoir system, or had that already gone away by 1969-70?

[freedomatlast]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Out of Steam I was going to ask whether the original would have been a single reservoir system, or had that already gone away by 1969-70?

Yea, that was long gone by 1969 and 1970.

I believe 1966 was the last year for single reservoir master cylinders.