Something always breaks!

Seems like every time I fix something, something else breaks!

The other day I reworked the sun screens I had made for the RV windows.  They work great at keeping the inside temperatures down on hot sunny days.   When I made them I used the the "snap" type fasteners and they were coming apart.  Just not heavy duty enough, or my tools didn't do a good job.  I had ordered the "twist lock" type and had replaced a couple of them before.  The other day I just decided to replace all of them and get the screens installed for the hot weather we are having.  They worked very well and the inside stays several degrees cooler with them on.

This week I had a few project planned an Monday was going well.  M mentioned that her bathroom sink faucet was leaking and could I check it out.  No problem, I found the cartridge in the cold water side was the problem.  Could I fix it?  Probably not, besides, I had an extra one that was sent by the factory for the same problem in the kitchen.  So I replace it and everything was fine.

The RV screen door screen has been in pretty bad shape for a while, but it got worse the last time out.  I did a little research and that the Home Depot had the new Phifer "pet resistant" screen so I had picked some up, along with the tools needed to install it.  It installed without much trouble and it looks great, much heavier and darker han before and I think it will work out very well.

It would have been way too much trouble to remove the door for the installation so I installed it with  the door in place.  I needed to get the ladder in front of the door, with the steps retracted, so I just blocked the steps from extending when I opened the door.  Seemed like a good plan, that is how steps the steps work, they stop if they are blocked during the extension process.  All went as planned until I finished the screen and closed and opened the door  to let the steps extend... nothing!  OK, they do that sometimes, but this time they will not move.  I try a few more things with no luck.  I hot wired the motor and it worked... once!   OK, I have an old motor from working on the steps before, I'll just try it.  It didn't work either.  Then I think of the fuse and sure enough it had blown when testing the motor the first time.  I replaced the 15A fuse with a 20A one an the motor is working fine now.  Next, I test the door switch with no results.  I think I burned out the step controller...  $175! 

So, I have a test connector on order for further test, also a 30A DPDT momentary switch that will operate the steps in manual mode just in case.  We are planning a trip in the next week or so and the switch will get us on our way and I can work on the steps when we return.

The fun never stops!

H

Mower is back together!

I finally got the mower parts and put it back together couple of days ago.  The bearings on one of the spindles were both shot, one of them actually torn apart and the balls missing.  The second only had a couple of missing balls, and was in pretty bad shape.  I waited for the new ones before doing  very much destructive testing and examinations.  Both were completely dry, and I am sure it was from the factory that way, and there was no means by which to inject grease into them.  The new ones have zerk fittings and I shoot about fifteen shots of grease form the grease gun into each one.

OK, it's, ready for a test run and it is quieter than It has ever been since I have had it, about four years now and I bought it used.  But wait, what is that smell...  hot rubber?  Take it back into the shed/shop and find that the belt is routed to the wrong side of two of the "U" shaped guides that keep it in place when the deck is in idle mode.  Reroute and retest and all is well.  Yesterday I decided to add grease until I see it seep out around the edges, just to make sure it has enough. Some twenty some shot of grease total in each one, that should do it.  I will also check and add more if needed at the beginning of each mowing season.

I have also been in the techie mode for a week or two.  The laptop WiFi has been acting up for quite a while and not working at all lately.  I ordered a little USB WiFi adapter and got it installed.  Now I don't have to unplug my printer and plug the Cat-5 cable into my laptop.  I just love modern technology... when it works!

Another thing was my desktop.  It has been bogging down a lot lately.  Switching between application was taking forever, and Google Chrome would take five to ten minutes to really get up to speed.  First, I suspected Windows figuring it was a natural choice for blaming.  Have I mentioned lately  how much I hate Windows!  But I digress!  Then I blamed Google Chrome, and then Adobe Lightroom.  Or maybe it was a virus!  Then I got to thinking, the way it's acting, maybe it needs more memory.  So I ordered four GBs of ram and upgraded from three GBs to six GBs,  leaving one GB on the floor for the trouble.  Wow, I did not know this thing would run this fast!  Now I am looking at Solid State Drive!  Maybe one of these days!

Mary's typewriter is back together with a new belt.  A major job with fat fingers, bifocals, and no special tools, but I did strip a screw in motor mount while adjusting it.  Maybe I can find one at Lowes.  And I'm still waiting for an adapter to test Susan's hard drive. 

It has been hot here this week, and looks the same in the ten day forecast.  Just glad I got the RV carpet in while it was still cool.

Monsoon is on the way, hope its good.  We have more grass this year than I have seen before and need some rain before we lose it!

First, you have to fix something!

Vent cover breaking apart.

Continuing to work on the RV.

The last time I was on the roof I noticed that the refrigerator vent cover was in pretty bad shape so last week I ordered a replacement cover.  I got it installed Yesterday morning but didn't really need a new vent screen so I set it aside.   Look like I was not too early on the job as the old one came off in multiple pieces.  The new one looks like it may last another fifteen years,

Break it more just to get it off.

Most of the pieces.

New one installed.

Looks better.

Mower deck in shed/work shop.

I hit a rock the last time I mowed and bent one of the blades pretty bad.  I finished mowing with the bent blade not knowing that I actually had a replacement in the garage.  Today I got finally got around to replacing it.  I was going to mow over the septic tank, to only place that is really green around here.  After changing the blade and heading for the area to mow, I engaged the mower deck  and promptly killed the engine.  After trying it once more with the same results I discovered that one of the mower deck spindles locking up, likely due to a bad bearing. Removing the mower deck and examining it confirm my fears. The second spindle is a little wobbly, so I ordered two replacements. Got to keep Amazon and Ebay going.  The spindles are held in place with four 1/4" screws each and I broke off seven out of eight bolts heads.  I don't know it it's just me, or bad engineering!  Will have to see if I can find a torque spec for them!

Later, taking the spindles apart I found that they were completely dry.  How long, I don't know, but it looked like it had always been dry.  The outer bearing race was completely gone, not to mention the ball bearing inside.

Now trying to find something else with out having to fix something first!  Maybe I should get back to the Selectric Typewriter I have had for months to fix for a friend!

Wrapping up the RV Projects

Around seats in living area.

I  have finally gotten the job completed.  Finally got the seats back in and  finished up all of the little things you have to do at the end of any project like touch up the paint and adjust this and that.  I have put the old floor in the trash a little bit at a time so it's not to heavy to drag to road and most of it is gone. I got everything wrapped up on Saturday morning by reinstalling the wheels on the front and now the place doesn't look so Redneck, not that there is anything wrong with that!

Trim around the bed and wardrobe.

Entry Steps

 You can find more photos of this project on my Flicker page:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/97815506@N06/

Now to get back on the road!

H

The RV has a new floor!

For the last month or so I have been pretty busy working on the RV!  I know, what else is new.

It all started when I found water damage under the vinyl plank that I installed a few years ago. The co-pilot side window was broken and replaced a couple of year ago and we get rain so seldom that the leak went undetected for a while before I finally found and repaired it, but the damage to the floor went undetected for a much longer and the end result was rotten plywood under the vinyl plank.  Fortunately it was 1/4 plywood that I had installed over the real floor, which suffered much less damage. 

So at the very end of April, I started the floor demo project, removing all of the vinyl plank and the damaged plywood.  Of course, one of the first things I had to do was to remove the driver and co-pilot seats, and the recliner chair.  These were all bolted to the floor and are heavy and took some work to remove.  I removed everything I could from the RV but these were just too big and bulky.  Just stacked them in the slideout to worry about.

While all of this was going on, M and I decided to go with carpet tiles for a new floor.  The vinyl was just not working out.  Too much temperature variance and that was causing shrinkage!  We shopped a little bit locally and that got us nowhere but we did find an online site that had a lot of choices and good prices.  Having gotten our short list down to two choices I contacted the vendor.  Turns out that they do a deal on short lots, less than 500 square feet, and we had to take all of them, but for $0.99 per square foot and one tile on our short list had  272'  left.  My plan was to order 250' so 272' @ 0.99 was better that 250' @$1.29.  Shipping from GA came to $170,   It cost $1.63/ft, all said and done, delivered to my door.  Still a good price.

While waiting for the tiles to arrive I was working on all the prep work, mainly the underlayment.  I use 1/8" hard board for that and I think it worked out pretty good.

I took a couple of days off when Carl and Brenda came for a couple of days.





The carpet tiles arrived while they were here and I got started laying them a day or so after they left.  I don't know how much time I spent on the computer, with a lay out program, working with the layout of the tiles to minimize the waste with and make sure the tile seams are in just the right places, not matching the underlayment seam,  using a 24" x 24" tile.  My guess is that it is impossible but I got pretty close.  It took me just over a week to get the tiles down, with lots of time off, of course!


I had taken everything out of the RV that I could get out, including all loose furniture, bath room door and frame, and the toilet.  Then I decided to remove the mattress and bed platform  to allow for much more room to work.  While the bed was apart I took this as an opportunity to adjust the slide.  Naturally it had no adjustment so I ordered a 1-1/4" round stock nylon and manufactured and engineering fix.  It worked out rather well I think. The slide fits into the coach much better now.

Now that the floor was done, something had to be done about the doghouse, technically referred to as  the engine cover.  It was still covered with the original carpet and was in really bad shape. 

 So shopping for carpet, Part Two, begins.  No carpet guy wants to do RVs, mainly, I think because of the doghouse.  Takes very little carpet but lots of time to do it.  After a lot of consideration, I decide to tackle it myself.  After all, the worst I could do would be to screw it up, then find and play someone to do it right!  


The contact cement used fifteen years ago would not give up easily on its own.  In removing it, I had to separate the carpet for the backing,  then using a multi-tool with a scraper blade to remove the backing with most of the contact cement.
















This reminded me sheep shearing back on the farm, another life time ago! And in the end, if you use a lot of imagination, it almost looks like a sheep shin!

We looked at the big box stores and found nothing.  M was flying out to visit her sister and after dropping her at the airport I looked around Phoenix for remnants that would work for the doghouse.  I found nothing that would work but did find a $10 piece that I use for practice. The color was pretty bad I could still use the practice.  What I learned was that everyone in the desert area used some shade of brown for carpeting.  No shades of green or red was to be found.  I ended up with a 5'x12' piece of walnut colored carpet that I found in Prescott Valley.  Enough for three attempts.  My first practice cut, using the "practice" piece came up a little short, as did my first attempt with the real thing.   

It took me four days, with breaks and cement set time, to finish the job.  I had to do a lot of clamping in tight inside corners  and let that setup for a while before I could continue.

 

I don't know what everyone gets so worked up about!  I think this is was my first real carpet job and I think i did a pretty good job!

Would I want to do this again?  As my Dad would say, "That wouldn't be my first choice!"  It was some trail and error and a lot of patience for the floor and the doghouse, but, in the end it came out looking pretty good,   Maybe in a few years, when this wears out, I'll give it another go.