Editor's note:  Just found that I had not posted this little item, so here it is, and just a few months late.  Will work on a new update!

Band saw mobility base

Been watching Youtube Vids about moving heavy shop tools around on wheels but then having them stable when using them so I added castors to my band saw.  works really great!

Removed  sun screen from the skylight to allow more light and heat in the kitchen for winter.  Makes a really big difference on both counts.

TV working again   ...   not

I flew to Florida for a few days to visit a brother, Jim.  JT made the trip from KY at the same time.  So, three brothers sat around and hashed out all of the political issues for the country and solve a great many world problems while we were at it.

Suzuki Axle replaced, above my pay grade so I had it done by professionals!

New to me Ipad.  I bought M's iPad II so she could get the latest one.

Suzuki, installed new front brake pads and had the rotors turned. (DIY)

11/4 Just got a letter from AZ Dept of Rev. The ongoing audit has been closed! But they didn't send me a check!

Been hauling water for five years now saving $3,700 after paying capital and operating expenses. That is about half way toward paying for the truck!  

Much needed and ongoing (never ending) maintenance!

Not a lot going on in the last couple of months, but here is a run down.

I did end up ordering the Multimeter from Home Depot.  I get their daily email with the daily special and one day that meter showed up at about 35% off so I ordered it.  It been a couple of months and I really haven't used it for anything yet.  The Radio Shack one is working better after I worked on it a little bit.  Now  I will have one to keep in the RV.

I was working in the garage one day and M came in and told me the shower door had broken.  Being tempered glass, it just kinda of crinkled all over.  I accused her of braking it because she has wanted a new one for some time now.  I finished braking it out and removing it  and installing the curtains from the other bath until we find a door that works.  This being a manufactured home, a lot of things are sized a little different and that's what happened with the shower doors.  No one has this size in stock so a special order is needed.  We did find a suitable door at Lowes and got it ordered.  Takes about a week to get it and I managed to get it installed the next day.  It's called Rain Forest or something like that, with it looking like rain water is running down the glass.  It works, and we even got the special coating to help prevent, or at least reduce, the hard water etching.

Other routine maintenance included ordering and replacing the outside hose bibb,  ordered and replace the broken auger in the refrigerator ice dispenser, and replace the washers in the toilet supply valves that was somehow causing a very slow tank refill.  Put sealer on the front deck after a year, maybe it will help it last longer.  I replaced the cabin air filter in the truck, I think it made a difference,  after all, it is 15 years old!  

M went to Florida to visit and help out her sister recovering from a busted up shoulder and the resulting surgery.  This gave me an opportunity to get more maintenance done!  So I built and installed more garage shelving, and replace the rollers on the sliding screen door which is working properly for the first time in ten years.  I also decided to acid wash and paint the shed floor.  That was fun.  I decided the vacuum the floors and naturally, the vacuum is not working properly.  It is the belt, seem they tend to stretch over time and need replacing, so I get a couple of the ordered, replace one and get the floor cleaned up!

This week has been Kaleidoscope Days in Jerome, so I took the RV to the top of Mingus Mountain for M to stay so she doesn't have get a room or drive 100 miles round trip each day.  She takes a couple of Kaleidoscope classes and helps out with all the goings on for the week culminating in an auction to benefit the humane society of Jerome.  She may come home on Sunday, and drive back up of a class on Monday.  She has yet to decide what she will do.

I also took the home alone time to acid wash and paint the garage floor.  Got it finished before the rain system moved in.  It has been cloudy and raining for the last couple of days.  I hope the paint works on the shed and garage floors, concrete is so fickle when it come to painting it.

Somewhere in there I had time to get my pace maker checked out and it is working just fine!

Do I need a new Multimeter? Yes I do!

A few days ago...

I have had this Radio Shack 22-166B digital multimeter for about 30 years and it has served me well in that time...  until now!  A few days I turned it on and got no response.  Using a freebie Harbor Freight meter, the batteries and fuse tested good.  So I took it apart and acted like I knew what I was doing and all looked well so I put it back together and started searching the net for a new one.

I went back to look at it and noticed the batteries (2xAA, side by side) had both (+) on one end and (-) on the other and that just did not look right.  Only one of the battery positions was marked and I had recently replaced the batteries.  I reversed the one in the unmarked side  and the meter started to work and I even uses it for a while.  

Next morning I was checking something and got very weird readings, so I turned it off, checked the batteries , which were OK, and the fuse showed 3 ohms with my HF meter.  From that point  I could not get it to turn on, or at least no indications on the readout.  I have new fuses on the way.

Did it just die, or, did I kill it?  And, can it be revived?

If it's dead, I need a new one, Under $100 .  Looking at this one at Home Depot online

http://www.homedepot.com/p/General-T...M550/205748236


Any one know this one, is it a good one.  I seldom use one and then only use it for gereral household and auto type maintenance.  Any other suggestions?  The HF one just wont cut it, even for me!

Fast forward to present...

This morning I took the RS unit apart once more just to see what I could see.  Seems the LCD screen unit connection is a press fit type.  I have never seen this before.   The PCB and LCD just press together.  

 So I put it back together trying to fit it correctly and the LCD did come on, readings are still wacky.  Then I banged it with my hand a few time and the wackiness changed each time until it went blank, never to show a number again.  Guess I really screwed it up this time, and a new meter is in my near future.

And, just to keep the irony gods happy, my new fuses came in today!!

Pretty boring week!

Not much going on in the last week or so.   I did get a few miscellaneous  RV repairs done.  The bottom drawer on my side of the table/desk was moving out during travel and I found a loose catch so I fixed and tightened it up a to hold better on the road.  We used to keep the main area rugs there and that held it in I guess.  Now that we no longer have them is when the problem showed itself!

The table/desk top was bouncing up and down so a couple of screws from the bottom took care of that, and a couple of pieces of Velcro took care of M's keyboard tray sliding out while on the road.

One of the storage bins/drawers of the table has always had problems with the slide latch.  I had put in a stopper behind it to reduce the wiggle room and it was too tight.  I replaced it with a thinner one and changed the latching hole to a latching plate with a small piece of angle aluminum.

I replace the waterproof  LEDs in one of the light fixtures to non-waterproof.  The double stick tape had dropped loose causing a heat sink failure and a discoloration of the waterproof coating.  The sticky stuff on the non waterproof seems to be working better.  While I was at that, I install a second switch on two other fixture allowing half of the LEDs to be off or on, depending on the need, and extending the battery life just  a little which help when out in the wood boondocking.

The Suzuki was due an oil change and other routine  maintenance and I got that all taken care of, including replacing the air filter with one I have had on hand for a few years.  While rotating the tire I noticed an air pocket on the side wall of one of them.  Something to call about for warranty.

I have been wanting to add memory to my laptop and this week I remembered that it used to have 4GB and the two 2GB DIMMs were removed and placed in out two net books and their 1GB DIMMs were placed in my laptop.  So this week I switched the back.  Did not help with photo transfers speed, but maybe it will help with other things.

All things considered, it has been quite boring, not much going on!

That was easy!

The plastic plug came out of the RV water heater without any issues!  I found a steel 1/2" NPT plug and used that to clean up the threads in the Aluminum tank.  It worked great.  Then I bought a plumbers round steel wire brush and cleaned it up a little more and inserted a new brass plug using liquid "pipe dope".  It worked great and I hope the dope works better than the tape, at least there wont be little bits and pieces of it down stream.  It looks like it has had a steady minor thread leak for a long time from the looks of the mineral buildup around the plug.   Everything work out very well and the RV is now ready for another road trip!

Got that all taken care of and then concentrated on the mower.  It lost a clip that held the level control lever link on and one side started digging into the dirt.  I didn't thank a lot about it until something else broke.  Had to stop mowing.  Fixed the link but the broken part may need some welding.  Talked to welder owning neighbor and will take it over this weekend for welding.  In the mean time I drilled and bolted the parts together so I could finish mowing.  

Now to get back to the regularly scheduled chores and maintenance! 

Colorado Mountain Hi and all the back roads!

Since the last post we took a little trip up into Colorado, hitting areas like Durango, Silverton, Crested Butte, Taylor Reservoir, and Leadville.  Right off, let me say the trip was wonderful, in every way.  The flowers were out of this world.

I have to say that the Columbine is on my short list of favorite flowers, they are beautiful!

 Paintbrush has always been a favorite and I always thought they grew in a haphazard, here and there fashion.

I have always been wrong.  This year we saw acres and acres of paintbrush, and they were various shades of red, yellow, orange, and even white.





We did back roads at all the places mentioned above and the rain cooperated with us almost all of the time and we used the wipers very little while we were deep in the woods exploring and stopping for the flowers and out of this world views.  Most of the time the clouds were scattered and light enough that combined with the blue sky they only enhanced the views.

 One place we wanted to go was to Clear Lake, a little alpine lake up high on S. Mineral Creek road where we were boon-docking near Silverton.  We made it up to a water falls that we love, and there is always a marmot or two.  A marmot was there and we got some good photos.  M loaned me here big lens and I got some pretty decent shots.  Just above the falls snow a major snow drift completely covered one of the switchbacks and we could go no further.  We did get a few rain sprinkles while we were there and on the way back down the mountain.

 The carpet tiles that I installed just prior to departure worked far beyond all exceptions.  We did not need rugs to protect the rugs that protected the floors, which made for a much less cluttered area.  We just ran the little vac as part of the departure routine and setup went went much faster at our evening destination.  We both loved the carpet tiles and I would recommend them for anyone wanting to upgrade the flooring system in an RV.




The steps that I worked on before going also worked like a charm.  Not only did they work like they should but not once on this trip did they hesitate when opening the door.  For a couple of years they would not extend when the door was opened and we would have to close the door and reopen it, sometime two or three times.  The only problem was after and long day traveling over a dirt/gravel road they did not want to close up all the way.  I may try to come up with a type of mud flap to go in front of the steps and that may help a little.  Colorado roads have Magnesium Chloride liquid  compound, or something like that,  on the dirt roads to bind the dirt and gravel together.  It is great when it is dry.  It packs like a hard surface and helps to keep the dust under control.  Not so much when it is wet.  It is very sticky and it clogs up the steps.  I had to bang on them with a hammer and they oil up all  pivoting points to get them fully operational.  Will need to get out the pressure washer and clean and oil the really good this week.

The only real problem the RV gave up this trip was with the water heater.  I replaced the drain plug back in '05 while working at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  Well, I used a plastic plug, and it must not have been rated for the hot water system.  On our very last day it ruptured after the water heated for out morning shower.  I told M she could shower, if she hurried.  I did not get to shower!  When she finished, I turned the Water Heater Bypass valve to take the heater out of the loop.  All other plumbing worked fine.  Something to do next week!

The furnace also has a recurring problem that showed up on the trip.  I will shut off before heating the interior, and not come back on.  We have to turn it off and back on after a 3-5 wait.  Something is causing it not to automatically reset.  Something else to look at when I have time and get rested up a little.

Working Steps

The RV steps are back in working order finally and I didn't have to buy a new controller, or a set of new steps.  I ordered the parts needed and manufactured a pigtail test connector for the steps just so I could go through the steps (pun intended) of testing out the controller.  I got enough parts to assemble two complete male and female ends of the connector for about half the cost of a one sided OEM connector.  Now I can put them in my stash, just in case! While testing, I even wired the door operated reed switch in series with it so I could test it at the same time.  In the process, I reran the reed switch signal wire back through the connector like it should be.  That also made the wiring nest look a little neater!  It have been bypassed  at the factory.  A few years ago I had to rewire everything because things were just not working as they should and one of the results was a ratty looking wiring nest.

Anyway, went through all of the procedures to test and made sure everything was working properly.  In the end it was most likely a case of corroded wiring and/or grounding connections.

It was near noon and pretty hot at he RV and I thought I would wait until the sun moved some more so I could work in the shade.  Then I though, I just fixed the awning a few months ago and it is just where I will need the shade, I'll just use that, and it worked great!

I had also ordered a DPDT 30 amp switch, just in case, as we are leaving for higher elevations in a few days.  Won't be needing that, hopefully not this time out anyway!

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!