What did you do to your shop today?

[CopperNick]

Put about 3 more layers of heavy clothing on and went out to the shop to see how well the charging on my stand by battery was getting on. Neighbor had his battery freeze and then his significant other went for groceries and came out to find that hers had crapped out too. No joy there, it ended up on a rollback and headed for the dealer.
Being that it is around -40 F. outside, my own ride is on the battery charger full time plus I set up one of the timers so I could plug in the block heater as well. Couple of hours Just warms the mill up enough that it will roll easy without making the starter an unhappy camper. Block heater and the computer hate each other; too much warm and the computer has problems deciding what the coolant temperature is and throws a code at the dash. Nuisance.



Nick

 

[motorheadmike]

Trying to rehab the dead battery front the TBSS.

Oh and I guess I am buying everything in bulk now...



Adult Slinky, not to be confused with a human centipede.

 

[CopperNick]

It is so cold here that Popsicles have formed a Union and are now on strike for warmer working conditions.

Sunrise, the all in temp was -40-45 below with the windchill. At that point there is no difference between degrees F., and degrees C., It is actually warmer at the North Pole than it is here in central North America. The Polar Vortex has dropped to somewhere south of the Minn-Iowa border and shows no sign of any urges to emigrate back to Siberia.

Stand-by battery surprised me by taking a full charge in just about 24 hours. I do love my Battery Tender Plus.

Shop right now is at 57 degrees. NO plans to EVA the house and head on out there. My faithful S-10 is sitting in the front driveway with both battery tender and block heater plugged in. My next non G project is likely to be a circular heater for the engine coolant. They are available to install in the lower rad hose and it has to come out anyway to receive a sleeve with a drain c*ck in it cause the one on the rad cannot be got at unless I take half the cradle apart. Spring project.



Nick

 

[88AZSS]

Hung up the ‘88 Monte Carlo brochure I got from member JimmyCamino.

 

[CopperNick]

Today's mail was good to me as my latest purchase, a package of the Chrome! Washers came in.

Just a bit of back story here. For those who have been following along, this is more of a non-g thread but awhile ago I lost a chrome washer that was part of a sub-assembly and never did find it to date. None on the shelf either. So this is a case of restocking the inventory.

What I learned along the way was that there is significant difference between "AN" washers and "HSS" washers and it all has to go with the ID of the washer. Summarily, if the ID of an AN washer is stated as, oh, say, 5/16ths, then that is what it is. By contrast, if it is an HSS washer and the ID is stated as 5/1ths, then you can easily slip a 3/8ths bolt through it. Sounds both dumb and weird but, in order to get a washer that precisely fits a 5/16ths bolt or capscrew, what I ended up having to order was an HSS flat washer nominally described as having 1/4 inch inner diameter. They came in today and a 5/16ths bolt fits like a hand in a glove. Spent the afternoon adding more parts back onto my vintage HD. Not sure why the discrepancy between theory and reality but when I used to sell fasteners we did have, for flat washers, two separate descriptors, "bolt size" and "hole size" and one was drilled larger and the other and both supposed to be for the same bolt so go figure. Anyway, I now have chrome washers back in the inventory so the next stock out will probably be acorn nuts!! Should put one out for the squirrel and see if the bugger tries to eat it. Probably break its teeth or get indigestion and the SPCA'd be on my case for cruelty to animals! Bother.



Nick

 

[5spdCab]

I believe that I received the fuse/relay panels that I purchased recently. My wife is afraid of covid, so the box is in a 4-5 day quarantine, but Amazon declares it having been delivered. In the meantime, I am off of work today because I am required to work both Saturday and Sunday this weekend for snow removal at the airport. So, I am spending some time in the garage organizing some more things. These little cabinets are 25+ years old, and the weight of the upper drawers have caused the different layers to sag. Rather than throw them out, I flipped them upside down and filed off the stops. Now I can refill them with the smaller drawer uprights supporting the larger drawers above (engineering should have considered situation beforehand). Now they are ready for the next 25+ years. In the photo below, you can see the curvature of the bottom level (which from this point forward will be the top level).

Having filed the stops off, I will need to be mindful when I pull a drawer out so that I do not spill the contents.
It is not yet 10am west coast time, as long as I can stand the chill, I am going to continue tinkering around in the garage, so will maybe post some more later.

 

[CopperNick]

Now that you flipped the cabinet, would it be possible to replicate the stops in the same position just inverted from where they used to be?



Nick

 

[abbey castro]

I turned a low bench top into a tool tray with lid. It hold some special tools, i take the lid off to expose them. It still serves as a low bench top. I'm running out of space!

 

[CopperNick]

Anyone offering any odds on how long it takes before Abby's bench top tool tray gets so stacked with "Stuff" that she can't get into the tray any more??

 

[abbey castro]

Last time I looked down, I (Abbey) was a boy! Nickname given to me by my 2nd Grade teacher in England (Spelled Abbey as in an English Abbey. I'll take the odds! I don't have anymore stuff to put up, I still have plenty of rafter space for more stuff.