OT - What are you fixing right now?

GrateEggspectations

So quite a while back, I posted about a very generous, awesome bus driver named Elvis who drove my kids to school. Jamaican man with whom I often talked about cooking and his favourite pastime, RC vehicles. I had no exposure to the latter and mostly just took in his passion for the activity, but he then gifted my son one of his RC helicopters. Had never been used those before and thought it was actually pretty neat. Not long after, be bought my son a really nice, new 4 wheel drive RC car capable of speeds in excess of 30km/h (which doesn’t sound fast, but is in close proximity with sensitive steering - especially being driven by a young child). Clearly too much speed for my five year old son, as he promptly crashed it. 🤦

Seemed like at least a few parts were broken, so rather than order them piecemeal, I went ahead and ordered a whole new car, thinking the old one could be used for spare parts.

On his very first use of the new car, my son crashed again within minutes and broke one of the axles. 🤦 🤦 

Had been on my to-do list for a while, but tonight, I swapped out parts from each car, hoping it would work out. The sum was that the broken parts needing repairing were the steering servo (I think?!) and one axle. While that may not sound complicated, instructions were non existent, online resources were similarly non existent and the screws were so tiny and delicate that my smallest screwdriver set (which is minuscule), was still very oversized. 

The smile on my son’s face when I led him outside past his bedtime to give the repaired car a go was priceless. Car now 100% functional. 

Our friend and former bus driver Elvis, who had to take some time off due to severe vertigo, was happy when I texted him tonight to say that the car was back in business. 

(Edit: Neglected to mention that Elvis was equally generous with fist bumps and the odd bottle of over-proofed Jamaican rum. I miss that guy.)

kl8ton

Installing overhead bin storage

GrateEggspectations

kl8ton said:

Installing overhead bin storage

Super neat idea. I’d be inclined to label the undersides. Is there a resource or link to share for these?

zaphod

storage bins of Damocles. 

ColbyLang

GrateEggspectations said:

kl8ton said:

Installing overhead bin storage

Super neat idea. I’d be inclined to label the undersides. Is there a resource or link to share for these?

I’d also like to know the weight capacity…..

kl8ton

ColbyLang said:

GrateEggspectations said:

kl8ton said:

Installing overhead bin storage

Super neat idea. I’d be inclined to label the undersides. Is there a resource or link to share for these?

I’d also like to know the weight capacity…..

My kit came with three rails. Supposed to hold four of the 27 gallon bins. 200 lb distributed. This is assuming you are securing the lags in the wooden beams.

https://ceilingsam.com/

kl8ton

I just ran to Costco to pick up more bins... They switched bins and the new brand is 2 in longer. I will have to now go shopping with a tape measure to all the big box stores. 

kl8ton

Complete. Menards for the win.

kl8ton

GrateEggspectations said:

kl8ton said:

Installing overhead bin storage

Super neat idea. I’d be inclined to label the undersides. Is there a resource or link to share for these?

Shared link in one of my responses. My daughter made temporary labels for me. Label maker is at work. I had to redistribute some weight in some of them as a lot of them have photos and books in them.  This winter I hope to take a tub of photos and scan them in and get Google photos to recognize the people, etc. I can then share the memories with family and friends and discard the original pictures. A lot of the stuff will probably end up getting thrown away.  I don't think my kids will end up wanting their first grade school papers and art. Can scan those too. 

GrateEggspectations

@kl8ton

Thanks for that. 

Within the garage of my previous home, I had set up a suspended rack (very similar to the Ceiling Sam Premium 4 x 8) , but I haven’t yet applied any storage solutions to this garage, which is bigger. Thanks for the idea. 

kl8ton

GrateEggspectations said:

@kl8ton

Thanks for that. 

Within the garage of my previous home, I had set up a suspended rack (very similar to the Ceiling Sam Premium 4 x 8) , but I haven’t yet applied any storage solutions to this garage, which is bigger. Thanks for the idea. 

My current home came with a suspended 4x8 rack over the 3rd stall.  It is full, thus the expansion. 

BeanHead

I just picked up a LBGE with a cracked base on Craigslist for $90. Before you start with the cracked base grief, I’m turning it into a raised bed herb garden to keep near my XL. Excited about the extra table space as well…. The lid and other parts are fine, perhaps one day I will find a LBGE with a cracked lid and I can cobble together a working L for my collection  

Canugghead

Neighbour's garage door acted up again. This time it's not the opener, the high humidity and heat must have warped the door enough for the  bottom brace to interfere with the safety sensor beam.

Pic of door underside, the string represents the beam path:

Before:

Thinking outside the bracket, after the fix:

fishlessman

Canugghead said:

Neighbour's garage door acted up again. This time it's not the opener, the high humidity and heat must have warped the door enough for the  bottom brace to interfere with the safety sensor beam.

Pic of door underside, the string represents the beam path:

Before:

Thinking outside the bracket, after the fix:

similar problem here, the heat and humidity has one of my overhead doors hanging up on a bridge crane rail. have a 12 foot board to lift it up while using the pull chains to drop the door til this frigging heat wave ends.

DoubleEgger

At least it’s not a drawbridge that won’t close due to thermal expansion. 

alaskanassasin

You win @DoubleEgger

DoubleEgger

fishlessman

DoubleEgger said:

At least it’s not a drawbridge that won’t close due to thermal expansion. 

that was designed well.....

Gulfcoastguy

DoubleEgger said:

At least it’s not a drawbridge that won’t close due to thermal expansion. 

I hate draw bridges. When I worked for the DOT we were constantly having to work on them. During my career we built no new ones and replace a good half dozen with high rise bridges. Every draw bridge is essentially custom made. That means that when a piece of machinery breaks down the plans had to be found and a new piece custom machined . Then the operators were not always the brightest bulbs in the tree.

kl8ton

DoubleEgger said:

Yeah no doubt. Why are both directions closed?

WeberWho

The outlets on my retractable extension cord have become worn over time and everything that I plug into it wants to slip out. I found a like new retractable extension cord on Marketplace that I picked up a few days ago for a price I couldn't pass up. 

I went to remove my old retractable extension cord hanging up on my roof rafters of my garage and I felt this guilt come over me that I was going to toss it in the garbage. They want something $180 for the exact same model today. So I took a few minutes to see if I could find a multi plug adapter online that I could wire together. No such luck. My next thought was that I could buy a whole new 12/3 multi plug extension cord and rewind it but I was too cheap to spend $75+ for a replacement extension cord. Plus I'd still have to go through the hassle and rewind it. So that was out. 

Then it all clicked. All I had to do is cut the cord and run a single female plug since I can't buy a multi outlet plug and attach a triple tap adapter. Not sure what I didn't think of that right from the start. I just needed to play that reverse UNO card! 



You can see the old plug I cut has seen its better days. 



All it took was a trip to Home Depot and 5 minutes of time to save it from the trash. 



Yellow would have been ideal for the adapter but you only get one option and that's Home Depot orange! 



I think I'll keep the extra retractable extension cord and have two of them out in the garage. One closer to the front of the garage. So not a total waste of a purchase. 

lousubcap

Way to power thru!

GrateEggspectations

@lousubcap

I see what you did there. 🙂

lousubcap

Best I could do on a Friday eve.  

fishlessman

WeberWho said:

The outlets on my retractable extension cord have become worn over time and everything that I plug into it wants to slip out. I found a like new retractable extension cord on Marketplace that I picked up a few days ago for a price I couldn't pass up. 

I went to remove my old retractable extension cord hanging up on my roof rafters of my garage and I felt this guilt come over me that I was going to toss it in the garbage. They want something $180 for the exact same model today. So I took a few minutes to see if I could find a multi plug adapter online that I could wire together. No such luck. My next thought was that I could buy a whole new 12/3 multi plug extension cord and rewind it but I was too cheap to spend $75+ for a replacement extension cord. Plus I'd still have to go through the hassle and rewind it. So that was out. 

Then it all clicked. All I had to do is cut the cord and run a single female plug since I can't buy a multi outlet plug and attach a triple tap adapter. Not sure what I didn't think of that right from the start. I just needed to play that reverse UNO card! 



You can see the old plug I cut has seen its better days. 



All it took was a trip to Home Depot and 5 minutes of time to save it from the trash. 



Yellow would have been ideal for the adapter but you only get one option and that's Home Depot orange! 



I think I'll keep the extra retractable extension cord and have two of them out in the garage. One closer to the front of the garage. So not a total waste of a purchase. 

if you like the old 3 way plug, they make one with a 1 foot extension cord as well.  one of my longest extension chords is a two prong plug, been meaning to glue an adapter to it because the adapter seems to always be missing when i go to use it.

https://www.amazon.com/PlugSaf-Extension-Indicator-Weatherproof-Waterproof/dp/B0CKSFGQ41/ref=asc_df_B0CKSFGQ41?mcid=60663efba731304b9857eb269efab8cd&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693281889309&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1939112336486251746&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001895&hvtargid=pla-2281534925929&hvocijid=1939112336486251746-B0CKSFGQ41-&hvexpln=0&th=1

alaskanassasin

WeberWho said:

The outlets on my retractable extension cord have become worn over time and everything that I plug into it wants to slip out. I found a like new retractable extension cord on Marketplace that I picked up a few days ago for a price I couldn't pass up. 

I went to remove my old retractable extension cord hanging up on my roof rafters of my garage and I felt this guilt come over me that I was going to toss it in the garbage. They want something $180 for the exact same model today. So I took a few minutes to see if I could find a multi plug adapter online that I could wire together. No such luck. My next thought was that I could buy a whole new 12/3 multi plug extension cord and rewind it but I was too cheap to spend $75+ for a replacement extension cord. Plus I'd still have to go through the hassle and rewind it. So that was out. 

Then it all clicked. All I had to do is cut the cord and run a single female plug since I can't buy a multi outlet plug and attach a triple tap adapter. Not sure what I didn't think of that right from the start. I just needed to play that reverse UNO card! 



You can see the old plug I cut has seen its better days. 



All it took was a trip to Home Depot and 5 minutes of time to save it from the trash. 



Yellow would have been ideal for the adapter but you only get one option and that's Home Depot orange! 



I think I'll keep the extra retractable extension cord and have two of them out in the garage. One closer to the front of the garage. So not a total waste of a purchase. 

I need to do that with a 3 plug extension cord that fried. I tried to exchange it at Home Depot and they laughed me out of there because I bought it 16 months ago…. I know I have extension cords old enough to vote and I can assure you they weren’t $89.99

WeberWho

fishlessman said:

WeberWho said:

The outlets on my retractable extension cord have become worn over time and everything that I plug into it wants to slip out. I found a like new retractable extension cord on Marketplace that I picked up a few days ago for a price I couldn't pass up. 

I went to remove my old retractable extension cord hanging up on my roof rafters of my garage and I felt this guilt come over me that I was going to toss it in the garbage. They want something $180 for the exact same model today. So I took a few minutes to see if I could find a multi plug adapter online that I could wire together. No such luck. My next thought was that I could buy a whole new 12/3 multi plug extension cord and rewind it but I was too cheap to spend $75+ for a replacement extension cord. Plus I'd still have to go through the hassle and rewind it. So that was out. 

Then it all clicked. All I had to do is cut the cord and run a single female plug since I can't buy a multi outlet plug and attach a triple tap adapter. Not sure what I didn't think of that right from the start. I just needed to play that reverse UNO card! 



You can see the old plug I cut has seen its better days. 



All it took was a trip to Home Depot and 5 minutes of time to save it from the trash. 



Yellow would have been ideal for the adapter but you only get one option and that's Home Depot orange! 



I think I'll keep the extra retractable extension cord and have two of them out in the garage. One closer to the front of the garage. So not a total waste of a purchase. 

if you like the old 3 way plug, they make one with a 1 foot extension cord as well.  one of my longest extension chords is a two prong plug, been meaning to glue an adapter to it because the adapter seems to always be missing when i go to use it.

https://www.amazon.com/PlugSaf-Extension-Indicator-Weatherproof-Waterproof/dp/B0CKSFGQ41/ref=asc_df_B0CKSFGQ41?mcid=60663efba731304b9857eb269efab8cd&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693281889309&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1939112336486251746&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001895&hvtargid=pla-2281534925929&hvocijid=1939112336486251746-B0CKSFGQ41-&hvexpln=0&th=1

Thanks Fish. My first thought was to splice a 3 way plug together like you have in the link. My extension cord sees a bunch of abuse so I decided against trying to splice anything together as the constant tugging on the cord from the reel would only be a bandaid fix. I was surprised to see a company doesn't offer a 3 outlet female replacement plug.

I pondered the idea of using the 3 way outlet in you link before buying the orange triple adapter. Since it hangs from the ceiling I wasn't sure if the weight of it would want to pull out from the plug when grabbing it to lower it down from the ceiling. The other thought was that it's going to hang down a foot plus from the garage ceiling. This way I can still grab and pull down on the cord.

WeberWho

alaskanassasin said:

WeberWho said:

The outlets on my retractable extension cord have become worn over time and everything that I plug into it wants to slip out. I found a like new retractable extension cord on Marketplace that I picked up a few days ago for a price I couldn't pass up. 

I went to remove my old retractable extension cord hanging up on my roof rafters of my garage and I felt this guilt come over me that I was going to toss it in the garbage. They want something $180 for the exact same model today. So I took a few minutes to see if I could find a multi plug adapter online that I could wire together. No such luck. My next thought was that I could buy a whole new 12/3 multi plug extension cord and rewind it but I was too cheap to spend $75+ for a replacement extension cord. Plus I'd still have to go through the hassle and rewind it. So that was out. 

Then it all clicked. All I had to do is cut the cord and run a single female plug since I can't buy a multi outlet plug and attach a triple tap adapter. Not sure what I didn't think of that right from the start. I just needed to play that reverse UNO card! 



You can see the old plug I cut has seen its better days. 



All it took was a trip to Home Depot and 5 minutes of time to save it from the trash. 



Yellow would have been ideal for the adapter but you only get one option and that's Home Depot orange! 



I think I'll keep the extra retractable extension cord and have two of them out in the garage. One closer to the front of the garage. So not a total waste of a purchase. 

I need to do that with a 3 plug extension cord that fried. I tried to exchange it at Home Depot and they laughed me out of there because I bought it 16 months ago…. I know I have extension cords old enough to vote and I can assure you they weren’t $89.99

I couldn't justify a halfway decent 50' extension cord for around $100. Five minutes of time and $6 later I had a working plug.  

alaskanassasin

WeberWho

I don't know if I helped or screwed myself but I saved another Kitchenaid mixer...

I have a Kitchenaid mixer for sale on Marketplace and I had a buyer. Through some small talk between messages the buyer mentions that his parents have an old Hobart Kitchenaid mixer but doesn't work anymore. I told him to hold off purchasing the one I have for sale and let me take a look at the one his parents have in storage. 

So he tells me that he's going to ship it to me as he's from Wisconsin but moving to Minnesota. A week or so goes by and the buyer text me asking if I've received the mixer. I let him know nothing had been delivered. The buyer said he tracked the package and it said it was delivered. Which was odd. Knock on wood but I've never had anything go missing from my doorstep. The buyer starts a claim with the shipping company and double checks with me on my address. He soon realizes that he sent the mixer to the wrong address. He wrote down the address from someone else who had a mixer for sale that he was going to purchase at one point. Oops. He said the person who received the package at the wrong address was less than thrilled being bothered. The buyer ended up picking up the mixer from the wrong house and dropped it off at my doorstep. 

I had some good news and not so good news. The good news is that it at least turns on but makes a terrible noise. The bad news is that it's not a Hobart version of the Kitchenaid. He was still happy to see if I could get it going as it was the mixer his family used growing up!

I pulled the mixer out of the box and I'm not sure when it was last cleaned. It was pretty nasty coming out of the box. I plugged it in and it sounded awful. Something was really messed up. I could tell someone had been in the back of the mixer and didn't exactly know what they were doing. It also must have been dropped or something dropped on it at some point as I had to do some reshaping on the upper portion of the mixer with a plastic hammer. 

I main culprit was a loose nut on one side of the motor mount. Once I tightened those back down I had a starting point. I hate messing around with the speed control screws and nuts but someone had messed around with them and I had to readjust those. I eventually was able to get those set right but not one of my favorite things to do as it's super touchy. I regreased everything and put it back together. 




After a deep cleaning and some reshaping it cleaned up pretty nice. 



I'm still out some cash if I had just sold my other mixer to the buyer but he gets his old family mixer back for his new place. So that's pretty cool.