Good morning!!!!

[txdon]

This rest stop on the neighborhood trail system was almost bypassed but after seeing the large oak tree last year when we were first cutting I had to make the trail detour to include this spot. It was so overgrown and full of briars but I started cutting on it and others followed and now this month benches and a table have been added to this popular place on the creek. The pond behind the oak is spring fed and is always at that level.

Now you have to hike a mile to get to it but after the new connecting trail is complete the hike from the other direction will only be 1/4 mile.

 

[PJSprog]

46°F and clear skies this morning, got up to 71° today.

It was calm this morning, so I had hopes of getting in some burning today. Mother Nature had other plans, and started whipping the wind in from several different directions throughout the day.

Found one of my round tuits, and finally cut the parts for the speaker cabinet. Got aggravated at the ridiculous amount of stuff piled on the workbench, and gave up on the notion of assembling it today. So, it remains a stack of plywood, albeit cut to size now. Still need to cut the speaker holes in the baffle, and the jackplate hole on the back board.

Wife decided earlier last week to just order a new lamp to hang over the piano, rather than trying to fix the existing track lighting. Uh, OK. I really liked that light, but ... you know. The new light arrived yesterday, and she decided we should remove the old light and install the new one this afternoon. So, we did. The new light is a Tiffany-style hanging lamp. Lots of little challenges getting that thing installed. The Chinese manufacturer didn't plan very well for the size of the hole through the mounting cap that the wiring goes through to the electrical box. After removing the two rubber-ish grommets, I was able to force it through enough to grab the other end with pliers and pull it the rest of the way through. Mounting it was the next trick. The supplied bracket didn't have any holes that lined up with the existing box holes. It was too small to drill new holes anywhere, so I decided to just use the old one from the track mount. Nope. The screws to mount the cover are metric, and slightly too large for the slots in the old bracket. A little Dremel time fixed that by opening up the slots a bit. The old one had 90° wings to mount the cover, which were now in the way, so those had to be cut off, courtesy of a little more Dremel time. It wasn't a perfect fit, but close enough to get the screws through the cover holes and the acorn nuts on. I still like the old one better, but The Wife likes it, and that's what counts.

Katniss just laid there and supervised the whole affair. Not really much help at all.

 

[rswyan]

The last few times that I have had a brake pedal shudder their have been two causes and neither were the rotors being "warped".
One was new pads on a used rotor, the rotors had a ridge on the outer edge, turned that ridge off and everything was fine,
true shade tree rotor turning, I used my 4 1/2" grinder and just ground of the ridge not touching the main part of the rotor.
edited to add; the ridge was from rusting

Lou,

Have seen that a couple of times myself.

In one instance (at least), I handled it by using a needle scaler to knock off the rust around the edges ... both on the inner and outer edges beyond where the pad normally rides.

Don't recall whether I got the rotors turned after that but I suspect not.

Handled the problem.

The rest have required new rotors but they were not warped, the surface of the rotors had developed almost a fish scale appearance on a couple of spots were the pads had stuck to the rotors. They even felt similar to fish scales run your fingers one way and smooth, run your fingers the other way and and lose some skin and get metal slivers.
The pads had rusted or seized lightly to the rotors and actually pulled slivers loose.

Good reason to go with ceramic pads wherever possible.

 

[Buppies]

Some foreign car manufacturers require rotors to be replaced when pads are required

 

[rswyan]

45F and clear @ 21:30, heading down to low of 37F overnight. Calling for a high of 67F tomorrow.

More daffodils and tulips continuing to come up.

Hopper feeder and two sunflower tube feeders refilled.

Will likely fire up the Cub tomorrow and grind/blow off the few remaining leaves that have blown back onto the lawn. Also use the Stihl hand-held blower around the bird feeders to scatter all the sunflower seed hulls.

May plant more bulbs as well.

 

[rswyan]

Sounds like you dodged a bullet, RS.

Seems that way.

Are you going to weld the plugs back into the holes you cut?

Haven't really decided yet.

Inside the "tunnel" (which has the hole the plug came from) there is a lot of oil-soaked debris - grass, leaves, sticks and the like - so there is a potential fire hazard.

Beyond that, not entirely clear what all else is in there ... I know for sure there is some linkage, possibly some wiring as well.

An alternative would be to drill and tap some holes in the tunnel and use a small piece of plate/sheet bolted in place as a cover to allow future access if necessary.

There would be no real clearance issues with that as the only thing that goes over it is a rubber mat for the operator's platform.

Sorry you didn't get any rain but glad clearing project is working out.

Nice view ...

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Pulse felt in pedal usually equals warped rotors. Used to be that many vehicles were ready for a full brake job at 50K, now they can reach 100K if not used heavily. Usually you will feel them at a certain speed while you slow down, like from 50-40mph or whatever. Drew, you have to ask yourself, "Is it really pulsing that bad, or can I live with it until time to do a full brake job?" Only you can answer.

With antilock braking, I wonder if it creates pulsing that could lead to warping? They used to age the cast iron rotors by leaving them outdoors for a year. Now with JIT killing that, not so much anymore....but technology has seemed to overcome the problem. Nissan has been famous for quality brakes for decades. Not sure about them anymore since the French guy almost took them down.

I intended to re-assemble the hydraulic lift cylinder that I have apart, but when I pulled out the dust seal, just like the bucket cylinder, the seal's groove is quite rusty. Not deep pitted, but more than light surface rust. I will skim them with an internal grooving bar on the lathe.

So I made me a blueprint of the broken rod from the bucket cylinder. Then I sawed the yoke end off on my saw. I cranked up my 7 x 14 saw and it was groaning. Took the cover off the gear box and almost totally out of oil. (saw was a backup at work, and they gave it too me. It was there long before I was, so I don't know it's total history) Put some gear oil in it and carried on. The brass worm drive gear got chewed up a little bit. I'll take the 4140 shaft I purchased to work and try to get 'er done this week. Depends on my workload, and how late I want to stay.

BEF, any changes on the job front? I was offered a job last week, but told them how much I would need to consider it, and haven't heard back. I love the job I have, just wish it wasn't so durn far away. I have a good boss, am well respected, and the science keeps it interesting. Just not enough workload right now, which makes me have that worrying thought in my head about getting laid off. It wouldn't be the first time, in this mfg career. Having a complete machine shop at my beck and call is a considerable benefit....considering I try to fix most all my stuff myself.

Kohler sitrep: not much going on, other than I tested the ignition coil and it seems good. I couldn't get a spark when the motor was together. Maybe a bad condenser or something else.

Prayers for our team, our country, and Ukraine.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Oh, I got the old Deere 624 (harbor freight 212cc Predator retrofitted) tiller out of storage and it wouldn't start. Even tried some starting fluid. The cheap starter rope broke, and I had some fresh starter rope. It was pretty easy. But it still wouldn't start so I took off the carb and cleaned it a bit. Put it back together and it started, BUT, it was leaking out gas from the overflow so the needle and seat aren't working properly. Looked online for a needle and seat, and found I could get a whole new carb delivered for about $14. So I did that. Expect it by Tuesday.

We have supposedly bad storms with tornado potential coming tomorrow.

 

[txdon]

We have supposedly bad storms with tornado potential coming tomorrow.

Same here, "Thunderstorms likely a few in the afternoon could become serious with damaging winds, large hail and possibility a tornado. High 77˚F winds SSE 20-30mph, chance of rain 90%."

 

[Buppies]

Your storms and rains will effect us Tuesday night thru mid day Thursday