What did you DIY today?

[Selador]

iboats has weather proof cord ends, but the one I need, a 20A 125V straight blade male connector has been out of stock. Where exactly are you getting good heavy duty cord ends?

You when you need one, you generally need it now. I dislike having to drop what I am doing and head for the big city to buy parts, so I keep various bins of oft-needed things, and good cord ends are one of those.
So this is where I shop when I need one :

Spoiler: show

When I am in a hardware store or electrical supplies warehouse I'll throw 3-10 DW cord ends, a case of 3m 33 or Super 88, maybe a pair of Klein's diagonal cutters in the basket to replace things that I have used since the last time I was in.
Another item that comes to mind that I replace in a set of 10- blue painter's tape rolls.

Yup. Especially when you see a special price!

Got 200 blades for utility knifes last night for ten bucks! (Double pack. Got the last package on the shelf.)

Package was in the shelf right next to the same exact package, with only 50 blades in it. The 50 blade package was 14.95.

That 200 blades at normal cost would have been 60 dollars!

That 200 blades will last my friend who is a contractor, maybe 6 months. For me, it would have lasted the rest of my life.

I couldn't resist buying them, and giving them to him. Didn't need them myself, because I haven't even made a dent in my package of 100 that I bought on clearance a couple years ago...

[PMB]

1. I took the lighting head off of a portable still working metal halide work light... Going to replace it with either a 120VAC LED head, or a 12VDC LED head, battery and charger. Partial project.

2. Took the back off of a Lincoln Idealarc R3S-325 with LN-7 squirt on top to figure out why I have no power... It was kind of weird. Plugged it in, turned it on, the red light came on for half a second then nothing. Fuse probably, right? Pulled the fuse in the front panel of the welder, it was good. Checked my power supply, it was good. Popped the back of the welder off and checked at the terminals, good power there. Peeked back behind the terminal board... WTH is that? A Pack rat's nest! MFer.
So I dug all that nasty crap out of there. Nasty gag-worthy animals. I did a pretty careful look around that machine, and I can't see how even a normal sized mouse would have gotten in, let alone a big pack rat.
Well, the rodent rodented through several wires from the control transformer to the front panel, and they are not routed easily so it's going to be a pretty good teardown to fix it. Partial project.

3. Replaced the two batteries in an electric pallet jack and wired in the permanent charger. It's charging now. Woo hoo. 1st completed project.

4. Temporarily wired a 3 phase dual stage air compressor to check for rotation and press up... Ran like a champ and screamed the pressure up quick. Now to decide where to install it. I call that a completed project, because it met all my initial goals for today.

A certain kind fellow from here on WaGuns brought a liquid gift a few weeks back... I have avoided opening it because for me to drink a Johnnie Walker Double Black whisky is like feeding caviar to a pig. I don't know enough about whiskies to appreciate it.
But he busted me today and got the truth that I hadn't even opened it yet, so tonight I kill the pain of being alive with not just diclofenac, tylenol and ibuprofen, but a bit of JW Double Black.

[cmica]

well I'm no story teller like PMB, got to change out an exhaust fan in bathroom.


here's the old loud crappy thing.




Instruction come with the box well like most naw just go do it. well labled the wall switch which was fan light and light. go switch the power off, head on up to the attic. well shit i've got a dead fellow who beat me there




got the screw driver and started taking the housing out for the wires. well shoot, easier to just get the hammer and remove nails holding the cross member in studs. down the chute. pop it out of the joint uncapped one set of wires. down the chute again, into the bathroom and see fan or light. ok it the fan. back up.
label the wire uncap the other's. old fan housing came out. install new fan housing. well my damn drill pooped out. back down and get a philip screw driver, install new cross members, hook up wires( don't yet put it away) head back down flip on power head to bathroom and check if its done right. whoo hoo. back upstairs put all the wire back into housing. Go to install the vent, well shit new on is 4" old is 3" gonna head to the store and get a reducer.

went to go install the vent light how the hell do you get these springs on???? well ok go read instruction. worthless crap. looking at, looking some more well I was stumped.


5 min later light bulb went off





forgot to mention..use a headlamp...frees up your hands

[Selador]

5 min later light bulb went off

So you had to replace the light bulb too?

[PMB]

2. Took the back off of a Lincoln Idealarc R3S-325 with LN-7 squirt on top to figure out why I have no power... It was kind of weird. Plugged it in, turned it on, the red light came on for half a second then nothing. Fuse probably, right? Pulled the fuse in the front panel of the welder, it was good. Checked my power supply, it was good. Popped the back of the welder off and checked at the terminals, good power there. Peeked back behind the terminal board... WTH is that? A Pack rat's nest! MFer.
So I dug all that nasty crap out of there. Nasty gag-worthy animals. I did a pretty careful look around that machine, and I can't see how even a normal sized mouse would have gotten in, let alone a big pack rat.
Well, the rodent rodented through several wires from the control transformer to the front panel, and they are not routed easily so it's going to be a pretty good teardown to fix it. Partial project.

No heat where the welder project is, so my fingers are sure enjoying that full fat feeling they get after getting back in a warm home. Mm.

I started this post after I got in, but was interrupted with a plate of hot food brought by the Balrog.

It was going to be a pain in the hiney to reach my hands far enough inside the machine to clean it decently, so I removed the top, both sides and back.
Good thing, too. This little gift was way up top.


This is after pulling out the bulk of the nesting material.

Spoiler: show

After a gentle scraping, wiping and blowing out with compressed air can finally get to the root of the problem.

Spoiler: show

All of the wires from the control transformer to the control panel were chewed up but only one of them was all the way through.
I did a quick temp insulating with tape and plugged it in to test. Worked great, so removed all the tape, ran new wires where needed, quick patch on a few that were still ok, and buttoned the case back up.

Everything worked, so I was done, right? Should have stopped there but the control wire from the welder to the LN-7 had been squished at some point when it rubbed up against a wall or something, so I nipped that 6 conductor wire and got it ready for new terminals but will finish that tomorrow.
I think that this counts as a completed project, but then I started a new project with the LN-7. Can that count as 1 completed project?

[jukk0u]

Hope you were wearing a respirator when blowing that shit out. HANTA VIRUS can be spread by stirring up dust like that.

[Traut]

Hey Mr. PMB,

If you can easily unbutton a panel on the welder and drop about a half dozen old fashioned moth balls inside, it might prevent future tenants from considering occupancy. Needs to be done a couple times a year as they dissolve over time. Rodents hate 'em. Same with peppermint. Has to be real peppermint, not artifcial flavor. Oh, make sure the mothballs stay clear of the fan blades, if your unit has a fan.

Happy Holidays!

[survivor]

1918 Mark I Au Lion. As found last year.
.
Making a stacked lexan grip.
.how do i get to vault 22
.
.
.
Now should I put on this fake knuckle duster or leave on my DIY lexan grip until I find a real grip?
.

[RocketScott]

Getting ready for the NYS I needed to swap mounts on my 9mm suppressor

One thing that’s bugged me since getting it is the need to line up the baffle stack with the mount and no easy way to do it

So I made a tool:





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Arisaka]

Nice piece of work, Scott!!

[PMB]

Hope you were wearing a respirator when blowing that shit out. HANTA VIRUS can be spread by stirring up dust like that.

I'm trying to build up my immune system.

[The509busman]

I started a 20x20deck project now I need to dig 25 post holes tomorrow. M.y forearms heart already lol

[cmica]

I started a 20x20deck project now I need to dig 25 post holes tomorrow. M.y forearms heart already lol

what are you using for your deck??

Im looking at doing mine in spring... ive looked at trek deck but my parents part of it is warped. not sure I want just wood with Thompson seal and redo every couple of yrs


choices.....arghhh

[danoh]

Installed another "Clover Leaf" LED light in my garage. Each leaf is on a hinge, and thus can be aimed.

I'm really liking the additional lighting/brightness.

[mmalleck]

Finally finished a sofa table for my daughter. Top is bead board, with a piece of plexiglass found in the moving van we rented for her move to her first place. I set the trim to match the top of the height of the plexiglass. There is a place for pictures between the plexiglass and the bead board. Finished in the same distressed blue that I used for her $25 coffee table. The tile fills the void where the plexiglass wasn't long enough to fill the entire top. I figured it would be good for a flower vase or something.