tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16365592112553550462024-03-06T14:57:12.715-06:00Adventures of a Curious FellowTomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.comBlogger161125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-20331640799031048322022-10-12T12:38:00.000-05:002022-10-12T12:38:21.534-05:00Hard To Find Refrigerant Leak<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">In a move that leaves most people scratching their heads, I enjoy keeping my 1967 Airstream Overlander’s original air conditioner running. Usually, the problem is somewhat obvious and with occasional help from a professional is quickly resolved. However finding a refrigerant leak that popped up after returning home from our last outing proved to be quite the challenge.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjW1rzLjGtqpwAwXYcUSDeBtRVjbKoOCvfalUrRjglICyS3z7pcIUyh8EOo7dH4QkhlhGQY7SNXN_3VgwLsK8Zm-DsGms1Mr-aE6PRLwK3DzZ8pGCqmVYc-v_Y5OiM7sTQNokw_otbT2mBvVCAAdo3NkoAZLXR3dIL0lbcPyZ0FLYGcSAgVUR-AN47/s2040/0.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2040" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjW1rzLjGtqpwAwXYcUSDeBtRVjbKoOCvfalUrRjglICyS3z7pcIUyh8EOo7dH4QkhlhGQY7SNXN_3VgwLsK8Zm-DsGms1Mr-aE6PRLwK3DzZ8pGCqmVYc-v_Y5OiM7sTQNokw_otbT2mBvVCAAdo3NkoAZLXR3dIL0lbcPyZ0FLYGcSAgVUR-AN47/s320/0.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The outing itself was, in itself, a bit challenging – we had to pack a dorm room’s worth of clothing & furniture into the Airstream & truck to return number 2 son to the University of Alabama and a hide-a-bed sofa plus incidentals into the truck to leave at the condo in Tuscaloosa where number 1 son had been living. We stayed at a new-to-us campground near UA.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdEhnt5u5fnLW0pLpZjJSGQh8kECdcXa3hh0WWUeg1qW_ysK5XZbrQ6fGHOf3Cn1eEDOBB5igvLF0uekzlwiNRk-HzXwuFKpYlAgdlaaV1yz6_MAwtiU9T9n1g_DCsKLVvX-iLbGr97LOO63OEQbZZRcOBgmSlqPjRlAKuWTqxzla1iAL_v7QBvolJ/s1189/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="914" data-original-width="1189" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdEhnt5u5fnLW0pLpZjJSGQh8kECdcXa3hh0WWUeg1qW_ysK5XZbrQ6fGHOf3Cn1eEDOBB5igvLF0uekzlwiNRk-HzXwuFKpYlAgdlaaV1yz6_MAwtiU9T9n1g_DCsKLVvX-iLbGr97LOO63OEQbZZRcOBgmSlqPjRlAKuWTqxzla1iAL_v7QBvolJ/s320/1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>After getting number 2 son situated, we then proceeded to the condo to pack number 1 son’s clothes & incidentals for a move to a fully furnished apartment near the University of Florida. Once in Gainesville we stayed at a new, very nice campground. There was even another Airstream dad there doing a similar drill for his daughter.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSdV8sGHaHz7NgMHnOVUxxpwqXF5lAOeup0jaklwTsvm4SPwJGdM5PL9-Dj4mNj5_aqV2wLvZOZQDr_pG0Vm0ITVSK4thDEm_RuSmPgPJ0YRgYDNK5YlFPWSadAX6ghwegQ15PJA0TuPnGhbWsSp0VgxHzki7CEuxwezUtKjxcXDJmhTY8_u2XFnOd/s1135/2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="869" data-original-width="1135" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSdV8sGHaHz7NgMHnOVUxxpwqXF5lAOeup0jaklwTsvm4SPwJGdM5PL9-Dj4mNj5_aqV2wLvZOZQDr_pG0Vm0ITVSK4thDEm_RuSmPgPJ0YRgYDNK5YlFPWSadAX6ghwegQ15PJA0TuPnGhbWsSp0VgxHzki7CEuxwezUtKjxcXDJmhTY8_u2XFnOd/s320/2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>After getting number 1 son situated at UF Kim & I drove further south to Fort Wilderness to enjoy a week at Disneyworld. We always enjoy our visits there and this time was no exception.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsBp_bEjTDB7B5Ttthvzjy1mF93LE4rDHk9TnFZoo2ZQPIWRks65jWbCv7aq0wwgugqreT-pRsrdzQs2X5c0sV5DT7oV39sfKoJx4e2iKK3qz9knDIvTv9Tj9oHov9kmjX5dqQmUEIGkLSjuN_HVi4VHHB92QJIX3awmieSxC5SQWuK0L9nWy1ZXvd/s1238/3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1070" data-original-width="1238" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsBp_bEjTDB7B5Ttthvzjy1mF93LE4rDHk9TnFZoo2ZQPIWRks65jWbCv7aq0wwgugqreT-pRsrdzQs2X5c0sV5DT7oV39sfKoJx4e2iKK3qz9knDIvTv9Tj9oHov9kmjX5dqQmUEIGkLSjuN_HVi4VHHB92QJIX3awmieSxC5SQWuK0L9nWy1ZXvd/s320/3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>We used the Airstream’s air conditioner every day at each campground, and it performed flawlessly. Sadly, while cleaning the interior after returning home the next day I noticed the temperature had not dropped much while the AC was on. Only one of two banks of evaporator coils was cold, and it had frost forming on part of it – a sign of low refrigerant.</div><div><br /></div><div>Several years ago, the Overlander got an Airstreamport to cover its parking pad. To facilitate the use of the various air conditioning tools required, 2X4 “joists” were strung between two of the metal studs. Sized 2X12s were then laid across the 2X4s on either side of the AC as decking.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSAoilDX7sLLEolBBireG3F_4e85GIpjbz_V3ISl0WdaHG7T2AT6ncPKlqxyZ6Gcb2Cmx7axPAQdYXarBza2o0No48zhg6VzrfvZ2AIxa5CsnI3jG5YpzqPn_SgLQCaP4k1CidQ5kwNZ8fEczjTUvkrjRXAEkk0zEt0z8U5X_2X3qwHARwYtXh5Gsv/s1682/4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1121" data-original-width="1682" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSAoilDX7sLLEolBBireG3F_4e85GIpjbz_V3ISl0WdaHG7T2AT6ncPKlqxyZ6Gcb2Cmx7axPAQdYXarBza2o0No48zhg6VzrfvZ2AIxa5CsnI3jG5YpzqPn_SgLQCaP4k1CidQ5kwNZ8fEczjTUvkrjRXAEkk0zEt0z8U5X_2X3qwHARwYtXh5Gsv/s320/4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>After removing the shroud and case cover, one of the two condenser coil assemblies was found to have an oily residue. This is usually indicative of a leak path. But since this is in the location of a refrigerant leak repair done five or so years ago by someone else there was the possibility that it was old, uncleaned-off oil. It seemed prudent to continue looking for another leak path. Since the AC had gone from cooling just fine one day to barely cooling at all the next day, I figured the leak should be big enough to find in a reasonable amount of time.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8qoHkpXlpz7XqfOICZVxklHxzBQG2e-WrpfeLi1xyAroilPJisQyBuqySvTmXCPBxtfS5aPThACUHmxFsrYBZ-eoXGwHipClW8EUIQpbVwTbBWQMYAwuWXlfdvW_4JY2igIlWnM6jXUXRHfKhtCm3bv3inhGhrauDHumpqnm83z-56p7Zr91iXW6v/s844/5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="844" data-original-width="719" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8qoHkpXlpz7XqfOICZVxklHxzBQG2e-WrpfeLi1xyAroilPJisQyBuqySvTmXCPBxtfS5aPThACUHmxFsrYBZ-eoXGwHipClW8EUIQpbVwTbBWQMYAwuWXlfdvW_4JY2igIlWnM6jXUXRHfKhtCm3bv3inhGhrauDHumpqnm83z-56p7Zr91iXW6v/s320/5.jpg" width="273" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Normally I get my friend Kenny to help me with his specialized HVAC tools. But since he was up to his armpits in other projects in his free time, he was happy to loan me his refrigerant leak detector.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifu-sk352sLl07Gw1zeeFZI4qDrPfa9BJvaqxMpyr6TDZoYBeCKWsoLsM3fgW6jxbQpgwC1JE5HzPm4n0mT1IDvTloCWkzTsOEYYtQz8Ht4pvn6c-pG_57PV2xpOnT-EIqvqfX3y9FNlg5X8QBr1bQCtIODvtOqY4v4Q7DNreisuiYbhHKI1G6NqtJ/s2040/6.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2040" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifu-sk352sLl07Gw1zeeFZI4qDrPfa9BJvaqxMpyr6TDZoYBeCKWsoLsM3fgW6jxbQpgwC1JE5HzPm4n0mT1IDvTloCWkzTsOEYYtQz8Ht4pvn6c-pG_57PV2xpOnT-EIqvqfX3y9FNlg5X8QBr1bQCtIODvtOqY4v4Q7DNreisuiYbhHKI1G6NqtJ/s320/6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>After adding a little refrigerant to the system, sure enough the leak detector went wild every time its wand probed the oily area. To isolate the exact leak location the area was cleaned with coil cleaner in hopes the leak would bubble through the soapy solution. When that did not work Formula 409, my usual go-to leak detector was used. Realizing no joy again, a bottle of official leak detector was purchased & daubed everywhere.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS8lyXRBcBBMr1ZXcgk4d9m1aBc2yxrM-ye5VLAccaz8R5WOUWkINbhKGDrGwMHhwJFShtNFerIaIr1xyMQQlPNmlgywbRCfBypoDo7aoK4x7M7g01tACwRiVB5gQKPB9lw5z-s96MnA2Z2d9WrgOfB_VNVkKgBu0NuaG4OrLbtqiLB8gbXqj3pYmy/s2040/7.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2040" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS8lyXRBcBBMr1ZXcgk4d9m1aBc2yxrM-ye5VLAccaz8R5WOUWkINbhKGDrGwMHhwJFShtNFerIaIr1xyMQQlPNmlgywbRCfBypoDo7aoK4x7M7g01tACwRiVB5gQKPB9lw5z-s96MnA2Z2d9WrgOfB_VNVkKgBu0NuaG4OrLbtqiLB8gbXqj3pYmy/s320/7.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>It too, oddly enough, failed to bubble anywhere I could find. The condenser coil assembly was then removed from the air conditioner & thoroughly cleaned, inspected and leak-checked again with shop air with no new result. So, it was then pressurized to 120 psi in a bathtub full of water. To my phenomenal surprise there were no detectable bubbles.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4cZmjtR1pcZJG4bXujA0QJOazTpN9dL2JBzWTUvPwp3MiR7KOzDQhcSxZVvAs-6kdvKVjUGhLcFP2VfL1RM9IwuYcynamy5200vgZEtZxOPgi4h0C6_JyGk0QkONno3JF-sVnBIiRM28hEJhhRW7p0k4PLLPj-d-pU-PIciaNBwGvKASuUiJPmYq5/s1603/8.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1029" data-original-width="1603" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4cZmjtR1pcZJG4bXujA0QJOazTpN9dL2JBzWTUvPwp3MiR7KOzDQhcSxZVvAs-6kdvKVjUGhLcFP2VfL1RM9IwuYcynamy5200vgZEtZxOPgi4h0C6_JyGk0QkONno3JF-sVnBIiRM28hEJhhRW7p0k4PLLPj-d-pU-PIciaNBwGvKASuUiJPmYq5/s320/8.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Since there was no heated rush to get the unit repaired, I took a step back and started texting with three buddies who have more experience than me in these types of repairs. Although everyone was comfortable with my reasoning and sequence of steps, we all agreed the major leak path had not been located yet. We also agreed that my technique using the leak detector might need improvement. The Internet was here to help & had a plethora of proper leak detector usage suggestions which I took to heart. Feeling newly empowered with better technique it was now time for round two in the leak detection ring.</div><div><br /></div><div>As Kenny was still busy with his projects, he loaned me his oxyacetylene rig so the condenser coil assembly could be silver-soldered the back in. Of note, SIL-FOS is both the current Industry Standard in brazing filler and Kenny’s preference.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0oQV0oztJRtOzq32fWYX-ldXLQmfo3Q8FTZJl2Uh6RVe5rqdzKFoiuAaKIZU6HGBiwTm2QDzCujN056vwr9hYxhk4mb0gPGeu1HkqZkic8o5Se_7xbpm0C-D19X6GgIB9a3KyPZJXLEyvhEvJ1zPka95bLiDQ3EjOIKwYFER-TE8nAmi9sfZuitjI/s2040/9.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2040" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0oQV0oztJRtOzq32fWYX-ldXLQmfo3Q8FTZJl2Uh6RVe5rqdzKFoiuAaKIZU6HGBiwTm2QDzCujN056vwr9hYxhk4mb0gPGeu1HkqZkic8o5Se_7xbpm0C-D19X6GgIB9a3KyPZJXLEyvhEvJ1zPka95bLiDQ3EjOIKwYFER-TE8nAmi9sfZuitjI/s320/9.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Although the acetylene bottle was empty, the local welding gas supplier had no problem with me swapping it and a few bucks for a refilled one. </div><div><br /></div><div>Since it has been quite a while since I have used an oxyacetylene rig, Mr. Google provided me with a picture of a proper flame’s appearance to refresh my memory.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZgC676RS1SBSdSUL0vrI1_oW7TfwXcN8wJB_y7vGCgS6eiVuQJPEsv4CRHFNP7kvA90Epn2eBo7C_vsvzQf62P5Xey6OrjTKWJP__lcosDKC7QiYgwkpqRyVnwD0UpraoLUrF5EJqZJhrXDwjqFP1FM0-hWE-_Zj50Iq69WS_uSMvkeNWDBpAgZoO/s1774/10.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1327" data-original-width="1774" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZgC676RS1SBSdSUL0vrI1_oW7TfwXcN8wJB_y7vGCgS6eiVuQJPEsv4CRHFNP7kvA90Epn2eBo7C_vsvzQf62P5Xey6OrjTKWJP__lcosDKC7QiYgwkpqRyVnwD0UpraoLUrF5EJqZJhrXDwjqFP1FM0-hWE-_Zj50Iq69WS_uSMvkeNWDBpAgZoO/s320/10.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Between my long-time experience soldering copper water supply lines and practicing with Kenny’s rig on copper fittings out of my spare parts box I felt up to the challenge of attempting the re-installation of the condenser coil assembly. To my relief the operation appeared to go well.</div><div><br /></div><div>Although there did not appear to be any leakage at the Shrader valves, both inserts were replaced with new ones for good measure before continuing.</div><div><br /></div><div>The unit was then pressurized with refrigerant in the calm of an early Saturday morning and allowed to stabilize while I climbed down for another cup of coffee. The leak detector was then trotted up the ladder to continue the quest. This time it never lifted an eyebrow at either condenser coil. But it repeatedly sounded off at the TEE from the compressor that feeds both coils. After slathering the TEE with leak detector and patiently waiting, a small, genuine leak was found on the bottom of the left side of the TEE with an inspection mirror.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkvDRZraXYePmF3PccHPR63TqnR1IyQJcIiYTSUPpMWA0MHItyeYBAAOAAx0a7uMFIAhcxEgaUMIjsbWoIRuG6i1Ig3OdkZWqPVACYO7XZvrFwTFMsCrMSbYx7agMXOzR5_WnWweWr_hzWjXvGqPQ6rYzl2gJb0yU_Er3DQKQdmbvOLgGUD3TJ6qqu/s958/11.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="718" data-original-width="958" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkvDRZraXYePmF3PccHPR63TqnR1IyQJcIiYTSUPpMWA0MHItyeYBAAOAAx0a7uMFIAhcxEgaUMIjsbWoIRuG6i1Ig3OdkZWqPVACYO7XZvrFwTFMsCrMSbYx7agMXOzR5_WnWweWr_hzWjXvGqPQ6rYzl2gJb0yU_Er3DQKQdmbvOLgGUD3TJ6qqu/s320/11.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>For complete disclosure, in the picture above the copper line to the left of the TEE was replaced in a repair about five years ago. So, this was technically a cold solder joint that took a while to have a problem. Notice the pulled-back metal panel on the right side of the image - the technician who did the original repair did not have that luxury and could only work from above. Honestly, I am surprised there ended up being a problem.</div><div><br /></div><div>After thoroughly Scotch-Briting the TEE and then getting Kenny’s rig involved again I swelled with pride over finding the exact problem and doing a good aesthetic job of repairing it. So, the unit was then pressurized, and I will be dog-gonned if it did not leak faster! After calming down I decided something else simple had gone wrong. Backtracking, the gauges were pulled off and the low-side Shrader valve was found to be leaking. Although we do not want that, it should not have been a problem with the gauges connected. Regardless, both inserts were tightened before re-connecting the gauges.</div><div><br /></div><div>Success! This time there appeared to be no leak and the pressure appeared to go up as the morning warmed up as would be expected. My buddies all agreed that I must have not had the gauges screwed on well as the Shrader valves would not have figured into that scenario.</div><div><br /></div><div>The vacuum pump then pulled the system down to 24 inches in short order and held it while I ran an errand. After purging once, the system pulled down to 26 inches and held that while the yard was cut. My trio of experienced friends confirmed my thought of the unit was good to recharge.</div><div><br /></div><div>As I bought my Airstream from the original owner, part of the package involved getting the Factory-included paperwork from 1967. One of the documents was from the Armstrong Air Conditioner company who manufactured my Bay Breeze model unit. It included the weight of the system’s charge of R-22. After hoisting the scale up, the proper charge of liquid refrigerant was weighed in on the HIGH side with the unit off.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwDuGyUZeZl9lCPbBIEZ6xtTXWUlJMHBU0BBnyXW7P6nDKGLh5W8M3GvozQSdIe6YUdpB6lBq9SWyJH8DbmHWK4SGZTmvMWdOZH0xMbTmjyFQO-OnqnJ8Ndn7tTmBJaFrGSzIPOiB83B8C2I7gdnz5WlrQocFsEsGz9Hjw13gs1eKWPh2xIs6YfewJ/s2040/12.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2040" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwDuGyUZeZl9lCPbBIEZ6xtTXWUlJMHBU0BBnyXW7P6nDKGLh5W8M3GvozQSdIe6YUdpB6lBq9SWyJH8DbmHWK4SGZTmvMWdOZH0xMbTmjyFQO-OnqnJ8Ndn7tTmBJaFrGSzIPOiB83B8C2I7gdnz5WlrQocFsEsGz9Hjw13gs1eKWPh2xIs6YfewJ/s320/12.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The rubber O-rings inside the 55-year-old AC’s Shrader valve caps had eroded so new caps were purchased after my favorite parts store cackled when asked for just the O-rings.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiczQxT2NpOneXXtmfnMFQ0VqsbCfJnwo9V43RTty3MB2lXvJEK0qrUgPcx2Pn4bPwosUIEhwLIy4hEmUkn79yEn2Cp6qOypNyJerPFPJjb9BEPHaFvs4zVDoXSjEsLaUzes0HkESCxiOkcgFSO3JrWz3Y0TESyYXNf2td65OI243z0GReLYHsM9pm1/s2040/13.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2040" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiczQxT2NpOneXXtmfnMFQ0VqsbCfJnwo9V43RTty3MB2lXvJEK0qrUgPcx2Pn4bPwosUIEhwLIy4hEmUkn79yEn2Cp6qOypNyJerPFPJjb9BEPHaFvs4zVDoXSjEsLaUzes0HkESCxiOkcgFSO3JrWz3Y0TESyYXNf2td65OI243z0GReLYHsM9pm1/s320/13.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The air conditioner fired right up and began dumping out cold air through both sets of evaporator coils. In short order it also began dripping condensate. My trio of experts agreed the repair was a success.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWIuMLVj8Q2YMfshxPLHpLynHd3Q08B6-8IKdlZGEiHtJTv62UUusiK1Kfwu2VHUuHD38w-k-JFq2unMecu5nb2y3SQcILvFBjHC4GSiBK_4p0TCUFpv_lsO_hNnddAVhoclvC13aqD2R84Fiz73OrBLQHRAuNjBTNFlkSjSz8naT9Fy9nxsUZi8vP/s2040/14.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2040" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWIuMLVj8Q2YMfshxPLHpLynHd3Q08B6-8IKdlZGEiHtJTv62UUusiK1Kfwu2VHUuHD38w-k-JFq2unMecu5nb2y3SQcILvFBjHC4GSiBK_4p0TCUFpv_lsO_hNnddAVhoclvC13aqD2R84Fiz73OrBLQHRAuNjBTNFlkSjSz8naT9Fy9nxsUZi8vP/s320/14.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>As this is being written a couple of weeks after the repair, I just now confirmed my Bay Breeze is still dumping cold air out on both sides. My HVAC buddies and I agreed that the leak detector might have “lit” on the condenser coil at the start of this post because the sprayed oil stilled smelled like refrigerant from the original leak. No clue. Fortunately, my bottle of R-22 has enough left for two or three more repairs. If they each happen five years apart, I think I’m good. As an aside, when I was at the HVAC store buying piece-parts for the repair, I noticed 10-lb bottles of R-22 for sale. The fella behind the counter told me those were going for about $1000.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ah! The joys of Vintage Airstream ownership!</div><div> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhIqXIEmPb04DO_B-vlsm4FtJjZD19JPXIB9fYaVidJzLJ01OlAcuVHMlWtewGFIM0rhl_IKB4vO4-FVPWHocaDdT-PlIH3SP1XHwhn0RE5H2ZByXm9eGbu8lWmHSWuvhUieUjZDM_B6WyNmgL87Ee_ybogfUhXPQf1zPo_vMQM4_9YWCa4vdmDorB/s2040/15.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2040" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhIqXIEmPb04DO_B-vlsm4FtJjZD19JPXIB9fYaVidJzLJ01OlAcuVHMlWtewGFIM0rhl_IKB4vO4-FVPWHocaDdT-PlIH3SP1XHwhn0RE5H2ZByXm9eGbu8lWmHSWuvhUieUjZDM_B6WyNmgL87Ee_ybogfUhXPQf1zPo_vMQM4_9YWCa4vdmDorB/s320/15.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p></p>TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-50508587526276525452021-10-30T15:42:00.000-05:002021-10-30T15:42:57.397-05:00Re-discovering Music As I Get Older<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEi6WAWGDBNL_yBAo0URY1_PgV2LtQ21k1R3A2lrceEqLC6OvL6svCNlhoeeklp1jRWrS37POnWPMurvBYEgp0dzjCwxCZEP_kGGPu2ZCNFjTfhE6SQIRZhTR6mkEm5bz2BJYfmsSBCN0/s2738/PXL_20211030_184947552.PANO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1703" data-original-width="2738" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEi6WAWGDBNL_yBAo0URY1_PgV2LtQ21k1R3A2lrceEqLC6OvL6svCNlhoeeklp1jRWrS37POnWPMurvBYEgp0dzjCwxCZEP_kGGPu2ZCNFjTfhE6SQIRZhTR6mkEm5bz2BJYfmsSBCN0/s320/PXL_20211030_184947552.PANO.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Like many people I enjoyed playing in the school band while growing up. Since I had already learned how to read music while studying piano before then, trumpet was easier for me as opposed to others not so fortunate. But I really wanted to play trombone instead of trumpet. Life with parents in the '70s was what it was and I got over it.</p><p>Jump ahead to eight years ago. I decided to teach myself trombone. It went so well that I progressed to euphonium and tuba. Although the trumpet was re-integrated into my world about four years ago it is obvious to me that I should have been a low brass player because I am getting good at it. </p><p>My childhood piano was wheeled into the practice room at one point and it was instrumental in helping me slot notes while learning the tuba.</p><p>All this went really slow because in the last few years because I had a beer or two before starting practice. Week day drinking has now stopped. The fun has begun.</p><p>As i related to my siblings, "I was never big shakes on the piano. But after getting kind of good at my myriad of brass instruments I have returned to practicing the piano. Trying to learn Bach 2-part Inventions today for my own reasons. Practicing longer now on piano than I ever did for Mrs. Wooten and brass than I ever did in high school. I finally want to."</p><p>Here's a shot of "Tom's Room". Have a happy Halloween!</p>TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-44814863526392532402020-12-28T15:50:00.000-06:002020-12-28T15:50:16.823-06:00Transporting 100 Pounds of Propane in PU Truck<p> For lotsa reasons I have always wanted to have a 100 pound bottle of propane around in case of emergency. I finally pulled the trigger the other day after getting 20 lb & 30 lb bottles refilled.</p><p>The biggest challenge from a DIY viewpoint is transporting the charged bottle in a vertical position. The Internet was strangely silent on good ways to do this. So here is what I think is a good way.</p><p>The base needs to be constrained just like the top. After looking at my truck, I decided the tank needed to sit forward of the front of the front of the bed just to get a good angle on the tie-down straps. Don't beat me up on the big whomp on the front of the bed - I had help...</p><p>Tom</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu5LHAast53hS3IjIRsJMwudr5eK5bCKl3IolJa3yOSF0ITZoDlEsBVixO-pPZCzoiEe6kh40b1SgkdQ3AxsUT7e6GrQr94Xk819ERBhyxWKKKnIDnpUeUYGge4LWMgRNcnSXybcQb2UQ/s1178/100.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1174" data-original-width="1178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu5LHAast53hS3IjIRsJMwudr5eK5bCKl3IolJa3yOSF0ITZoDlEsBVixO-pPZCzoiEe6kh40b1SgkdQ3AxsUT7e6GrQr94Xk819ERBhyxWKKKnIDnpUeUYGge4LWMgRNcnSXybcQb2UQ/s320/100.1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOFWP9rfbX3C5FRzUWyhyphenhyphenI3Ht7BvYlDLGdi2kDvx1l2x0KPAC9oGpRAaNXIKVTaQ2M021LQxkM3ZwKwjvF-FJSymcIqJMsNfW8tydEBNA7hjFqGII7Lo-HIRpmabk-JtqRIrehMVR-rBw/s1613/100.0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1613" data-original-width="1210" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOFWP9rfbX3C5FRzUWyhyphenhyphenI3Ht7BvYlDLGdi2kDvx1l2x0KPAC9oGpRAaNXIKVTaQ2M021LQxkM3ZwKwjvF-FJSymcIqJMsNfW8tydEBNA7hjFqGII7Lo-HIRpmabk-JtqRIrehMVR-rBw/s320/100.0.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-36241299698792927832020-03-19T13:17:00.000-05:002020-03-21T15:28:44.261-05:00New RV Furnace Installation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Remarkably, the furnace in my 1967 Airstream travel trailer checked out fine during the 2004 refurbishment, and has been used for the last 16 years without any significant repairs. But after the pilot light started having trouble staying lit near the end of last season, following a checkout I decided it was better to replace the old Suburban furnace with Suburban’s newest, matching model rather than repair the old one.
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Although the old & new furnaces are functionally identical, the new unit is shorter and thinner. Also, the old style forced heated air out of a rectangular hole on the bottom into a plenum instead of out of round holes on the sides. Fortunately, the new furnace is backwards-compatible in that it had a blocked-off rectangular hole on the bottom. The Internet sold me cover plates for the round holes.</div>
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Another design change over the last half century is that the old furnace slid into its outer housing which is permanently mounted atop the plenum. The new furnace has no plenum.
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The housing needed to be removed in order to properly align the new furnace with the existing air intake & exhaust ports. Unfortunately, the enclosure had been placed in the Airstream before the cabinets were installed. Short of removing the cabinet something would need to be cut to remove it. I chose to cut the housing with a cutting wheel on an angle grinder.
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Worked great! Unfortunately, I forgot the gas line was near one side. Oops.
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After cutting the housing remains off of the plenum, the next step in aligning the new furnace was to make a cardboard pattern of the exterior ports with respect to the plenum.
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The plenum was then placed back in the Airstream. The holes in the cardboard were found to be one inch lower than the holes on my American classic. After noting that, the block-off plate on the bottom of the new furnace was addressed.
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A one-inch thick board the width of the plenum and depth of the back-of-the plate-on-the-furnace was then screwed to the top of the plenum. The hole on the top of the plenum was then modified to match the dimensions of the outlet hole on the bottom of the furnace.
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Individual pieces of sheet metal were then cut & bent both to block off areas of the old hole which were no longer needed and to direct air from the furnace into the plenum.
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After firmly mounting both the plenum & furnace in the Airstream, the new work was sealed with aluminum tape.
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Although the ports on the old & new furnaces were the same diameter, the distance between them was not. Ovalizing the bottom port with a Dremel tool resolved the issue.
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No one will ever see it, though, because the cover plate does its job quite well.
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After the old furnace gave me trouble last season it was pulled out and thoroughly inspected. To my surprise, the space beneath the burner was completely filled with an old yellowjacket nest.
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Although the nest was partially blocking the burner’s inlet air, it was not responsible for the pilot not staying lit. That problem is probably due to either a bad thermocouple or gas control valve neither of which are available now new. But to guard against future nests, screens were installed over the ports.
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The old furnace’s pilot light had to be lit by hand as needed and was accessed by removing the front panel. The new furnace has auto-ignition. Hopefully it will be a long time before I need to remove its front panel.
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As hoped, the new furnace ran like a champ after the gas & electrical connections were made. It’s much quieter than the old one even though I never considered the old one a problem. </div>
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We’re now ready for cold weather again! </div>
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TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-50435339006027008492019-07-17T11:25:00.001-05:002019-07-20T15:19:41.078-05:00Better Curves for the T&K Railway<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYRi7lY2mpdJBOVCI5jQ553kzp4sWCBINKFEzfqyp1bCZJFlPx3LNV2gFb5ZS5Y-tArbRL8CmvHJOsTZaWZyMvo6NzxhJhjW4bpDVi27fH2Sk-l7W1jIdWG-FRbXILygQOSKDq74M9_9s/s1600/18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="1600" height="97" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYRi7lY2mpdJBOVCI5jQ553kzp4sWCBINKFEzfqyp1bCZJFlPx3LNV2gFb5ZS5Y-tArbRL8CmvHJOsTZaWZyMvo6NzxhJhjW4bpDVi27fH2Sk-l7W1jIdWG-FRbXILygQOSKDq74M9_9s/s320/18.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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My O-gauge <a href="http://adventuresofacuriousfellow.blogspot.com/2015/06/construction-of-t-railway.html" target="_blank">ceiling railway</a> was originally designed for 27-inch radius curves simply because that was all the curvature my childhood’s Lionel 2034 locomotive and cars required. In time, though, I found it difficult to expand my rolling stock collection because everything on my wish list required O-31 curves or better. Fortunately, O-31 curves just fit the existing shelving built for the railway which allowed me to do nothing more than swap 0-27 curves and track with the corresponding O-31 version.
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All was relatively well until Bill, one of my wife’s co-workers, after learning of the railway decided to loan me some nice locomotives & cars he had in storage because he now did not have access to a model railway. Unfortunately, some of his collection would only run on O-42 or better curves. Since a really cool Shay locomotive was one of those items, the decision was made to modify the T&K’s shelving to accommodate 0-72 radius curves since that curvature appears to be the largest in regular production.
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Due to the amount of shelving which could not be aesthetically attached to the walls, four pieces of ¼-inch All Thread per curve was incorporated into the design. As before, the new design was drawn up in AutoCAD.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ6nWY8m0_nsLR9IQUfJDdyyKy7vQ5745qv0bCOaxvyjJlq9Ulmhgyr0zp1ZcZP8W2zyWLJBCDtWOwJi3k2UQ8gPhwbIfaWoMHswvW_z_KHFWx1FgEMcvvWfPsn898U-7JjbWVJXvv0HY/s1600/17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ6nWY8m0_nsLR9IQUfJDdyyKy7vQ5745qv0bCOaxvyjJlq9Ulmhgyr0zp1ZcZP8W2zyWLJBCDtWOwJi3k2UQ8gPhwbIfaWoMHswvW_z_KHFWx1FgEMcvvWfPsn898U-7JjbWVJXvv0HY/s320/17.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Last time, each of the four curve sections were individually cut out and shaped to final dimension in assembly line fashion. Since the whole operation could have gone a lot better, this time I decided to make a pattern out of 1/8-inch hardboard and use a template guide on the router to mill the four, 5/8-inch MDF shelving curves from the pattern.
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There has never been a point in my woodworking career, up until now, to draw 5-foot and larger radii. Fortunately, a yardstick compass will work once the yardstick is swapped out for a really long piece of hardboard.
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After completing all the construction lines, the new track itself was laid on the proposed template for a quick sanity check. We’re good.
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Unlike drawing large radii, I have routed large curves with a homemade jig. The jig was frustrating to use because each different radius required a new pivot point hole to be drilled in the jig. Getting past this stumbling block was a little more problematic because the longest, store-bought router compass I could find only did 24-inch curves. So two, long sections of 1/8-inch hardboard were glued together and milled to match the important dimensions of the store-bought version. Then the store-bought version’s hardware was remounted on the homemade version.
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The result was a really easy to use, long router compass.
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The tabletop drill press, mounted on a special stand & fitted with various Forstner bits, was used to provide radiusing on the inside corners.
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After the master pattern was cut out and touched up with a drum sander attachment on the drill press it was used to rough out the four corner blanks.
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The blanks were cut proud of the construction line with a jigsaw.
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Then the ends were squared off with the radial arm saw.
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With compass routing complete, the router was refitted with a template guide collar.
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Then, with the template C-clamped onto each blank, the router was run around the perimeter to establish the final dimensions.
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Next stop was the router table fitted with a round-over bit.
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Soon afterward, the O-31 track & associated track wiring/lighting was removed for test fits. The new O-72 curves will be a big improvement over the ones originally designed for O-27.
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Portions of the old O-27 shelving were cut out by jigsaw, small circular saw and hand saw. A 2X4 stand helped support the new curves for fit checks.
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All empty biscuit slots and holes were then filled with wood putty. After fit checks, the new curve sections were returned to the shop for pocket holes.
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Since I elected to leave the track wiring and LED lighting in place during the upgrade, it was taped off while the new curves were installed, caulked, primed, and painted.
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My little ¼-inch right angle adapter has paid for itself countless times with tasks like drilling pilot holes in tight places.
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I was very happy with how it all turned out:
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Now to see what else Bill has!<br />
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.TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-81000158218821617822019-07-15T16:04:00.000-05:002019-07-15T16:04:48.057-05:00Atwood RV Range for Parts?.
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My 1967 Airstream still has its original Magic Chef oven which we use at least once on every camping trip. It has been amazingly reliable with repairs usually consisting of realigning something that vibrated out of place. But one day I know a No-Longer-Available part will have to be replaced. A new oven might be necessary.<br />
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The immediate problem is that no one makes an RV oven anymore – they only make ranges. While a household wall oven would probably work, it will require 120 VAC for the electronics which may not be available depending on what type of camping going on.<br />
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Adapting modern-day RV oven parts to my half-century old oven seemed to be a reasonable avenue to investigate. The issue here is that I have never used a modern-day, RV, gas oven to understand the differences between then-and-now operation (the Airstream’s oven has what is essentially a two-pilot light system[1] whereas modern ovens only have one). It would be nice to play with a modern one to compare differences.<br />
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As much as we enjoy using our oven on camping trips I read that others do not apparently preferring a microwave instead. So I was not surprised to see an RV range and hood for sale at a yard sale the other weekend. Although it was noticeably smaller than my Magic Chef, it looked like a good “leaner” oven if the price was right. It had obviously not been used much, and the yard-seller said it worked when removed. Fortunately for me he was happy to mark it down to $20.<br />
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While hooking the gas up I noticed it was made by Atwood Wedgewood in 2005.<br />
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In what was no surprise, the three cook-top burners lit without incident; even the piezeo-electric sparker, a modern day feature to me, worked. After a short line purge, the oven lit too.<br />
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While the oven was pre-heating, research on the range showed this model is still in production and sold new for around $500. It was sold as a 17” range and has a big brother, 24” version. Each uses the same thermostat and burner.<br />
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The Atwood’s burner is made of sheet aluminum alloy and has much less heating capacity & lower latent heat retention than the Magic Chef’s much larger cast-iron burner.<br />
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The broiler area was certainly no frills compared to my antique oven. But, in reading camping forums, I noticed few people even know how to brown food in a gas oven.<br />
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The thermostat was found to be wildly out of calibration with no provision for adjustment. But after bumping the temperature up and adding some stones to stabilize the heat, the oven produced a decent pan of cornbread.<br />
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The Totino’s cheese pizza cooked later came out surprisingly bad. The lower rack position was used instead of the other, higher one which resulted in a “highly browned” bottom and uncooked top. The top had to be broiled to make sure the cheese was melted.<br />
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It was now starting to dawn on me why some RVers did not use their ovens: the 17” version is just too small for some routine cooking tasks. Unlike the Magic Chef, a half sheet pan will not fit. Quarter sheet or smaller pans only. Even with a few cooking stones, heat control is poor. The mass of the cast iron burner in the Magic Chef coupled with the Robertshaw thermostat is tough to beat.<br />
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If push came to shove, the thermostat could be adapted but it would be a lot of work because its design made it integral to the range’s gas distribution bar. Adapting the thermostat to flared pipe fittings would not be fun.<br />
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But keeping the limitations in mind it has been fun using the range for overflow cooking. In fact, I made Granny Smith apple pie filling from scratch just to see how it do in the Atwood.<br />
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It turned out amazingly well and was a hit with everyone.<br />
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Cooking the pie out in my shop ended being good in an unexpected way – Per direction the glass pan was placed directly on the rack. When it unexpectedly boiled over the syrup dripped on the metal plate dispersing the burner’s heat. Smoke ensued in very short order and continued until a drip pan could be located/installed.<br />
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All-in-all, not counting entertainment value, a lot was learned for $20. For now I think the range will be mounted on a stand and kept intact for overflow cooking in the summer.<br />
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Note [1]<br />
<i>My Overlander's '67 Magic Chef operates differently than modern ovens. Lighting the pilot light does not involve pushing & holding the knob - I just turn the knob to pilot, wait for the gas to run through, and light it.</i><br />
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<i>The heat from that warms up a thermocouple hooked to the thermostat. When the thermostat calls for heat and the thermocouple is warm enough, it supplies gas to a secondary pilot immediately beside the primary pilot. This larger pilot light warms a different thermocouple hooked to a separate gas valve. When that thermocouple is warm enough, the gas valve opens and supplies gas to the main burner.</i><br />
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<i>On occasion, the secondary thermocouple vibrates out of position has to be re-aligned or the main burner never lights.</i><br />
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TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-68379461590787911862018-03-31T05:37:00.001-05:002018-04-04T15:50:07.941-05:00New Airstreamport for the Overlander<br />
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The master plan for keeping my 1967 Airstream Overlander at our house has always included a roof over its head. The parking pad it sits on was sized to accommodate the standard-sized, 12’X28’ RV carport popular when the pad was poured over 10 years ago. I even had shallow footings dug prior to the pour for extra anchoring mass.</div>
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Over the following years the subject was occasionally pursued only to find no professionals interested in adapting an “off-the-shelf” carport to fit on the pad’s irregularly-sloped surface. One day I woke and decided it was just time to get it done even if it meant doing it myself. Not that that the task intimidated me - I was just surprised I could not throw too much money at something to get it done.</div>
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After locating a supplier, a deposit was placed on a 12’X30’X12’ (latest standard size) Eagle Carport. Around two weeks later a dually with a really nice flatbed trailer backed up with the new, unassembled Airstreamport.</div>
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Two guys got out and worked together like a well-oiled machine assembling the Overlander’s new roof on a relatively flat section of land & concrete.<br />
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Wedge anchors were used to hold the front half of the structure to concrete while rebar spikes took care of the part over dirt.<br />
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The guys finished up in about three hours. They did a super job, and I have zero complaints about either the building or their workmanship.<br />
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So although now the Airstream had a roof over its head, the tires were sitting on dirt, and the pad’s full hookups, which hook up to the back of the Airstream, were at the side.<br />
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Thought was given to relocating the hookups and pouring additional concrete. Parking would be greatly simplified. But I did not want a backyard full of concrete when the pad was poured, and the sentiment had not changed. The airstreamport would have to be relocated to the front of the pad once suitable supports were made.<br />
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After deciding to place a support under every stud that would not be on flat land, the studs’ locations were marked on a “storypole”. Of note, the locations varied greatly between both each other, and side-to-side.<br />
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After leveling the storypole, the studs’ locations were projected onto the concrete. Using a hardboard template a triad of holes were started with a small hammer drill.<br />
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A big hammer drill was used for the actual anchors since ½-inch diameter holes at least 2-3/4 inches deep were needed.<br />
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There was a delay in getting the ¼-inch steel plate sheared for the actual mounting plates. To keep the project going, hardboard mockup plates were made to locate the all-thread studs in the holes prior to anchoring.<br />
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The Internet appears to be comfortable with the use of anchoring adhesive when used according to the directions. There did not appear to be a brand preference. The Sika brand was chosen simply because it came with two nozzles.<br />
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As luck would have it, there was enough adhesive left to anchor my drill press to the shop floor. I am the only homeowner I know that has done this!<br />
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After allowing the adhesive to cure, the storypole was brought back out to determine the supports’ heights.<br />
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Fortunately, my metal cutoff saw had just been fitted with a new wheel. It was certainly needed for the 2-1/2 inch tube stock.<br />
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Between hardboard mounting plates & top tabs, and the real, metal supports, there was high confidence that the actual end-product was going to work as intended.<br />
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In time the mounting plates got sheared (thanks Kenny!). Drilling the ½-inch diameter holes went well with the drill press securely mounted to the floor.<br />
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One of the steel plates was then placed on an all-thread triad for a quick sanity check – all was well.<br />
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My Lincoln stick-welder is conveniently located right by both my toolbox and big door, and is ready to weld in seconds. But since I wanted this job to look good, it never moved and my buddy Heath MIG welded the supports for me. He did an outstanding job.<br />
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Rustoleum cold galvanizing spray paint was used as a top coat.<br />
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As expected, the supports bolted up beautifully.<br />
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The next step was to move the carport forward to its new digs. The easiest & fastest option would have been to invite a bunch of guys over for barbeque & beer. Afterwards we could all stagger over and brute force the thing in place. But since most of my friends are now middle-aged there was a good chance someone would get hurt. So I went with Plan B – a come-along winch.<br />
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In preparation, 2X4s were sized to act as tracks & track supports between each support.<br />
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After checking the weather forecast to make sure it was not projected to be windy, the existing anchor bolts were Sawzalled off and the rebar spikes crowbarred up.<br />
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After that it was simply a matter of slowly winching the Airstreamport forward to its new location.<br />
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Although I did get my wife to come out and help me keep an eye out for potential problems during the move, I really didn’t want anyone else involved. But of course the neighbors had to come watch over the fence. Fortunately nothing went wrong, and the move was completed in less than ½ an hour.<br />
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After removing the wood cribbing, the airstreamport was then nut & bolted to the new supports, wedged anchored to the concrete or rebar-spiked to the ground as required. After a little touch-up painting on everything, I was pleased with how it turned out.<br />
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The Airstream’s tires had really gotten muddy during their brief time in yard. Pulling it forward for a wash-off gave me a better opportunity to sweep up construction debris.<br />
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One of the neighbors who watched the effort later independently volunteered that he thought the completed project turned out nicely. I have to agree.<br />
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<i>Update:</i><br />
My wife & I enjoy yardsales, and around four years ago I was fortunate to acquire two very nice, new, digital-ready outdoor TV antennas for a dollar (the entire tale is at this <a href="http://adventuresofacuriousfellow.blogspot.com/2014/07/id-buy-that-for-dollar.html" target="_blank">link</a>). The best one was mounted on the house's chimney as part of our severe weather reactance plan should the cable go out. While the other antenna was offered to others, no one one took me up on the freebie.<br />
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Severe Weather Plan C is to retreat to the Overlander since it has its own antenna. But I noticed the new Airstreamport, with all its metal, might interfere with the signal. So the other antenna was mounted on a mast attached to the new structure. 14 channels - Nice!<br />
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.TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-36526133155611508412017-10-26T17:41:00.000-05:002017-10-26T17:41:19.132-05:00Granny’s Clock Revisited<br />
Around a year ago, I wrote about the difficulties of getting my family heirloom clock running again. In concluding the post, the hope was expressed that my clock toolbox would not come out again any time soon for this project. Sadly, the clock only ran for a few weeks before the time-side mainspring broke.<br />
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To add to my frustration, it broke with such force that it fractured one of the clock face supports.<br />
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Since it was essentially a new movement, I decided the failure was due to a bad spring. Instead of repairing this movement it was swapped with the <i>first</i> replacement movement (click <a href="http://adventuresofacuriousfellow.blogspot.com/2016/08/silas-hoadley-shelf-clock.html" target="_blank">here</a> to read the original tale) as that movement had already been repaired, and was simply sitting in a box waiting to run again.<br />
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Maddeningly, <i>that</i> movement only kept time for a few weeks before <i>its</i> time-side mainspring broke. In frustration, I walked away from the clock for several months.<br />
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After reviewing several options, I decided the best course of action was to replace both springs with high-quality versions made in Germany. Doing this requires disassembling the movement.<br />
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The first step in getting the movement apart is to contain the springs’ energy so they do not continue to run the movement or, in the case of the broken spring, press on other gear arbors. To do this, the springs are wound up tight & fitted with special C-rings to keep them wound. But between one spring being broken, and there being no plans to reuse the other one, hose clamps worked better for the effort.<br />
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The time-side spring was found to be broken about 2-1/2 turns out from the center.<br />
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New springs come tightly wrapped & held together with baling wire. As such, the springs cannot be mounted in a mainspring winder to have the wire removed. I find holding the spring flat against the table with leather gloves with the wire is removed works well to get it safely opened.<br />
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Although relatively clean, the springs come dry, and must be lubed before use.<br />
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I have an Ollie Baker mainspring winder which makes easy work of mounting springs on arbors.<br />
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For reassembling a clock, the C-rings mentioned earlier work are easier to remove from the assembled movement than hose clamps.<br />
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I always have to remember to place the C-ring closer to the gear so that the spring will fit inside to limiting pegs inside the movement.<br />
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Reassembly of the movement went better than usual because a new, special-purpose tool was purchased to help nudge all the all the arbors into position. It worked much better than the slender screwdriver I used to use.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-qZ7gsFzebZgWBeK-1L9oe55vbkAfafEwoS7LdTKWYHU0rXiFFS6pntVdP5tnm_Ah9OvPd9lZV8FlHksDmWCzeX6vHoSSr3pn1GvTuh7Zv7Z_yWyXdvLaSMzULzMNXI8I_quEYpnIeew/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="981" data-original-width="1055" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-qZ7gsFzebZgWBeK-1L9oe55vbkAfafEwoS7LdTKWYHU0rXiFFS6pntVdP5tnm_Ah9OvPd9lZV8FlHksDmWCzeX6vHoSSr3pn1GvTuh7Zv7Z_yWyXdvLaSMzULzMNXI8I_quEYpnIeew/s320/1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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After synching the strike side, the movement was once again mounted in a temporary frame and allowed to run for a couple of weeks. The new springs performed better than the old ones because the clock appeared to keep more even time than before.<br />
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The opportunity was taken to relocate the clock to between the two smaller clocks. It certainly looks better being centered.<br />
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I have high confidence in this repair. But, we’ll see!<br />
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.TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-26979745455470168732017-03-23T13:39:00.000-05:002017-03-23T15:00:04.461-05:00Whistle and Bell for the T&K Railway<br />
In an effort to add realism to my O-gauge ceiling train loop, I recently completed both an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F054MNB1QI" target="_blank">Arduino</a>-controlled, servo project to modulate the airflow to an eight-chime whistle made of one-inch PVC pipes, and a full-size crossing bell.<br />
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For the whistle assembly, various-length pipes were mounted in a piece of wood cut to match the inside diameter of a one-gallon windshield washer fluid container. Afterwards the assembly was painted with bronze-colored spray paint.<br />
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A lanyard attached to a retractable key chain modified to include a potentiometer is pulled to signal the Arduino. The length of pull modulates the amount of air delivered to the whistle manifold. Although my preference is for something prettier than what I built, the few store-bought encoders suitable for the effort were awfully expensive.<br />
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The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjXdklNMZgQ" target="_blank">Servo-controlled air valve</a> took the most effort because I had to design and fabricate the valve itself. <br />
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Air power for the project is supplied by the motor from a vacuum cleaner found on the side of the road. A new enclosure had to be constructed because the original one had no way to connect the hose to the outlet side of the fan. Wood was chosen in an effort to dampen the noise of the device’s universal motor.<br />
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Although not obvious, the air valve is mounted inside the enclosure to modulate the amount of air leaving through the hose.<br />
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Even with the thick-walled box, the blower is still loud. As a consequence it was subsequently mounted to a floor joist underneath the house.<br />
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Although the setup worked exactly as expected, a problem popped up after only a minute or two of operation – sluggish or no valve operation. It seems the blower produces an unanticipated amount of heat while in operation. If the air valve is not allowing air to pass, this heat builds up in the enclosure. The plastic parts of the valve apparently did not like the excess heat. Fortunately, everything worked okay after being allowed to cool.<br />
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The solution ended up being easy – a blower control relay, mounted in a blue electrical box, was wired to one of the Arduino’s digital out ports. The code was modified to turn the relay on only when the lanyard is pulled.<br />
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Although my camera does not do the new project justice, here’s the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9y-Rzd26M8" target="_blank">8 chime whistle compared to the train’s whistle</a>.<br />
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My adaptation of a crossing bell, while technologically simpler than the whistle, had a higher parts count. The striker is one hammer out of a doorbell ringer. Oddly, the big box store sold me a doorbell ringer kit which involved the doorbell, two switches, and a 16 VAC transformer for just $13. The price struck me odd because they were selling the transformer by itself for $14. Go figure.<br />
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The control circuit is an NE555 timer hooked up to the transformer through an LM2596 adjustable power supply to a relay which actuates the modified doorbell ringer.<br />
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Here’s a checkout demo before the bell was installed: Crossing bell.<br />
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The assembly was mounted on the wall behind the door to the room. Even with a rubber-tipped hammer, it is still fairly loud.<br />
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For now I flip a toggle switch to turn on the bell. Although I have an IR detector in my toy-box which could be used as a traffic detector, the jury is still out on the best way to implement the bell.<br />
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I’ll keep you posted.<br />
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.TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-31706183170102580412017-01-19T14:24:00.000-06:002017-01-19T14:24:18.655-06:00Re-sealing the 1967 Airstream Bay Breeze AC<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Back in the sixties, RV air conditioners had an inside unit & outside unit with the two connected by a 3-inch service hole. Nowadays, RV ACs are comprised soley of a top unit which sits on a 14-inch square hole.<br />
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My 50 year-old travel trailer developed a leak which I finally decided could only be resolved by removing the top portion. The tale can be followed at <a href="http://home.hiwaay.net/~tomorkim/AnotherLeak.htm" target="_blank">this link</a> on my Airstream's web page. <br />
<br />TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-16051014832409625502016-12-02T16:16:00.000-06:002016-12-02T16:16:42.949-06:00New Music Room Monitor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Several weeks ago the den’s big LCD TV’s picture started messing up in a way that made it tough to watch moving pictures. Between the monster being eight years old, the lack of TV repair shops nowadays, and the low cost of modern TVs we decided to replace it with a new Smart TV. Good move – the new 4K TV has a noticeably better picture.<br />
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Since static images still looked okay on the old television, I decided to relocate it to my music room for use as a sheet music monitor since it was essentially twice the size of the room’s present music monitor.
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The original issue with the picture is almost a wash when the phenomenal size of the old TV’s screen is taken into account in a small room.
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The monster’s first location atop an old wardrobe was too high for practicing my brass instruments comfortably and too far away from the piano to be useful. The second prospective location on top of the bookcase was better, but still too high to stand in front of. A stand would have to be built.</div>
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Most of the time I build prototype cabinets/stands out of MDF because it is fairly cheap, and machines & paints well. But this week Lowes had 15/32” Paraguayan plywood for around the same price. For a variety of reasons it was declared the project’s construction material. Once a couple cans of flat-black spray paint for $1 a can were added to the cart, I headed for the checkout counter.</div>
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After determining an optimum height, the paraply was cut, glued & nailed to corner mounted 2X2s. Free weights laid in the bottom served to shift the CG of the two-man-lift TV downward, and make it safer to roll the works around on casters bought for a never-built, roll-around bread table.</div>
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Success! It always brightens my day when something can be repurposed instead of trashed.<br />
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Not shown in the first image is a 1956 Olds Recording Trombone (their professional line) just purchased for me as my Christmas present. What a wonderful sound it has compared to the Olds Ambassador model pictured. Carnegie Hall – Here I come!<br />
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.TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-41635202853183015582016-08-13T15:48:00.000-05:002016-08-13T15:49:25.250-05:00Silas Hoadley Shelf Clock<br />
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Long ago, after I grew big enough to push a lawnmower, some of the first money earned from chores came from cutting my grandmother’s yard. My dad would drive us over to her house, and the two of them would sit on her front porch shooting the breeze after he started the mower for me. After I finished, we would go in the house, and Granny would open the door on the clock on her fireplace mantle, and pull two one-dollar bills out for me.<br />
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Over the years, I pieced together the clock’s story: Granny and my grandfather, who died before I was born, built their house around 1934, and he decided a clock he remembered sitting in his uncle’s barn would look good on the mantle. After retrieving the clock, he took it to a clockmaker who replaced the wooden clockwork with a brass movement. Since the inside of the clock, with its winding directions and assorted instructions, looked too austere for him, he cut the scenic view from a calendar and glued it over the clock paper. Lastly, the old movement was stuck in a kitchen ceiling cabinet.<br />
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Many years later when we moved Granny out of the house, I remembered the movement in the kitchen cabinet. Although I was happy to find it was indeed there, for whatever reason it had been stored in a shoebox completely disassembled. Everyone decided the only reason the movement was still there after ~48 years was that the 10 foot ceiling had effectively put the cabinet out of my five-foot tall grandmother’s reach.<br />
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Since I was just starting to tinker with clocks, the box of parts was left with a clockmaker for a consult. A few weeks later, he tells me at least one wheel is missing, and all the bushings (arbor bearings) are worn. Sensing his heart was not into getting the movement working again, I thanked him, and headed to the library (this was the ‘80s) to learn more about wooden clockworks.<br />
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At some point, I had peaked under the scenic view my grandfather glued in the clock, and noted the clock had been made by Silas Hoadley. After reading everything I could about him, and studying both pictures of his clock movements & clock theory in general, I was able to reassemble the apple-wood movement.<br />
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I believe what threw the clockmaker off track was that the count wheel was stuck on another wheel, and the combo appeared to be one part. Fortunately, no wheels were missing.<br />
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With the movement assembled, it was now obvious that the ivory bushings were indeed worn in an off-center oblong pattern. Between being unsure of what I was ultimately going to do with a working movement, and having no money, I opted to rotate the bushings 180 degrees to expose the unworn side. Afterwards, the entire works were then coated with boiled linseed oil as a protective coating.<br />
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Although this is a weight-driven movement, no weights were found in the shoebox. So pictures of the lead weights associated with other working movements were scaled & measured to determine how much weight was required for operation. The clockmaker was able to order both the weights, and catgut (to string the weights).<br />
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At this point, due to the pulleys necessary for stringing the catgut, it was easier to re-install the movement in its original home for the checkout instead of building a stand. Sorry for the poor quality pictures – they were taken over 30 years ago before I learned how to use a film camera correctly.<br />
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The wooden clockworks ended up working quite well. But between it only being a one-day movement, and the fact that the clock face had been modified for the 8-day brass movement’s winding holes, I opted re-install the brass movement, and acquire a new shoebox for the wooden movement.<br />
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Since then, the clock has been in my parents’ possession, and worked well until five or ten years ago when it stopped. Dad took it to an out-of-town clockmaker who probably did nothing more than clean and oil it because the clock only ran for a few months afterward. Exasperated, Dad decided to drop the subject.<br />
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Now, jump ahead to around a year ago. When we helped Dad down-size to an assisted living facility, the clock, which is now somewhere between 167 and 202 years old, made its way to my house.<br />
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Having maintained an interest in clocks, I tinkered with the clock a bit and got it running. But it did not sound quite right to me and would not consistently run for a solid week. Taking a hard look at the wear on the movement, I decided 80 years of service was reasonable, and it was best to just replace it at this point.<br />
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Back in the day, this particular brass movement, which was made by the Sessions Clock Company in Connecticut, was a popular movement for shelf clocks. But sadly, the company liquidated in 1969. Fortunately, clock repair parts houses still sell a new, eerily similar movement for a reasonable amount of money.<br />
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Although the shaft spacing dimensions were a perfect match, the suspension rod had to be sized to work with my existing pendulum.<br />
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After screwing the movement to the clock, it was noticed the striker wanted to hit the chime from the left instead of the right like the old one did. After modifying the chime to accommodate being struck from the opposite direction, the escapement arm was adjusted to attain an even beat.</div>
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A somewhat surprising difference between this no-name movement and the Sessions movement was that the hands were not interchangeable. It was not a show-stopper, though, because new hands came with the accessory kit purchased at the same time. The problem was that I did not care much for the look of the look of the new hands. Modifying the Sessions movement’s hands was not an option.<br />
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But after my wife fell in love with the wooden movement’s original metal hands, I figured out a non-destructive way of modifying them to work with the new brass movement.<br />
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So after letting the clock run for a couple of weeks while adjusting the pendulum for accurate timekeeping, the clock face was re-attached for I what figured would probably be twenty years.<br />
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Sadly, it wasn’t even 20 days before the chime spring assembly blew up during the start-of-week winding. Apparently, the click spring had been cut too short during fabrication to maintain a solid hold on the click. The best repair would be to install a new spring… which would require disassembling the movement.<br />
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To compound my annoyance, I found that the movement had decided to drip oil on the scenic view.<br />
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On the bright side it is only noticeable half the time (when the pendulum has not swung over it).<br />
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I emailed the supplier to see what relief they could offer. To my surprise, they apologized and said they would send a replacement unit out. And, there was no need to return the broken movement.<br />
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The replacement movement arrived a few days later. After noting that both click springs appeared to be up to the challenge, the movement was mounted on a wooden stand to run and drip excess oil.<br />
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It ran beautifully until the first time it chimed – Once it started chiming it would not stop. The movement had been assembled out of synch with itself. Once again, at least partial disassembly would be required to fix the problem.<br />
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This time I decided to fix it myself instead of contacting the supplier again. So, while I was at it, the first movement’s problem was addressed.<br />
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Both movements were allowed to run, chime, and drip oil for a couple of weeks before being declared good-to-go.<br />
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My blue toolbox of clock tools is now back in the closet. Hopefully, the next time I pull it out will be for a new project.<br />
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TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-14819794998777567252016-04-01T16:46:00.000-05:002016-08-30T17:37:46.631-05:00Ceiling Train Track Lighting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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LED strip lighting was installed on the T&K Railway several months ago in an effort to both illuminate my antique 0-Guage rolling stock, and add a certain amount of ambience. Sadly, it was just too bright for its intended purpose.<br />
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But thanks to eBay, remote controlled dimmers were added to the 53 feet of lighting to limit the lumens. Although the goal was only to dim the brightness, the controllers' remote has the capabilty to disco-ball the presentation.<br />
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The clip above starts with the lighting dimmed to its lowest setting of 25% in a room otherwise illuminated by indirect evening sun from a window. Afterwards, buttons are pushed on the newly-added, LED dimming remote to show possible light settings. The crossing bell sound is another topic. <br />
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I do, however, get great benefit out of the 100% setting for practicing my brass instruments.<br />
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Tom<br />
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...TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-1760121013931739842016-02-14T16:17:00.000-06:002016-02-14T16:17:39.988-06:00Steam Locomotive Whistle<div class="nolinks" id="post_message_906970">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , "lucida" , "lucida grande" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">In a quest to get just the right sound for my O-gauge railway, here's eight chimes of PVC pipe being auditioned in the backyard:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , "lucida" , "lucida grande" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">On another fun note, the "steam" to power the octet came from a vacuum cleaner spotted on the side of the road this weekend. Since it only had a suction port, the motor was re-fitted to a different enclosure to act as a blower:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , "lucida" , "lucida grande" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">This setup has promise - my Valentine was in the the middle of the house & still heard it <img alt="" border="0" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.modeltrainforum.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align: middle;" title="Big Grin" /></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , "lucida" , "lucida grande" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Tom</span></span></div>
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TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-65729894813915252032015-12-25T14:17:00.000-06:002015-12-25T14:17:47.233-06:00Thomas Tows The Airstream<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For Christmas, my oldest son requested & received a GEOFORCE GTX 760 2GB GDDR5, 256-bit, HDCP, Dual-link DVI, HDMI, [blah, blah, blah] video card along with a 2-billion watt power supply to run it.<br />
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I requested & received Thomas & Friends to eventually tow my Airstream around on my main railway (not the track the set came with).<br />
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We both scored. Merry Christmas!<br />
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.TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-69531365590793674692015-11-13T15:11:00.001-06:002015-11-13T15:13:20.597-06:00Tom's Clock Wërks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One of my hobbies that fell by the wayside after my children were born was clock repair. Self-taught, my workbench used to have all the tools necessary to clean & oil most any unit, and do simple repair within easy reach. In fact, one of my "what if?" scenarios for retirement income at the time was to take in clock repairs because the talent appears to be a dying art.<br />
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Recently, I took possession of both a non-operational shelf clock that has been in my family for many decades, and a mantle clock that does not necessarily chime when it is supposed to.<br />
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After hanging a cherry shelf recycled from another project I built many years ago, the two clocks, plus another mantle clock shelved many years ago for un-remembered reasons were set in motion.<br />
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Counting the cuckoo clock on the adjoining wall, there are now four clocks in the room ticking... and chiming. Two of them on the quearter-hour. While I love it, all the activity appears to annoy my wife. Especially if the overhead train is running & whistling while the clocks are chiming.<br />
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As of this moment, the shelf clock's repair is almost complete, and parts have been ordered for the other two movements.<br />
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It has been fun to slip back in to hobby I used to enjoy.<br />
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TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-44430829599112753702015-06-27T15:59:00.000-05:002015-06-27T16:00:22.644-05:00Construction of the T&K Railway<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Like many kids of the Apollo era, I had a simple model train layout which brought me many hours of entertainment. Unlike most kids, though, I hung on to mine in a disassembled state with the plan of one day building a track shelf around the top of a room in my own house on which the Lionel could run.<br />
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The project languished primarily because all the designs I came up either had some sort of shelf bracket or looked too bulky. I almost got really serious about completing the dream around 19 years ago when a yard sale provided me with several sections of three-foot track for a great price. But the bargain was eventually quietly stored away with rest of the train set.<br />
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A couple months ago I woke up and for some reason decided to get serious about the project. After less than an hour on the Internet I found a company marketing a product which had the right visual appeal. They were quite proud of it too because their online estimator came up with close to $1500 for the parts which I & a helper would have to trim & install. Then my own track would have to be installed on top of it after painting. Ka-ching!<br />
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But after studying their low-res pictures for a while, I decided to build a version of their product which would look even better than they offered due to the way my idea would be mounted to the wall. So, after a long time sitting in a box, what was left of my 1952 Lionel train set finally saw the light of day to get measured for its new layout.<br />
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I would have chosen MDF for the project even if it did not appear to be what the high-priced guys were milling. After studying & measuring everything, what appeared to be good proportions were established before drawing up plans.<br />
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The curves were the toughest parts to conceptualize because the parts have to be anchored to both the wall & straight sections of track, and look good doing it.<br />
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After the meat of the design was done, I took one last look around the shelf’s future home to identify obstacles. While a wall-mounted smoke detector would be easy enough to relocate, the cuckoo clock really needed to be at the height it is. Ultimately, a stand-off was constructed to allow the train to run behind the clock.<br />
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As with the start of any big project, all the Shop’s cast iron was waxed before verifying all cutting tools were properly aligned to their respective work surfaces. Funny how you never see this time-consuming part on home improvement shows.<br />
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In addition to requiring more design effort, the four curved sections also required a whole lot more construction steps than the straight sections. Not including sanding, 11 individual machining steps involving five different tools were required just to complete the general shape.<br />
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The radial arm saw was used for the bulk of the cuts:<br />
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Although the finished curved cuts came from a router on an arm, a giant compass (pencil on the end of a pinned board) was used used to mark the path.<br />
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The bandsaw took most of the excess off so that only one pass of the router would be necessary to finish it.<br />
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Well, they say that part of the joy of woodworking is recovering from mistakes & accidents. “They” say that; I don’t. While routing the the very first arc, I heard the router load up. Although I immediately stopped, the damage was done.<br />
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The work had fed itself into the router bit because it was only constrained from getting away from the router as opposed to drifting into the bit. Since all forms of trying to aesthetically recover from so much missing wood looked fairly time consuming, I opted to mill out another blank. The benefit was that I now had a sacrificial curve to verify the remaining milling operation setups.<br />
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Fortunately, milling of the remaining curves and all the straight sections went without incident.<br />
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The next step was rounding over of exposed sharp edges.<br />
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With what I thought was all of the edge treatments done, the roundover bit was swapped out with a straight bit for the lapping the ends which join the curves to the straight pieces.<br />
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Now, you might have only been reading till now just to find out the exact secret of how this shelf is supported on only one edge. Congratulations – you endured ~720 words to get to this point, and I know it was no easy task. The secret is Plate Joiner with #20 biscuits.<br />
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Basically, a furring strip drilled & countersunk on 16-inch centers and slotted for biscuits was mounted to the wall studs. Although the smoke detector wires follow where the device was relocated, the electrical box itself was left & covered with a blank plate in case I decide to run track wire through it later.<br />
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With a plan in place, installation consisted of marking/cutting everything to align with the wall studs.</div>
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After cutting the first furring strip, I realized another roundover procedure would be needed on one end each custom-fit strip to match part of the curved section. Since the big router table was set up for lap joints, I pulled out my original router table and mounted the router I got in high school in it with the roundover bit. This is the first project in a while that required three routers.<br />
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Since there are ~184 biscuits involved in the T&K Railway and they all fit tightly, only the biscuits on either side of the mounting screws were glued. The lap joints were also glued and clamped until dry.<br />
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It was a two drill press operation – One to drill, and the other to countersink for the screw heads. I ran out of photogenic work supports on the project. The table-top drill press’s work support is an oak 2X4 clamped to a Jorgenson clamp tightened on to the door.<br />
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On the first Saturday of inside work, the central air conditioner conked out. Although it was not unreasonably hot outside, with all the lights I had on for the work, the train’s new room started getting hot. Fortunately, I still had a small window unit left over from when the Airstream’s A/C quit.<br />
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The plan had always been to paint the project after installation. I hate painting. Since any smile I have while painting is insincere, here’s a shot of a happy Number 1 son helping me mask off the area.<br />
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After caulking, priming, and painting, new & old track was screwed down before running a power bus around the perimeter. Five different taps were used to supply power to the 58 feet of track.<br />
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To my reckoning, it’s been about 40 years since my 63 year-old locomotive developed tractive force. Although there is a bit of a story involved in getting Lionel 2034 to steam up again, it is a tale for another time. Suffice to say it did steam up without having to buy anything.<br />
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Since the video was made, Kim & the Boyz gifted lighted sleeper and mail service cars to the Railway. It looks awesome in action.<br />
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I’m thinking about other improvements like a backdrop of sky or something. Feel free to comment with any ideas.<br />
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TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-43093858478074582342015-03-19T12:52:00.000-05:002015-03-19T12:52:59.437-05:00Getting Ready for 2015In preparation of next week’s Airstream trip to beach, the Overlander was moved out into the open for easier washing & general de-winterizing.<br />
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There has been a curb-side, rooftop, interior leak for some time now that seemed to get worse near the end of last camping season. In an effort to locate it, an electric leaf blower was pointed into the cooktop exhaust vent to pressurize the camper while it was being washed.<br />
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After blocking off the refrigerator’s floor & roof vents, the exterior was washed with an extra amount of Ivory dish soap. Due to it being a drizzly day, no rinsing was done until the very end. No joy. The only leaks which blew bubbles were the expected areas like doors where it is not really an issue because there is secondary containment.<br />
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Frustratingly, even with the positive pressure, there was a couple tablespoons of water in the bathroom near the window. The leak must be somewhere in the Bay Breeze A/C. Disassembly will be required. But not today.<br />
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Since we usually do full-hookups, it has been quite some time since the blue boy has seen action. It seemed prudent to check its integrity since the Airstream will only have power & water at our Camping Season Opener.<br />
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It passed.<br />
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Next up was re-hydrating the plumbing. The cold side went without a hitch. Hot side not so much. Five or 10 seconds after the water heater filled up the kitchen faucet went from spitting air & water to just a slow trickle of water. The aerator had filled with a variety of boogers.<br />
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I don’t recall ever seeing boogers on the hot side. Especially green ones. Anyhoo, after more flushing, both hot & cold systems were blown out with compressed air, and refilled with a stouter-than-usual Clorox solution from the white tank.<br />
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After blowing that out, the systems were refilled from shore water.<br />
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Next up were the gas appliances. All three cooktop burners had perfect flames.<br />
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The furnace lit with less trouble than usual and ran beautifully. Although there are no plans to run it next week, since the 48 year-old device was not used last season I was just curious to see if it was mad about being left out. Apparently not.<br />
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The refrigerator pilot lit easily and had a pleasing, gentle roar to it (no build-up in the burner to clean) and ended up making ice cubes in the freezer. The fridge was later switched to electric and the ice stayed frozen. So I went ahead & stocked the bottom with my usual “mineral water”.<br />
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The original, Bowen/Atwood water heater fired up & cycled with no complaint.<br />
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Both the oven & air conditioner were run through their paces and found to be ready for the upcoming trip. Last but not least, the radio also checked out fine.<br />
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The weather cleared up enough later for me to replace some exterior parts.<br />
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A year or two after the Overlander returned to the road after a long hiatus, I had occasion to show it to my uncle the original owner. Although he was a man of few words, he chose to snicker about how I had not replaced the rusty latches on the rock guard. The ultimate reason was that I had run out of money for incidentals. The runner-up reason was that the only place selling replacements at the time still sold them stamped out of rustable steel.<br />
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Luckily, Vintage Trailer Supply expanded their inventory, and appeared to appreciate the need to market a better product. They persuaded the Original Equipment Manufacturer to stamp a run made out of stainless steel. I wish Uncle Les was still around to see the end result – It was quite an improvement.<br />
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Coming around the home stretch, the day was supposed to conclude with the replacement of a fractured door-jamb striker pocket. But while sizing up the task, I noticed the door knob had stopped actuating the striker from the inside even though the outside knob still worked as normal.<br />
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My heart sank. Years ago while learning the best ways to refurbish my American Classic, I kept reading tales about how expensive ($200 – $300) these locks were to replace since the OEM (Theo. Bargman Co.) was no longer in business. And that’s IF a replacement, usually a refurbed unit, could be found. The best case in my situation was that the problem was due to a loose screw like Frank’s Trailer Works blogged about awhile back.<br />
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Sadly, after removal & disassembly the problem was revealed to be a broken pot-metal striker. From experience, I know pot-metal can neither be welded nor glued successfully. This probably meant a new lock assembly would be necessary because who would be making new parts for a 48 year-old lock?<br />
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Vintage Trailer Supply would! By virtue of being milled from an aluminum billet, the new part is naturally stronger than the original part. Reasonably priced, too – cheaper than I could have made it myself. The cost to next-day ship it was lower than some vendors’ price to “get it when it gets there” cost. I really enjoy doing business with VTS.<br />
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As expected, the new part fit like a glove. Reassembly went without incident, and before long the new striker from VTS was interfacing with the new striker pocket from VTS like nothing had ever gone wrong.<br />
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Although I was happy to spend so little on the repair, had I have had to spend considerably more there would have been no complaint because my vintage Airstream has been very good to me cost wise. After the initial refurb 12 years ago, the only money of real consequence spent on maintenance has been on two different air conditioner issues. I am continually surprised how much mileage we have gotten out of the original appliances.<br />
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Camping in 2015 appears to be getting off to a good start. I can hardly wait until next week’s Florida trip.<br />
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TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-21895174678090724302015-02-25T13:15:00.000-06:002015-02-25T13:15:44.743-06:00More Hot Water for Less MoneyNatural gas is a phenomenal source of energy and does a fantastic job of keeping our house warm. Surprisingly, even with many 18 degF days this winter, our power bill has been higher than the gas bill. Granted, with all the fracking going on, natural gas is cheap & readily available. But for the first time since we have lived here, it has been cheaper to heat our house in cold weather than it was to cool it during summer.<br />
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I am usually a big proponent of using natural gas for any kind of heating simply because it typically does a better job. To that end, in addition to gas heat our house has a gas cooktop, and a gas 40 gallon water heater. We’ll keep the electric dryer because I heard the gas version yellows clothes. The only big heat user left is a 40 gallon electric water heater on a timer in series with the gas version installed long ago when we had no children and electricity was cheaper.<br />
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That electric water heater is now 19 years old, and has been limping along since the upper thermostat went kaput several years ago. The timer was bypassed near the end of the Clinton administration because with small children, we seemed to constantly need a lot of hot water. Marketed by Envir-O-Temp & made by American Water Heaters in Tennessee, it has certainly been the Eveready Bunny of water heaters.<br />
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Between trying to lower our power bill and knowing the tank will not last forever, the numbers were run to compare the current gas versus electric water heating costs. In unsurprising news, around here it now costs roughly half as much money to heat water with gas as it does with electricity. The added bonus of a gas water heater’s faster recovery time made it clear we were through heating water with electricity.<br />
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The next Saturday’s clear, warm weather afforded the perfect opportunity to run an additional Type B vent pipe through the garage’s ceiling & roof. The original plan had been to pick up a new water heater afterwards and decide whether to install it in what remained of the weekend, or wait till another day. After arriving at the Store, the plan was quickly modified to, “go home and study-up on the new electronic thermostat (gas valve) now being used by everyone”.<br />
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To me, a gas water heater should work while connected to nothing but gas & water. That way, if the power goes out, like it did for a week a few years ago, we will still have hot water. Some high-efficiency gas water heaters require 120 VAC to power a blower. While perusing the selection to make sure a water heater was available without a power cord, all brands were noticed to be using the exact same Honeywell electronified thermostat. Some even have WiFi capability. No brand in any store had the old-style thermostat like I kept from the last water heater I replaced.<br />
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After further reading, I found that the new style thermostat has a circuit board with a processor & memory chip and is powered by a souped-up thermocouple called a thermal pile. No additional power is needed. Sadly the Internet is full of horror stories about this thermostat. Specifically, if the temperature is set too high, the temperature may exceed some limit known only to the controller, and the entire assembly has to be replaced because a “die & never work again” message is written to memory.<br />
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Often blamed on sediment in the tank, this scenario is one of the most common problems with the new-style Honeywell gas valve. From what I can surmise, the folks at Honeywell must have been trying to emulate the meltable thermal fuse function found in the old-style gas valves. Further reading revealed the Company has since modified the design by adding an insulating sleeve to the temperature probe to make it less sensitive to sediment.<br />
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I started feeling better after reading that the water heater manufacturers are apparently sympathetic to the whole issue, and are quick to send out replacement thermostats. Johnny down at A-1 Appliance felt the high number of complaints was due to the fact that all water heater manufacturers are now using this controller. Statistically, with more implementations there will be more issues. After remembering a similar story about my Goodyear Marathon trailer tires I was at peace with purchasing the new technology.<br />
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My 15 year-old drove us in the snow to get the new water heater since he needed the inclement weather driving experience.<br />
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A new Whirlpool-brand water heater was purchased because it too is now made by American Water Heaters.<br />
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Other than sediment briefly clogging the drain hose, the replacement went without a hitch.<br />
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I love working with copper plumbing:<br />
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A new feature was added to this installation – a hot/cold water pipe bonding wire where the pipes perforate the wall.<br />
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Although not required in Alabama, the potential benefits, from what I read, appeared to out-weigh the small cost of the parts required.<br />
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Even with the horror stories about overheating being fresh on my mind, I still wanted the kitchen dishwasher to get water with a temperature of at least 120 degF. With the aid of a temperature probe on my multi-meter each water heater’s thermostat was adjusted for a tank outlet temperature of ~140 degF.<br />
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The preferred temperature was achieved with each thermostat set just above the corresponding scales’ midpoint. I’m comfortable with that.<br />
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Here’s a face-off of new & old thermostats. The new Honeywell is at the left connected to the yellow gas line.<br />
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So far, so good. I think my oldest boy tried to run out all the hot water the other morning. The only thing he succeeded at was doing a good imitation of a steamed lobster. <br />
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Hopefully, the next winter-time power bill will finally be lower than the gas bill!<br />
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TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-27368542340257537802015-01-19T15:59:00.000-06:002015-01-19T16:01:01.097-06:00Trombone: One Year Later<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It has been a little over a year since I started learning how to play the trombone, and although fun, the learning curve has been steeper than anticipated. Since I played trumpet in high school, I thought mastering this low-brass instrument would involve little more than learning slide positions. Wrong! After trying to play a Sousa March, I found that I had forgotten some of the musical nomenclature.<br />
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Plus, what little embouchure I had for the trumpet did not map over to the trombone’s bigger mouthpiece. But I stuck with it, and between learning the rudiments from Rubank’s Elementary Method for Trombone, and re-learning to sight read by playing hymns, progress was steadily made.<br />
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After a couple months of practice proved to me this was not a passing fancy, an extra-tall, band-room quality music stand was purchased for the effort. That was money well spent as it simultaneously made keeping up with several music books easier and cleaned up the look of my practice room.<br />
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By the end of the year, between birthday & Christmas gifts, two other stands and several more music books were added to the effort.<br />
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Although the free tuning fork software provided by the Internet was perfect for matching slide positions with the correct audio frequencies, everyone’s metronome software didn’t click with me for various reasons. I tried going without a beat reference but after a while, the timing of most of my musical selections seemed to be corresponding to some variation of the room’s cuckoo clock beat period.<br />
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Acting on the premise that a mechanical metronome might appeal to my “do it the hard way” nature, we got Amazon Prime to send me a wind-up version.<br />
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The metronome is on the left. <a href="http://www.yellowhammerbrewery.com/beers.htm" target="_blank">Rebellion</a> is an outstanding locally brewed red ale. Not a good practice beer, though, because it’s high alcohol content makes the slide move a bit too freely; better to stick with Natty Lite if I ever plan to get good at triple-tonguing fast passages of music.<br />
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I occasionally share my trombone adventure with friends, and the ones with musical backgrounds often ask if I am taking private lessons. Although “no” is the short answer, YouTube has been a wonderful resource for this effort. JohnWright1964.com in particular has many helpful videos available for anyone wanting to learn a band instrument. The musician at ClassicalTrombone.com is nothing but amazing with both his virtuosity, and ability to adapt the trombone to pop music.<br />
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After a year’s worth of near daily effort, I have finished my Rubank’s book, and have practiced 450 hymns at least one time each.<br />
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At this point, I would rank me as either a first-chair Junior High School trombonist or third-chair High School. So there is no worry about me giving up my day job.<br />
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But if I am ever able to keep up with<a href="http://www.classicaltrombone.com/" target="_blank"> Christopher Bill</a> on pop, Harry Watters on jazz or <a href="http://www.bobmcchesney.com/" target="_blank">Bob McChesney</a> on anything, I would think strongly about a second career!<br />
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<br />TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-72747152530292559002014-12-27T11:39:00.000-06:002014-12-27T11:39:33.829-06:00Making Lemonade From Maple<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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This year at my in-law’s Thanksgiving dinner Kim’s mom asked me to make her another wide cutting board because the size of the last one I custom-made for her was handy for keeping hot stuff from damaging her countertop.</div>
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So a few weeks ago, a maple, rough-cut board that appeared to fit the material list was dug out the wood crib.</div>
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The 1-inch thick board was then cut into three pieces which were then planed to remove <i>most</i> of the roughness, then edge jointed for flat glue surfaces.<br />
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Just as I have done countless times in the past, the boards were then bonded with polyurethane glue, clamped, weighted, and left alone overnight.<br />
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The next day, the glue-up was ripped to size, and repeatedly run through the planer with the intent of producing an end-product with a thickness of no less than ¾-inch.<br />
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But it eventually became evident that I had screwed up the boards’ arrangement at glue-up because at 11/16-inch thickness the project was still not flat.<br />
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So the uncompleted effort was tossed back into the wood crib before commencing round two with a different board.<br />
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After paying attention this time, I was rewarded with an end product which turned out like I wanted. Plus, Kim’s mom was thrilled with it.<br />
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The story would have ended there if my youngest son had not asked me to fix the keyboard tray attached to his computer desk a few days later. One look told me the repair would not just be a simple adjustment.<br />
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Repairing the stripped out screw holes looked like a problem until I remembered the failed cutting board blank. Bingo! It had the perfect starting size.<br />
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It finished out well in very little time. I skipped applying a protective finish because no one cared about one nor did they want to wait out the drying time.<br />
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Everyone was pleased with the final product.<br />
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Waste not, want not!<br />
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TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-78998715276465877352014-11-19T17:39:00.000-06:002014-11-19T17:39:50.861-06:00YouTube On A Dumb TV<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I get a lot of enjoyment listening to many of the musicians on YouTube and iTunes. But after burning CDs and queuing playlists on the iPod to play on the den stereo started getting old I decided to run an audio line under the house to connect the computer directly to the stereo. The convenience was great; wish I had done it sooner.<br />
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But after a week or so I decided it would also be neat to watch what was happening on the den’s TV while listening to it on the room’s big speakers. While Smart TVs are all the current rage, the boob tube in the den ain’t that bright due to age. For a variety of reason$ I decided to run new wires to it instead of replacing it with something that can spell WIFI.<br />
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After looking at the computer’s outputs and the TV’s available inputs I was pleased to see that the purchase of an HDMI cable would interconnect the two and provide both video and audio to the TV. Amazon offered one of appropriate length for an insanely low price, and delivered it for free two days later.<br />
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Although there was no reason the setup should not work, the cable was run down the hall first for a GO/NO-GO check.<br />
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Immediate success on the video portion. The audio took a few mouse clicks on the computer to get it going.<br />
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Usually, when wiring a room for either power or signal, I run wire off of a spool and crimp/solder it to the wall plate’s connectors. HDMI cable, with its 19 individual signal wires, is only commonly available with the ends already installed. The wall plate has a short pigtail in which the end is installed.<br />
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Fortunately, the connector was slightly smaller than the wiring drill I already owned.<br />
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The problem with adding individual capabilities over time to a room is that one can end up with a lot of wall plates.<br />
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The computer room’s wall is not as bad since many functions are doubled-up.<br />
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Between not wanting to cut another hole in the sheetrock nor purchase some rather expensive, specialty wall plates, I decided to run the HDMI wire out of a hole drilled in an existing wall plate directly to the TV or computer. Although no major issues are expected, the specialty wall plates can be easily added later.<br />
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The new setup worked out even better than anticipated… until a new issue was noticed: Now that a computer was nowhere near, I never realized how often my mouse had handled the “Click here to skip advertisement” button. It was annoying to pause dinner preps to trudge down the hall to do nothing more than click a button. Remote control of the computer was needed.<br />
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Once again Amazon rose to the challenge, and offered a wireless keyboard & mouse combo for a reasonable amount of money. The immediate problem with using the hardware was that there were communication-blocking walls between the computer where the hardware’s USB transponder would be plugged in, and where the mouse & keyboard would be used. The transponder would need to be moved to be within visual range of the hardware.<br />
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To complicate the issue, the length of USB extension cord necessary to extend the transponder exceeded the magic number of five meters (~16 feet). A USB repeater would be required to span the required distance. Once again, though, Amazon had one available with a reasonable price tag.<br />
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This time the new wire was run to come out on the wall which services my cordless headphones. This will ensure the mouse and keyboard can be operated from the kitchen as well as the den.<br />
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The transponder, mounted in an old D-Link WIFI dongle holder, is quite unobtrusive.<br />
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The latest new wiring has been in place for a week now, and I haven’t found anything else to add or change. Time to kick back in the La-Z-Boy® and enjoy!
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TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-85601667827769315872014-11-01T10:55:00.000-05:002014-11-01T12:24:39.703-05:00Trombone Bumper Felt Replacement<br />
Even though I have not been at the trombone for a year yet, thanks to a yard sale another trombone, a Cleveland 605, now graces my bass clef instrument collection.<br />
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Although the slide is worn, the horn is still playable. The instrument caught my eye because the mouthpiece it came with, a Bach 7, was recommended by some on the Internet, and I was interested in trying it out. Since the total cost of the trombone/case/mouthpiece was less than the cost of a new Bach 7 shipped from Amazon.com I now have a backup beginner trombone.<br />
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The instrument did have two significant issues, though – the slide lock spun freely instead of latching at its stop, and the slide clanked when slid to first position. Fortunately, both issues were due to the lack of dampening material between the inner & outer slides.<br />
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After thoroughly cleaning the ~39 year-old instrument, I scrounged around in my shop and found an O-ring which appeared to be the perfect thickness for the task. After slipping it down into the deep recess of where it was needed, the slide quit clanking. But the slide lock now would not lock at all. The O-ring had apparently hung on something (probably a bumper remnant) before hitting dead bottom, and the resultant gap made the effective O-ring thickness too great.<br />
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After picking through my toolbox yielded no mechanical means long enough to get down to the O-ring to remove it, I decided to dissolve it with chemicals. Sadly, while just about anything will dissolve a <i>rubber</i> O-ring, no commonly available chemical appeared able to dissolve the <i>neoprene</i> version I installed. A special tool was going to be needed.<br />
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I thought about taking the slide to a brass instrument repair shop until Mr. Google advised me $75 was the going Hourly Shop Rate. Taking that route would have more than doubled my investment in the instrument.<br />
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Fortunately, Ferree’s Tools out of Battle Creek MI sells the tool I needed for a reasonable cost. Since my other trombone’s bumper material is close to being worn out, I ordered the tool. I wanted to buy new bumper cork from them, but they only sold it bulk packages for more than I wanted to spend. Although eBay had a couple of vendors selling the needed parts, in what was no surprise shipping & handling was more than the parts themselves. Perhaps it was time to check locally.<br />
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So, I went back to the local music shop who originally sold me a learn-to-play-the-trombone book. Although their back room had lots of brass instrument repair tools strewn about, I could tell their technician leaned more towards woodwind repair, and although I watched him scour the shop in earnest there were no bumpers to be found. Nice guy, though – I would definitely keep him in mind should I ever need a woodwind repair.<br />
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The next stop was a place that did nothing but band instrument repair. Unfortunately, the lady who greeted me when I walked in only did the books, and advised me to come back when the man who did the actual repairs returned from a service call.<br />
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Mr. Google advised me there was another music shop on the other side of town who also advertised instrument repair. Since it was a nice day out I decided to drive over with the resolution of getting the bumpers from eBay if this place did not work out.<br />
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The lady who greeted me when I walked in had no idea of what a trombone bumper cork was, and walked me over to an older gentleman in the front office & presented my request.<br />
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“Got no cork. Only felt” he said kinda gruffly while appearing to decide if I looked capable of effecting the repair.<br />
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“Felt would be great!” I replied. “Because the trombone has neither right now.”<br />
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“Do you have the right tool for the job? Any trace of the old bumper will keep the new one from working right.”<br />
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“Yes sir, I do.” I figured there was no reason to explain why I had already found that out.<br />
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After a brief trip to the back, he returned with the four felts I requested (two for each of my trombones). As he was ringing the sale up, he both asked again if I had the right tool, and reaffirmed the importance of removing all traces of the old bumper. “Yes sir, I bought it from Ferree’s.”<br />
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“Ferree’s Tool & Die?”<br />
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He appeared to be simultaneously pleased and relieved at my choice of tool.<br />
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“You’ve got the right tool.”<br />
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Two dollars later I was on my way home.<br />
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The funny thing was that even though I had probably the only tool capable of getting the O-ring out, I thought it was going to be a huge challenge, and the O-ring was going to come out in small pieces. Nope – even as tight as it originally fit, the O-ring was removed intact in under a minute. Cleaning all of what remained of the original green felts ended up being the time hog.<br />
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It took well over an hour using a combination of WD-40 and the special tool before I was satisfied that all traces of the old felts were gone.<br />
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But my reward for the time spent was to have a slide that now latched correctly, and not clank when sliding into first position too fast.<br />
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With the slide now behaving more like it is supposed to, I practiced with the trombone for a couple of sessions. I like my Olds Ambassador better because the slide is lighter, and the spit valve spring does not require the pinch of death to actuate. The jury is still out on the mouthpiece, though. Perhaps one day I will get some trombone lessons, and find out why it was different than I was expecting.<br />
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Hopefully, the next trombone I see in a yard sale will have an F attachment – some people on the Internet think they’re pretty neat…<br />
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TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-21660215579387404042014-10-26T09:13:00.000-05:002014-10-26T09:13:28.395-05:00Carrying A Weber Grill Without A Suburban<br />
As much as I did not want to, I sold my 1984 Suburban last year because it got too expensive to operate. As an Airstream hauler, the truck was great because the back would hold everything we wanted plus the kitchen sink. My full-size Weber grill fit especially well.<br />
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The post-Burb plan was to tow with my Silverado for camping trips needing the grill, and Kim’s Yukon the rest of the time. The plan almost worked until my oldest son grew too tall to fit comfortably fit in the pickup’s extended cab for long trips.<br />
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So we bought the smaller Smokey Joe and tried it out for a few trips.<br />
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For its size, it does a really good job, and would be perfect for two people. But for our family of four and/or cooking for others, the big Weber is the grill I would rather have at the campsite.<br />
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Since it was not going to be carried in the Yukon, the goal was to figure out to safely carry it in my Airstream The best area appeared to be forward where the fold-out table is.<br />
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A small cabinet to the table’s left is securely screwed to the wall, and appeared to be strong enough help with keeping the grill from rolling around.<br />
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A carrying fixture was constructed from various wood cut-offs to bolt to the side of the wine cabinet with one, 7/16-inch fastener.<br />
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The wheels are constrained from rolling with moulding strips while a simple keeper on a grooved block of cherry keeps the grill on the fixture. A long cherry board mounted to the side dissipates the stress of panic stops.<br />
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While it is easily removable, the fixture is not that obtrusive. We actually left in place on a layover stop while en route to Disney earlier this year since the table easily folds out over it.<br />
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The carrier ended up being so stable we ended up bungee-cording a couple of bicycles to the grill on the way back from our last trip.<br />
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In addition to working out much better than I initially hoped for, the simple fixture makes not having the Mighty Burb anymore easier to live with.<br />
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.TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636559211255355046.post-29372701231134340522014-09-14T12:10:00.002-05:002014-09-14T12:10:42.708-05:00Making My Own “Forties On 4”<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Of all the time periods, music of the 1940’s is my overall favorite. Out-of-town road trips in my wife’s Yukon were always fun because I had the chance to listen to XM radio’s forties’ music on channel four after Disney Radio had looped through too many times for everyone’s comfort. Sadly, the channel went away, and after XM increased their price for the remaining channels, the subscription was dropped.<br />
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Having the satellite radio channel to listen to meant I could keep ignoring roughly 200, 45rpm records from the forties I had mastered on five reels of the wrong kind of tape back in 1997. In a nutshell, the 45’s needed to be transferred to cassette tape for someone else, and I decided to dub to reel-to-reel first because the deck is easier to start & stop recording than my cassette deck. A while earlier someone else had given me a small stack of brand-new, Ampex reel-to-reel recording tape, and I thought this highly regarded brand would be great for the task.<br />
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After the completed recordings came out sounding tinny, research revealed that the Ampex tape required a different level of recording bias than my machine normally produced. Although post-processing could have resolved the issue, the cassette end-user, since none of this cost him anything, was okay with adjusting his stereo’s tone controls at playback. Plus, I didn’t have any post-processing equipment then like I did in high school. Way back then, I had a stereophonic, 10-band graphic equalizer from DAK which was bought to compensate for my system’s low-fidelity speakers. That device would have easily corrected all traces of the original issue. But the need for that piece of hardware evaporated after I got my Polk Audio SDA1 speakers, and the equalizer was given to someone who needed it.<br />
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If nothing else, 2014 will go down as “the year of the $1 yard sale finds” because a few weeks ago, a dollar bill was traded for a seven-band equalizer which only needed a power cord.<br />
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The next step was to experimentally determine the best settings. For this phase, the equalizer was hooked up to the output of the tape deck, and a song from the turntable was recorded on the same lot of Ampex tape as the original effort. The tape was then rewound, and the stylus placed back at the start of the record so both were playing at the same time. Alternating between the two sources, the equalizer slides were then adjusted until the two streams sounded the same. Daniel’s young ears were a big help here.<br />
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I thought it was a great exercise for Daniel in that he got to see what used to be involved in playing music back before iTunes & YouTube.<br />
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After calibration, it was supposed to be a simple task of playing the tapes into the computer.<br />
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But after the first tape, the sound was off in a new way. It was muffled & dragging. Although the tapes appeared to be in good shape, the effects of time had not totally escaped them because the deck’s heads & drive paths were gumming up with tape particles as the tape passed over. Luckily cleaning the deck with denatured alcohol & Q-tips after each side of each tape was digitized solved that problem.<br />
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A new issue with my old deck popped up, and it is doubtful there are any new parts available to fix it. The pinch roller is worn down, hard, and has lost its grip. They used to make a potion with a potent smell that could be swabbed on which would restore grip for a while. But I haven’t seen that stuff since the Carter administration. Since I only had five tapes to do, fulcrumming a screwdriver weighted with solder provided enough extra force on the pinch roller to keep the songs playing back in the key in which they were recorded.<br />
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After the kinks were worked out, the digitizing software was set to stop recording a minute or so after the tape ran out. This way, I could go off & do something else without listening to the music because the listening came when each song was split from the big .wav file. In the image below, each colored block denotes a single song.<br />
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Different software was used to burn CDs with title/performer information added as CD text. This info makes the radio in our new Chevy look just like XM radio when one of the new CDs is playing.<br />
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It is my understanding that public outcry forced XM radio to reconsider, and bring back the forties channel. While that’s great, I am in no rush to sign back up. At least, not until I get tired of listening to the nine hours of music I just finished producing.<br />
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.TomWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13398573124082104796noreply@blogger.com1