What have you fettled today?

[rafletcher]

Took the vacuum to the shed/workshop, clearing up loads of dead leaves that have blown in, plus assorted earth and gravel. And then cleared the majority of the cobwebs, plus whatever insect droppings were on the bench

Then I plugged in my new! shiny! Wahoo Headwind fan. Paired it to the Wahoo app. Selected “speed” control. “Pair with an ANT+ speed sensor” it says. Hmmm, sit on turbo bike and start pedalling - and fan starts immediately. Stop pedalling, let turbo spin down, fan stops. As easy as that. Ok, I knew the turbo had both BT and ANT+ but expected more effort to be involved.

[ElyDave]

Attempted to fit front mudguard to mid-90's mtb, too wide at the point where it passes through the fork, because it assumes a boingy front end which I does not haz. Some judicious removal of plastic will be needed.

Why are mudguards such a PITA.

[hatler]

Ultrasonically cleaned some of Mrs hatler's jewellery. Freed front mech on main bike (seized through lack of use), cleaned both my and Mrs hatler's bike, trued Mrs hatler's rear wheel using new rolling end piece for the DTI (very satisfying - is 0.1mm runout acceptable ?) and replaced brake blocks on rear of Mrs hatler's machine.

Tried starting the motorbike but only got it to cough a couple of times before I ran out of time. Have to try again tomorrow, it's due a run.

Fettled eight pizzas for a hungry family.

[rogerzilla]

I clayed and waxed the MX-5, changed the wiper blades and cut the grass.  Every neighbourhood cat, including one of my two, shits on the front lawn.  It's a territory marking thing but I wish they'd have a literal pissing contest instead - solids are not nice.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

You're probably right. I couldn't even get it to move, let alone trying to get it out of the hole. And I still have a several trips to the car's worth of paving to get rid of as well.
Seems to be another tick in the 'build a raised bed instead' column.

Check out ‘expansive grout demolition’ or similar search terms.
https://www.dexpan-canada.com/info/instructions-for-using-dexpan-to-break-rock-or-reinforced-concrete

[MattH]

The shiny new TV I bought recently has an irritating "feature" that you can't select the HDMI input by a single remote control command. That means that using my Logitech Harmony do-everything remote, when switching to say HDMI4 to go to one of my set top boxes, I have to send the input command, then half a dozen down presses to make sure it's at the bottom of the inputs list, then an up command (as HDMI4 is one up from the bottom of the list) then an OK. That is scripted on the Harmony (choose "watch Freeview" and it automatically turns on all the right things and does that input selection), but it takes quite a bit of time and is irritating when switching between sources. It also sometimes gets out of sync and doesn't do the right thing.

So, figured out (with a bit of help from Mr Google) that you can directly choose an input on the TV by sending a command over ADB (Android Debug Bridge) to it - it's an AndroidTV. So, enable developer options on the TV and turn on ADB. Add the AndroidTV integration to my Home Assistant box. Figure out the incantation to send the right ADB command.
Add an emulated Roku box to Home Assistant - it pretends to be a Roku set top box and is visible to the Harmony remote control over Wifi, but routes key presses to Home Assistant as events, which you can use to trigger actions - like sending ADB commands out to the TV over ethernet! Add a bunch of automations into Home Assistant to receive each key press and convert to an ADB command for the relevant TV input.

Reprogram the Harmony remote so that when I want to watch each device it sends the relevant key press to the virtual Roku which Home Assistant converts to the correct HDMI ADB command using the automation scripts and flips the TV input.

And I now get instant input switching!

Easy - can't think why I didn't try this before 

And there's a special part of hell reserved for TV designers who removed functionality like this (apparently you used to be able to do it directly a few firmware updates prior to me buying my set) - that place is right next to the car designers who put service part access (like bulb replacement) in places that aren't accessible once the car is built and off the assembly line.

[Mrs Pingu]

Good grief, well done on having the arsed to go through all that lot!

[T42]

Tried washing the bar tape on the Electric Cow yesterday with hot, soapy water.  It took off some of the crud but it still looks grubby.

Thought to myself "maybe I should put it through the dishwasher, it'd bugger the adhesive but isn't that why God made double-sided tape?"

Maybe it'd be a good tip for April Fools 2023.  Only with the washing machine.

[Jurek]

I clayed and waxed the MX-5, changed the wiper blades and cut the grass.  Every neighbourhood cat, including one of my two, shits on the front lawn.  It's a territory marking thing but I wish they'd have a literal pissing contest instead - solids are not nice.

My bold.
Here's a tip.
Pipe freezer spray is your friend and makes turds manageable.

[Polar Bear]

Attempted to fit front mudguard to mid-90's mtb, too wide at the point where it passes through the fork, because it assumes a boingy front end which I does not haz. Some judicious removal of plastic will be needed.

Why are mudguards such a PITA.

Heating and reshaping might be more successful in that the plastic is likely to last longer in my experience.  It's a tedious job though.

[Mrs Pingu]

Well, this morning I did successfully dig it out and get it to move,
2022-04-03_11-35-16 by The Pingus, on Flickr
but it was even deeper than I thought, so after some consideration we decided to fill it back in and the compost heap can live there
2022-04-03_11-35-30 by The Pingus, on Flickr

[MattH]

That seems like an eminently sensible plan!

[trundle]

Found a spare pair of Rollerboy jockey wheels in the spares pile which were duly transferred to the Elan. Makes bugger all difference as far as I can tell. But better on the bike than in a box.

[campagman]

I unraveled a wire coat hanger (don't you love it when things you've kept for years find a new use?) which I'm hopefully going to use to clean out the tube of the hydration bladder. I have a small bottle brush which I hope to use for the cleaning but have seen that pipe cleaners can be used also. A job for tomorrow will be to warm up and disassemble the tube assy.

[Dibdib]

Fettled the tatty number plates with mum's personal reg off the car, and re-fitted the originals which had been under the boot floor with the spare and the tools for about a decade. It's only taken me about three years or so to get around to sorting it.

And surprisingly, physically changing the plates was more of a faff than fettling the requisite paperwork with DVLA (£80, ouch), insurance company, and breakdown people. Now I'm just waiting for the parking website to update their database lookup thingybob so it recognises the new-old reg so I don't have to faff around with loose change and paper tickets at the park'n'ride tomorrow.

[campagman]

I spent the morning cleaning the sticky rubber handle on the fry pan. Google said use rubbing Alcohol which I have but 20 yrs old. Does it keep? Anyway after numerous attempts I now have a clean handle.
In the pm as mentioned I cleaned the tube from the bladder. I tried hot water to help remove the bite-valve but this didn't work and in the end I just pushed the brush down from the other end. Worked ok, I think. It's now ready for my posh HF walking holiday I'm going on in a couple of weeks. Somebody told me last week, when I was away picking up covid (see other thead) that HF stands for Husband Finder. So could be interesting.

[FifeingEejit]

Bought a 2nd hand shower diverter on ebay the other week, all fitted up but quickly found out why it was on ebay at such a knock down price.
Bit of fiddling revealed that the most likely cause was a failed bi-stable latching solenoid valve.

Aqualisa proudly demand that there are no user serviceable parts inside, bullshite, presumably so that when basic bits fail like this they sell a new one for 220 quid. (if it was the circuit board based bits that had failed then yeah fair enough but even then...)

Figured out model required and ordered for 33 quid including postage on t'internet

Fitted today, and now have a good solid flow of water from both outlets on the diverter as demanded.

Someone has had a 220 quid write off for a 25 quid part.

Of course I did also have to spend money on rainfall head and a new push button thingy for it making the whole lot cost around 300 quid but...
This is the sort of thing I didn't consider when I bought this house, all the stuff that was fitted is decently expensive stuff and shouldn't just be replaced by any old B&Q 30 quid option.

[rogerzilla]

I rebuilt a pair of ancient PD-M323 pedals.  They are actually fiddlier than the Dura-Ace SPD-SLs with three bearing races, and that's saying something.  I have the special tool.

[Pingu]

... I have the special tool.

At this point I must say, "Fnarr!".

As you were...

[T42]

Put new gear cables on the Electric Cow, adjusted the gears, changed the HB tape.

[Mrs Pingu]

Rubble-B-Gone!
2022-04-09_05-26-35 by The Pingus, on Flickr

Then I moved this pile of bark chips and attempted to dig up the leylandii roots.
2022-04-09_05-24-49 by The Pingus, on Flickr

Quickly decided I was on a hiding to nothing so plan B was to move the bark chips all over the area (no doubt Pumpkin will be pleased at having a huge litter tray) with a view to planting on top of that lot. I also dug up and moved 3 huge boulders.
2022-04-09_05-24-00 by The Pingus, on Flickr
2022-04-09_05-24-16 by The Pingus, on Flickr

Did manage to dig up 2 small stumps that were near the shed that we kept tripping over with the aid of mattock based violence.
2022-04-09_05-23-34 by The Pingus, on Flickr

A robin was very interested.
2022-04-09_04-40-59 by The Pingus, on Flickr

I'm knackered now.

[ElyDave]

Drill holes in the stumps, pour in glyposate, they'll rot fairly quickly

[FifeingEejit]

Cabled up the Sardar, bar tape, and some new racks needed.

Looks like it'll need to be Tubus disco for the back or I could risk the Bor yueh one everyone else sells with the square angle legs that lokks like they'll just fail

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

[FifeingEejit]

I also need to sort out the squishes on the front guards, unfortunately do one seems to make decent 45mm guards for 26" wheels so they're for much bigger, which is fine at the back...

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

[Jurek]

Installed a Jasmine and a Honeysuckle alongside the brace of Clematis (Clemati?) that I put in a couple of weeks ago.
ETA - One of the Clematis has already attached itself to the trellis with a vengeance.