Author Topic: What have you fettled today?  (Read 2129693 times)

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15825 on: 20 April, 2021, 08:10:50 pm »
Full set of gear and brake cables on the Streetmachine.  This is fairly involved, and I'd been putting it off all winter in the hope I could get past the worst of the shite weather before putting nice new ones on, but the front gear cable frayed and started stabbing me in the finger on yesterday's ride, which forced the issue.

Lessons learned:

- Dremel good for trimming brake cable outer neatly, but wire cutters with a bit of sacrificial inner in place are better for gear cable outer.  The heat of grinding will make a mess of the outer plastic, hindering ferrule attachment.

- Basically zero schmoo had accumulated in the brake cables, suggesting that my experiment with covering the slot on the front of the (vertically oriented) MTB lever with tape to keep the rain out is surprisingly effective.

- I hadn't touched the parking brake (V-brake on a friction thumb-shifter) cable for years, on the basis it worked fine and was non-critical if it failed.  On inspection, it turned out that it was in similarly good condition, with no evidence of fraying in the shifter.  I suspect the weakest link may be the noodle.

- About a year ago, as I wasn't going anywhere interesting due to the pandemic, I'd replaced a fraying front gear cable inner with one of my accidentally purchase galvanised ones.  Predictably, this was a manky rusty mess.  But it still worked fine, presumably because I'd used brake cable outer (I bought a 50m roll some years back, and it's a friction shifter) which gave it a bit more room to move.

- I'd installed an oiler in the middle of the loop of rear gear cable, in an attempt to provide a drainage route for accumulated water.  All this really seemed to achieve was another set of ends to bed-in and make the indexing vague.  Didn't reinstall it, as I've got a oil port in the barrel adjuster, and have basically resigned myself to replacing this entire run whenever I can't get the indexing to behave, which is approximately once a year.

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15826 on: 20 April, 2021, 10:55:50 pm »
Inserted new batteries in camera trap for hedgehog cam duties, to see why they're visiting the backyard pond.. Drinking or fishing?

Found out that it don't like lithium* batteries... Duracells only, please! Such a waste...

* "surplus" AA cells after they've done insulin pump duties...reduced from 1.8v to 1.6v

Sent from my STF-L09 using Tapatalk

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
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Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15827 on: 21 April, 2021, 06:47:39 am »
Drinking, I should think. Although I dare say they'd have a go at tadpoles if they could reach them. Does your pond have a hog friendly ramp so they can climb out if they fall in?
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15828 on: 22 April, 2021, 11:05:24 am »
Since building up my Thorn club tour its never gone on to the granny ring very easily and I've not often needed it but have on occasions had to stop and give it a manual push.

Decided I really needed to sort this and thought I'd need a new mech as have an old deore front mech that with different cable runs and spacers is meant to fit pretty much anything but even with the adjustment screw as loose as can be it still wouldn't move inwards enough. I was considering a slightly longer BB or a new mech but actually found that if I swapped the spacers round so the bigger one is now on the non drive side of the frame it changes perfectly.

Remember proper procrastination prevents proper performance

robgul

  • Cycle:End-to-End webmaster
  • cyclist, Cytech accredited mechanic & woodworker
    • Cycle:End-to-End
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15829 on: 22 April, 2021, 06:33:28 pm »
Converted about 300 metres of tile batten into a rather smart horizontal slatted fence in our garden - the battery nail gun was the tool of choice  :thumbsup:

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15830 on: 22 April, 2021, 10:12:32 pm »
Drinking, I should think. Although I dare say they'd have a go at tadpoles if they could reach them. Does your pond have a hog friendly ramp so they can climb out if they fall in?
Yes to ramp... And we think drinking too but we just want to get the, as it were, *bottom* of why they're also shitting on the ramp! (Their toilet training leaves a bit to be desired)

Sent from my STF-L09 using Tapatalk


Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15831 on: 24 April, 2021, 04:47:32 pm »
Painted the front door with 2 coats of paint and the door frame with 1 coat (I would have done more but it was getting too cold to paint in the shade).
Sanded down some filler.
Chopped up a pallet.
Cleaned the grout off the new tiles round the stove.
And then I did a joinery, which I'm quite proud of.
It may not look much, but I'm quite chuffed with it considering I only have a jigsaw and a blunt plane that looks like a cheese grater, and very little skill.


2021-04-24_04-35-55 by The Pingus, on Flickr
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15832 on: 24 April, 2021, 05:33:03 pm »
Sharpened the blades and plate on The Girl's Husqvarna mincer. It's hand powered from The Olden Days and I'm molishing pork pies.  I only looked up how to sharpen them after I'd minced 1.6kg of pork shoulder. Obvs. (Hmm, should this go in the div thread?)
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15833 on: 24 April, 2021, 05:51:03 pm »
Tidied most of my bike wheels and tyres up in the garage.
Still got to figure out where so e will go but nearly there.
It's the Boxes of shite* I dumped everywhere from the old garage to sort next

* brake/gear cables, zip ties, bar end plugs etc.

Also finally soldered and shrink wrapped the speaker cable connection above the porch door so got them hidden now.

I might actually get out on my bike tomorrow too...

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk


Jayjay

  • Layin' back a bit these days.
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15834 on: 25 April, 2021, 03:22:24 pm »
The wand thingy on SWMBO's garden sprayer, the handle part of which seemed to have split rather badly.
This is the wand which I tried to use yesterday on my garden sprayer, the handle of which had mysteriously snapped itself in two.
Both of the above wet, pressurised faults showed up after I had taken my trike outside and removed her seat to facilitate a long overdue wash, and refilled the sprayer with car shampoo and water.
Trike washing was somewhat delayed, whilst superglue, bits of tent pole and copious amounts of shed language employed.

Both sprayers and (clean) trike are now ready for service.

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15835 on: 26 April, 2021, 08:55:47 am »
Making a plate rack.
Move Faster and Bake Things

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15836 on: 26 April, 2021, 09:32:36 am »
Finally acquired the round tuits needed to get the wireless doorbells working again - namely, a couple of CR2032 batteries, a lot of C batteries, and the instructions downloaded off the internet.

The dog was is excited - thinks we have visitors.

Annoyingly, I managed to break one of the clips needed to secure the faceplate of the bell push to its backing plate, so it is now secured with electrical tape. Pah! And this being an obsolete model, it's no longer possible to buy replacements, of course.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15837 on: 26 April, 2021, 10:10:17 am »
Fettled three vertical wooden battens onto the wall of the concrete garage ready for an extra bit of shelving. That's next weekend's task.

Mini got an eBay new bike and the brakes were set up rear right, so had a happy morning swapping those round. He's planning a 200 miler toward the end of the Summer so thought he deserved something a bit more suitable.
Rust never sleeps

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15838 on: 26 April, 2021, 11:15:54 am »
Fettle three vertical wooden battens onto the wall of the concrete garage walls ready for an extra bit of shelving. That's next weekend's task.

Mini got an eBay new bike and the brakes were set up rear right, so had a happy morning swapping those round. He's planning a 200 miler toward the end of the Summer so thought he deserved something a bit more suitable.
FSVO Mini.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15839 on: 26 April, 2021, 05:20:16 pm »
Nearly finished plate rack.
Move Faster and Bake Things

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15840 on: 27 April, 2021, 10:49:37 am »
Got around to sorting out the intermittent temperature gauge on the big bike, which was a poor earth on the thermostat, where the temp sensor is. The gauge would flip instantaneously between actual temperature and end stopping, then back again. The thermostat housing is mounted on rubber vibration mounts, so not grounded itself, and relies on a thin wire on a spade connector to provide it. That connection can corrode and go intermittent.

All fine, except to get to it you either need to go in from the front (all fairing plastics off, remove the radiator and assorted other gubbins, and still only have limited access to the front), or go in from the top (upper fuel tank off, airbox out, work through a gap in the V4 throttle body assemblies). I chose the latter, but that means needing to have the upper fuel tank empty as there is no stop valve in it so if it wasn't empty it soon would be once you've disconnected the big hose at the bottom. Which has the delaying aspect that I need to have run the bike low on fuel at a time when I'll have a couple of hours to do the work on it, and be at a level where the upper 21L is empty, and I've got home with the lower 8L tank having sufficient left in it that I can comfortably make it to a fuel station when done. Alternatively there are ways of draining the upper tank, but that's a faff and needs more hands than I possess to avoid spillage.

I got to make use of my rather nice Vessel Impact JIS screwdrivers to remove the airbox from the throttle bodies - these are done up very tight by Mr Honda (presumably to avoid the engine ingesting rattled-loose screws), and liable to round off the heads if you don't use the right tool.

Other than that, a simple job, which has taken me over a year to get around to  :)

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15841 on: 27 April, 2021, 09:12:07 pm »
Took the bedroom radiator off the wall, in prep for decorators arriving tomorrow.
We always forget how long they take to drain. That was well over an hour.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15842 on: 29 April, 2021, 03:50:44 pm »
Collected and re-assembled a new to me stationery cupboard.



Though there's not a lot of room for any stationery, once you get two folders, a trailer, a collection of luggage and a box of spares in there.




Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15843 on: 29 April, 2021, 08:06:08 pm »
We've had the decorators in wallpapering our bedroom the last couple of days, so while the kittehs were at borstal I took advantage of their absence.
Dug out all the sealant from under the windows in 2 rooms. Replaced it all with my shiny new Fugi kit. Painted the bedroom radiator and plumbed it back in.
Put the contents of the bedroom back in it.
I'm fucking knackered now. When we come to move I'm defo getting a bunch of burly chaps in.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15844 on: 29 April, 2021, 09:52:23 pm »
Leaving all the moving to me.

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15845 on: 30 April, 2021, 07:16:58 am »
Badoomtish
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15846 on: 01 May, 2021, 06:37:55 am »
Disassembled a couple of upright trike rear wheels yesterday. HK bought a virtually unridden SH trike (sad story) and I picked it up in Yorkshire. A couple of hours later, I left the unwanted rear rims, front wheel and three tubulars with a fellow audaxer near Leeds. Next stops had me picking up a fork from a Midlands trikie and dropping it off near the Chilterns.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

robgul

  • Cycle:End-to-End webmaster
  • cyclist, Cytech accredited mechanic & woodworker
    • Cycle:End-to-End
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15847 on: 01 May, 2021, 08:15:34 am »
Disassembled a couple of upright trike rear wheels yesterday. HK bought a virtually unridden SH trike (sad story) and I picked it up in Yorkshire. A couple of hours later, I left the unwanted rear rims, front wheel and three tubulars with a fellow audaxer near Leeds. Next stops had me picking up a fork from a Midlands trikie and dropping it off near the Chilterns.

The trike wasn't a Ken Rogers by any chance? - I sold mine to an old bloke in Yorkshire and I didn't expect him to ever ride it . . .  although having seen HK in the flesh it would have been somewhat too large for her.

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15848 on: 01 May, 2021, 08:29:55 am »
No, Trykit. I doubt it had totalled even 10km since being brazed up.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #15849 on: 01 May, 2021, 04:54:12 pm »
Put final coat of varnish on the new plate rack.


Our expensive new mixer tap is slowly failing to work as the levers seem to be losing contact with the valve spindle after little over a week in service.

The kitchen fitter who put it in was sent by Wickes and is a bit shy about answering his phone so I shall be going to Wickes and suggesting they sort it out while we can still get water out of the tap.  Apparently we should have been given
- a full spec
- care instructions
- a spare parts list
- a 2.5mm Allen key
- a warranty card

Although we have cooker instructions and dishwasher instructions we have no tap docs or Allen key.  On past performance Wickes will probably tell me to contact the fitter but the deal is with Wickes.
Move Faster and Bake Things