What have you fettled today?

[interzen]

Hmm, anyone any experience of half-link chains?

http://www.winstanleysbmx.com/product/22601/Gusset_Slink_HalfLink_Chain_Links_CHGUSHL3?gclid=CKb6nN31z7oCFUrJtAodgzEAPg

Cheaper than a full half-link chain.

[clarion]

One half link is OK.  A full half link chain is a bad idea.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Not today but Monday. Dug the beeswax out of my stem, tightened the bolt and replaced the wax with a cork. Yes, that was wax, genuine beeswax - which feels quite different from ordinary candle wax - in bike fettling. I'd put it in there when I lost the little plastic cap that fills the hole on top of my ugly hybrid stem some eight or nine years ago. Having dug the wax out to tighten the bolt, it didn't want to go back in - it was no longer one piece but friable, indeed fried friablised friated(?) - well, it was in little, rather dry pieces - so having tried bar ends (too small diameter) I found a cork from some old wine bottle (red, the stains show, and as we know, red wine is not an alcoholic drink but a health product) that fitted perfectly. And today it got tested in rain. Works on the cotton duck principle.

Tuesday: Sealed the draughty duct in the kitchen for winter. Or was that also on Monday? Anyway it's much more pleasant without the foot-level winds.

[Kim]

The fiddly bits of Project Electrify:  I've mounted the BMS in a proper enclosure, with an acrylic window for the cell balance blinkenlights, and made most of the holes in the enclosure that's going to contain the rest of the electronics (Watt meter and DC:DC converters for the lighting etc).  Also cut a trace and added a connector on the BMS to allow a remote low-current switch to shut down the battery via the BMS MOSFETs, rather than having a BFO isolator switch or circuit breaker on the main buss (there's still a fuse in case it all goes pear shaped).

This involved far too much careful melting of ABS using the sacrificial soldering iron (prior experience suggests that in the absence of CNC goodness, this is the best way to make awkward shaped holes in plastics).  I think barakta may be suffering from the fumes.

[Gattopardo]

At some point at the weekend the broken lightbulb in the hall got replaced with one of the shiny new LED ones that was lurking on the table.  A week ago I went out to work and came back to find that Valencia's chain had become clean while I was out.  I appear to have fettling fairies in the Den...

Can I borrow said fairies?

Fettled myself out of bed.  Washed head, and made coffee and porridge.

[fuzzy]

I won't know for sure until the A.M. but, I think I may have fettled a recalcitrant Exposure Joystick microswitch into some semblance of cooperation.

[Tim Hall]

Mended a fiend's dish washer, FSVO mended. All I did was close one of the wee clips that hold the top rack on its rails. She knew nothing of wee clips and had thought it had been b0rked for ages.  She now thinks that I am a fettling god.

[drossall]

I never realised that demons had time to do the washing up, FSVO demons.

[Gattopardo]

Does fettling computers count?  Or should that be wasting time as they aren't working still.

Fettling, more like avoiding what I should be doing.

[fuzzy]

I won't know for sure until the A.M. but, I think I may have fettled a recalcitrant Exposure Joystick microswitch into some semblance of cooperation.

It worked

[Gattopardo]

Suspect I may have broken the replacemnt motherboard.  FFS grrrrr.

[Gattopardo]

Moved to fettle another computer...well, assemble with another motherboard and power supply and even that doesn't work.

[Diver300]

Replaced the perished hose on the AirZound. Scared the dog by testing it.

[tiermat]

Setup a networked printer to provide printing to all networked devices in the house, and scanning for laptops.

[Kim]

Cable ties, mostly.

[Andrew Br]

I finished the Rohloff oil change.
SJS (I think) recommend going for a cup of tea while the oil drains.
I went "Large" on that and left both "drains" overnight, if not longer.
I also sneaked in 5 miles of riding while the "flushing" oil was in there.

The Rohloff has now done 5300 miles, 200 fewer than the Dirty Disco.
I've had the Rohloff a lot longer

[Feline]

I fettled my pond filters, complete drain down and flush to check nothing manky in any nooks and crannies to go rotten over winter. God, my hands got cold working in the water. Makes me want to consider heating the pond, but can't afford a heat pump to do it efficiently right now 
My fish are looking miserable at the moment, they know winter is upon them 

[tiermat]

The bike fettling job I really really hate. I fitted the mudguards to the inbred.

Also tidyed the garage a smidgen.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Replaced the rusty grease nipple on my Moulton with a SS nipple, filled the grease gun with moly grease and filled the suspension pivot. Replaced the pads on HK's Brompton but further brake pivot adjustments required after dinner.

Put most of the bike tools in the new big tool box.

[perpetual dan]

Fixed the toilet flush pipe.

[citoyen]

Fettled a home brewing kit over the weekend, enhancing it with some extra malt and a generous dose of Fuggles, with a further dose of Goldings to add later. I was beginning to worry that it had failed to start but had another look at it this morning and there's a good 10cm of foaming yeasty head on it. All being well, I should end up with five gallons of ~5% ABV Hoppy Bastard Ale hitting peak condition just in time to see me through the seasonal festivities.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Replaced rear brake pads on the trecker. V-brakes are powerful but setting them up is fiddly, fortunately I've now got cartridge holders on there so won't have to do it again. I hope. Also washed the wheels as they were really filthy!

[interzen]

A chain 

[Kim]

Installed replacement magic smoke in the battery control gubbins for the electrified baraktacycle.  Added an extra crowbar circuit and a smaller dedicated fuse on the input to the DC:DC converter for good measure.  While I was doing this, some M3 screws appeared, and I was able to secure the sockets properly in their panels.

Quadruple-checked everything with a multimeter^[1], connected to the trike's wiring loom, sacrificed some chickens and powered it up.  Nothing went bang.  The bike lights lit up.  The power meter started metering power.  And the console indicated that the motor was present and reporting battery voltage.

Spurred by success, I did some more tedious mechanical fettling with a view to the electrickery not bouncing out of the enclosure into the path of a taxi on the first pothole.

Returned it to the trike, powered up, and with barakta turning the cranks and me doing the human workstand impression, confirmed that the motor was motoring, without any nasty fusy badness.  Left it switched on with the lights running for a few hours to check that nothing got overly hot.  Recharged the battery, confirming that works as it should.

Tomorrow the road...


_{[1] Noting that the Falco motor connects the negative buss to the axle internally, which is suboptimal.}

[Polar Bear]

Replaced a 3a fuse.  Rather mundane when compared to Kim's fett-lectrikkin'.