What have you fettled today?

[hatler]

Last weekend, de-gunked the u-bend in the upstairs sink (yeeeuuucchhhhh) and fettled the top bathroom door so that the internal lock works. Had to swap a pathetically measly strip of tin foil over from one handle assembly to the other. Required circlip pliers and the mirror on a stick. Very satisfying.

[Mrs Pingu]

Continuing the stair rail. Finished scraping the paint off. It hadn't come off as nicely as when I did the other rail.
So I used my RO sander with the new Mirka Abranet mesh discs as recommended by that clever Mr robgul. They really are the dogs bollocks. Got the rest of the paint off with a coarse one. Then because the profile of this rail is a fiddly PITA I had to hand sand all the twiddly bits and finally I gave it a quick go over with the sander using a finer Abranet disc and it does indeed feel like the proverbial smooth offspring's behind.
I just need to tackle the paint clarted batten on the wall now 

2023-03-18_07-05-26 by The Pingus, on Flickr

Another satisfied Abranet user here though.

[De Sisti]

New gear cables for my Dolan Dual (which has just come out of hibernation and will share duties
with my xacd titanium bike until end of September).

[robgul]

Continuing the stair rail. Finished scraping the paint off. It hadn't come off as nicely as when I did the other rail.
So I used my RO sander with the new Mirka Abranet mesh discs as recommended by that clever Mr robgul. They really are the dogs bollocks. Got the rest of the paint off with a coarse one. Then because the profile of this rail is a fiddly PITA I had to hand sand all the twiddly bits and finally I gave it a quick go over with the sander using a finer Abranet disc and it does indeed feel like the proverbial smooth offspring's behind.
I just need to tackle the paint clarted batten on the wall now 

2023-03-18_07-05-26 by The Pingus, on Flickr

Another satisfied Abranet user here though.

You can get a Mirka "sanding block" (see below0 that comes with a foam pad with a hook and loop surface for the rectangular mesh sheets, and that attaches to the hook and loop base - it's great for sanding mouldings as it, err, moulds itself to the shape.   (Mine has a dust port to connect to a shop vac, although I seldom bother unless I'm doing large areas of sanding)

I bought one of these   https://www.agwoodcare.co.uk/products/mirkaabranetstarterkit/    to get started with Abranet and then bought more rectangular sheets and discs in various grits

[Jurek]

My 30-year-old money plant has served time as my Christmas tree in as much as it provides structural support for my Christmas lights, all the year round.
Because of its location (in a west-facing bay window) it develops a tendency to be drawn towards the light, ultimately entwining itself between the slats of the blinds - even with the blinds only 25% open. Thus:



So, to balance things up, every couple of years I rotate the planter through 180°, and for a couple of years all is well, before the process needs to be repeated.
Inevitably this involves untangling and removing around 500 LED lights on a several of wires, which does not include the 100 individually powered flashing LEDs, before reinstating both.




Quite a satisfying way of spending a couple of hours. Especially as I managed to not tread on any of the LEDs.

[Mr Larrington]

So there is a magic money tree after all!

[T42]

Rear (motor) wheel has been going bump every rev, not enough to be noticeable on any but the smoothest surfaces but a niggle all the same. Turned out the tyre was standing a bit proud opposite the valve.  Now, the motor shoppe told me to always fit the locking ring down against the rim to avoid punctures, and I had done this before inflating last time I fitted the tube.  Today I deflated the tube, unscrewed the ring, re-seated the tyre, blew it up again and then tightened the ring.  We'll see what happens next ride.

Also swapped to my alternate chain, tidied up the binnacle a bit after the LBS had pulled it all apart to fettle the headset & cobbled it back together as best they could, and modified the Garmin mount to try & stop the big heavy awkward piece-of-shit Oregon 600 flopping about all over.

[Paul]

I changed the core on a presta valve. I’ve never done that before. It took me a few minutes to track down the source of the leak. The old one was bent, and I think that was preventing it from sealing properly.
I was surprised by the amount of engineering involved in the valve. Nice work.

[T42]

I changed the core on a presta valve. I’ve never done that before. It took me a few minutes to track down the source of the leak. The old one was bent, and I think that was preventing it from sealing properly.
I was surprised by the amount of engineering involved in the valve. Nice work.

And a million get binned every day.

[Paul]

I changed the core on a presta valve. I’ve never done that before. It took me a few minutes to track down the source of the leak. The old one was bent, and I think that was preventing it from sealing properly.
I was surprised by the amount of engineering involved in the valve. Nice work.

And a million get binned every day.

Is the sad face for the otherwise good valve cores that could be reused? Or the chucking away of tubes generally?

[T42]

Could be both, I suppose, but I was thinking of the valves.  Bits of tube come in handy for all kinds of stuff.

[Paul]

Indeed. It got me wondering whether the tubes and cores could be sold separately, but then I remembered that I've only had to replace one core in 30 years of cycling, so the faff would hardly be justified.

I will be removing the (good) valve cores from otherwise knackered (beyond patching) tubes in future though.

[De Sisti]

Removed (2006) Chorus ergo levers and long-cage rear derailleur and sent them to the
Campagnolo Service Centre. The bike they came from (Dolan Dual) is being give a bit of
a spruce-up, in anticipation of its Spring/Summer use, and Semaine Federale duties.

[Kim]

Indeed. It got me wondering whether the tubes and cores could be sold separately, but then I remembered that I've only had to replace one core in 30 years of cycling, so the faff would hardly be justified.

I will be removing the (good) valve cores from otherwise knackered (beyond patching) tubes in future though.

I usually keep a dead (read: unrepairable) tube or two kicking around for use as padding when clamping things to handlebars and similar, and have on occasion raided those for valve cores.  I should probably add one to my on-bike collection of Useful Small Parts, though in a valve core emergency you can always nick one from the spare tubes you're carrying.

[MattH]

I too keep some used tubes around for padding purposes.

I can only remember once having to replace a presta valve core. That was on a Specialized tube, at a point in time when they weren't tightening them up properly. I unscrewed it to pump it up, and it flew off and was lost.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Swapped the near-new 11-32t cassette on HK’s Kinesis with an 11-34t. Hopefully she will be happy with the slight drop in gearing.

[T42]

I can only remember once having to replace a presta valve core. That was on a Specialized tube, at a point in time when they weren't tightening them up properly. I unscrewed it to pump it up, and it flew off and was lost.

Just once I had to replace a valve rubber, and only because I pulled the existing one off out of curiosity and got it all mucky. Dunlop Long Cycle Repair Kit to the rescue.

---o0o---

After yesterday's tootle on my carbon butterfly I've been trying to replicate its set-up on the eBrute.  Fiddly bloody business involving tapes and a spirit-level set in a protractor. Dunno if it'll make any difference.

[drossall]

Years ago, I had one or two of the tubes in which you could replace the entire, bolted-in, valve. I think I did it once successfully, and once where the tube tore at the seating.

[Mrs Pingu]

Finally finished the stair rails
2023-03-26_09-28-02 by The Pingus, on Flickr

[Jurek]

Why is the right hand one a little bit longer than the left hand one ? 

[Mrs Pingu]

They are totally different designs of rail. The main thing is they aren't squicking me out every time I use them because they are no longer covered in 50 coats of thrown on paint.

[Wombat]

Eek, I can see why you want handrails both sides. Mind you, I've become unused to staircases in the last few years, since moving to a bungalow.  I was proudly telling a colleague how my hips haven't troubled me since moving to rural Wales, it must be the healthy air, etc. He replied that he thought it was actually moving to a bungalow that was the relevant point.  Hmm, he may be right.

[Mrs Pingu]

This is the first set of stairs I've had to navigate in my own home for about 30 years. Mind you the ones up to the entrance door at our last place were an icy death trap in the winter, one less thing to worry about here

[Kim]

Eek, I can see why you want handrails both sides.

Single handrails only work if you've got two hands available.  Otherwise you can get up the stairs but not down again, or vice-versa.  Amazing how often people fail to consider this.

[Mrs Pingu]

Pumpkin turned up at the work site, ready to begin. She made sure to inspect all the parts were present. Then she completed the job safely and left a tidy work site. 10/10 would use again.

2023-03-27_05-44-14 by The Pingus, on Flickr