What have you fettled today?

[tiermat]

Got around to fitting a new heatsink/fan combo and PSU to the MythTv box, after a spectacular fettling fail on Tuesday night.  During the day I noticed that the Mythtv box kept shutting itself down, power it back up and it shuts down again after ten minutes.

So disassemble, ready to replace PSU (with one out of the garage), found fan on CPU jammed.

Replace fan, fit replacement PSU anyway, can't harm.

Rebuild, take it out of house (all fettling done on dining table), place in understairs cupboard, plug it in.  First attempt to power it up failed as I hadn't flicked the switch on the PSU.  Second attempt (after flicking switch) resulted in a loud BANG and the RCD tripping....

This time it works however, and has been ticking away nicely for the last 40 minutes, so all good so far

[corshamjim]

Pumped the tyres up on the old Dahon D7 so I could get to work while the Pashley is oos.  I fairly flew in to work.  I was just beginning to think what a great folder the D7 is when I turned a couple of corners on to the estate and discovered a headwind. 

[arvid]

Since the snow is gone here, Wednesday I switched from Marathon Winters back to Perfect Moirees. With the Marathon Winters, my fenders don't fit. So I put those back on as well. I noticed my front brake was a bit odd. The free play seemed to have disappeared.
Yesterday evening when I was out for a ride I noticed my front brake wasn't doing a lot, and by the time I got home I had gotten an idea why.
I just solved it. I have cable operated disc brakes. The cable goes a bit past the brake. The mudguard stays went over it, and clamped the brake cable...
I could and should have noticed this while fettling, but it's on the left of the bike, and the left of the bike is against the wall.

[Woofage]

Got around to fitting a new heatsink/fan combo and PSU to the MythTv box

One of my "To Do" items is to sort out quieter cooling for our Myth box. It's pretty quiet anyway, especially after I unplugged the CPU fan (not really needed on an Atom processor) but the case/psu fan still whines a bit.

[Kim]

The cleat positions on my still soaking wet shoes.  I note that my cunning plan of filling the bolt heads with hot-melt glue last time I replaced the cleats seems to have worked: once the glue's picked out, the allen key went in all the way, securely and without a fuss.   

[Adrian]

The cleat positions on my still soaking wet shoes.  I note that my cunning plan of filling the bolt heads with hot-melt glue last time I replaced the cleats seems to have worked: once the glue's picked out, the allen key went in all the way, securely and without a fuss.   

Good tip. I just had to take the angle grinder to the last bolt simply because I couldn't get the key in. The other three had come out good as gold.

[Kim]

I'm still uncertain about the long-term durability of the glue plugs, but these had been in there for about 3 months, including a couple of miles of walking home because I didn't have the right size spare tube with me, so they do seem to last more than 5 minutes.

It's important to make sure the glue fills the head of the bolt properly, it took me a few goes to get the knack - squeezing hard at point-blank range.  Seems best to leave a slightly convex blob (that will quickly get worn flat) that overlaps the edges of the hole, but don't over do it, otherwise it'll peel.

While your at it, remember to grease the threads!

[Adrian]

While your at it, remember to grease the threads!

Always

[Rhys W]

I stripped and rebuilt a Campagnolo hub.

[GruB]

Started yesterday, finished today.
Changed buggered Conti 4 Seasons for a used but not out Michelin Krylion.
Removed heavy as lead old 128mm axle and cup and cone and replaced with Shimano Hollowtech BB.
Removed old black compact 172.5 cranks and replaced with 175 Tiagra Hollowtech 2.
Ditched old 50t ring for a used but not out 52t ring.
Moved pedals and cadence sensor bits.
Replaced buggered section of chain.

End result - chain line improved, bike is now slightly lighter too.  Off for a test ride.

[TimO]

I had to briefly bugger about with the saddle on the Red bike.

When I first got it, before Christmas, I had a quick fiddle, and thought that the saddle was at the correct height and orientation, but getting it out today, to try things out properly, it was far too low.

A quick fettle with some allen keys, and it's probably OK.  It may need to go up slightly, but it works OK as it is, and it's easier to get on and off, which is useful with a new bike which I'm not entirely used to riding yet.  I'll probably bump it up another half an inch eventually.

I may need to adjust the gears, but I'll wait a hundred miles or so, to give things a chance to bed in, and for the cables to do any final stretching.  The chain jumped off the chainring at one point, and a couple of times the rear gears did one of the change up and immediately change down of their own accord things, which suggests that the cable adjuster needs to be shifted very slightly.

[Tim Hall]

Completed the long running saga of mending the garage SECRIT BUNKER door. A couple of weeks ago I got one of the guys at work to turn a new wheel from acetal. I drilled and tapped the end of the formerly broken spindle so it could be screwed on. Yesterday saw the abortive attampt to rehang the door so it didn't scrape on the concrete. Today, with the help of The Boy, saw a succesful attempt, involving wedging the door in place with a suitable piece of wood while I drilled new holes.

It is true. I am a fettling god.

[numbnuts]

I washed my MTB it's all nice and clean now.....until tomorrow

[interzen]

[...]

It is true. I am a fettling god.

ITYM "a modest fettling god" 

[Kim]

Some Asterisk scriptage to run out of cron and make calls on our BT line using the inclusive minutes in the middle of the night.  Should stop BT from charging us for Caller ID on the (not uncommon) months where we don't make any outgoing calls.

[interzen]

Currently having fun and games with Objective-C ... on the plus side, my iPhone GPS app will now bail out gracefully if it finds itself unable to get any GPS data (eg. if the phone is in flight mode) rather than collapsing in a smoking heap of ruin.

Next up, getting a database backup from a server whose uptime seems to be in the nanosecond range ...

[itsbruce]

Oversized Marathon Plusses removed, Gatorskins back on, at least until I find some better commuting slicks.  The bike is going to seem so light, tomorrow

[clarion]

Brake blocks changed on tourer.

[rdaviesb]

A new hearth ready for a range. 22 inches of concrete. Full body exercise mixing it.

[David Martin]

New gas pipe. Having been laid low with a bite of stomcah gripe I finally gotround to pressure testing the installation. Not the standard drop test, but the blow in as hard as you can and see if it holds pressure while you have a cup of tea/overnight. It failed the first so it was hunt the leak time with soapy water. Found leak, fortunately in a very accessible joint, and it now seems to hold pressure. Will check when I go to bed, and if it is fine int he morning, time to call the profssionals to swear at it and connect the boiler up again.

..d

[interzen]

Oversized Marathon Plusses removed, Gatorskins back on, at least until I find some better commuting slicks.  The bike is going to seem so light, tomorrow

You need some of these: Panaracer RiBMo Tyre Review - BikeRadar

[tiermat]

Fettled my new Knog Dry Dog onto the fixie, found, when riding to work this morning, that it is a shade too far forward.  Cue lunchtime fettling to prevent heal rub.

Prepped and painted 3 walls and a ceiling of the spare room, which is going to become TLD's bedroom. (the fourth wall is going to be a different colour, but the colour TLD chose was too BLUE....)

[itsbruce]

Oversized Marathon Plusses removed, Gatorskins back on, at least until I find some better commuting slicks.  The bike is going to seem so light, tomorrow

You need some of these: Panaracer RiBMo Tyre Review - BikeRadar

Not sure I do, after all.  I'd forgotten how nicely grippy the Gatorskins are in the wet, while being OMFG so much ligher than the M+.

[vorsprung]

Oversized Marathon Plusses removed, Gatorskins back on, at least until I find some better commuting slicks.  The bike is going to seem so light, tomorrow

Fixed a broken spoke in the rear wheel and so switched from 35mm Winter Marathons to 28mm Marathon+

They are 200g lighter and roll better so the bike is gonna seem like a rocket etc.  Never thought I'd think of fitting Marathon+ as a performance boost

Adjusted the amount of slack in the gear cable as the Alfine has been playing up

Worked out why / where the latest mysterious annoying noise was coming from.  The new cheap(er) 1/8" chain has a joining link that sticks out and this is hitting the chainring guard.  It stopped raining before I could get this sorted so I had to rush down to the woodshed and get busy with a chainsaw

[vorsprung]

Oversized Marathon Plusses removed, Gatorskins back on, at least until I find some better commuting slicks.  The bike is going to seem so light, tomorrow

You need some of these: Panaracer RiBMo Tyre Review - BikeRadar

Not sure I do, after all.  I'd forgotten how nicely grippy the Gatorskins are in the wet, while being OMFG so much ligher than the M+.

They must have changed Gatorskins since I used them a few years ago, they were not so good in the wet then, especially the 25mm version