Author Topic: What have you fettled today?  (Read 2204475 times)

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17825 on: 08 May, 2023, 08:26:15 pm »
Gave the triban a thorough clean, fettle and lube. The poor thing was still dirty from the biblical Poor Student in Jan! I'll use it for this weekends Audax to spread the miles amongst the bikes.

Sanded and applied Roxil to some external wood. Washed the building dust off the nearly finished greenland kayak, and mentally prepared a list of jobs it needs before maiden capsize voyage.

SoreTween

  • Most of me survived the Pennine Bridleway.
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17826 on: 11 May, 2023, 10:30:01 am »
Investigated why the cameras in my car have not worked since I parked up to return to work in November.  I didn't get around to it when I was home in Jan - Feb which turned out to be fortunate.  The problem was condensation ingress into the connector on the power widget shoved up behind the dash.  That had caused a short and the permanent live pin had volunteered to be the fuse - totally evaporated, a 5 pin housing with 4 pins present.  New connector fitted & all is well again.  Oh and a smaller fuse fitted in the fuse box.

The 'fortunate' part is because the connector is a JST 2.54mm.  This is something I didn't have in stock until the end of Feb when I ordered the wrong kit off big river co.  The kit I wanted was 2mm.  That mistake resulted in an easy fix today without resorting to bodgery.
Replaced the connectors on the power widget again.  Condensation ingress again causing poor connections.  A brief attempt at cleaning them but not worth the bother really.  New male soldered into the power widget & new female connector crimped onto the wires.  Camera working again.  The car self propelled shed isn't going to last the two years until it'll need doing again.
2023 targets: Survive. Maybe.
There is only one infinite resource in this universe; human stupidity.

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17827 on: 11 May, 2023, 10:58:49 am »
Something I'd like to fettle - has anyone got a broken or otherwise unwanted cheap* radio controlled toy controller with joysticks? I need to repair one, but the on board SMD switch is smaller than anything I can buy online, which are typically minimum 4mm high (this is about 2). I'd imagine most chinesium controllers will have similar


*needs to be forward/backward rather than proportional

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17828 on: 11 May, 2023, 01:21:20 pm »
Rebuilt a Toot Toot conveyor for the third time ;D Originally, the plastic drive inside the thing went. The drive cogs are mounted on plastic columns, and one snapped off. You can just about see the extra screw supporting that glued-back column, on the blue flower thing near the drive handle.

Then the rubber drive belt snapped. Replacements are listed by the supplier, but are unobtainium. So, I cut some Weldtite puncture-repair strip and tried that. Unfortunately, there are ridges on the belt (to support the cars). They get in the way of using a really long repair strip, so the repair failed. Had a second go, this time cutting a slot in the repair strip, so that it could go over the ridge and be much longer. Here's hoping it survives the next track-building session!



My previous effort was putting the door back on Tidmouth Sheds, after a hinge pin broke off.

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17829 on: 12 May, 2023, 11:25:22 am »
Boards for the playing of bingo.

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17830 on: 13 May, 2023, 11:53:38 pm »
Swapped the front wheel on HK’s shiny Trykit as she doesn’t want to use a ceramic rim anymore.

Dismantled the rear wheel of HK’s recumbent trike and built the Capreo-compatible hub into a Sun 349 rim with a mix of Sapim DB and Pillar PG spokes. Stupid to have 36 spokes in such a small wheel. Even 2-cross, the spoke angle meant I had to set the spokes below the nipples to get the nipples to seat properly. The 349 Scorcher tyre should be noticeably quicker than the 355 Marathon Racer tyre.

Rebuilding the 32 spoke front wheels for 349 Scorchers will happen over the next couple of weeks and should net another kph.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17831 on: 14 May, 2023, 06:38:45 am »
Really pleased with this - eventually.

We have a joseph joseph bin, fancy thing with recycling underneath and a flip top lid. The button/flap for the flip top lid broke. New lid section 40 quid but found a guy on the bay of thieves who 3d prints the bit that breaks. Essentially it's a replacement pivot which glues into the flap and then has lugs which click into corresponding part on bin lid.

Eventually got it glued in as for some reason gorilla glue didn't stick it. Possibly as surfaces aren't porous, and then snapped the bit off the bin it's meant to clip into to.

So went down the shed and made a elongated u shaped bracket out of an jubilee clip, drilled ends for the pivot and had to file various bits to get it to fit onto the bin in the correct place but now all working.

Think I will need to extend the plastic bit on the lid flap that does into the flap as that's pretty worn after 9 years of use

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17832 on: 14 May, 2023, 02:25:15 pm »
Rebuilt a Toot Toot conveyor for the third time
And it's failed again >:(

Not as good a job as I thought. I'll have to find something stronger for joining rubber than ordinary rubber solution.

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17833 on: 14 May, 2023, 06:14:01 pm »
Got around to resealing the washroom window in the camper; removal of window, clean up the old sealant and general muck that had worked its way in, then a good helping of sikaflex and refit. Amazingly got pretty much the perfect amount of sealant in, a couple of bits got squeezed out but generally just visible now it's cranked down.

And lots of work on the P2W. Getting into proper race season, and doing a quick check the other day saw that one of the rear beacons was failing. I've not been very impressed with these; I've been using Redtronic as they are British and give good visibility angles. But I've had four end up with condensation inside (which shouldn't happen as they are potted sealed - you'd have thought people from Yorkshire would know about making things waterproof), and a couple of outright failures now. At about £50 each that gets expensive. So I'm trying another brand on the rear, which meant dremel modifying the rear bracket that holds them, plus building a new rear loom. At the same time finished off my new comms radio box, that bolts onto the top box carrier at the rear and gives me a better antenna plus power from the bike, compared to the hand held radio I normally use. On my old bike it was noticeable that the bike mounted radio could hear things that the handheld simply couldn't, but this one doesn't have room under the seat to permanently mount one there.

Took the opportunity to redo all my race auxiliary wiring, which had got into a bit of a mess. Put in another couple of switches and a couple of relays, so I've got a switch on the handlebars (that used to be my beacons only) that if the ignition is on powers up an auxiliary relay that powers my lights, phone (for veloviewer) and radio. If the ignition is turned off that relay stays on, keeping those bits powered up even with the key removed, until I turn the switch off. After that you can't turn stuff back on unless you turn on the ignition. Means I can park up the bike in an odd location with the beacons on, without needing to leave the key with the bike, but nobody can turn them on when it's parked up.
Then added another couple of switches fed from that that go to relays to turn on front and rear beacons. So I can now independently control them, rather than all or nothing. Starting to run out of space for switches now! Also added a power path from that to the dashcam, so rather than it turning off a couple of minutes after I've turned off the ignition, it will stay running if the auxiliary power is live.

That was a lot of time doing wiring, plus this time actually making a note of what colours do what on different wires, and labelling relays and fuses so I stand a chance when things go wrong. I might actually draw up a schematic as it's got a bit complex with additional non-race stuff too (like fog lamps, front/rear cameras etc.).

Then had a look at my bottle cage mounts. I've used Zefal Gizmo mounts to attached cages to both sides of my crash bars so I can carry plenty of fluids for long races. They just cable tie in place, but aren't that robust if knocked as they rely on a thin cable tie - which is also non-standard. Having used them for a couple of big multi-day events where they showed I like having bottles there, I put some proper rivnuts into the bars so the cages mount properly and hopefully reliably.

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17834 on: 14 May, 2023, 08:52:58 pm »
Something I'd like to fettle - has anyone got a broken or otherwise unwanted cheap* radio controlled toy controller with joysticks? I need to repair one, but the on board SMD switch is smaller than anything I can buy online, which are typically minimum 4mm high (this is about 2). I'd imagine most chinesium controllers will have similar


*needs to be forward/backward rather than proportional

I have something you can have. Roughly where do you live?
 
"Ott's Law states that the worst weather will coincide with the worst part (for that weather) of any planned ride"

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17835 on: 14 May, 2023, 08:58:14 pm »
My sister had managed to break the flush handle on her toilet,   she ordered a replacement from Amazon & expected big brother to fit it. 


Which I did , after a fashion.  The plastic threads are cheese & can't be tightened properly and the fixing hole is on a curved but of the cistern, so it won't but up against the surface properly.   It's flushing, but I'm going to have to get a more suitable one from Screwfix. 
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17836 on: 16 May, 2023, 09:58:19 am »
Tightened up steerer stack on eBrute. It was only replaced in March but I've hit a few tooth-rattling bumps since, and a ride on terrible Pfälzische "roads" last Saturday didn't help.  Also replaced front brake blocks.  The screws with the new ones were for 1.5 mm Allen keys so I junked them and used the old ones.  As it happens, I do possess a 1.5 mm Allen key but it's so tiddly it'd be easy to lose.

I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17837 on: 16 May, 2023, 10:12:28 pm »
Was given some preowned (but never used), Scribe Pace wheels. They ride very well indeed. Over 65 miles on Sunday 14th, I was 0.9mph (1.5kph) faster (18.4mph) than when I did the same route on the same bike with stock manufacturer's wheels in May 2021 (17.5mph). It is my first bladed spoke wheelset.
I noticed after the ride, when cleaning the bike, there was a slight out of true wobble on the front wheel.
I contacted the manufacturer to find the range of spoke tensions that I shoud be aiming for.
They advised I do this without pressure in the tyre and the range is 110 to 125KgF.
I was quite surprised that the spoke tensions slacken by about 10% under normal running pressures (700x25c).
It was the first time I had used a tensiometer.
The spoke wind up is far more noticeable with bladed spokes.
I soon knocked up a tool to hold the blades and adjust them back to zero degrees AoA.
I found the tensiometer gives slightly different readings depending on the part of the spoke the meter is centred on.
I put a blob of yellow paint at the mid point of each spoke, to ensure I could align the tensiometer with it, to get repeatability.
So, basically what should have been, a ten minute job, took two hours. But I was very pleased with my new tools and proud of the pukka job I had done.
I also made a new aluminium bottle cage mounting bracket, as the cheap plastic part it replaced, had started to disintegrate.





"Ott's Law states that the worst weather will coincide with the worst part (for that weather) of any planned ride"

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17838 on: 17 May, 2023, 07:28:18 am »
Swapped SPDs between HK’s Kinesis and the Birdy. Apparently HK's shoes didn't properly connect with the Birdy's pedals.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17839 on: 19 May, 2023, 10:56:41 am »
Fitted new Cateye rear lights to HK's shiny trike and swapped the saddle.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17840 on: 20 May, 2023, 10:17:07 am »
Cleaned the eBrute, FCVO "clean".
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17841 on: 20 May, 2023, 10:55:14 am »
Made a derailleur alignment check tool for 135mm OLD frames. 





Got a little "doonk" (irregular noise) accompanied by a little kick from the otherwise smooth 9 speed rear cassette / derailleur, maybe two or three times in a minute then nothing for 10 minutes at a consistently high load, most usually noticeable in the 4th, 5th and 6th gears, but sometimes in the higher ratios too.
Everything in the following list is new - pedals, cranks, chainrings, BB, chain, cassette, derailleur jockey wheels, wheels (inc freehub), tyres, tapes and tubes.
Noticed there was lateral movement of the hanger when I tightened the qr skewer. Found there was some muck behind the hanger, where it fits in the dropout. Cleaned that all out and tightened it back up. No unwanted movement there now. Was still getting the noise under high loads though, hence the need to accurately check the alignment of the derailleur before re-replacing the list of items one at a time!
The alignment of the derailleur hanger is checked by comparing the edges of the false axle and the threaded axle (which is screwed into the hanger) and then measuring the distance between the two (with verniers), along their length.
I don't think this accuracy of alignment will make any difference, and I will be replacing items next week, following the 200k tomorrow.
"Ott's Law states that the worst weather will coincide with the worst part (for that weather) of any planned ride"

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17842 on: 20 May, 2023, 01:15:53 pm »
Re-secured the bathroom basin after The Boy used it to break his fall getting out of the shower.

This involved a large amount of laying on my back and gazing into the void, or underneath of the basin. Fortunately nothing gazed back. A Several of Bad Swears were deployed, along with some tiddly wood screws.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17843 on: 20 May, 2023, 02:30:23 pm »
Oiled the front rim eyelets on the LHT.  Then rode to Cirencester and back (47 miles).  Not a creak to be heard.  It needs doimg ever year, or the noise becomes insufferable.  DRC ST19 rims.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17844 on: 20 May, 2023, 08:50:43 pm »
made a couple of hooks to hang my new hover mower in the shed. I'm quite pleased with the mower, a big improvement on the v old B & D cheap one I was gifted. It collects the grass too.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17845 on: 21 May, 2023, 06:52:03 am »
Decrudulated & waxed a chain. Not at 8 am, yesterday pm.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17846 on: 21 May, 2023, 02:39:30 pm »
Further garage declutter. Still not pretty - but it's getting more and more usable.

A sweep, trowel and tidy of the paving stones outside the garage - so now both garage doors can open, and I have room to move the motorbike around.

Then took the motorbike MOT and gave it a home service afterwards. Modern motorbikes, when they are simple, are dead easy to work on.

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17847 on: 21 May, 2023, 03:53:46 pm »
Some adulting. Nobody was electrocuted  :thumbsup:

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17848 on: 21 May, 2023, 04:50:51 pm »
Un-fettled, in this instance.
I busted my Herman Miller Aeron chair - sheared the bolt which secures the height-adjustable armrests.
Meh.
I'm not sure that it is the sort of job that a service crew will come out for - given that it is for a 50p component.

Re: What have you fettled today?
« Reply #17849 on: 21 May, 2023, 11:27:20 pm »
After 2009 LEL, I thought I'd quite like a fast bike, so I bought a carbon frame fully intending to build it up. Fast forward 13 years, and the frame has not been touched. Today I discovered that now all the pro teams have gone to disc brakes, rim brake group sets are now heavily discounted, so I ordered a 105 group set. If I then order the wheels and other bits at the same pace, my bike should be done by around 2040.