POTD- PROJECT OF THE DAY: What Did You Make In Your Shop Today?

[rwdenney]

Thanks! I've knocked the edges down with a file, but I'm leaving the flanks of the Vs alone as I don't want to mess around with the angle or groove spacing. The problem was some tearing due to tool dig in, so there's not really material sticking out, it just looks crap

Yes, but the belt will dig in, too, and those divots will have sharp edges that will wear the belt. You could actually just file the peak of the groove off in the spots where they chipped--a short, smooth gap in one groove will make no difference in operation but will prevent the wear issue.

Rick "perfection is unattainable" Denney

 

[mattthemuppet2]

Thanks for the thoughts guys, but I think it'll be fine. There's no material standing proud of any surface. And those belts are surprisingly tough, this one jumped a groove on the plastic "temporary" pulley and happily ground a new groove into the shoulder of the pulley. No harm done to belt that I can see

 

[682bear]

A couple of weeks ago, I rolled my pressure washer out of the shop to clean some Hendey castings. The motor on it has always started on the first or second pull, but this time it didn't want to start... it acted like it was flooded. I finally got it started and used it, it ran fine, so I didn't think any more about it.

A few days later, I went out to the shop to pull my truck in and change the oil. The shop was full of strong gasoline fumes. I ran in and opened all the doors, let it air for a few minutes, then started looking to see where the fumes were coming from.

I discovered that the float had stuck on the carburetor on the pressure washer... the carb was flooded and had soaked the air filter enough to dissolve the foam seal on the filter...





This morning, I took the carburetor off and took it apart and found a lot of jellied gas in the float bowl...





I ran down to the local parts store and picked up a can of carburetor cleaner and thoroughly cleaned the carburetor.

I've reassembled it and poured a pint of gas in the tank... I'm letting it sit with the filter out to see if it starts leaking again.

I'll have to get another filter... the old one is ruined... but I'd rather wait and see if I've solved the problem before I ruin a new filter.

I wish there was room under the fuel tank to install a shutoff valve... but I don't see any way of doing that without raising the tank above the top of the motor. There is also no room for a fuel filter, which I think it needs.

-Bear

 

[Eyerelief]

Glad you found the source of the gas, that can get a little dicey.
For reference, I have learned (the hard way, much like everything else I’ve learned) that some of these carbs now a days are chromate treated. Carb cleaner will eat off the chromate and get you down to a raw casting. The carbs tend to oxidize quickly after that.

 

[682bear]

Glad you found the source of the gas, that can get a little dicey.
For reference, I have learned (the hard way, much like everything else I’ve learned) that some of these carbs now a days are chromate treated. Carb cleaner will eat off the chromate and get you down to a raw casting. The carbs tend to oxidize quickly after that.

This one may be too old for that... it's probably 25 years old, or close to it...

-Bear

 

[ChazzC]

Needed to cut off a small piece of Acetal (AKA Delrin) for a job and tried this:



Yes, I know it's a plastic pipe cutter, but it's good for up to 2" Sch 40 pipe and I've used it before to cut 1/2" Acetal & Nylon, so I thought I'd try it on 3/8" thick, 1-1/2" wide flat stock – worked like a charm:



It cut about 1/16" deep then the Acetal split once the blade was fully engaged, leaving about 0.01" left to break at the bottom. Almost square in both directions, and no mess. I also could have tried my baby table saw, but that really would have made a mess, and the cut sides would still need to be milled.

Before anyone asks: I wore safety glasses & gloves, and kept out of the way of any flying bits & pieces.

 

[ChazzC]

I wish there was room under the fuel tank to install a shutoff valve... but I don't see any way of doing that without raising the tank above the top of the motor. There is also no room for a fuel filter, which I think it needs.

-Bear

I can't recall any of my small engines having anything more than a fine mesh screen on the inside of the fuel tank covering the outlet. but most of the larger ones (snow blower, riding mower) had a long enough piece of tubing running from the tank to the carb to insert an small inline filter.

I always filled the tanks using a filter funnel, so didn't worry about grit getting into the carb.

Also glad that you found it before anything bad happened. My 2007 Equinox had a factory issue where the plastic hose fittings on the top of the tank would crack and a puddle of gas would sit in the depression around the sender unit: smelled gas one morning and took to it the shop. $1,000, plus a return trip because they broke the sender re-installing it. I filed a report with NTSB and discovered that a file had already been opened by several hundred other owners. Six months later GM issued a recall and I got my money back.

 

[tjb]

A couple of weeks ago, I rolled my pressure washer out of the shop to clean some Hendey castings. The motor on it has always started on the first or second pull, but this time it didn't want to start... it acted like it was flooded. I finally got it started and used it, it ran fine, so I didn't think any more about it.

A few days later, I went out to the shop to pull my truck in and change the oil. The shop was full of strong gasoline fumes. I ran in and opened all the doors, let it air for a few minutes, then started looking to see where the fumes were coming from.

I discovered that the float had stuck on the carburetor on the pressure washer... the carb was flooded and had soaked the air filter enough to dissolve the foam seal on the filter...

View attachment 446004

View attachment 446005

This morning, I took the carburetor off and took it apart and found a lot of jellied gas in the float bowl...

View attachment 446006

View attachment 446007

I ran down to the local parts store and picked up a can of carburetor cleaner and thoroughly cleaned the carburetor.

I've reassembled it and poured a pint of gas in the tank... I'm letting it sit with the filter out to see if it starts leaking again.

I'll have to get another filter... the old one is ruined... but I'd rather wait and see if I've solved the problem before I ruin a new filter.

I wish there was room under the fuel tank to install a shutoff valve... but I don't see any way of doing that without raising the tank above the top of the motor. There is also no room for a fuel filter, which I think it needs.

-Bear

Close one, Bear. Could have been a whole lot worse.

 

[7milesup]

Dogs are fun. Unfortunately, had to put my buddy down a little while ago. These are photos from the last good ride we took in Mid February. This was her absolute favorite chair, ever! Period! No questions asked! Winter or summer, if this thing was out of the garage, she was on it. In the end she couldn't jump up any more, so had to be lifted up, with bad hips and arthritis. But even then it was still her favorite place to be.

They're all one of a kind. She was a special one of a kind!

Man, sorry to hear this. Dogs are such an integral part of our lives. Wishing you peace in the memories she brought you.

 

[7milesup]

I broke my aluminum Harbor Freight jack the other day. I am not a huge HF fan, but that jack came in handy, and I did not want to spend $180 replacing it. I had the material lying around, the machines to do the job, and some determination. It is not perfect, but it gets the job done.