What did YOU do today?

[sgtsandman]

I did the Spring routine/preventative maintenance on the 2014 Escape and replaced the leaking valve cover gasket. I fixed clips and things that got broke by whomever did work on it when the previous owner had it. Hopefully, that takes care of all the oil leaks the thing had.

Aaaand just when I thought I was done, the electric lift motor for the tailgate took a dump. I Amazon specialed that S.O.B. It's easy enough to change later when the Amazon one fails.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Went and looked at the ranger for awhile.. just to refamiliarize myself with where I was and what needs to happen next.. been 6-7 months since I've seen it for longer than just a passing glance.. a guy forgets a lot of fine details over that amount of time lol.

Naturally.. the list of to-dos and to-gets is sizeably bigger than I thought/remembered it was going to be .. gonna definitely take a couple more weeks than I was anticipating before it's all cleaned, corrosealed, painted, and buttoned back up from the rear of the cab to the rear bumper.

Gotta get 22 1/2" grade-8 bolts, nuts, and washers, a can of kwik-strip, a bottle of purple power, a petrol-powered pressure washer, a can of black tractor paint, some paint brushes, a dimple die, a tube of sil-glyde, and then I reeeeally gotta figure out how to get my drill press to spin 50% slower (it's already set as slow as it'll go)

That's like.. most of a paychecks worth of crap The pressure washer will be the biggest expense.. not really a big deal there as it'll save me money in the long-run.. but I already know that I am NOT ready to see how much the bill is gonna be for that many nuts/bolts/washers lol. At least the bolts don't have to be very long.. so perhaps that purchase won't be as painful as I'm imagining it will be.. here's to hoping lol.. definitely got my work cut out for me though.


Also dropped the bronco off for a mostly complete servicing to happen tomorrow A.M.. engine oil & filter, cabin filter, change both the diffs, change the t-case, spill & fill the trans, and a tire rotation. At 45.5k miles right now. Rough estimate was 800$.. well see lol.

I buy a lot of my grade 8 hardware from Rural King or Tractor Supply, they sell them by the pound. Definitely a better deal than Ace/HomeDepot/Lowes. If I can’t get what I want there or whatever, I’ll order from McMaster and buy a box/bag. Dealt with Fastenal for a bit but they were… unreliable.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Church this morning then unloading the Choptop and some random shop work. Apparently my shop torch tip is done for. I may or may not have damaged the torch itself. It hasn’t been a great day. Sat on the front porch and had a cigar anyway. I’m still there because it’s nice out and I’m reluctant to move since this is the most peace I’ve had all day.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Today I piddled around the shop since it's been drizzling all day... at some point I looked into what was in the camper for this weeks adventure, made sure there was a full bottle of whiskey and vodka in the freezer and consolidated some of the mixers that were under the fridge into the fridge, you know, the important things . Eventually added about 23 pallets under and in the Ranger on the trailer behind the camper along with most of a ranger bed of firewood.

 

[JohnnyO]

and then I reeeeally gotta figure out how to get my drill press to spin 50% slower (it's already set as slow as it'll go)

A dimmer switch, aka rheostat, should work if it can handle the amps of the drill press. I'd hard-wire it into a length of extension cord so you're not cutting into the drill press wiring.

 

[Blmpkn]

A dimmer switch, aka rheostat, should work if it can handle the amps of the drill press. I'd hard-wire it into a length of extension cord so you're not cutting into the drill press wiring.

That'd be a lot easier than what I was planning... I'll have to see what the press pulls for power and look for some switches later on.

I buy a lot of my grade 8 hardware from Rural King or Tractor Supply, they sell them by the pound. Definitely a better deal than Ace/HomeDepot/Lowes. If I can’t get what I want there or whatever, I’ll order from McMaster and buy a box/bag. Dealt with Fastenal for a bit but they were… unreliable.

I always forget about places like Fastenal.. even though there's one right down the street from work lol. There's also a K.L Jack right next door to Fastenal.. same sorta business..

Whats the price per lb at tractor supply? Does it matter what sort of hardware you're buying or is it consistent across the board?

 

[Curious Hound]

I wouldn't use a rheostat. That motor isn't designed to do that and you're not likely to find a rheostat rated for it. Changing the voltage with a rheostat is going to mess with the current and torque capability. Your best choices are mechanically through different pulley ratios or electrically with a variable frequency drive (VFD) rated for a single phase motor of that size. AC motor speed is tied to frequency. Reducing the voltage will reduce the counterEMF in the windings and drive current up. But, frequency will remain the same, so the motor will be trying to run at the same speed it was designed for.

When you think of an old style corded hand-held drill that had a rheostat in the trigger, that was a "universal motor". It was actually capable of running on AC or DC it had brushes and a commutator so that the armature winding field strength could be adjusted with the rheostat. Your drill press has a single phase capacitor start AC motor that is a totally different beast, electrically.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Or pull the dc motor from the clothes hanger your wife ( or you ) bought for exercising...

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I always forget about places like Fastenal.. even though there's one right down the street from work lol. There's also a K.L Jack right next door to Fastenal.. same sorta business..

Whats the price per lb at tractor supply? Does it matter what sort of hardware you're buying or is it consistent across the board?

I got tired of running to the store for hardware all the time and started stocking my commonly used sizes. Buying in bulk made sense.

Not sure what the current price per pound is. I mostly buy from Rural King anymore because they stock more hardware than TSC. Both are becoming more “home n garden” stores than actual tractor supply stores unfortunately.

Bulk bins are divided into categories and priced according to category, like all grade 5 is one price per pound, grade 8 is different, Metric is different, usually carriage bolts/ungraded/lags are all the same price.