Sunday, July 31, 2016

Bench Grider Tool Rest

Let's have a recap:
Since the demise of my terrible $3 Black & Decker bench grinder which didn't even have real bearings, there came a desperate need for a bench grinder that was actually good, the search began once again.

*I also had an oscillating sander by Black & Decker which also broke soon after I bought it at a garage sale. As a result, I've been living by the mantra: "Never Ever Black & Decker"

Monday, July 25, 2016

Grape Harvest Year 2 -- The 2016 Estate Blend

Cab sauv
How many different ways can you pronounce "Cabernet Sauvignon"?
With the summer temperatures heating up and the grapes riping, it was time for a harvest. Several days of sampling the berries told me that today was the ideal day for picking, especially with highs in the triple digits coming up.

Sunday, July 10, 2016

With A (Cotter) Key, Sissy!

For at least 4 years, I'd been waiting for an opportunity to finally use a cotter key (AKA cotter pin, but ever since I started listening to X Clan, I've had an obsession with anything that contains the word "key" in it). That, and I fervently enjoy making fun of people with body piercings by saying it looks like they were impaled with a cotter.
We had a situation with the gate where the nuts kept falling off. This was reminiscent of the time when I bought my welder and was wheeling it home aside my bike when one of the wheels fell off. Whoever built that cart were idiots. On one axle, there was a locknut, which fell off from the wheel rotating. On the other, a castle nut WITHOUT a cotter key! = not protected by the red the black and the green, sissy! They also broke the rule of never welding on galvanized steel! Probably a good thing they sold me their welder for $20. I ended up finding the nut after retracing my path for about a mile.
The solution: castle nuts with the anti-rotation cotter keys. These particular keys are 1/8" which means drill an 1/8" hole in the bolt where it goes through. The actual pin diameter is less than the nominal of course.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Bicycle Trailer ep. 2 - Wheel Prep

As I mentioned in part 1, I had to modify the hub/ axle of the rear wheel to make it fit just as well as the front one. I measured both hub spacings, and they were within about .025" of each other which meant the same spacing would be okay right off the bat (since the rear hub was for a freewheel and not a cassette). The main concern was the extra length on the axle and the quick release skewer.