American to European Bottom Bracket Adapters Aren't as Turnkey as I hoped! - Bicycle Crank Upgrade

When I bought my Huffy Rock Trail bike at a rummage sale few years ago, I admired it for having a one-piece crank.  Metallurgically speaking, I thought it was really cool to have the entire crank made from one forged piece of steel opposed to three separate pieces screwed together.  The reality is, this style of crank is inferior to the cartridge style bottom brackets that come standard on most modern bikes of adequate quality.  I wasn't convinced until recently when the bearing assembly started failing on me, and then kept failing after I repaired it 3 times in less than 2 years.

The first time it failed, one of the bearing cups cracked, resulting in a total seizing of the crank, as the bearings got lost inside the bottom bracket shell, and the crank went off axis.

Top Tips for Gardening as a Renter

Are you looking to start a vegetable garden, but you don't own the land, house, or apartment you live in? Gardening can be tough if you don't own the land under your feet, but it doesn't mean that you can't garden. I have been renting for the past decade and have maintained a garden in one form or another. Below I will share with you my top tips for gardening while renting.

Homemade Cherry Pie Filling and Pie

My new landlord has two cherry trees in his backyard. I happened to move in right as they were ripening up. With all these cherries, it made sense to start processing them in a smart way. Pie was an obvious choice.

The cherry trees bear Rainier Cherries. I'm told these are best suited for snacking on as they are a premier cherry. But after making homemade cherry pie filling with these, I beg to differ. Let me go over the recipes I used to make this pie.

5 Ways to use PVC Pipe in your Gardening Projects

Here are several ways you can use PVC pipe in your garden:

1) Trellis for Tomatoes and Peppers

In a big enough yard, you can use PVC pipe to build really big frames. In this garden I once attended to I used some smaller diameter pipe to act as a stake to allow the longer and wider diameter pipe to stand upright. Once the structure is standing, some string or other method of tying plants up can be used to keep plants upright. Read more about it here.

Turntable Final Assembly

Now that all the main components of the turntable are done, let's put it together!  I had a few hangups in assembly because, well, my blueprints were a bunch of scrap pieces of paper in a folder collected over the course of 3-4 years, and stuff didn't line up.  Anyways, in no particular order, here it is.

First, I needed the driving belt.  I bought two of these because I was originally planning to make two turntables (though after realizing how much hard work it was, I'm settling for one).  This was a standard 3/8" V-belt and, as noted on the label, they are 38" long.  These belts were actually too wide for the pulley that came stocked on the motors, but I couldn't find anything smaller.

Next, the plug outlet box.  As much as I love my Technics 1200s, the one feature they don't have is removable RCA and power cables.  This was one feature I missed about my first cheap set of Stanton turntables, so I decided to replicate it.  This box was to be made from some aluminum sheet metal.  The piece was actually left over from my old bike basket mount, which explains the unnecessary preexisting holes.  I drilled new holes for the connectors, mounting holes, and rivets prior to bending.