Ulu

I took off my covers to find the springs were dry, and worn sharp on the ends. I put poly shims in the spring packs and drove them 50k+ miles like that. They are not going to be reused.

What I was suggesting is that when you put in the new motor you must always put in a new capacitor, even if the old one seems good. They have a variable but limited lifespan. The HVAC that I bought in 2005 has a computer on the blower motor because it’s a DC servo design. Contractors won’t replace one without the other, because they don’t know how to test either one and they can’t guarantee their work otherwise. If they get a bad component and they have changed both parts then they can take both parts back to the vendor. Otherwise the vendor will look at them an

Also I hope you changed the capacitor.

You have me thinking I should check all my breakers with the thermometer, to see if any are heavily loaded. That 1.12 amp motor wouldn't trip a breaker until the hot wires literally melted and sparked, but it should shut off below the spec of the insulation. You didn't quite get there, but you likely smelled the dust burning off the motor before it just quit. Did the bearings gall?

That looks very much like the one I had in machine shop class. I have several small sets of modern inexpensive bits but I have many old bits from the 60s and 70s which are high-quality American made stuff. They are still good but every one of them has been chipped and dulled and re-sharpened by hand on my grinder more than once. I will sharpen any size drillbit and I have jet drills which I have sharpened on the whetstone. It’s not because I’m too cheap to go buy another drill bit, but some things I do just for practice or because it’s a challeng

I have a collection of twist drills that go up to 1 inch in diameter, But I don’t have any kind of a jig to sharpen them. I have always just done this on the bench grinder by hand & eyeball and I don’t always get it quite right. I was looking to buy a jig I could attach to one of my bench grinders To make it a dedicated sharpening station. Unfortunately the ones I found for sale online look pretty cheesy. I was hoping maybe somebody could recommend a professional model of some kind. I really don’t know how this is done in a professional machi

Clearly I'm just woolgathering. . . .

No fireworks, but I broke out the big brass Bombay horn. Happy New Year folks!

My parents grew up during the great depression. It really is important to have good parents. We were so lucky as kids. I was amazed to find out that my ancestors all came to this country about 1840. I did not know that we were that well established. Family history and genealogy we’re not a subject when I was growing up. I think this was because both of my parents grew up in difficult situations on the edge of Appalachia. My parents were very thrifty when I was growing up, and because of that we never suffered from want. I mowed a lot of lawns and I had a very successful

Happy Christmas to all! Our kids and grandkids, and we, decided we were all healthy enough for Christmas, and all came for dinner yesterday. I made a 9lb prime rib with mashed potatoes and carrots with onions. I bought lots of snacks and we had pie, cake, pudding, and 4 kinds of ice cream. Presents for everyone, & everything came off well. The roast was perfect, nothing burned, and we didn't cook too much or too little. Not one kid showed up with a runny nose, sniffles, bandaids, broken finger, arm in a cast, black eye . . . nuthin'! . . . and nobody over ate or drank too much. Th

Too overcast here for any viewing at all. OTOH it never snows here below 3000’ and I live below 1000’ It has actually snowed lightly here, twice in 46 years, but melted within hours. Mrs Ulu, puttering in the garden yesterday.

Time to get out the Leupold.

As a backstop to all the depressing BS that has infected our lives over the past 12 months I offer you this hope for a cheerful Christmas and a happy new year. (fresh cut Cheerfulness was $25 more than last year but You can’t put a price on hope... )

The strings are way too short for pendulums that heavy. They don’t ring because they have to rise too much on each swing.

I painted these from scratch, and did the grip tape to match. Various sketches for boards.