New Workbench

 

Yes, four days old, and already cluttered....

It was on sale at Home Depot with free delivery, so I went ahead and ordered one. A trip to Harbor Freight netted me a belt/disc sander, and bench grinder, and finally, a decent vise. 

The WEN drill press arrived Friday morning, and was a snap to assemble. The other drill press I had was more of a toy. It would do wood, plastic, and aluminum OK, but steel? Uh....no. It just didn't have enough torque to go through more than 1/8" of the stuff.

The belt/disc sander and bench grinder are Very Nice Things to have when fabricating, and nothing beats a wire wheel in a bench grinder for cleaning bolts.

The bench vise replaces the on I left in Long Beach like a dummy. I had the bench height adjusted where I like it, and then I put the casters on it, so now I have to lower it 2" to what I like.

And of course, a nice light over it. 

Remember the "Electrical Board" I built for the grandsons? They LOVE it!

Definitely a hit, and I hear murmurs of his cousins wanting one now....

They thought it was MAGIC when I hooked a coil I wound to the voltmeter and ran a magnet through it. 

ELECTRICITY FROM NOTHING!

They're having great fun learning new things, and getting patient, clear explanations of how it happens.

I love this picture for some reason...

 

And this is where I'm currently at.

Pulled the driver's side headlight bucket out to get at the RUST that was lurking under it. This has been completely scrubbed with a brush using my Magic Mix of Simple Green, Denatured Alcohol, water, and a good squirt of Dish Soap. 

Then I went over it again with the same mix and green Scotch-Brite. That really got it clean. I even managed to get a good portion of the really stained areas back to being white. Now I'm working on the rusty battery shelf, and I have to pull the mounting bracket for the Front Strut Rod ( a 'Lateral Locating Link' in tech terms) out of the car to sand blast. Which means I have to take the other one out, too, or the finishes won't match. Not hard to do, and it has to be done to change the front sway bar, so I'll swap out the front bar when I put it back together.

 The black shelf is the battery support, which I've already sanded and put a Rust Converter product on. The hugely rusty bracket is the one that has to come off.

And we had some really interesting clouds a couple of weeks ago.

Hope you all have a very Blessed and Joyous Easter.

Rejoice! He Is Risen!

Still Here, Busy As All Get-Out!

 I just haven't felt like posting. When I photograph and post things, it takes me away from doing things, and that can be a bit annoying....

Fed the trees and shrubs, checked (and repaired) the drip system for any damage sustained over the Winter, and got the hoses and sprinklers out and ready-to-go. If anybody wants some "Guaranteed To Germinate" Maple seeds, let me know. I've got a two gallon plastic bucket full of them!

Finally broke down and bought a decent workbench. It's a "Husky" from Home Depot. It was on sale, with free delivery. I put locking casters on all four legs so I can maneuver it around when required. It's set up, and I'm going to hang a LED shop light over it tomorrow, along with bolting down my new vise. Annnnd the new drill press is arriving Friday. Not sure if I'll bolt down the bench grinder yet. I'll wire wheel a bunch of bolts and see if it moves around any.

The Fisher RS-2010 is drawing excessive current. When I powered it up in the past, it would draw around 3 Amps at 120 VAC. Now that I've rebuilt the Power Amplifier Board it draws SIX Amps at about 25 VAC, indicating I bollixed something up, so I stepped back for a few days. I'm pretty sure I know what it is, as there was some ambiguity in getting two of the transistors in each channel properly oriented.  Not the first time I've goofed, and it won't be the last!

Work is proceeding at an accelerating pace on the Supra. I'll post some pix in the next day or two.

80* Last Week, and Snowing Tonight....

 Just gotta love Springtime in the Rockies!  

We've received a bit over an inch of rain this week, accompanied by daytime temps of 30~50*, nighttime temps in the 20~30* range, and a lot of wind.

Going to be warming up all this week, so I'll be back in the garage.

Results of the Fisher Smoke Test are negative; NO smoke was released!

More to come....

The Fisher Saga Pre-Test Tales

 The Last Transistor, and associated "extra" components, has been replaced. I verified my work with a checklist, and it's very close to being powered up. I have some tidying up to do, along with cleaning the soldering flux off the back of the PA Board, and I'll do that tomorrow with fresh eyes.

And I finally bought a decent workbench for the garage. Now I have a place to mount a proper bench vise, belt/disc sander, bench grinder, and a drill press.

 

Stand by for pix!