What did you do today?

[Floorist]

Randy, I don't know if I posted about my riding mower on here or not. It quit on me, so I was too sick to work on it and dropped it off at a shop. My wife went out and bought me a new one. A few days later, I get a call that the old one can't be fixed. So I go get it. In 15 minutes I have it running. I pulled off the power belt and ordered a new one. None of the stuff they said was wrong with it was actually wrong with it. The only thing they did was change a tire and they left out a washer, so now it rubs. I think they thought I would buy a new one from them, but no way. Like you, if someone tells me something can't be fixed, I just have to prove them wrong.
I am going to give the old one to my grandson. He cuts a couple yards.

 

[Mark Brown]

Where the heck do you get a 350 amp alternator?

Apex alternators, out of Idaho. They build them custom.
My stereo draws somewhere between 180 and 240 amps of current depending on how it is configured at the time, so i thought i would build in a little head room. Someday, if everything goes as planned, I will need a second one.

 

[Mark Brown]

Welding wire can handle the amps

I run 2/0 gauge copper from the alt to the batter, battery to ground and engine to chassis. Then 2/0 to the fuse block, 1/0 to all the amps and 1/0 grounded from the amps. Just the wire in my car is north of 500 dollars lol

 

[highup]

Welding wire can handle the amps

It was a 1973 Chevy pickup. It was a last year of the points style ignition and coil.
I decided to replace the distributor and coil with an electronic GM HEI distributor.
I got it for a discount from a friend that had a automotive repair shop.
It arrived the day before mother's day and I spent an hour installing it and setting the ignition timing.
What I paid for the distributor I asked the guy about the size of the wire going to the coil or hot side of the distributor. I knew the HEI distributors had a much hotter coil.
I told him I was running up to my mother's house in Vancouver about 250 mi away the next day.
He replied for something like, just hook up the old coil wire and you should be fine for something temporary.
The old coil wire seemed pretty tiny..... Maybe 16 gauge? ...18 gauge?
I decided, rather than to risk running this hotter coil through the ignition switch that I would just wire it directly to the battery and add a rocker switch inside the cab for this trip. This was just going to get me up to my moms place and back home so it was temporary wiring.
I think I decided on running a 14 gauge wire directly from the battery to a bus block installed on the firewall. From there I ran another 14 gauge wire across the firewall and into the cab then connected it to a rocker switch which was just going to lay on the floor for the duration. From the switch, the wire ran back out to the firewall and over to the coil.
From these wires that ran from the battery to the switch and back across to the ignition coil, I'd estimate about 15 ft of 14 gauge wire.
I put a few wraps of electrical tape around the wires, to temporarily connect them with the wire harness. I taped the wires just to neaten things up for the trip.
Anyway the rocker switch work fine and I did a few test runs through town to check the ignition timing and make sure everything ran well and it did. The truck started quicker and ran an idled smoother....... It was 9:00 p.m. so I had successfully installed the distributor and went to bed.
The next morning my brother and I headed out of town and once we got on the interstate 5 we were doing fine. My rocker switch was a lighted yellow switch. I was in the left lane and as I was moving to the right lane on the highway the engine lost power.
I glanced at the switch and it was no longer lit up. At that very moment, smoke started pouring out of the windshield defroster vents....... and I'm talking white smoke

I immediately continued across the right lane into the shoulder which was gravel and skidded to a stop as fast as I could. I popped the hood open and I grabbed the wiring that I had connected to the bus bar on the firewall and gave it a hard jerk.
That brand new 14 gauge wire was now almost bare wire with plastic dripping off of it.
Long story short.......... and yes it was a long one
I discovered that the HEI coil drew a lot more amperage than the old coil in my 73 pickup. With a run of wire that long, even stepping up a gauge to 14 could not handle the current.
Okay now I am stranded along side of the freeway with the hood up and no more smoke. I stripped the wires off the bus bar then twisted the ends together. Those two short wire ends would complete the ignition to the coil as long as it hadn't been damaged.
I hopped back inside twisted the ignition key and the engine came back to life. 100 miles later, I had to stop and get gas
I pulled into the gas station, got out, lifted my hood, and untwisted the wires on the bus bar to turn off the engine.
There's a NAPA parts store next door so I went over and bought another switch and some 12 gauge wire. So this temporary fix worked just fine.
I made it home and redid the entire wiring the 12 gauge wire. I installed a rocker switch in the dashboard. All that wire did was turn on the ignition. If you put the key in and twisted it the engine would crank but it would not start till you flip the ignition switch.
I just left it that way as a bit of a theft deterrent.

 

[highup]

Is there some way to determine if I've typed the longest line of BS that I've ever typed on this forum. I'm thinking I may have set a personal record.

 

[highup]

I run 2/0 gauge copper from the alt to the batter, battery to ground and engine to chassis. Then 2/0 to the fuse block, 1/0 to all the amps and 1/0 grounded from the amps. Just the wire in my car is north of 500 dollars lol

My car cost $500 and the wire was free. I think it had three quarters of a tank of gas in it too.
I literally drove it like I stole it.

 

[highup]

.......Anna one, Anna two......

 

[Mark Brown]

My car cost $500 and the wire was free. I think it had three quarters of a tank of gas in it too.
I literally drove it like I stole it.

The car is a complete train wreck man. I bought it so I could do an engine swap, learn a bunch of stuff and play around. At the end of the day, it really is all for the stereo. My wife and kids are how shall we say, sonically adverse to my lifestyle choices of "hella loud" so basically my vehicle is my refuge.

 

[MSLI]

A good friend of the deceased tool maker is coming over to help organize tools and machine parts for possible auction. Here’s a few photos,

 

[MSLI]

Yo High! That golf course job is turning into a nightmare. Self level .25 sounds good for foyer. I would be tempted to try 2” Tackless and fasten w/ aluminum drives into the solid concrete. The tucking gap may be 1/2” wide, but I could live with that. It’s been my experience that you can successfully fasten 3/8” away from expansion gap using Crain alum drive bit and fasteners. OR do what Darris said .....good luck ! Ps > maybe the contractor could install 1/8” metal x 8” wide over expansion gap, then you fasten w/ self tappers into metal.....Or maybe remove the 1.25” baseboards, allowing aluminum drives to be fastened on the inside of gap ? ? O-Boy !

 

[MSLI]

Is there some way to determine if I've typed the longest line of BS that I've ever typed on this forum. I'm thinking I may have set a personal record.

Great Mc Giver, surviver story

 

[highup]

Yo High! That golf course job is turning into a nightmare. Self level .25 sounds good for foyer. I would be tempted to try 2” Tackless and fasten w/ aluminum drives into the solid concrete. The tucking gap may be 1/2” wide, but I could live with that. It’s been my experience that you can successfully fasten 3/8” away from expansion gap using Crain alum drive bit and fasteners. OR do what Darris said .....good luck ! Ps > maybe the contractor could install 1/8” metal x 8” wide over expansion gap, then you fasten w/ self tappers into metal.....Or maybe remove the 1.25” baseboards, allowing aluminum drives to be fastened on the inside of gap ? ? O-Boy !

Great minds think alike. I was actually thinking about the metal and self-tapping screws, but you'd have to float filler out from the 8th inch thick metal. If the concrete between the foundation and the slab wasn't even you could be higher than 1/8 inch, so you'd have to feather back the filler a long ways.

 

[highup]

Yo High! That golf course job is turning into a nightmare. Self level .25 sounds good for foyer. I would be tempted to try 2” Tackless and fasten w/ aluminum drives into the solid concrete. The tucking gap may be 1/2” wide, but I could live with that. It’s been my experience that you can successfully fasten 3/8” away from expansion gap using Crain alum drive bit and fasteners. OR do what Darris said .....good luck ! Ps > maybe the contractor could install 1/8” metal x 8” wide over expansion gap, then you fasten w/ self tappers into metal.....Or maybe remove the 1.25” baseboards, allowing aluminum drives to be fastened on the inside of gap ? ? O-Boy !

I was thinking about removing the base also, but that stuff doesn't just pop off like household base, and I doubt if it would come off and go back on nicely. Nightmare it is.

 

[highup]

A good friend of the deceased tool maker is coming over to help organize tools and machine parts for possible auction. Here’s a few photos,View attachment 12071View attachment 12072

Well he does have one Starrett micrometer, so he was definitely serious. Looks like a lot of fairly old stuff so I wouldn't have a clue what any of those things are worth. I looked on eBay and some of the small Starrett mic's run $10 to $35
New ones are a lot more.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/133770505593?hash=item1f2557ed79:g:vZ0AAOSweE5gq~sJ

 

[DarisMulkin]

Number of ways you could do this, I know I'm a hack but it worked as once ina while I would run into celotex next to the wall. I put tackless down and drove 16's into it just to keep it from tipping, its just a spacer anyway, then found solid crete to put my strip in drilled and aluminum drives. Another way put 1/4" plywood down and anchor it into the crete and float the edge out whatever it takes to make it look flat and then your strip. Or even 3/8" ply.

 

[zannej]

Guy who owes mom $ came out yesterday with a tractor and mowed the front 10 acres. Took him 5 hours (he had to stop to pick up branches and stuff). He was supposed to come out today but was going to bring my friend to help him move a tree. Only my friend forgot and went to a bbq instead (he's had memory problems ever since the wreck). I wasn't expecting them to come out today anyway. I mean, I know he said he was going to, but with his track record of not showing up, I wasn't surprised.

I did a little cleaning, helped mom with starting to organize her room. It's a hoarder room with cardboard boxes piled high. I got her plastic bins to sort her stuff. She's been slowly organizing her paints, pens, paintbrushes, beads, art supplies, etc in to the bins. She used to do a lot of crafts but now she just collects the stuff for crafting without actually crafting. She can't walk while carrying stuff (due to her balance issues) so I had to move bins around for her, bring stuff to her, put bins where she wanted them, etc. Need to get more bins. I found the size she likes best. And the bottoms of the bins fit into the lids of other bins so they stack well. Need to eliminate all of the cardboard, get stuff put in appropriate places. Apparently there's a whole NuWave oven in there somewhere.

I made lunch and am now resting with the kitties. One of the kitties followed me from the kitchen, climbed on me, and was licking my nose. He's now curled up on my arm. He's our most stand-offish kitty of the lot but some days he gets in super cuddle mode. He was very attached to my brother (who rescued him from the road in the woods late at night). Used to sleep on his shoulder all the time. Now he's more attached to me-- probably since my door is almost always open and I'm available to pet him.

Anyway, hoping my friend will remember to come over tomorrow so he can help the guy move one of the fallen trees and help clear the blackberry bushes that have wrapped around the AC unit and filled the yard. Need them trimmed away from the sidewalk too.

 

[highup]

Number of ways you could do this, I know I'm a hack but it worked as once ina while I would run into celotex next to the wall. I put tackless down and drove 16's into it just to keep it from tipping, its just a spacer anyway, then found solid crete to put my strip in drilled and aluminum drives. Another way put 1/4" plywood down and anchor it into the crete and float the edge out whatever it takes to make it look flat and then your strip. Or even 3/8" ply.

There's no way to float out 3/8 or even 1/4 inch plywood.
In these lower units, there is a door two feet away from the outside wall and you'd be floating into that area.
They spent $10 million dollars on 24 rooms and a parking lot. There is an architect involved..........
.......... I'd like to bash his head in ...... I mean talk to him about the foam and ask for his suggestion on how to fix his screw up.
If this one inch foam was required for some reason, there's no reason the foam needed to go clear up to the surface. they could have left this foam 3 inches shy of the surface so when the cement slab was poured, there would be 3 in of concrete in this area. Plenty to nail or glue to.
I took a 3/8 inch, 12 inch long drill bit and drilled into the foam and it didn't bottom out.
If there was a somewhat clean method of carving out 3 inches of foam and filling it with wood or a cement product that expanded rather than shrunk, this could be made to work.
Pouring the void full of self leveling concrete will not work because the concrete slab and foundation are not flawlessly tight to the foam, so you could keep pouring in self leveler until it started muddying up the water in the lake below the building.
Whatever happens we need 2-in wide commercial tack strip. It's more stable and would only require one row of nails that could be placed in the most appropriate location.
It's just a freaking mess.
I'm going to talk to the shop owner tomorrow morning and try to meet with the contractor so we can figure out what to do to fix this.
The pad is in place and the carpet is seemed together. You can't just want this piece of carpet up and have people walk all over the backing while it's folded. I don't know how you stretch a wrinkle out of woven carpet in it's width if it becomes distorted.
We will figure out something.
Since I can't begin anything downstairs I went to the room directly above it because I was concerned about the tackstrip being glued to the gypcrete....... It's actually glued to the primer or paint that's on the floor. The nails and the tack strip are 5/8 inch long, so they barely poke in to the gypcrete. The urethane adhesives do not adhere very well to smooth surfaces like paint. If it's not paint it's probably PVA primer.
I started going around the room with my hammer drill and drilled 8-in holes around the perimeter of the entire room...... both rows of tack strip.
I've been using one and three quarter inch long torx head deck screws.
In front of the window the tackstrip distorted noticeably when I put screws on a portion that was humped up.
I pulled out the screws and use a chisel to chop out a section of the tack strip. I figured maybe there was a concrete nail or some debris under it.
I was wrong. There was a big fat bead of fully hardened urethane adhesive under the tack strip. The tack strip did not adhere to the urethane adhesive and the adhesive was not even flattened or distorted.
Here's what it looked like.

 

[Mark Brown]

So, that foam is there for a reason. It is a frost curtain. The logic is that is it inside the slab to prevent cold in the slab from getting into the structure. Don't ask me the how of it. We run into it all the time. I cut it down fill it with hydrolic cement and pound nails into it

that is one bloody mess man

 

[highup]

So, that foam is there for a reason. It is a frost curtain. The logic is that is it inside the slab to prevent cold in the slab from getting into the structure. Don't ask me the how of it. We run into it all the time. I cut it down fill it with hydrolic cement and pound nails into it

that is one bloody mess man

I haven't checked, but maybe it's code for commercial buildings. We occasionally have frost. It's rare for an overnight temperature to get below 27°.
The location of the foam is stupid crazy. If it were 1 1/4 inches closer to the wall, it would be underneath the baseboards.
The builder, the architect, and the floor layer should all know this is going to be a problem. One of them should have dealt with it early on in this project. The architect in my opinion, screwed up. He should have specified that the foam be left out for a few inches so the concrete could be poured directly up against the foundation. Either that or he should have designed a fix for the problem I'm having.
I put a 3/8 diameter 12-in long bit into my drill and drilled down into the foam. Maybe what I need are 12 in long foam tackstrip nails. Anybody know where I can get some? I want rigid foam nails, not that flimsy kind of foam nail.

 

[highup]

The room that I just showed with the tack strip fastened to a hardened bead of dried adhesive, had the same issues has every other room has. Probably 15 ft of the perimeter of the room had the felt pad overlapping the tack strip by one quarter to half an inch. There was probably another 12 ft or the pad was one half of an inch short of touching the tack strip. In the process of dealing with that I was able to fold the padding back out of the adhesive.... It was really easy where there was no adhesive.
The bottom unit where I had the foam problem is concrete. The upper rooms are all gypcrete or some kind of acoustical concrete. It's actually pretty hard. The tack strip is all glued and nailed, but the adhesive isn't designed to stick onto painted surfaces.
Like most new construction jobs you're required to paint the floor at least 6 inches out into the room when you are painting the walls.
So on top of all the other issues I'm drilling around the perimeter of the room and driving in coated deck screws. That's going to take forever to do this to 23 more rooms. Half are on concrete and half are on the gypcrete. If the upstairs has painted floors, I'm sure the downstairs has painted floors, so the strip adhesive has a minimal effect.