Compressor pressure gauge replaced, dump line done! A/C Condenser Fan motor issue fixed, and replacing lost tools.

So yesterday I managed to grab the 200psi filled gauge, item #68251, from Harbor Freight in Webster Texas. I managed to be a complete idiot in my prior guesstimaes, and realized that the old gauge actually was 1/4" and not 3/8". I'm not doing all that well with guessing pipe thread gauges by looking at them any more. I used to be 100% accurate. Getting older is a pain I guess... Anyway, I installed the gauge mid day yesterday when I came home for lunch. (Long story, flexing hours to avoid overtime at work), and ran the compressor up to pressure. And then let it sit. No audible leaks but when I looked at 2:00 P.M. today... about 26 hours later...

Now if you are familiar with this compressor, you will see that it is turned off (lever in the up position), and it has bled down to about 40PSI from 150 in 26 hours.

The bleed down is not enough to cause a problem when using the compressor, but it sure is a bad enough leak to bother me. I suspect it is right at that gauge too. It is not 100% tight because I needed to read the face. Not sure how to fix this but I will figure it out.

I did install the ball valve on the quick connect output side and tested that for leaks at least and it is 100% leak free.Very happy with that!

And of course the tank drain and ball valve for that drain are installed and now accessible without me getting on my hands and knees and reaching under the compressor in a small space...

You might notice the output is at a slight angle, which is intentional. I did not want to overstress the threads, and this side of the equation, all the joints have been leak tested under pressure and they are leak free.

I MAY change one of the 5" nipples I used (a pair of them with a copuler) with a 3" to put the ball valve on the other side of that axle tube and get it out of harms way, but I don't play on moving my compressor often.

Now no photos, but I did put ends on the connecting hose, and hooked it up. The new hose is considerably longer than the old, and I simply coiled up the excess and zip tied it up so it won't be in the way....

Last night, a horrible squealing noise coming from the back yard woke me up. Go out and look, and it was WAY obvious the bearing on the AC Condenser fan is squealing and chirping,

This morning, I powered off the A/C (The breaker box is right next to the condenser), and pulled the fan out of it's 4 screws and looked. I wish I had thought to take pics...

Long story short, the shaft was caked with mud from I am assuming the yard work, and there was dirt, and rust around the bearing... A quick brush down with an old toothbrush and a liberal application of WD-40 which only stopped when the chunks of dirt stopped coming out of the bearing,were done, and then the assembly put back together, and powered back on. We are back to beautiful, noise free motor operation (the fan blades / air flow makes noise...).

All in all, today is turning out to be a productive day in the shop and around the house. Good thing for me I guess that I hit the companies maximum leave time and HAD to take time off!

I believe I mentioned in a former post, I managed to lose my 10mm deep well 1/4" drive socket, and my 5/32" 1/4" deep well socket. The replacements were Husky branded from Home Depot, and are 6pt pieces. Oddly enough, the metric deep socket set I have is Husky and while the replacement is close, it is not 100% exact. Will show that later. Also the 5/32 that is missing and now replaced with Husky is in a Craftsman set from the early 90s. The Husky socket is about 2mm longer than the Craftsman that pushes the top of the case out ever so slightly. Not bad enough to annoy me, but enough to get my attention.

While I was adding and fixing tools, I also grabbed a Pittsburgh 6" digital caliper, and a 5pc swivel head ratcheting combination wrenches to match my metrics. Yes they are Pittsburgh cheapies but they have proved their value to me for the last 2 years so the SAE were a welcome addition! I still have my Mibro 6" digital caliper, but the battery is dead and I wasn't sure what battery they used, and I needed to get another. I figured it out, they are 357 button cells that I can get at Walgreens of all places. Going to do that this afternoon!

Before too long the shop will be back in the shape it is supposed to be in.and I can continue with my sign building...

Which of course brings me to the issue I had with my Rockler Interlock Signmaker's Templates - State Park Font Kit. The original bushing was defective (chunks missing from the threads) and it would NOT lock down, which kicked the router up and rammed the bit through the W template.

I want to give kudos to Rockler customer service. Over the years I have had to use them on a couple of occasions, and they are always completely professional and make a point to make sure I am a happy customer. Since Rockler sells a LOT of the templates and specialty pieces I use, they are sure to get more and more of my business as the years go on!

Custom compressor tank drain, and output valves installed, but not all is well...

So I am officially calling myself an idiot. I started out to do something good for my compressed air system after suffering a stupid loss of a host due to me keeping the system pressurized too long, not dumping the tank enough etc... More on the idiot part at the end...

So I managed to install a remote tank dump valve, and a matching 1/4" NPT ball valve on the compressor output.

The remote dump was pretty simple, but with one minor misjudgement on my part as far as parts went...

Unlike my Central Pnuematic 12 gallon 2HP horizontal air compressor, the 29 gallon compressor tank doesn't have a 1/4" threaded hole, but instead it's threaded 3/8"! No big deal. Plenty of spare parts in my toolbox to solve the problem. But let's take a check of what I had to get for the job...

For starters, after removing the original valve, I found the 3/8" thread instead of 1/4", So I fished a 3/8" M x 1/4" F bushing from my toolbox. Not the actual one photographed, but one I had previously pulled from use.

My parts pile came from a combination of Home Depot, and Harbor Freight Tools. I was going to get most of it from Lowes, but the Lowes near me doesn't carry the 1/4" brass they used to, and I found 1/4" iron at Home Depot...

So the haul was...

From Harbor Freight.

• 3/8" x 5-8' Rubber Air Hose (Remnant). (I think mine is 8'
• 2 @ 1/4" full port Ball Valves (I had already unpackaged one prior to shooting the pic)

From Home Depot.

• 1/4" galvanized iron street elbow.
• 1/4" galvanized iron coupler FxF
• 2 @ 1/4" x5" galvanized iron nipples.
• 1 tube Rectorseal yellow pipe dope. My old jar of Ace Hardware PTFE pipe sealant got broken and dried out / thrown out.

So all was going I took the F quick connect off of the compressor, pipe doped my male threads and male threads on the ball valve, and then installed the ball valve inline between the compressor and the F quick connect.

Next, I go and apply the pipe dope to the male threads, and assemble the nipples to the coupler,and ball valve.

I then go to CARFULLY lean back the compressor to remove the tank drain.

That's when things got away from me.

Simply put, the compressor tipped over and went to the concrete floor.

Good thing it was the handle side of the compressor.
Bad thing the handle doesn't curve back any.

Apparently the pressure gauge DOES protrude beyond the handle on the back of the compressor.

I am not sure about you guys, but just looking at that pic, makes me cringe.

Good thing, Harbor Freight has them, cheap. Bad thing, I have to go get one.

Sadly they don't have an exact replacement in inventory, but rather one with a 1/4" NPT fitting, good thing I have bushings!

I know there are a couple of guys that are crying about the 200PSI filled gauge being labelled in metric on the outer ring, and SAE in the inner. I can handle Metric readings and convert on the fly in my head so I am not terribly worried about it.

So soonest possible, I go to HF, and grab one of these http://www.harborfreight.com/200-psi-14-in-npt-filled-gauge-68251.html

Lesson to b learned? Even if it is short, get help tiilting back / over an air compressor! Now I can't QC my job until I have that dumb thing replaced.

What is going on?

Short note today. Just noticed the weird formatting change on the blog. I will dig into it this weekend. I have a mess of video to work this weekend!

Don't leave air hoses plugged in, and air compressors turned on

So over the weekend, I was doing shop cleanup, using the blow guns, and of course filling tires. I forgot to disconnect the whip that connects the compressor to the mainfold, and I left the compressor on and forgot about it. 

Well, I had to run some errands yesterday, I wasn’t out of the house very long. Maybe 2 hours. Well I came back and from the driveway I could hear it…

Air compressor was flailing away and there was a constant FAST hiss coming from the shop.

I know what that sound is!

Go in to the shop as fast as I can, it’s hot in there, I flip the switch on the compressor to shut it down, and disconnect the feed hose to my manifold.

Right where the hose bends to go up to the manifold there is very clearly a 1/4” long tearout in the hose.

Now mind you, all of my hoses except for my Hitachi, came from Harbor Freight. Now before anyone goes bashing Harbor Freight, mind you I have a LOT of experience with compressed air systems, and hoses. The BEST air hoses I have used hands down have been Goodyear, the black ones.

This experience was back when I was a MUCH younger man, and gas stations actually had full service. I managed one for several years, and we averaged a 12 month time to failure on hoses. My home garage workshop use has been, well I need to verify but I believe it has been 26 months since I set up the reel / manifold rig, and I leave it pressureized and connected WAY more than I ever did in the gas station.

Now like I mentioned, I was only out for about 2 hours, and the hose wasn’t blown out when I left, so some time in that 2 hour time frame, the hose blew, the compressor kept running, and it produced enough heat to heat up the shop to over 90 deg F.

This could have possibly led to a shop fire, and considering my shop is attached to the house, this had the potential to be REALLY bad.

Lessons learned?

#1. ALWAYS disconnect the feed whip when done with the system for the day. I am considering a simple ball valve on the feed line to keep things connected, and moist air out of the filter / dryer. #2. Turn the compressor OFF when not likely to be used that day. #3. Drain the compressor tank FAR more often than I do. I never neglected to do this to the big 60+ (Actually a bank of 4 120 gallon compressors) on a daily basis, but their drains were a LOT easier to get to. I will end up extending the drain out with a ball valve so all I have to do is flip a ball valve open instead of reaching way back in and under to get to a petcock valve that instantly spews every bit of shop dust into your face.

Now the question is… How to approach fixing this disaster next?

Step #1. Gather supplies. First I need 2 1/4” full port ball valves.
http://www.harborfreight.com/14-in-full-port-ball-valve-68254.html (I already have one).
Will need one 1/4” NPT male x female brass elbow.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Sioux-Chief-1-4-in-x-1-4-in-Lead-Free-Brass-90-Degree-MPT-x-FPT-Street-Elbow-930-271001/202254920
Need 10” brass 1/4” NPT nipple. Can’t find a link, but I know my local Lowes has them. That’s where I got mine.
3/8×8 – 15ft air hose remnant. (Useful for whip hoses).
http://www.harborfreight.com/38-in-x-8-ft-15-ft-rubber-air-hose-remnant-60356.html

#2. Disconnect the compressor from power. And pull it out of its cubby hole. #3. Remove the quick connect from the outlet port on the compressor. Treat the threads with pipe dope, and install the first of ball valves, Install the quick connect on the ball valve. #4. Transfer over the quick connect fittings from the blown hose to the new one. #5. Dry out the dessicant beads, seal them up while I finish the rest of the work. #6. Remove the petcock valve from the bottom of the compressor tank. #7. Pipe dope the male of the street elbow, and install it onto the tank insuring the female threads point back toward the wheels. #8. Pipe dope both ends of the 10” nipple, Install the second 1/4” ball valve onto the nipple, install the assembly onto the street elbow.Close all valves, check for tightness. #9. Reconnect to power. Power on and test fittings for leaks. #10. Assuming step #9 passes. Move compressor back into place, replace dessicant in dryer / filter, and reconnect whip hose. Open output valve, Check for leaks. #11. Close output valve, turn compressor off, and open drain valve to bleed tank. #12. Create, print, laminate, and post compressor operation / maintenance procedures on cabinet behind compressor.

Step #12 is for my wife since she may end up having to know how to turn the compressor off in an emergency.

Where the #$%@ is the floor?! Keep chugging along in shop cleanup!

I have had a pile of car repairs over the last 6 months or so, pretty much every free moment not spent at work, practicing, gigging, or with my wife, has been spent under a hood.

The results are coming to fruition, but my shop was getting to a state where I couldn’t find most of my tools, drawers were so disorganized that I couldn’t open / close them, and well I knew there was a floor in there somewhere, just not sure where.

I spent several hours this past week, mostly rounding up tools from 2 car trunks, closets in the house, strewn all over, and under my major shop tools, under the seat in the truck, etc… and I still can’t find the floor.

What did I accomplish?

After months of being MIA, I found my 1/4” Craftsman socket set, or at least most of it (the 3/32” shallow socket is missing) hiding under a pile of shavings under the lathe.

Found and put back my shallow, and deep well Husky 1/4” drive sockets. I am missing my 1/4” drive 6pt Husky 10mm deep socket. It flipped off of my ratchet, and QUICKLY ran down the driveway and into a storm drain. I need to buy a new one…

My Metric, and SAE, 3/8” drive shallow, 3/8” drive deep, 1/2” drive shallow, 1/2” drive deep, and 1/2” drive shallow impact sockets are all organized, on their respective socket rails, or in the factory socket holders if they came with one.

My specialty sockets (Torx, Allen, Tamper Resistant Torx, etc…. adapters, universal joints etc… are on their appropriate socket rails.

My breaker bars (the original 1/2” drive Snap On, and my new to me 3 weeks ago Pittsburgh 3/8” drive are in the drawer they belong in.

My socket extensions, speed wrench, ratchets etc… are back where they belong.

I put away my HF Digital Multimeter.

I FOUND the Blue Point Digital Multimeter that took to missing months ago under a pile of shavings behind the work bench..

I found missing screwdrivers, Snap On, Stanley, and Pittsburgh, so all price points were found yet again, and put back where they belong!

I found my missing SAE Pittsburgh and Metric Eklind allen key sets. These went back where they belong.

I found my SAE Stanley Proto, and Metric Craftsman feeler gauge sets. These went back where they belong.

I found my long missing Craftsman insulated handle slip joint pliers (My favorite go to pliers) These went back where they belong.

I found my pick up magnet. This got put up where it belongs.

I put back together, and put away my drilling accessories such as drill bits, driver bits, forstner bits, and hole saws. All the pieces are where they belong.

A small sampling of the tools found shows my cleaning illustrates why I need to keep on top of this! The screwdrivers and allen key sets are parts of fuller sets, and as such cannot be replaced one piece at a time, meaning this could have been expensive!

I spent a good bit of time reorganizing my peg board on my shop cabinets to more efficiently store my tools while allowing as full as possible operation of the cabinet doors.

Finishes, solvents, primers, and fillers were sorted, the bad stuff was put into a box for hazardous waste recycling, the good stuff put back into rotation.

My floor jack, and jack stands were organized out of the way next to the lathe.

My lathe tools were cleaned up, sharpened, and put away in their cases, or in most cases, the cardboard box they came in. I need to work on storage for them still…

I did take the compressed air hose, and blow gun out, using a respirator of course, and the ambient filter running, and blew down the lathe, and bench top tools.. Now it’s been over year since i have used the scroll saw which is on top of the stack, how on earth did I get shavings on top of that?!

I finally put back in its proper place the ball joint tool, AC manifold gauge set, cooling system tester, etc…

There is far more that was done, cleaned, reorganized, BUT it ts too much to go into. Long story short though, I probably am about 1/4 of the way through shop cleanup, which is a disgusting statement, but at the very least, I have found at least $600.00 worth of tools that I thought were gone for good.

I know what caused this mess, and it's me. I get done with a project that is outside of my shop, and I simply jam tools back into the shop door, close the door and call it done. I do NOT do what I am supposed to do, and clean up my tools and put them back properly. this MUST change.

Likewise, my "place where things go" s getting crowded. My automotive tool box is housing far too many plumbing tools etc... I need to build a couple of tool totes specifically designed to house tools for specific types of jobs. one tote to hold plumbing specific tools and supplies, another to hold electrical tools and supplies etc... 

I have a LONG way to go with the cleanup, but believe it or not, I am making good progress. I have GOT to get a handle on this so I can actually use my shop!

Shop cleanup is a bit overwhelming at this point...

I sadly haven't been putting up too many blog entries lately, that has been my fault. I have been working tons of hours on my day job, What shop hours I have been able to get in have been dedicated to keeping the house in order, and keeping, or getting the cars running... Ugh.

Over the last several months, I have on the 2001 Saturn.

#1. Repaired a leaking intake manifold with the coolant bypass kit from www. carsaturn.com. The kit was a bit intimidating to install, but the video instructions provided by the developers of this thing. Unlike the engineers at General Motors, the guys at carsaturn.com actually did a good job on making a consumer friendly product.
#2. Replaced a leaky and growling power steering pump. Several years ago, on Thanksgiving Eve, the plastic pulley on this pump exploded. It finally gave up.
#3. Replaced the belt, belt tensioner, and idler pulley, since I was in there, I wanted to make it all good...
#4. Replaced the water pump, upper, lower radiator hoses, and heater hoses.
#5. Replaced the foreward and passenger side motor mounts.
#6. Sourced up, and replaced the original broken down seats with seats from a low mileage 2001 SL1 with a matching interior. Some of the nicer features of the SL2 seats like the separate headrests and adjustable lumbar support are missing, but these are actually more comfortable.
#7. started stripping the bubbling paint and removing the failed bondo from the hood (2 owners back had the bondo done).

At the same tine, I have been working on our new to us 2006 Chevy Malibu LT 3.5L V6. On that I have...
#1. Oil Change.
#2. Replaced belt, upper and lower hoses, heater hoses, thermostat.
#3. New pads on rear, checked pads on front.
#4. Transmission service. Video coming on that soon. Again, GM engineeers must be insane.
#5. Replace 4 broken wheel studs. For what it's worth, again, GM Engineers must be insane. There is NO good reason to make it that hard to get wheel studs out / in while the hub is on the vehicle.

And on the 2004 F150 5.4L 3V I am continuing to try to diagnose the P0012 code. I am at the point of knowing for sure the issue is an oiling / cam phaser problem. I am in the phase of putting money aside to do a full timing set rebuild, while I am in there I am planning on replacing water pump, idler, tensioner pullies, possibly with underdrive units, throwing in a high volume oil pump, cleaning out all the crud from the top end of the engine, dropping the pan and cleaning the lower end.

Once the go through on the engine is done, I need to go through the IWE system The truck drives like the 4wd system.

Tons of work around the house as well. Too much to list...But I have been busy...

P0012 issues, again, or still?

So the P0012 went away only just briefly after swapping out the VCT solenoid, however I did find when I did the s. olenoid, a considerable amount of sludge under the valve cover. The VCT system is known to be extra sensitive to oiling issues,

I am continuing to do some research on the issue, as I gather the resources (Money) to do the fix. I want to insure I am doing it right. The cam phasers aren't knocking, I hear what sounds like normal lifter sounds thats about it when it idles... So at this point I am thinking about...

#1. Pulling the valve covers, and dropping the oil pan. Giving the both, and the tops of the heads a thorough cleaning.
#2. Clean the oil passageway at the rear of the cylinder head that goes through the top of the block toward the back, insure that it is free of obstruction and sludge, basically insure the oil can get from the drivers side to the passenger side with sufficient pressure.
#3. Install new VCT Solenoids.
#4. Button up the oil pan, put on a decent oil filter, and oil the top end prior to reassembling the valve covers, and all that goes there such as COPs fuel rails etc...
#5. Fill the case with quality well oil, and a proper dose of Marvel Mystery Oil. Get it going again, and insure the code is cleared. Give it a couple hundred miles of run and then...
#6. Perform a full oil change keeping clean oil in it...

In discussion with several different mechanics, I am getting varied feedback on proper oil for this thing. Some say Ford got it right with recommending 5w30 for this engine even in the hot nasty environment of Texas, while others are telling me to run 20w50. The jury is still out on that. I want the oil thick enough to stay on the pieces it needs to be on and provide good pressure, without being so thick as to be too hard to pump... Oh boy do I have some fun choices to make!

Getting an early start on spring cleaning, and a project to help out with projects.

So my wife and I have an idea for a marketable product to be built in the shop, however it would require one major tool I don't have, and kind of don't want to buy as I have the stuff to build one. a drum / thickness sander...

I have been putting off the build for a couple of years, but as soon as I can weasel my way into some more shop time, I am going to get back at it... This will be a multi phase project.

Phase #1. Build the drum itself. After seeing a LOT of different options, I am going with a drum based off of 4" Schedule 40 PVC pipe, with turned plug ends and at least 2 intermediate supports.

Given the material I have, and considering the shaft space that bearings, and a pulley will take up, I can make up to a 20" drum sander. That is a bit big for my little shop, and my projects, not to mention would probably overwhelm the Harbor Freight 1HP motor I am intending to use, so I am figuring on going with a 12" wide drum.

Second piece to build will be the platen, That should be plenty easy. Dead flat board, reinforced with hinges, and an elevation mechanism (screw). This will likely be highly polished with something like bees wax.

Next will be the frame / structure of the machine. This will be made from SYP 2x4 stock. I have LOTS of it that has been in my shop literally for years specifically for this project. It is as dried as it will get...

The motor mount, another mount board with a hinge, and adjsutment / tensioner screw follows.

Then we move on to mechanical and electrical assembly. Get it running, make several test runs, and any adjustments to insure it makes accurate parallel thicknessing passes. Once all of that is done, and it is ready for prime time, the last item is to fashion and connect the dust collection hood...

There WILL be photos, and likely videos of the build process, so keep an eye out as they start coming.

I've been away for too long... Shop cleanup. And a broken Saturn Intake Manifold.

Gentle reader, you might notice that there has been an excessive span between blog posts. Call it day job requirements keeping me away from my shop, and away from my keyboard, but the months of double shifts have at least slowed down for a few days, long enough to type out a blog post.

Really not a whole lot going on right now, i finished a bass players pedalboard a couple of months ago.

In the past few months, I have been slammed with projects, work work, the holidays blah blah blah...

The projects have been mostly automotive. We picked up a new to us 2006 Chevrolet Malibu that we straightened out the trunk lid, and painted it. I also got rear brakes on it.

The big news though is my 2001 Saturn SL2 had a conniption fit with a broken coolant fitting on the plastic intake manifold. Now first things first. What sort of nitwit engineer designs an engine with the coolant flowing through a plastic intake manifold? And worse, it is the purge line to the tank, so the whole thing is pitifully small and easily broken.

Well I found a milled billet aluminum repair part from this company called www.carsaturn.com

I would have shot a howto video on this, but Carsaturn did it for me. I did not remove the hood Doing so is really not all that helpful, and I am a big guy!

Anyway, they did it in 2 videos so there they are.

I also had a sad experience of a failed AC compressor that managed to blow out (NO refrigerant left now!) I have all the parts and supplies needed, I just need to get to it.

I want to mention, anyone looking to do A/C work, make sure you know what you are doing, and if there is still refrigerant in the system that you use a recovery system to evacuate the system. Even R134A is toxic to you and the environment! Since my system evacuated itself, I don't need to do that step, but I do need to vacuum it down... Some shops will evacuate and vacuum down for you at a cost. Check your local shop for prices and if they offer that service.

Finally have the shop clean enough to work in. Have way too much to do...

For the past far too many months, I have had back problems that have been keeping me out of the shop. Well, time well spent with the doctor, and some physical therapy, and I am back in the shop!

Currently I have a couple of basic glue ups in the clamps for Christmas gifts. As soon as they come out of the clamps, they go to the lathe!

Yep, that's right, turning projects, pretty simple actually for several functional projects.

The material used is regular home center 2x4 southern yellow pine that has been acclimating to my shop for the last 4 years or so. I simply planed 3 chunks smooth and parallel with my Ryobi AP1301 planer, and then went on to clamp them up.

Next step is to clip the ends smooth and square on the miter saw, and find center. The corners of the work pieces will be knocked off in 45 degree angles to I start with long octagons, The reasoning for that is that it will take FAR less time, effort, and wear and tear on me, the lathe, and the gouges to start with. I will have far less material to remove on the lathe basically. Not to mention it is a LOT easier to clean up afterwards.

Once I get the first one turned, I will use the lessons learned from that, and duplicate this 3 more times.

Her wish is my command....

So as I was plodding through my evening tonight, I was going to take the Jazz bass to my brother in law, an Auto Body / Paint guy that does a lot of color matching to see if maybe he could whip up a color match of the Burgundy Mist for refinishing the headstock when I was somewhat abrubtly instructed to leave it maple... It would appear she likes the contrast... So no paint on the headstock for this project! Still going to swap out the J-Bass decal for a Jazz Bass decal though. I HATE that truncated name!

Work progress on customizing the Squier Jazz Bass..

I have been flooded with other work, but I am squeezing work on the Jazz Bass in to the few mere moments I can spend in the shop. I am making a bit of progress. I am starting off with the pickups, and have shielded them, first off, I line the top of the pickup cover with the copper foil tape, and make my clean holes for the magnets, insuring there is NO foil in the hole or anywhere it can touch the magnets or any wire...

The next step is to size the foil tape, and wrap the pickup itself in the copper foil tape, again such that it doesn't touch magnets, wire, or solder joints...

And next, wrap tape 1/2" into the inside of the pickup cover, and around the mount lugs of the pickup cover such that when the pickup is inserted into the cover, the conductive side of the tape on the inside of the cover, the mount lug pieces, and the pickup itself are in full contact, making for full continuity.

So now my Duncan Designed Vintage Modified pickups are ready to be installed. I verified the specs with Seymour Duncan site, and measured the resistance and I am spot on, these SHOULD work perfectly when installed!

Next step, shield the inside of the cavities!

My original plan was to copper foil tape the cavities, however with the difficulties I had just getting the foil into the pickup covers, I am leaning HEAVILY toward conductive paint.I found a REALLY good one that is getting rave reviews from the HAM radio guys, guitar guys, and electronic hobbyists... I put it in my Amazon store to make finding the product easier for you! It's MG Chemicals 838 Carbon Conductive Coating. Price is pretty good, and it works super pro...

The work on the Saturn continues! Starting a fun project. Hot rodding a cheap bass guitar!

I haven't posted up much about it because, well let's be honest, the rate of progress has been embarrassingly slow. The air conditioning compressor clutch needs a pulley puller to remove, that I KNEW I owned at one time, but appears in the intervening years to have sprouted legs and walked off. And that power steering pump. I got the pulley pressed off, and on the new one, swapped the tank, put a new O ring in, swapped the lines over, went to bolt the new pump assembly in place, and not all of the bolts line up quite right. I mean the holes are where they are supposed to be, I can feel them out with a screwdriver and it all seems to line up, but for some reason, the bottom and rear bolts just don't want to start... So progress continues, in fits and starts...

My wife and I have made great strides in getting the shop clean, including getting her nearly a dozen large flower pots, 3 huge bags of potting soil, and a wide assortment of various chairs, coolers, and other riffraff out of the shop. Sadly in the process, one of the rungs in the attic staircase gave up the ghost under my not inconsiderable weight. I removed it entirely and am going to use it as a template for a new, and much better model, including MUCH greater reinforcement to resist the downward force of my heft and the stuff going up and down the stairs! If you follow my progress on BT3Central / Sawdustzone you know I have been losing a considerable amount of weight following Dr. ordered weight loss plan.... So far so good, but so far to go!

In what free time I have outside of my studies, blogging here, working in the shop, etc... I also play the electric bass guitar. I have my heart set of getting good enough, and getting into a Praise and Worship team at my church. I am also a big Rush enthusiast, and deeply enjoy the work and sound of Geddy Lee. To that end, I have found that my older Ibanez PJ active basses just weren't up to the task, and my budget wasn't up to a Geddy Lee Signature Fender Jazz bass, not to mention I don't care for the look of black body / walnut neck. So a bit of reasearch into what I like, and a project is born....

I wanted something unique to me, which wasn't going to be easy, since I also wanted a Fender Jazz style bass. My budget dictated something dirt cheap, yet decent enough to mod properly...

That to my knowledge left 2 options. Squier by Fender, and SX basses. Being that Squier is a Fender product, and is pretty much just the bottom line of their product offerings, I opted to start there, with the low end of the totem pole model, the Affinity Series Jazz Bass, for several reasons. Budget would have allowed for a James Johnston Signature bass, but that instrument is based around an Agathis body, which tends to be too light, and neck dives, making the instrument harder for me to play, and it uses the Classic Vibe pickups which sound different from the Seymour Duncan provided "Duncan Designed" pickups from the Vintage Modified series. AND I wanted a unique color, specifically  Burgundy Mist, a color Fender sourced from I believe it was either Buick or Oldsmobile in 1959. I have seen several Burgundy Mist Stratocasters in live performances, but never a bass... Although several can be seen online...

I know, it's sort of a pinkish, purplish color but it just looks so awesome in person, and honestly I have no problems with how I roll so to heck with people that are going to say it's a girly color... Hey if the girlies like it, then fine....

Now being that this is an Affinity series instrument it lacks the glossy neck finish which others like, but I prefer the silky satin finish of this neck, it features an Alder body, with just the right weight balance, and decent although not great pickups, they are serviceable...

I wanted to do some cosmetic modifications when I stumbled across a classified ad, and a problem... The problem, inherent in many Fender instruments, as well as many other brands, is that I was getting BAD, and I mean REALLY bad RF interference within the electronics, specifically the pickups and wiring, that I was getting a terrible buzzing only at certain times of day, when I played with my hands off of the strings and not touching metal such as when letting an open string ring out. I researched the problem and found a good number of Howto articles on shielding the cavities, and pickups that, well I had to do it.... At the same time, I found a set of the Duncan Designed Vintage Modified Jazz pickups in the classifieds for dirt cheap money... Well, like they say, combine need, with a desire to improve looks, and a project is born!

This bass, will be upgraded with...
#1. Full pickup cavity, and control cavity shielding. I haven't had the pick guard off yet, I know the bore for the wire between the bridge pickup and control cavity, and the bore for the bridge ground strap can't effectively be shielded, but pretty much everything else can. I will be using Corry's Slug And Snail repellent copper foil tape. I don't know for sure if the adhesive is conductive, reports conflict on that, I will test and post my results here on that...
#2. Swap pickups for the Duncan Designed pickups. They are in my possession and appear to have survived shipping okay... Will be shielding the pickups as well. The idea is NONE of the copper foil tape shielding should be visible...
#3. Swap out the pick guard. I selected a special pick guard that sadly has to ship from China, the measurements are spot on right, and if the photos are correct, the look is exactly what I am going for, very classy, and vintage looking.
#4. I despise standard Fender / Squier L metal bridge plates. They scream cheap, cheaper, cheapest. I sourced up a Squier Classic Vibe 60s 4 string High Mass cast bridge with brass saddles for dirt cheap money. Reports on these fitting properly conflict as well. They LOOK right, and SOME folks say they are a direct replacement bolt on piece, some say you need to fill and drill. I hae a small piece of 4/4 Alder a set of General Plug Cutters, and a bottle of Titebond III at the ready if I need to fill & drill... I mean lots of guys go with a string through type bridge so what's my little High Mass project compared to that?
#5. I will be color matching the headstock in the Burgundy Mist, adding an OEM type copy decal to keep the branding right, except I am going to have a minor change made, My current one says Squier by Fender J-Bass. I want the new one to say Squier by Fender Jazz Bass.The truncated print on the decal is a cost shaving measure, and a hokey as snot one... Once the paint and slide decal are "just so" I will be treating it to at least 3 coats of clear coat for the perfect finish!
#6. Lastly, I will be kicking the Fender OEM strings to the curb. Factory strings, particularly Factory Fender strings, are somewhat like factory table saw blades, good enough at first, but seriously lacking in performance or accuracy... I have a set of D'Addario XLNickel rounds in 45-100 that are spares for my Ibanezes, I plan on keeping the same strings on them all, so off with the Fenders, on with the D'Addarios...

All supplies for this project are either in my inventory, or on order being shipped in except for the paint and decals, I am trying to find the best sources for them...

Today, the Duncan Designed pickups arrived in the mail, used pull outs bought on the cheap, I wasn't expecting foam blocked and anti static everything, but I also wasn't expecting this sort of packaging either....

I somewhat concerned unpacked them and inspected the contents, it appears at least at this time, that the packaging was sufficient...

There was also included a bag of the hold down screws, and the foam blocks that bgo between the body and the pickups.
With any luck and a break in the other projects, you will be seeing some more photo posts of progress there, and with the growth in my skills there, maybe, just maybe, you'l hear some funky new theme music!

2004 Ford F150 5.4L 3V P0012 came back!

Okay I am stummped, I WILL figure this out, but right now here's the situation...

I have recently replaced the VCT solenoid on bank1, while I was in there I noted a considerable amount of oil sludge in the upper valve cover area where the bore the VCT solenoid fits is... I have since changed oil and am running the recommended quantity of Marvel Mystery oil. Since this engine holds 7 qts of oil I replaced 1.5 quarts regular oil with the MMO. This is of grave concern since I change my oil WELL within the MFG recommended interval, and ONLY use MFG recomended oil grades and brand name filters, although one brand I have since discovered is a complete dud. I won't go into details for fear of legal issues, but let's just say I will only be using OEM filters from here out, the biggest name in filtration that most people recognize right off the bat is cutting too many corners and putting out crap that can ruin your engine! Play it safe with your expensive engine and stay OEM!

I was able clear the P0012 code, but it since come back, same bank, and today a distrubing addition of distinct hesitation, and "chugging".  I let the truck sit for a couple of hours, and started it back up, the hesitation / chugging went away, although I still have the P0012 code...

Due to the presence of the sludge in the engine, and the fact that the symptoms come and go, I can clear the code, and get 100 - 400 miles before it throws the code / symptoms again, I suspect there is EITHER a defective VCT that plugs open or closed too easily, OR there is a good amount of foreign material in the system from the sludge....

I am using the MMO to help clean up the engine internals / get the sludge the heck out, but I know this stuff takes time to work, it's not like a harsh solvent based engine flush, it is much more gentle on the engine, and unfortunately the sludge. it takes it's own sweet time...

Due to the bad habits of the design of this engine, there ARE other possibilities, most notably faulty cam phasers and / or timing chain tensioners. That gets DEEP into the engine into a system I honestly have NEVER had to repair, and have limited familiarity with...

I am going to likely attempt to clear this issue doing a solvent flush / oil change most likely this upcoming weekend. Failing that, I will have to quadruple down to get the Saturn fixed and back on the road so that I can take the truck out of service, fix this issue, and a nagging noise in the front end...

So I am off to do some research into effective engine flushes, I used to use the Wynn system when I worked as a pro mechanic, but that was a LONG time ago, and that is not something that at least last time I checked, was available to a driveway mechanic... I will keep you posted!

A word Ton clean air in the shop... How to build a Thien type cyclone Separator.

As I cruise through my shop spring cleaning, I am noticing the amount of dust that I am catching in the dust bin, and the shop vac and dust collector filters.

This brings to mind several very important factors that I need to discuss with you, and although I am NOT an expert in this area at all, I do know enough to take the advice of the experts to keep myself, and my family safe....

For starters, woodworking, metalworking, well pretty much making anything with any sort of tool is generally going to break materials down into finer and finer pieces, and depending on the work and the tools involved, some of those fine pieces create fine dust....

And believe it or not that fine dust poses some grave risks to health and safety of yourself anyone in that air space, and even the shop and structures themselves....

For the sake of this blog post, I am NOT going to go into detail on the explosion and fire hazards posed by wood dust, for that we will have a discussion later on, it's not that it isn't a concern, just that it is beyond the intended scope of THIS particular post. Instead if you want immediate information on the subject, please refer to the official OSHA web page on the subject.

Instead I wanted to concentrate on the health risks, toxicity, and allergen properties of wood and other industrial dust. It's far more insidious than merely just a snoot full of dust that will clear up with a kleenex....

Those ultra fine particles get into your tissues, and some that are so small they aren't easily rejected by your body, build up to generate toxic results... Some of those results can be downright lethal.

Now Bill Pentz, whom you may or may not have heard, has written an extensive and exhaustive, and honestly, exhausting to read very detailed technical and medical treatise on the subject and published it openly on his web site... http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/. I recommend you go and read his material when you have some time and absorb it in pieces.

Now mind you, I would LOVE to implement every single one of his recommendations in one fell swoop, but for many, if not most of us, that just isn't an option. We've got wives, mortgages, maybe kids car payments etc... we can only afford to indulge in our hobby just so far...

The good thing is that Bill shows us some budget friendly upgrades that can be tackled without a ton of cash....

For starters, the basics of the fact that a vacuum / dust collector can only collect / filter as long as air is moving, and the sooner the filter plugs up the sooner the whole thing stops working....

In the case of my shop vac, a 12 gallon Rigid, I built a trash can separator, and added a HEPA rated filter. (Filter fits similar sized Emmerson made Craftsman models as well...).

Now Bill's site recommends and I agree to a point that we need to be using 6" duct, however due to economics availability and stupidity at the time, I went with 4", or more specifically 5" at the collector with a Y to dual 4" runs... This WILL be upgraded in the future to 6" in / out of the collector / separator into a single 6" main and dual 4" drops to adapt to my tools.... More on that later...

So far it's been mentioned twice, a separator. The most effective design so far seems to be the Thien separator, and I have built several, with enough experience of the subject to have written for Phil Thien's website discussion forum the definitive HOWTO....

The advantage of the Thien style separator is that they are incredibly effective, inexpensive and somewhat easy to build and did i mention they were effective?

So over the years I have seen folks asking about this over, and over again, and I have seen Phil's answer that includes router table, or band saw and special jigs. I wanted to share with you my approach to the construction of a Thien Cyclone Separator lid. I have learned a LOT in the process of building the several units I have,. I hope this write up helps. I should note that this write up is done with the idea that it will be used for a 4" ducted system. If you are not using 4" adjust your sizes accordingly. Like Phil mentioned, there are no "plans" per se, and my solution may not work for your situation, but this is what I am doing to build my separator / baffles. There are many different ways to implement a separator using Phil's baffle design. My method is probably the simplest method.

First things first, you need to obtain the materials to make your separator.
So here goes the shopping list.

        - 3/4" Sanded Baltic Birch ply, or whatever material you chose. Pine is cheaper, MDF is even cheaper. Take your pick. If you go ply, get sanded, unless you want to sand your arms off. I do NOT recommend OSB as that stuff is super splinter prone and a pain to work with.
      - 1/4" - 20 threaded rod. This is best purchased in 6' lengths. You will need to CAREFULLY cut this to shorter lengths making certain the threads are undamaged. Be comfortable with a file and possibly a thread chasing die.
      - 1/4" - 20 stop nuts A.K.A. Nylon insert nuts, nylock nuts, lock nuts etc... You will need 6 of these.
      - 1/4" fender washers. 12 of these
      - 1/4" - 20 standard nuts. 12 of these.
      - 4" S&D pipe nipple, OR 4" Dust Collection Hose Splice.
      - 4" S&D street elbow OR 4" Dust Collection 90 degree elbow.
      - Container. Your dust bin as it were. I am getting good results from galvanized steel trash cans.
      - Hot melt glue for a glue gun (and the glue gun) or clear silicone adhesive sealant.
      - sacrificial strip of lumber, or foam insulation or something to allow bit to cut through and not damage bit or floor. (or benchtop, or sawhorses, or... you get the idea I hope.)
      - 4" Dust collection hose, and clamps.

Next, you will need to assemble the tools needed for the project.

        - Router. Plunge or fixed base doesn't matter. Plunge is easier to start the cut with, a fixed base is a bit more dangerous to start the circle cut with.
      - Straight cutting plunge router bit. I used MLCS item #7751 3/8" dia, 1" cutting length, 1/2" shank plunge cutting straight router bit.
      - Rabbeting Router bit. I use MLCS #8366 9 piece rabbeting router bit, 1/2" shank. Set for a 3/8" deep rabbet cut.
      - Circle Cutting jig. I use the Craftsman branded version of the Milescraft 1203. If you don't have a circle cutting jig / edge guide for your router and want to buy this one, I STRONGLY advise you to immediately upon opening the box throw out the all plastic threaded knobs and replace them with 1/4" - 20 star knobs. I got mine from Rockler no problem...
      - Jig Saw with GOOD wood cutting blades. I have both a junk old Skil jig saw, and junk Black and Decker blades. They work, but are not ideal.
      - A means to sand the INSIDE of a circle. I am using an oscillating spindle sander, you can also use a sanding drum on a drill press to do the same job...
      - Work surface and clamps. I use junk sawhorses for mine and don't care if I cut into them.
      - Clamps to keep the work piece from moving on the work surface. 2 6 inch bar clamps work fine.
      - Hot glue gun if using hot glue.
      - Drill and drill bits.
      - Measuring and marking tools, specifically.
         - Sewing measuring tape. The flexible fabric kind to measure and mark the outside radius.
         - Straight edge with measuring scale. A carpenter's square SHOULD be enough, but might not be long enough.
         - Pencil.
         - LARGE drawing compass, or at the very least, a string.
       
Now that you have the stuff, we move on by measuring the top of the container, outside lip to outside lip. I am again assuming a trash can here.... An example.

   -Measure the outside lip to outside lip of the container in at least 3 different spots. Add those numbers up, and then divide by the total number of measurements to get your average. So for example your measurements are 19.5", 20", and 20.5" for a total count of 60 divide that by 3 for an average of 20. Now divide that number in half to get your radius (the space between the center point and the outside edge. That equals 10. Now that we have a radius, we know we want to overhang the edge just a hair to keep things from slipping in one way or another. Add 1/4" to that number. Now we have a radius of 10.25" right?
   - Measure and mark your sheet material. Say you are using a quarter sheet of MDF. Measure 21" up the long side, and using your square draw a line across, insuring it is square, measure the distances in a couple of locations to insure you have it right. You should have a sort of square, 24" wide x 21" high. Using your square line up the opposing corners of the square and draw a line corner to corner. This gives you the center of the square.
   - Drive the center point nail for the circle jig, and using your square, measure 10.25" from the nail, and draw a line.
   - Set the router up with the straight bit, and circle jig, Connect the jig to the center point, and adjust so that the INSIDE edge of the cutting carbide is touching the outside edge of the line you just drew. Lock the jig down.
   - With the work piece on a sacrificial piece, clamp it down so it won't move. Be careful to keep the clamps out of the path of the router.
   - If using a plunge router, set the plunge depth to 1/4", if using a fixed base, set the bit depth to 1/4".
   - Make your circle cut plunging or lowering the spinning bit / fixed base as neccesary.
   - Repeat the two steps above but adjusting depth for 9/16" depth, and finally 7/8", the final cut WILL protrude through the bottom. This is why we put it on a surface we can cut. This last cut you MAY need to move clamps around to keep the circle piece captive while you complete the cut.
   - Remove circle cutting jig, straight bit, and center point pivot hardware.
   - Repeat the above process but setting the radius of the circle jig to 9 - 7/8" for the baffle piece.
Now to cut the rabbet.
   - Set router up with rabbeting bit, set to make 3/8" rabbet, set bit depth no deeper than 1/2". I personally like doing 3/8" so that the distances are the same.
   - Clamp the circle to your work support. You WILL have to stop, restart the cut to move the clamps.
   - Make your rabbeting cut. I cannot succesfully do this via plunging, I simply sneak up on the cut and go to full depth riding on the bearing.
   - Test fit the lid. It SHOULD be a snug fit, if not, figure out what measurements were off and start over again.

Make the cutout for the baffle.
       - Using the sewing measuring tape, measure the outside circumference of the circle, divide by 3, and mark the start and end points on the outside edge of the disk.
      - Using your square draw a straight line from the marks you just made to the center point of the disk.
      - Measure, and mark 1.25" from the outside edge up on each of the lines you just drew.
      - using a compass, or string, pencil, and nail, draw an arc from the center point, around the long way to each of the 1.125" in marks you just made.
      - Using your jig saw, and possibly the drill / bits for starter holes, cut out the large radius notch.
      - Clean up with a sander if neccesary.
   
Cutting holes in the lid for the plumbing.
        - Center the pipe nipple / hose coupler and use it to draw the outline of the center hole.
      - use elbow and line it up to be as close as is comfortable to the edge close to the rabbet.
      - Use drill bit and create starter holes.
      - Use jig saw and cut out your holes from the lines you just drew being careful to stay inside the lines.
      - Using a spindle sander, or similar arrangement, "sneak up" on the fit for the plumbing so that you can just slide the plumbing through.
      - Sand the right side of the outlet of the elbow so that you can turn it in as close as possible to the side of the can.
      - Line up the baffle with the lid, and insuring that the holes and supports will not interfere with the plumbing, drill the 3 1/4" holes through both pieces at the same time. (This insures alignment.)
      - Insert elbow, align to get as close to the side as possible without touching, and hot glue in place, filling any gap between elbow and its mount hole with hot glue for a complete seal. Insure at least 1-1/2" protrudes for the hose to clamp to.
      - Cut threaded rod to 3 7" segments, clean threads on the ends. Install 2 normal nuts on each end, and a washer, allowing enough space to pass through the work pieces. Pass through from the inside, from the outside install washer, and lock nut.
      - When all 3 spacer rods are installed, adjust the nutsso that the distance is equal, and the elbow barely touches the baffle.
      - On the inside, screw the 2 nuts per side together in a "jam nut" configuration. This keeps it from backing off.
      - Insert nipple / hose coupler adjust to where the end is 2" from the baffle.
      - Hot glue the nipple / hose coupler in place the same way you did the elbow.
      - Connect inlet hose to elbow, clamp in place. If you are using S&D fittings, the fit will be snug, slip the clamp on, then work the hose onto the fitting and clamp it down. You are good to go. Same applies below.
      - Connect outlet hose to outlet, clamp in place.
      - Test.