Monday, July 19, 2004

Of Power and Powder

Now with the air compressor in good working order I can get to sandblast some parts for the engine compartment for powder coating. (I finally got a metal air line run to the automatic compressor drain it won't blow when running hard so I am ready to blast away.

Here are the results: 

 

I won't go into details but among the parts are:  the fan, brake booster bracket/choke cable block mount, battery hold down bracket, transmission mount, center carrier holder.  In the foreground is the exhaust/muffler bracket - the coating that reamins on it wasn't easy to get off - finally I gave up - if after 37 years the paint won't come off when sand blasting then it is good enough for another 30 years.   (It is just an exhaust hanger).

Now with clean parts and ready to powder coat, now I need to get the the oven wired in.  After much deliberation I had decided to place the oven in the basement rather than the garage due to space concerns in the garage.  I could always move it back to the garage at some later point.  The problem is I am out of space for new circuit in the main box so I needed to run another distribution box to make room for more circuits.  

The good news is that I wanted to add some outlets and a better overhead light in that room anyways and along the center wall.  So I had to remove the water heater breaker to the new box along with the oven.

So after that job was done I could finally get some parts painted (powder coated) - another week and $75+ in materials for the new distribution box I can now cook powder coat parts.

Maybe soon I'll start bolting things to inside the engine compartment...




 





posted by Jon at Homer @ 11:58 PM 0 comments

Monday, July 12, 2004

Air compressor now 220V

I rewired the compressor motor to run on 220V rather than 110V since at 220V it will start easier and draw less amps when starting & running. Before at 110V it would almost stall when approaching the turn off pressure or when restarting.

Of course I forgot to rewire the pressure switch, so after "trying to fix the switch" I bought a new one and then I noticed when wiring the new pressure switch - dolt - I had forgot to rewire the switch.

Now the compressor works great - starts fast and easily even under full load (90 to 100 psi).

I connected the automatic compressor drain to the pressure unloader line. The automatic drain releases any accumulated water from the pressure tank each time the air signal is interrupted. The only problem is that the plastic tubing doesn't holdup under the high heat generated by the compressor continues to burst in use. So I'll have to replace the plastic tubing with copper tubing - a pain but not a major problem.



At least I have the hose reel mounted now so once I get the new copper line run it will be good to run.

I was almost able to get the fan & water pump pulley blasted before the plastic tubing burst again.

Next is going to be to wire in the oven/stove for curing powercoating - in the basement shop not the garage - I just don't have enough space in the garage for an oven.

posted by Jon at Homer @ 10:32 PM 0 comments

Saturday, July 03, 2004

Garage Fixups

Today I started off just wanting to clean my garage windows and ended up with an A/C installed in the garage.

Once I started to clean the glass I noticed that I better prime the sill to protect the wood from more water damage.



Once I had the sashes out I decided to prime & reglaze them too. I got to put the high speed drill & putty cutter/chaser to use - it does a much better job using a high speed drill.



So once the putty & glass was removed I scrape the sills and primed them too.



Then I got to thinking - first was I should really mount them on hinges so they could open and maybe put in a screen to keep the bugs down. Then I though, I have that 5000 btu A/C that is still sitting in the basement (I bought it used last year and Calvin hasn't shown any interest in helping me with running a new circuit to the front bedroom to power it) so I decide if it would fit, I would install it in the garage. It shrinks down to 19 inches and the opening on the garage windows are 20 - bingo.

While the paint is drying I head out for hardware - hinges for the garage windows & plumbing parts for the cistern pumps.

We get an inch and a half of rain but my cistern didn't fill up that much - damn now I am going to have to clean the gutters & drainage pipes. More on the cistern job tomorrow - if it isn't raining.

Now if I ever find out who shot BB's at the garage windows (plus several others around my house...) - 4 of the 8 panes had holes, and one was cracked. I only broke one removing the glass but it already had a BB hole in it so that doesn't count. I installed three good panes and one with a hole not cracked (I am saving the one with the BB hole along the edge to serve as the model for the 5 new panes I'll have cut soon to finish the other sash.

I popped the A/C in - cut some scrap 3/4 plywood - glued some white plastic to the exterior and mounted the other sash on hinges. So now I got A/C - well it's an uninsulated garage but it will likely be better than having the doors open where Daisy can escape and bugs can get in - it's not like I am planning on leaving it on 24/7.


posted by Jon at Homer @ 10:47 PM 0 comments