What I've been doing this weekend.
In the interest of keeping my account active, here's the kind of weekend I'm pushing through.
Saturday: Worked half day. Went OK. Came home, had a tasty lunch. Now, on to the stuff I needed to get done.
1. Get lawnmower ready for this year. I actually started on this friday afternoon. Didn't start well. I needed to remove the old muffler and replace it. I replaced before, either last year or the year before. It was a bitch. Thinking ahead, I liberally oiled the new muffler before screwing it in. This usally makes it fairly easy to remove when it needs replacing. Didn't work. I succeeded in removing the canister section, but the threaded mounting pipe was still firmly stuck in the side of the engine. Liberal amounts of PB Blaster penetrant and attempted persuasion with a pair of Visegrips and hammer and chisel failed. While at work, I borrowed a set of broken screw removal widgets (often called easyouts) from my buddy at the body shop next door. I had to go through 5 steps in sizes before I got to one large enough to grip the old pipe stub without going out the backside and spinning uselessly. I also had to go up to a 1/2" drive ratchet and 7/8" socket to reach the size needed to fit removal widget. Once I got the old stub out, the new dual muffler setup went in fairly smoothly. The reason for 2 mufflers was to try and reduce the overall volume level to a point where I don't need to wear hearing protectors while mowing. It worked. Not as quiet as I had hoped, but low enough that I don't feel like I've been to a bad rock concert afterwards. I also coated the all the new threaded parts with an anti-seize compound so hopefully I won't being going through this again in a couple of years.
Sunday: Waterbed fixing day. Back in 1989, I bought a waterbed. Love it. I'd been through several used spring type mattresses in the preceding 17 years. I figured since water never wears out, it would be comfortable for as long as I kept it. I got one of the thin, semi waveless style. Very comfortable. Unfortunately, it developed the habit of springing a small leak every so often. The great majority of them concentrated in one certain spot. It reached the point where there were 20 or more overlapping patches in an area about 4" x 10". I had bought patch kits from different manufacturers over the years. Some had patching material that turned hard and inflexible over time, causing them to crack and leak. This led to more patches, which made a lumpier, stiffer area of the mattress, which resulted in more leaks and more patches...
So, when a co-worker had to have his pool liner replaced last year, I got him to save me a large piece of the old one. My plan is to cut out the old section with the multiple patches and cover the resulting hole with one large, new patch, hopefully putting an end to the basic problem. I started on it this morning. This is an all day job. Why? Because the patch has to go around 3 sides of the mattress, bottom, side and top, I can't glue it all at once. Once I had the water drained enough to clear the patch (I didn't want to try and drain it fully.), I had to prop up and dry the section where I needed to patch. I cut out the new patch and glued it to the bottom area. Wait 2 hours. Cut out the old patched area (The point of no return.) and glue the side area. Wait 2 hours. Glue the top area. Wait 2 hours. Right now I have about another 30 minutes to wait for that final area to dry, so I can start refilling it with water. Crossing my fingers that this works. I really cannot afford a new mattress right now.
I've also not been sleeping well lately (I'll whine about why another time.) and it would help if I wasn't worried about waking up in a pool of water.
ETA: AAARRRRGGHHH!!! Part of the patch lifted and I'm having to reglue it and I found another new hole I hadn't suspected. Double argh!
Bargle
Saturday: Worked half day. Went OK. Came home, had a tasty lunch. Now, on to the stuff I needed to get done.
1. Get lawnmower ready for this year. I actually started on this friday afternoon. Didn't start well. I needed to remove the old muffler and replace it. I replaced before, either last year or the year before. It was a bitch. Thinking ahead, I liberally oiled the new muffler before screwing it in. This usally makes it fairly easy to remove when it needs replacing. Didn't work. I succeeded in removing the canister section, but the threaded mounting pipe was still firmly stuck in the side of the engine. Liberal amounts of PB Blaster penetrant and attempted persuasion with a pair of Visegrips and hammer and chisel failed. While at work, I borrowed a set of broken screw removal widgets (often called easyouts) from my buddy at the body shop next door. I had to go through 5 steps in sizes before I got to one large enough to grip the old pipe stub without going out the backside and spinning uselessly. I also had to go up to a 1/2" drive ratchet and 7/8" socket to reach the size needed to fit removal widget. Once I got the old stub out, the new dual muffler setup went in fairly smoothly. The reason for 2 mufflers was to try and reduce the overall volume level to a point where I don't need to wear hearing protectors while mowing. It worked. Not as quiet as I had hoped, but low enough that I don't feel like I've been to a bad rock concert afterwards. I also coated the all the new threaded parts with an anti-seize compound so hopefully I won't being going through this again in a couple of years.
Sunday: Waterbed fixing day. Back in 1989, I bought a waterbed. Love it. I'd been through several used spring type mattresses in the preceding 17 years. I figured since water never wears out, it would be comfortable for as long as I kept it. I got one of the thin, semi waveless style. Very comfortable. Unfortunately, it developed the habit of springing a small leak every so often. The great majority of them concentrated in one certain spot. It reached the point where there were 20 or more overlapping patches in an area about 4" x 10". I had bought patch kits from different manufacturers over the years. Some had patching material that turned hard and inflexible over time, causing them to crack and leak. This led to more patches, which made a lumpier, stiffer area of the mattress, which resulted in more leaks and more patches...
So, when a co-worker had to have his pool liner replaced last year, I got him to save me a large piece of the old one. My plan is to cut out the old section with the multiple patches and cover the resulting hole with one large, new patch, hopefully putting an end to the basic problem. I started on it this morning. This is an all day job. Why? Because the patch has to go around 3 sides of the mattress, bottom, side and top, I can't glue it all at once. Once I had the water drained enough to clear the patch (I didn't want to try and drain it fully.), I had to prop up and dry the section where I needed to patch. I cut out the new patch and glued it to the bottom area. Wait 2 hours. Cut out the old patched area (The point of no return.) and glue the side area. Wait 2 hours. Glue the top area. Wait 2 hours. Right now I have about another 30 minutes to wait for that final area to dry, so I can start refilling it with water. Crossing my fingers that this works. I really cannot afford a new mattress right now.
I've also not been sleeping well lately (I'll whine about why another time.) and it would help if I wasn't worried about waking up in a pool of water.
ETA: AAARRRRGGHHH!!! Part of the patch lifted and I'm having to reglue it and I found another new hole I hadn't suspected. Double argh!
Bargle