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What did you do in the garage today?

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mr72 said:
Also if I do this I am considering embedding a few neodymium magnets into the floor under the coating so I can sweep or use the leaf blower and screws, nails, lost nuts and bolts, staples, etc. will wind up in one place where I can retrieve them rather than in my tire. And I can find those elusive 10mm sockets. Anyone else try this?
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We use neodymium arrays at work in our magnetic drives for our cryo pumps. Super strong ones that crush fingers if you get a couple loose ones on either side of a digit. The arrays are good for several hundred lbs of torque and will turn a pump through a 3/4" wall of brass or SS in our hermetically sealed pumps. Even mild ones are a bit overkill for locating that 10mm or a circlip. Try one of these: Magnetic floor roller
 
X1Glider said:
We use neodymium arrays at work in our magnetic drives for our cryo pumps. Super strong ones that crush fingers if you get a couple loose ones on either side of a digit. The arrays are good for several hundred lbs of torque and will turn a pump through a 3/4" wall of brass or SS in our hermetically sealed pumps. Even mild ones are a bit overkill for locating that 10mm or a circlip. Try one of these: Magnetic floor roller
Click to expand...

I'm quite familiar with neodymium magnets. I am looking to go the other direction, put them in the floor so if I blow out the garage with the leaf blower the metal bits will wind up sticking to one or two spots in the floor rather than in the driveway and rolling down the hill.
 
mr72 said:
Also if I do this I am considering embedding a few neodymium magnets into the floor under the coating so I can sweep or use the leaf blower and screws, nails, lost nuts and bolts, staples, etc. will wind up in one place where I can retrieve them rather than in my tire. And I can find those elusive 10mm sockets. Anyone else try this?
Click to expand...
Sounds like a neat idea but I have to wonder if it will work out the way you envision it.
The coating will have to have a texture or else it will be slick as ice when wet. Given that, the small metal shavings and bits may end up being very hard to remove from the magnetized spots. Yes, you'll be able to pick up the screws, bolts, nails and other ferrous hardware by hand easily, but the small filings and bits of rust may be quite stubborn to extricate. Would another magnet held over the debris be enough to pull them off? I'm not sure. If the magnets are very strong, it may pull the embedded one right out of the floor!
 
dukey33 said:
Would another magnet held over the debris be enough to pull them off? I'm not sure.
Click to expand...

Well maybe much easier is for me to put some magnets on the end of a string attached to the ceiling. Then when I leaf-blower the garage, metal stuff will stick to it and not the floor.
 
mr72 said:
Well maybe much easier is for me to put some magnets on the end of a string attached to the ceiling. Then when I leaf-blower the garage, metal stuff will stick to it and not the floor.
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Oh, no... You're "one of them".

I don't know why, but leaf blowers just do me the wrong way... ESPECIALLY at 7AM on Saturday morning!

Or, maybe WORSE, the ones that blow their leaf/grass clipping debris into the street, and clear of their driveway. I SEE IT EVERY DAY! (except the last few that ice and snow have covered everything)
 
Be glad you don't live where the real snow is, where a neighbor will use a snowblower to clear their driveway and fill yours.
 
X1Glider said:
Be glad you don't live where the real snow is, where a neighbor will use a snowblower to clear their driveway and fill yours.
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That neighbor would only do that ONCE, and I guarantee you I would not end up in jail or the like.
 
In Alaska the snow was so dry, you could clear up to two inches with a leaf blower. Over that I fired up the snow blower.

I did learn the most annoying was when your drunk neighbor trims his yard with a chain saw at 10:30pm!!
 
grandpaul said:
Oh, no... You're "one of them".
Click to expand...

LoL.

I have a cordless electric leaf blower. It's quiet. With the amount of trees we have and the fact that we have basalt and Llano river rock on our yard rather than grass, leaf blower is an absolute must. But I also use it to clean out my Jeep with the doors off and to clean the garage. And to dry my cars and motorcycles when I wash them, or blow stuff off when refinishing prior to painting, especially if it's got any moisture. This 60V blower is a killer tool. I use it for lots of stuff, not just leaves.

I do try real hard to keep leaves off of the street.
 
My old 90 CFM air compressor was my favorite clean out tool , open all the truck doors and blow everything out in the yard . Also really good for blowing the cobwebs off the ceiling in my shop . I retired it a couple years ago , now I use a 185 CFM . it’s even better .
 
Speaking of which, I have a date with my chainsaw right now. Fortunately for my neighbors, it's electric. Spring cleaning given new meaning.
 
mr72 said:
LoL.

I have a cordless electric leaf blower. It's quiet. With the amount of trees we have and the fact that we have basalt and Llano river rock on our yard rather than grass, leaf blower is an absolute must. But I also use it to clean out my Jeep with the doors off and to clean the garage. And to dry my cars and motorcycles when I wash them, or blow stuff off when refinishing prior to painting, especially if it's got any moisture. This 60V blower is a killer tool. I use it for lots of stuff, not just leaves.

I do try real hard to keep leaves off of the street.
Click to expand...

...sounds like you like the one you use....do you recall which make and model...???
 
Kiyoti said:
...sounds like you like the one you use....do you recall which make and model...???
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have this one:
www.greenworkstools.com

60V 610 CFM Leaf Blower & Battery | Greenworks Tools

Greenworks 60V 610 CFM Leaf Blower (battery and charger included) is capable of wind speeds up to 130 MPH, for easy breezy yard clean up. Shop today!
www.greenworkstools.com www.greenworkstools.com

I hope to get a matching chainsaw, one that uses the same battery, go go with it. Maybe even replace my frustratingly unreliable Echo string trimmer with one of their 60V trimmers. I have learned that having tools that use the same power source is a key to being happy with cordless tools, so you often times have to choose first your battery format and then choose the tool that fits that battery. The Greenworks 60V has proven to be great in the leaf blower over the past year or so, so I'd totally trust it to work in a chainsaw at least as well as my leaky corded electric chainsaw. Not sure if it can get the job done in a string trimmer since there's more to the trimmer than just power source and motor type. The fact that their 60V trimmer has max 0.080" line is a bit concerning. I use a string trimmer more than a mower since we don't have grass in the front, but we have limestone rock walls all over the place where I have to edge and this would chew through 0.080" line like it was made of paper. The one thing I really like about my Echo trimmer is the bump head... and when it is running right, it totally gets the job done.
 
Now that springtime is in full swing, I have an array of garage tasks on deck for today. Let's see what gets done!

First, evict the tropical plants from half of the garage, back to their greenhouse. Then I need to add one or two more wall outlets and conduit; I ran out of romex when doing the electrical upgrades before and didn't totally finish the job. Once the garage is back in shape, the old GS500 is coming apart. It's time to stop pretending. I have the space to work on this over multiple days if needed, and since I'm between jobs, I have multiple days to work on it. So I'll pull the carbs and clean them correctly to make sure all is well, change the oil which is probably half full of gas right now because I left the petcock on "PRI" for half a day, put some door edging on the tank where the paint is chipping, and when it's all together I'll see if I can make it idle. Since the last time I sorted out a jetting issue with the carbs I never got around to correctly setting the idle mixture, maybe this is most of the problem. I just couldn't string together the time to go ride it long enough to warm it up, then work on the idle mixture. Well now I have some time. Better use it wisely.

Chance of me doing this all today is pretty good. But even if the weather distracts me into washing the Jeep and riding my Triumph instead of doing all the work, I can get back to it tomorrow. Or the next day. I'm quite certain I'll be unemployed at least one more week.
 
mr72 said:
Now that springtime is in full swing, I have an array of garage tasks on deck for today. Let's see what gets done!

First, evict the tropical plants from half of the garage, back to their greenhouse. Then I need to add one or two more wall outlets and conduit; I ran out of romex when doing the electrical upgrades before and didn't totally finish the job. Once the garage is back in shape, the old GS500 is coming apart. It's time to stop pretending. I have the space to work on this over multiple days if needed, and since I'm between jobs, I have multiple days to work on it. So I'll pull the carbs and clean them correctly to make sure all is well, change the oil which is probably half full of gas right now because I left the petcock on "PRI" for half a day, put some door edging on the tank where the paint is chipping, and when it's all together I'll see if I can make it idle. Since the last time I sorted out a jetting issue with the carbs I never got around to correctly setting the idle mixture, maybe this is most of the problem. I just couldn't string together the time to go ride it long enough to warm it up, then work on the idle mixture. Well now I have some time. Better use it wisely.

Chance of me doing this all today is pretty good. But even if the weather distracts me into washing the Jeep and riding my Triumph instead of doing all the work, I can get back to it tomorrow. Or the next day. I'm quite certain I'll be unemployed at least one more week.
Click to expand...
👍 Good thinking pace yourself... I'm doing the same thing and quite certain my unemployment will last for the for see able future(retirement)...
Carry On
 
I cussed. A lot. But it started last night.

I was watching the effects of Snowmageddon as I think Tracker called it vanish while enjoying libations last evening and a decent forecast coming up. I thought to myself, "self, it looks like '21 is all jealous of '20's achievements at being the worst year ever and said, hold my beer and watch this!" Perhaps it would be a good time to think about riding again before that's taken away from me. Why it's been since...........:doh: bleep.

That's when it hit me. I haven't rode since last April. The gas in the tank is 10 months old and untreated. :doh: BLEEP!

So today I decided to deal with that. The gas wasn't horrible with the sniff test, but it wasn't right. I got the cheezy 12v transfer pump out, and set it on the bench with a spare bike battery and an empty litter jug. Hose in the bike and in the jug, and power it up. Going fine until gas starts dripping out of the pump housing, I turned it over to look, and then it poured out on the floor. :doh: Bleep. Paper towels!!

I took the top off the pump freeing the assembly from the cheap plastic housing, see nothing strange, take off the hoses and trim them and put back on tight, and try again. Now fuel is coming out of the pump shaft which flings it on me and the floor. :doh:Bleep. More paper towels.

OK, set the pump assembly over a plastic thing to catch the drip with a shop rag over the pump to catch the fling and let it drip into the plastic thing. Off we go. And the drain hose comes out of the jug now spraying at good velocity gas on the shop light, bench, bike and me. :doh::angryfire BLEEEEEEEP!!!!!! Run into the house for a big shop towel. And a beer.

Now HOLDING the d*** drain hose in the jug, try again. There's gas everywhere, what's the risk? It filled the big jug, and I got another and got the majority of the gas out of the tank, it just would have been good to get it all in the jugs. The fuel in the jugs looks like lemonade. It was close. I took the pump assembly outside and threw it in a bucket to go to hazmat drop off next month along with the jugs of bad gas.

It occurs to me the premium in the 2gal. can is just as old, so I dump it into one of the jugs, put a little Lucas injector cleaner and Star Tron in it and head to the corner store. Out of premium. :doh: Bleep!!!

Went to a further store and they did indeed have premium. At 3 bucks a gallon. :doh: Bleep.

Back home, I immediately decide to take the bike OUT of the garage before dealing any further with gasoline and the annoying spout on this one that can guarantee you'll spill fuel trying to get it to release it's "safety" and dispense the gas, which takes forever with no way to vent back into the can. :doh:Bleep.

Expecting the worst, I cranked her over, and she started right up. Smelled a little weird at first, but no smoke and no ill effects, ran her for about 5 minutes at a couple throttle positions, oil pressure and charge good, and shut her off. Now to clean up the mess. :doh:Bleep.

BTW, when you go to most every gas station now and the moment you start to dispense gas those ANNOYING and LOUD ads come on the screen, the row of 4 unmarked touch points on the right side of the screen, the second one down from the top is MUTE. Everyone I point that out to is grateful.

I think this calls for another beer. :thumb:
 
I didnt have the problems that Laser Dave had, thank God! But I did change the oil in the Ducati.
When your the third owner of a low mileage bike you wonder about the maintenance that was or was not preformed on the bIke. Fortunately there’s a nice little indicator on Ducati’s. It’s called the oil screen. A clean screen equals previous oil changes, trash in the screen means that the 600 mile oil change was not done. So at 3400 miles I decided to change the oil, way before Ducati recommends. Good news, the screen was clean, and the magnetic drain plug was super clean. I can sleep 💤 better at night. The HyperStrada is healthy!
 
All I did in the garage today was walk in, scrounge around, and walk out ticked off that I may have accidentally tossed the power adapter for my 3D printer when we moved out of the house in Laredo, it isn't in the box with the printer.

$80 for a new one. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Man, I need a "win" or two pretty soon...
 
mr72 said:
Yeah, I have this one:
www.greenworkstools.com

60V 610 CFM Leaf Blower & Battery | Greenworks Tools

Greenworks 60V 610 CFM Leaf Blower (battery and charger included) is capable of wind speeds up to 130 MPH, for easy breezy yard clean up. Shop today!
www.greenworkstools.com www.greenworkstools.com

I hope to get a matching chainsaw, one that uses the same battery, go go with it. Maybe even replace my frustratingly unreliable Echo string trimmer with one of their 60V trimmers. I have learned that having tools that use the same power source is a key to being happy with cordless tools, so you often times have to choose first your battery format and then choose the tool that fits that battery. The Greenworks 60V has proven to be great in the leaf blower over the past year or so, so I'd totally trust it to work in a chainsaw at least as well as my leaky corded electric chainsaw. Not sure if it can get the job done in a string trimmer since there's more to the trimmer than just power source and motor type. The fact that their 60V trimmer has max 0.080" line is a bit concerning. I use a string trimmer more than a mower since we don't have grass in the front, but we have limestone rock walls all over the place where I have to edge and this would chew through 0.080" line like it was made of paper. The one thing I really like about my Echo trimmer is the bump head... and when it is running right, it totally gets the job done.
Click to expand...

Thank You....have been mulling over this next purchase....gas vs cordless.
Good info...✅👍✅
 
Well I was ambitious but didn't make it to nearly everything. As soon as our online church service was over, my grandson Levi arrived for us to babysit for a few hours, and we invited my daughter and son in law to join us for dinner, which with a 15 month old happens at around 5. So I only had a couple of hours to work in the garage, so I shortened my to-do list a lot.

First up was the Suzuki, and I was determined to get it running close to right if at all possible, with the exception of final pilot mixture setting which can only be done after riding it about 20 min. Changed the oil, but I couldn't locate my new oil filter, it seems to have not made the cut in the garage cleanup. I must have tossed it inadvertently. But the "old" one was nearly new and fortunately washed by gas! Because there was at least a quart of gasoline in the crankcase. Anyway, get that all back together and I reset the pilot mixture to 2.5 turns out on each carb as a working starting point, once I primed the carbs the bike started right up. And it idled at like 7K rpm!! So I shut it off and in a series of restarts finally got the idle down where it belongs. Now, the prior symptom was that the bike would stall at idle. So while out riding I had set the idle speed wrong just because it wouldn't idle and I needed it to run long enough to get home. Then after running a tank with Seafoam in it through I went out to ride and it had been sitting so the carbs needed priming, I left it on PRI too long, it leaked gas everywhere including the crankcase, then it decided not to run and I just could not make it idle. But now I think the problem really was just bad gas and then me making things worse with a bad priming procedure. Anyway, now it starts in a second and idles just fine. I didn't ride it yesterday because I didn't have time, but I'll test ride today. I suspect I still have the pilot mixture too rich because it starts cold with no choke and stalls when you turn on choke.

After I got that settled, I only had a little bit of time before I had to go in and get cleaned up and help make dinner. I installed the TPMS that my wife got me for Christmas on the Triumph: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B076KKYDRQ That was really quick and easy to do and really cool. This is going to be nice. I might buy one to put on the Suzuki too. So much easier than trying to get the tires rotated around right and getting chain lube all over me just to check the pressure before each ride.

So my to-do list is still pretty long :) I might get lucky enough to not have to pull the carbs on the Suzuki after all, and I do have the materials to finish my electrical job out there now. Looks like it may be a beautiful day today, so maybe I'll get to ride both bikes today, wash the blizzard grime off of the Jeep, test out my new doors & top storage in the garage. In fact it looks like a series of beautiful days on tap. Great days to open the garage doors and do stuff.
 
sanded, sanded and sanded some more on my maple fireplace mantel. Another step closer. Zen and the art of sanding.
 
mr72 said:
Well I was ambitious but didn't make it to nearly everything...
...In fact it looks like a series of beautiful days on tap. Great days to open the garage doors and do stuff.
Click to expand...
Story of my life.

M-T-W look good, then it looks like a WEEK of solid rain starting Thursday...

Heading out the shop/hangar in a bit to install a battery on the CB650 that I sold my nephew, he's on his way up from Laredo to pick it up. He'll be bringing me a large sack of Mexican sweet bread (his wife's family owns a bakery), and a pound of his best roast (he & his wife own a coffee roasting company and restaurant).

Even though I SHOULD work on the green Norton, I might see what bike(s) I can get running and take a spin while I can. November 6th was my last ride, and as the guy in the Wolf Brand Chili commercial used to say, "well that's too long"!
 
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