Troubleshooting

When I was younger I was obsessed with the concept of troubleshooting.  I remember wondering what it was, how you did it.  I  knew it was a valuable skill, but I had no idea how to obtain it.

Like the Catch 22 I got into after high school:  I've worked as a farm hand, and a carpenter's helper.  Helped dad work on all our cars, house, and farm.  I know my way around welding, cutting, drilling, Farmall tractors, John Deere, running pto grinders and shredders, etc etc...

"I'm sorry, but that doesn't really count as work experience."  I needed references, work history, training documents, blah blah blah.....

Oh yeah, I fueled aircraft when I was 16, trusted with thousands of gallons of avgas and a fuel truck.  I had to radio the tower to get permission to enter the taxiway and cross the active runway.  Proves I'm responsible.

"Sorry."  You don't have relevant experience".  So hire me at bottom dollar, and I'll prove my abilities....  No can do.

So I did what I could, went to college, learned everything I could about things that were interesting.  And almost everything is interesting....

Then one day, it sorta dawned on me.  I could look at things and figure them out.  If they didn't do, I could usually come up with a reason why, and then fix them.

So, why bring that up?  Remember this picture?

a tad over-tightened

The vertical line on the barrel should line up with the line near the zero on the thimble (lower tube with the knurl).  And the edge of the thimble should line up with a horizontal line that is under the zero on the barrel.
 
Don't skewer me if I got the nomenclature wrong.  It's the lines that matter.  And since the edge of the thimble is past the zero, someone tightened the thimble too tight, driving the rod into the anvil and possibly springing the C shaped part.  That would kill it's accuracy.

How about the other two?

maybe 29.2 thousandths too tight?

 

maybe 10.5 thousandths too tight?

 Hey ma, where'd the zero go?

Bubba the muscle head got aholt of this whole set.  They look unused.  No real wear I can see.  I wonder what they'll look like if/when I get them apart?

And if you have good vision, you can see these are tenths reading mics.  For shame, Bubba, for shame.

Taking a bath....

The Terrible Tumicos

Well the Tumico micrometers soaked for 26 hours in Evapo Rust.  I didn't know that was a coffee flavor too....  Hmmmm........

Not even on a dare...

 Okay, so pull one out, then hot water rinse, scrub the spindle with a scotch brite pad, rinse with hot water again, then dry and oil with Kroil "the oil that creeps".

hot rinsed after scrubbing

2 to 3 inch oiled

Top shelf goodness

Get after it creepy!

After doing them all, the thimbles are still stuck solid.  So they get soaked for a day or so in Kroil and I'll give it another shot tomorrow.  I don't want to ruin the threads if they are salvageable.

Then I had a question:  Since the pawn shop listed these as 'clamps', yeah, I couldn't believe it either.....  did some bubba try and see how tight he could twist them??? 

Yeah, tightened a bit past snug.

So, the one inch mic may be a fun one to spring on the unsuspecting.  Cause it may be sprung from being cinched tight.  And people want to know why they can't borrow tools from hoplophiles (tool lovers).

the 1 to 2 inch looks promising.

right out of the evapo rust.  Waiting for a scrubbing and a hot water rinse.

I don't worry about the color.  I've found that hardened steel turns black in this solution.  My guess is leaching iron from the steel right at the surface, or maybe staining from the FeO2 that gets chemically converted.

That evapo rust is nicer than vinegar.  Vinegar gets skunky after soaking steel in it.  I don't even like the smell of it after use.  It has a metallic yuk factor of 99+.  Not usable in the kitchen.  I found that out the hard way.

And using the kitchen sink? Not a problem with evapo rust. I have the only wife in North America that likes it when I smell of oil.  Unless it's gear lube.  The sulfur isn't attractive to her for some reason!

I doubled up a trash can liner under the paper towels to keep the bacon from tasting like the shop.  I am a classy man of particular tastes...  classy... yeah.  Shop project in the kitchen...hoo boy. 

Thanks for stopping by.

No, that is NOT gonna work...

I had some time today, so i dropped by a pawn shop I'd not been to in months.  "Hey, is that a wooden box up there? Oh, yeah, lets look at it." 

Neat, Tubular Micrometer Company box

Some well meaning person wrapped these tools in plastic wrap to hold the moisture in and keep the dry air out.  I felt pity for whoever did that.

I've never see this method of 'protection' before

Oil is the ticket.  Light instrument oil.  Starrett M1, Rem Oil, motor oil.  Gravy sakes, old standby 3N1 oil would be better than nothing.

Behold the spectacle

top side shows some rust. 

Oh no.  Not good.

sadness

The preliminary prognosis

The thimbles are stuck.  Seized, rusted, I didn't put much oomph on them, though.  These are late parrots  micrometers.   But I'm gonna soak them in Evapo Rust and see if there is anything to salvage. .. Besides the box.

I paid for the box basically.  They threw in the rust for free.

Putting on my Bustednuckles Impression

What the heck is that?  Are you channeling Phil??!?!?  

It's on page 44 of the link.  I bought it for the parts, but it's complete.  

What to do, what to do?

It followed me home.  300 pounds?!?!?!?

Now if I can just get it somewhere without being seen.  Or I'll probably get shot.  Or bust a gut.

When the color drains away....

Have you ever caught yourself looking at the sky, wishing you were almost anywhere else?  I went there today...

yeah, it's dark and cold

Got some not so great news, and it just drained the color out of today.....  There were wisps of smoke coming from that direction, some rumbles...  But this was......

I spent all day on the run today, 170 miles to the first stop, then back down south 140 to the next one, then 130 miles home.  I was bushed, but I NEEDED some therapy... 

And I have a loaner tap, so lets get out to the shop and work on that float lock vise.

I relieved the hole from the back of the jaw about 0.5" so I didn't have to tap the whole thickness of the jaw.  Used a 2 flute .5" endmill at about 1000 rpm.  Just dipped a bit and out, lube, dip, out, lube, dip, out...  The rhythm was nice.  No thoughts needed.

I dug up my smaller tap wrench.  Don't want to twist another tap off.  Just barely take a cut, then back out to break the chip, then in and back and it's stuck, okay a little more cut, then back out... okay chip broke off, great!  flush with WD-40 and some more Tap Magic, then in again, then back up..... over and over for an hour.  Good rhythm.

This stuff is GOLD.

Till the tap dropped through, and I was done.  I felt relief, but not much elation. 

Test fit the ACME threaded rod.  And it's a good fit for a vise.  A little slop, but not too much.

The rod is waiting in the Logan. 

Hey Mac, lets get on with it!

Next step is cutting and polishing the .500 cold rolled rod. 
Then the handle and pivot cap.

I can hardly wait to get this in the book and get on to the next project. 

I gotta go roll off a burden.  Ya'll take care.  See ya soon.

Man on the street:

What is THAT??!?!?

Crescent Machine

Part of my being useful is driving around to fix stuff.  I get to see miles and miles of miles and miles....  I see miles and miles of Texas routinely.

I found this beauty peeking over a fence a few years ago.  A Crescent Universal Woodworker.  Here's a little history of the company.

I only saw the top half of the upper wheel at first

I stopped and asked about it, and NOT FOR SALE was pretty obvious.  Down here where the flares are burning and the H2S wafts on the breeze, this old lady has started to really get rusty.  Not sure, but H2O and H2S under the right conditions look like the parents of H2SO4.

Unusable gas flared off across the Eagle Ford Shale (the purple outline)

Seems a man came to town working on the railroad they put in.  He stayed as the construction moved on down the line.  He purchased this machine (patent 1905) and began constructing windows... The old double hung sash and window weight type windows...  Made a LOT of windows...  For decades... Most probably, the majority of the houses built around this town at that time had his windows.

The old man that owns this and the house it sits at, hopes to make a museum of the early days of the town it's in.  But no one is really interested to help him.  The city already has a small museum.  I guess they are vested in that one, and not interested in his vision.  

I remember quite a few years ago, the yard was covered in stuff.  There was an old timer who'd wave as I passed by.  After he stopped waving, the open top roll off container showed up and history (or maybe just his story) went to the scrap heap.

Crescent made some really neat stuff.  You can see this was a flat belt driven machine. Overhead line shaft?  Old tractor?  Stationary plant?  Not sure what was used to power it.  It's a band saw, table saw, jointer combination.  No serial number plate I could see.  I imagine it's on the margin of being too rusty to restore.  But you never know until you try.  

Vintage Iron is tough and resilient.  Just like the men that used it to build the nation we live in now.  I sure hope the next batch of folks will be able to just maintain what was built....

If it hurts, it's true.  Toughen up.  Learn a trade.

Bibliophille

How much for the book?  

How about the whole stack?

One thing I've had a hard time quitting is books.  Yeah, I'm a book lover.  Bibliophile.  I have a collection, and they run the gamut.  They are tangible tools, always available, even when the electricity is off or the internet is down.  I can't say no.  When I was in college, the library would often have tables of books for sale.  A dollar or two.  As a married student with 2 little kids and a 14 hour semester load, I shouldn't have bought any....  But some of them came home every time I left the library....

Some of my friends...

The information they contain is priceless.  And I usually need it.  Now.  Tomorrow latest.

Some of these were my used college text books.  I never sold them back.  Too important to lose.

While in the middle of the vise build, my head is already planning the next project.  It's an organic Gantt chart.  I'm sure you find yourself in the same boat.  I am, at times, ignorant of concepts that I need for the next one.  So I have to go to the library....

And some of my library was a gift.  There were dirt dauber nests on more than a few books...  But I don't care.  That comes off easily.  The silver fish were another story.  I took a trash bag, a bit of diatomacious earth, and a pile of books.  Dusted the trash bag with the DE, then added the books, and sealed it up tight.  DE cuts the carapace of insects and they dry up and blow away.  A few weeks soaking in DE, and the books are ready for the library.

The top one is a treasure. 

When I am in dire need of illumination, these books are the ticket.  The top one says it belongs to a Mr. Ralph AABBCC.  Thanks for entrusting this to me, Mr. Benefactor.  The #22 Handbook was a pawn shop find....  Yes, $10 for the most useful book you can have if you work metal.  Paid cash.  That tenner met my hand in midair...

I find my books at used book stores, antique stores, pawn shops, ebay, and other online used book stores.  Like Goodwill.  Yes, they sell online and they ship.   Oh, and Don'tBeEvil books.  I find the old stuff there. 

You do have a list of needs / wants on your pocket moleskin, right?  It even remembers my wild ideas that come up in the middle of lunch.

My memory is as good as the paper its written on!  Until I misplace it.