Sometimes I make things that actually work.

The latest work on the bike has all been about getting it street legal and rideable.  Seat, lights and instruments is what that means.

I shopped around for license plate lights today.  After a lot of hunting, the folks at Lone Star BMW found something that would work.  There were four problems though.  It was chrome, it cost $20, it would take a week to get in, and it was chrome.

I spent $10 at Fry's electronics for some overpriced white LED's and resistors, and machined some housings for them out of black Delrin.  They work, and the electronics are sealed in place with E6000 glue.  They'll be ready in the morning.  I think that they'll be quite nice.

But, when I put them on to test them, the taillight converter that I was using to integrate the brake and turn signal lights stopped working.  This is the third one I've been through.  The first two didn't work out of the box.  This third one has got maybe half an hour of use during testing.  I don't know why I'm going through them like this, but am starting to suspect that there's an electrical issue on the bike that is causing them to fail.

So I need to rethink the tail light setup.  I have ideas in that department, I'll have to do some testing and see what works.

The headlight is coming along.  I would have made more progress, but the first two auto parts stores I visited didn't have their loan-a-tool tubing bender in stock.  I gave up looking because it was hot and I was tired.  I'll have another go at finding one tomorrow, and then I'll be able to use it to bend aluminum 1/4" bar stock to make the headlight bracket.   Since the bracket will be visible, I want to use the tool to make nice looking bends rather than just putting the metal in the vise and hitting it with a BFH.

One Hayabusa headlight purchased.  Now I must make mounting brackets for it.

Two bolts, some more JB weld, and then sew a cover.  That's all there is to do.  Here's what it looks like now.







Next up, a headlight and front turn signals. 
A user on www.ratbike.org suggested a Hayabusa headlight, and I think he's right.

Here's a link to his post and the pic.  The 'busa is a butt ugly bike, but when you take away the Beluga Whale fairing, the headlight itself looks pretty good.

I'll be scavengine on ebay, and may make a run down to Houston to check out the motorcycle salvage yard there.

I got a lot done on the seat today.  The tail light and license plate now mount to the seat instead of to the bike's frame.  I started work on the aluminum panel that will be the back and sides of the seat.  The bottom part of it is done, and that's the hard part, since that's where it joined to the motorcycle and had to look good and fit properly.

The JB Weld is drying now, and then I'll be able to get back to work on it.  Still to do, shape the top of the sheet metal.  Sculpt the foam to its final shape.  Add license plate lights. Bribe my neighbor into sewing a new seat cover for it.

Why is this damned seat so hard for me to get right?  I thought that this would be an easy thing to do, but NOOOOO.  It's a complete pain in the ass to make the seat and integrate it with the tail light, license place light and license plate.  Each time I come up with a plan, I find a problem and go back to square one.

I think that I'm going to start over, with the tail light and license plate all permanently attached to the seat itself.  They'll all come off of the bike as one unit.

Someday soon, I'll have this all figured out.

Every time I take a shower or a bath, wash laundry or run the dishwasher, I bemoan the wasted water going down the drain.  I want my house to have a cistern, and I want all grey water to be collected here for use in the garden.

If this sort of setup didn't involve rebuilding the entire house from the slab up, I'd do it.  And I'd have the greenest garden in Texas right now.

I was on vacation the last two weeks, and the guy watching my cats had instructions,"Every time you're over, turn on one of the soaker hoses for about 20 minutes and water one bed."

Since there are three major beds and he was coming every second day, this means that each bed got about 20 minutes of water a week.

After two weeks I came home to find the following.

The lawn is overgrown with weeds, and at the same time, bone dry.  Huh?  How'd that happen?  I'm starting to think that astroturf is a good idea for a lawn.

The potato plants have dried up, indicating harvest time.  Kim got half of them already, and I just pulled the rest.  I got a couple pounds of potatoes out of this, and they're full sized this year instead of the marble sized crop that we had last year.

The lemon cucumber is fruiting, but slowly and apathetically.  I don't know why.

The cherry tomatoes are dry looking, but still producing.  I'm going to give the garden a major soak this evening once the sun goes down.

The herb garden has gone wild.  When I left, there was a vine coming up that looked like it might be green cucumber.  I think that the seed was transplanted from the compost pile when I was using excess compost to set the stones for the path.

Well, it's not cucumber, it's a cantelope vine.  And it's got at least 8 lopes on it right now.  This is great news, as I love me some melons.

It's hot as hell outside.  When is it going to rain again?  Ever?

So I graduated from college, and rather than rest on my laurels with my free time, I got my laurels to work.

I finished the air filter assembly for the Black Bike.

I worked in the garden and did more on the bathroom.

And yesterday, I took my first shower in the remodeled bathroom.  I love it!

I'm 6'2" tall, and I've never had a shower that fit me.  This one does.  In fact, I can stand in the shower, stretch my arms up, and still not touch the shower head.  It just plain kicks ass.

I still need to finish the trim around the bathtub skirt, replace wall texture and repaint the room.  But that'll happen.  The important thing is that I have a shower!

Also, if I didn't mention, I have a job.  It started on Monday, and so far, it's going well.  Although I'm having a hard time getting used to the 6:00 AM wakeup.

...the bathroom tile is grouted, and I am exhausted.

72 hours from now, I hope to be done with this project once and for all.

The last two days have been spent cleaning up the garage in preparation for this Saturday's tech day.  It looks pretty good.  The only remaining mess is on the bike lift, and I'll attack that tomorrow.

And I scored a new gadget thanks to my neighborhood having bulk collection going on this week.

Somebody put out a three in one printer/fax/scanner.

I'd picked up one of these a month ago and put it back into service with nothing more than new ink.  This one was not going to go that route.

It didn't have the power supply, so I commenced to take it apart.  And it's clear why it got scrapped.  It was full of dirt.  My best guess is that it was put in a shed, and ants made a home in it.  The dirt had jammed up all the gears, leaving it totally nonfunctional.

Anyway, I gutted it and saved all the good bits, like the stepping motors, optical sensors and sliding rails.  The plan is to see if I can use what I salvaged to make a cheap CNC router.  If I can, it'll be good practice for when I make convert my milling machine to CNC.

Bathroom:
The drywall is 90% spackled and sanded.  Tomorrow I'm going to try and get the last tiles up.

Botany:
I pulled up the Roma tomatoes.  They just were not doing anything.  I transplanted some of the volunteer cherry tomatoes over to that trellis.  Hopefully they'll survive the transplant and double tomato production.

Bike:
And I got some more work done on the Black Bike after talking to Majestic Turbo.  They think that the oil leakage issue is due to one of the following.

1. A drainage problem.  Either a restricted drain, or the crankshaft slinging oil about in such a manner that it's trying to flow back up the drain.  a.k.a. windage

2. Too much oil pressure.  They say that the oil pressure shouldn't exceed 80 PSI, and should not fall below 25-30 PSI.  My bike exceeded 65 PSI, but by how much is unknown.

3. Just plain bad seals on the turbo.  Apparently turbos have a shelf life of about three years.  Give that mine sat for a year and a half before being put into service, it's possible that the seals are just old and not sealing.

So to solve the problem, I'm going to attack from all directions.  Step 1, completed today.  I made a new oil return fitting.  This one is not as restrictive as the last one.  And it has a baffle built into it to prevent any oil from being slung by the crankshaft back up into the drain pipe.

Tomorrow I'll pick up some nitrous jets, which can be used to restrict the oil flow to the turbo.  I should be able to cause a slight oil pressure drop this way.  If I can get the pressure to a range where it's not pegging the gauge, I'll call it a reasonable number.

Assuming that neither of those fixes the problem, I'll drive to Waco and see about a quick rebuild on the turbo.


Also, I have a job that should start next week sometime.  I'll be helping to design anti-RPG armor for military vehicles.  So that's good news.

On Sunday, unseelie_sidhe harvested the ripe cherry tomatoes from the garden.

Today, three days later, I went out to pick cherry tomatoes.

I got FOUR POUNDS off of the plants.

So this garden is averaging more than a pound a day.

The roma tomatoes are not doing much.  They're still less than a foot tall, and the few tomatoes that they've made have been mealy and flavorless.  I'm thinking that they need to be pulled up and their space given to more cherry tomatoes.

I ran across this gem today.  This is an archive of every issue of Popular Science.  It's really interesting to see how the magazine has evolved.

It began as a true journal of science.  Over time it became more of a layperson's book.  What I really like seeing is the various machining projects and tool designs which were published during the 1940's.  Popular Science of that time was a do-it-yourself magazine.  These days, it's a buy-it-yourself magazine instead.

http://books.google.com/books?id=qR8DAAAAMBAJ&source=gbs_all_issues_r&cad=2_2

My favorite find so far is on the last page of the first issue, dated May of 1872, where there is a note saying that "Dr. Livingstone's safety is not yet despaired by his brother, Mr. Charles Livingstone, her Majesty's consul at Fernando Po.  This gentleman is no stranger to Africa, having been long resident on the west coast, and travelled much about that portion of the continent."

I wonder if Dr. Livingstone was OK.  I presume that he was.

Here I sit, waiting for the phone to ring.  It's a good thing.  I have a phone interview for a job scheduled today.

As I wait, here's a recap from yesterday.  unseelie_sidhe  and phryday  bought new windows for their house.  So I offered to help put them in.

My offer was,"I don't know how to do it any more than you do, but I have tools, and I want to change out my windows at some point.  I'll help you out and get to practice on a house that is not mine."

It's harder work than I thought it would be.

First, the outer trim comes off of the windows.  That's where we see that the builders had put the house's siding up over the window's flange.  In other words, we couldn't just pull the window out.

Out comes the skillsaw, and we cut away enough of the siding to make room for the window to come out.  The cuts won't be visible once it's all done, since the trim will go back on to cover them.  But man oh man, the sawdust from composite siding itches like you wouldn't believe!

Then we started getting the window out.  This actually wasn't too bad, just very slow until we found the right method.  Pulling each individual nail would have taken forever.  Instead, we just hammered the frame out from the inside and in the process, ruined it.

In went the new window, and we hit our first major snag.  The new windows are deeper, and so they were hitting against the drywall and window sill before they got into place.

Some of Phryday's money was invested in a spiral saw, and we were able to cut the sill and drywall back to let the window clear.  I was hoping for perfect cuts that would only need caulk to conceal, but we were tired and there was some wobbling of the cut line.  So we'll have to use some drywall filler putty to close up the gaps.

With the window in place, we called it a day.  One down, two to go.  The other two should go faster.

So what I learned is that windows can be replaced.  It's not hard.  It is messy.  It does require precision, and at least two people.

I continued my work on the bathroom today.  I started by continuing the work with the drywall mud to merge the existing walls with the bits that I added.  But then I got to the ceiling.  The ceiling has been given the popcorn treatment, which I

HATE!

Seriously, what fool decided to use a porous, moisture absorbent material as a protective coating on a paper and gypsum panel, in a room that at least once a day is at 100% humidity?  It's more than retarded.  It's more than fucked up.  It's FuckTarded.

Plus, how was I going to make a good joint between the original popcorn and my nice smooth drywall?

So out came the dust mask and the random orbit sander, and I began to sand off the popcorn.

I will begin by saying that this generates a lot of dust.

I will continue by saying that it generates an extrordinary amount of dust.

I will conclude by saying that it generates so much dust that I have had to abandon the bathroom twice so far, as things got to the point where I could not see nore than three inches in front of my face.

I'm waiting for things to settle down, and then I'll be back to do the final bit of sanding.  Expect pictures shortly.

After the ten millionth trip to Lowes, I got the last few things I need (I hope).
I started putting the trim up, and spent some time just now putting joint compound on all the drywall to patch the various holes I've made.  I'm waiting for it to dry, and tomorrow I'll apply a second coat where needed, then get to sanding it.  Once that's done, the final tub trim can go in place.

I'm calling it quits for the day.  Gonna get cleaned up and then see about a Casino burger.

I've been working on the bathtub today.

I have to force myself to take breaks on projects like this, otherwise I become so focused on what I'm doing that I don't notice that I haven't eatn for seven hours, my bladder is full, and I'm about to pass out from dehydration.

So after two hours of work, I'm on lunch break.

Here's a couple of pictures for your pleasure.

( Read more... )

Yesterday's accomplishment list.

Purchased a planishing hammer from Harbor Freight.  $45, and while it's not top of the line, it's adequate for basic metal forming.  I've promised myself that once I am employed, a shot bag and some good metalworking hammers will be my next purchase.
Completed the ( breather catch can )
Tilled an unused section of the vegetable garden.
Made progress on the seat.
Wired up the Cylon tail light for testing.  It works.
Welded on mounting brackets for the tail light.
Weeded one garden bed.
Repaired the lawnmower's broken pullstart.
Planted the plants I was given by P and A.

Today's accomplishment list.

Came up with a plan for finishing up the jacuzzi tub installation.
Started framing it.  I need to get a 4x8 panel from Lowes, and since I sold my truck I need to borrow one from the neighbor.  I'll finish tomorrow.

Garden update:

I would have had several roma tomatoes by now, but the plants are very short and every tomato gets chewed on by some animal before I can get to it.  I did manage to save one, and it was flavorless blah.  So something's wrong with the romas.

I harvested the first batch of cherry tomatoes today, and they were as good as last year.

The first lemon cucumber is forming.  Soon I will eat it.

And I harvested enough coriander seeds to fill a spice bottle.

Life update:
I graduated from college last week.  Now I have more free time to work on stuff.

Bike update:
The bike's oil pressure is over 65 psi.  I don't know how far over, because the gauge I installed won't read any higher.
I think that this explains the oil leakage.  I'm waiting for confirmation from Majestic Turbo, as well as advice on what to do about it.

Some pictures and some progress.

I've had a taillight in mind for the bike for some time now.  It's a third brake light from a 95 Dodge Avenger.

It's a very good looking light and has a bolt on external bezel, so I can shove it through a roughly cut hole, put the bezel on, and it'll look quite nice.  The only problem is that it's just a brake light.  I wanted brake light, running light, and tail light all in one unit.  So some changes had to be made.

Out came the trusty drill and jewlers files, and several hours later I had cut four new holes for additional light bulb sockets.  Instead of two light bulbs, it now has six.

The turn signals were tricky.  I wanted one side of the brake light to flash when I was signalling.  But I wanted brake lights as well, and didn't want to just have one bulb for each turn signal.  It wouldn't show up well enough.

The solution is a trailer wire adaptor, the gadget that you buy to let you hook your car's lights up to a trailer that only has four lights.  (Watch a trailer being towed sometime.  It doesn't have turn signals, it just blinks a brake light instead.

I wasted a day fighting some cheap adaptors that didn't work right out of the box.  I returned the first one and got another, and it was also made of 100% FAIL, so that had me chasing my tail trying to find out how I'd wired it up wrong.  Eventually I gave up, returned it and bought a more expensive model.  That one worked.

With that sorted, I got to work on the tail and seat.  Here's where it stands after I knocked off for the evening.



Side view.  The metal needs trimming down and bending.  The eventual finished product will be a fairly smooth shape that will hopefully blend well into the shape of the seat and gas tank.



Top view.  The grey thing is the inside of the tail light.  The bulbs mount from the bottom.



Rear view.  Once the corners are rounded off, ought to look pretty good.  The top will either be flat, or I'll put an arch in it to match the arch on top of the tank.

The license plate is tucked up forward of the wheel, and will double as a fender.  I've got some LED lights that go in the mounting holes for the license plate.  They'll be the license lights, and will be the only rear lights other than the Cylon Taillight.

Progress is progressing.  I'm pleased with the results so far.