AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2025
Let’s hope one doesn’t get baked by accident like one time lolThose should last forever for all the cooking done in your household!
.
What are you doing right now?
- Thread starter JT20
- Start date
.Now days my diaper.
You have come to the right place. Many fully loaded diapers around these parts.Now days my diaper.
You are always full of it my friend.
And still without diaper!You are always full of it my friend.
AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2025
I’m eating McDonald’s now. The McDonald’s thread got me craving some McDoubles lol. I get mine plain with only pickles and cheese. Oh man delicious. I won’t eat burgers from anywhere else usually because they just don’t taste as good.
You should tuck away as many as you can before it's all over.
Bosch has an Extended Life DOT 3/4/5.1 brake fluid that should be good for 50% longer intervals. The fluid is called Bosch ESI. I have been using it in my Mini and will change it after 30 months.
EDIT: I just realized gathermewool's post was 4 years old. No idea how I landed on his post in this thread today. Anyway, Maybe it's time for another brake fluid change, yes?
Last edited:
I'm on flood watch. Upon my return from my vacation a few days ago I was greeted by a tornado. Well, a little one, but the first ever in the city anyway. And now it's pouring. I had to evacuate Cuddles into the guest house. He's starring ominously out the window, giving me dirty looks. I hope he doesn't expect me to walk him in daylight!
Patman
Staff member
We had a bunch of rain yesterday so it washed the salt off the roads and today is cloudy but 43 degrees, so I just got back from a 55 mile drive in the Corvette. It is always a nice treat when I can drive it this time of year. Hopefully I will have many opportunities like this over the next three months. I never take the insurance off it and most winters I am able to take it out at least 2-3 times per month. When I don’t drive it for a week I hook up the battery tender just to make sure it’s ready to go at any moment 
I just finished another projec I've been wanting to do for a long time. I have a Norma lead pencil (4-color model) from the 60's that my grandpa gave me when I was a kid. I used it throughout high school, university and I still use it now and then. The problem is the lead size, which is something like 1.5 mm, a long obsolee size that is ever harder to source.
I decided to convert the pen from the obsolete size to the still common 0.9/1.0 mm size.
I won't bother showing all the tools I used but I will describe the process.
This is the Norma pencil in the picture below. You use the 4 noticed slider tabs that circle the pencil to extend one of four colors. I have red, green, blue, and a 2B lead in there. It's a twist pen. You twist the lead holder tip to extend and retract the lead manually. The pencil consists out of quite a few parts and is precision-made. Consider it's about 60 years old and it still works perfectly with regular use. They do not make these things anymore. Under the cap it has an eraser that caps a reservoir that holds about 20 spare leads.
This picture shows one of the internal lead holders with the spring and notched tab attached. The spring is color coded (red, blue, green, black) and visible from the outside so you know what lead you have chosen.
My plan involved inserting a short brass tube that would function as sleeve and reduce the internal diameter of the lead holder tube from 1.15 mm to just a hair under 1 mm. There would have to be sufficient friction for the lead to not fall out.
The read arrow shows where the short brass tube is to be press-fitted once the internal diameter has been sized.
With an 0.9 mm power drill (actual size 0.83 mm) is drilled out the little brass tube insert. I the used a jeweler's/watchmaker's broach to taper the inside of the tube insert. That way the tube has slight restriction that offers the perfect resistance to the lead insert. This is how the lead holding tubes on pencils are made in the factory, although it s done by machines.
Trying to illustrate the idea behind using a broach. A broach is a tool for widening a hole but you can put a taper on the inside of a tube with it. It's more of a sharp-edged cutting tool than a file.
I had to slightly taper one end of the brass insert over a length of 2 mm to be able to press-fit it into the lead holder tip which remained unmodified. I used a handheld micro-power tool, and very fine sandpaper to achieve the proper taper. I then press-fit the sleeve.
A still unmodified original lead holder and the modified with the 0.9 mm press-fit insert. Don't be fooled by the overly large appearance of the unmodified tip. The opening is 1.21 mm but the internal taper restricts the inner diameter to 0.15 mm.
Because of the small size of the parts the process was fiddly. I spent about 2 hours all in all.
I decided to convert the pen from the obsolete size to the still common 0.9/1.0 mm size.
I won't bother showing all the tools I used but I will describe the process.
This is the Norma pencil in the picture below. You use the 4 noticed slider tabs that circle the pencil to extend one of four colors. I have red, green, blue, and a 2B lead in there. It's a twist pen. You twist the lead holder tip to extend and retract the lead manually. The pencil consists out of quite a few parts and is precision-made. Consider it's about 60 years old and it still works perfectly with regular use. They do not make these things anymore. Under the cap it has an eraser that caps a reservoir that holds about 20 spare leads.
This picture shows one of the internal lead holders with the spring and notched tab attached. The spring is color coded (red, blue, green, black) and visible from the outside so you know what lead you have chosen.
My plan involved inserting a short brass tube that would function as sleeve and reduce the internal diameter of the lead holder tube from 1.15 mm to just a hair under 1 mm. There would have to be sufficient friction for the lead to not fall out.
The read arrow shows where the short brass tube is to be press-fitted once the internal diameter has been sized.
With an 0.9 mm power drill (actual size 0.83 mm) is drilled out the little brass tube insert. I the used a jeweler's/watchmaker's broach to taper the inside of the tube insert. That way the tube has slight restriction that offers the perfect resistance to the lead insert. This is how the lead holding tubes on pencils are made in the factory, although it s done by machines.
Trying to illustrate the idea behind using a broach. A broach is a tool for widening a hole but you can put a taper on the inside of a tube with it. It's more of a sharp-edged cutting tool than a file.
I had to slightly taper one end of the brass insert over a length of 2 mm to be able to press-fit it into the lead holder tip which remained unmodified. I used a handheld micro-power tool, and very fine sandpaper to achieve the proper taper. I then press-fit the sleeve.
A still unmodified original lead holder and the modified with the 0.9 mm press-fit insert. Don't be fooled by the overly large appearance of the unmodified tip. The opening is 1.21 mm but the internal taper restricts the inner diameter to 0.15 mm.
Because of the small size of the parts the process was fiddly. I spent about 2 hours all in all.
I’m on the grand jury for two more days.
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
Life sucks!
gathermewool
Site Donor 2023
It actually is time for a l other brake fluid change!!!
I have Bosch 5.1 ready to go for both vehicles.
AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2025
I’m just relaxing knowing I have tomorrow off for some PTO. I asked for the day off about 2 weeks ago and it was approved. Can’t take off Monday or I won’t get paid for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. I had 95 hours of PTO I’ve got like 88.1 now and carrying over 80 to next year as that’s the limit. Getting paid out for the remainder of it. I just need an extra day off or I’m going to go insane mentally. Me and the guy next to me (who is also off tomorrow) seem to be the only ones that do anything so we get all the work pretty much. They have 80 appointments tomorrow between the actual shop and express shop so they are in for a nice little workout with 3 of us off lol. Also need to give my back and legs time off too.
I gave my parents my Christmas list today. I wrote Apple Watch and money. They said can’t do the Apple Watch because they are extremely low on money right now but would try to make it a point to give me some money. I’m like just get me something small if you want to get me something and I’ll be perfectly happy with that. I just appreciate their respect and honesty with me and I’m not upset that they said they couldn’t do it.
I gave my parents my Christmas list today. I wrote Apple Watch and money. They said can’t do the Apple Watch because they are extremely low on money right now but would try to make it a point to give me some money. I’m like just get me something small if you want to get me something and I’ll be perfectly happy with that. I just appreciate their respect and honesty with me and I’m not upset that they said they couldn’t do it.
Watching the SD Chargers complete a killer comeback
I'm out of words.
Send money.
