What are you working on today?

Not knowing much (anything?) about it, what does one do with and why does one need 13 lathes? In my basically complete ignorance I can figure maybe 3-5 but can't get close to double figures so maybe I'm about to learn something.
I fully understand.

I imported most of these lathes in the 90s except for the Wilton's and I have several I use for dedicated applications to avoid constant setups.

Because of hard to obtain parts you require backups as you can't go to a local store to get them and often you need to make the parts yourself as well as do the repairs. I have a few I need to fix at this point but I wait until I get the urge to do so.. That work I don't enjoy.

A few smaller ones I also collect. I run a lathe 4+ hrs a day for my business.All were bought new.
So my equipment earns me my living. No run no $$$.

And some you just don't like running as you have your favorites like a BITOG car hoarder...lol
 
Recaulked both bathrooms and repainted the lower bathroom. Looking a lot better. If I could boot the boys out might stay that way.. darn. Need to paint the ceiling tomorrow. 5 years since I remodeled the lower one and already showing. Also Demo'd the wall around middle landing of the stairwell, something else to figure out!
 
I fully understand.

I imported most of these lathes in the 90s except for the Wilton's and I have several I use for dedicated applications to avoid constant setups.

Because of hard to obtain parts you require backups as you can't go to a local store to get them and often you need to make the parts yourself as well as do the repairs. I have a few I need to fix at this point but I wait until I get the urge to do so.. That work I don't enjoy.

A few smaller ones I also collect. I run a lathe 4+ hrs a day for my business.All were bought new.
So my equipment earns me my living. No run no $$$.

And some you just don't like running as you have your favorites like a BITOG car hoarder...lol
That's interesting and informative. To further scratch away at my ignorance, do you need a different lathe for wood and metal or can one lathe work both? I presume lathes have not only a maximum stock size they can work but a minimum also? So if you were turning very small items like for a model car or model house you'd need size A and to do a 3' whatever you'd need size B?
 
That's interesting and informative. To further scratch away at my ignorance, do you need a different lathe for wood and metal or can one lathe work both? I presume lathes have not only a maximum stock size they can work but a minimum also? So if you were turning very small items like for a model car or model house you'd need size A and to do a 3' whatever you'd need size B?
I sent you a pm... Thought I would answer direct and you can pm me anytime.
 
Getting the JD cleaned and lubed and ready to accept the mower deck
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Did some quick plumbing at my younger sisters house. The tub spout diverter wouldn't move, so I replaced it with a Moen spout. A plumber came out last week and told her it'd cost $275 to replace it. The new spout with clear silicone and plumbers grease was about $58. A 10 minute job.
 
Did some quick plumbing at my younger sisters house. The tub spout diverter wouldn't move, so I replaced it with a Moen spout. A plumber came out last week and told her it'd cost $275 to replace it. The new spout with clear silicone and plumbers grease was about $58. A 10 minute job.
You robbed a plumber 😅
 
New front rotors and pads on the wife's '16 Equinox. Element 3 rotors and Wagner OEX pads with a caliper beauty treatment.
Salt zone not too kind to the 41k mile GM rotors that were on it. Note the rust pile on the floor after beating them off.
 

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Had to repaint the entire bathroom ceiling.. that was a disaster. Tried to just match the spots first but I'm guessing I didn't use ceiling paint. So had some ceiling paint from last year but it's like water. That made a huge mess but got it done. Now have to repaint the walls.. grand. After that debacle took our 14 year old for a 30 min drive, car pulled right out in front of us.. I think I died internally.
 
Did some work on the new-to-me 2018 Regal TourX. Did a fluid change on the rear diff and PTU (transfer case thing). Used AC Delco LS 75w-90 which is OEM for the differential-- read too many reports online of noises after using aftermarket fluid in this application; the OEM fluid is reasonably priced so it was a no brainer.

PTU takes a super expensive ($60/qt) synthetic AC Delco 75W-90 PTU specific fluid, which I chose to use. Would a regular GL-5 EP 75W-90 fluid work? Perhaps, but I don't want to be the guinea pig and take a chance on a $1K+ unit. Couldn't find any evidence online that aftermarket fluids have been used successfully or that they might work long term. All the major oil vendors (Amsoil, Royal Purple, Mobil1, etc.) list no product available for this application.

Did a drain and fill on the Aisin 8 speed. Other than the fill plug being in a hard to reach location that required a long length of plastic tubing, it was about as easy as fluid service gets. The drain/check plug is combined into one which is rather ingenious, though it required the addition of a 17mm hex socket to my tool stash. I only got 3 quarts replaced using this method, I'm going to have to repeat it several times to be satisfied. The original fluid (after 69K) came out a brown motor oil color.

While it was up on the lift, I did some rust remediation. This car spent most of it's life in the Detroit area. It's really not that bad considering, but there were some areas on the front subframe which concerned me. After taking it down to bare metal, it was mostly the factory coating just blistering with surface rust underneath. I coated it with a rust converter/primer, then followed up with some rubberized underbody coating. Applied the primer and coating anywhere it looked like rust was forming. I'll keep an eye on it as I don't know how durable these products are, but I'll get to have a look at it at least every oil change or so to see how it's holding up.
 

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Cleaned and treated the roof on the camper and inspected all the seals. Yes, it is new, but that's part of the upkeep...keeping an eye on the roof.

Also added a switch for the fridge. They're starting to put them in from the factory now on some models, but ours didn't have one, so every time you turn the battery on, the fridge powers up whether you want it to or not, which can't be great for the compressor doing short runs, so now I can just leave it off until I need it. Simple 15 amp inline switch install.

One day I'll chronicle all the upgrades we've made to date. Some campers come with some of the things I've retrofitted, but none of it has been hard or expensive and all of it has been worth doing.
 
Did some work on the new-to-me 2018 Regal TourX. Did a fluid change on the rear diff and PTU (transfer case thing). Used AC Delco LS 75w-90 which is OEM for the differential-- read too many reports online of noises after using aftermarket fluid in this application; the OEM fluid is reasonably priced so it was a no brainer.

PTU takes a super expensive ($60/qt) synthetic AC Delco 75W-90 PTU specific fluid, which I chose to use. Would a regular GL-5 EP 75W-90 fluid work? Perhaps, but I don't want to be the guinea pig and take a chance on a $1K+ unit. Couldn't find any evidence online that aftermarket fluids have been used successfully or that they might work long term. All the major oil vendors (Amsoil, Royal Purple, Mobil1, etc.) list no product available for this application.

Did a drain and fill on the Aisin 8 speed. Other than the fill plug being in a hard to reach location that required a long length of plastic tubing, it was about as easy as fluid service gets. The drain/check plug is combined into one which is rather ingenious, though it required the addition of a 17mm hex socket to my tool stash. I only got 3 quarts replaced using this method, I'm going to have to repeat it several times to be satisfied. The original fluid (after 69K) came out a brown motor oil color.

While it was up on the lift, I did some rust remediation. This car spent most of it's life in the Detroit area. It's really not that bad considering, but there were some areas on the front subframe which concerned me. After taking it down to bare metal, it was mostly the factory coating just blistering with surface rust underneath. I coated it with a rust converter/primer, then followed up with some rubberized underbody coating. Applied the primer and coating anywhere it looked like rust was forming. I'll keep an eye on it as I don't know how durable these products are, but I'll get to have a look at it at least every oil change or so to see how it's holding up.
Wow! Honda -- the king of specialty fluids -- would be proud! I can hear the Honda engineers running to their lab now and salivating at the thought of $60 per quart. "Challenge accepted!" :D
 
2001 Ford ranger 3.0 V6
Diagnosed bad injectors on cylinders 4 and 6, and bad blower motor resistor. Replaced resistor, waiting on injectors and upper plenum gasket

1977 Chevrolet K10
Replaced battery cables and battery
Fresh engine is making tapping noises. Found two valves out of adjustment. Adjusted and noise ceased. Drove it, noise came back. Same valves out of adjustment. Bye bye lifters. 😢
 
Wow! Honda -- the king of specialty fluids -- would be proud! I can hear the Honda engineers running to their lab now and salivating at the thought of $60 per quart. "Challenge accepted!" :D

There have been reports of some Toyota dealers ripping customers off for the LV transfer case fluid in modern Toyota trucks. Something like $80 a quart... :oops:
 
Cleaned and treated the roof on the camper and inspected all the seals. Yes, it is new, but that's part of the upkeep...keeping an eye on the roof.

Also added a switch for the fridge. They're starting to put them in from the factory now on some models, but ours didn't have one, so every time you turn the battery on, the fridge powers up whether you want it to or not, which can't be great for the compressor doing short runs, so now I can just leave it off until I need it. Simple 15 amp inline switch install.

One day I'll chronicle all the upgrades we've made to date. Some campers come with some of the things I've retrofitted, but none of it has been hard or expensive and all of it has been worth doing.
Bob,

we just found a new home for ours. I did a bunch of stuff while we had it.

1. Insulated the back side of the fridge everywhere, and added a PC fan to help the air through.

2. Added a pic fan inside the fridge to circulate the cold air

3. LED light upgrades, including strip lighting all the way around the ceiling on both long walls.

4. 450 watts of solar with a good tracking controller (used it as a daily office during Covid for 2 years), and a 300w sine inverter to power the computer and monitor.

5. Installed a kenwood stereo. Installed kenwood separates on opposite ends of the cabin with woofers low and tweeters right at the ceiling... Filled it with sound.

6. Upgraded the exhaust fan to a 10 speed, bi-directional unit. That was super worth it. MaxAir?

7. Electric tongue jack

8. Level bubbles for LR and fore-aft

9. Pressure tank downstream from the pump, which reduced cycling

10. Winterization valve and hose for sucking in pink antifreeze every fall

11. Key hooks and baskets inside

12. Upgraded exterior speakers

13. Double LED tail lights. The standard rectangular models i swapped in some decent units. Then I bought a set of the long, skinny kind and mounted them vertically, only wired to brake/turn. It really helped visibility, especially driving I-24 in the bright afternoons.

14. This was fun. Added a 12V power outlet on the outside, and then bought a couple of cheap LED fog lights for cars. I added colored plastic (“gel paper”) so the output was colored. Put them on 20+ feet wire, and tied them in the trees for night time mood glow. I got better at this through the years and ended up with narrow spot beams in different colors that would point straight up and make tree tops glow. Everyone has their camping decor. That was mine. These did cause the converter to run, so max 3 (9 amps total) draw.

15. A couple of cel phone charging ports inside.

camper was definitely fun to tinker with!
 
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