The dryer broke.

So I have a couple of days off, and think maybe I can catch up on a few things around the house. Morning started off great, then after lunch the dryer suddenly sounds like it sucked up one of the cats and is slowly ripping its fur off.

Broke.



Nothing serious though, the pulley on the belt tensioner finally wore through and split in half. The belt was just running on the rod and rubbing on part of the pulley making a heck of a racket.





Called around, no one local had one in stock so it would have been Monday before I could fix it AND the pulley would've cost $24!

Hey, I've got a 3D printer!!! Took about 15 minutes to draw it up and about an hour to print.







Installed with the belt not routed quite right.





Well, its in and it's drying. We'll see how long it last! Saved myself about $23 bucks AND I don't have to wait 4 more days for the parts to show up, so I can catch the laundry up!

Student Torture Chamber.

I picked a blast cabinet from Harbor Freight for school. It came in an really teeny little box labeled "some assembly required". After "some" assembly...


Students kept asking me what it was- so kept telling them it was a torture chamber for the obnoxious kids.  They didn't seem to believe me but everyone wanted to climb in anyways!? 

It was almost ready to test. My shop space is extremely limited so one of my goals this year is to make a bunch of the tools mobile. I ALSO picked up a bunch of casters at Harbor Freight.



This is going to be as painless as possible, so quality may be a bit on the low side but it should be totally functional. Cut some bits of metal out and started welding.



Aint purty, but it fits! Yes, I just zapped the casters on there instead of drilling / bolting.  Time is not a luxury I have...



I'll put a board in there and even get an extra shelf out of the deal. Sits level enough and rolls like a dream. All 4 casters lock, so when its time to use it I'm hoping parking it against a wall and locking the wheels will hold it in place.

The plan here is to have my welding students use this instead of the wire wheel for cleaning slag off. I don't have a good spot for them to be using grinders without spraying crap aaaalllllllllll over the shop.

One tool down, I'll do the parts washer next, then I still want to do the pedestal grinder, bandsaw, and drum sander.  If I get ambitious a few of my tables might end up with wheels too so I can move them around to make more space for working on mowers and such.

Now if I could just remember who built the home made Sand Blaster Vortex thingy out of a traffic cone.  Shop Teacher Bob, was that you?  Can't seem to find it anywhere and I have a feeling I'm going to need the reclamation feature for my sand blaster... 

Dan's Chariot #8 - Almost ready for a Maiden Voyage!

Man, this artsy fartsy crap sure tears up the time... Made some patterns for the leg pan sides.



Traced 'em on, cut 'em out, and made some edges. Really getting to love the edge forming machine- Being able to roll hems onto curves is great.



It'll sit something like this.



Made the other side too, and here it is sorta sitting in place.



Still need to put a hole in them for bungee cord attachment and I'll do some "racing stripes" like I did on the fenders.

Leg tie down hole and some decorations / stiffener added to the side pieces.



Think it blends with the fender pretty well. Hope I got the lines straight so everything matches!

A trip to the store for longer rivets, and lotsa holes later, its "done".



Going to sit something like this. I like it!



Drilled a few more holes and bolted it down.



Also picked up a few of these bushings at the hardware store and a bunch of nyloc nuts. Re-installed all of the seat belt hangers like this.



Put the seat, axle, wheels, and fenders back on to get an idea of how its shaping up.







I give it 2 thumbs up!



Obviously, it's a little short for me...

The fenders are just sitting there loose. Still trying to decide on the best way to extend them back just a bit more to be totally safe. Have an idea just having a hard time finding the material I want to make it out of. Soon as I get the new axle threaded for the nuts, I'm going to hook it up to a bike and see how it pulls. Maybe strap 3 or 4 50 lb bags of flour to it and see if I can break anything.

Getting closer! We even get a couple days off next week so hopefully more to follow soon. 

First Lego League 2013- Natures Fury! (NOT furry)

So Lego League is underway again.  We've got a decent mix of students this year and for the first time EVER, I have helpers!  The local community center has offered help both financially and with volunteers, and I've got a couple of Walmart employees that come in to do service and help earn me some extra money!  Hoping it'll be a good year.  The table looks awesome, but there are some really difficult missions. 

Really hoping that with the extra money / help this year, along with our school fundraiser, I'll be able to get a few sets of the new Lego Mindstorms robot- the EV3.  Speaking of fundraising... Anyone wanna buy some cookie dough?!

If wishes were fishes...

Something new: How to repair a cracked Ipad!

A couple of months ago my son managed to shatter the screen of my wife's Ipad.  Ouch.  It still worked but as we continued to use it shards of glass would fall out.  Not cool.  Got to checking and it's rather expensive to have someone fix it for you.  The glass, on the other hand, is pretty cheap!  Hey, I can fix anything, right?!

Did some research, bought some parts, and here's what I came up with.

So here's the kit and the broken Ipad. It came with the glass (digitizer), adhesive, and a pack of tools. Tools actually are pretty solid and came in handy, although I did almost all of the removal work with a putty knife.



Got the whole kit and caboodle from Amazon for $32.00 shipped. Here's the seller: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This kit did NOT come with the plastic rim piece or the foam gasket, and I would have used them if it did. I managed to re-use the plastic rim piece even though it broke while taking it out. I think with some practice you could leave the plastic in place and just pop the glass out, but I'm hoping I don't have to find that out.

New digitizer.



Read through the destructions, and watched this vid a time or two...



Bit by bit, working the glass up with the blow dryer. The heat definitely makes a huge difference. The directions said several times to WEAR SAFETY GLASSES, and I'm glad I did- several times bits of glass shattered and shot me in the face.







Woot!



Removed the 4 screws and tipped up the screen.



If you look close at the bottom left hand corner, you can see the cables that need to be unplugged. Watch the video closely, it explains very well how to get them unhooked.

All out!



Time for cleanup. Spent most of my time getting bits of old adhesive and glass slivers out of the body. Took forever. Blew it out with air, picked some more, blew it out again, wiped the screen down, repeat about 50 times.

Re-assembly wasn't to bad. Hook up the digitizer, then hook up the screen.



Flip the screen over and screw it down. Apply adhesive to the back of the glass.



Did a test fit, and like Mr. Bob said, the goofy cable is pretty hard to get to lay down in it's little slot. Finally got it to fit right, so I peeled off the adhesive backs and stuck it down.

Sweet!



It works! Have it sitting under some weights overnight to make sure the sticky stuff sticks. We'll see how well it worked in the morning. $32 bucks and a couple hours of labor is a heck of a lot better than $250!!!

Dan's Chariot #7 - Modifications.

Started on some of the modifications. Took it all apart, took some measurements, and hacked the tongue off:



Took a big chunk out of the middle and tightened up the bend.



I will have to straighten the back end of it just a bit, but the theory is the tongue will plug into the trailer "stinger" style, but 90 degrees to the direction of travel, sorta like this:



Although it will be much shorter and have several gussets. Couldn't find a really tight fit for the square, so the tongue will have a gusset / spacer plate on the top and front where it plugs into the trailer to get a good fit. Holes drilled / pins installed so the tongue can be unplugged and eventually a castor wheel of some sort plugged in so they can use it as a stroller. We'll see where it goes from here!

FINALLY got my wife to stay home from school long enough that I could dedicate some time on this project. Crazy first year teachers... She gets home after 8:00 on average.

Cut the receiver down, drilled some holes, and cut some gussets out.



Start welding!



Tongue installed.



Made it a BUNCH shorter. Hope the curve is big enough to clear the tire!



Set it across two tables, and bounced my wussy 175 lbs up and down pretty good at the joint- it flexes a teensy through the tongue, but the receiver and back half of the trailer is RIGID.



While I was doing some welding, I cut the plastic sheet out and got it warming up to do some bending.







In between all of that, I made a few more brackets.







Whew. Makin progress. 

Boxed in the back of the tongue for some extra strength(?).



Stuck it back together...



The frame as it sits so far.



And with the seat and leg pan kinda sitting in place.



Plan on making some aluminum sides for the leg pan to match the fenders.

Left to do... Hmm. Finish the fenders, make some extensions out the back for them, sides for the leg pan, bolt it on, thread the new axle, get all the misc nuts and bolts I need for the seat belts, TEST IT OUT! and then paint. I think. Probably missing 3 or 4 steps still.

Well, now you're all caught up.  RREEALLLY need to get this thing done.  Lego League is going already, so that eats into a big chunk of my time and it seems like all the "extras" I get to participate in this year just because I'm a teacher are adding up quick.  It WILL be done.  Shall I make a goal? 

End of October.  Or else.