What did you do today?

[Mark Rand]

Also did Xmas lights on tree in front w boom lift

I thought you fellows had that Thanksgiving thing in between all hallows' eve and Christmas...

[oldgascar]

Veterans Day Flag presentation

I made a KABUKI flag drop mechanism for a Veterans Day program
Held at an elementary school this past Friday. The flag was 20 ft X 40 ft
It was fan folded end to end and held in a fabric trough. When the 40
Choir students were singing a song, the music director gave me a que for
front of the trough to release and then the bottom of the flag started to
cascade down to the gym floor ( the top of the flag is held captive at the
cieling) the sight of the American Flag appearing magically was a sight to see.
We had many vets at the program . They were treated with a meal prepared by
the community. It was a great day to show appreciation to all our armed service
veterans for their service to whom we owe our freedom.
If I can figure out how to attach photos I will.

A video of the flag drop can be seen at www.horselesscarriagereplicas.com ( lol in the upper right videos section to view it)

I never want to turn down an opportunity to thank all our armed forces vets.

[plastikosmd]

True Rand, the boom lift isn’t great in the snow thus an early winter project

[MrFluffy]

Not so much here, stacked about 5cord of wood, then to escape I went in the workshop and fitted a DRO display to the surface grinder, then started sizing up the axis travel properly once it was in place. I had one scale left over from another project for the DRO install of 800mm which fitted the X axis travel fine, & ordered two more cheap JXCE 250mm travel scales from ebay sellers which measuring up showed covered y and z axis.
I'm not sure why I'd want the DRO on all 3 axis on a surface grinder, but for what its costing to do it, its not a huge capital cost more.
I've still got the fine marks on the handwheels, so I'm not worried about ten thousands accuracy from the DRO, I just want to not have to count how many times I cranked the handwheel around to return to the same positions.

[rzbill]

Had to work Sat because I have some international folks here installing machinery. They want to work Saturday to get done and get home of course. An employee has to be on site when any contractors are there.

Got home that evening (220 mile commute), did laundry and relaxed. SWMBO is visiting her parents in upstate NY. Wish I could have joined. They are good people.

Sunday did chores and then installed a new half nut on my Atlas QC10. ( $36 from Clausing so I don't understand the Ebay snake oil business ). Took the Z backlash from 0.050" down to 0.008 at best and 0.018 at worst part of lead screw. Pretty happy with that actually.

Went to the airport, changed the oil in my bird and did a few other misc maintenance things to get ready for return to work.

[DennisCA]

Been working on the milling machine. It's not in operational condition. The tapered gib has broken the piece at the end that retains it to the adjustment screw and then gotten stuck so the X-travel has seized, currently working on disassembly of the table so I can set up some kind of jig to push the giv out and then repair the gib (drilling & tapping and screwing in a new piece of metal for the adjustment screw to register against is the current plan).

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

I framed and installed a 36" door at the bottom of a walk-out basement bulkhead. The lower ~4 feet of the rough opening is the concrete foundation and the upper ~3 feet was the house's knee-wall framing. I attached studs for the door to both the upper wood knee-wall and the lower concrete foundation with concrete screw anchors which worked out nicely. The concrete screws even came with a decent masonry bit sized for the screws:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071Z7ZCXF/ref=sspa_dk_detail_5?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B071Z7ZCXF

My phone died before I finished so I didn't get a picture but I'll take one next time I'm there.

[PStechPaul]

Yesterday I bought a 2009 Honda Fit, for $3600, from a private seller who actually works with a used car dealership to sell trade-ins via Craig's List. It was listed for $3800, I offered $3500, and we settled at $3600. It has 176,000 miles, and has some deterioration of paint and a few rust spots, but at least it is a safe vehicle and should last 10 years or more.









I like the versatility of the hatchback and folding seats. I should be able to install a dog cage/barrier for Mr. Tibbs. He's not gonna ride shotgun in this car, but he'll have my back!

[mattthemuppet]

Honda Fits are great cars, super reliable, economical and like a Tardis inside. One big improvement I did to a friends was to fit an LED light (some 12V mini-strip LED) to the ceiling above the trunk as the side trunk light was useless. Took about $3 and 20min.

Me, got the snot beaten out of me (literally!) by a 20mph head wind the whole way home. Sat on the couch and ate lots of cake, so now I'm feeling a bit better

[Willy]

Honda Fits are great cars, super reliable, economical and like a Tardis inside. One big improvement I did to a friends was to fit an LED light (some 12V mini-strip LED) to the ceiling above the trunk as the side trunk light was useless. Took about $3 and 20min.

Me, got the snot beaten out of me (literally!) by a 20mph head wind the whole way home. Sat on the couch and ate lots of cake, so now I'm feeling a bit better

See, proof right there that eating cake on the couch is a whole lot better for you than peddling your ass off on a bicycle into a head wind.
I know what I'm doing later on tonight.

[reggie_obe]

Yesterday I bought a 2009 Honda Fit, for $3600, from a private seller who actually works with a used car dealership to sell trade-ins via Craig's List. It was listed for $3800, I offered $3500, and we settled at $3600. It has 176,000 miles, and has some deterioration of paint and a few rust spots, but at least it is a safe vehicle and should last 10 years or more.

I like the versatility of the hatchback and folding seats. I should be able to install a dog cage/barrier for Mr. Tibbs. He's not gonna ride shotgun in this car, but he'll have my back!

Nine years old and driven almost 20,000 miles per year? According to KBB you paid near the high end of the range for a Fit in "good" condition.
How much did you get for the Saturn as a trade-in?

[thaiguzzi]

Wow!
S/H Cars seem pricey in the States.
That car would be 1500-1800$ on a used car lot in the UK all day long.
Here in Thailand, S/H cars keep their value to a ridiculous extent. My missus comes over to the UK on holiday every 3-4 years and cannot believe how cheap the S/H car market is. My Dad sold a very clean zero rust 10 y/o Vauxhall 5 seater nice hatchback for 650 GBP, the same car in Thailand would be in excess of 5k......

[PStechPaul]

Ten years ago I paid $4200 for my 1999 Saturn, but it had only 77,000 miles on it. Now, it has only 110,000 miles, and I figure I will be driving less than 5,000 miles a year from now on. So mileage is not a huge factor for me - rust is the enemy now. I still have the Saturn, and I will try to get $500 for it:









I checked www.cars.com for Honda Fit 2009-2010 and the lowest price was $4000 with 146k miles. Next was a 2010 with 163k miles for $6000. And a 2009 with 130k for $6200, and another 2009 with 67k for $9500. On Facebook Marketplace there is a 2008 Honda Fit with 112k for $3800, and the KBB private sale value range is $3000-$4800. And another 2008 with only 61k in excellent condition shows a KBB range of $4700-$6700. Also a 2009 with 185,000 miles excellent condition range $3600-$5200. So I think I got a decent deal. It was $4250 total including tags and title. Some of the lower priced private deals do not include inspection.

I probably won't get much for my Saturn. Similar cars 1998-2002 are selling for $500-$1500 or so on FB Marketplace.

[mattthemuppet]

See, proof right there that eating cake on the couch is a whole lot better for you than peddling your ass off on a bicycle into a head wind.
I know what I'm doing later on tonight.

I am eating my cake and having it

[DennisCA]

Made a puller to get a part of the milling machine. I am considering popping some of these parts in the lathe to clean up the surfaces from the gorillas with vise grips.



Yes, not really fine machining, band sawn and drilled and tapped one hole, the others I just inserted drill bits in. To be honest with the tooling I have, pretty and straight is tedious and difficult, which is why I am looking forward to having a working milling machine after all this.