Thursday, November 26, 2020

Sunday, November 22, 2020 -- Manhattan Beach Pier - Crowded day...

It was a little cool but a nice day.
The bike path was very crowded.
A younger guy had an accident just south of the powerplant, just as you get into the houses along the strand.
Lifeguards were wrapping a wrist when I walked by...

The pier area was also busy.
This picture doesn't show the large groups of people that I encountered on the bike path...

 

Old & Rough Tool Case - part 34 -- Cleaned & installed the front lid lock mechanism

I had soaked the lock in a penetrating lubricant for a couple of weeks to see if the internal mechanism would loosen up.
 I don't have a key for the lock so using a small metal file, I can turn the lock mechanism but the locking tab does not move.
Oh well...

A lot of the rust on the lock has been cleaned off using steel wool.
These some left in pits but decided to leave some patina to better match the overall condition of the tool chest.

Also used some very fine sand paper on the lock (400 grit).
Cleaned the heads of the screws also...

Lock placed back on the front lid...

Screws placed...

Finished...

 

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Friday, November 20, 2020 -- Manhattan Beach Pier - Surf's Up

The surf is pretty big today.  A lot of people out on the water...


Much less wind than yesterday (see the flag).


Marine layer is rolling in.
Can't really see Palos Verdes Peninsula.

 

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Old & Rough Tool Case - part 33 -- Cleaned & installed top rear corner protectors

I got tired of hand cleaning the corner protectors using steel wool.
I decided to use a steel wheel on the two rear ones.
This is after the cleaning.
It's a little bit more shiny than the fronts (there's a little bit of patina left but not as much as on the fronts).


This is the power wheel that I used.
The right side is a coarse steel wire wheel.
It's an old grinder and after I cleaned the corners, it stopped working.  A little bit of acrid smoke too...
Will take it apart one of these days to see what happened inside.
It may be toast...


Installed the left rear one...


And the right rear...  Done.
Decided to not do the bottom corner protectors for now.
When I either fix the grinder or get another one, I'll use the steel wire wheel to do the bottom corner protectors...

 

Thursday, November 19, 2020 -- Manhattan Beach Pier - Rough Waves & Windy

The ocean is a bit on the rough side today.  Looks like decent waves too...


The flag shows how the wind is stiff today.
It was tough, riding against it, going back home...

 

Broken Toaster/Oven -- Part 3 and last -- Installed the new switch & cleaned. Done...

De-soldered the white wire from the old broken timer.

I'm a little surprised that the power wires are soldered to the timer switch, instead of using connectors.

Used an old Weller soldering gun.  Worked  well.

The old timer switch had some broken plastic inside.
The red arrows point to a plastic "wall" inside the switch that had broken into pieces.
Probably the root cause of the timer switch not working...

New timer soldered in.

This is the correct position/orientation of the switch.

Put the front cover on loosely and attached the switch and the selector.

There's some debris on the bottom of the unit.
Using a putty knife, this area was cleaned before installing what goes over this area.

On the bottom on the unit, installed this piece that holds the removable debris tray in place, with four screws.

The tray holder was installed.  In total, there's fourteen screws that go on the bottom of this unit (!)

After finishing assembling all the pieces (including the back panel), spent some time cleaning the exterior of the toaster.
Also cleaned the glass on the front door.
Took more time to clean the toaster than to install the new timer switch and reassemble the unit...

Toaster back where it normally lives on the kitchen counter.

There's three heating elements on this toaster.
They look kinda like fluorescent tubes but in this case, they get very hot & glow orange when energized (like in the picture below).
The selector switch allows you to turn on the top rack area, the bottom rack area or both areas at the same time.

 

Monday, November 23, 2020

Noisy bathroom ventilation fan -- Part 3 of 2 -- Installed the fan cover...

Cover came today (Amazon).


Well travelled...


Nicely packaged (cardboard insert to protect the metal clips & unit inside a foam sleeve).  No damage...

There's a recess in the center for a name brand sticker...

Installed.  Done.


 

Old & Rough Tool Case - part 32 -- Cleaned & installed top front corner protectors

Decided to leave a little bit of "patina" on the top front left corner protector.
Before installing the two screws.


After installing the screws.
Just the right amount of patina left on the metal.


The very rusty part is the top front right side corner protector, before using steel wool on it.

Close-up showing the rough rusty surface...


Used steel wool to remove most of the rust.
It's a very tiring process using elbow grease...

The two top front corner protectors are done...





 

Wednesday, November 18, 2020 -- Manhattan Beach Pier - Took the trees away...

They had placed Christmas trees all along the pier.
Now they're gone...?



Musubi & Karage...

Eric came by in the afternoon to pick up some paperwork.
He brought some food...  Nice of him.

Had the rice ball (really a triangle... call a "rice musubi") and the chicken karage (basically Japanese fried chicken) as part of dinner.
Pretty good!