Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

Home Improvement:

Ryobi, not the last word in power tools,
but still pretty good.

Fixing stuff.

You know that I work on my cars, but I also do a lot of work around the house.

Stuff is stuff, right?

Today I spent some time repairing my Ryobi leaf blower which had died the day before.

This was actually the second time, as it had quit working before, after it had fallen off of a table a few times! 

One critical consideration is if the device is built in a way that allows someone to disassemble the unit. 

In this instance, the unit is held together with small torx screws, which can easily be unscrewed with the proper tools.

Sometimes products are not readily able to be taken apart. They were not designed to be "repairable."

Oftentimes the case is plastic welded together, or there are welded plastic plugs where there should be screws. In this case, disassembly is only possible through a form of partial destruction. Even if you get the unit apart, there's a good chance that it wasn't designed to be be taken apart and put back together. Therefore there won't be any repair parts available to the consumer.

Many times though, you won't need any replacement parts. Sometimes a wire connection just breaks. Other times the problem will be a broken plastic lug or positioning piece that broke after the tool was dropped repeatedly. 

Wires are easy to fix. The joint can be resoldered or a new section of better quality wire can be substituted. Some manufacturers use the thinnest, cheapest wire that you could imagine.

Sometimes the broken lugs can be replaced by a screw, rivet, a small metal bracket, of even a tie down. Ingenuity is essential.

In this instance, the blower was dead despite loading a fully charged battery. After disassembly I found that full voltage was present at the switch. There was a butt splice in the wires that ran to the motor after the switch. Full power was available at the splice, so I checked where the wires connected to the motor. 

I found that one wire was frayed and broken under the insulation. 

I spliced in a new length of heavier wire and that cured the problem, though the switch is a little iffy, and has to held in the on position. 

Still, the thing works, and hopefully I can get another couple of years service out of it.

The water inlet valve sprung a leak.

Recently I discovered that my "new" dishwasher was leaking water from the main water valve underneath.

I dried everything off then placed the top of a plastic coffee can as a tray, under the valve. I ran the washer to see how much water leaked during use. It would take a couple of wash cycles to almost completely fill the tray.

There is a very good appliance parts dealer in San Jose that I've had good luck with. I went down and he had to order a new valve, which took several days. Luckily the dishwasher was still able to be used as long as I kept an eye on the water level in the improvised drip tray. 

When the new valve arrived I only procrastinated for a few days before replacing it.

This was a pretty easy and straightforward repair.

The switch at the left was the culprit.

There was a small torx screws located on both sides.

Then I learned that one of my "new" stove's burner switches was only working on the highest setting. Another trip to the appliance parts store, but this time they had the control switch in stock. It took me  another bit to get around to this repair. Looking at the stove I could see that there are a couple of visible screws on each side of the front control panel. It looks like all I have to do is slide the stove forward six inches or so, then I can remove the panel and replace the switch.

I just tilted the panel up.

New switch.

Broken new switch.

The switch came off easily enough, two screws held it to the panel. I removed each wire individually and transferred then to the new switch.

Once in place I found that the knob, a heavy diecast item, did not want to slide easily into place on the shaft. It slid about 1/4 inch. then stopped. There was a spring tab on the shaft that should compress and allow the knob to seat, as well as keep it securely on the shaft. 

I considered whether or not I should sand down the shaft a bit until the knob could more easily slide into place. Naaaw, I thought, It should just need a "bit" of pressure.

I pushed and pushed, but the knob would not get past that detent. Finally I applied more force until it broke the switch!

I thought that maybe I might be able to hot glue the little threaded tabs back in place. It might also be a good idea to try working the knob onto the shaft first. I kind of pounded it in and it went on, but it wouldn't come off! I tried striking the underside of the knob with a tool. It wouldn't come off so I hit it a bit harder! Then the shaft snapped off in the knob.

Now I needed a new switch and a new knob!

I told the guy at the appliance parts store my tale of woe. Luckily he had both the switch and knob in stock. When he tried to push the knob on the switch, the same thing happened. It wouldn't fit easily.

I told him that I'd considered sanding the shaft first and he agreed that would be a good idea. He was a very nice guy, and sold me both parts at a bit over wholesale, a real break for me.

Another new switch and knob and some sandpaper
 to improve the fit.

This time I sanded the shaft as well as the spring tab until the knob was an easier push fit on the shaft. As I had thought, the new switch did fix the problem and the burner now works as it should.

Since owning a house is just a constant battle with entropy, things will get older, run down, deteriorate, and break. It's inevitable. I had noticed that a portion of my side yard fencing had broken and was swinging loose.

This was next to a big redwood tree that is too close to the fence. As the tree grew it started to push against the fence. There are eight redwood trees on my property. Six were planted when the house served as the model home and sale office. Two have grown from seed during my time living here. Both of these grew from seeds that dropped from cuttings from the older trees. I had stacked some cuttings in the front side yard and a bunch of seedlings sprouted. I protected a single seedling and it has matured into a beautiful tree that is over 30 years old.

The tree near the fence grew from trimmings that I'd piled along the fence. Again a few seedlings sprouted and I didn't do anything this time. Once the tree was a few feet tall I decided to let it grow. That was probably 20 years ago. 

I thought that it might be a problem in the future. I've rebuilt that section of fence twice already. My plan is now to shift the fence over enough to give the tree more clearance. In this case I thought that I would space it two inches further.

I had spoken with my neighbor about my plan. We have been neighbors for almost 40 years. I have rebuilt this entire side fence twice during that time. I have done it carefully and even when reusing most of the fence boards the fence looks very well constructed. My neighbor has been pleased with the results and the low cost of my repairs. She said to go ahead with my plan.

Unfortunately, my neighbor will be selling her house and moving away soon. She told me that I should have the repair completed before the house is listed. Luckily there was a short break in the storm cycle that gave me enough time to do the job. 

The board effectively makes the post two inches wider.

The posts that frame the damaged section are still in good shape. I bought two 8 ft. 2x6 redwood boards to attach to the existing post. One edge extends two inches past the edge of the 4x4 post. Then I attached the stringers to the outside edge of the board, shifting the panel 2 inches over. The bottom panel was also raised up by the growing tree base. I removed that and made the existing cut out bigger to provide more room for growth. 

The similar set up on the other end.

Since I was reusing the fence boards and noted that there was a discoloration pattern from the sprinkler spray on the boards facing my neighbor's yard, I numbered the boards so that I could keep them in the same sequence. 

It looks better than it was. This view is from my neighbor's yard.
you can see how big the tree truck is.

This kind of piecemeal repair is based upon a lot of guess and by golly engineering. After I carefully disassembled the fence and attached the boards to the posts, I had to shorten the bottom stringer and cut it at an angle to fit. I replaced two of the four 1x2 side retaining strips and trimmed them to fit. The bottom board was trimmed using my jig saw. 

The two redwood boards cost me a bit less than 20 bucks each. The 1x2 strips were three bucks each, and a couple of boxes of screws were ten bucks a piece. Overall the cost of the repair was low, my labor was free, and the problem has been addressed for now. I anticipate that the repair will serve for five to ten years.

I'll have to see how my new neighbors will feel about the tree situation. Hopefully they will like and value the tree and allow me to continue to compensate for it's continued growth. If not, I'll deal with that later.

With those chores out of the way, maybe I can spend some time playing with my cars.