What's something small that didn't want to work on but it was actually quite easy?

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neb

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#288255 16-Jun-2021 16:37

Mirroring the makes you angry/makes you smile threads elsewhere, this is the opposite of the "things you don't want to work on" thread: What's something that you really dreaded but ended up being much easier than you thought?

To get the ball rolling, in my case it was varnishing the banisters in the new stairwell. Oiling them is easy since you can wipe it on, but varnishing looked to be a huge pain because of all the curved trim that needed careful painting around, I couldn't just lay it on with a cheap foam brush. Traditionally the way to paint on an oil-based varnish is to use your grandfather's unicorn-hair brush while dancing naked under a full moon or something similar, but modern SRT brushes are perfect for oil-based varnishes as long as you thin them slightly before applying and ignore all the advice telling you they're for water-based paints/varnishes only and you need to wait for a full moon for oil-based ones. So a really awful job turned out to be no harder than a standard paint job.

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#2729961 17-Jun-2021 09:03

Not a specific job, but learning to break larger tasks into smaller, more achievable chunks than putting them off as "it's too big to get done".

As an example, the bedroom wardrobe build mentioned in the putting it off thread. It's the sanding dust that I hate the most, but to get it moving, set myself a task one weekend to build the end wall framing and tie it into the main wall. Enjoyably achieved.

Following weekend, putting up the gib was the only goal. Actually achieved that and started on the trim which I finished last weekend.

So, progress. :-)

Hopefully next week I can update with the next step of plastering and sanding being completed.

Hmmm, wonder if I can 3D print an adapter for the sander to fit the vacuum cleaner. There's a good way to procrastinate. :-P

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#2729984 17-Jun-2021 09:41

geoffwnz:
Hopefully next week I can update with the next step of plastering and sanding being completed.

Hmmm, wonder if I can 3D print an adapter for the sander to fit the vacuum cleaner. There's a good way to procrastinate. :-P

I'm facing making the same mess. My sanders all can have a vacuum hose attached but the dust is only collected from the usual holes in the sanding pad. I've seen drywall sanders also have suck at the edge to get the dust spun outwards. You'd probably need some form of separator to collect the dust before it reached the vacuum. Gib dust normally kills the motors before it reaches the outlet filter. Another suggestion I've seen is to have a ducted fan blowing room air outside.

geoffwnz

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#2729987 17-Jun-2021 09:51

Bung:
geoffwnz:

Hopefully next week I can update with the next step of plastering and sanding being completed.

Hmmm, wonder if I can 3D print an adapter for the sander to fit the vacuum cleaner. There's a good way to procrastinate. :-P

I'm facing making the same mess. My sanders all can have a vacuum hose attached but the dust is only collected from the usual holes in the sanding pad. I've seen drywall sanders also have suck at the edge to get the dust spun outwards. You'd probably need some form of separator to collect the dust before it reached the vacuum. Gib dust normally kills the motors before it reaches the outlet filter. Another suggestion I've seen is to have a ducted fan blowing room air outside.

Electrolux Mondo that's at least 10 years old and apparently quite unkillable. It's done so much post renovation work without missing a beat. :-)

That does remind me though. Having just had a ducted heat pump system installed, might be worth opening the windows in that room and cranking the fan up to max to create a positive pressure with a path of least resistance for it to depart.

The intake is luckily not right outside that room, so should reduce the redistribution effect slightly.

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mdf

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#2730019 17-Jun-2021 10:32

geoffwnz:
Hmmm, wonder if I can 3D print an adapter for the sander to fit the vacuum cleaner. There's a good way to procrastinate. :-P

Yep, absolutely. I've done this for multiple tools. Adapter lives with the tool now. Perfect use case for 3d printing.

Ideally you want to do this with a bypass vac (or at least really good filter). Plaster dust is a bugger for clogging up and if the motor relies on the cleaning airflow to keep it cool it can easily overheat.

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#2730201 17-Jun-2021 15:15

mdf:
geoffwnz:

Hmmm, wonder if I can 3D print an adapter for the sander to fit the vacuum cleaner. There's a good way to procrastinate. :-P

Yep, absolutely. I've done this for multiple tools. Adapter lives with the tool now. Perfect use case for 3d printing.

Ideally you want to do this with a bypass vac (or at least really good filter). Plaster dust is a bugger for clogging up and if the motor relies on the cleaning airflow to keep it cool it can easily overheat.

And good practice at the design side of things too.

Also, see previous post about vacuum cleaner. :-)

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neb

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#2730295 17-Jun-2021 17:31

mdf: Ideally you want to do this with a bypass vac (or at least really good filter). Plaster dust is a bugger for clogging up and if the motor relies on the cleaning airflow to keep it cool it can easily overheat.

Or one of these Aliexpress cyclonic extractors:

Got it for the post-rebuild Casa cleanup, saved me about a dozen vacuum cleaner bags, you just empty it out once it's full enough and it seems to catch pretty much everything that gets sucked up.

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#2730530 18-Jun-2021 10:00

neb:
mdf: Ideally you want to do this with a bypass vac (or at least really good filter). Plaster dust is a bugger for clogging up and if the motor relies on the cleaning airflow to keep it cool it can easily overheat.
Or one of these Aliexpress cyclonic extractors: Got it for the post-rebuild Casa cleanup, saved me about a dozen vacuum cleaner bags, you just empty it out once it's full enough and it seems to catch pretty much everything that gets sucked up.

Have you got a link? Does the pipe that you are sucking with (i.e. not the one leading to the vacuum) have to be larger or will a regular vacuum pipe work?

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neb

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#2730876 18-Jun-2021 21:46

duckDecoy:
Have you got a link? Does the pipe that you are sucking with (i.e. not the one leading to the vacuum) have to be larger or will a regular vacuum pipe work?

I think posting Aliexpress links is against the forum guidelines, but search for "cyclone dust collector" on there. You can also get them locally on Trademe, same search term, just a bit more expensive. The fittings are standard 32mm vacuum hose ones so they go inline with your vacuum cleaner.

neb

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#2731081 19-Jun-2021 14:16

Setting up the new fibre link to the outdoors gear. The media converter box it replaces doesn't indicate which wavelength is transmit so I didn't know whether I needed the 1550/1310 SFP or the 1310/1550 one. I could just see it ending up in a (pre-C) USB situation where I had to plug and replug the (somewhat fragile) fibre four or five times with nothing working until it suddenly magically sprung to life with a configuration that I'd already tried twice before.

Cleaned the ends with isopropyl, plugged it in, and it worked the first time.

I'm still waiting for something to catch fire or explode...

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#2732775 22-Jun-2021 17:38

Changing the temp/humidity sensor on the Davis weather station. The humidity sensors eventually go south due to degradation of the sensing element, particularly in coastal environments like where this one is located - it's not really a fault, they just have a limited lifetime due to the way they work. Replacing it is both pricey - $100 whether you get it locally or from the US, a rare case of it being no cheaper from Amazon than here - and a bit of a pain due to having to disassemble a lot of ingress-protected parts, which means unbolting the weather station from its pole and bringing it inside for service.

So disassembled the accessible parts (without taking down the station), washed them all in warm water, brushed down the sensor mesh, blew compressed air across it, and reassembled, just in case... and it's been working fine again for the last 24 hours, where previously it was reporting humidity levels of 20-30%.

Easiest and cheapest parts replacement I've ever done...

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#2732799 22-Jun-2021 19:08

neb: Changing the temp/humidity sensor on the Davis weather station. The humidity sensors eventually go south due to degradation of the sensing element, particularly in coastal environments like where this one is located - it's not really a fault, they just have a limited lifetime due to the way they work. Replacing it is both pricey - $100 whether you get it locally or from the US, a rare case of it being no cheaper from Amazon than here - and a bit of a pain due to having to disassemble a lot of ingress-protected parts, which means unbolting the weather station from its pole and bringing it inside for service. So disassembled the accessible parts (without taking down the station), washed them all in warm water, brushed down the sensor mesh, blew compressed air across it, and reassembled, just in case... and it's been working fine again for the last 24 hours, where previously it was reporting humidity levels of 20-30%. Easiest and cheapest parts replacement I've ever done...

That reminds me, I should get up and check the rain gauge on mine. It's read zero for the last couple of days which seems somewhat at odds with how wet everything is currently. Seems to have shown some readings today, so probably just blocked until it washed itself out.

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neb

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#2732805 22-Jun-2021 19:24

geoffwnz:
That reminds me, I should get up and check the rain gauge on mine. It's read zero for the last couple of days which seems somewhat at odds with how wet everything is currently. Seems to have shown some readings today, so probably just blocked until it washed itself out.

Well at least it partly fixed itself, usually I realise it's blocked when it's p***ing down with rain and I'm getting no reading and I have to decide whether I'll go up there with a ladder to unblock it and get soaked to get a live reading or wait until the rain stops and get 35mm of rain in 30 seconds once I clear the blockage.

Edited to add: Pronunciation guide for the phrase p***ing down with rain in the above text.