Calculated Risk

I wanted my calculator today, the one from college with reverse polish notation that does vectors and unit conversions and binary computations and solves variables in formulae, but the battery terminals were corroded and I needed to do some work. 

I started cleaning out the salts from the battery compartment, but I got worried that some of the corrosion was in the electronics, so I tried to open up the case.  15 minutes later, I discovered that I was damaging the case.  I always get stuck here with dealing with electronics.  I can't figure out how to open the blasted thing and end up breaking it further. 

In this case, I'm not sure it was entirely my fault.  I think the case was not designed to be opened.  All these little black pieces were holding it together and when I tried to pull it apart, they popped off instead of back through their holes.  Sigh.  I'm not going to let this stop me from trying again in the future.  Failure is supposed to be a learning experience and I've never learned anything from giving up or not trying.  I may still try to fix the calculator, but I need to think about it for a while.  In the mean time, Hubby has one almost as good as mine that I can use.

The next thing on my mind is the bathroom door that I "fixed" a couple of weeks ago, but won't close.  I needed to move this piece over some. 

I needed to chisel out some of the door frame, making the hole more square on one side.  I used a pencil to color the latch with graphite so I could see where it hit on the door when I closed it, so I know how much to chisel.

Then I fill in the old screw holes by driving in some pegs I made out of a rod from a kite. 

I started new holes with the drill and put the plate in its proper place.

Tools Used:

Today was supposed to be an engineering day, but got away from me.  I might as well keep the momentum going on this because I'm not going to be able to work on the bathroom valve replacement tomorrow after all.

I found the doorbell cover in the garage.  I don't really have any problems with the current doorbell, except that the cover is ugly, so I painted it.  I took the new doorbell back to Lowe's, returning $27.94 to my budget.

This is what is has looked like since I painted the room over a year ago.

I finally found the cover in the garage and this isn't much of an improvement.

I can live with that.

I bought a new popup canopy for the back porch.  It is a portable one so that if I put something more permanent there, then it will still be useful for beach trips and parties.  $64.00

Big day today!

Still Day 36, Score: -8 (3 new fixed, 0 new broken, total fixed=28, list total 87), Funds: $39.58

I'm still disappointed about my calculator, maybe mostly for sentimental reasons, but after further thought, I've decided to put it in the bone pile for spare parts.

Hob Knob

I learned something new today.

 

Hob definition 2: mischief, trouble —used with play and raise <always raising hob>

Also:

1. A flat metal shelf at the side or back of a fireplace, having its surface level with the top of the grate and used esp. for heating pans 
2. A machine tool for cutting gears and screw threads
3. A male ferret

I had help cleaning house yesterday, 4 hours of it and my fantastic helper fixed something that was on my mind, but hadn't made it to the list.  The louvered doors in one of my bathrooms were looking bad and I was planning to paint them at some point, but she found a way to clean each of the wooden louvers so it looks like it has just been painted, maybe better. 

 

In honor of her work, I decided to switch out the knobs with something nicer.  I have a bag of porcelain-looking knobs removed from my parents' kitchen when they remodeled.  Most are still in great shape.  I thought it would just be a quick fix, maybe using a screw driver, but the old knobs were really cheap and I need to drill holes in the doors for the new knobs.  It was still pretty quick though, because at least the power drill was charged and the holes already started.

 

I did use the screwdriver feature on the power drill, though I usually prefer the ratcheting screwdriver, but that would have meant another trip to the garage.  Did I mention that I'd already spent 4 hours cleaning yesterday?

 

 

Switch out the screw driver bit for the drill bit.

Screw the knobs in and voila!  Yay, I'm so happy!

Our cheap little Black and Decker combo works well for occasional repairs.  The only trouble is that the battery usually isn't charged when you need it.  I got lucky this time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started the process of removing the home phone service today.  The only people who use it are solicitors $35/month for allowing solicitors to leave a message is a bit much.  I think we can live without it.  I need to upgrade to a fiber optic internet connection instead of dsl in order to keep internet and remove the phone.  They are sending equipment to set up the fiber optic before removing the dsl.  So, this fix is also more than a simple call.  Cool.  The new modem costs $130, but I'll be saving $40/month, so I'm going to call it even.      

 

I also repaired a backpack child carrier.  The nylon covering one of the shoulder straps was tearing and I handstitched it. 

 

I took a look at the arm in the toilet tank, because that is really annoying. 

 

The flapper needed to be replaced too.  The plastic attachment to the chain broke and it looks like Hubby fixed it with a twist tie.  I guess he forgot about the package of three flappers that he bought last time he fixed a toilet. 

 

I found them and replaced it in this tank.  Now what can I do about the arm?  Maybe brace it somehow to make it stronger...wrap it in wire?  No, not strong enough and too difficult....Glue it?  Maybe....Glue something strong to it to brace it?  Better...

 

Aha, break out the RectorSeal Epoxy Putty.  I can't believe how much mileage I'm getting out of that 4oz tube and not even 1/2 is gone.  I'm working on the post while it dries.  I finished the post and another "fixit" and the epoxy still wasn't completely dry, but I thought maybe enough to put it the handle back in the tank and clean up the bathroom a bit.  It was a good thing I did, because I discovered that I'd increased the diameter of the arm too much and couldn't fit the nut around it to hold the handle in place.  I cracked it in the attempt and had to remove the arm and scrape the putty off to try again.  Waiting for it to dry again...

 

It won't hold, keeps cracking under the pressure.  Guess I'll just have to buy a new arm.  Darn, another trip to the magical world of Lowe's.

 

(Sometime later)  I really should have gone to Lowe's in the first place.  I bought a much better set for $6.78.  The arm is metal and has a pretty antiqued brass handle.

 

 

That is enough for one post.

 

Day 36, Score: -11 (3 new fixed, 0 new broken, total fixed=25, list total 87), Funds: $75.64

 

hmm, what else can I fix today?  See the next post, Calculated Risk.

 

 

 

 

Have you missed me?

Hello blog, I don't know if you've missed me, but I've missed you.

I haven't fixed anything from my list since last month, almost 2 weeks ago!   But, I've been thinking of you.  Don't think I forgot about you.  Please forgive me.

I realized that my scoring system is dumb.  It will never be above zero because either there is something to fix that I haven't fixed (negative) or nothing to fix (zero).  Of course, if I get to zero, then I can start fixing things that aren't broken, technically, just need more features or style.  Anyway, I'm changing my scoring to count things fixed/day because the goal after all was to fix one thing every day.  As a bonus, I don't feel so silly about puting something on the list that I already fixed. 

So really, I did fix one thing.  I had a cat carrier in the garage with a small crack in the plastic.  I used my RectorSeal Epoxy Putty to fix it and sold it on Craigslist for $5 to an adorable young couple with an adorable kitten.  I would have given it away, but thought it would be nice to raise a bit to cover the cost of the epoxy and I gave them the food container too.  Everyone was happy.

Oh, also, I've been too busy (kids and engineering) to spend money so I've saved another $55 to go toward something.

Unfortunately, more things broke.  The one at the top of the list of new things is the flushing arm thingy in the toilet tank if one of the bathrooms.  You have to remove the tank lid to flush because the plastic arm that connected the handle to the chain broke.  Also, I didn't completely fix the door on my last post as I thought.  Although the handle and lock works great, the latch doesn't seat all the way in the wall when the door is closed, so it just pushes open again.  That should have been an obvious thing to check, but...well...I honestly can't remember why I didn't check that, or why I haven't done anything about it since.  I'm sure I'll remember more things to add to the list later.

The plan this week, probably Thursday, is to replace the three-handle shower valve in the master bathroom with a newer, single-handle valve.  It is in serious need of it too.  Even though I did some work on it several weeks ago, already they are misbehaving, not leaking, just not turning on consistently.

All said, I'm 13 fixes behind schedule, but it does feel good to be 22 fixes ahead of where I was at the end of April.

Day 35, Score: -13 (1 new fixed, 2 new broken, total fixed=22, total broken 86), Funds: $77.42