Thursday, January 25, 2007

 

Astro Adventure, segundo parte

(Part Two, notice snow on windshield)
I finished assembling the steering column on the Astro a couple weeks ago and drove it to take the tools back to my friend, Pete. It was running great and it was a pleasure to drive without the steering column wiggling all around. I stopped and talked to Pete awhile, then was off to the hardware store to buy parts for the pinewood derby wheel project (see previous post) and then to the library. Leaving the library the ignition switch stayed in the start position, I couldn’t get the motor to turn off. I took it home and disconnected the battery and turned on the headlights to get the motor to stop. Pete dropped his tools off to me again the next day.
I was afraid something was messed up inside the steering column, the mechanism is like a Chinese puzzle, but I found that the key and tumblers in the lock were the problem. All the work to get the screws tightened and then almost immediately the cylinder goes bad. What luck, I would have been angry if the dealer would have done it.
New Cylinder and key assembly…….$9.99 plus tax at AutoZone.

# posted by Fred @ 1:27 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

 

Pinewood Derby Wheels

I was asked by a friend to help him with the wheels for his son's Pinewood Derby Car. I set them up on my new lathe and turned the OD and then bored them for the axle.

Fixture to hold the wheels.

Turning the OD (outside diameter) of the wheels.

Boring the center axle hole.

# posted by Fred @ 4:27 PM 2 comments

Sunday, January 07, 2007

 

News Years Day, Global Warming Update

It is tradition to have pork on New Years Day for good luck. This year it was warm enough that we were able to cook the pork tenderloin on the grill.

It was very good.


We also had mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, rolls, and Brussels sprouts. Fred made a cheese sauce for the sprouts which was OK but not as good as just butter would have been.

Fritz's Christmas present of a propane heater for the garage is going to come in handy. It may be the cause of the global warming, by the way. The Astro's (see last post) steering column is still giving me trouble. The ignition switch is stuck in the start position. (I had to disconnect the battery to get the car to stop) I don't know yet if the problem is that one of the cams inside the column has become jammed or my key has worn out and will no longer operate the tumblers. I will report more later when I know.
Fritz's shop heater.

# posted by Fred @ 9:36 AM 1 comments

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