John's Unabashed STACK Challenge Thread: 2 - 31 March 2016

[jalind]

Day one -- 2 March 2016

My cherished, roughly two decades old  Black and Decker SpaceSaver hot air popcorn popper ejected a sheet metal screw into the popcorn bowl very early on into making a batch. Hot air popcorn is healthier and IMHO much better than the oil in pan or microwave stuff; uses no oil. Finding one that works well and pops very nearly every kernel without spewing popped popcorn everywhere but into the large bowl at the exit chute is a challenge, and the B&D does both quite well. Didn't take much to determine from whence it came, and it's Cyber Tool 34 bit driver to the rescue. After 20 years or so of making popcorn, having a screw come out can be forgiven.



Back under the cabinet, happy and ready to rock 'n roll again . . .



Cyber Tool 34 sharing in the spoils of victory!



John

(Who's ready now for all the "loose screw" jokes by wearing his cast iron long johns)

[jerseydevil]

[jalind]

Day Two -- 3 March 2016

Idle bit drivers are the Devil's Workshop!



We will have to find productive work to keep the Cyber Tool busy!

John

[jalind]

Day Three -- 4 March 2016

Cyber Tool checking out some additional 4mm micro-bits found at a local store that can be used in its bit driver . . .



John

[jalind]

Day Four -- 5 March 2016

Replacing the hard drive in the secondary (backup) laptop with a larger one that I happened to have, a hand-me-down from the primary laptop. It's a task that should have been done months ago, and it's just what the Cyber Tool was made for. This "surgery" was an easy one. I've replaced laptop main boards and LCD displays, which require complete tear downs and are time consuming. The time consuming aspect of this one is "cloning" the old drive to the new one with expanded storage space using Acronis, but it's one I can walk away from and let churn away for the rest of the day once it's gotten started (I've done this many times).



John

[jalind]

Day 5 -- 6 March 2016

Today was not a quick task. The range spark igniter had been getting gradually weaker until it would no longer ignite the range burners, and for the past month I'd been using this to ignite them . . .



I had the new igniter module (note label color: white), but knew it was going to be a lengthy chore to access the module inside the stove . . .



Today I could no longer rationalize procrastinating the inevitable and decided to do the dirty deed, which required pulling the stove completely away from the wall, from between a counter on one side and a wall on the other, with very little clearance. Needed to reduce the weight of it as much as possible, removing the lower drawer under the oven and the oven door (which is very heavy), plus the massive cast iron grates on the range top. Got the stove out finally, and realized the module was behind one of the two upper sheet metal panels in the back. Which one was a coin toss, but Murphy's Law would dictate it was the upper one, which required removing the lower one first anyway.



Always looking for an easy way out, I decided to remove the small panel along the side of the top, in the off chance the module might be accessible from there.



The Cyber Tool made quick work of the Torx screws, only to discover this provided access to the fluorescent lamp running along the top of the back panel and nothing else. Rats! So, I removed the first panel on the back, and as suspected, the module is under the top one. You can see the burner igniter wires running up to it.



Cannot get the upper one off without removing this one first as it is, but it means yet more work, and the module is at the far end too. The rest of the job required two hands completely, so there wasn't a free hand for pix. The module mounts in the upper panel using two snap tabs. The new module simply didn't want to snap into place. Too much friction from the sharp edge of the sheet metal. Used the Cyber Tool's flat tip driver to push the tab in enough so it could snap into place. Took some effort, but it worked.  You can see the tabs on the back of the old module (note label color: yellow; other than color, 20 years later, it's a nearly identical label). While removing the upper panel, a screw fell out that I suspect had been sitting loose in there since the stove was made, as there was no place I could see that it had come from, and all the screws I removed were accounted for, plus it had no tooling marks from having been driven into a hole.



Finally, while the stove was pulled out, I discovered the stash of cat toys my hoarder, Miss Frisky, had cached under the stove, and some of them were well back from the front. She caches cat toys in various places around the house to hide them from her brother, Mister Stripes. I have a cache of them in my study . . . she periodically brings me one to protect for her. The Cyber Tool is claiming them as prizes, the spoils of victory. They've been put back along the wall of the main hallway with all the other, similar toys. There's now a grate across the front of the stove at the bottom to prevent more toys from getting cached under there.



I haven't heard that loud a snap of the igniter spark for years, and burner ignition is near instantaneous now.

John

[zoidberg]

Well done.      I've been putting that job off for a while now.

[jalind]

Well done.      I've been putting that job off for a while now.

Thanks . . . it wasn't that difficult, just time consuming, and required some physical exertion manhandling the stove in and out of a tight squeeze between a counter and a wall, while not crushing the flex gas pipe running from the gas fixture with valve to the back of the stove.


John

[jalind]

Day 6 -- 7 March 2016

I've had this desk name plate for many years. It was a gift from my (now ex) wife when I became a company commander. It's had its share of knocks getting moved and shipped numerous times. Been sitting unused for some time as the adhesive under the branch color material has bled through discoloring it (made from a "branch scarf" - do they even use those any more?). Rather unsightly, and should have done something about it years ago to make it presentable again.



Time to take the plate off, which is held on with screws, and get to what's underneath it, using the Cyber Tool to remove the screws. Had to get a paint scraper to pry the plate off without breaking it. Fortunately the scratches will be hidden by the plate when it's remounted. Got most of the adhesive removed from where it would show through the square cutouts on the name plate for rank on the left and branch on the right. Even so, there's still residue and will have to cover it with something. I've got a new branch scarf to make the background patches from, and new rank and branch insignia as the old stuff was also showing its age badly. Also need to find some acetate or similar material to replace the rectangular patches that went over the fabric and under the insignia. It will be a work in progress for a few days while I find that. Some heavier overhead projector slide film should work. Just need to find a piece of it I can use. Got some old presentations from eons ago that I can probably cannibalize a slide from if I cannot find the box of blanks I have stashed somewhere (and haven't used for years). I want to get it right so there's not a "do-over" a few years from now.



Not nearly the heavy lifting that was done yesterday!

John

[jalind]

Day 7 -- 8 March 2016


Went to make coffee first thing this morning and determined that without a doubt, my Bunn coffee maker has been leaking . . . 
I had presumed, for two days in a row, that my oafish clumsiness had spilled water when filling it. A check after making coffee the day before verified there was no more spill, which verified this morning it was coming from inside the coffee maker.





So . . . I did what all sane, rational and civilized men would do. I boiled water and made tea, to contemplate what to do next about it.





A check on Amazon found a replacement would cost $95 and free shipping with Amazon Prime, but would have to wait two days!    That was a no-go.  Seeing as I was already doing the STACK Challenge, what better opportunity to use the Cyber Tool to disassemble the coffee maker and, if possible, repair it. This is the home coffee maker model with an internal reservoir that keeps water at 200F for the next pot, using gravity from a pot full poured into the top top push it out into the filter basket, and then heat it for the pot that follows. It's an elegant concept, and makes a pot of coffee in three minutes, at least when new. Been a little slower for some time, taking about five minutes, and there's been one other minor issue that might get fixed at the same time. If you have one of these, or a similar model, a Google search found this problem to be not uncommon as the coffee maker ages; also depends on how often you use it. There is one gasket that ages, along with the plastic coffee maker body, and starts to lose its seal. Another one gets packed up with mineral deposits and loses its efficacy. Disassembly and the fixes are not that difficult, but cleaning out the mineral deposits can take some time. The normal de-scaling maintenance recommended by Bunn will NOT prevent this! It's due to where these gaskets are located. This one is my second, and it's over five years old, and has been used at least once a day for the past several years, and several times a day before that. Based on what I found using Google, the water leak is no longer any big surprise.





Two #2 Phillips hold the top on, and the Cyber Tool is perfect for the task. Note the gray pin sticking up through the grid. This is part of a lever arm that seals off the upper (temporary) reservoir while you pour the water in, so you can get the pot under the filter basket before closing the lid and opening it up for the water to flow.





Under it, we find the lever arm and the valve. This photo was done AFTER cleaning out 99% of the lime scale deposits which were thick and deep! It wasn't a sight for polite company. The valve gasket on the end of it was completely caked with it, which explained why water would dribble through at a slow rate while pouring it in . . . the grounds in the filter basket being sufficient to absorb it giving enough time to get the pot under it . . . provided you didn't dawdle about. This was the minor issue mentioned above, and the fix for it was obvious. Clean the gasket and the gasket seat under it.





Removing the lever finds the real culprit of the leak, the gasket sealing the top (temporary) reservoir from the holding tank under it.





Removing the upper reservoir is also easy as it's held on with four #2 Phillips of the same type, size and length as the first two. Another easy job for the Cyber Tool 34!





Under it we get a better view of the gasket and the metal holding tank that keeps the water hot for the next pot. This photo was done during reassembly as this gasket wasn't a sight for polite company either. The tube in the middle of it was completely caked up, closing off about 2/3rds of its cross-section, which also explained some of why it was taking longer to brew coffee.





Soaking the parts in white vinegar while I showered and ate breakfast softened up the crudmium sufficiently to chip it off, some of which was done using the awl on the Cyber Tool.





The gasket and the short tube are now reassembled. Lest you think its dirty, I had to remind myself the remaining crudmium is simply mineral deposits that are present in the water, so it's nothing more than I've been drinking here for over 20 years.





Reassembly was simply the reverse of disassembly, and went very quickly. The real time consumer was cleaning out 99% of the lime scaling that had built up in the upper reservoir and on the two gaskets. It passed the smoke test and made a full pot in under 3 minutes, the fastest I'd had a pot finished in several years! In addition, the slow dribbling into the filter basket while pouring water in the top completely ceased.





The Cyber Tool is examining and sampling the fruits of his labors . . .





I will be watching around the pot for the next few days as simply cleaning the gasket between the two reservoirs may not be sufficient with gasket and plastic aging. If it still leaks, adding a thin O-ring to it to make it a little thicker will be simple, and that will seal it up (it's a solution others have used after cleaning it didn't stop the leak).


John

[jalind]

Day 8 -- 9 March 2016

The saga of the leaky coffee maker continues as the work yesterday did not completely fix it. Found more water leaking from it this morning after making coffee. The gauntlet has been thrown down. I'm not about to be bested by a simple coffee maker. It was disassembled again this morning, the additional O-ring removed, along with the original gasket. Here you can see why you should ALWAYS unplug the machine from the power mains before taking the covers off. The switch on the front potentially has 120 VAC from the wall mains on its exposed terminals (to power the warmer base). It's enough to kill you completely dead, and not leave you simply pinin' for the Norwegian fjords.



I then did what any sane, rational and civilized man would, I boiled some water . . .



and made some tea . . .



to contemplate what can be done to supplement or modify the gasket and ensure a watertight seal



Two trips to the Lowe's home improvement store plumbing department later, the first trip attempting to use an off the shelf faucet washer that did not fit properly, I have in hand 1/16 inch thick rubber gasket material from which one can make custom gaskets. The concept is making fender washer size gaskets to go under the existing one, increasing its thickness 1/16" at a time until it's no longer leaking. Here I'm making the third one using the Cyber Tool 34, and using the small blade to cut out the center. Note the cardboard backing to keep the knife blade from hitting the counter top, which wouldn't be good for the knife blade or the counter top. I wasn't surprised by having to make a second trip to Lowe's. This is the norm. I cannot seem to get any project done without only ONE trip to the hardware or home improvement store, no matter what I do. It's ALWAYS two or more!



With the center removed first, I cut it out using the Cyber Tool 34 scissors. This doesn't have to be perfectly circular and pretty; approximate and rough cut works. It's not going to show and the gasket is wide enough around the center hole that it doesn't matter.



This provided upwards of 3/16 inches of additional gasket thickness, which should be much more than enough. Started adding them one at a time. Just 1/16 inch was insufficient pressure on the gasket, which explained why the thin O-ring didn't work. Two layers, 1/8 inch, was apparently working, so the third one is apparently unnecessary. Water was poured through the machine a half-dozen times without any leak detection. However, it's being stored with the remaining gasket material, in the event that leakage is detected after several days of coffee making.



John

[jalind]

Day 9 -- 10 March 2016


After all the workout it's had, today was an easy one for the Cyber Tool 34, cutting the cable ties holding this OPT to its hang card.





John

[jalind]

Day 10 -- 11 March 2016

As trivial as yesterday, using the Cyber Tool 34 to open the mail










All of them contained SAKs! More SAKs!
 

[jalind]

Day 11 -- 12 March 2016

Found some suitable acetate to cover the new fabric cut from an extra branch scarf yesterday and finished restoration of the desk name plate from my military career. It had been languishing in a box in a closet as the adhesive that had been used when it was made a little over 30 years ago had bled through the orange fabric behind the insignia, turning it black (orange is Signal Corps), making it rather unsightly. I had taken it apart a few days ago, pulled insignia off, and removed the old acetate and fabric.



Used the Cyber Tool 34 flat tip bit to drive the screws back in . . . it was a perfect fit with the slots in the screw heads.



Used the straight pin from the Cyber Tool to punch the holes through the acetate over the holes I had made through the fabric and starting into the wood for mounting the rank and branch insignia.



The insignia were also showing signs of age, so I replaced them with new ones stashed in a drawer. One accumulates a significant amount of uniform insignia over time so you don't have to keep unpinning it and moving it to different uniform shirts, coats, jackets, etc. Mounted them and declared the restoration a victory.



John

[jalind]

Day 12 -- 13 March 2016

Went to make tea this morning to go with breakfast and found the handle on the kettle a tad loose. Not too surprising after several years with thermal expansion and contraction as the kettle heats to boiling and cools to room temperature, combined with the coefficient of thermal expansion mismatch between the screws (presumably stainless steel; non-ferromagnetic), handle made of what feels like a nylon blend, and kettle, which is some type of enameled steel with a chrome plated lid (both ferromagnetic). The mismatch would be primarily between the polymeric handle and the steels in the screws and kettle body. Tightened it up with the Cyber Tool 34 which has a nice thin shaft to reach in to the screw heads.



John

[jalind]

Day 13 -- 14 March 2016

Cored the apple using a coring tool, and then sliced it into wedges using the Cyber Tool 34 main blade, which is wickedly sharp from the Victorinox factory!



John

Important Note:
No mangoes, kiwi fruits, avocados, pears, pineapples or oranges were harmed in this photo shoot.

[jalind]

Day 14 -- 15 March 2016

Adjusted the mechanical zero of this multimeter using the Cyber Tool 34's small flat tip on the end of the can opener.



John

[jalind]

Day 15 -- 16 March 2016

Breaking down all the shipping boxes containing all the knives I received this past week using the small blade on the Cyber Tool 34. Corrugated cardboard box breakdown is required for recycling them . . .





John

[Poncho65]

I like the thread and the pics The CT 34 is getting quite a workout

[jalind]

I like the thread and the pics The CT 34 is getting quite a workout

Thanks!

Documenting something daily is showing me how much I actually use a SAK, whether it's something trivial like opening mail or more significant like disassembling the stove to replace the range top igniter. Normally it would be any one of a number of SAK that would get to do all this, but for the STACK challenge, I have to remember to get the Cyber Tool 34 to do the work and photograph it.

John

[Poncho65]

I like the thread and the pics The CT 34 is getting quite a workout

Thanks!

Documenting something daily is showing me how much I actually use a SAK, whether it's something trivial like opening mail or more significant like disassembling the stove to replace the range top igniter. Normally it would be any one of a number of SAK that would get to do all this, but for the STACK challenge, I have to remember to get the Cyber Tool 34 to do the work and photograph it.

John

Seems like you are doing very well with it though both in remembering to use it and the use of it for this thread

[jalind]

Day 16 -- 17 March 2016

Opening the mail again! More SAKs!!



Over half-way there! 

John

[jalind]

Day 17 -- 18 March 2016

Skinned and cubed a mango! Main blade on the Cyber Tool 34 made short work of it . . .







Wanted to show how the two halves are separated from the flat, pear shaped pit, but that's very much a two-hand operation. One hand is needed to handle the iPhone to do these photos.

I confess completely! A mango was, indeed, ruthlessly sacrificed for this photo shoot, mercilessly skinned and quartered . . . more than quartered . . . as much as sixty-fourthed or more. I must further confess that it was plump and ripe, begging to be consumed. It was good, very good and I thoroughly enjoyed it. No apples, pears, kiwi fruit, avocados, oranges, grapefruits, tangerines or pineapples were harmed in any manner, if that's of any meager consolation.

John

[jalind]

Day 18 -- 19 March 2016

Opened more mail using the Cyber Tool's very sharp small pen blade . . .



The stockpile of Tinkers grows as I sift through them for the ones with blades damaged beyond reasonable restoration, typically bent, very badly nicked up, or with a badly reground edge, to be used as Phillips organ donors. May use a couple of the better ones and put corkscrews into them and convert them into Spartans. The Tinkers in excellent condition will probably get cleaned up, have some scale restoration done, and get gifted to friends and relatives.

One of these also contains a 74mm Executive in superb condition that will be sent to my brother's significant other . . . who wants a SAK or two with scissors and a nail file! There's already a Rambler set aside, the Executive is in this pile, and found a Delemont EvoGrip 16, all of which have scissors to run with and nail files!



John

[jalind]

Day 19 -- 20 March 2016


Removed the scales on this small Tinker using the can opener on the Cyber Tool 34. I normally use a watch case knife for popping the snap-on back off of watches. However, this shows how the can opener can also be easily used for the task, slipping its sharp edge between the scales and liner.








John

[jalind]

Day 20 -- 21 March 2016


The scissors on the Cyber Tool 34 are used to cut open a new LED AAA Mini MagLite. Slightly smaller than the AA Mini MagLite with more light than the LED Solitaire. These bubble packs made for retail store pegs defy opening by hand, undoubtedly to prevent loss of contents to the less than honest.




Two-thirds of the way there!
 
John

[jalind]

Day 21 -- 22 March 2016


The recalcitrant reprobate Bunn coffee maker is acting out again. With all the other cleaning and descaling, including some internal using a tool Bunn provides with the coffee maker (a long spring, about the diameter of a screen porch door spring, the kind that slams the door shut), chips of crudmium made their way into the spray head that dumps water into the filter basket with the coffee grounds. This is what it looks like from the top that screws onto the coffee maker. The other side looks like a simple shower head with about 5 or 6 small holes. I'm using the Cyber Tool 34's tweezers to pluck some of the flakes of crudmium out that are too big to flush out with water.





It's working again, for now. I'm determined NOT to buy a new coffee maker!!


John

[jalind]

Day 22 -- 23 March 2013

Got a 3V LED bulb in today to replace the incandescent bulb in this twin AA flashlight. It's a drop-in that is considerably brighter with whiter light, and consumes much less power, extending the life of the cells. Anyone who was around U.S. Army aviation, especially fling-wing (the aircraft that flog the air into submission), may recognize this penlight as it's one that pilots often carried and used. Has a built in red lens that can be slid over the bulb using a small button on the head. Came with the black "lanyard" shown . . . which those of us who were ground pounders would tie to our LBE referring to it as an "idiot cord." It enabled reeling it back in if it was dropped in the middle of the night with a new moon, under triple canopy foliage. You'd never recover anything that got dropped accidentally under those conditions, unless you could reel it back in. The only thing darker is underground in a mine or cavern around the corner from the entrance.



Most twin cell flashlight bulbs are bayonet with flange, but this one screws into a spring that keeps the + terminal on the forward battery from coming into contact with the bulb base until you push on the button on the base of the flashlight, or screw down the sleeve around it to keep it on. Screws in easily, but trying to unscrew one tightens the spring around the threads which makes bulb removal difficult. It also keeps the bulb from coming unscrewed accidentally on its own, so I'm confident that's part of the design consideration.



Instead of using brute force and ignorance trying to unscrew it directly which tightens the coiled spring around the bulb threads, I dug out the Cyber Tool 34 and pushed on the top of the spring coil while holding the bulb (this takes two hands). Doing so uncoils the spring slightly, reducing friction, and Bob's your uncle, it comes unscrewed.



New LED bulb is installed, and the flashlight head can be reassembled to the body.



Now for the all important Smoke Test, to see if any smoke leaks out when I turn it on. First without the filter to see how white and bright it is, and it's much brighter than the incandescent bulb was.



Now for the red lens test to see how much red spectrum we get from the bright white LED light. Looks very good.



Another victory for the Cyber Tool 34!

John

[jalind]

Sliced the pit out of a mango using the large blade on the Cyber Tool 34. If you've never seen a mango pit, this is what one looks like and it's about the same shape as the mango that surrounds it. The best method of separating the meat from the pit is making a slice around the mango's edge down to the edge of the pit. Then one makes four slices, two on each side, from top to bottom from the edge to about half-way across the mango following the surface of the hard pit. The two halves then separate from the pit in the middle, which you can gnaw on to get the small amount of meat that remains attached to it (which I did before making the photo). The meat on each half is then diced off of the thick skin as I showed in the previous mango gutting and skinning photos using the small blade.



John

[jalind]

Day 24 -- 25 March 2016


Opened the mail today using the scissiors on the Cyber Tool 34.



What did it contain? Some Wenger EvoGrip 64 SAKs!



John