Ford 1520 tractor boiled over all summer when shutting off. I use it as a mower, fields are too rough for little wheels on zero turn mowers. No coolant recovery bottle, installed that first. Old hose was too short to reach level of antifreeze in the bottle. 2m of high temp 8 mm hose was going to cost $22, my last purchase of hose was $6, so held off. I'm 7 miles from any supply out at the property. I kept pouring a pint of antifreeze in the bottle back in filler cap each restart, a real nuisance. Total cooldown required to remove the radiator cap and refill, to restart the tractor. Sometimes I just want to run it 30 minutes to drag tree trash off to the sinkhole, then can't start it again for an hour after more ground work.
Finally late September the radiator boiled over while cutting grass on a 90 deg F day. As tractor has 840 operating hours but is 40 years old, I removed radiator to take to a shop for core rod-out of packed in rust. Surprise!!!! Behind the grass catcher screen in front of radiator, was a centimeter of powder! Ragweed pollen? Goldenrod pollen? No info in the owner's manual about radiator trash screen being removeable (lifts up). I sprayed the powder off the radiator from the rear at a neighbor's house, reinstalled it, antifreeze back in. Tried $15 of 5/16" fuel hose for coolant recovery line, had to whittle it down at blowoff tube because it was too thick, and rated at 60 PSI for fuel. Hope it withstands 212 F. Built a pre-filter in front of the radiator: an aluminum angle perimeter, another window screen behind, then behind that a glass fiber heat/AC filter. Lifts right up for cleaning and will ride out to running water on the bicycle, no 4 hour radiator removal & replacement required. Mowed successfully Saturday afternoon, at 75 deg F.
Finally late September the radiator boiled over while cutting grass on a 90 deg F day. As tractor has 840 operating hours but is 40 years old, I removed radiator to take to a shop for core rod-out of packed in rust. Surprise!!!! Behind the grass catcher screen in front of radiator, was a centimeter of powder! Ragweed pollen? Goldenrod pollen? No info in the owner's manual about radiator trash screen being removeable (lifts up). I sprayed the powder off the radiator from the rear at a neighbor's house, reinstalled it, antifreeze back in. Tried $15 of 5/16" fuel hose for coolant recovery line, had to whittle it down at blowoff tube because it was too thick, and rated at 60 PSI for fuel. Hope it withstands 212 F. Built a pre-filter in front of the radiator: an aluminum angle perimeter, another window screen behind, then behind that a glass fiber heat/AC filter. Lifts right up for cleaning and will ride out to running water on the bicycle, no 4 hour radiator removal & replacement required. Mowed successfully Saturday afternoon, at 75 deg F.
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Reminds me of the 1996 Lincoln Mk VIII.
I was coming home from shopping, almost home, and the temp gauge started climbing.
The electric radiator fan seized up, blowing its fuse too.
Took the fan out, got a friend to take me to my trusted mechanic...
He looks it up, Lincoln dealer wanted $450 for one...... jeeze!.... a plastic DC motor fan? (they call it "special" high-velocity version)
So I called my local car junkyard - they had a '96 lincoln on the lot!..... woo hoo!
They pulled the fan from it and it cost me $75 with my broken fan.... 20 minute slide-in job..... DONE..... Happy!
Car radiator fan was noisy, froze and burned on Monday morning. Blew the fuse as well.
Asked around, original not in stock, $ 45, and a fake one was $25.
Went to the junk yard, $7.50, and the mechanic broke the radiator elbow, so another $6 for the radiator. It was choked, so a clean and header repair would have been more or less the same cost as a clean radiator from junk.
Old parts were traded in, this is net price.
He asked $6 for labor, but said OK we broke the radiator, pay $5.
Total was 1500 Rupees, $19 or so, two hours, finished at 8 PM.
It works nicely, and he set the timing better than my regular mechanic, who had done a head repair a month back...burnt gasket, so head facing, new valves, guides, seats and so on.
He had charged for radiator cleaning, but it was choked up according to the other guy, he is around the corner from the scrap market, that is how I got a radiator at 7:30 PM.
Not too big an expense, it is a tiny 800 cc Suzuki hatchback from 2009.
😀
Asked around, original not in stock, $ 45, and a fake one was $25.
Went to the junk yard, $7.50, and the mechanic broke the radiator elbow, so another $6 for the radiator. It was choked, so a clean and header repair would have been more or less the same cost as a clean radiator from junk.
Old parts were traded in, this is net price.
He asked $6 for labor, but said OK we broke the radiator, pay $5.
Total was 1500 Rupees, $19 or so, two hours, finished at 8 PM.
It works nicely, and he set the timing better than my regular mechanic, who had done a head repair a month back...burnt gasket, so head facing, new valves, guides, seats and so on.
He had charged for radiator cleaning, but it was choked up according to the other guy, he is around the corner from the scrap market, that is how I got a radiator at 7:30 PM.
Not too big an expense, it is a tiny 800 cc Suzuki hatchback from 2009.
😀
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Around here, that bill would have been substantially higher!
The two hours of labour alone would have been over 250$CAD!
The cost of living is a lot higher here though.
The two hours of labour alone would have been over 250$CAD!
The cost of living is a lot higher here though.
Those prices sound like they're from a hundred years ago to me.
I did the timing belt on my Subaru about two years ago. I replaced the belt, pulleys, tensioner, and water pump, since they're all under the front cover. I went to the dealer and picked up my box of parts - over $700. Labor would have more than doubled that.
I did the same thing to my older Subaru about ten years ago, and the bill was closer to $400. I don't think there so much as a bolt on that car that can be purchased for under $20.
I did the timing belt on my Subaru about two years ago. I replaced the belt, pulleys, tensioner, and water pump, since they're all under the front cover. I went to the dealer and picked up my box of parts - over $700. Labor would have more than doubled that.
I did the same thing to my older Subaru about ten years ago, and the bill was closer to $400. I don't think there so much as a bolt on that car that can be purchased for under $20.
Non audio related a.k.a off topic ... 😅 Quick fix (i dont know wether it counts as repair or not 😅🤣) to my old toyota corolla rear reflector by sticking carbon fiber sticker on it ... They started to get brittle and cracking soon 😅 still searching for replacement reflector as these were getting hard to source ... Still a small part on the red side not fixed yet 🤣
I burned my Craftsman electric chain saw's internal plastic gears, so I bought the very cheapest thing I could find off ebay, just to have something available for my very intermittent use around the yard.
What I got was in great shape, unused because it got turned in immediately due to electrical defects. I replaced the cord plug and then found in order to get it to start, I had to give the chain "a spin" first, against what I was cutting.
Recognized that as a stuck brush; pulled the motor cover off, shaved the sides of the brush carbon using a piece of sandpaper against a flat surface, so it now slides in the holder freely. Starts right up now! We'll see if that aspect remains the next time I get to use it...
What I got was in great shape, unused because it got turned in immediately due to electrical defects. I replaced the cord plug and then found in order to get it to start, I had to give the chain "a spin" first, against what I was cutting.
Recognized that as a stuck brush; pulled the motor cover off, shaved the sides of the brush carbon using a piece of sandpaper against a flat surface, so it now slides in the holder freely. Starts right up now! We'll see if that aspect remains the next time I get to use it...
I once had to repair the brush-holders in my router because of stuck brushes.
As for those plastic/polymer gears in stuff -CRAP!
They're in a lot of things these days - cheapening.
Washing machine transmissions too - they give out in a couple of years, no warning.
Printers - HP - they split.
Speed Queen is the only one that still uses ALL METAL gears in their washers.
Cheap and reliable, low complexity, anyone can build it. I once disassembled a piece of test gear by HP; its cooling fan was driven by a brushed motor.
There are other ways to make small brushless motors too - they just need AC. The shaded pole motor is cheap and reliable too. Most of the old school amplifiers from the 70’s and early 80’s used them for the cooling fans. They run till the bearings seize. And still not burn up when they do.
I prefer AC fans, the DC fans here use a circuit to generate AC anyway, tiny board inside.
Failure rates are higher in those.
The sleeve / bush motors do well with a drop of oil every few years, they have a sticker covering a rubber plug, you do have to open and fit the fan back.
The ball bearing types are noisier, but far more durable, always use a fuse, and strong wires, they seem to burn out faster if there is electrical noise.
Life?
I have fans which still work from 1993, I changed them out of a machine in fear, as they were on the same supply as the PLC.
Bush / sleeve bearings.
That was in 2010, and I use them in my bathroom, they were lubed with chassis grease and old gear oil. No issues.
These are AC fans, there is a rotor without connection, and two coils in series, the rotor is like those in squirrel cage motors.
Failure rates are higher in those.
The sleeve / bush motors do well with a drop of oil every few years, they have a sticker covering a rubber plug, you do have to open and fit the fan back.
The ball bearing types are noisier, but far more durable, always use a fuse, and strong wires, they seem to burn out faster if there is electrical noise.
Life?
I have fans which still work from 1993, I changed them out of a machine in fear, as they were on the same supply as the PLC.
Bush / sleeve bearings.
That was in 2010, and I use them in my bathroom, they were lubed with chassis grease and old gear oil. No issues.
These are AC fans, there is a rotor without connection, and two coils in series, the rotor is like those in squirrel cage motors.
This could almost be its own thread, "What Did You Find In Someone Else's Unfinished Project?"
So I bought someone's unfinished project receiver from Craigslist, a Lafayette LR-9090. The story was it'd been working nicely until they shorted the output. Then they'd "changed some resistors and things" and now it smoked. I've tamed a -9090 before so why the heck not, let's do another one.
Long story "short", the -9090 amplifier uses a bootstrapped current source for the VAS with a 3.9kohm resistor, a 6.8 kohm resistor, and a 47uF capacitor. This is a bog standard setup for many '70s amps and usually trouble free. Whoever worked on this thing before had replaced the resistors with 3.9 ohms and 6.8 ohms. No biggie: let's just drive the VAS with 3 orders of magnitude more current than the original design intended. Six milliamps, six amps, tomato, tomahto.
They did this on both channels. At least it explains the extensive and perfectly symmetrical damage to both channels.
Oh well, it was cheap. (We're not gonna talk about what eight new TO-3 bipolar outputs cost in 2022.)
I only caught it at the last minute, when hooking the rebuilt amp PCB up with 470 ohm resistors in series with its power rails for bringup voltage checks. If the original owner had known that old trick, they might not have cooked it.
So I bought someone's unfinished project receiver from Craigslist, a Lafayette LR-9090. The story was it'd been working nicely until they shorted the output. Then they'd "changed some resistors and things" and now it smoked. I've tamed a -9090 before so why the heck not, let's do another one.
Long story "short", the -9090 amplifier uses a bootstrapped current source for the VAS with a 3.9kohm resistor, a 6.8 kohm resistor, and a 47uF capacitor. This is a bog standard setup for many '70s amps and usually trouble free. Whoever worked on this thing before had replaced the resistors with 3.9 ohms and 6.8 ohms. No biggie: let's just drive the VAS with 3 orders of magnitude more current than the original design intended. Six milliamps, six amps, tomato, tomahto.
They did this on both channels. At least it explains the extensive and perfectly symmetrical damage to both channels.
Oh well, it was cheap. (We're not gonna talk about what eight new TO-3 bipolar outputs cost in 2022.)
I only caught it at the last minute, when hooking the rebuilt amp PCB up with 470 ohm resistors in series with its power rails for bringup voltage checks. If the original owner had known that old trick, they might not have cooked it.
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Now you see why I like to add current limiting to a VAS Even if it’s not “needed”. All it would have done is sent DC to the speaker. The high VAS current likely took out the VAS, the vbe multiplier, and all outputs/drivers after that. If it would have been limited to say 20mA (limit the voltage on the emitter resistor) it just sticks to the rail if the collector “load” fails. Or goes out of range.
My neighbor brought me an LR-9090 in fantastic cosmetic condition, but needing service, a couple of years ago.
It was Lafayette's contribution to the "wattage wars" of the era.
All it really needed was a thorough cleaning of the controls and switches, some cap replacements, and dial lamps.
Even the tuner alignment was spot-on perfect.
As I remember, it was a hefty yet nice-performing unit, and my neighbor loves it.
I also found an original catalog ad for it and was surprised at its selling price.
Funny you meantion the "wattage wars"...
I was just talking about how great the sound proofing is in a 1970's building. That's when people liked to blast their tunes and you couldn't have that with neighbours getting mad all the time 🙂
I've lived in a building build in 1949 and there was no soundproofing to speak of, and terrible acoustics.
I've lived in a few 1960's buildings and they were better but you could still hear people watching TV or walking above you.
But here, there's only a slight hint of bass when someone blasts their tunes - all because of those wattage wars 🙂
A new condo would have less sound proofing because nobody even has a stereo these days. Not gonna knock pictures off of the wall with a soundbar LOL
It's yet another reason I don't want to move from this place - The best acoustics of any place I've lived.
The fact electric is included in the rent is also unobtainable now.
I was just talking about how great the sound proofing is in a 1970's building. That's when people liked to blast their tunes and you couldn't have that with neighbours getting mad all the time 🙂
I've lived in a building build in 1949 and there was no soundproofing to speak of, and terrible acoustics.
I've lived in a few 1960's buildings and they were better but you could still hear people watching TV or walking above you.
But here, there's only a slight hint of bass when someone blasts their tunes - all because of those wattage wars 🙂
A new condo would have less sound proofing because nobody even has a stereo these days. Not gonna knock pictures off of the wall with a soundbar LOL
It's yet another reason I don't want to move from this place - The best acoustics of any place I've lived.
The fact electric is included in the rent is also unobtainable now.
Not going to knock pictures off the wall with 90 watts per channel either. Not with today’s loudspeakers. It might get the neighbors calling the cops, but not knock any pictures off the wall. Need to get you some K-horns, or at least an old school monkey coffin or four.
I would think that 90W/per is certainly enough for a 'normal' person using it in a 'normal' way would be plenty.
That's what it was designed for..... not some rugged football stadium PA use.