And what did we buy today?

Man, did I select the right truckie. Two days later, here she is in my shed after travelling 532km from Sydney.

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Heading thru the Philadelphia area stopped by MLCS woodworking; picked up a nice spiral/carbide/flush cutter and a 9" bench vise.
A floor model for a $100. Mounted it on a 2x and plywood table for now, will move it to a large butcher block table someday.
 

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Up to 2000 hours life, depends on power output settings during use, 85% is max. recommended for long lfe.
But apparently a consumable item, Chinese replacements for Chinese machines are much cheaper than those for machines from other countries..
So an advantage in lower operating costs.
 
Haiqu, does a tube like that have an expected lifespan, or did the original have a misadventure of some sort?
The seller of the machine told me it needs servicing. I assume that means the original has diminished to the point of being less than useful, but if not it doesn't hurt to have a spare tube around. Unlike the lasers I used previously the sealed ones do have a finite life, but as compensation they don't need to be continuously fed expensive gases. My helium bill from the 1980s would have frightened off a lot of people potentially interested in this technology.

What happens with sealed tubes is the gases eventually become poisoned by CO as the CO2 breaks down. They contain catalysts such as silver, gold or platinum to extend the life of the tube but those eventually stop working. The older systems used an external heated catalyst similar to the ones used on cars and recycled the gases through that, which reduced gas usage by 90% but it still used a lot of fresh gas. The first hour of operation every day on my original 450W laser used $100 of helium before the catalyst came up to temperature and switched in, so you tended not to turn it on unless there was a full day's work ahead.

If the sealed tubes are cared for correctly they can last 5,000 hours or more, giving a fixed running cost of about AU$0.30 an hour for a 120W unit. This compares favourably with the older system while being far less finicky. They can also be recharged with fresh gases, but I don't know of such a service in Australia.
 
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And what did we buy today?

Father Stuff!!

In the US it is near Father's Day. So the tools you give Dad are on sale!

I just got 20% off (I think) on power tool batteries. I hope: they change the model number and the specs every year and I am just hoping what I ordered is equal/better than the few year old batts I have.

FWIW: after some poor service before, this year Home Depot really is eager to deliver to home. Free! QUICK!! Drawback is 3 to 6 emails for EACH item. And don't use their tracking system. Just get the FedEx/UPS/USPS number and track it yourself. 3 out of 4 packages came a day early.
 
Today I bought the parts for a laser power meter. I have three tubes: one is 12 years old and used, the second brand new but a cheap Chinese brand that probably doesn't meet specs and the third being a good Chinese brand but 9 years old and unused. I'll need to find out exactly what I have before attempting to cut with any of them.
 
💩neighbors called the city which put into motion a series of events over the last week or so. Seems there is a covenant regarding the parking of anything but passenger vehicles, anywhere they can be seen. Fines are $250 a day starting at the end of this month provided it isn’t moved.

So my lackadaisical engine/exhaust project has been turned into a nascar pitstop. Part of this has been the teardown of a two-story playhouse such that it can be reassembled in a friend’s yard. This will facilitate moving the rv into safer territory.

I have purchased 4 exhaust system components, two wound up being described incorrectly, requiring expedite fees on additional, (assumably) correct parts.
A day spent at a local junkyard yielded useful parts, albeit after tearing an engine down to the block to get what was needed.

Valves, valve springs, are hard to find of decent quality for this 30 year old engine it turns out, even at higher prices.
 
There are always going to be neighbours like that. I deal with 3 different ones in my complex that I have to keep one step ahead of.
What I mean by that is, I like to have info on them that is more damaging that anything I might do and ensure the required parties are made aware of should they wish to report me for something.
 
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Thanks guys, I do have to recognize that my situation has largely been self inflicted…

My neighborhood is just outside of an uppity neighborhood that borders a golf course, but eventually our area was incorporated into the other, and while we don’t receive the impeccable attention to having our streets cleaned as often, we’re encumbered with the covenants from the uppity part. We chose our location as it was perfect for raising our kids, decent suburbia and all.

Started out as a routine, fast overhaul, and a distraction from some stuff my wife is going through, which far eclipses any of this, so I should’ve planned it better, used better judgment based on history with the odd neighbors and all.

Today’s purchase included a few pieces of 2X4 lumber to make a mock up of the exhaust, so that I can have a shop make up a section of tubing. Bad routing contributed to overheating of one cylinder, was the root cause of needing the repair.