Software: automobile or yard equipment?

Software behaves more like yard equipment:  one has to continually add fuel and oil, tighten bolts, and clean many parts.

And it seems every time we turn around there is a new update.

With cars, we go months without any service other than adding fuel and maybe a wash.  And maybe we get one update a year on some warranty part.

Read labels carefully

A couple of weeks ago I went along one of our paths in Brimson with a string trimmer.  When it ran out of gas, I went back to get the gas can.  I refilled the trimmer and it wouldn't start.  Gosh, a friend had just fixed it a year ago and had it running great.

Eventually I got it started but it would only keep running when I could grab the throttle quickly enough.  For many tries, I just wasn't soon enough.  Then I did grab the throttle quickly enough, but I couldn't hold the throttle and get the trimmer back on the harness.  Again and again, the fool pushed on.  I gave up trying to get it in the harness and just rested it on my hip.

I was really cutting grass now.  Then the trimmer ran slower and slower and started smoking.  I stopped it and headed back to the cabin.  Then I looked at the gas can I had taken.  It was regular gas and not gas-oil mix!!

The can for the mix does still have a clear 50 on it for 50-1 mix.  Read labels, dummy!

I emptied the tank and refilled it with the mix.  After many, many pulls, the trimmer ran as it should.

The old saying "If all else fails, read the directions" still holds.

A good workman never blames his tools. Oh?

This old saw probably comes from someone blaming the saw for a crooked cut.  A good workman should be able to cut straight no matter how crooked the saw.

Oh, yeah!

What is often not considered is that a good workman has all the tools needed to do any job he expects to do.  He won't use a flat blade screwdriver on a Philips screw or a hexagonal wrench on a square nut.

I had another lesson on having the right tools for the job at hand.  We bought a humongous DR chipper with the slogan on the cover, "Professional power for the homeowner".

Sorry, but to do routine maintenance on this chipper requires tools many homeowners don't usually have.  My socket wrenches do not reach the nuts holding the blade in place and my L-shaped Allen wrenches do not reach the screw heads.  Well, they do reach but the angle does not permit either a good purchase or sufficient swing room.

So, I went to the hardware store to buy "non-standard" accessories for my tools.  I bought three-inch extenders for my half-inch and three-eighths-inch socket wrenches.  I do have a six-inch extender for the latter, but that length gives less purchase on really tight nuts.  I also bought a 7/32-inch Allen insert for a socket wrench.  Unfortunately, the hardware store only had this size inserts for quarter-inch wrenches.  So, I had to buy an adapter also.

All homeowners who have all these tools in their toolboxes please raise their hands.  I thought so.  Of the twenty or so people who read this blog I don't see any hands raised.

The good news is that I have changed blades on the chipper.  It did take a few grimacing pushes on the wrenches to get the nuts loose, but I did within a few minutes.  The last time the blade needed changing, I had to tow the chipper back to the equipment store, a 40+ mile drive at 45 mph.

The next thing to do is to check the wear plate against the sharper blade.  It looks like it will be fun doing so.  The bolts holding the plate have slotted heads and are in a position that there is no way to get any purchase with a standard six-inch screwdriver.

Well, I did check the wear plate and it took me the rest of the afternoon.

First, the bolt heads are not slotted at all.  They are carriage bolts with a square shaft just below the head to fit into the square holes in the wear plate.

I loosened all three bolts so that I could wiggle them, which meant that I should be able to wiggle the wear plate.  No such luck.  It was glued to the throat of the chipper by dried sap and so forth.  I had to stick wood between the flywheel and the wear plate.  I had to use a tack puller for leverage.  I did this and that for a very long time.

Then when the wear plate was finally loose, it was too loose.  Using the template for judging the gap, I would get one side at the right gap and the other side would be too tight.  Back and forth.  Tighten the nuts to make the plate slide a bit more slowly.  One side would be proper; the other side would stop the blade.

On and on.  Finally I had the plate so it didn't hit the blade.  But the gap was a bit too big.  Oh, well!  It didn't look as wide as when I started.

I won't bore you with all the details of getting the chipper back together, but back together it is.  I also cranked it up and chipped a small pile.  For the most part, it just sucked stuff in.  Definitely better than when I started.

The big question is are we better off with this high volume chipper with its high maintenance than we were with a low volume chipper that jammed frequently and sometimes didn't even start.  I would say yes, but I will keep wondering every time I have to loosen all those bolts for some simple maintenance.

Lock tight with Loctite

As I walked along one of our paths the brush was over the path right at eye level.  I planned to go back and forth on that section a lot today and decided to cut it back.  It was a patch of brush that had long bothered us and I thought I'd cut it all out.  So, I got nippers, draw saw, chain saw, and wheeled trimmer with a saw blade.

We nipped and we sawed and we wheeled.  We gathered all the cuttings up and piled them for later chipping.  As I was moving the wheeled trimmer back and forth suddenly the handle felt all wrong.  The upper handle on one side was no longer attached to the lower handle.  Oh, no!  The tightening knob had fallen off.

We looked and looked around our work area in vain.  I went to one previous work area while my wife went to another farther away.  I didn't find the knob.  I went in to call Denny's Lawn and Garden to order another.  I pulled out the manual to get the part number.  I picked up the cordless phone to call and wondered if Denny's number was in the handset directory.  It wasn't.  I fiddled and faddled with putting the number in.  Once I got in, I couldn't bring the number up.  Just then my wife hollered from outside, "I found it!"

She had gone along the path past our work area without success.  When she came back, the sun was at the right angle to reflect off the metal threads of the knob.  Whew!  We could continue using trimmer for the day.

I got out my tube of Threadlocker Blue and applied it to the bolts on each side and cranked down the knobs as tight as I could.  Now, it should require a good grip or a ViseGrip to get the knobs off.

I should know better.  This is the third time that a pre-assembled piece of equipment has had nuts come loose.

I had a sickle mower that wore parts out because of loose nuts or the nuts would disappear in the grass.  I had to use it with a 13mm socket wrench in my pocket to tighten the nuts frequently.  Finally, I put Loctite on them each time I changed the blade and had few, if any, problems with lost nuts thereafter.

I bought a trailer mounted chipper and shortly after I started using it, one of the tail lights became loose.  The nut had disappeared.  I better fix that light before I haul the chipper back for any service.

Maybe I will learn to put a thread-locker compound on all potentially loose nuts on any pre-assembled equipment that shakes, rattles, or rolls.  Hah!  Maybe I should ask the assembling store if they have used Loctite.  Hah!  That will probably cut their margins.

Misguided safety measures

I have more gas cans than I should have. I lose a vent cap or a disc seal and can't seem to find either for that particular can, and so I have to buy another gas can with yet a different vent cap or disc seal.

But the last one I bought is a @#$%&* nuisance. Both the vent cap and the spout ring have stops. To unloosen them one has to raise a plastic doohickey to get over a little wedge in the body of the can. These are bad enough in the summer when one can take off work gloves, but it is finger-numbering when its below 20° F.

I finally took a Leatherman saw to the tabs and got them out of the way. However, the designers overlooked one safety feature that is lacking in almost all gas cans. It takes a lot of effort to put the spout on just so to make sure the can doesn't leak as one pours gas into a tank.

I talked to Scott Cyr at Denny's Lawn and Garden about this. He said he had never found a can that wouldn't leak at the spout. I thought I had found a way to reduce the leaking. I keep the spout a quarter turn counterclockwise from where I want it as I tighten the cap. When I think I have it as tight as possible, I turn the cap again letting the spout turn also.

Today, as I poured gas into my lawn mower, I noticed that I had a puddle of gas on the driveway!

Safety engineers! Product designers! Before you fiddle around with making your gas cans difficult for kids to open, how about making sure that adults don't spill gas?

Forget about a problem to solve it

We've had a small tiller for about thirty years, but have only used it once in the last ten years - to reseed a section of lawn. My wife wanted to sell it or take it to a church rummage sale. She keeps asking if I had tried starting it.

Last week I gave it a try without success. I said I would bring back some starter fluid from the cabin. I did and on Tuesday I took off the air cleaner, squirted some starter fluid in, and gave the starter rope a pull.

Rumble, a big poof of white exhaust, and then silence. Repeat, and repeat, and repeat, and ...

I said I'll get a new spark plug. I did that yesterday. I put the new spark plug in. I took off the air cleaner, squirted some starter fluid in, and gave the starter rope a pull.

Rumble, a big poof of white exhaust, and then silence. Repeat, and repeat, and repeat, and ...

We couldn't find the manual at home and assumed it was at our cabin. But the rummage sale was this week and we wouldn't go to our cabin until Saturday. I guess we'll have to wait until next year to donate it.

Last night I had some crazy dreams, but I never woke up until well after daybreak. I lay in bed pondering this and that. Suddenly I had vision of a little lever on the gas line under the fuel tank. I had never checked that when starting the tiller. Why should I? No other piece of yard equipment we have has a gas shut off.

After breakfast, I went to the garage and pulled the tiller out. Sure enough, the lever was in the off position. I turned it to on and gave the starter rope a pull. Nothing! And again. And again.

I took air filter off, squirted some starter fluid in, and gave the starter rope a pull. Rumble! A continuous cloud of white exhaust! The engine slowed down and sped up, slowed down and sped up, but it kept running.

I shut the tiller off, replaced the air filter, heaved it into the back of my truck, and secured it. Off we went to the church where I dropped the tiller and my wife off. I went to my regular Thursday coffee session.

When my wife came back in the afternoon, she said it had been sold for $25.

May the new owner enjoy fresh, home-grown vegetables for many a year.

And may all of us solve perplexing problems whenever we sleep on them.