So if you didn't do anything airgun related what did you do today?

[Woody.22]

Today I went to archery practice at my high school and plugged a tire after that.

Is this another way of saying you've accidentally shot a tire with an arrow?
 

Nah, on the way home we got a screw in the tire, so when we got in the driveway it was really leaking air bad, and of course it was pouring rain so I plugged the tire put air in it and went inside where it is nice and dry.

[Blowpipe Sam]

what’s you recipe for fried raccoon?

I just provided the bandit so the recipe is unknown to me but I can ask next time I see them. I had another coon show up last night too. Big fat one but he's not tearing up my yard so I'll let him be.

I see plenty of them but I don’t shoot them.  They leave my poultry and the garden alone so they get a pass.  Lately I’ve become curious about coon as table fare.  My SIL is interested too and he is an amazing cook.  So I’m interested to hear from anyone who has had a good experience cooking and eating them.  Don’t put yourself out about the recipe but did you try it?  Was it good?

[Xraycer]

Today I went to archery practice at my high school and plugged a tire after that.

Is this another way of saying you've accidentally shot a tire with an arrow?
 

Nah, on the way home we got a screw in the tire, so when we got in the driveway it was really leaking air bad, and of course it was pouring rain so I plugged the tire put air in it and went inside where it is nice and dry.

I had to plug my daughter's car last week for the same reason. It's been probably a decade since I last had to plug a tire.

[maraudinglizard]

what’s you recipe for fried raccoon?

I just provided the bandit so the recipe is unknown to me but I can ask next time I see them. I had another coon show up last night too. Big fat one but he's not tearing up my yard so I'll let him be.

I see plenty of them but I don’t shoot them.  They leave my poultry and the garden alone so they get a pass.  Lately I’ve become curious about coon as table fare.  My SIL is interested too and he is an amazing cook.  So I’m interested to hear from anyone who has had a good experience cooking and eating them.  Don’t put yourself out about the recipe but did you try it?  Was it good?

Deep fry like chicken, make a gravy from the rue, put back in gravy and let simmer on low heat for a couple of hours until it comes off the bone. Just make sure you get all the scent glands out of the front and back legs and the fat or you won't be able to stand the smell in your kitchen much less eat it. I will only eat the corn feed ones that hang around deer feeders. Those that rummage in trash cans tend to taste like the contents in it.

[Sqrl Klr]

Nah, on the way home we got a screw in the tire, so when we got in the driveway it was really leaking air bad, and of course it was pouring rain so I plugged the tire put air in it and went inside where it is nice and dry.

At least you didn't have to replace your new $260 tire with another one because of a sliced sidewall from a piece of scrap metal on the road like I had to do recently. There are a lot of pickups that improperly haul scrap where some of it falls off their trailers then finds it's way into other people's tires because those haulers were too lazy to do their job right.

I see plenty of them but I don’t shoot them.  They leave my poultry and the garden alone so they get a pass.  Lately I’ve become curious about coon as table fare.  My SIL is interested too and he is an amazing cook.  So I’m interested to hear from anyone who has had a good experience cooking and eating them.  Don’t put yourself out about the recipe but did you try it?  Was it good?

I wanted to but was too busy. Is no trouble asking for recipe next time I see them. I've heard the meat is greasy similar to pork. I'll pretty much try anything fried.

[Horatio]

Nah, on the way home we got a screw in the tire, so when we got in the driveway it was really leaking air bad, and of course it was pouring rain so I plugged the tire put air in it and went inside where it is nice and dry.

At least you didn't have to replace your new $260 tire with another one because of a sliced sidewall from a piece of scrap metal on the road like I had to do recently. There are a lot of pickups that improperly haul scrap where some of it falls off their trailers then finds it's way into other people's tires because those haulers were too lazy to do their job right.

I see plenty of them but I don’t shoot them.  They leave my poultry and the garden alone so they get a pass.  Lately I’ve become curious about coon as table fare.  My SIL is interested too and he is an amazing cook.  So I’m interested to hear from anyone who has had a good experience cooking and eating them.  Don’t put yourself out about the recipe but did you try it?  Was it good?

I wanted to but was too busy. Is no trouble asking for recipe next time I see them. I've heard the meat is greasy similar to pork. I'll pretty much try anything fried.

Sheet of sheet metal lath was flying through the air a few months ago. By the time I saw it to late and my car hit it at ~75mph.

People are bad at securing stuff.

[Horatio]

Pull out fridge. Clean condenser coil (mostly). Clean dust bunnies in fridge pocket.
Put fridge back.

[Firewalker]

Pull out fridge. Clean condenser coil (mostly). Clean dust bunnies in fridge pocket.
Put fridge back.

Thanks for the reminder! I'll pull the three fridges and chest freezer out and pm them right now.

[Xraycer]

Pull out fridge. Clean condenser coil (mostly). Clean dust bunnies in fridge pocket.
Put fridge back.

Thanks for the reminder! I'll pull the three fridges and chest freezer out and pm them right now.

4 units?!

What are you running........an organ bank?
 

[Tater]

4 units?!

What are you running........an organ bank?
 

Haha!

[Firewalker]

Pull out fridge. Clean condenser coil (mostly). Clean dust bunnies in fridge pocket.
Put fridge back.

Thanks for the reminder! I'll pull the three fridges and chest freezer out and pm them right now.

4 units?!

What are you running........an organ bank?
 

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! 

OK, 1 is the beer fridge, it has 2 corny's in it as well as CO2 and selected craft beers on the shelves.
Another is in the shop and holds kid friendly beverages, Gatorade and icy treats.
Kitchen has a standard fridge/freezer combo.
Garage has the 'organ bank' freezer for venison, pizzas and trespassers..... 

[oldnamvet]

Pull out fridge. Clean condenser coil (mostly). Clean dust bunnies in fridge pocket.
Put fridge back.

Thanks for the reminder! I'll pull the three fridges and chest freezer out and pm them right now.

4 units?!

What are you running........an organ bank?
 

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! 

OK, 1 is the beer fridge, it has 2 corny's in it as well as CO2 and selected craft beers on the shelves.
Another is in the shop and holds kid friendly beverages, Gatorade and icy treats.
Kitchen has a standard fridge/freezer combo.
Garage has the 'organ bank' freezer for venison, pizzas and trespassers..... 

Living around lake Mille Lacs -- where are the fish??

[Hoosier Daddy]

Kinda airgun related but in the long run it isn't...
Tonight, I taught my 14 YO grand Daughter how to drill an tap a hole.
Sounds simple but it took almost 2 hours... here is why.

I am on final assembly of me "Bell Target".
I located the 4 mounting holes in the steel plate and drilled 1/8" pilot holes a couple weeks ago.
 Tonight I summond "Dead-Eye Lou" to the shop.

Showed her the 12-24 bolts I wanted to use and asked "How are we going to do this ? The bolts are too big for the hole and it needs to be threaded so it will screw in."
 So... Out came the tap and die chart. 
I asked her "I bought 12-24 bolts, what drill bit do we need?"
Her reply"That's easy, #14 or #16 it says right here"... Ahhh but grand-pa doesn't have number drill bits...
"What fractional bit do we need, convert those to decimal equivalents and tell me what to use."

She said "You mean there is MATH?! This is like School!!!"

"YEP... but in a useful way" says I. 
After a bit of her Ninja cell phone skills she came back with "3/16... but it's bigger"
"Close enough for this" I said. 

So.... we headed to the shop to use the drill press loaded with her chosen 3/16th bit. We both doned our saftey glasses and went to work.
I put a drop of oil on the first hole and gently cut it.
Asked her to take over... she declined. I think the bench top "power tool" intimidated her.
 I drilled the next two holes... then made her drill drill the last one.

"So we are done?" she asked.
"Nope not yet, that is a smooth hole and the screw needs threads."

NOW comes the tricky part!
I oiled the first hole and the 12/24 tap.
Started it in and backed it out. Then went in deeper and backed it out again....

I hear "G-pa why do you stop? Keep going , you are doing good!"
Gosh how I love the eagerness of the little but I explained it is important in the threading process and how to ensure it is clean and straight, and keep it oiled.

I am HAPPY to report the last two holes were properly tapped by my 14 YO Grand Daughter.
Small monuments, but how many kids are able lean this skill hand today?

I kept thinking in the back of my head "wait until she meets a 'man' "!

[Chris USA]

Scott,... awesome! Hopefully D+T'ing holes is not in her future,... but those "ninja" phone skills will sure come in handy.  Well done and good bonding time. IMO,.. those skills should still be taught. Yea,.... them days are long gone.   

[Firewalker]

Pull out fridge. Clean condenser coil (mostly). Clean dust bunnies in fridge pocket.
Put fridge back.

Thanks for the reminder! I'll pull the three fridges and chest freezer out and pm them right now.

4 units?!

What are you running........an organ bank?
 

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! 

OK, 1 is the beer fridge, it has 2 corny's in it as well as CO2 and selected craft beers on the shelves.
Another is in the shop and holds kid friendly beverages, Gatorade and icy treats.
Kitchen has a standard fridge/freezer combo.
Garage has the 'organ bank' freezer for venison, pizzas and trespassers..... 

Living around lake Mille Lacs -- where are the fish??

In 'da lake where they belong!!!   

[Hoosier Daddy]

Scott,... awesome! Hopefully D+T'ing holes is not in her future,... but those "ninja" phone skills will sure come in handy.  Well done and good bonding time. IMO,.. those skills should still be taught. Yea,.... them days are long gone.   

Sad but true.

[Sqrl Klr]

Burned down the big pile of tree limbs into a small one. The smell of smoke must have been the first cologne of man and I enjoy wearing that scent.

[Jshooter71]

Kinda airgun related but in the long run it isn't...
Tonight, I taught my 14 YO grand Daughter how to drill an tap a hole.
Sounds simple but it took almost 2 hours... here is why.

I am on final assembly of me "Bell Target".
I located the 4 mounting holes in the steel plate and drilled 1/8" pilot holes a couple weeks ago.
 Tonight I summond "Dead-Eye Lou" to the shop.

Showed her the 12-24 bolts I wanted to use and asked "How are we going to do this ? The bolts are too big for the hole and it needs to be threaded so it will screw in."
 So... Out came the tap and die chart. 
I asked her "I bought 12-24 bolts, what drill bit do we need?"
Her reply"That's easy, #14 or #16 it says right here"... Ahhh but grand-pa doesn't have number drill bits...
"What fractional bit do we need, convert those to decimal equivalents and tell me what to use."

She said "You mean there is MATH?! This is like School!!!"

"YEP... but in a useful way" says I. 
After a bit of her Ninja cell phone skills she came back with "3/16... but it's bigger"
"Close enough for this" I said. 

So.... we headed to the shop to use the drill press loaded with her chosen 3/16th bit. We both doned our saftey glasses and went to work.
I put a drop of oil on the first hole and gently cut it.
Asked her to take over... she declined. I think the bench top "power tool" intimidated her.
 I drilled the next two holes... then made her drill drill the last one.

"So we are done?" she asked.
"Nope not yet, that is a smooth hole and the screw needs threads."

NOW comes the tricky part!
I oiled the first hole and the 12/24 tap.
Started it in and backed it out. Then went in deeper and backed it out again....

I hear "G-pa why do you stop? Keep going , you are doing good!"
Gosh how I love the eagerness of the little but I explained it is important in the threading process and how to ensure it is clean and straight, and keep it oiled.

I am HAPPY to report the last two holes were properly tapped by my 14 YO Grand Daughter.
Small monuments, but how many kids are able lean this skill hand today?

I kept thinking in the back of my head "wait until she meets a 'man' "!

Way to go, Scott! Glad to hear she stuck it out with you. You & Chris are right, most kids either aren’t taught or interested.

[Rabbit\Squirrel Killer]

  I did my taxes and E-Filed and payed my taxes. Cool I got them done early this year, LOL.

  I also got invited to go to my daughters house tomorrow, to have lunch and diagnose/fix their clothes dryer.
  I am glad to do it it will save them a few bucks and I will get a great lunch and spend a little time with them.

  I hope we can find the part locally so I can just get it done tomorrow.

Now off to Church tonight.   

[Mole2017]

I still have to do my taxes, but today I was finishing repairs on the second of two projectors from church. Users had complained of a green tint, but it wasn't a problem with any cables--it was inside the unit. That is normally bad news, but as I checked one out, I thought I saw a shadow of sorts in the image, like something was loose inside and blocking part of the light.

Well, of course, that suggests I might be able to fix it and tipping it one way or another I soon found I could make the green tint go away--something was indeed loose inside! Both had the same problem, so if I can fix one, I surely could fix both...

So onto the dining room table they went for surgery. I've torn apart plenty of projectors and found these no different, if not somewhat easy. Here's one laid out:



The problem was quickly found to be a loose mirror in the optical path (circled).



These things work by taking the light from the lamp (off the right side of the picture) and splitting it into three primary color beams (red, green and blue) to go through three LCDs (ribbon cables near the center of the picture) before putting the images together via fancy prism/beamsplitter (in reverse they join optical beams) and sending it out the lens (at the top of the picture, just left of center). A glue joint holding that now-loose mirror had failed and the mirror was free to rattle around. It couldn't get far, but that was all it takes to mess up the color like it did.

I added a few dabs of JB Weld, chosen for its high temperature rating, and waited for a partial curing of the epoxy before closing them up. They'll get tested once the epoxy has had a day or so to really cure, but I think I've got them fixed at this point.

To tell the truth, I was surprised they had depended entirely on a glue joint to hold this mirror--everything else is in some sort of slot and held snuggly by features designed into the "lid". Even the mirror in the corner opposite from this one across the LCD/prism unit is fitted into a nice slot that holds it captive (at the left side of the picture). Why didn't they do the same for this one? It is possible they usually hold up ok and it has just been 9 years of use (and abuse) at a church that did in these two.