First, the excuses:
We got so much rain this year (spread over months) that there’s tons of weeds to pull, gophers and snails to kill, plants to trim, and getting the koi pond system ready for summer. Knock down any of the first four and they come right back due to the continued moisture. Then there’s building a garden shed to help with “yard organization”, in quotes because I admit to some nefarious scheming: getting more stuff out of the garage. Of course, what goes in there has to be balanced against the expected high heat in summer, and the possibility that it’s broken into. The garden shed is 3/4 done, but stalled due to getting soaked by a constant drizzle, hence me typing this up, but it frees up time to figure out the throttle spring.
Ah yes, the sticking throttle cable. Reading about such cables on bicycle sites, it seems that good cables shouldn’t be lubricated because it tends to accelerate wear due to attracting dirt. The alternative, and a good idea in general, is a second throttle return spring. The trick is making it work with the existing helical spring, either by adding a second one if there’s room, or adding a more traditional spring off an existing or new hard point.
I know I have a bad habit of talking about car stuff and then not doing it (like, oh, the engine cover, air filter housing, and the open area behind the muffler, and throttle spring, but I digress.) In that tradition, I’ve been thinking for a while now about doing a YouTube video series on Midlana. The episodes would cover various aspects of the design and serve as an overview/introduction for people thinking of building one. It has moved beyond just the thinking stage, having acquired a good lens for the camera, a mic, and decent lighting.
What’s spurred this on in-part are the videos made by This Old Tony. They’re very well done, well choreographed, well lit, with a good dose of humor, and they’re very informative; that’s the high bar I aspire to. What’s also helps is that you almost never see his face… this appeals to me!
Least you think I’m finally getting back to Midlana, another project is rebuilding my lathe. I bought a used Grizzly DF-1237G in the late 1990’s (it was apparently manufactured in the early 1990’s). From day one it’s leaked oil like a sieve, and while annoying, it still managed to help build Kimini and Midlana. While the draw is strong to buy a new lathe, I can’t in good conscience justify the expense when this one works fine, other than the leaks. I found a machinist’s forum where a few others have this same model (and all complaining about oil leaks). Grizzly still has some spare parts but were out of oil seals (no doubt due to the systemic leaks). Like bearings, oil seals are a universal part, so now on-hand are new oil seals, as many bearings as I could get, stickers, and new belts. Oh, and I want to paint it; some people like the Grizzly green, but I prefer “machine gray.” I’m probably not going to strip it down completely (want to stay clear of the threading gearbox) so hopefully painting it doesn’t become a fiasco.