POTD- PROJECT OF THE DAY: What Did You Make In Your Shop Today?

[Dhal22]

You just can’t catch a break with dodgy sellers, makes me mad to read about how many disreputable people you have to deal with.

Me, I’m learning how to tell when my hot water heater is empty..View attachment 473851

It’s well on it’s way to being empty.

 

[Smithdoor]

New project exstension of cross slide and using New 4 jaw chuck

Dave

 

[mattthemuppet2]

Nasty nasty nasty. The bottom element (the fold back one) was encased in limescale. I dug as much of it out as I could, then poured a bunch of boiling while vinegar in there. Let it sit for a while then flushed the bottom of the tank out, came out looking like banana milkshake

 

[Provincial]

With lime in the water like that, one should set up a schedule of flushing the water heater. Perhaps start with quarterly. If it is building up too fast, shorten the cycle to every other month, or sooner if that doesn't keep up with the buildup. Increase the cycle if possible, keeping the buildup below the lower element.

The two killers of water heaters are rust and buildup of sediment. Dead elements (if not caused by buildup) are annoying, but not fatal to the unit. PITA, but easily replaced at a reasonable cost.

 

[GoceKU]

Nasty nasty nasty. The bottom element (the fold back one) was encased in limescale. I dug as much of it out as I could, then poured a bunch of boiling while vinegar in there. Let it sit for a while then flushed the bottom of the tank out, came out looking like banana milkshake

Wow, that is really nasty. We don't get stuff like that in our water heaters. You may want to look into some filtration station, that staff can't be good for you or your skin. As for the sketch sellers, i'm at the conclusion that 2 in 3 seller are trying to sneak something by, when is cosmetic i don't care but staff like cracks big bent spots should be said.

 

[rwm]

A lot of that material may be from the sacrificial zinc anode. You should pull that too and maybe replace.

 

[mattthemuppet2]

Funnily enough when we bought this house seven years ago I got a bunch of acetic acid to do a thorough flush, but I couldn’t get the anode out. Still can’t get the anode out All of that white nastiness is limescale, we have some of the hardest water in the country. The local saying is that it takes one guy to carry a water heater into a house and three to carry it out!
I’ll flush it again before we leave in the summer (renting the house out), though I’m not sure how much scale that will remove without any chemical help

 

[rabler]

About a week back my Christmas present to myself arrived, and I needed to make a cart. So ...

I started to cut square tube per my simplistic CAD plan, and realized my horizontal bandsaw wasn't pivoting. It was frozen in the 90 degree position. Probably been several months since I did anything other than that. Looking at the pictures you can see the problem, poor maintenance!

This is a Grizzly G0613 pivot head,
so it cuts angles like your basic wood cutting chop box. I've been using it with coolant. That, along with my slip-shod maintenance/cleaning had resulted in rust in the pivot. While I really like this saw, it is a pain to dissassemble as everything comes apart from underneath. The solution was to hoist it up in the air, but still clumsy. Another project to the list is to make an open frame base for it so future efforts will be much easier. Of course, I have had it around 5 years so it may be another 5 til that happens. In the mean time, while there are some benefits to coolant (blade life and a bit faster cutting), it is not worth the time tradeoff for the cleanup/maintenance. With dry cutting a chip brush and vacuum makes quick work of any mess.

It's been cleaned up, tray got a "farm" paint job, and a week later I can go back to trying out my new welder/making a cart. Wife is starting to get around more so there is light at the end of the tunnel for both of us

 

[silverhawk]

I built an $85 small parts table saw sled and saved $4 over a brand-name small parts table saw sled. Yes, I have "Rockler" hold down clamps (would not be included with their version), and the flip stops (which are also not included in the Rockler version).



This side quest is part of my efforts to build those Gerstner-style tool chests, and I have completed the chests and gotten to the point of making a lot of tiny drawers. I need this sled because I value my fingers, and 33 tiny drawers with my impatient hands sounds like a bad combination.

 

[woodchucker]

Funnily enough when we bought this house seven years ago I got a bunch of acetic acid to do a thorough flush, but I couldn’t get the anode out. Still can’t get the anode out All of that white nastiness is limescale, we have some of the hardest water in the country. The local saying is that it takes one guy to carry a water heater into a house and three to carry it out!
I’ll flush it again before we leave in the summer (renting the house out), though I’m not sure how much scale that will remove without any chemical help

been there with the heavy tank .. it was so clogged up, water would not come out the drain..
I can't get my anode out too. I couldn't on the old, and can't on the newer unit (15 years now). I am not sure why it is that hard. It's a replaceable item..