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submitted 1 year ago by circularfish@beehaw.org to c/diy@beehaw.org

Let's hear it. No project too big or too small.

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[-] scrappy_Duncan@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago

Staining red oak for a slat wall around our fireplace. Hope to get it installed this week.

[-] nyan@lemmy.cafe 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Was going to try to get the rust off my father's crappy old hand plane (since restoring it would get me out of having to buy a hand plane of my own for now), but it doesn't look like I'm going to get that far this week. Spent a couple of hours moving books around to clear some shelf space instead.

Edit: Turned out that my actual DIY for the weekend was fixing my computer mouse, which suddenly developed a tendency to jump the cursor randomly to the upper-left corner of the screen. Turns out that it's possible to kill a laser mouse with cat hair if you get enough of it wedged into the little opening on the bottom of the mouse that the laser shines through. And here I thought fluff was only a failure mode for ball mice.

[-] shoveljockey@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

I'm still building the addition to my wood framed green house, still have a couple of weekends to go till its done.

[-] circularfish@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That doesnt sound fun at all. Would a drain snake work?

Edit: responding to @jarfil@beehaw.org. Sorry, still getting used to the Connect app.

[-] BeesToTheFace@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

Installing a new sink and dishwasher, here's to not flooding the place. Probably.

[-] _anarchism_@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

was going to make a small garden in a wood box on the deck of my apartment, but its getting unusually hot i think i'll put it off for a little longer

[-] Monkeyclock1234@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

Reattaching my towel rack to my wall. It was held in with drywall anchors but those have failed so will either repatch and reattach or glue it back on. Depends on how done with it I am

[-] tokyorock@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

Ideally, you'd want it anchored into a stud.

[-] Monkeyclock1234@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Ideally yes.. This is a previous owners mistake I'm fixing. My options here are: reattach back using another drywall anchor (not my preferred option). Anchor one side into a stud and if the other side reaches it the other side into another stud and patch the holes or glue it back in place (again not ideal). I'm leaning towards option B here.

[-] Severian@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

Going to be resealing our countertops today. Shouldn't be too complicated, but it's my first time doing it so we'll see.

[-] nyan@lemmy.cafe 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I did get around to the hand plane this week. Most of the rust and grot is off and now I need to lap the sole as best I can.

If there's still a bit of rust left somewhere . . . I don't actually care. It's a 1970s Canadian-made Stanley Craftsman plane, which means that it's effectively worthless. I just want it in good enough shape not to leave rust streaks on whatever I'm trying to plane. In five years or so, I expect I'll either have given up on woodworking or bought a higher-quality replacement.

(I also need to fix a chair, which I didn't quite get to today.)

[-] 0110010001100010@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

I need to tighten the bolts on the kids toilet, lol. Otherwise just running a ton of errands (none DIY-related).

[-] Monkeyclock1234@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

That reminds me I need to take a look at the flusher on my toilet. It's being intermittent

[-] cygnus_velum@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

I recently finished my butcher block desk and enjoyed it so much I asked for a bunch of wood working tools as birthday gifts. I don’t usually care about my birthday or gifts, but it’s always an ordeal for my family because they insist. So this year I finally told them to get the wood working basics.

I’m eyeing my second project now and trying not to tell myself that it should be the new coffee table that we’ve needed for the past 3 years. That feels like a more advanced project, but it’s so tempting.

[-] The_Sasswagon@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

Starting the refinish job on our front porch. Got my broom and sander and some dry weather in the forecast, hopefully it'll be finished before the next storm rolls through!

[-] kbyanyname@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

That's a big help, thank you! I spent some time on it today and I think I figured out what's actually leaking, but this kit should make it easier to just repair it

[-] TheOtherJake@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

Should be ripping out Windows and getting Fedora Workstation working on a new machine. I'll probably start working on installing the AI tools I used to justify the new rig. I'm halfway thinking about modifying my laptop bed stand to add more cooling capacity built in, but it kinda depends on how hot it gets with the GPU at full tilt.

I also need to make some progress getting my desk/hobby electronics workstation back to useful conditions and reinstall all of my lighting.

[-] MegaGonk@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

Probably going to practise using my new laser cutter/engraver I just got last week.

[-] upstream@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

I live in a rented apartment and since we moved in one of the (IKEA) bedroom closets has been horrible built.

The landlord commented that the previous tenant had taken them down, but put them back together when they moved out.

Didn’t look to closely but it was always a bit wobbly. In part thanks to covid we’ve ended up living here longer than planned and the closet was now almost tipping over, so I decided to take action.

Just disassembled it and apart from the back plates being taped together and held in with about 6 nails each, three of which was at the bottom, the upper shelf turned out to not be from this closet.

It has a label from IKEA and says it’s a kitchen shelf.

Took out the tape measure and sure enough. It’s 5mm to wide, and at least 3mm to deep.

Too late to do anything about it now, it’s 10’o clock, but it amazes me at the shit people do.

No wonder the cabinet doors aligned poorly and all.

[-] Seathru@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

I'm going to attempt to fix my truck's air conditioning. Of course it waited until the weather was sweltering hot to stop working. I know just enough about refrigerant systems to be dangerous, wish me luck!

If that's successful and/or doesn't take all weekend, I'm going to try to build some temporary screening around my tiny back porch to give me somewhere to sit outside away from the mosquitos.

[-] AlmightyTritan@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

Recoating a fire pit with high heat enamel. I was dumb, bought a new fire pit without a cover and it got suuuuper rusty. I almost had it finished when I started yesterday but luck would have it I ran out of paint for the last coat.

[-] MDKAOD@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

Preparing for a new flatbed printer bring delivered next week. Requires cleaning up the workshop, preparing to pull heads and flush lines.

[-] Fauxreigner@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Working on building a modern style barn door, although I doubt I'll be able to paint it this weekend.

[-] jarfil@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

Trying to fix a slow bathtub drain.

It's got one of those flexible ribbed pipes that keeps holding onto everything, and whoever installed the bathtub had the amazing idea of fully encasing it in brick and large tiles, with no access left to replace the pipe. To add insult to injury, the pipe is attached to the bathtub by a single screw going through a metal strainer, so no way to properly shove in a pipe cleaner without it coming detached and falling under the bathtub... inside the encased part; even if I managed to fish it out afterwards, no way it's going to match the gasket again. The toilet is also so close to it, that even to try breaking the tile and brick to get to the pipe, one would have to remove the toilet first.

I've poured in some "gel drain cleaner", left it for a while, washed it out, and some plunger action seemed to move some stuff around, but it was still slow. Poured some caustic soda, which outgassed pretty nicely, and the plunger worked some more, but I'd say it's still less than 50% there.

I'm torn as to what to try next, whether some HCl, bleach, or sulfuric, but the strainer is metal and I don't want to make it look worse than it already does. Could try more of the gel and/or soda, but I think they might've already done all they were to do.

[-] tokyorock@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

Is there access to a cleanout from below?

[-] jarfil@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

It's and apartment, so that would require access from the common collector. It is possible, some neighbors did it (to locate a leak they caused by DIY "re-tiling" the bathroom with a jackhammer, not kidding), but it takes a long snake to reach even the bottom floor.

For now at least it drains. I'll try and locate a thinner snake, or some of those "hair removal" ziptie lookalikes.

[-] Kajo@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

I'm in the process of destroing an old, out of service fireplace, to rebuild a fake one with an electric radiator.

The chimney hadn't been swept before it was taken out of service, and now I know how much I hate tallow.

[-] kbyanyname@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

Trying to fix a slow leak in a toilet, likely, but the main project is patching a gap in the ceiling where a vent fan doesn't quite fit

[-] Seathru@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

If it's a standard style toilet that's more than 10 years old, I would recommend one of these kits: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Fluidmaster-PerforMAX-Universal-2-in-High-Performance-Everything-Toilet-Tank-Repair-Kit-with-Install-Tools/5001419031

I've been chasing small leaks and it running when it wasn't supposed to for a couple years now. I eventually bought the above kit and I wish I would have done that from the beginning. It replaces everything that leaks (except for the wax ring), was easy to install with good instructions, and came with all the needed tools. Now no more leaks, uses less water while still flushing as good, and is quieter overall. I also replaced the water line from the valve to the tank at the same time, That was another $4.

this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2023
14 points (100.0% liked)

Do It Yourself

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