Two More Annoying Strongholds Fall

This day is going well.

This weekend, I tried to teach some boys how to run my pressure washer. Before we really got anywhere, the motor started acting up. Changing the gas did not help. I knew what the most likely culprit was: leftists. They forced ethanol gas on us, and it ruins carburetors, gas tanks, and other parts while providing no benefits whatsoever, unless you grow corn.

I ordered myself a new carb without blinking. There is usually no point in paying to get a small engine carb fixed, because you can generally buy new ones for between 10 and 20 dollars. I opted to treat myself to a genuine Honda carb for $19.95, but I’m sure the $13 carb with no name would have worked as well.

This afternoon I ripped the old carb off and installed the new one, along with a fuel filter. I didn’t see a filter when I worked on the pressure washer this weekend. I would guess that Honda went with some kind of annoying in-tank filter. Forget that. I added some fuel line and added a filter I can actually see.

The pressure washer runs great now, and I didn’t have to go to a small engine shop and wait a month for them to charge me a hundred bucks to fix a $13 part.

When I was done, I looked at the old carb, and I thought about it for a couple of seconds. Then I dropped it in the trash. It just doesn’t make sense to keep it when a) I know it doesn’t work, and b) a new one from China will cost nearly nothing and have no problems.

I also finished making the brace for my Kubota’s front end loader. I fixed up the paint and added leather pads to prevent the brace from gouging the tractor. I don’t know if the pads will work. They’re not really necessary, but why cut up a piece of machinery if you don’t need to?

I cut the pads out of leather and glued them to the brace with 5-minute epoxy. Which takes an hour to set. No joke. I kept waiting for it to set up, and I finally got tired of it, so I went online and searched. Five-minute epoxy takes around an hour to set, and it takes a day to fully cure.

I wonder if all the guys who lost on Forged in Fire because their handles fell apart know this.

I can’t figure out why they call it 5-minute epoxy. Warnings provided by various brands agree that an hour is about right. You should finish moving your project around in maybe 20 minutes, because the glue will have started to cure by then, but it will still be wet.

I plan to throw a little dye on the leather to hide the ballpoint pen marks I left after I measured it. Can’t hurt anything.

I hope it works. I’m not sure how the pointy end will act when it’s under pressure. It won’t break, but I’m hoping the force won’t destroy the leather and scratch my tractor’s paint up.

Doesn’t matter. I can keep working on it.

My acetylene outfit should arrive this week, so I need to get going on a tank cart. I have to decide what to do. I plan to use propane nearly all the time, but I also want to be able to use acetylene when I want. It would be nice to have all three tanks (oxygen, propane, and acetylene) on the same cart, but maybe it’s not realistic. I guess I should make a cart which will hold the oxygen and either of the other two tanks. I can find a way to store the acetylene safely when it’s not on the cart.