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Some of my other hobbies, and my shop

ShadowsPapa

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My first hobbies were collecting stamps and coins - then I got into bigger, heavier things - antique engines. (like from 1910, hit and miss, Maytag, etc. - maybe pics of some of those later when I find the pics)

Currently, have a half-way decent wood shop on my shop second floor - I'm no Norm Abram but I made my wife a bunch of shelving units for her hundreds of yards of quilting fabric and raised panel doors (ok, so I've made a couple of doors, have 16 more to do)

I don't know if it's a hobby or not, don't make a lot of money at it, I restore starters, alternators, wiper motors, heater/AC blower motors for classic cars. I do the plating, powder coating, wiring, repair as needed and more.

I have a prototype voltage regulator circuit made to replace the original Motorola voltage regulators as used by AMC in the 60s and 70s - It's in one of the pics here - I have since made a PC board and made the circuit so it would fit into the original Motorola regulator case but I'm not great with electronics and still need to figure out a way to increase the regulated voltage when the ambient temp drops below about 40 I think it is..... a thermistor is needed and I need to get it worked into my circuit. Otherwise it regulates right where it should for those cars.

The blower motor I zinc plated the squirrel cage as the owner requested - he saw another I did to prevent rust since they were not plated from the factory.
One pic shows the silver powder coated steering and suspension parts I did for a restoration project,
The starter with the yellow zinc parts I restored for my car that has the Jeep engine.
The wiper motors I fully restore - rewire as needed, plate in yellow zinc, clear zinc for the park switch and brush end plate, fasteners are generally in clear zinc.

I think there's a pic of my antique armature lathe here, too - with my valve grinder as I'm putting stuff back after having the floor resurfaced and a shot of some of my original Kent-Moore AMC and Jeep tools from the 60s and 70s.

wiper-034.JPG
ian-blower-motor-12.jpg
reg-breadboard_4468.jpg
sx4-starter_4150.jpg
wiper-motorPlated-001.jpg
jav-suspension-powdercoat-6.jpg
Ross-alt.jpg
armature-lathe_3190.jpg
km-tool-board_4045.jpg
starter_4259.jpg
BP-wiper-020.jpg
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ShadowsPapa

ShadowsPapa

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Before and after (or is it after and before?) - gotta pay for the JT parts I'm trying to get -
Refreshing wiring, stripping and re-plating parts, full restoration for show car.

20200118_141218.jpg
20200118_141229.jpg
IMG_20200112_161802.jpg
IMG_20200112_161748.jpg
 

Dainbramaged

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That's pretty cool work, thanks for sharing the pics.
 

flyingmunk

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My first hobbies were collecting stamps and coins - then I got into bigger, heavier things - antique engines. (like from 1910, hit and miss, Maytag, etc. - maybe pics of some of those later when I find the pics)

Currently, have a half-way decent wood shop on my shop second floor - I'm no Norm Abram but I made my wife a bunch of shelving units for her hundreds of yards of quilting fabric and raised panel doors (ok, so I've made a couple of doors, have 16 more to do)

I don't know if it's a hobby or not, don't make a lot of money at it, I restore starters, alternators, wiper motors, heater/AC blower motors for classic cars. I do the plating, powder coating, wiring, repair as needed and more.

I have a prototype voltage regulator circuit made to replace the original Motorola voltage regulators as used by AMC in the 60s and 70s - It's in one of the pics here - I have since made a PC board and made the circuit so it would fit into the original Motorola regulator case but I'm not great with electronics and still need to figure out a way to increase the regulated voltage when the ambient temp drops below about 40 I think it is..... a thermistor is needed and I need to get it worked into my circuit. Otherwise it regulates right where it should for those cars.

The blower motor I zinc plated the squirrel cage as the owner requested - he saw another I did to prevent rust since they were not plated from the factory.
One pic shows the silver powder coated steering and suspension parts I did for a restoration project,
The starter with the yellow zinc parts I restored for my car that has the Jeep engine.
The wiper motors I fully restore - rewire as needed, plate in yellow zinc, clear zinc for the park switch and brush end plate, fasteners are generally in clear zinc.

I think there's a pic of my antique armature lathe here, too - with my valve grinder as I'm putting stuff back after having the floor resurfaced and a shot of some of my original Kent-Moore AMC and Jeep tools from the 60s and 70s.

Jeep Gladiator Some of my other hobbies, and my shop IMG_20200112_161748
Jeep Gladiator Some of my other hobbies, and my shop IMG_20200112_161748
Jeep Gladiator Some of my other hobbies, and my shop IMG_20200112_161748
Jeep Gladiator Some of my other hobbies, and my shop IMG_20200112_161748
Jeep Gladiator Some of my other hobbies, and my shop IMG_20200112_161748
Jeep Gladiator Some of my other hobbies, and my shop IMG_20200112_161748
Jeep Gladiator Some of my other hobbies, and my shop IMG_20200112_161748
Jeep Gladiator Some of my other hobbies, and my shop IMG_20200112_161748
Jeep Gladiator Some of my other hobbies, and my shop IMG_20200112_161748
Jeep Gladiator Some of my other hobbies, and my shop IMG_20200112_161748
Jeep Gladiator Some of my other hobbies, and my shop IMG_20200112_161748
 

flyingmunk

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That's very cool. Hobby now? Is/was your career in electrical/automotive/mechanical?
 

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Blade1668

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Impressive hobbies, hard to believe you have time to do much else. I remember looking for a place to get rebuild kits, Auto parts places just want you to buy new ones not rebuild it yourself. Most of my hobbies don't look that good. To much of the just buy it new and throw old away.
Thanks for sharing with us. :like:
 

Lateralus

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Thats an awesome skill man. Iam guessing this skill is related to where you are from and the fact that people can't get certain parts for various mechanical parts.

There is so much satisfaction in being able to fix things and troubleshoot problems. It's a skill being lost in America with today's younger generation where we've outsourced our labor and skill to cheap labor countries.
 
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ShadowsPapa

ShadowsPapa

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That's very cool. Hobby now? Is/was your career in electrical/automotive/mechanical?
I'm severe ADHD so I go a mile a minute - even my high school auto instructor who I met up with a few years later was shocked at the many things I had done. I'll be like a great-great-great-great grandfather - written about in a book on the history of Ohio - will die early from exhaustion.

I started at about 14 years when my parents decided I needed my own car if I was going to drive... they took me to the family mechanic who had a 64 Rambler for sale. Iowa had inspection laws then and the car would not pass because the electric wipers didn't work. Already fascinated by electronics and electricity anyway, I asked the mechanic if I could borrow some tools and his bench and figured out the issue was the motor. I pulled it off, apart, fixed some wiring inside and got the wipers working. And I bought the car. Later he asked me if I wanted to work part time for him. I changed from electric/electronics to automotive. I ran my own small engine repair shop at age 16. I "passed out" of the first two high school auto shop classes because I was already beyond that point but had to take the final senior class because of my college goals. The teacher started prepping me for the Plymouth Troubleshooting contest - in the electric/ignition areas especially.
We won the state level, set record time to judging with only one missed item (a vacuum hose was routed in a clip on the air cleaner incorrectly - a purely cosmetic thing) and I set the record for the written portion - perfect score.
Troubleshooting is a lost skill. My hs teacher said I was "a natural" in that way and did his best to push me hard. He was harder on me in testing, forcing me to take the final test with no diagnostic tools, only hand tools, and I still had to have things back in spec. No timing light but the timing had to be correct, no dwell meter but I still had to be in spec, and he boobytrapped a couple of things - drilled a condenser and stuck a wire into it to short it, pulled the distributor out and cranked the engine to mix things up, pulled all wires off the engine. The others all got scope, timing light and he didn't pull any wiring off.
Went on to college. Did well in all areas but even better in the electric portions - charging systems, ignition, starters, etc.
Graduated from college with a degree in automotive, went out to get a job and talked to the service manager of a shop not too far from where I was living then. He was having trouble with a Ford he had on the scope - odd misfire issues. He'd spent some time with it and was frustrated with it. We were talking while he was still working on it. He finally said - if you can tell me what's wrong with this car you'll have a job.
I looked at the scope, did something else I can't recall now, told him where I thought the issue was. He got the miss taken care of and told me I started next Monday.
It went from there. The boss sold his shop a few years later, everyone was leaving as the new owners were making cuts to benefits, pay, hours and so on, and they weren't the best to work for.
I farmed for a few years, then got into a job where I did networking and electric work, then was hired as a manager at a health care facility and held a maintenance electrician license, then moved to a couple of other jobs, keeping cars, antique engines and tractors as my hobbies.
Then I retired and got back into cars full time. Friends started asking if I could help them out with electric issues, and I decided the crap I saw others doing as far as "restoration" of auto electric stuff was driving me nuts - so I decided to see if I could do better.
I now have small auto restoration shops sending me starters, alternators, wiper motors, other stuff, to restore. I get into diagnosing quite a bit as well. Often someone has messed things up, or changed the original Motorola charging systems that AMC used to something else and hacked things up so I help sort that out and make wiring harnesses to convert back. I've gotten calls from a shop in Utah and another in Indiana asking for help diagnosing certain electrical issues. I'm building an alternator for a 74 Javelin that a guy's wife has owned since it was brand new and some shop in the past fixed a problem by putting a Delco alternator on it and bypassing other wiring. He wants it fixed right - so I'm making him a "kit" and sending him a new old stock correct regulator, building a correct alternator and instructions.
I got into zinc and nickel plating as there are so few shops that will take on the small jobs - and, if some of these parts get lost anywhere you can't easily, if at all, replace them. So I do the yellow zinc plating, too (and black zinc, clear zinc, nickel for small parts, etc.) (I plated the yellow zinc parts on the 4.0 starter below)

Most of what I do is for AMC cars - although I can do pretty much anything else as well.
This is the starter I restored for my SX4 with the 94 ZJ 4.0 in it -

Jeep Gladiator Some of my other hobbies, and my shop sx4-starter_4150 (1)
 

ArthurHolo

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Very interesting and, I might say, an inspiring story. I think many boys (at least 2 of my friends :D) still have or had a childhood dream to repair or restore their own car
 

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IamAlan

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I got caught up in the ammo shortage after Sandy Hook in 2012, and vowed "never again."
I bought a couple of presses and set aside money every month for components. To my surprise, I find it quite relaxing and I'm sorta good at it.
I am not affected by the current shortage, and I doubt I ever will be.
Jeep Gladiator Some of my other hobbies, and my shop IMG_1992.JPG
Jeep Gladiator Some of my other hobbies, and my shop IMG_1892.JPG
Jeep Gladiator Some of my other hobbies, and my shop IMG_3017.JPG
 

SteveInOrlando

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I got caught up in the ammo shortage after Sandy Hook in 2012, and vowed "never again."
I bought a couple of presses and set aside money every month for components. To my surprise, I find it quite relaxing and I'm sorta good at it.
I am not affected by the current shortage, and I doubt I ever will be.
Jeep Gladiator Some of my other hobbies, and my shop IMG_3017.JPG
Jeep Gladiator Some of my other hobbies, and my shop IMG_3017.JPG
Jeep Gladiator Some of my other hobbies, and my shop IMG_3017.JPG
Just remember Static isn't your friend with gun powder.

Make sure your family stays out of your reloading area too. Had a co-worker in Japan who's wife blew herself up trying to clean up the storage room while her husband was on temporary assignment out of country.
 

BumbleBee

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Ah, fellow reloader! Me likes to reload... Looks like you are doing mostly pistol rounds? I reload around 4000 to 7000 rounds a year. We shoot alot. Rifle and pistol, 223, 308, 6.5x284 220 swift, 9mm, 10mm, 45 auto, 40 S&W, and 22 TCM are the one we do the most. I don't do the progressive thing, I make target rounds EVERY time. I enjoy doing it, and it makes the winter pass faster.
 

IamAlan

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Ah, fellow reloader! Me likes to reload... Looks like you are doing mostly pistol rounds? I reload around 4000 to 7000 rounds a year. We shoot alot. Rifle and pistol, 223, 308, 6.5x284 220 swift, 9mm, 10mm, 45 auto, 40 S&W, and 22 TCM are the one we do the most. I don't do the progressive thing, I make target rounds EVERY time. I enjoy doing it, and it makes the winter pass faster.
The Dillon is for handgun rounds. I shoot a lot of 9mm and .38/.357. The Hornady single stage for shouldered cartridges, .357 sig and .223. as well as the itty-bitty .25 auto. (Why? Because I could get the dies, lol.).
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