Enjoying flying drones is a fun hobby and advances in the development has provided an oppertunity
for people to generate income and even run profitable businesses. Like alot of cheap & quick business opportunists alot of startups happened and with that drone manufactures started creating some good quality, dependable, with high resolution camera drones. Unfortunately incedents happen and drones crash.

I have a particular unit that was acquired cheaply for the purpose of training. This drone configuration has 6 motors and is quite stable, but on this day it decided to stop the motors for about 5 seconds at a 30 foot hover. Why i dont know but the result was pretty bad.
If you have ever looked at retail replacement parts for specific manufactured parts you soon realize where they make alot of their revinue. Of course being a fixer we just put it in a box and waited for a solution, which happened aquiring a used uncrashed unit minus assessories for 200 bucks. This was the only result that would have brought this drone back to like, The unit sells for aroun 2000 with a camera, if i were to retail parts they would have been over 500 bucks. Hopefully there are enough to get back in the air

Because this is a complete rebuild this will be multiple segments to post. Firstly I had to aquire some landing gear parts, this unit has reteactable gear, a very cool feature but the servos are expensive. The option was to get used cases as replacement parts at 10 each. Following will be pix of the rebuild

Right click images and open in new tab for detail view

You can see there are some small parts, the gear uses hooks on a carrier, the hooks are broken. The pix are for details on assembly, there is a bearing buildup on the end

More to come as parts arrive

These are great tools , like the sawzall, they have alot of utility. I have a battery one and its great but I like to have electric tools because the batteries dont go dead. I took a chance on this, 1 dollar, the seller said it worked, or ran or something like that. If you plug it in it runs but it didn’t oscillate. It took a couple minutes to realize the head doesn’t come apart, it will but it wont go back together if you know what I mean.

Research on the broken head was 50 bucks.

Internal visual was actually pretty clean.

the head has a fork that runs off a bearing that rotates off center. This moves a fork back and forth.

This unit the fork component broke off one leg, the single part is not available which should cost 5-10 bucks but not an option

Now the unit gets an id number, a shelf location and posted on our volusia market website for 10 bucks

This way if someone has the same tool that has worn motor or bat circuit board we can help them out

Lets say you purchased a set of LED lights that are addressable so you can make some cool affects, gut you realize the app to control the strip is CCP and links to the Communist Party servers and they want to see what your up to. Of course 40% of Americans are communist so they’ll just download the app and give all their info to their future leaders. Some of us just don’t want anyone watching what we are doing, so what’s the fix.

Cut the F’en cable and wire it up with a esp32 controller, but wait there’s a hitch. The wire colors don’t follow any sort of standard so you better pin them out. Here is the pin-out from these dirt cheap Lenovo Smart LED strips.

I have been wanting to review our personal experience with purchasing an electric bike.

First we are talking high quality peddle assist, not Walmart electric hub garbage.

03-07-23 update: Before reading the history let me just update the Bike situation. The cadillac bike, i call it this because it’s big and heavy, well the rear hub gave out. This is supposed to be a big upgrade to the derailler system, which is external, and this intra8 being gears internal. The bike shop wanted 450 dollars to replace the wheel, it became evedent why because this premium hub is not rebuildable. It has unsealed ball bearings that rusted badly and internal caged bearing that run against races that are pressed into the hub, which were rusted and parts not available (junk). We have to wash our bikes and clean the chains after every ride because we ride on the beach so sealed bearing are a must, I decided to ditch the intr8 hub for a standard wheel with 8 speed sproket. This is a great solution and runs for around 200, also has sealed bearings.

update and final working config pix

This is the new setup, the axle width is perfect for the frame, I had to drill and tap the frame to mount the derailer but there might be other mount solutions, this worked and was cheep, what you encounter is the frames use an inset for the mount so it kinda locks you into their original setup but as noted that was crap. This new wheel has sealed cased bearings, the sprocket is basic shamino. On the the shifter I was able to setup the original twist selector but it is backwards, all gears working and shifts are smooth. All in All I would say this mod is a winner, I got away from the junk internal gear and have external hardware that can be lubed and cleaned easily

Full disclosure I am not a fan of electric power, my research results in more environmental damage caused that saved but that’s another post on another channel. I was gifted an electric bike and before I outright refused to ride it i ventured out. The purpose wasn’t about riding about town trying to show we are fit and trim, the actual purpose was to ride on the beach. Natural Beauty and connection to the ocean.

Yeah, yeah get to the point. The bikes are top of the line townie and the local bike shop that received the over 5000 dollar payment turned out to be a complete incompetent youth training program or something like that, the thought of paying hourly shop rate for a less than lawnmower mechanic might have had something to do with it but it took several attempts to get the bikes even ride-able.

Just getting them setup

Firstly these units both have Bosh drive systems that are state of the art. Even after 2 years of punishment they are solid, even the batteries.

My bike had a serous chain glitch that in high gear it would jump a link, after several attempts I was informed the manufacture had incompatible chain and sprocket. (sure)

The other which is their top of the line had an intra8 internal geared rear wheel which exploded and needed replaced, the complete wheel because the bike shop in not talented enough to re-spoke a wheel.

Then a flat tire on a brand new bike, this one I suspect was a way to get the bike into the shop, turns out inside the wheel the spoke retainer had a tool mark that wore through the liner into the tube. I know right, how can a screwdriver damage a part so bad and the quality control missed it, quality control yeah right, these bikes all come from china, Trek the largest bike manufacture does china because that’s how American capitalism works, ship all the labor to china and pay pennies and get china quality to boot.

Sorry about that, I’ve been wanting to discuss this bike thing for a while.

In the end their worth every penny!

In the end the bikes are insanely fun and very dependable. We are starting out 3rd year riding our circuit, 20 miles to the beach, along the shore and home. It takes about 1hr 45min and burns 750 calories. The first year i mounted a camera on a gimbal and got some beautiful video. Recently I upgraded my camera and have started doing this again. We ride our circuit 3 time a week and also drag our bikes to the Florida Keys on a regular basis. A maintenance update and care tips update will be posted soon, there are some things that must happen to keep these saltwater exposed units humming

This is a repurpose special attention item. Aquariums can be the most beautiful thing in the room but buying a used tank is risky. This fixer is an older tank but was a design that was better than just a square tank. Also the deal was take it so most I would be out would be disposal.
number 1 first thing before even taking a tank is make sure it’s not cracked. Most tanks are pretty stout but there are some that are real thin glass. Not to get into tank engineering and specifications, a solid tank should be evident. Also if the tank has silicone all over it’s probably a pass on it deal.

This unit turned out to be a real quality build. Of course the expense comes from the filter setup and things put inside and of course the salt.
Follow-up to come, the tank holds water and no leaks

Pentair sells a suction side pool cleaner and This one was mine. After a few years of great service the unit decided to stop working. I figured it was a good buy 3 years ago and has been a great purchase at 300 new. Now it’s 499 and no discounts so It’s a decision point. The research reveled parts are expensive but also most reports are the maid component kit for 99 bucks would fix it. Other parts like the plunger gear and brushes would add anoter 150 so thats a bust. I opted to purchase the main rebuild kit for 100. Installation was quick and easy. This unit has good brushes still but the overall condition is weather worn and body plastic is deteriorating so i’ll get another year maybe 2. Conclusion is Worth it! Works great again

Keeping a compressor working and updates

This beatup compressor has been working tirelessly for years. It succumbed to
the China syndrome, cheep parts and poor design. This unit actually has a purpose
it inflates car tires and everyone knows where it is, such a waist to junk it so we FIXED IT!

The start capacitor was blown so it wouldn’t start. A new larger one was used, it had to be strapped on cause it was not a direct replacement, but it kicks this thing off.
second the air pressure start/shutoff valve was inop. Lots going on in this switch box. This one died because the electrical contacts had plastic design.
the parts used are listed, the cost to fix was around 30 bucks

This rubber grommet had deteriorated that it was leaking. Unit has plastic gas tank. I run the unit for at least 15 minutes then drain out all the fuel. Somehow this unit rusted heavy in storage , I sprayed it good with wd40 and put it back into the storage. This is actually a new unit ,under 1hr total operating time