Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Aluminum replacement for broken T handle on holding tank valve rod

On a recent trip, part of the plastic T handle on my black tank valve rod snapped off while we were dumping the tank.  After a little research, I discovered that the T handle was internally threaded and screws right onto the end of the valve rod -- very convenient!

So I took a piece of half-inch thick aluminum scrap and used a hacksaw to cut a replacement handle.  I then shaped it with a flat file and then cleaned up all of the rough edges with a belt sander.

(I know what you are thinking -- why not just buy a new plastic handle?  I could, but I no longer trust those handles not to break at a crucial moment.  I wanted a heavy duty handle.)

Next, I drilled a 15/64 inch hole in the center of the piece, starting with an eighth inch bit, then a 3/15, and finally a 15/64 bit.  (Don't use a quarter inch bit -- the cutting threads on the tap will have nothing to cut if the hole is too big.)  I then used a quarter-inch 20 pitch tap in order to create internal threads in that hole, to match the threads on the end of the rod.

I screwed the replacement handle onto the rod, holding back on the rod with a vice grips so I could get it very tight.  The end of the threaded part of the rod projected out from the backside of the replacement handle by about 3/8 of an inch.  I put a lock nut onto that little stub and tightened it, so that the new handle will not unscrew from the rod.

Here are two views of the finished product.  This is a three-quarter end view:


And this is a side view:



Thursday, January 4, 2018

Insulating pad on window in the door: monofilament holds it in place


We often camp in pretty cold conditions – subfreezing but not sub-zero.  On a recent winter trip, we realized that the frosted window inset into the trailer door was losing a lot of heat.  So when I got home, I rigged up a way to hold a foam insulating pad on the inside of that window.  I think that other folks who camp in cold weather might find this useful.

As I do on our other windows, I used foam flooring material (from Costco), which comes in interlocking panels (about 2 feet square), cut down to fit the window opening.  The foam is about a half inch thick and is fairly stiff.  The window in our trailer's door was about 21 inches by 15 inches.  (Actually, I measured it in millimeters to give myself the illusion of precision.)  I cut the pad to size with a box cutter:


The next issue is how to hold the pad in place?  I thought about Velcro or magnets (my best friends) but decided to string four strands of monofilament fishing line (10 lb. test, I think) across the window to contain the pad.  Here is a shot of the pad on the door:




And this is a close-up of one of the monofilament cross-strings:



In order to create the cross-strings, I first took out a screw (one at a time!) and stuck one end of the string into the hole:



(By the way, please excuse the greasy fingers -- that's what my hands look like on a "garage day.")

I then screwed the screw back into the hole, trapping the end of the monofilament:



After tightening that screw, I removed the screw on the opposite side of the frame.  I cut the monofilament to be about 3/4 of an inch too long and then stuck that end of the line into the screw hole.  As I tightened the screw, it tightened the monofilament, taking up the slack.

In order to install the insulating pad, just slip one end under the lowest string and slide it up into place.  Remove it by sliding it down.  We store it under one of the dinette cushions -- a little extra padding never hurt anything.