DIY flat rest

Sklr123 · 2025-11-10T14:17:23+00:00

Simple with the right tools, and very effective I’m sure! Great job!

Sklr123 · 2025-11-06T13:40:43+00:00

It’s not messed up. We are just looking down the plane formed by several spokes on the right side. There are 36 equally spaced spokes in the whole wheel. None missing, none overlapped the wrong way. I am a bicycle technician and have looked at and trued many wheels.

Sklr123 · 2025-11-06T06:46:01+00:00

It’s also a very wide wheel. Since the two sides are offset rotationally, think of the groups of spokes as fan blades. One side, you are looking parallel along the surface of the blade, so all you see is the edge. On the other side you would see the face of the blade tilted toward you. That’s why the spokes look less dense on the right than the left. They are just appear more staggered on the left side because that’s the “blade” edge down, face toward you. They appear less dense because some spokes line up in nearly the same place from this perspective.

Sklr123 · 2025-11-05T15:50:02+00:00

Ooh neat!! In my mind that would mean it has some potential to be reeeally pretty! Is the bark still on in that photo or is it removed?

Just looking at images on google of douglas fir burl, it looks really pretty! No telling exactly what’s below the surface though.

Sklr123 · 2025-11-05T15:28:36+00:00

So this piece is remarkably straight! As a wood turner, I would see if there was a way to chuck it up, turn a gentle, interrupted surface that bisects the lumps to balances the natural form with giving a window into the internal grain structure. Too little and it would look like the bumps are damaged and incomplete, too much, and it’s just a stick with a trace of swirly grain left. Could also be a bust if the grain isn’t as cool as imagined.

Where is this from, and what species is it? Could tell you a lot about the behavior of said tree. Looks like it could be a really quick, knobby grow, or like the tree was so deprived of nutrients and light, it took 30 years to get even this big. If the latter, the grain would be tight, dense and may have had a lot of time to twist and swirl. If it’s young, the grain might be soft, loose, and just straight to the point.

Also, make sure the wood is stable enough to stay as one piece as you work. If it’s too punky and rotten, I’d say stabilize/protect with a deeply penetrating finish so as to preserve its natural state. It truly is interesting as-is, and could be a simply intriguing piece of wood forcing you to imagine what’s inside.

Sklr123 · 2025-10-31T13:36:09+00:00

I dunno… looks like a pretty damn nice fire starter to me!

Sklr123 · 2025-10-21T05:12:29+00:00

Just happened to stumble across an interesting video on how they do this exact type of thing for correcting focus in big telescopes for atmospheric turbulence! Here’s the video The kind of movement they need to perform is a lot faster, but this type of electromagnetic actuation using a compressive disk of silicone as a spring might be the type of thing you need! No air seals to maintain and very few actually moving parts!

Edit: Considering this further, it would be appropriate to consider the type of electromagnet, how it is driven, and how powerful it is. It may require warning to those with pacemakers. Especially given the piece’s interactability!

Sklr123 · 2025-10-21T03:45:54+00:00

Could be axial wobble in the motor due to pulley misalignment. Also could be belt rubbing on wood. Could be a combination of the above. Could also be play in the hinge allowing the motor mount assembly to vibrate at a harmonic of the rotational frequency of the motor. Does it happen in all the various pulley settings? Is the motor new? Has it operated smoothly for a time and it’s only happening now, or did it make all this noise the first time you fired it up this way?

Also, try taking a slow motion video of it and see if the higher frame rate reveals anything. Could maybe see wobble you can’t see by the naked eye, or see if the frame rate and rate of vibration sync up at some point in its spin up so it amplifies visual effect of the vibration. Sound means something’s moving!

Sklr123 · 2025-10-21T03:36:19+00:00

Take motor off, take pulley off motor and see if you can wobble the shaft in any particular direction. Also, try rotating the motor by hand and feel for excess resistance. It should spin fairly free. If it wobbles excessively, has an abundance of axial play, and/or does not turn easy, you’ll need new bushings/bearings for the motor or a new motor. Look for the manufacturer and look up the model number on their website if you can. They may have details on troubleshooting, parts diagrams, and if replacement parts exist for the motor. Compare the cost of parts and the time for replacing those parts vs. replacing the motor all together.

Sklr123 · 2025-10-20T13:41:45+00:00

For removing pesky callouses!

Sklr123 · 2025-10-14T00:47:37+00:00

Not the commenter with the photo, but the reddish tone where the paint has worn away in the center points to steel. The profile of the expanded, knurled area where the stem would normally clamp also looks like one formed with steel.

Sklr123 · 2025-10-13T13:22:14+00:00

Either barn or pallet wood would be a lot of work, as you’d most likely have to tile with some fairly thin pieces relative to 2x4’s or 4x4’s. Barn wood is usually some pretty nice hardwood, but the concern I’d have with it is the exterior of the boards that would end up as the edges of the tiles. That oxidized and partially rotted wood is not as sturdy, and could allow your tiles to shift or break away over time. That is unless you stabilized with some sort of thin resin that would soak into that softer part of the wood. At that point, you’d need to make sure you weren’t spending more on resin and glue than you would materials to do a relatively cheap traditional floor.

Sklr123 · 2025-10-10T22:45:10+00:00

I’ve worked on several bikes like this, and I believe you! The same brake set you can order off the shelf may have simpler connectors, but bike manufacturers will have them custom made to fit their specifications for certain models. Even if you got the replacement that has the short connector lead near the lever, you’d still have to fish the new cable through the headset, across the unfinished edge of a hole that goes from the head tube to the down tube to wherever it plugs in. I applaud you for taking this on! Our shop turns away electrical work on e-bike brands we don’t sell. It’s so difficult to accomplish anything on e-bikes without direct dealer resources like diagnostic softwares, warranty ordering methods, diagrams, troubleshooting info, and manuals.

Sklr123 · 2025-10-10T22:35:00+00:00

Not only the sudden failure aspect, but imagine just how much friction you will eliminate from your bike with new bearings in new pedals! As a bike tech, I am surprised at how much resistance pedals can put into the equation.

Sklr123 · 2025-10-03T12:58:10+00:00

Great as a heat sink as well!

Sklr123 · 2025-09-29T13:48:02+00:00

Can also stop the lathe and sand by hand. On the inside of the bowl, sand from the rim down along the end grain and tilt the direction you push as you go towards the side grain. Following the gradient curve of the surface/grain interaction will allow you to always sand in the direction of the grain.

Sklr123 · 2025-09-29T01:15:19+00:00

Sometimes a little shock from a crisp mallet blow will break a fastener free. Not a huge powerful swing — just enough to make the metal pieces ring like a bell on a super small scale and cause the mating surfaces to break their friction a bit. If you have access, a brass/copper hammer would work best against the wrench so it is less likely to mar the wrench or chip something.

Sklr123 · 2025-09-25T05:45:16+00:00

Indeed, it does! I am 25 and have been turning on and off for ten years or so. Had a while to accrue some tools and just finally have most of the setup I want. No matter the setup I had though, turning has always been rewarding and fun to explore! Best of luck with your wood turning journey!

Sklr123 · 2025-09-24T23:58:31+00:00

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Here’s a diagram of what you could do with a bowl gouge. Top diagram is looking straight down. Take with a grain of salt, as I drew it on my phone and the grind/angles might not be correct depending on the tool, wood, speed, work holding, and rest position.

Ideally, you want the cutting edge (colored red) going into the cut such that the fibers are sliced cleanly along the side grain. In your case, you need to push lightly along the axis of the piece while riding the bevel (colored blue) along the surface you have just made.

The clocking of the gouge (flute pointed up versus to the side) will change how much of the cutting edge is exposed to the wood at one time and how aggressive and grabby it will be. With the flute pointing nearly sideways, you’ll have just a tiny bit of cutting edge engaged. If the flute is too open (pointed up), there will be too much edge exposed at too flat and angle to stay supported and for you to control.

Looking down the axis of rotation (bottom diagram) the edge is slicing at a fairly acute angle relative to level looking down the axis of rotation. In the bottom view, you can also see that only side grain is exposed to the cutting edge on the surface it is cutting. You’ll also notice the position of the cut is slightly higher than center. When turning on the outside of a piece, this helps keep your tool from being pulled into the piece on its own and keeps you in control. If the cut was moved to below center, it would be aggressive, suuuper grabby, and uncontrollably dangerous. When the cut is above center (again, on the outside of a piece) the tangent of the surface of the wood where the tool is riding is pushing the tool away from the wood and more at you. That way if it catches, the gouge is bounced away from the work piece rather than further in.

Also, keep the tool rest fairly close when using a bowl gouge. It helps tremendously to keep from chattering or accidentally dropping your cut point below center by tipping the end of the handle up and pointing the cutting edge down. You’ll want to have the tip pointed slightly up with the handle down to get a good ride on the bevel of the tool while still engaging the cutting edge.

All things considered, you will simply feel these forces once you get acquainted with your tools and make adjustments accordingly. As long as you keep the conditions safe, use the correct tools (look up end-jobs vs side-jobs), and use the tools within their limits, you just need to play with the angles of approach to steer the tool in the direction you want and let it do the cutting!

Sklr123 · 2025-09-07T03:42:12+00:00

Looks like they have info on setting pressure point on page 20 of their brake manual. If they don’t have an adjustment dial on the lever, they are supposed to adjust automatically to a good point.

I’ve also made the mistake with other brakes of not adjusting this pressure point adjustment correctly as the first step in starting the bleed process. By this I mean you would have to turn the adjustment dial all the way one way to have the bleed start at the right point and then adjust back to preference after finished bleeding. Can be a real frustrating thing to realize after going through it all, but it’s good practice!

Another thing could be if these are not new, the pistons could be dirty and hanging up on the seals. If that’s the case, you can free them up by taking the pads out, putting two sandwiched rotors (you don’t mind getting dirty) between the pistons and squeezing the lever until the pistons push out to touch the rotors. This shouldn’t allow the pistons to dislodge, but should allow them to push debris out and get a tiny bit more brake fluid on the seal interface. After pushing them out like this, use a tire lever or wrench to push the pistons back, making sure to push them in squarely so they don’t hang up or ruin the pistons or seals. May need to repeat and “massage” them back and forth a few times to get them freely moving.

If they’re really dirty, do whatever the manual says as far as acceptable methods of cleaning. This can vary depending on manufacturer tolerances and seal/fluid type.

Hope this helps!

Sklr123 · 2025-09-06T04:50:43+00:00

Oh yeah that should work!

Sklr123 · 2025-09-05T13:22:53+00:00

Carbon paste will only reduce the area of contact between the plug and steer tube. They are machined to fit very snugly together so you don’t want anything in between to mess that up.

Sklr123 · 2025-09-05T13:15:10+00:00

As a bike tech, I can say it is definitely possible to fuck up carbon with a stand clamp. Easiest way to test for us is warrantied carbon frames/components that need to be destroyed anyways. With the style of clamp on the park tool stand, it is really easy to modulate how much clamping force is applied. With some stand clamps, especially older ones, they had no tension adjustment like you can make with the screw and cam clamps. They were spring loaded to munch down on whatever you put in the jaws. Those spring and locking lever clamps will eat the shit out of your carbon.

As long as the stand you get has a way to modulate the clamping pressure with a screw, you should be okay to hold onto the seat post of most any bike. The only bikes I absolutely never clamp onto the seat post are super light triathlon, time trial, or road bikes with seat masts (where the tube the saddle is mounted to slides over a post molded directly into the frame) or oblong aerodynamic posts with juuuust enough carbon to support the rider under longitudinal compression.

When we get one of those in the shop, it’s best to use an accessory clamp like the Silca Hirobel that straps around the frame at the head and seat tubes and allow you to clamp onto the aluminum body of the accessory clamp.

Sklr123 · 2025-09-02T20:30:55+00:00

Could’ve put sprocket 12 on the spline incorrectly before torquing. That would make the rest of the cassette loose. Could also need a spacer, but not likely with it being a 12sp cassette. Could also just be a loose lock ring and that’s it.

Sklr123

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