OK, I really have been trying to control my Craigslist addiction, really I have!
I was just looking for those stupid ads I kept telling myself and the MAGIC word STARRETT, Brown and Sharp caught my attention and the sale was in my neck of the woods! Now if that ain't enough to make you fall off the wagon then you got more will power than I do.
Saturday morning dawned and I was up and ready to roll at ohdarkthirty cause I didn't want to miss any bargains. I take a leisurely drive through the back roads to the house and find exactly what was advertised sort of. The Starrett turned out to be a couple of pieces of NOS and the Brown and Sharp was repeats of calipers I already had. The rest of the tools were mostly vintage wood working stuff. I struck up a conversation with the owner complimenting him on his collection. He turned out to be a kindred spirit and was just selling off his excess of trade goods from his collection.
The only thing there that struck my interest was a set of Starrett #42-6 Hermaphrodite Calipers NOS in the box. I asked what he would take for them just to feel out how firm he was on the already reasonable $15.
"Well since they are going to someone that knows what those are and what they are really worth, I'll take $5"
I damn near dropped them, I was GOBSMACKED! I drug out my wallet and forked over the money.
Yeah, Yeah, I know. No picture, it never happened, right. I have to take the photo and post it.
OK, so now I got my deal for the day and I set sail back to the Secret R&D Lab of T&E Tech. On the way back the birds were singing a bit louder and the sun was a bit brighter so I decided to stop at a "garage sale" and see if I could find the "Crock Pot" I had promised a friend I would look out for.
I stopped at the first "garage sale" I came too and after befriending the dachshund that ran out to greet me I asked if they had a "Crock Pot" (slow cooker for you UK types).
"Yes, it is over on that table (pointing towards the back of the sale area)."
I walk back and find the "Crock Pot" to be an older model but in new appearing condition and for $1 well worth the ask price. Then I saw it! A pressure washer for $15 (10 quid for you UK types)! "What's the story on the Pressure Washer?"
"It needs a pump and we are just going to buy a new one. The motor runs fine so you could use it for a lawn mower or something, my husband says."
"You know you can buy parts for this and fix it. A new pump installed is in the $200 bracket and I do work on these." I offered.
"We can buy a new one for less (she can't) and I am not going to mess with it. You can start it if you like."
I rolled it over to the door and set the choke and gave the rope a pull. The little Honda popped to life and purred after a minute of warming up. OK, the motor is worth more than what she's asking and I can reseal the pump for $60 worth of parts so I decide to take it home. I pay for my crock pot and pressure washer and load my latest acquisitions in the trunk of the One Ton Saturn.
OK, Now I am feeling REALLY GOOD and decide I had better get back to the cave before I get hit by lightning. $20 bucks out of my pocket and I have a pair of calipers I have been looking for and a portable pressure washer in need of unknown repairs (I got my $1 investment in the crock pot back from my friend).
Upon arrival back at the Secret R&D Lab, I unload the pressure washer and drag out the garden hose so I can see exactly what the little critter is doing. I find the pump has been run on "well water" (untreated water from ground well, common on farms before the advent of the Public Water District "city water") which is frequently still used for livestock and non-potable uses. OK, I will have to at least clean the scale out of the pump and maybe just reseal the poppet valves, I am thinking. I fire the washer up and pull the trigger and nothing happens! Nothing! The motor runs fine and I can hear the pump pulling it down so I know it is building pressure just no out put. First I shut it down and remove the wash hose from the pump and fire it up again. Water shoots from the pump discharge and seems to have some pressure and quantity to the flow rate, so I shut it down and re-install the hose and then remove the fitting at the gun wand and repeat the test with the same results. I replace the gun and remove the nozzle orifice and start it up again and the flow is about the same with the trigger depressed.
Off to the shop I go with the nozzle in hand. A quick test with an air gun confirms that the nozzle is plugged. This is an adjustable nozzle design so I proceed to take the thing apart. Once I figured out the interlocking plastic assembly I had the orifice out and sure enough it was plugged with mineral scale and rust. I drilled the blockage out with a "torch tip cleaner" and re-assembled the nozzle, repeating the air test to confirm it flowed before re-installing it on the wand. I then turned the water supply on and fired the motor up. I triggered the gun and got the shock of my life when the pressure ripped the gun out of my hand (note to self, never hold a wand with only one hand). The motor was still loading up when the nozzle wasn't triggered so I knew I was going to have to go into the pump and find out what was wrong with the unloader valve so I secured the machine and headed to the house for some research on parts availability.
I Googled the name and model number on the washer and found a place that had the manuals posted online for many popular consumer grade machines as well as parts for the machine.
http://www.etspressurewashers.com/ I read the manual and studied the exploded view of the pump which is a straight forward radial axial flow pump common to this consumer grade mid pressure range washer. After a quick lunch I went back out to the shop and tore the pump apart. As I expected the aluminum parts were all coated in mineral scale from the "hard" well water so I soaked them in a container of acetic acid (strong vinegar) and went back to order the parts. I decided the O-rings were too high priced from ETS and settled on the seal kit for the plungers, a replacement outlet tube (O-ring seating area too badly corroded to seal properly) and a pint of the special synthetic pump oil these use. Total cost was right at $60 and the shipping brought it to $77. I sourced all the O-rings and Teflon seals from my industrial bearing supply house for a whopping $4.50. I spent an hour or so cleaning the parts and another couple of hours re-assembling the unloader valve/outlet head while waiting on the parts to show up from ETS. A week later the FedEx Ground truck dropped the box off and I put the pump back together that night, finishing the final assembly with enough daylight left to test the unit. I drug the washer into the backyard and again hooked up the water supply and fired the motor with the trigger depressed to bleed the air out of the system. The motor caught first pull as usual and the pump immediately started to build pressure. So far, so good! I held the trigger open until the flow stopped spitting air and closed the trigger the motor started to load up under pressure and then I heard the unloader valve crack open and the motor smoothed out. A bit of tweaking on the unloader valve got everything working to my liking.
While waiting for the pump parts to arrive I had to make a trip to the Orange Box for some stuff for another project. While there, I walked through the power equipment dept. and found the same pressure washer for sale at $370. My investment of less than $100 and a few hours of time look pretty good! I have a nice, portable pressure washer, freshly overhauled for about 25% of the replacement cost. The soap injector even works now so washing cars and equipment is a breeze.
Oh yeah, I also looked up the price those calipers sell for. $78 USD.
