Belt tensioner for my Toyota Yaris
I have a 2007 Toyota Yaris sedan. I love it. The thing is ridiculously reliable, nearly maintenance free, and gets great mileage. The one thing that drives me crazy is the serpentine belt. The dumb thing is next to impossible to set to the proper tension because Toyota decided not to include any sort of belt tensioning hardware. Instead, they expect you to take a crowbar to your alternator, stretch the belt to the proper tension, then somehow hold that position while tightening two bolts. Yeah. Right. I can totally do that all by myself.
I did some searching and found a post at Yaris World that gives instructions for modifying a Scion xD tensioner to work in a Yaris. I also found a post that uses angle iron, but I decided to go with the purpose-built OEM parts. The basic idea is to buy a few Toyota parts (16385-37010, 90105-08433, and 16381-37010 from a Toyota dealer or online from somewhere like Toyota Parts Zone) and then saw off a few bits of 16381-37010 so it will fit in a Yaris. The OEM part has a bolt on the wrong side (saw it off) and a lip that gets in the way (saw it off, too). This took me a few hours because I didn’t have the appropriate tools. Probably could have been done in just a few minutes if I had an angle grinder. Once the part is modified, it is easy to replace the Yaris bracket with the new one, tighten it up, and BAM! Belt tensioner for the Yaris. No more squealing belt. No more trying in vain to get the belt tight enough using whatever lever I can find. Just quick and easy belt tensioning.
See below for the before and after shots in my Yaris:
Original hardware
New hardware
If you notice, the original nut and both original bolts are being used. The only original part that I removed was the sliding bracket. This means that, once I use the long bolt to get the belt to the appropriate tension, I can retighten all the original bolts and nut so they hold everything in place instead of the long bolt and little tensioner bracket. In other words, the new parts are as safe and reliable as, if not more safe and reliable than, the original parts.
Read MoreRead Adobe Digital Editions ebooks on your Kindle
I don’t have a real Kindle, but I do like the Kindle app on my wife’s iPad, my iPod Touch, my computer, my phone, etc. Recently there was an awesome deal to get The Hunger Games trilogy for only $3.06 total:
- The Hunger Games for $0.83 with promo code HUNGERGAMESDEAL
- Catching Fire for $1.16 with promo code HUNGERGAMESDEAL2
- Mockingjay for $1.07 with promo code HUNGERGAMESDEAL3
The deal may still be valid, not sure. Feel free to give it a shot.
The problem was the ebooks were only available in Adobe Digital Editions format. Adobe has some fine software, but I’d rather read it on a Kindle. So I searched Google and found how to remove the DRM, convert to Kindle format, and load the book into my Kindle software.
First, you need to make sure you have Adobe Digital Editions installed on your computer. It is free and takes about 2 minutes to install.
Next, load your purchased books into Adobe Digital Editions. For me, this was as easy as clicking the “download” button at the site that I purchased the books from. The books were downloaded and opened in Adobe Digital Editions automatically for me.
Adobe ebooks use DRM to keep you from doing what you want with the book that you paid for. Lame. Use this awesome free DRM removal tool to strip the DRM out. That page has clear instructions on how to use the application.
The last step is to install Calibre. When you set it up, be sure to tell it you have a Kindle. It lets you set up a Kindle email address (view your Amazon account or your Kindle software if you aren’t sure what your Kindle email address is). Â Once Calibre is installed, it is pretty easy to add your books, right click on a book, then go to Connect/share ->Email to xxxxx@Kindle.com. Calibre will convert your ebook then email it to Amazon.
Once Amazon gets the book, it will make it available to your devices. This can take 5-15 minutes, so be patient.
It may sound complicated at first, but really the whole process takes maybe 5 minutes. Anyways, the process worked great for me. I finished reading The Hunger Games yesterday, and my wife isn’t far behind. I’m waiting for her to finish the first book before I move on to the second. Hopefully she hurries because I’m dying to know what happens next!
Read MoreEmbroidery for fun and profit
My wife has an embroidery machine. She has had it since way before we knew each other, but I’ve never seen it used. We hauled it from Virginia to Connecticut, and promptly placed it on a shelf. The poor thing hasn’t seen any use.
Luckily for the embroidery machine, our scout troop is making t-shirts and I offered to embroider them, if they want me to. For example, I could put their names or troop number or BSA logo on their shirts for them. We’ll be coming up with the design for the shirts pretty soon at a troop meeting and I wanted to bring a sample with me so they would know what was possible. This meant we had to get the machine working.
The first problem is that the software portion of the machine only runs on 32-bit Windows, so I had to dust off my wife’s obsolete and ancient ThinkPad, load Windows 2000 Professional, and try to get the dang USB attachment to work. Took hours but I finally got it working. The set up lets me move designs from the computer to a proprietary storage card which is then inserted into the embroidery machine.
Next, we had to figure out how to set up the mechanical part of the machine. It took some practice and some manual reading but we finally got it working. We created a sample that said “TROOP 515”. It looks really good!
Today I spent some time trying to figure out how to make my own designs. It took some trial and much error, but finally it worked. I converted my company logo to an embroidery design file, loaded it unto the card, and hit the go button. It took about 40 minutes but finally I was left with a rather large (about 4 inches) embroidered logo on a scrap of old t-shirt. Not very handy, but fun to know that the machine can do something so large and have it come out so nice looking.
Embroidery machine at work on my logo
Anyways, we have some Winnie the Pooh designs that we want to put on some onesies for Anna. I tried a few minutes ago but failed miserably, so I’ll have to wait until Becca gets home. She is really much better at this stuff than I am.
I’m still trying to think what else we can do with this machine. Maybe custom “Team Allred” shirts for game night? Even fancier stay-at-home-dad merit badges? I’m open to suggestions!
UPDATE:Â Forgot to put anything about the profit part. I am, of course, thinking of numerous websites I can make that are embroidery related, and a bunch of things I can easily make that I could sell on Etsy.
Read MoreI love my Kreg Jig
A few years ago my parents got me the Kreg Jig K4 Pocket Hole System. I thought it was neat but didn’t really have a use for it at the time, so sadly it has been sitting in a tub of random tools in my basement.
Now that I’m retired and have too much time on my hands I decided I wanted to try building some furniture. For my first venture I am working on a nightstand for my wife. The Kreg Jig has made it so much easier.
Yesterday I built the top (see photo) using three pieces of 1×6. It took about 15 minutes to cut the wood, drill the pocket holes, and screw the whole thing together. When Becca came home I of course wanted to show it off to her. It was so tightly and evenly put together that she thought it was a single solid piece of wood!
Thanks to my Kreg Jig, I should be able to finish the nightstand in the next few days during my baby’s nap times, and I won’t have to try to cover any nail holes (or errant hammer strikes).
I still have a bit to do.. I need to make a drawer, add a shelf, sand/stain/finish the whole thing, and attach the top to the base.
Read MoreReplacing the hinges on my Lenovo IdeaPad Y530
There I was, minding my own business, doing something uber productive (like stumbling or something), when suddenly the screen on my laptop went *smack!* against my legs. In other words, the screen decided it was tired of being told where to be and it was going to just flop around wherever gravity would take it.
Needless to say, it isn’t easy to use a laptop screen if it doesn’t stay up on its own. So I ran to my good friend eBay and found some replacement hinges for $7.40 shipped.
Next, I found this awesome post on replacing the hinges on a Y530 (or Y510). An hour or so later, I have brand new hinges in my laptop and am happily aimlessly browsing the internet. Seriously though it took a lot of effort. Not the easiest laptop repair I’ve ever done. It didn’t help that my replacement hinges were bent (insufficient packaging).
Anyways, I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I manage to beat planned obsolescence. I’ve had this laptop a couple of years, and I could easily have just bought a new one, but for $7.40 and a little effort I’ve saved my laptop from the landfill and my bank account from a hefty transaction.
Read MorePhone charger caddy thing
A few months ago my wife and I got a bad case of insomnia, so we decided to create a cell phone charger caddy thing. Basically it is a little phone holder that sits on your phone charger plug, so you don’t have to set your phone on the floor.
We used a piece of cardboard from the back of a pad of paper to give it some strength, and created a loop to hold the phone. Some designs use a pocket, but we decided a loop would allow it to hold my phone, my wife’s phone, or a friend’s phone, without having to worry too much about how big the phone is.
We also found that phones are heavy and the plug didn’t hold the whole thing up too well, so we added a small piece of velcro to the pack to attach it directly to the outlet.
Anyways, it was fun to make, looks great, and lets us charge our phones in the living room without taking up any extra space.
