Ryobi 40V Jet Fan Blower Fan Coupler Fix

My Ryobi 40V leaf blower stopped blowing yesterday. The motor sounded like it was spinning but the visible fan blade would only rotate slowly. A quick consult with Dr. Google turned up a few youtube videos of people who had had this problem. One solved it by using a small R/C motor coupling, which also had a well done teardown. The other gooped in a bunch of JB Weld as a fix. Both worked. So I tore mine down to see what was what. I didn't do a detailed teardown, it's trivial to disassemble, but watch that first video I linked to.

All the screws are the same size which is nice.

Ryobi uses these weird offset silicone pieces to retain bearings and springs. I don't like it.

Square shaft for the blower end.

The only other screws are these long motor screws.

The coupler is a 1" long piece of plastic. One end has a square hole for the fan, the other a D shaped hole for the motor shaft. Ryobi does not sell this part, which I consider immoral.

The D hole has been wallowed out round, which is why it's not working. Thankfully the square hole was fine.

I made a bunch of measurements and will be drawing it up in CAD for 3D printing a replacement should it be needed. In the meantime (hopefully it will last forever) I simply tapped in the side of the coupling for a #8-32 setscrew. I used a form tap which should snugly hold the screw and keep it from backing out. This should work for any coupling which just had the D hole rounded out. If the square hole is wallowed out you would probably need 2-4 setscrews that were adjusted so you could just slip it onto the square shaft. This would be a lot harder to get to work well.

It went back together and now it blows again.

Converting a PanaVise 209 Vacuum Base Pv Jr. to a 203 PV Jr. Head

Well the title says it all, huh?

 

Various PanaVises, notice the PanaVise 209 Vacuum Base Pv Jr

I want the head to fit in this base.

 

I need the post to have an end like this.

Some lathe time.

And there it is. I bet you can just buy the equivalent part from PanaVise somehow.

Maybe too tall even with my low profile base.
I took about 3/4" off of the height.

Just so.

Now I can hold 4 things at a time, similarly.

 

 

Panavise 203, Panavise 209, Panavise 201

You'll See Summer Come Again

 Look at that, another post in under 6 months. I'm nothing if not prolific. Just a picture dump of what I've been up to.

A guard for the power button on the Brother laser printer. The cat would sit on it and hold the button down inadvertently which disconnects the printer from the network. Used my new Prusa Mini for it.

Made a Barton VC Multiplexer.

We had snow for a day in late January.

We Gave away our trampoline, Felice couldn't find the spring-hooking tool, so I made one, just as I finished she came into the shop and told me she had found it.

The slip nut for the kitchen sink drain disintegrated.

Started gardening again...

Started some sweet potatoes.

Expanded the garden...it's now 48' x 24'

Made this little wire weeding tool.

Western Fence Lizard lives in the cardboard covering my compost pile.

Soldier Beetle guarding the fava beans.

I started making kimchi. Felice likes it.

Gimme Five, I'm Still Alive

 I've been getting comments on and off in posts on this neglected blog, and reviewing the posts I wonder, "who is that guy? how did he have so much time and energy to write about odd stuff?" Well not really, I've just been busy with life and such. Last posts were about my first forays into modular synthesis. Well, that's continued.

I went from one 3U row of 84HP, to 8 3U rows...and it's not stopping. Most modules made from PCBs made by others and my own milled panels. I'm keeping it on that level of DIY to avoid GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) and keep costs down generally. I have done some basic PCB design myself (Kicad) and a few modules are constructed on stripboard.

I made a pretty conscious decision not to publicly document my DIY progress in the hobby for three reasons:
1) I'm doing a lot more learning and it'll be a long while before I feel comfortable giving advice or tutorials (if ever) on synth design or electronic engineering.
2) There are tons of people who do know what they are talking about.
3) It's burdensome to constantly document hobby progress.

That said, I will try to post about interesting things I come across going forward. Social media just hasn't replaced the utility of blogging.

Oh yeah, I've been doing a lot of gardening, getting back to my hippie ways. Here's the garden in July:

I'll leave you with this picture I took last week of two slugs mating in my back yard and also implore you to WEAR A MASK while the pandemic is ongoing.

Baby 8 Sequencer Prototyping…

Just having some fun working on projects.

Eurorack Modular Synthesizer Case

Yay, new hobby/midlife crisis. Slowly putting together a eurorack format modular synthesizer. The case is the first bit you need.
Rails from Synthrotek. I wish they had measured drawings.


Meanwell RT65-b power supply. Busboard was from a random Ebay auction.

Milled a slot so I can slip in more nuts without disassembling the case.

Fine tuning the rear panel after mounting the power supply, so covered everything with plastic.


The wood is from a 1x8 I found laying in the road. It has insect damage and checking.

I finished in early November 2017.

This is how many modules I’ve built since. I’m buying PCBs for various modules and then sourcing components and soldering them up. Fun.