Author: rexplex

With a bachelors degree in history, I turn wrenches for a living. I’m most at peace when I hear the wind in the trees or the gurgle of a brook. I’m a believer in the Renaissance Man, as epitomized by DaVinci engineer, artist, soldier, statesman. As Heinlein said, “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

Adding Brakes to the Utility Trailer – Electrical (Day 3)

In which your narrator is flummoxed by a bit of electronics.

So, I’m a firm believer in “Trust but Verify”, so I wanted to be sure that I knew which wires in the trailer wire were carrying which signals to the junction box*. Because I can’t be both in the drivers seat of the Honda and sitting at the trailer tongue with a multimeter, I enlisted the help of the youngest offspring.

He loved sitting in the drivers seat, stepping on pedals, flipping levers and things were going pretty well.

I was able to confirm my ground, hot, turn signals & marker lights. That left two terminals unaccounted for and no trigger voltage for the trailer brakes. No matter how hard he stepped on the pedal or pressed the override button, I wasn’t getting voltage on either post, but I was starting to get pretty hot under the collar.

Time to pull the dashboard apart again and make sure that everything was working correctly. There’s only four wires between the controller and the Honda, so it shouldn’t be too hard to sort.

Adding brakes to the Utility Trailer – electrical (day 2)

Good day, and welcome to day 2.

First step – get the junction box hung so I can complete my day 1 tasks.

Adding brakes to the utility trailer – electrical (Day 1)

Last fall I installed the Tow-Pro into the Ridgeline, now I have to make it so the Tow-Pro can control the trailer brakes.

First off, the brake-less trailer has a four pin plug (Ground, Marker, Left & Right Turns), while a trailer equipped with brakes has a seven pin plug (added Brakes, Reverse lights and Power).

New trailer wire

Adding brakes to the utility trailer this spring. I’m going to post little bits as I go, instead of one big post.

I’m moving from a four-wire cable to a seven wire cable to support the brakes & break away safety system. I’m also adding a seven pole junction box.

More Power

When we go camping, I like to make sure that everyone has a charged phone or watch so that I can find my family. Unfortunately, Honda doesn’t think you should have access to electrons when the engine isn’t running. Time to add some charging ports, without looking like I added some charging ports. (See Rule 2)

Box joint jig for the table saw

I’ve gotten to the point where new projects don’t always* require purchasing** new tools. But as I work on more ambitious projects, I am building more tools & jigs.

When I built the drawer for the drill press cabinet, I was very dissatisfied with my results, so I started looking for something better.

Enter the box joint or finger joint jig.

Band saw cabinet design

When I bought the bandsaw a few years ago, it was on this angle iron base. Perfectly functional, and purely functional. It works, but it looks like a bunch of angle iron off cuts (which is what it is).

Once I built the base for the drill press, I decided that the band saw needed a matching base.

Let’s take a little tour of my mental processes when designing a project like this.

First trip with the tonneau.

We decided to take advantage of the President’s Day weekend, and the generosity of some family friends and head to Cape May for a two night getaway.

Pouring rain for the two hour drive, but thanks to the tonneau cover, all our luggage stayed dry*.

How do I safely drill an end cap?

For the bandsaw cabinet I plan to add a work light. I found a light fixture I think will be great, but it’s a bit too short.

I’m going to make it taller by building a base from 3/4” pipe, but I’ve got to attach the fixture to the pipe & get the cord into the cabinet.

I need to drill a hole through the pipe cap, without injuring myself. One hand operating the quill of the drill press, and the other operating the oil can.

Finally installed the Fas-Top

Between work & weather the Fas-Top has been in boxes in my garage for almost a month. The weather was almost acceptable today & I need the space in the garage for some other projects so I installed the top system today.