Monday, November 15, 2010

Dryer DIY

We haven't been working on many projects around the house since we moved in, mainly just unpacking boxes and clearing a trailer full of brush out of the yard while the weather held out. But there was one Miss Fix-It project I wanted to share with you that I'm particularly proud of.

Meet Frank (short for Frankenstein):

He is an electric dryer we bought off Craigslist because the one we had was gas, and I've done the whole clothes line thing before and didn't want to go that route again. (First gravy and chili dogs, and now this non-green behavior! Whatever are you gonna do with me!)

Frank used to be known as the Mean Green Machine, but Frank had issues. You know what it sounds like when you're drying tennis shoes? Well, that's how Frank sounded all the time. A quick examination with a flashlight revealed the problem to be a busted drum roller. Now luckily our old dryer is also a vintage Kenmore, so it has become our Donor Dryer. The part we needed was extracted from our donor (may he rest) and skillfully transplanted into Frank. I am happy to report that after a short period of recuperation Frank is back to work and operating at 100%.

Here's a photo of the offending drum roller (center). The real problem turned out to be a broken tri clip (that triangle thing) which allowed the roller to slip and wobble and eventually wear down. Bonus: I found exactly $1 in change when I cleaned out the dryer's insides, plus a guitar pick. Woohoo! The two washers and nut were what was leftover once we had the machine put back together, but we're not going to talk about that!

(Doesn't everyone have leftover parts after putting something back together??)

1 comment:

melissa said...

Woodboy would be proud of you! :)