How to Fix Common Car Problems

When your vehicle starts to do something unnatural, it can be scary and frustrating- especially if you have no experience in fixing cars. Sometimes, these car problems are something you should worry about- but sometimes, you can easily fix them.

Most car problems are fairly common which are experienced by many drivers every day. Fortunately, most of these troubles are nothing serious, and can serve as a warning to avoid more serious problems in the future. Here are a few car troubles that you may encounter and how you can fix them.

Squeaky Brakes : You might be driving on a highway when you start to notice a squeaking sound when you hit the brakes. This can be caused by the vibration of either of the following:

• Pads and the rotors
• Calipers and the mounts
• Pads and the calipers

Squeaking breaks is not something you should ignore by simply drowning out the sound. You should bring your vehicle to a mechanic so that it can be repaired.

Check Engine Light : If this light comes on, it is typically a service reminder that your car's computer has detected a problem with the emission system. This problem can be caused by various reasons; however it is not an immediate problem. If the light comes on, you can keep on driving. Just make sure that you bring your car in for serving soon.

If the light is red instead of amber, the problem might be something serious. For instance, your car might be running with low engine oil or low oil pressure. If this happens, you should pull over and check the hood as well as the oil level. In addition, look for signs of overheating, such as steam from the radiator.

Air Conditioner Failure : It can be quite frustrating when your air conditioner fails you at a time when you need cool and refreshing air the most. If your car's air condition fails, the most likely cause is the lack of refrigerant. If that's not the cause, the problem might most likely be the compressor.

Vehicle Pulls to One Side : Once you notice that your vehicle starts to veer off in a certain direction when you get your hands off the steering wheel, or you are having a hard time keeping your car in a straight line, your car might not be properly aligned. This can be fixed by taking your car in for realignment.

Clicking Sound : You may hear a clicking sound as your roll and it is driving you nuts. Do not panic by thinking that it might be a major problem. You can pull your car over or find an empty parking space. Check the exposed tread of each tire. You should also get in your vehicle and roll it back and forward until you expect every part of the tread. You may find a piece of gravel, small piece of rock, or something. Get it off your tire tread and your problem is solved.

Customized Wedding Cake Toppers - Be Unique

The great day is coming! You are going to be the most beautiful bride in the world. You want a unique wedding that can reflect your personality and feeling? Then you begin to spend lots of time choosing wedding dress, wedding favor, and wedding bouquet. Do not forget one small but meaningful thing - wedding cake topper! Recently customized cake topper has become more and more popular, little figures of the newlyweds with funny or elegant pose can be sparkled point at the ceremony and also an adorable keepsake after that. A fantastic wedding topper can be a great talking point, and will remind you of the wonderful occasion every time you see it.

Nowadays, ordering a customized cake topper from Internet has been very popular. There are lots of suppliers offering different kinds of toppers such as monogram toppers, clay toppers and more ... Actually there are too many of them that you have to spend hours to choose the right one. Here are some tips on how to choose your customized toppers.

Basic principal, Let the customized wedding toppers match your wedding, your personality or the special thing you want to memorize. And take a look around the market; get a general idea about the existing product. You are going to spend lots of money to custom your own topper; you do not want it to be similar to the existing product, right? If so, that would be a great waste of money.

Second choosing a material you love. You may wonder why need pay attention to material? Since sometimes styles of toppers depend on the material. For example if you want to custom cute animal theme toppers, then paper clay or fabric would work perfect on your requirement, other materials such as glass or porcelain might not work that good. Cute and lovely feeling may not be fully expressed by glass or porcelain.

At last, tell the artist or craftsman what you want details, write an instruction for your toppers as detailed as possible. You can even tell them the reason why you want to custom the cake topper, these can help them catch the unique meaning of the cake toppers and often that would be a great help for making the toppers.

Wood Lathes and Their Tools

Wood Lathes date back to about 1300 BC. Egyptians first developed a two person lathe where one person would rotate the wood with a rope while another would shape the wood with a sharpened tool. Romans later improved the lathe by the use of a Turning Bow. Later in the Middle Ages a Foot Pedal replaced the Turning Bow and allowed one person to operate the lathe, the Foot Pedal is still used to some extent in Third World Countries.

Lathes continued to evolve through the ages; using animal power, water power, steam power and electric power. Today we are fortunate to have a variety of variable speed lathes and sizes from small bench lathes to the larger lathes that will turn objects up to 24" in diameter and still bigger but these are special use, usually for commercial application.

When a lathe size is mentioned say as a 14 inch than means there is 7 inches between the center of the Head Stock and the lathe bed or Ways; 14 inches is the maximum diameter.

Tools for the Wood Lathe; there are many but they all fall into six tool groups. They are the Gouge, Scraper, Skew, Parting Tools, Specialty Tools and Carbide tools. The numbers of these tools are greatly multiplied when you consider different sizes as in thickness, width and length. The many different profiles or shapes that also increase the number of tools. After you have turned for a few years it is easy to have 20 or 30 different tools.

Gouges: There are several profile shapes that have specific uses. Spindle Gouge is used for shaping square wood into round spindles and because of its high sides it should never used on bowls. Bowl Gauges have many different profiles that make bowl gouges very versatile and are great tools. Detail Gouges have their purpose. Gouges require practice to understand different methods of use and how to sharpen the tool. If you take the time to learn how to use the bowl gauge you'll never be without one in your tool chest.

Scrapers: Are used to smooth your turning, sharpened correctly they are very good. Many experienced turners leave a burr on the edge, this will cause to scraper to cut very fine.

Skews: Have a double edge bevel and are normally shaped at about a 30 degree angle. With the double bevel edge the chisel can be turned over and used both left and right, some have a rounded edge. Skew can be used for smoothing and special angels.

Parting Tools: Are used for parting off (removing) the turning from the waste block. There are a number of other limited uses.

Specialty Tools: Are texturing tools, chatter tools, Chinese Ball Tools, and etc.

Carbide Tools: Are gaining a lot of use because of their hardness and ability to stay shape longer. The carbide cutter is attached to the shank of a tool that can only be used for that purpose. The different shapes are cups, flat round, square, diamond and etc. They are a good tools and have their place in the wood turner's tool chest. The only drawback is the cost of the replacement cutters.

Beginning turners can purchase tool sets in a number different sizes depending on the size of the lathe. The sets will have one of each of the tools described above except the specialty and carbide tools. I hope this article helps those that are just learning this wonderful craft.

Writing for Money: Ditching the Content Mills

New writers often find themselves working long hours for content mills and barely eking out enough money to make it even worth the effort.

If that sounds familiar, and you are feeling discouraged, or just plain tired of hearing the heart-wrenching sobs coming from your wallet, do not give up just yet. It does not have to be this way. As a writer, you have got some very marketable skills, even if you do not know it yet.

Although it takes a bit of effort, you can start doing your happy dance now because there are lucrative markets begging for good writers. Here is how you start: once you have built up a few clips (writing speak for examples of your work), you can start branching out.

If you do not have any experience, no worries, just see one my other articles about getting started in the field of paid writing. After you have some samples and have gotten your feet wet, it's time to up the ante and build your business.

Make no mistake, when you write for money, you have to take it seriously and realize that you are running a business. Act accordingly.

Understand that means marketing yourself, doing your taxes and all sorts of other grown up business things such as having a professional message on your phone (so that people returning your calls do not hear the dulcet tones of your giggling toddler singing their happy song).

Here padawan, is your first lesson: go where the work is. What do I mean by that? I mean you should wean yourself off of the content mills and look for real, paying clients of your own.

There are plenty of free online resources which you can use to connect with the people who are looking for writers.

As an aside, I know how tough this can seem at first. I would have much preferred to remain in my blanket-fort and color all day than call on my first clients.

The only reason I did it is the greedy electric company insisted that I pay them with real money rather than IOU's written in crayon. (They are funny that way.)

Jettison the emotional baggage and buckle up, because this is where the rubber meets the paid writing road. And if you want to be a paid writer, you need to get over the fear of reaching out.

When it comes to writing for a living, you have several routes that you can take. More, in fact, than I can cover in one piece. You can, for instance, write for printed and online publications including newsletters, magazines, journals and the like. To do that you will need to learn to craft a query letter.

I will be adding an article that deals specifically with that in the near future. Suffice to say, it means contacting editors and pitching ideas. You can get the contact information from editors from sources such as the Writer's Digest or online searches.

Just type in "magazines about cattle in Texas", or whatever you are interested in. There are literally tens of thousands of journals, magazines and newsletters that need content every single day.

No matter what your skill level, someone, somewhere, wants what you have to offer. If one says no, go to the next. I guarantee you that your willingness will pay off.

A word of advice, do not try to get into big national magazines right off the bat. Go for the low hanging fruit of smaller publications. With a little research you can find out how to create a winning query letter and who to reach out to.

Now it is time to backtrack and cover another really lucrative, and surprisingly easy to break into, writing goldmine: commercial, or business, freelance writing is a field in and of itself. (Peter Bowerman has written loads on this topic.

You see, regardless of their size, businesses need writers. They need direct mail, they need manuals, and they need blogs, emails and more. There are a bazillion different kinds of written material ranging from copy (marketing, sales pitches, etc.) to content (newsletter, blogs, white papers, ad nauseam.).

You can find people who need writing work by calling them directly, emailing them or contacting them through their company webpages. And, while many people do not like Craigslist, and there are some real pitfalls and scams to watch out for, I have personally found some great clients there.

The point is to start looking. If you know something about a particular industry or hobby, start there. See who needs a blog, and article, whatever. At the very least start educating yourself about the different kinds of work available and learn to position yourself so that you can take advantage of it.

If you want to get paid to write, no one is standing in your way. Go forth and conquer. Stay tuned for more in-depth pieces to help you launch into paid writing.

Why My Clutch Is Smoking On My Go Kart

I have written several commentaries on this subject in the past, but I think it warrants rehashing, because there are two possible reasons why your clutch is smoking. I usually discuss one most likely reason, but in this article let's talk about the two possible causes of why your clutch is smoking on your go kart.

First the fundamental understanding of go karts is needed. The drive line typically consists of a clutch driver and the driven axel sprocket. The driven axel sprocket is mounted directly to the rear driver axel which turns the drive wheels. This is a one step system, or a one ratio system.

The centrifugal clutch which is used on most go karts, uses weights that are mounted internally in the clutch that fling out and press against the clutch bell housing. The bell housing then in turn moves the sprocket driving sprocket teeth.

The typical clutch has 10 to 12 sprocket teeth. As a rule of thumb any clutch that has more than 10 to 12 sprocket teeth is going to give trouble to the drive line. Trouble as in smoking clutch.

The engagement of the weights to clutch bell housing occurs at a certain rpm. Typically this rpm is around 1800 to 2000 rpm. The engine needs to blast through this level of rpm and get the clutch pack to stick and finally engage to the walls of the clutch bell. The smoking aspect occurs when the clutch is engaging but is not fully grabbing. If the prolonged engagement occurs for too long, the clutch will start to smoke and eventually damage it to where the weights will only slip and perhaps even crack and break apart.

As I stated at the start of the article, the prolonged engagement occurs because of two possible reasons:

1.) The engine is not powerful enough to get past the engagement stage

2.) The clutch weight rpm is not high enough.

The engine not being powerful enough typically is the result of a mismatch in ratios to the rear drive wheels. So the real reason is that the ratio is not steep enough, and therefore the engine smokes the clutch.

(Another possible issue can occur and that is if the clutch is made to engage at lower rpm than the engine can grab at, the engine may not have enough power, and the engine will suddenly (more like violently) shudder and stop. It is not uncommon for the engine to be so overpowered that it rotates backwards momentarily.)

The second way the clutch will smoke is if the clutch rpm never reaches engagement speed, or it is in the neighborhood of engagement speed, but is not high enough above the engagement speed to get a lock. This will smoke the clutch and is prevalent in mismatched jackshaft systems.

The remedy for the first clutch smoking problem, is to alter the drive line so that the overall ratio is steeper. The simple method is to increase the rear sprocket diameter. Programs have been written that will estimate if you clutch will smoke or not, they typically are found on web pages or are available for purchase through various web pages. Typically what occurs is that the hp-ratio just will not be possible using the simple one ratio system. So a jack shaft needs to be added to make the ratio even steeper. In other words, making it a two ratio system.

This is where guys who install jackshafts need to be aware. The clutch typically cannot be put on the driver of the jackshaft, with a ratio in front of it. This will make the clutch rotate too slowly, even though the overall ratio is correct. So the clutch engagement rpm needs to be taken into account otherwise the clutch will smoke on the secondary jackshaft mounting position.

The bottom line is if clutch is not engaging because of either too little hp, or too slow of a clutch speed then the system need to be changed by altering the ratios either behind the clutch or in front of the clutch.

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What Are the Advantages of Using a Laser Cutter Machine?

Laser cutting is a technology which uses this light for cutting materials and is used typically for manufacturing applications in the industries. Many hobbyists along with small businesses and schools are also beginning to use this technology. This cutting technique aims at directing high power output of the gleam by a computer at a material that has to be cut. Material afterward, either blow away by a gas jet, vaporises or burns thus leaving an edge that has a surface finish of high quality. Industrial cutters are used for cutting materials of flat sheets as well as materials with piping and structure. It has become an important part of the manufacturing process. These are the share of merits.

Holding work in position and no contamination

One of the main advantages of using a laser cutter machine is that the work-piece is held right in position. This is quite a merit this technique offers over mechanical cutting. Holding is accurately placed and it is also easier. The cuts that are made by the laser machine are extremely precise and do not require too much time. Rather, the total process of cutting has not only become easier but the task is accomplished at a much lower time. Compared to conventional machines of cutting cuts by gleams do not have any kind of direct contact with the work-piece so that there is no contamination of material.

No warping and is versatile

Primary advantages of using a Laser machine includes that, in this cutting technique the heat that the area is subjected to, is small. This quite benefits because there are the reduction in chances of the material being warped. In most of the conventional processes there are huge amounts of heat generated that turns materials shapeless. The amount of energy used for this gleam technique is also comparatively lesser to any technology of plasma cutting even. It can be used for cutting a host of materials like certain metals, plastic, rubber, wood and ceramic. This is also one of the most versatile techniques for cutting or engraving complex to simple designs on a piece of work.

Best use of space and lower mishaps

There are many manufacturing units that one might find, with space constraints. Thus, installing such machines that use gleams can be a perfect idea. In fact, the reality is that the machines have more than one gleam which is capable of doing a considerable amount of work which is equivalent to work done by several machines. Since, it is all controlled by computer programs thereby the manpower amount is saved substantially. As this technique does not require any kind of human involvement excepting test runs and repairs, you can be assured of a reduced number of injuries or accidents taking place during work.

Efficiency is higher

The machine efficiency is much high and the replicas obtained from the required design are perfect copies of each other. Holes with small diameter involving quality of good edge and complex detail in box section, tube, plate and sheet can be achieved perfectly. The cost of manufacturing is reduced to the large extent and it is simply ideal for cutting products that are light metallic.