the electric stairs on the kk lead a hard life. somehow they are pretty much straight in the path of the stones and the dirt coming form the car. as a result the entire extending and retracting gets more and more tedious as dirt inevitably finds its way into the joints.
i have disassembled and cleaned them once before, i believe it was in port douglas in northern queensland. good times. at that point i only re-greased them but as i was looking at the assembly this time it became clear a little more work was going to be required. i was convinced the assembly was mostly alu but as it turns out the stairs are designed for 200kg gorillas and therefore made of steel. sandblasting and being exposed to the elements did leave a mark: mostly in the form of rather unsightly rust.
this was going to take a bit more work: first some sanding and wire wheeling, then an acid bath to convert the remaining rust into something less cancerous (see above) and finally a few coats of paint, primer first.
i don’t really trust paint, especially when the surface is constantly bombarded with high speed projectiles but there is no other way. the bolts are specific to the application and i couldn’t find stainless hardware to replace them. they had to be refinished instead; i may have to come up with a solution to protect them from the stones. a rubber sheet could be the go.
a few coats of primer, then some silver paint. the bolts are all shiny and new again. for now at least.
so are the nuts. looking great. the parts will have to dry for a day before i can go and reassemble the stairs with new nylon washers and a bit of waterproof grease. it’s always a difficult question whether to use grease or not: grease allows parts to move more freely but it also traps dust which over time transforms it into a grinding paste. there is no simple answer.
more super shiny parts. i’m not the best at rattle can painting but maybe with a bit more practice i’ll get there one day. btw the wire wheel is one deadly piece of equipment, i’m always grateful when i escape working with it with all my limbs still attached and my eyes in good working order. scary.
not quite as scary as life without toilet paper (or pringles. or ketchup. zip lock bags!), especially in a world when there are hardly any real paper newspapers around any more and i can’t even remember the last time i’ve seen a phone book. there was an article about flannel sheets the other day but there are lengths we are not yet ready to go to.
we do go to great lengths to make sure we take social distancing to as of yet unheard heights. and nat is now really flying over this ledge. most adults are doing the squiggly line around the drop … so that’s the kind of distance we’re going for. scary!
update: it’s all back together again. looks pretty respectful, doesn’t it? it also rolls in and out like a red carpet. let’s see how long it will stay shiny.