Dan Learns Stuff: Learning

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Tuesday, January 14, 2025

GE Opal Rebuild Saga - Fix Leaking, Screeching, Scaling, and More!

I obtained a GE Opal Profile 1.0 Nugget Ice Machine on OfferUp. It was a package deal that included an all-in-one coffee machine. Two $400 machines for $50 was too good to pass up. After filling and rinsing, I found out why they wanted to be rid of it: it sounded like a wailing banshee! There was also a grinding noise. And it leaked. What had I gotten myself into?

I’m hoping what I learned will help you keep yours running too. Be sure to reach out if you have any questions or comments: dan@danlearnsstuff.com

Models

The pictures in this thread refer to what is colloquially known as Opal 1.0. It is listed on the back as OPAL01GEPSS. It has a 9-hole Cap where the ice exits the auger channel.

A 2.0 model has a broadly similar construction and disassembly procedure, but it may require different tools and parts than what is listed here.

Problems

Below are the types of issues that I have personally fixed on my machine:

Have a fast leak? If it can’t hold water at all, replacing the auger seal will stop the worst leaks.
Does it screech or whine after water has begun to freeze? Replacing the bottom seal will help this.
Does it screech or whine immediately after starting, but it goes away once it gets cold? Replacing the upper auger bushing will help.
Have white particles in your ice? Do you use tap or filtered water? Descaling will help. Switching to distilled or Reverse Osmosis water will extend the life of your machine greatly.
Have black particles or sludge that are not mold? Replacing the upper auger bushing will help too.
Have black particles that may be mold? A chlorine wash will help.

This page captures images and step by step directions for fixing the above auger-related issues. They are mostly centered within the auger chamber itself, but disassembly instructions can help you diagnose and treat a variety of problems. There are other tutorials online that can help you swap the drain lines and diagnose fan and pump problems that are separate from auger wear and tear.

Parts

Throughout this guide, I refer to replaceable parts that can wear down over time and can be replaced using various sources online. Most commodity parts and supplies can be found on Amazon. Some were specially engineered for this machine, and the community has people that are machining replacements you can purchase to keep our babies running well past their original lifetimes.

Disassembly for Auger Maintenance

Getting into the auger is a bit more difficult than the water pump and other areas. You'll need the following tools:

Phillips head screwdriver (with long shaft for deeply inset screws)
Electric screwdriver with phillips head bit for lots of tiny screws
Spudger or pry-tool
10mm deep socket with extension

To help clean out the auger shaft and reseat auger seals, you may also need:

Long flat-head screwdriver
Large and long socket extension tool
Long hooked pick or long and narrow needle-nose pliers

Start by UNPLUGGING THE UNIT. I cannot stress this enough. Make sure it is not plugged in before starting!

Then, drain the unit completely. No water should remain.

You can now begin to tear into the unit by removing the top lid. 4 screws hide under rubber caps. A spudger or sharp steak knife can help remove them. Beware: If they hit the counter, they will bounce everywhere.

Disconnect the wi-fi card cable that hides right under the lid.

Remove all screws from the back panel. Move the drain hoses off the panel, and set the entire panel aside.

Remove the screws from the side panels. This is to expose the screws holding the upper tank to the chassis, and to give you more room to maneuver things. You don’t need to completely remove the surround from the chassis! Just shift it up and out of the groove in the base. Careful! It’s got sharp edges!

Unscrew the upper tank from the chassis.

Unscrew the other two interior screws for the upper tank, pictured here.

This transparent cap is held on by 3 screws and weather-stripping-like insulated moulding. Carefully remove the moulding and unscrew the cap.

Having unscrewed the upper water tank in a previous step, shift it off the black chute. It doesn’t have to move very far.

Unscrew the black chute. You will need a skinny long handled Phillips. The screws may be rusty, so be careful they don’t get stripped. There are two inside screws at the tail of the chute as well.

After the black chute is removed, this styrofoam cap can be removed as well. Carefully wiggle it free. To free up space, you can move the water tank farther away. It might also help to unplug the connectors for the front panel and fullness sensor (black and white, squeeze to separate). Remember to reconnect them!

You have successfully revealed the auger body! A 10mm socket will remove the 4 cap screws. As you loosen them, the cap may spring up. They keep tension on the seal spring.

The auger cap will pull straight up revealing the auger chamber. You can see the white bushing nestled inside the cap.

Using a cloth to help get purchase on the auger shaft, lift the auger straight up and out. It should come up with the spring part of the seal.

And now you can see directly to the bottom of the auger chamber. The seal rests on the bottom between the metal body and the ceramic ring/bushing. NOTE: This picture shows the auger seal seated incorrectly!

Congratulations! You have disassembled your ice maker.

General Maintenance: Descale and Sanitize

If you don't use distilled water or that from a reverse osmosis unit, descaling monthly will keep your unit in tip-top shape.

Clean-out and Regrease

While you have it open, take a moment to check other parts that can get gunked up.

If your machine is whining, the auger is being eroded and scraped off in the chamber. This can lead the upper and lower tanks getting a dark sediment. Wipe it out and rinse.
Check the lines for white sediment. The descaling process can knock these loose, but the pump won’t be able to move it into the tank. You can detach and rinse these pipes as well.
If you have lots of scale, it may be faster to chip it off with a brass tool. Just don’t scratch the surface of your parts by using anything harder than that.
Vacuum off fans and grilles to keep your cooling system in top shape.
Look for leaks and calcium deposits. These are harbingers of bigger problems.

Replace the Auger Seal

A grinding that goes away until the machine cools down or fast leaks from below the chamber through the gear case are most likely due to a bad seal at the bottom of the auger. This multi-part pump seal keeps water in the chamber, and it has rubber, ceramic, and metal parts. It is way over-built for this application, but you need to handle the parts carefully. Order matters, and cleanliness matters.

The ceramic ring sits within the round rubber seal. The other half is a metal seat, spring, and rubber seal. The seat fits on the auger shaft against the helix. The rubber seal on the spring fits against the ceramic ring when properly fit into the chamber. The ceramic is sensitive to oils on your skin. It can degrade faster and affect the seals. Clean it with isopropyl alcohol if you touch it. The rubber seals can use a tiny bit of H1 food-safe grease to help seat them properly.

To replace the pump seal, pull the auger and then use a dental scraper or hooked tool to remove the bottom seal and ceramic ring. Seat the new sitting seal on the auger with the rubber towards the socket.

It can be difficult to seat the new bottom seal in the bottom of the chamber without touching the ceramic. Slip it around a long screwdriver or socket extension, sit the tip of the tool onto the crank, and drop the seal into place. Clean off the tool and press the ceramic down into the crank cavity. If this doesn’t seat well, it will leak immediately and vigorously once you seal it back up. Note: The picture below is wrong! The seal is on the wrong side from the ring! If you have better pictures, please send them my way.

When you reset the auger, ensure the spring is not stuck in its compressed state. It will have some bounce when you put the cap back on.

Replace the Bushing

Is there an unholy banshee haunting your machine? The tell-tale wail is probably the bushing at the top of the auger. It keeps the auger centered in the chamber, but it wears down over time. This leaves the auger to scrape against the sides of the chamber. This causes black sludge and a gradually eroded auger.

eBay seller gweedoh machines his own new bushings from material that it’s much stronger than the stock ones. But from him and buy for life. You can see the size of the worn out bushings versus a new one below.

Each one comes pre-coated with food safe H1 grease as well.

Just pop the old one out and the new one in. The wailing is gone!

Note: I’ve included affiliate links to parts and products that helped me get my machine back in working order.

Friday, November 1, 2024

Horizontal Cordless Blinds - Fix Broken Spring Cord

Update: This broke a week later. The cartridge won’t hold tension. I suggest rethreading to mod it into a corded blind. There are more than a few tutorials on how to do that out on the interwebs already.

My advice: just don’t. That’s right. I did it. I fixed my Home Depot Cordless Blinds, and I saved $45 doing so, but I wouldn’t recommend doing it again. I got so frustrated and it took so long that I forgot to take instructional pictures. And I love to take that kind of stuff. If the blinds no longer retract at all, it’s because all three cords have been severed. And if the fact that it happens all the time hasn’t lead you to seek alternative blinds, you might be able to repair them, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

If you’re still determined to do so, you need to:

Pull the blind from the window completely.
Pull out the cassette with springs and spools.
Wind on three new cables onto the spools.
Thread them back through all the other pulleys, obstacles, and slats.
Replace them in the window.

Pulling the blinds from the window when they won’t retract is a pain in your arse. You’ll probably need a helper and a flat-head screwdriver to pry them loose from the bracket. The slats, which are no longer retained by means of a central cord, will try to fall out everywhere. Be careful, our use this opportunity to throw them away completely. You can still do that.

Obtaining cord is a pain. You should grab the 1-2mm kind, but it only comes in 100 yard spools from Amazon. Pull the cassette with razor sharp springs and a baffling spool-and-gear mechanism from underneath the tilt cams by unseating the cams along the whole length of the blinds. Remove the retaining clips (don’t lose them!). Clean out the busted cord from the slats, blind body, and all pulleys. Examine the cassette, and reseat the spring if it’s come loose. Which it will if you play with the mechanism for more than two seconds trying to understand how it works.

The cassette winding was the part that broke me. Play with the spools and you’ll see there are 4 in total. They counter-rotate. Without any tension on the spools, the spring is fully retracted on one spool and hooks into a cleat on the other. Play with the two thread spools, and you’ll find a slot where you can thread your cord. You’re ready to wind.

Measure out two cords, one at least 18ft long, one 9ft. Make a knot in the center of the long one and a figure 8 on a bight on the short one. With no tension on the spools, thread the center knot into the spool slot of the outside spool, and slip the bight into the slot of the inside spool. This was the biggest pain: Wind the cords around the spools, keeping your 3 dainty cords consistently on the same side of the spool, around spools within the cassette. I did this by using a blunt tapestry needle and a long and sharp upholstery needle. Avoid tangles, twists, and misthreading. You’ll know your winding properly when you pull both cables and the they both come off at the same rate. Then they should retract neatly as you let go. I have not tried this, you might be able to thread one side, pull it out, then just slip the other side on and wind it back as you retract the other. Leave enough leader cord out the run it from the cassette, through the body of the blinds, and down through every slat. More is always better. You can trim excess once you’re done. This would have been better with pictures. When it breaks again, I’ll add some.

Once you have wound the spools, thread the remaining cord onto the tiny pulleys in the cassette. They should all end up on the same side, the front of the main body where the tilt mechanism comes out to attach to the wand. Then pass them through the gaps in the cam supports in the main body, around the wide pulleys and back across the metal corner posts and down the pulleys which lead down to the slats. Thread each of the three cables through every slat and down through the main bottom body. Tie off the cord with a big knot, a button, or some other means of making sure it doesn’t just pull out and unthread all your hard work. Learn from me! With each cable pulled taught and knotted, you’re ready to test.

Even if you do everything right, your test could end in disaster and you might need to start over. Don’t! Just give up! Even if you do it right, it could end up tangled in a month. It could wear out just as fast. Because this design is heinous, prone to failure, and predispositioned to these kinds of shenanigans. Turn back now!

Thought I haven’t done it myself, I would recommend the truly frustrated and also thrifty find a tutorial on how to add cords back to your cordless blinds by forgoing the silly mechanism of the cassette and spring and just attaching a cleat to the wall to hold the tension. If you can make sure the strangulation risks are minimal in your house, it’s a way to fix them without replacing the blinds themselves.

Saturday, May 25, 2024

Cyberpunk RED - Rockerboys

Cyberpunk RED miniatures from the Rockerboys faction. Tried to evoke lots of 80's Vaporwave and retro-future Miami Vice with the color choices. The Manager has some of the most effortlessly awesome eyes I've ever done, and the skin and hair on the Guitarist just glows. The assembly was kind of a pain being resin, and you might notice some mistakes if you look too closely as these are tiny tiny minis. But I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Hopefully, I get to paint more if they keep doing that system.

Manager

Guitarist

Keytarist

Nolzur's Marvelous Minis - Palette Cleansers

I call these small projects Palette Cleansers because I paint them in between other big projects like whole army units or big figures and terrain. The Nolzur Minis by Wizkids are cheap, already assembled and primed. They can be frustrating with mold lines, but they are decent enough at 3 ft. These usually come in two sculpts per pack. I picked one and surplused the other for trades or teaching others how to paint.