If you're replacing a switch, make sure the switch you're putting in is not also bad.
...given that, I expect you're thinking, "Aha, he went and bought a new switch and put it in and everything was fine!" Right?
Wrong.
Figuring out that the switch is bad--a closed switch should have the same voltage on both sides with respect to ground; there should not be a 40v difference across it--I hied myself out to Ace (for the second time in two days, no less) to purchase a single-pole light switch for the princely sum of $1.23 with tax. Got home, wired it in, no difference.
...
DMM reported that now there was no voltage drop across the switch when it was turned on (progress!) but the fan was still not coming on.
Went to garage, got stepladder--realized that helmet still needed that extra final couple of coats, so I took some time off to do that--climbed up into attic to check wiring.
I had to move a bunch of crap out of the way, but discovered that (as expected) the wires are in conduit all the way from the switch box to the fan housing. There is nothing exposed. I had thought perhaps that rodendia of some kind had gotten into something and chewed something and caused a short; but in order for that to happen here, the rodentia in question would have to have teeth made of tungsten carbide, and such rodents are not typically found in nature. That pretty much ruled out a short.
The fan motor has a 6" cord that plugs into a socket inside the housing, in accordance with the building code, and so I was able to unplug that and plug a lamp into it. When I turn on the fan switch, the lamp comes on.
That means the goddamn fan motor burned out. That is the source of the "hot/melty" smell that filled the bathroom the other night.
I suppose that means I'll end up going to the hardware store soon and buying a new bathroom fan and installing it. It's not really that big of a deal since the wires have already been run and the hole already exists; it's just a royal pain in the ass, is all. And it's going to be hot over the next few days. *sigh*
* * *
As for the helmet, once I put the stepladder away I had another look on it, and to my (mild) alarm I saw that the paint had clouded. Then I realized, Doofus, it's cool out and took it into the garage. It's plenty warm in there; that ought to take care of it.
Even if the clouding remains, I can just wet-sand it and put a couple coats of clear on it, so it's not like it's ruined or anything. Worst case I just hit it with a couple more coats of black first. WTF.
I also realized (tardily) that I don't have to put the Fairy Tail logo on the thing right away. The longer I let the paint cure the better chance I have of not causing problems with the base coat; and anyway I can't decide what color I want it to be. Red is out; I had thought white or perhaps yellow, but gold might not be too bad.
I have about a dozen cans of old spray paint of various colors in a box in the garage. I mean old--vintage 1993--but I don't believe that spray paint can spoil or harden. I mean, by definition it's in an airtight container!
This is an artifact of my model rocketry days; when I needed a color, I'd go buy it, and it typically takes a lot less than one can of paint to coat a model rocket two times. Estes rockets don't tend to use a very large palette of colors (red/yellow/blue/white/black) and other than a couple of oddities bought for custom jobs that's pretty much what I've got.
The rockets I built tended to have as little paint as possible on them. I'd put on enough to get a nice gloss finish, but no more; and in the 1990s I built some beautiful models. I used primer, too.
The best job I did was on my Estes Optima. The Optima is about 4' long, 4" in diameter; it's a nice big "demo" rocket because it's easy to see its entire flight. I flew it a couple times without paint, then buckled down and painted it; and I got a couple pictures before I flew it again. And it was gorgeous.
(I'd have to scan them; I'll do that sometime.)
...of course I flew it after painting it; the last time I flew it was in a moderate wind. It weathervaned and didn't go high enough and the upper 6" of body tube were crunched. I repaired it but never repainted it, nor flew it again. *sigh*
* * *
Now that my chore is as done as I can get it, I'm going to play WoW.