The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

Category: Home Ec

Things around the home & hearth

Belt Pack Zipper Pull Re-Repair

In our last episode, the zipper tab on my belt pack had worn through:

Eroded YKK Zipper Tab

I “fixed” that by the simple expedient of running a key ring through the latch that used to hold the tab. That held for half a year, which isn’t to be sniffed at for a zero-cost repair.

A few days ago, the abused latch popped off the slider, leaving the NSA tag and ring in my hand:

Belt Pack Zipper – missing tab and latch

I scuffed up the surface with a file to provide a bit more grip for the inevitable epoxy, then clamped a brass tube athwart the slider:

Belt Pack Zipper – wired brass tube

The tube ID passes the ring with enough clearance to make it work out. The general idea is that the tube provides rigidity for the ring, the wires hold the tube against the pull, and the epoxy holds the wires in place. I fully expect the sharp edges around the tube’s ID will gradually wear away.

Threading 14 mil stainless steel wire through the slider’s pivot hole:

Belt Pack Zipper – wire opened end

… and under the latch guide:

Belt Pack Zipper – wire closed end

… required a few tries and produced some nasty puncture wounds, but eventually it all hung together long enough to let me tuck some JB Kwik epoxy into all the nooks and crannies:

Belt Pack Zipper – epoxy curing

That’s wide masking tape covering the work area. As it turned out, good preparation like that meant I didn’t slobber epoxy anywhere it shouldn’t go; had I omitted the tape, there’d be a smear down the side of the pack.

Fast-forward to the next morning and it’s all good:

Belt Pack Zipper – repaired

The missing latch locked the slider in place, but I think I can eke out a miserable existence with a loose slider…

2016-04-21
Makerspace Starter Kit Available
For a variety of reasons that aren’t relevant here, I must dramatically reduce the amount of stuff in the Basement Laboratory / Machine Shop / Warehouse.

If you (or someone you know) has / is starting / will start a makerspace or similar organization, here’s an opportunity to go from zero to hero with a huge infusion of tools / instruments / make-froms / raw material / gadgets / surplus gear.

Think of it as a Makerspace Starter Kit: everything you need in one acquisition.

You’ve seen much of the stuff in these blog posts during the past five years, although I tightly crop the photos for reasons that should be obvious when you consider the backgrounds.

A few glimpses, carefully chosen to make the situation look much tidier than it really is:

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I’m not a hoarder, but I can look right over the fence into that territory…

I want to donate the whole collection to an organization that can figure out how to value it and let me write it off. Failing that, I’m willing to sell the whole collection to someone who will move it out and enjoy it / put it to good use / part it out / hoard it.

We can quibble over the value, which surely lies between scrap metal and filet mignon.

As nearly as I can estimate from our last two moves, I have 6±2 short tons of stuff:
- Metal shop: old South Bend lathe / vertical mill-drill / bandsaw / hand tools / arbor press
- Cabinets / shelves loaded with cutters / tools / micrometers / calipers / whatever
- Gas & electric welding equipment, gas foundry furnace
- Walls / bins / drawers of fasteners / wire nuts / plumbing fittings / pipe clamps / you-name-its
- Bookshelves of references / magazines / databooks; I’ll keep at most one set of the magazines with my columns
- Ham radio equipment / antennas / cables
- Radial saw, blades, clamps, tooling, and a lumber / plywood stockpile
- Labeled boxes of make-froms on steel shelving; you get the shelves, the boxes, and their contents.
- Solvents, chemicals, metals, minerals, elements, etc.
- Electronic / optical / mechanical surplus & doodads
- Stockpiles of metal rods / pipes / beams / flanges / sheets / scrap parts
- Tools & toys & treasures beyond your wildest imagination
When we left Raleigh, the moving company estimator observed “This will be like moving a Home Depot!”

You must take everything, which means you must have the ability & equipment to handle 6±2 tons of stuff in relatively small, rather heavy, not easily stackable lumps. You’ll need 1000+ square feet of space with at least a seven-foot ceiling on your end to unload the truck(s) and create a solid block of stuff with skinny aisles between the shelves. This is not a quick afternoon trip for you, your BFF, a pickup truck, and a storage unit.

I plan to keep the Sherline, the M2 3D printer, various small tools, some hardware / parts / stock, most of the electronic instruments (antique-ish, at best) and components, plus odds and ends. I’ll extract or clearly mark those items, leaving your team to move everything else without (too many) on-the-fly decisions.

I can provide photos and descriptions, but, realistically, you should evaluate the situation in person.

Although we’re not planning to move in the near future, if you’re thinking of moving into the Mid Hudson Valley and always wanted a house with a ready-to-run Basement Shop, we can probably work something out. Note: all of the online real estate descriptions, including Zillow, seem confused, as the two houses on our two-acre property contain the total square footage / rooms / baths / whatever. Contact us for the Ground Truth after you’ve contemplated the satellite view.

As the saying goes, “Serious inquiries only.”
2016-03-01
Sears Sewing Table: Sewing Machine Supports

For reasons that should not require explanation by now, Mary just acquired a large sewing table (along with a Sears Kenmore Model 158 sewing machine that’s slightly older and fancier than the three we already have). The table has an opening fitted to the machine base, but the rubber pads atop the leveling screws had long since stiffened up and two screws were frozen in place. A few drops of penetrating oil released the screws and, mirable dictu, they have ordinary 6-32 threads.

Some rummaging turned up four PC case screws and soft caps intended for wire shelves, which easily combined into replacement machine supports:

Sewing Machine Supports – inserting screws

Once again, I’m using the drill press as a low-force arbor press, with a chunk of aluminum tubing to shove the screw flange into the slightly smaller plastic cap.

Spun into their brackets, they look quite nice, not that anybody will ever see them:

Sewing Machine Supports – installed

The new-to-us table replaces the incredible collection of junk previously supporting Machine #3. I tucked some plastic foam around the near and right edges to fill the small gaps and it fits well:

Sewing Machine Supports – machine installed

Obviously, the foam will fall out whenever Mary lifts the machine to tinker with machinery under the platform, so we’ll see how often pins & needles slip through the cracks without the foam.

That machine awaits a lighting update, because I’m awaiting some rectangular chip-on-board LED strips from halfway around the planet.

Early reports concerning the sewing table seem promising…

2016-02-24
Improved Fireball Cocoa Recipe

It turns out that non-alkalized / non-Dutch-process cocoa has a much lower surface energy than good old Hershey’s, to the extent that my Fireball Cocoa Recipe produces powder bombs, even after far more stirring than I’m willing to exert.

The trick is to stir the mud for a while, then let it set for 15 minutes:

Cocoa mud

That apparently gives the cocoa time to get along with the milk and join forces. Stir it up again, let it sit for a few minutes, then proceed with the recipe: smooooth cocoa with no powder bombs.

A bit more Vietmamese cinnamon is no bad thing, either …

2016-02-20
Bathroom Light Switch: Contact Autopsy

The dual switch controlling the bathroom lights began requiring some fiddling, which was not to be tolerated. After replacing the switch, I cracked the old one open to see what’s inside…

The failed side of the switch controlled the lights over the sink:

Light switch contacts – lights

The side for the ceiling vent fan + light got much less use, still worked, and look a bit less blasted.

Light switch contacts – ceiling fan

Not much to choose between the two. It’s been running for nigh onto two decades, so …

2016-01-16
Treecutting

These days, removing senescent trees and clearing out deadwood requires a combination of high-tech machinery:

Treecutting – 76 ft manlift

And good old manual labor:

Treecutting – trunk takedown

One of the guys observed that they get a good deal of amusement from Youtube videos of amateur tree cutting incidents.

They worked hard all day, pacing themselves well, finished cutting in a driving rainstorm, then returned the next day for cleanup.

I felt a nap comin’ on strong…

2016-01-09
Kenmore Progressive Vacuum Cleaner: Improved Suction Control

The Suction Control slider on the handle of our shiny new Kenmore Progressive vacuum cleaner varies the speed of the howling motor in the base unit, rather than venting more or less air into the pipe. We like that, but it’s all too easy to inadvertently slide the control and never notice it, sooo I marked the default condition:

Kenmore Progressive Vacuum – visible suction slider

Although every vacuum cleaner we’ve ever owned has touted its “quiet operation”, we always wear 30 dB ear muffs and it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference between full throttle and not quite so fast…

2015-12-31