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

  • Why Vacant Houses Lose Metals

    Scrap Metal Receipt - 2013-02
    Scrap Metal Receipt – 2013-02

    This receipt from a recent trip to the scrap metal dealer explains everything I’ve read about what happens when “cheap commodities” become “precious metals”…

    That having been the case for some years, the weighman now scans your (well, my) drivers license to establish traceability in the event the metal turns out to be stolen, with your ID printed on the receipt. The receipt turns into cash at a fortress-like ATM structure out front, far from the actual metal-handling operation.

    Despite having a computerized metal scale below what looks to be a cable modem bolted to the wall of the small-lot bay, EMR has no web presence whatsoever. That’s not yet a crime, but …

    Some explanations:

    • B241 = brass plumbing fittings, chrome OK
    • CABL1 = house wiring and other copper-heavy cable
    • CABL2 = electronic gadget cables & connectors
    • C273 = pure copper with no fittings or solder, no enameled wire
    • C275 = copper bonded to any other metal or coated with insulation

    We immediately converted those two Grants into a tank of gas and two bags of groceries, so the day came out about even.

  • Outdoor Lamp Replacement

    Mad Phil asked me to replace the bulb in a lamp along the walkway to their garage, which turned into a bit of a circus: the bulb had shattered, leaving only the base in the socket. After clearing away the rubble, I was confronted with this:

    Corroded lamp socket
    Corroded lamp socket

    I removed the entire lamp housing, laid it out on my workbench, and eventually resorted to jamming needle-nose pliers into the base and forcibly unscrewing it. That worked:

    Corroded lamp base
    Corroded lamp base

    Fortunately, the aluminum lamp base had corroded against the brass socket, not the other way around, so buffing the socket with a brass wheel in a Dremel handset and polishing the base contacts brought it back to life.

    Reassemble the lamp and it’s all good…

  • Cassette Tape Case Repair

    Mary has been listening to library books while she quilts and sews; some of the older books actually come on cassette tape and our tape players still work. The newer books come on CDs, but it seems the library hasn’t gotten into audio e-reader files yet. She actually prefers tapes, because she can simply stop the tape and restart it from the same place without any further intervention.

    In any event, a recent tape stalled about 1/4 of the way through and refused to either rewind or fast forward.

    Rather than returning it to the library, which I’m certain all previous borrowers did, I took the cassette apart. This is no big deal, I’ve done it many times before cassettes fell into the dustbin of history.

    That made the failure quite obvious:

    Cassette tape case - detached bushing
    Cassette tape case – detached bushing

    The bushing around one of the hub openings had completely fractured and come loose, jamming the tape hub in place.

    A ring of solvent adhesive around both parts, a few minutes of clamping, and it’s all good again.

    Don’t tell the library; they get tetchy about DIY repairs…

  • Creeping Toward Metrication

    Spotted this in a Lowe’s sale circular:

    Granite Countertop - mixed units
    Granite Countertop – mixed units

    The thickness comes from the manufacturer and the area from the installer, so it all makes perfect sense…

    Besides, 3 cm sounds much fancier than 1-3/16 inch, doesn’t it?

  • Reflectorized USB Flash Drives

    It turns out that dropping a dark-gray USB flash drive on a dark carpet under a table in a dimly lit room doesn’t produce a net increase in happiness. The next time that happens, we’ll be able to find the thing:

    Centon 4 GB USB Flash Drives - reflectorized
    Centon 4 GB USB Flash Drives – reflectorized

    Each side has a snippet of retroreflective orange tape; the tenth drive lives with the Token Windows Laptop. Done!

    In related news, the Dremel Wrench went missing despite its high-viz tape. I vaguely recalled tucking it into a tool bag for a remote house-call repair jog, but a week later it turned up in the breast pocket of my demin jacket. Maybe it needs a bulky lanyard?

  • DVI Dual Link Display vs. DMS-59 Connector

    This is not made obvious at the outset, but a video card with a DMS-59 connector that can drive a pair of Single Link DVI monitors cannot drive a single Dual Link DVI monitor: the DMS-59 connector doesn’t have the required signals.

    The fact that each of the Single Link DVI connectors on the end of the DMS-59 Y-splitter cable have enough pins (well, holes) to mate with a Dual Link DVI cable doesn’t clarify the situation.

    Of course, you can’t combine two separate Single Link outputs into a Dual Link input.

    An HDMI 1.4 cable can support a single 2560×1440 monitor, but not from this resolutely low-res video card.

  • Conficker vs. Library: The Rest of the Story

    Well, here’s how the story of picking up Conficker at the library played out:

    Yes, thank you so much! Everything you said was true. Apparently someone’s USB drive was infected and infected many computers here. We are very appreciative for your technological detective work. The head of IT was very incredulous because everything is deep frozen after it is shut down. But it was all true and I am very grateful

    The part about “many computers here” seems worrisome; they’re apparently not running any defensive software at all.

    ‘Nuff said…