The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning
Ed Nisley's Blog: shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, and curiosities
Who’d’a thunk it?
Canada Geese seem primed to travel in a straight line, whether in the air, on water, along a rail trail, or even on a sidewalk:
They proceed around corners in an orderly manner:
But they completely ignore crosswalk markings:
We think two goose families joined forces for this outing: four large geese and seven goslings by our count.
The sidewalks sport a rich assortment of goose poop, so the geese obviously enjoy their hikes.
We woke just after midnight to a completely dark and silent house, I padded around shutting of half a dozen UPS units under various desks and benches, and we eventually got back to sleep:
According to our clocks, power actually returned about four hours later.
Our grocery ride the next morning went past the crash site:
Tracks in the grass leading up to the smashed mailbox on our right suggest the driver didn’t quite make the very slight curve leading to the straight section.
It was garbage collection day and the debris field covered the entire front lawn:
Both poles have rectangular reflectors, but the one on the smashed pole (on the left) shows the pole is maybe four feet shorter than it used to be.
We have no idea how a can of white paint got involved in the proceedings:
Quite some years ago, an errant driver demolished the front corner of that house and, more recently, the whole building burned out, so there may be a jinx on the site.
Other than that, we had an uneventful ride …
Spotted behind a mall undergoing renovation:
Perhaps they were loading it from the end and didn’t notice the instructions:
Protip: Always get the biggest dumpster available!
With the Bafang BBS02 and all its gimcrackery on the Terry Symmetry buttoned up and ready to go, I took a few closeout pictures for future reference.
The motor has a sheaf of wires sticking out of the bottom crying out for a protective covering:
Although cameras tell only the truth they’re allowed to see and can be made to lie by omission, sometimes their latent truth was completely invisible to eyewitnesses in real time.
I only noticed the mis-routed shift cable when I looked through the last set of pictures.
It should pass through the plastic channel under the metal tab holding the cable guide to the bottom bracket shell:
Normally, aiming the cable into the channel is no big deal. In this case, I had to undo the shift cable, remove the left crank, loosen the motor and rotate it out of the way, nudge the cable with a small screwdriver, then reinstall in reverse order.
Dang, that was close …
A gusty thunderstorm knocked out power across Dutchess County, including half the service to our house. Being glad the refrigerator and freezer were on the live phase, I shut off the affected breakers on the dead phase, as well as all the 240 V breakers, and, with the living room darkened, we skipped our evening storytime.
By the next morning, a quick lamp test showed the recloser out on the pole had worked its magic, so I flipped all the breakers back on. The living room remained dark, prompting an investigation of the fuse box feeding the original house wiring:
Yup, another blown fuse.
Given what happens while wind and falling branches knock power lines askew, anything is possible. I have no idea where the fault current went, but replacing the fuse brought the living room back to normal.
None of the various UPS / lamps / phones seem damaged; I admit not peering inside the outlets to check for arc damage.
With a generous dollop of JB Plastic Bonder left over from a set of Bafang brake sensor magnets, I tried coating the ersatz plate cap of a triode tube:
That’s the result after leaving it hanging upside-down while it cured to push all the drips to the top.
For comparison, the uncoated cap back in the day:
Seeing as how the urethane is an adhesive, not a coating, I’d say it looks about as bad as expected.
As with all 3D printed things, one must embrace imperfections and striations, rather than endlessly strive for perfection.
Now, if I had a resin printer …
Plotting current against voltage for the amber truck side marker lights produces the expected straight-ish line:
The slope suggests a 330 Ω resistor, but the internal PCB sports a pair of 150 Ω SMD resistors.
I don’t believe the X-axis intercept for a moment, but 1.5 V seems about right for an amber LED.
Oh, and the DMM fuse doesn’t have a ceramic body. You’re seeing the vaporized remains of a 315 mA fuse neatly deposited over the inside of the glass tube after being shorted across a 3 A bench supply.
I hate it when that happens. Replacing it emptied the little bag of those meter fuses; next time it’ll get a half amp fuse.
