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: Oddities

Who’d’a thunk it?

  • Arlington Fire Department Practice Session

    The normal Vassar Farm exit was blocked by Arlington Fire District equipment, but the scene was calm and nobody objected when I asked to ride through:

    Fire Department Practice - Hose Engine
    Fire Department Practice – Hose Engine

    They were practicing hose deployment and structure entry in a soon-to-be-demolished building:

    Fire Department Practice - Theatrical Smoke
    Fire Department Practice – Theatrical Smoke

    That’s theatrical smoke, not a real fire; the folks off the right of the picture told me it’s impossible to burn down old structures for practice nowadays, what with all the environmental regulations.

    The Tower Truck obviously has more reach than they’ll need for the second floor:

    Fire Department Practice - Ladder Truck
    Fire Department Practice – Ladder Truck

    A few days later, we spotted Fairview Fire District folks scoping out the house.

    We think this might be Vassar’s way of contributing back to the various emergency departments, as the College is mostly tax-exempt.

  • Runtime Error!

    Spotted high on the wall of the local USPS office:

    Windows Runtime Error - VLC - monitor
    Windows Runtime Error – VLC – monitor

    A closer look:

    Windows Runtime Error - VLC
    Windows Runtime Error – VLC

    Huh.

    The USPS uses VLC. Who knew?

    I darken their doorway so infrequently I have no idea what’s normally displayed up there. Surely it shows advertisements for USPS products, which begs the question: why VLC?

  • Security Theater: Combination Lock Division

    When dialing the proper combination becomes too troublesome:

    Security Theater - Combination Snap Hook
    Security Theater – Combination Snap Hook

    At a quick glance, though, it looks secure!

    Security theater isn’t harmless, not that we have any say in the matter.

  • Walkway Over The Hudson: Privileged Parking

    Walkway West - Privileged Parking
    Walkway West – Privileged Parking

    Although different rules apply to the Park staff, so they can drive back & forth across a crowded Walkway with impunity, it’d be courteous if they didn’t block the bike rack with their vehicles. After we parked our bikes in the rack, the woman riding the third bike couldn’t get out and two other riders simply leaned their bikes against the Welcome Center.

    Privilege is one thing, flaunting it seems entirely unnecessary.

    I’ve yet to understand why the staff must drive over the Walkway at any time, not just park on the pedestrian plaza, as there’s a perfectly serviceable bridge designed specifically for motor vehicles barely half a mile to the south. Heck, on a clear day, you can even see it from the Walkway. [grin]

    Our bikes get us from one end to the other in under ten minutes, about as fast as the Park staff can drive, so using a car doesn’t provide any speed advantage. I can carry a week’s worth of groceries in my bike trailer and rarely see the staff carrying anything bigger in the car, so a “we must haul stuff” excuse seems self-serving.

    Every “unintended acceleration” mass-casualty incident involves a vehicle, a bunch of pedestrians, and a driver who never thought it could happen. Proactively eliminating vehicle traffic from the Walkway seems much easier than explaining why you didn’t.

    Parking vehicles in appropriate places doesn’t require any explanation.

    Thanks …

    Email to Walkway Over the Hudson

    I should have sent it to the sprawling NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, but I hoped the Walkway staff could forward it to the right person. Haven’t heard anything back; I should have saved the electrons.

  • Transistor Leads vs. Antistatic Foam

    Why you shouldn’t use antistatic foam for long-term storage:

    Anti-static foam - decades of corrosion
    Anti-static foam – decades of corrosion

    The lump emerged from Mad Phil’s parts stash, now residing under a bench at Squidwrench. The 952 date code on the HEP802 JFET suggests he tucked it in around 1980; you’re looking at nigh onto four decades of corrosion.

    Memo to Self: use it or lose it!

  • Monthly Science: Water Bottle Refill History

    This year’s Northern Star Quilt Guild show in the O’Neill Center at WCSU gave me an opportunity to update last year’s data points, although not quite in the way I expected.

    The overview:

    Gym water bottle refill station B - overview
    Gym water bottle refill station B – overview

    The left display is rotting out:

    Gym water bottle refill station B - left
    Gym water bottle refill station B – left

    The center display seems undamaged:

    Gym water bottle refill station B - center
    Gym water bottle refill station B – center

    The right display took a direct hit:

    Gym water bottle refill station B - right
    Gym water bottle refill station B – right

    So the middle station refilled 3025 = 10460 – 7435 bottles, roughly eight bottles a day, every day, for a year. Seems like a lot of refilling, doesn’t it?

    Unfortunately, I didn’t take pictures of the other watering hole last year, but here’s what it looks like now:

    Overview:

    Gym water bottle refill station A - overview
    Gym water bottle refill station A – overview

    Left:

    Gym water bottle refill station A - left
    Gym water bottle refill station A – left

    Center:

    Gym water bottle refill station A - center
    Gym water bottle refill station A – center

    Right:

    Now, it’s entirely possible I have the two stations reversed, in which case I have numbers for all three displays:

    • Left = 242 = 4758 – 4516
    • Center = 633 = 8068 – 7435
    • Right = 800 = 9689 – 8889

    Does a bottle or two a day, every day, for a year, seem more reasonable? Hard to say, so, with a bit of luck, we’ll have more data next year.

    For science!

  • The Last Tee

    There’s a good reason this was the last pneumatic tee fitting on the rack:

    Malformed pneumatic fitting
    Malformed pneumatic fitting

    The center fitting should be a male 1/4 inch NPT connection, but it’s completely un-machined. Alas, I no longer have a 1/4 NPT die in my tool chest, so it’s not an easy fix.

    The two female connections are fine, so it must have been one of those rare QC escapes.

    Lowe’s marked it down to $0.47 on clearance and I still couldn’t justify buying the thing.