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?

  • So(l)der Wick Variations

    In the process of sorting out the Small Box o’ Soldering Tools, this well-used treasure emerged:

    Soder-Wick - Original - Size 2
    Soder-Wick – Original – Size 2

    Yeah, the Genuine Article. Note the spelling and hyphenation: “Soder-Wick” is a both Registered Trademark® and patented.

    Of course, the patent having long expired, there exist knockoffs with slightly different spelling:

    Solder Wick - Knockoff - Size 2mm
    Solder Wick – Knockoff – Size 2mm

    And labeling:

    Solder Wick - Knockoff - Size Good
    Solder Wick – Knockoff – Size Good

    “Size Good”. I like that. “Made in Taiwan”, though, suggests it’s been in my collection for quite a while.

    Despite the fact they’re all supposed to be coated with flux, I generally run a flux pen over whatever length I’m using, because it’s the only way to be sure.

  • Encrypted Email: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

    So this arrived from an email address similar to, yet not quite the same as, the URL of a physician’s office where I had an appointment a few days hence:

    Encrypted Email Message
    Encrypted Email Message

    My email client is set to prefer plain text, disallow remote content, and not open attachments, so that’s as far as it got. Donning asbestos work gloves and face mask, I pried open the message and its attached HTML file with the appropriate tools and found, as expected, scripts doing who-know-what.

    Called the office and, also as expected, was told my appointment time had been changed.

    Showed up, mentioned it to the doctor, and was told the office must check off many boxes to demonstrate its HIPAA compliance.

    Bottom line: HIPAA now requires patients (a.k.a., us) to open random attachments from random senders, all in the name of privacy.

    Banks do that, too.

  • Tea Strainer: Tare Weight

    Being a responsible consumer, I carefully measure my daily green tea dosage. A laser-cut stainless steel strainer and silicone steam cap recently arrived, with a most auspicious tare weight:

    Tea Strainer - 80.88 g
    Tea Strainer – 80.88 g

    Before my Genuine IBM 5160 PC XT with an 8088 CPU, I scratch-built a Z80 “personal computer” and wrote a primitive multitasking OS. Plenty of electrons have flowed through the transistors since those days.

    A great way to start the day; ya can’t make this stuff up!

  • Hawk vs. Squirrel

    Judging from the squirrel tracks on both sides of the scuffle, the squirrel lived to tell the tale:

    Hawk vs. Squirrel - snow tracks
    Hawk vs. Squirrel – snow tracks

    I think the squirrel came in from the right, the hawk stooped from a pine tree on the left and missed the catch, whereupon the squirrel departed leftward as fast as its little paws could go.

    Surely a hair-raising encounter!

  • Minilathe MT3 Spindle Collet Fitting

    I’ve used the LMS set of inch-size MT3 spindle collets on occasion, but releasing them required an unseemly amount of drawbar battering. It recently occurred to me to check their fit in the spindle taper:

    Minilathe - MT3 collet - taper test
    Minilathe – MT3 collet – taper test

    Huh.

    The only place they touch the spindle is right around the base, so it’s no wonder they clamp poorly and release grudgingly. I tried several others with the same result.

    Cross-checking shows a much closer fit along the entire length of the dead center, so it’s not the spindle’s fault:

    Minilathe - Dead Center - MT3 taper check
    Minilathe – Dead Center – MT3 taper check

    Stipulated: we’re not talking toolroom precision here

    I set the collets on centers:

    Minilathe - MT3 collet - drive setup
    Minilathe – MT3 collet – drive setup

    And proceeded to file away the offending section to move the clamping force closer to the business end of the collet:

    Minilathe - MT3 collet - filed result
    Minilathe – MT3 collet – filed result

    I did the small collets, the ones I’m most likely to need, and left the big ones for another rainy day.

    They don’t have much clamping range and seem good only for exact-inch-size rods.

    I should lay in a stock of ER16 and maybe ER32 collets for small stuff.

     

  • Lamp Posts vs. Reality

    Spotted this in a mall built just before the 2008 financial implosion:

    Round Lamp Post in Square Pavement Hole
    Round Lamp Post in Square Pavement Hole

    Maybe the original catalog items went obsolete by the time they signed up enough tenants in that section to justify any lighting at all?

    In related news, a facelift some years ago at the motel next to the decaying Red Oaks Mill dam installed square lamp posts on the existing square concrete pedestals, but replaced the original metal conduit with a plastic sheath:

    Square Lamp Post with Cut Cable Shield
    Square Lamp Post with Cut Cable Shield

    The cable may sit low enough in the recess to survive, but I wouldn’t bet my life on it.

  • Just A Typo. It Could Happen To Anyone: Capacitor Edition

    A bag of 100 nF ceramic caps arrived from across the continent (“US Stock”) and failed incoming inspection:

    Mislabeled 100 nF ceramic capacitor - actual 50 nF
    Mislabeled 100 nF ceramic capacitor – actual 50 nF

    The capacitor mark says 104, which is what you’d expect on a 100 nF cap, but the first half-dozen out of the bag measured around 55 nF, far outside even the loosest -20%/+50% tolerance.

    Stipulated: the factory can ship every capacitor it makes with a proper mark.

    Given their (lack of) provenance, they could be mis-marked 47 nF caps.

    Somewhat to my surprise, a refund occurred instantly after I reported the problem.

    Trust, but verify.