...so she picked up her spoon and beat the hell out of it.
The door is sealed. I used my rolled bubble wrap screwed to the frame technique. Redneck fabulous and very effective.
Looks like I'm going to have to build my own door when it comes time for a new one. Nobody makes a 48" wide by 70" tall door. Weather-stripping is not going to be easy by a long shot.
Additionally, I invested in some bug killer with Cyhalothrin as the active ingredient. It's a Permethrin-like insecticide that sticks around longer. Spiders don't like it at all. In addition to bringing out one of those gnarly red legged ones that eat rolly-poly bugs and a standard smaller grass spider, it also brought out a huge wolf spider with egg sac in tow. Nuked!
I learned there's a really easy way to spot spiders. If you have a small light that can go between your eyes without obstructing your vision, like my LED light with the lamp on a flexible steel neck, you can watch for the reflection from the spider's eyes. It's like the effect you see when car headlights shine into a cat's eyes. Worked like a charm.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Glass Cockpit
I like free broken stuff that I can fix. Even better is repairable free stuff that's still quite modern. As I've mentioned before, I often rummage through the scrap bins at work and find the occasional shiny thing. Recently, there was a large amount of broken desktop computer LCD displays so I took it upon myself to rescue as many as possible.
I've fixed three so far. My wife had one until I swapped it out for a better panel from my own stock and gave the fixed one to the coworker who tipped me off about the trash treasures. I'm keeping the pair of 19" panels I fixed. They almost match. While true I didn't think to look for the plastics so they would be cased properly, it doesn't matter. I have the bare panel modules, with their control circuitry mounted to the back, positioned right next to each other. Based on the bezel that was still attached to one of them, my gap of less than 1" is far better than the 3" between panel active areas I would have had with the bezels still in place.
I do need a permanent mount, though. The panels became rather hot while in use before I taped computer card slot blanks to the tops to keep air flow to the panel and keep the exposed Kraft paper facing of my insulation from overheating. I think I'll build a wood frame with a channel cut up the center of the frame to hold the panels, a few tiny cooling fans and hooks for wall-mounting. Finish off with a strip of black tape on the steel frame sides in the center and that's that.
I was able to repair two of the three Dell 1800FP panels I've had around for a while. The remaining one will require a new logic board to regain functionality.
I think my next trick will be to fix the 32" LCD monitor I still haven't gotten to. If I pull the processor and solder it back on the right way, it should work again. I just haven't done it yet. I need to, though. That display is getting in the way a lot.
I've fixed three so far. My wife had one until I swapped it out for a better panel from my own stock and gave the fixed one to the coworker who tipped me off about the trash treasures. I'm keeping the pair of 19" panels I fixed. They almost match. While true I didn't think to look for the plastics so they would be cased properly, it doesn't matter. I have the bare panel modules, with their control circuitry mounted to the back, positioned right next to each other. Based on the bezel that was still attached to one of them, my gap of less than 1" is far better than the 3" between panel active areas I would have had with the bezels still in place.
I do need a permanent mount, though. The panels became rather hot while in use before I taped computer card slot blanks to the tops to keep air flow to the panel and keep the exposed Kraft paper facing of my insulation from overheating. I think I'll build a wood frame with a channel cut up the center of the frame to hold the panels, a few tiny cooling fans and hooks for wall-mounting. Finish off with a strip of black tape on the steel frame sides in the center and that's that.
I was able to repair two of the three Dell 1800FP panels I've had around for a while. The remaining one will require a new logic board to regain functionality.
I think my next trick will be to fix the 32" LCD monitor I still haven't gotten to. If I pull the processor and solder it back on the right way, it should work again. I just haven't done it yet. I need to, though. That display is getting in the way a lot.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Eight-Legged Freaks
I hate spiders. While I understand they serve a purpose in the food chain, I have zero use for them and don't want them inhabiting the same space I am. House spiders and jumping spiders are annoying, but my hatred of what we call Garden Spiders around here knows no bounds.
The spider I'm talking about is the Desert Grass Spider. The most obvious sign you're dealing with one is the funnel web in grass or a pile of debris or whatever. They can get rather large, scare easily and can cover a lot of ground in a very short time. That, and they love to hide in stuff that doesn't move very often. That's a huge problem when inventory and test equipment is stacked on shelves.
They get into the workshop via the huge gap at the bottom of the door. Perfect entryway for anything that crawls. I witnessed this twice last night. I see motion out the corner of my eye and picked out the well-camouflaged spider on the floor. Female. Fat with eggs. Great, just like the one a few days ago. So what did I do? Grabbed the vacuum and sucked it up. Just one problem: The spider's fat abdomen got stuck in one of the air channels. I kept the vacuum running and tried some tricks to change the airflow. Man they're tough. As I was dealing with this, I saw a twin of the now-dismembered spider go running from the door crack to just outside the space under my shelving. A quick hit with the vacuum was unsuccessful as I didn't strike fast enough
With the persistent spider done for, my attention turned to killing the newest unwelcome guest. I swear those things are intelligent. I played the waiting game and it came out, but the moment I grabbed the vacuum nozzle, it ran back under the shelving. Waiting again resulted in the same thing. I wasn't about to miss the third time. And I didn't. I shot her with brake cleaner. She didn't like that at all. It's funny watching spiders stumble around.
The beast went back under the shelving and probably died there. I'll find out eventually.
I'm sealing that gap and then bug bombing the hell out of the shop before I do any drywall work.
The spider I'm talking about is the Desert Grass Spider. The most obvious sign you're dealing with one is the funnel web in grass or a pile of debris or whatever. They can get rather large, scare easily and can cover a lot of ground in a very short time. That, and they love to hide in stuff that doesn't move very often. That's a huge problem when inventory and test equipment is stacked on shelves.
They get into the workshop via the huge gap at the bottom of the door. Perfect entryway for anything that crawls. I witnessed this twice last night. I see motion out the corner of my eye and picked out the well-camouflaged spider on the floor. Female. Fat with eggs. Great, just like the one a few days ago. So what did I do? Grabbed the vacuum and sucked it up. Just one problem: The spider's fat abdomen got stuck in one of the air channels. I kept the vacuum running and tried some tricks to change the airflow. Man they're tough. As I was dealing with this, I saw a twin of the now-dismembered spider go running from the door crack to just outside the space under my shelving. A quick hit with the vacuum was unsuccessful as I didn't strike fast enough
With the persistent spider done for, my attention turned to killing the newest unwelcome guest. I swear those things are intelligent. I played the waiting game and it came out, but the moment I grabbed the vacuum nozzle, it ran back under the shelving. Waiting again resulted in the same thing. I wasn't about to miss the third time. And I didn't. I shot her with brake cleaner. She didn't like that at all. It's funny watching spiders stumble around.
The beast went back under the shelving and probably died there. I'll find out eventually.
I'm sealing that gap and then bug bombing the hell out of the shop before I do any drywall work.
Monday, July 20, 2009
The Heat, Mon, The Heat
Okay so I lied. The heater isn't a 450/900W unit, it's a 900/1500W unit. That amounts to 3000/5000BTU per hour. Nice balance, I think. It will be even better once I have the structural work completed and the drywall up. Blast it all, I'm going to need a new door as well.
For now, I'll settle for clearing out more of my packrat gear.
For now, I'll settle for clearing out more of my packrat gear.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Keep A Cool Head
Thermal control is ever so important. While spring was uncharacteristically wet this year, with plenty of cloud cover as a side-effect, summer came in like a sledgehammer. The lab would run nearly 100F without computers running, let alone with them on.
Air conditioning was the only solution. While I had the chance last weekend, sheerly out of desperation, to run the swamp cooler blowing into the shop, lowering the temperature into the mid 80s, that was wasteful and, once the sun started shining onto the floor, woefully ineffective.
Well, solutions are rather easy to come by when you're a packrat like me. I had saved a window air conditioning unit I bought back in 2006 after coming back from California and while it served duty in the living room, as an attempt to see if the swamp cooler's massive airflow wasn't necessary, it turned out to be horribly underpowered for that application.
What to do... we needed 10,000BTUs of cooling capacity to be able to control the temperature of the living room/kitchen airspace, but doing that would require a dedicated electrical circuit I wasn't willing to install. The swamp cooler had to go back in, freeing the AC unit up again.
Fortunately, there's a checks and balances thing with cooling like that and the portable AC unit we bought brand new for our daughter's room was both overpowered and taking up much-needed floorspace. The window unit was the solution and that freed up the portable unit, which had the necessary capacity and only required a 4" exhaust hose.
Inside Fragwell Lab, there's a corner that sees absolutely zero use. I have part of a plastic shelving unit there with two concrete form plywood squares (thanks, Dad!) sitting on top as a stable platform. While my rather large laser printer takes up a chunk of space, the rest is obscured by my large desk and loudspeaker for that side. But with a load-bearing capacity of 300lbs, it was the perfect place for a certain rollaway air conditioner.
One trip to Lowe's later, I had a kit for clothes dryer installation procured and was ready for the job. With my Lithium drill and oldschool AC jigsaw ready, I cut the hole and mounted the louvered faceplate with some leftover screws. It went very smoothly, with the hole cut the perfect size and the snap-together aluminum pipe cut down and punched for the condensation spray nozzle holder.
I had read instructions online saying that a dryer vent is a bad idea because the flapper that seals the elements and bugs out puts too much backpressure on the exhaust stream. Simple logic involving levers told me this was only a serious problem for the cheap units with a single flapper. I saw one with eight, but it required a thick wall I didn't have. The one I got has three louvers and it's perfect. Tests show that the louvers close most of the way during the first three seconds after power shutoff, only staying open a little bit while the blower spools down. They don't flap in the wind, either. They're blown open rather sternly by the exhaust, even on low speed.
At the moment, the lab is sitting at 76.2F. Ten degrees lower than the swamp cooler effect is a huge bonus and that's certainly not the lowest it will go. I'm confident this cooler would easily allow 60F.
At one point in time I wanted a split-system for climate control like a Mitsubishi Mr. Slim. Then I saw the prices and nearly died. No way was that going to happen. While they are very quiet and have dual modes with heat provided during winter, the price premium would not be overlooked. Heat would have to be provided a different way.
Heat is taken care of. This winter will not require a huge number of computers running 24/7. I found a decent ceramic-core heater for $10 used and it has plenty of heat output with switchable 450 and 900W modes. I'll wire my own thermostat and leave it at that. With 900W of pure heat on-demand, I won't be stuck taking two days for heat to build back up after opening the door of the lab to get in and out.
Now I'm thinking about winter. I seriously need drywall, a new subfloor, carpet and a proper electrical system. I do believe I'll have to run that new electrical connection. I get nervous when the air conditioner is on and I have to print shipping tags on the laser printer. Looks like I'll be going with a 220V 30A feed. While I had thought I would need 50A, that's not the case and would be really expensive. Digging trenches is no fun, but not being able to work for four months out of the year is worse. It's time for conduit, copper and magic.
But first, Permethrin. Damned Grasshoppers.
Air conditioning was the only solution. While I had the chance last weekend, sheerly out of desperation, to run the swamp cooler blowing into the shop, lowering the temperature into the mid 80s, that was wasteful and, once the sun started shining onto the floor, woefully ineffective.
Well, solutions are rather easy to come by when you're a packrat like me. I had saved a window air conditioning unit I bought back in 2006 after coming back from California and while it served duty in the living room, as an attempt to see if the swamp cooler's massive airflow wasn't necessary, it turned out to be horribly underpowered for that application.
What to do... we needed 10,000BTUs of cooling capacity to be able to control the temperature of the living room/kitchen airspace, but doing that would require a dedicated electrical circuit I wasn't willing to install. The swamp cooler had to go back in, freeing the AC unit up again.
Fortunately, there's a checks and balances thing with cooling like that and the portable AC unit we bought brand new for our daughter's room was both overpowered and taking up much-needed floorspace. The window unit was the solution and that freed up the portable unit, which had the necessary capacity and only required a 4" exhaust hose.
Inside Fragwell Lab, there's a corner that sees absolutely zero use. I have part of a plastic shelving unit there with two concrete form plywood squares (thanks, Dad!) sitting on top as a stable platform. While my rather large laser printer takes up a chunk of space, the rest is obscured by my large desk and loudspeaker for that side. But with a load-bearing capacity of 300lbs, it was the perfect place for a certain rollaway air conditioner.
One trip to Lowe's later, I had a kit for clothes dryer installation procured and was ready for the job. With my Lithium drill and oldschool AC jigsaw ready, I cut the hole and mounted the louvered faceplate with some leftover screws. It went very smoothly, with the hole cut the perfect size and the snap-together aluminum pipe cut down and punched for the condensation spray nozzle holder.
I had read instructions online saying that a dryer vent is a bad idea because the flapper that seals the elements and bugs out puts too much backpressure on the exhaust stream. Simple logic involving levers told me this was only a serious problem for the cheap units with a single flapper. I saw one with eight, but it required a thick wall I didn't have. The one I got has three louvers and it's perfect. Tests show that the louvers close most of the way during the first three seconds after power shutoff, only staying open a little bit while the blower spools down. They don't flap in the wind, either. They're blown open rather sternly by the exhaust, even on low speed.
At the moment, the lab is sitting at 76.2F. Ten degrees lower than the swamp cooler effect is a huge bonus and that's certainly not the lowest it will go. I'm confident this cooler would easily allow 60F.
At one point in time I wanted a split-system for climate control like a Mitsubishi Mr. Slim. Then I saw the prices and nearly died. No way was that going to happen. While they are very quiet and have dual modes with heat provided during winter, the price premium would not be overlooked. Heat would have to be provided a different way.
Heat is taken care of. This winter will not require a huge number of computers running 24/7. I found a decent ceramic-core heater for $10 used and it has plenty of heat output with switchable 450 and 900W modes. I'll wire my own thermostat and leave it at that. With 900W of pure heat on-demand, I won't be stuck taking two days for heat to build back up after opening the door of the lab to get in and out.
Now I'm thinking about winter. I seriously need drywall, a new subfloor, carpet and a proper electrical system. I do believe I'll have to run that new electrical connection. I get nervous when the air conditioner is on and I have to print shipping tags on the laser printer. Looks like I'll be going with a 220V 30A feed. While I had thought I would need 50A, that's not the case and would be really expensive. Digging trenches is no fun, but not being able to work for four months out of the year is worse. It's time for conduit, copper and magic.
But first, Permethrin. Damned Grasshoppers.
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