Category: Projects

September 7, 2023 – Underestimated Project Costs

September 7, 2023 /

I have heard it said that one of the most underestimated costs of a building project is the cost of fasteners. And, I do believe it. I think about a pound of specific Simpson Strong Tie nails cost $5. According to the packaging, it contains 120 nails. Each bracket is supposed to have all the nail holes filled. That means that one pound nails about 10 brackets. You can see how this all adds up.

I recently (and finally) completed my keg manifold. The whole goal was to make the process of flushing the line easier to do. I came up with this idea after finding a little mold growing on the spout at the end of my first keg.

At first, I was ignorant. I thought that if I kept the line full then everything would be alright. That was before I realized that the spout was not full. Since I started flushing the line, I haven’t really had a problem. I will say that having to flush the line does give me second thought about actually using the keg. I have to balance the ‘Is it worth it?’ equation.

Then, along came our anniversary party and I realized that there is another kind of keg that real breweries use. While I did have most of what I needed to dispense for an event, I was ill equipped to handle the leftover volume. So, now my manifold needed to accommodate both my homebrew kegs as well as the occasion where I would have a leftover keg. This meant more connections and fittings.

I don’t really know if I made my life any easier. I can say that I spent of $150 on fittings. With that, I can say that I should be able to move my CO2 cylinder from the keezer to an event without disassembly of the setup. And I can move the flush keg over without completely disassembling my current dispensing setup. I can swap keg styles without replumbing everything. Maybe not easier, but at least better.

There is a dizzying array of fitting types. Some are for air, some are for liquids, some contain lead and others not. I have talked about my pantry mentality in other aspects. Even here, I feel like I should order one more than I need. But, when I tallied the cost for my order, I took a step back. I don’t really need a spare of each type. It added another 30% to my order cost.

If you do your design right, order spare plugs or the male part of the fitting. That way the female and more expensive part can stay in place and you can swap different configurations in and out of the setup much more economically. This is what I did.

End Your Programming Routine: I have loved these projects since I was a chemist. In fact, my favorite part of the job was building the apparatus to do the work, not the science part. It is kind of like a Lego kit for adults. So, I have been acquiring parts for months and now it is finally done. I actually have room to put more kegs in, maybe expansion is in the future?

September 6, 2023 – 3, 2, 1… ???

September 6, 2023 /

There is a subplot that happens in the movie National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Clark spends a ton of time unwinding, testing and hanging Christmas lights. He calls everyone together and makes the final connection and nothing happens. Then he checks and rechecks everything with the same result. Finally, he gets so mad that he runs around and kicks the reindeer setup on the ground.

That pretty much describes my AM antenna experience (without the audience). This has been going on a long time with a lot of effort put out by me over time. I have tried to research this topic, I have built prototypes that didn’t work. I tried to extend the existing loop antenna outside, all to no avail.

It was about a year ago that I got up on the roof to install the antenna I purchased online. I after fishing the cable through the wall, I tested it. While not what I would like, it got the stations that I was looking for and it was much better than the loop antenna that came with the radio or the other solutions I tried.

The last piece of my stereo installation in my office was to get the AM antenna wire to the receiver. Of course to do that, I needed to move all of the Christmas decorations out of the corner to get proper access. Second to that, my basement is such a mess since my son moved out for our exchange student this summer. Stuff is piled anywhere there is space, I really had no where to move stuff. Somehow, I managed precariously pile up all the bins and boxes and retain a small isle for travel.

Reorganizing is something I do every fall. With this being a wet basement, I almost always spend time tidying up before it is too late. I am just as guilty at not putting things away properly in the summertime knowing that I will eventually pay the price in the fall. But, it does feel like the basement is where things go to die and I deal with the bodies.

I tied, fished and stapled the cable to my office without tripping or breaking something. The antenna is marketed for radio, (like ham) so it has a rather unique connector that looks like a miniature coax connector. If I was hooking it up to a radio, than easy peasy. But no, I had to devise a way to convert from coax to bare wire which I eventually found a device that I could modify to do that job.

I plugged it into my receiver and nothing. This was the moment that I almost started breaking stuff. I turned off the lights knowing that the fluorescent ballasts interfere with AM signal, no improvement. I sat back in my chair and thought, well I can stream anything that I want anyway. I guess that was a lot of work for no good reason other than I wanted it to work.

As I sat back in my chair, I thought how could this have gone wrong? This was the whole point of testing this setup before I moved it. I did add an extension to the original cable, was this a bridge too far? I started thinking about the connection. I put red into the signal and black into the ground. At least in electrical wiring, black is the neutral. But maybe it was the other way around, this is low voltage. Low and behold, I got signal.

End Your Programming Routine: This is finally complete, it feels good. I do regret that I have a hole in the wall with wire sticking through but I don’t know about these small radio connections. I don’t have the tools to terminate nor if any wall plates exist. It is hidden behind the couch anyway. The point remains that it is installed and complete with the results that I was looking for. Now on to the hundreds of other things I want to get done, like tidying up the basement.

August 17, 2023 – Accessorizing Your Safe

August 17, 2023 /

One of the first lessons I learned when we moved into this house was that keeping firearms in the basement, left unattended started to rust. I looked into several options. The one I eventually chose was long term storage bags (kind of like giant ziplock bags). Each time I handled a firearm, it would get a heavy buff with a silicone product called Barricade. That seemed to protect them once I started doing it.

With this new safe, I didn’t want to use the storage bags. My safe has a a power strip inside of it and I wanted to take advantage of that. I do still plan on wiping them down after handling. I took a very poor picture to highlight some of the accessorizing that I chose.

You can see how bright it is. This is because I installed some LED strip lights. These are multi-purpose light kits that can be used under cabinets or even gun safes. I don’t think lights are really necessary unless there is a lot of stuff in there. Then it starts to get a little more helpful. But, I wanted to pimp out my safe.

The black caps on the floor are covering bolts that I drilled into the concrete. The safe manufacturer recommends at least two bolts. I did four. Now, I thought that I was already paying for this with delivery and installation. As I pointed out last week, nope.

Aside from keeping valuables safe, you also want to protect them from the environment. You can barely see it at the lip of the door, but I added a heating element. This is supposed to drive air circulation within the safe. And with circulation, there is less chance of rust. I will be testing that out for sure.

The white item on the upper left is some rechargeable desiccant. The balls within absorb water vapor. They have some kind of magic that changes from purple to pink when they need to be recharged. To do that, there is a plug on the back of the case and you plug in the device until it is dried out.

The tiny sliver of black you see at the top/middle is a remote hygrometer/thermometer. You probably know that I am a data junky. I want to see what it happening with temperature and humidity more so to get a sense about how the heating bar and desiccant are working. I already had one in my shop so I swapped this new unit in for the old one and now I have a monitor in the basement.

It is already yielding interesting data. It is typically a degree warmer inside and a couple of percentage points higher in humidity. It could be that the sensor for the inside has a different calibration for the sensor on the outside. Or, I suspect that this moving air and desiccation is actually drawing moisture into the safe. I am going to keep an eye on that.

These were the accessories that I chose. There are other variations of lights and moisture measurements. I have even heard of motion detectors to alarm you if someone is trying to access the safe if you are not around. You can purchase various pistol racks and over the door hangers as well. Mine comes with a factory door hanger so I didn’t need that. But that is it.

End Your Programming Routine: If it is cars, boats, computers or safes accessorizing is the way to make things our own. Despite the fact that I am no where close to filling it up and probably never will, it gave me a lot more breathing room in my former cabinet. Since I have been reloading, I have run out of room to store all those plastic boxes and shotgun shells for trap season. Not just storing them but getting to specific loads is a chore having to pull everything out to find something. This day was a long time coming.

June 14, 2023 – What Do Kitchen Ranges and Cars Have In Common?

June 14, 2023 /

I was thinking about how to say this but the number one thing that I value is value. I know that is ill written but I think that you get what I mean. It is the reason why I have never leased a car. There are reasons to do it, but none of them actually fit into my life. Consequently, the smartest thing to do is buy a car and drive it until it doesn’t make sense anymore like too many repairs, too frequently.

On our Memorial Day fishing excursion, the tail light fell out. The plastic has become brittle and broke. I knew last fall that there was a problem, I guess I didn’t think that it would just fall out. Sometimes I don’t realize problems until they happen even though the warning signs were visible. That is called experience, now I know.

I wanted to order a new taillight since the plastic is brittle. It makes more sense than buying a used one with likely the same problem. Guess what, finding a new taillight assembly is nearly impossible on a thirteen year old car. It turns out that there is not enough market demand I guess.

At one time, I was doing work for the company that makes carbon fiber layups for the F-22. They told me that they only make enough to satisfy orders and once that order was closed, they will never make another part again. That means that the parts that exist are the only parts that will ever exist. On one hand, that kind of makes sense because how many body parts on an F-22 will ever be replaced?

Also during Memorial weekend, my wife wanted oatmeal for breakfast. Her version is boiling in milk which I hate to do. Primarily because it often burns on the bottom of the pan but I also forgot that milk has a tendency to quickly boil over. Of course I was distracted with all of the breakfast tasks and that happened. So, now I had to take the stove apart to clean up the mess.

I so happens that this range is a 1990s vintage. It has been well used and in fact there are also irreplaceable parts on it as well. Even the burner cassettes are no longer for sale. The appliance repair guy told me that they have to rebuild them because they cannot get replacement parts. Spilling milk and wort on them does not help.

Better is clearly a matter of perspective. Plastic taillight assemblies make the overall vehicle lighter and therefore more fuel efficient (maybe even safer). That is better, but it doesn’t make them more durable. I suppose electric ranges are going toward induction or instant heating as a technology. But induction doesn’t work with aluminum so no canning for me and that is not better. I would dearly like gas but that makes this change a $20,000 endeavor because we would have to run a connection. Plus, how would the climate change warriors feel about that switch?

Every since Eli Whitney pioneered interchangeable parts, it has helped productivity. It helps build things faster and more reliable and makes the cost ultimately go down. That model starts to break down when parts are no longer interchangeable because they don’t work with all things. Those of course are negatives to manufacturers. When parts become commodities then there is little margin or incentive to innovate.

As complex things age, they start to break down. This of course is a negative when you are multiple model numbers removed because most people will replace things rather than repair them. Or if you are leasing something like a car, you don’t even care because you never have anything less than current. Intellectually, I understand the landscape but it is a bitter pill to swallow when you are looking to play the value game.

A couple of things to consider here. First make sure that you are taking care of your stuff. Things like routine maintenance and cleaning go a long way to making expensive items last. Second, look to buy the most popular models. Part of my taillight problem is a limited number of Navigators were produced. Look for the non-limited edition models for longer term support.

I suppose the older I get, the more crochety I get about change. If I had never had the ability to can on my range, I would have looked for a different solution from the beginning. Ultimately, I could use a propane burner or some other mechanism if I have to but why would I compromise from the start?

End Your Programming Routine: This is a place where I really can’t fight the system. I am not going to change how car parts or appliances are made. But it is also a warning sign. There will come a day when I can’t work around all of the problems. It would be better to think through what my potential options are now while I still have time to plan and react rather that after something is broken. We have a little shopping of both, I don’t really like the price ranges so I am crossing my fingers that things can hold on.

June 13, 2023 – Pennywise and Pound Foolish?

June 13, 2023 /

The last thing that I wanted to finish last year was staining the deck. If you recall, I spent the majority of the summer fixing the siding and facia. We paid for a new fence and a hand railing on the deck to replace the ailing, plastic deck railing. When it was first completed, we were in Spain. I wanted to give it some time to dry out and then I got involved in my siding project.

I built this deck in 2007. The lattice frames I cut out of the old cedar deck. Other than replacing a panel here or there, that is about all I have done. I saved the larger offcuts of the lattice for future work. So, when I did some maintenance, I found a suitable scrap to fit the hole and away I went.

I an effort to get everything spic and span for staining, it was time to fix some of the panels that need repair. I am now at a place that I have run out of spares. So, I thought that I would run out and pick up a new panel for replacement. Talk about sticker shock. I know that it has been a while, but I am pretty sure that I paid $15 a panel for lattice the last time I purchased 3/4″ cedar lattice. I am seeing $80 a panel.

Then, it came to me, I have a stapler, planer and cedar. Why don’t I just mill some pieces to replace what is broken? After all, lattice is nothing more than strips of cedar stapled together. And so that is what I set out to do.

I spent a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon making some replacement strips. Of course, I made more than I needed. I don’t want to have to do this again too soon. They really do stand out like a sore thumb, but then again, so would a whole new panel. In my view, this is probably the lesser of two evils.

Another added advantage is that now I had the stapler out, I could re attach other loose strips as well. At least potentially, that will prevent other strips from breaking loose from the grid. All told, I probably had four hours into the operation. Granted, some of it was reorganizing the firewood pile and tiding up unrelated messes in the shop to work.

Economically, this move doesn’t really make sense. At least the only way it does is if I do not value my time. I was already at the store looking at lattice, with the intent to buy. So, I had already sunk that time. The only part of it that really does is environmentally. I took wood from the burn pile and reused it in a place that I needed it. That also means that I didn’t throw away the old lattice, I didn’t have waste cuts from the new lattice either.

This would have been a poor decision as a contractor. But, since I am not I can justify it by saying to myself that I didn’t spend $80. I didn’t have to handle an unwieldly 4×8′ sheet. I could repair everything in place and I put to work all of these high dollar tools I own. I built some spare strips for the future.

The decision to build or repair is a simple equation. You put together a simple pros / cons list. The winner is the one that favors one side or the other. But, it is way more complicated than that because you have to include want. And want is not governed by pros and cons. So, in my case here the pros would have been to buy the panel but I wanted to fix the strips rather than the whole thing. To me, it justified my capability to do so.

End Your Programming Routine: There is a time when repair is more economical than replacement. That is a time when what is being worked with is not replicable. The other situation is that the preponderance of the scope of work is small in compared to the overall scale. That is a little cryptic but assume that one dining room chair needs work and a replacement is not available. It wouldn’t make sense to replace the whole set, just the chair that needs repair. If the cost of the repair is high but cheaper than replacing all the chairs, then it is certainly worth it.

May 31, 2021 – It’s Now or Never

May 31, 2023 /

I know that I have a lot going on. But, I am running out of time with my son to get his 1969 Mercury Cougar going. With thoughts of moving and kids moving on, I want to make a decision on worth continuing or not. I am not opposed to making this my project and giving it to my son but I am surely not going to move an anchor around. I need to show some interest so that he will develop some.

My son has invested in some new parts. There is a new fuel tank, carburetor and starter solenoid. The oil has been changed and that is about all I know. The story that we heard was that the jealous ex-boyfriend ripped the ignition switch out so we are left with a bunch of wires to trace to get that put back together. But the first step would be to hotwire and see if it will turn over.

Looking at this car, it needs a lot of work and my son’s efforts over the last couple of years hasn’t helped. He has removed a lot of things an I am pretty sure that there are lost items now. I am not an expert or even a good mechanic. I am mechanically oriented with a potentially never give up attitude. I have the factory shop manuals and the internet so how hard can it be?

My claim to fame for big mechanical projects was repairing a warped head gasket in a 1980 Datsun 210. Of course, I caused the problem in the first place. It was my wife’s car. I thought that I would be helpful by changing the oil and checking the coolant. Low and behold, I didn’t put the radiator cap back on correctly and all of the antifreeze boiled out on a short trip to country and western bar.

It was after midnight and instead of letting the car cool off, I poured a gallon of water into the radiator. That of course caused the cylinder head to warp. So the car sat for a couple of months until I had enough money to buy some tools and time to work on it. After I graduated from college, I spent a couple of days taking the cylinder head off, getting it machined and putting everything back together.

I had a book on how to do things, but it left a lot to be imagined and there was no internet. I was resorted to begging for tidbits from people that I thought knew what they were doing with cars and mechanics, like a professor that I knew worked on his car or a classmate that was a tow truck driver. One of the things I read was that with the cylinder head height changed, I needed to check the valve clearance. I tried to adjust that and I got it all screwed up. The car ran, but rough.

I drove it for a couple of weeks to my new job and then the battery died. I gave up and sold it to a co-worker for $200. He got everything straightened out in a couple of days and drove it for a couple of years. He then sold it to another co-worker and I lost track of it.

End Your Programming Routine: While all of those problems were self inflicted, I learned a lot and most of all I got confidence that I could do more and obviously better. That being said, I know that I don’t know what I really need to know. So, call this project blissful ignorance. The good news here is that I have the option to pay for some of the work if I want to. I don’t really want to, yet.

May 3, 2023 – Unclog Your Sink Like a Pro

May 3, 2023 /

Another day in the life… Since I barely go upstairs anymore, I don’t happen to peak in on this bathroom much. This is my kid’s primary bathroom so I don’t know how long the drain has been slow. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that it has been a while. My wife told me it wasn’t working and wanted it fixed, so here it goes.

End Your Programming: It’s hard for me to believe that people don’t know how to do things around the house anymore. But then again, some people probably find it strange that I struggle with the emotional side of things. Yes, plumbing can be an unsavory past-time but clearing the drain yourself not only saves money but it could be weeks before you get a scheduled appointment. You can do it.

April 26, 2023 – HP Pavillion Battery Replacement

April 26, 2023 /

Nothing fancy here. There are very few videos on how to do this, and none with my specific vintage of HP. So, while those other videos might be all you need, this may be exactly what you need. The hardest part in my opinion is prying off the back.

End Your Programming Routine: I don’t remember what this repair costs, but I know it wasn’t expensive the last time I paid for it. There is a reason, because it is not difficult. It takes about 10 minutes to do the replacement if you are practiced.

April 19, 2023 – Makita 6303H Repair

April 19, 2023 /

Good tools are good tools. I have a certain affinity for the Makita brand that goes all the way back to the early 1990s. Both my uncle and my grandfather were users of the Makita brand dating back to the 1980s after the decline of the Craftsman brand as the tool standard of Americans. My uncle told me a story that when he started as a contractor in 1985, he went through two new Craftsman sanders in a week before switching to Makita and never looking back.

When going through my father-in-law’s shed, I donated a lot of items to Habitat for Humanity. I saved a couple of the Makita tools that I thought were not ‘use off the shelf’ ready, like this drill. Sure, ultimately I think it probably cost more to repair than to purchase used. I suspect that they were ‘gifts’ from a friend as he was a retired cabinet maker that had a habit of giving tools away that he no longer saw a use. And my father-in-law was always gracious.

The amazing thing is that I think you can purchase every single part for this drill still. This includes all the plastic cowlings. My original plan was to just replace the cord, but looking at it more closely, I figured I could get away with shortening the cord. That is what freed my mind to replace the missing auxiliary handle which was the most expensive part of the whole project.

End Your Programming Routine: I now have three, corded electric 1/2″ drills, only one that I actually purchased. My ultimate thought was to repair this drill and give it to someone that might feel more of an emotional connection to it, like my son rather than risking it getting thrown away. For that reason, I didn’t mind spending some money on it as long as it was a quality item. It probably won’t ever get a lot of use now that cordless tools are so convenient. But, what would you pay to do a project with Grandpa again?

April 13, 2023 – Storing Fuel: Accessing Electricity

April 13, 2023 /

Whether you have a generator or are running an inverter from your car, the power needs to get from the point of generation to the device that needs the power. It is imperative for safety and proper operation that you have a collection of appropriate extension cords.

Imagine for a minute that you were smart enough to have a generator and you needed it because of an expected, days long power outage. Because you were so smart, you also know that your refrigerator is probably good for a day or so if you do not open the doors. But what isn’t smart is running the generator inside. You need to get the power from the point of generation to the device safely.

To get further into the nuance, you not only need to get the power safely but also appropriately. Some number of years ago, we hired some painters. They were trying to run the paint sprayer on a household extension cord (these are the two wire, flat cords meant to plug in Christmas lights or something like that). Because there was so much power draw, it was tripping the circuit every ten minutes until I gave them an appropriate diameter extension cord.

The farther you need to go or the more power you need, the thicker the extension cord you need to have. The very common orange outdoor power cords are typically 16gauge wire. These are great for running drills or work lights but when it comes to heavy draw, not so much. They might work, but if something is running on a dedicated circuit, you might want to do more of a calculation to see if this is going to be adequate.

In the old days when I had more time than money, I used to read instruction manuals for power tools. It was pretty common for them to recommend different sized cords depending on the distance you are running. If you know anything about electricity, then you will know that it is code to have a minimum 14 gauge wire for a 15 amp circuit and 12 gauge wire for 20 amp circuit. So, this should be your rough guide on extension cords. And this is why you should be OK with a 16 gauge cord with devices pulling less than 10 amps of continuous use.

If you start getting tricky and adding surge protectors or other devices, they are good for some things like tripping an internal breakers to protect the device. I have some extension cords with built in breakers. They will trip if the tool load gets too high so be aware of the set and forget mentality. I use them when I want to have multiple things plugged in but not necessarily running at the same time. The more frequently a circuit breaker trips, the weaker that breaker becomes and trips much easier.

If your cord is ever hot, it is not sized for the load. It might be OK in an emergency situation or monitored use, but leaving it as a semi-permanent installation is a recipe for a potential fire. Fortunately, most devices that the home user is going to use with a generator will likely be lower draw items. But watch out for power tools and appliances for this problem.

I think that everyone knows that electricity and water do no mix. There are specific cords made for this use but they are expensive. I think a better strategy would be to not have any connections made in a wet environment (have a long enough cord). But if you have to, it is probably much more cost effective to build an enclosure. Drill some holes in a Rubbermaid style container to keep connections dry.

The cable of the extension cord is part of the system. If your cords have damage, repair or do not use. What I do if I have cords that have nicks in the insulation, I will shorten them with repair ends. If the nick is in the middle make two short ones if you can find a use for these. Electrical tape is a field repair. It will probably keep you from getting shocked, but if the conductor is damaged, it is effectively reducing the overall wire gauge and therefore decreasing the overall wattage capacity.

There is also the theory that sometimes it is better to have tool extensions rather than have longer power cords. The common adage in air compressors is add more air lines rather than extension cords. That is a high draw tool at 13-15 amps. If you had a 12 gauge cord, I wouldn’t hesitate to use it. But, most people haven’t invested $100 into an extension cord and more air hoses are always useful. For ultimate longevity, consider other options that just extension cords.

End Your Programming Routine: I didn’t realize that I was going to have so much to say about extension cords so easily. But, if we are going to generate power, it makes no sense not to be able to use it. Having sufficient lengths and quantities available when we need them so that we can do so safely and effectively is really the only thing that makes sense. Not only that, we can use them for the same reasons when the power is not off. It’s a no brainer.