Projects

[OperaTenor]

Originally posted by barfle:
The air in the laundry room has turned blue on many occasions.

You shoulda heard me when I found one of the fence posts was set ~6" too far to one side(I had measured to use 8' rails).....

[treebeau]

In October, I completed the "Kitchen Cafe."
Kitchen cafe 1 of 2
and
Kitchen cafe 2 of 2

[barfle]

You have enough wine corks to make a 2' by 4' table? I would say you have other problems, too!

Seriously, I did start collecting wine corks for a similar project, but with our on-again/off-again wine drinking habits, it never got off the ground. Besides, most of the corks were from red wine, and they had quite a stain.

--------------------

Another project I recently completed in the house was the installation of two sconces in the dining rooom.



So I cut the holes for the boxes. These are outside walls, and are rather heavily insulated, so it's not exactly trivial getting wiring down them, so I had to cut another hole about halfway between the sconce and the outlet to help me guide the wiring. One side, naturally, had a stud in the way, which had to be notched for the wire to pass.

I have a cute little device that you can plug into an outlet, then a companion device will tell you which circuit breaker you need to throw to shut the outlet off, so I did that and installed the wiring on one side. Then I went to do the same thing to the other side, and found out the painful way that the outlets weren't on the same breaker. Go figure.

No real harm done - I've been hit with 110 enough times that it's little more than an annoyance, but this was a surprise.

I've developed a technique for patching holes in drywall like the ones I had to make for routing the wiring on this project. I cut the hole with a keyhole saw, and save the part that comes out. When I'm done with the hole, I take a small piece of wood, something along the lines of a paint stir stick you get for free, put it in the hole, and glue it to the backside of the wallboard. Once that dries, I glue the piece of drywall I took out with the saw to the piece of wood, trim off the frayed edges of everything, and spackle up just the crack that's left around the hole. You have to fill two or three times over the space of a few days, but once it's sanded smooth and painted, it disappears.

My wife is quite pleased with the results, and we'll be having Thanksgiving Dinner in a dining room with some nice mood lighting.

[treebeau]

OK, now take a picture with the sconces.

As for my drinking habit, I am a lightweight. I asked a waitress at a nearby Italian restaurant to collect wine corks for me. Every time I went in there she pulled out a basket of them and transferred them to a doggie bag for me. Then the entire restaurant staff got involved including the owner. No matter who saw me, they would pull out the corks.

Not sure that I have enough corks for that table yet, but know where to get them. And I probably would if I cut them in half, but that's cheating.


BTW, whenever I patch drywall, I do it very much like you said with an exception. Instead of gluing in the backer stick (paint stirrer) I screw it into place with drywall screws. Then I screw the patch to the stick. Since you're spackling anyway, embed the screws just below the surface and spackle over them. Works great and is just a little faster.

Regards,
Tim B.

[treebeau]

Here is a link to...
How I fixed a hollow core door.

Regards,
Tim B.

[barfle]

Originally posted by treebeau:
OK, now take a picture with the sconces.

The picture above is from my old Prodigy website. Unfortunately, my password no longer works there so I can't upload any pictures. Eventually, I suppose they'll discover that the site isn't valid any more, and that picture will go away. The new site under Verizon is still a "project."

Originally posted by treebeau:
As for my drinking habit, I am a lightweight. I asked a waitress at a nearby Italian restaurant to collect wine corks for me. Every time I went in there she pulled out a basket of them and transferred them to a doggie bag for me. Then the entire restaurant staff got involved including the owner. No matter who saw me, they would pull out the corks.

Just pulling your leg, Tim. Sounds like you've got a good source for building materials.

Originally posted by treebeau:
Not sure that I have enough corks for that table yet, but know where to get them. And I probably would if I cut them in half, but that's cheating.

How would you cut them? Sharp knife?

Originally posted by treebeau:
BTW, whenever I patch drywall, I do it very much like you said with an exception. Instead of gluing in the backer stick (paint stirrer) I screw it into place with drywall screws. Then I screw the patch to the stick. Since you're spackling anyway, embed the screws just below the surface and spackle over them. Works great and is just a little faster.

I've done that, too and had it split the wood. It depends on how much wood you can put behind the drywall, which also depends on how big a hole you made in the first place. By the time I get it big enough to feel confident I won't split the wood, the hole is big enough to warrant two pieces!

<small>[ 11-23-2005, 12:16 PM: Message edited by: barfle ]</small>

[treebeau]

Howdy,

Yeah, I know you were kidding about the drinking thing. I just supplied that info because it demonstrates that it is pretty simple to collect used corks...unlike empty Altoids tins.

I have cut corks lengthwise with a Ginsu knife. But read something somewhere. This fellow and his wife made wainscoting for a room in their house out of wine corks, all split lengthwise. To split a lot of corks he improvised a device for his bandsaw. He clamped some PVC pipe to the table of the bandsaw in front of the blade. The inside diameter of the PVC was just about the diameter of the corks...maybe a hair bigger. Then he just pushed corks in the front. Each new cork would push the line of them inside the tube until they were pushed past the blade. I suppose bags could be taped around so they would fall into bags instead of onto the floor. But anyway, fingers were kept well away from the blade.

Regards,
Tim B.

[barfle]

This was a project that probably didn't need to be one, but it turned out that way.

We moved into our house late in May of 2002. Although we had had an inspection of the property, when we moved in, the air conditioner would not cool the house. June in Virginia is pretty toasty. Actually, it's really muggy - something you Californians get to experience every couple of years, but we get months of it every summer.

Naturally, the first thing I checked was the circuit breaker, and it was fine. I also noted that the compressor was pretty small, so perhaps it was cooling, just not very much. But that was wishful thinking, and my wife was not about to let me off the hook that easily.

So I dug into the compressor and discovered that, in spite of a circuit breaker that was "ON," there was no power to the compressor motor. I took the cover off the breaker box, and there was 220V on the lines, big as life. Hmmmm. This electical engineer says there's something else in the house that he doesn't know about, but needs to investigate.

The breaker box is only three feet from the compressor - not very far for a wire to come loose (none found), but another investigation turned up junction box providing power to the compressor, or in this case NOT providing power. The cover was a bit tricky to open, requiring the door to be slid down while the catch is held out of the way, then pivoted open. There I discovered a handle, which I pulled, and extracted a fuse holder. These fuses are about the same size as my index finger, and one of them tested blown. A trip to the hardware store allowed replacement of the blown fuse as well as a spare to be stored in the box, and the air conditioner has been functioning fine ever since.

I admit that I'm not from around here, but I really don't understand the value of having both a circuit breaker AND fuses in a power line. Pulling the fuses guarantees that there's no 220V on the compressor, if someone is working on it, but then what's the purpose of the breakers?

This whole process took about two weeks, because I had plenty of other activities involved in moving into a new house going on at the same time.

[treebeau]

Weird, but great fix! Sounds very inexpensive compared to the alternative!! And perhaps you can sooner or later get rid of the need for fuses.

Regards,
Tim B.

[OperaTenor]

Hi Barfle,

I may be wrong about the civilian world, but in the canoe club it is common to have large electrical loads doubly isolable from the power source for safety.

I plumbed my own 220VAC wiring for a portable spa once, and while having a breaker at the box, I also installed a 60A fusable link box adjacent to the spa as a backup.

PS. I HATE working with electrons!

<small>[ 11-28-2005, 02:54 PM: Message edited by: OperaTenor ]</small>

[Shapley]

OT,

Double Breaker Protection? It's not that common. You give yourself away as a snipe when you say you 'plumbed' your wiring.

Typically, there is an off switch, which does not provide electrical isolation (it only breaks the connection to one side of the circuit). Then there is the circuit breaker, which provides true electrical isolation. If the device is located outdoors, in a damp location, or has a potential for contact with water (such as a portable spa), the breaker should be of the GFCI (Ground Fault Current Interrupt) type. If one is not installed in the breaker box supplying the circuit, then one should be installed locally. Many, if not all, portable spas are shipped with one from the factory.

Barfle,

I believe the fuses are there for instaneous overcurrent relief. breakers are designed to allow an overcurrent condition to persist for a short time, in order to prevent tripping due to starting current. The rating of the fuses should be significantly higher than the rating of the breaker. This will provide instant disconnect in the event of a ground fault condition, but will prevent tripping during starting, particularly during a low-voltage condition. In most homes nowadays, the fuses are replaced with a GFCI breaker, or so I understand.

V/R
Shapley

[OperaTenor]

Hi Shap,

It was common on das Boot to have more than one way to electrically isolate the big electrical componennts, to the best of my recollection. I suppose I could have said "ran", but "plumbed" has more character.

PS. I still HATE working woith electrons!

[Shapley]

OT,

I recall the term "double valve isolation" when dealing with mechanical components, which we often had to do. Particularly important when taking a sea water pump down for repair. It was much simpler to double isolate the flooding source before opening it to atmosphere than to do so afterwards.

V/R
Shapley

[OperaTenor]

Hi Shap,

Remember, I lived in the world of not only radcon, but SubSafe. Our philosophy tended to be more that you couldn't be safe enough or hang enough danger tags. Anything done in the name of keeping water out of the people tank was not considered over the top.

[barfle]

To be honest, I would have to check the ratings on the fuses and the breakers, but it seems like they were the same. It's been a couple of years and it's been working fine, so since it ain't broke no more, I ain't fixing it no more.

Actually, I am getting new furnace and AC units this weekend. The electrostatic air filter and the whole-house humidifier, along with the extra return vent in the basement should go a long ways toward making the house more comfortable in the climate extremes (compared to coastal Southern California) we have here.

As I noted, someone told me that the fuse block was a safety feature for someone working on the compressor. If it was pulled, there was no power available at the compressor. That would work just as well if the fuses were replaced by copper rods. We'll see what the new installation looks like.
:confused:

[treebeau]

Originally posted by treebeau:
My first foray in this thread.

Since I post this stuff in my blog, I will simply give you links to the blog entries.

I'm repairing my logsplitter. The engine works but it is not turning the hydraulic pump. The problem is a broken "Lovejoy coupler" mounted to the pump shaft. Replacing them "should be" easy and 8 years ago I did it with no trouble at all. This time, trouble.
LJ coupling
Logsplitter repair
Logsplitter repair, part 2

Regards,
Tim B.

Finally got the LJ coupling off last night. Here are links to the last two entries in my blog related to removing that sucker.
Logsplitter repair, part 3
Logsplitter repair, part 4

Regards,
Tim B.

[barfle]

This link to my car projects is a remnant of my original Prodigy website, so I have no idea how long it will be available. Once I get my new Verizon website in place, I'll probably provide a new link.

Do you like the "garage door" sound effect?

[piqaboo]

Ongoing -
bike project(s) - OT
getting tchotkes onto wall and off shelves - Piq
defeating the iceplant - team effort
rewiring lamps, finding suitable shades etc, for use in office - OT

These are the ones the last two posts reminded me of. Now Im afraid to go home.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Ongoing -
Nineteen quilts-in-progress. :ack:
Reload home opsys & kill assorted kids that use my computer. :lookingforcomputersale:
Watch PiqOTAltoid attack iceplant (my money's on the ground cover)

[BigJon@Work]

Originally posted by barfle:
Do you like the "garage door" sound effect?

No! Not when I'm trying to listen to b.com at a polite level at work!