Techneaks

Looking for a Techneak...

2008-01-12T18:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't have a techneak to report at this time, but if one of you knows one I will edit this post to put it up, giving full credit, of course.
Both Dale and I have encountered problems lately with the effects of static electricity on foodstuffs. I run into it whenever I use the coffee grinder and then try to pour the grounds into the coffee maker. Dale came across it trying to pour some Red River cereal through a funnel. Stuff sticks to the materials instead of sliding off them, and it's not because there is a sticky substance on the stuff. The coffee and it's container actually get so staticky (is that a word=?) that it leaps out in all directions if I tap the container to dislodge it - coffee everywhere, Dale is not pleased, not good.
Both of the offending plastic parts (funnel and grinder out container) are made of plastic. The coffee container is clear and has a #1 triangle on it, making it PETE or PET according to Wikipedia. The funnel is made of a white plastic, but is too old to have a triangle, so I am not sure what kind of plastics it is.
I have heard of people rubbing dryer sheets on stuff that is staticky, but I don't think I want those on my food. So, the question is: does anyone know a food-safe way to get rid of static?

Two very GOOD stretches

2008-01-02T18:13:00.000-07:00

These are two muscle fascia stretches shown to me by my athletic therapist, Deanne.

In the first, lay on the floor and raise yourself into a shoulder stand.

Then tilt your legs over your head, keeping your knees straight until your toes touch the floor. Hold for 10 -15 seconds. I find this one especially useful for unkinking my neck and loosening all the muscles between my shoulder blades that don't enjoy sitting at the computer.

The second one can be done anywhere.

Tuck your chin against your chest.

And bend over slowly, vertebra by vertebra, until you touch the floor or your toes. Hold for 10-15 seconds.
Lift slowly, again vertebra by vertebra, arching your back and spreading your arms, pushing the stretch out through your middle fingers. (The first time I did this I felt a real 'zing' at the ends of my fingers).

Repeat as needed.

For a deeper stretch place your feet on or against something so the plane of the bottom of your feet form a 45 degree angle. This really works the back of the legs.

Excel Trick

2007-12-18T17:24:00.000-07:00

If you need to add the current data and/or time in Excel, there are two ways. One is to use the now(), date() or time() functions if you want the date and time to always be your current PC time (i.e. a dynamic date). However, if you want to just enter a static current time, such as a manual time stamp for an entry, you can use Ctrl and “;”. As per the manual:
Current date - Select a cell and press CTRL+; Current time - Select a cell and press CTRL+SHIFT+;Current date and time - Select a cell and press CTRL+; then SPACE then CTRL+SHIFT+;

Password recovery for Windoze NT, 2000, XP, 2003, and Vista

2007-09-14T13:59:00.000-06:00

If you need to recover a computer password try http://www.loginrecovery.com/. A friend bought a used laptop recently that was demanding an Admin login; he used this site's service and they e-mailed the password within a couple of days.

Jogging Stroller Handle Mark II

2007-09-03T21:25:00.000-06:00

Tina and Dale witnessed the failure of my home-made jogging stroller handle when they visited. Today I did a retrofit with a different design shown below. It hasn't been road tested yet but I have high hopes!

Hello, World

2007-08-10T21:03:00.000-06:00

Today I managed to wire up and program my AVR microcontroller based POV to control a lcd display. Hurray!

A little trivia for you, when you take a beginner's programming class, one of the first things you often learn is to print "Hello World" to the screen. I haven't figured how to print a space yet, so the comma was substituted.

Converting a bike trailer to a jogging stroller

2007-07-29T07:30:00.000-06:00

Kirsten wanted a jogging stroller so I did this quick mod to our bike trailer for her to try out. I Simply made the handle with some aluminum tubing and UHMW supports screwed to the trailer frame, and I repladed the trailer hitch boom with the salvage bike fork. The bike fork was the right size, I just drilled one hole for the pin.

Part Deux

2007-07-23T19:50:00.000-06:00

Success on the secord LCD, even after reversing the power polarity and creating a puff of smoke. Lucky, lucky!

mwuh-ha-ha-ha!

How Sweet it is

2007-07-22T20:08:00.000-06:00

I am sure this picture is unimpressive to most of you. Just an LCD module with some question marks on it. Well, it is very sweet to me. I was interested in an LCD display to interface with an AVR micro-controller to potentially use in a number of projects including Grant's camera timer.

Retail for a LCD like this is over $20 US plus shipping, but through handy Ebay, I can get them for $3 US plus $3 shipping. $3 to ship from China!

So I got it within 2 weeks and today I tried to test it. Can I just say it took a lot of research and I was stumped about 5 times. Then, as with many of my projects, presto, it all came together and I have ??????????????????? on the screen, and on purpose!

Of course it all seems somewhat elementary now...

Sign Language Help

2007-06-16T23:15:00.000-06:00

I just found this cool site that has video clips of sign language. Ok, potentially not earth shattering, but cool none the less.

Born 2 Sign

Hummer Hybrid

2007-06-13T19:38:00.000-06:00

I have always been facinated with spoof ads so tonight I took a few minutes to create the ad I had been joking with Kirsten about. Not super high quality, but fun. Stole a pic of an H2 from their website, did a color replacement to make it green, masked and cut out the "mountain meadow" exhaust.

hehehehehe

linux, laptop, wep, wireless..

2007-06-08T22:09:00.000-06:00

I am now sitting at my kitchen table writing this blog post. This is significant to me for several reasons:

1) My computer is at my desk, so thus I have got my laptop connected to the internet
2) I connected my laptop wirelessly, thanks to the card Tina gave me!
3) The laptop is running Xbuntu (linux). The laptop can now boot linux or Win98 (which I need to run my CNC.

Ironically I have been putting off doing this for a while, I would start researching it, then get bogged down in the details... Tonight I sat down and was trying AGAIN to test the set up while booting linux from a bootable CD, but that is 2 slow. So I decided it was time to bite the bullet and actually install linux. I went to back up some files only to discover I had done it already. Then, as it turned out I just had to put in the Xbuntu CD and start the laptop and wait... that's it! Eventually I had to turn the WEP off on the router to connect, but nothing else...

go figure

Gates and Roller Blade Wheels

2007-06-02T16:04:00.000-06:00

This weekend I built a new gate to keep the kiddies from running away. Notice the garage sale roller blade wheels on the end of the gate!

Metal Detecting and Light Boxes

2007-06-01T23:44:00.000-06:00

What do metal detecting and light boxes have in common? Let me tell you a story.

Tonight I decided to try out my $10 garage sale metal detector at the local park, specifically in the sand around the climbing structures. I have only tried out this detector in front of our old apartment and then only found garbage. My goal is to find enough coins to pay for the detector. Even then, just to find one coin with a metal detector had been a bit of a life time goal. After about 20 minutes of nothing but a bottle cap, low and behold I found a 1969 quarter, my first find! That made my day. So when I got home I wanted to take a picture in our light box, but was unhappy with how the light box pictures were turning out. So I rebuild the light box, much better! Below are the pictures of my quarter and at the bottom a picture of the set up. Two halogen flood lights, a small halogen desk lamp in front and a small flashlight to light up the quarter a bit more. It was fun taking the pictures. I think the cars look good in the pictures too. Now, you are thinking, sure the cars make good eye candy, but what's the deal. Well, if you metal detect in the sand at a playground, chances are you will find more than just quarters... the cars are finds 2, 3, 4 and 5! I had a chuckle when I dug up the first one. Jack and Eric will be happy!

As Paul Harvey would say, " And now you know the rest of the story."

SLR Remote Trigger

2007-06-01T08:01:00.000-06:00

This is the remote trigger I made for Grant's camera. I got the circuit off the inter-web, it is pretty simple and has buttons for the shutter and auto-focus, and a toggle switch to lock the shutter open on the camera's "bulb" setting. The mini-headphone jack just plugs into the camera. I couldn't decide how long to make the cable so I wired both ends for 4-wire phone cable so Grant can use whatever length cable he wants. If you were wondering, the case for the switches is made from a 35mm film case (not my idea but I liked the irony). I also got to use our spanky label maker I gleaned from work.

Concrete Counter Tops

2007-05-27T21:06:00.000-06:00

Kirsten and I have been talking about what can we do in our house, specifically our kitchen, to spruce it up without spending to much money. One idea that has surfaced is doing concrete countertops. I am curious to try it and the cost would be minimal. Best of all if we don't like it, then in a couple years when we have the cash, we do something else. I think of it as the poor man's marble.

Sooo, anybody with any experience? Want some? Here's a link to get you started:

http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/author/dcn/conccounter-a.html

Air Horn in 5 minutes

2007-05-26T20:09:00.000-06:00

Here is a link to how to make an air horn in 5 minutes with a ballon, straw and film canister.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/352175/how_to_free_air_horn/

Webster's Online Dictionary

2007-05-24T11:18:00.000-06:00

Wow, this is an amazing resource. Go to http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/dog and hover your mouse over the "Index" icon on the right-hand edge of the page. Check out the translations, for example. Oooo, I love a good language resource!

New Commute Vehicle

2007-05-14T06:58:00.000-06:00

Well as you can see I finally bought a moto-bike. :) Sorry Tina you took to long with a price on your beamer. So this is it!

I got a brand new 2007 Piaggio Typhoon Scooter. Yep I go 60km all out lol. But It also saved me about $20 in gas the first week. (This is just to and back from work). It also gives Brenda a vehicle for the summer when the Terrors are not in school and she needs to farm them out some where to keep her sanity. At least that was the story I was using as a major selling point to get the bike.

It has been a week of commuting now and I've changed the route to work so I'm only on roads where possible that the speed limit is 60km/h. With the changes I have only added about 5min to my trip. I drive less kms but I stop and start more. Brenda also has a car during the week. Not to mention with gas at $1.10 a liter I fill about 2 times a week at about $4 a tank and I get about 100km per tank. My gas tank is just over a gallon. So I guess I get about 70-80 mpg. Did I mention that Brenda has a car during the week?

Bike specs:
Type: Single cylinder, two-stroke
Displacement: 49cc
Bore & Stroke: 1.57in X 1.54in (40.0mm X 39.3mm)
Fuel : Unleaded
Induction: Reed valve in crankcase
Lubrication: Separate with automatic mixer
Ignition: Electronic by capacitive discharge (CDI)
Start: Electric
Cooling: Air with forced ventilation
Transmission: Automatic CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission)
Clutch: Automatic centrifuge type

Sketchup Challenge Entry

2007-05-05T09:17:00.000-06:00

I made two objects (obvious shapes). I drew a line to aid in lining things up. I grouped the pipe to aid in selecting. I moved the "keyslot" shape into position and pulled it through the pipe.

With the objects intersected as shown in the above image, select one object and "intersect with model" Do the same for the other object.

Delete the excess material. This takes very little time and is as precise as need be.

Google Sketchup Challenge

2007-04-29T16:43:00.000-06:00

I was playing around with Google Sketchup last night and was teaching myself some Techneaks so I wouldn't be so frustrated. It is amazing how if you learn a few things, everything is so much easier. I seem to be in a challenge mood so here is another challenge: create the object below in 3D. Actual dimensions of colors not important, just a piece of pipe with a hole drilled through it and a notch cut out of it. If anybody expresses interest I could post a how to tutorial after. Here is my hint of the day: in Sketchup, sometimes it is impossible to select the center of a circle you already created. Simple draw a guide line from the edge of the circle ANYWHERE across the surface of the circle. Now you can easily select the center... must be a bug.

Anyhow perhaps everyone can post a comment to say if you like me posting "challenges" here.

Trike Jig Revisited

2007-04-24T20:46:00.000-06:00

I thought I had better explain my trike jig problem. Observe the picture to the left. Observe that if you were trying to square it up (the 2 tubes relative to each other and the floor) then there really isn't any place you can put a square. And even if you could, it couldn't be near any of the tube bends, because the tube flares out-of-round there too. See my problem.

I did however stumble onto an interesting solution (I hope). I had this 3/4" melamine with copious amounts of holes for shelving. By screwing the 2 pieces to make the corner they are automatically perpendicular to the desk, and the main tube is very easily zip-tied in place via the peg holes. Thus the main tube is now correctly positioned! Now I have to do something similar with the cross tube to level it, square it to the desk surface and to the other tube. This all works nicely for being able to take the set up out to the garage later to weld it without much disassembly. Thanks to Grant for talking me through how to take the next step and Lara for giving me the peg board shelves!

Spring Gleaning #2

2007-04-24T19:59:00.000-06:00

Well, it is another garbage eve on Kingston Row. Today's gleanings include one complete bicycle (an old Miele 10 speed) with flat tires, one Peugeot bike frame without tires, a pogo stick that will need a bit of TLC, and a DeWalt saw case which will not yet quite fit my saw. The bikes were within the first 500m!

Contest: Design a Jig

2007-04-22T18:24:00.000-06:00

Here is a challenge for you Techneakians!

I need to weld my 2 main tubes for the Ruzter Trike! They have to be aligned square on about 5 different planes!

The contest is to suggest the easiest way to build a jig that ensures the tubes are square to each other and the ground! Assume you have a flat surface to work on.

Here are the 2 pieces and some pics of how they are supposed to fit together (they are not square in the pics). One note that might not be obvious. the cross tube (smaller V shaped tube) has 2 flat plates welded on the ends. Two of the edges of that plate will be perpendicular to the floor when properly aligned (look at the second pic), but the other 2 edges (top and bottom) are cut irregularly and can be used for aligning. The bolt holes in the plates are drilled exactly the same and are at 12 degrees to perpendicular.

Post your ideas in the comments, of if you have a drawing, post it as a separate post!

Thanks, questions welcome.

Tape Measures for Dummies

2007-04-19T18:08:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine put me on to the tape measures they sell at Rona. Notice that the fractions of an inch are actually marked so you don't have to count the marks every time... I love it!

Saving Your Photographs

2007-04-19T07:33:00.000-06:00

Here's a quick tutorial on fixing faded or under/over exposed photos using a photo editor. I received this photo in a group of family photos. Obviously it's seen better days, and while I can't restore the edges that are torn off I can fix the fading in it. Before I would have probably upped the contrast and tried to fix it that way, but this doesn't usually give you enough control: enter the curves tool. (Curves tools are common in many photo editing packages including Photoshop, Gimp, and PhotoImpact.) Basically what it does is let you control an input tone and stretch or compress it to give a particular output tone. In plain language, you can control if a certain shade of grey in your black and white photograph will become a darker or lighter shade of grey. Or if your photo is faded, if some of your darker greys should actually become black. I've also used curves to fix photos that were way too dark because of not enough light or flash, basically salvaging a photo where nothing was visible to make it fairly presentable. For a much more detailed tutorial you can check out this link. Curves can also be used on colour photographs to change the tone of the picture and the light in it. It's a very powerful tool, one I'm just starting to learn. Perhaps Grant will also be able to give us some pointers in this area?

Have Tricycle Will Travel

2007-04-18T18:53:00.000-06:00

On the topic of gleaning, here is a picture of the tricycle I got at the recycling centre for the boys. They now have 3, but you can never have enough ticycles. I think I will weld on a trailer hitch so Jack can pull his wagon, not because he needs to, but because I can.

Spring Gleaning...

2007-04-17T21:05:00.000-06:00

No Typo, but a word borrowed from Ruzter via Sox. It's that time of the year where many people do their spring cleaning, which then makes for good spring gleaning, the better term for garbage picking. Sunday we went for a walk, and some early garbage had a long-handled grass edge cutter that needed some TLC but is working again now. Tonight netted what must be an original series Workmate - the thing ways way more than my modern model. I had my workout for the day holding it in one hand riding the bike home for about 2km. Also found an old busted stereo I tore apart for kicks (I am easily amused). I left the metal table legs where they are because I was on my bike. Same goes for at least three vacuums. That part I found kind of amazing. Is there a sale going on? Or have people not vacuumed since Christmas, so at Easter they tried their machines and decided they are no longer good enough?
Either way, here is your reminder: It's spring, best gleaning time of the year, so mind the next garbage day in your area :-)

I Don't Need No Stinkin' Pipe Bender!

2007-04-14T07:47:00.000-06:00

Here's how you make a turn in a pipe without a bender:

Step1: cut the pipe at an angle. The angle doesn't matter as long as it is at least 1/2 the angle of the first "step" in the turn.

Step 2: Rotate the end till the desired first bend is made. By rotating the pipe back and forth, you can set the angle of the bend.

Step 3: Tack weld in place. Repeat TACK weld, you may (will) end up grinding the welds off and fine tuning later!

Step 4: Repeat for as many steps as you want so the bend isn't so "sharp". I only did 2 steps to make the bend since it wasn't that big of an angle. The first cut could be any angle but the other cuts must be more precise because you can't rotate the pipe to adjust the angle like you did the first cut. I tried: you end up with a strange goose necking of the pipe. I should have taken a picture.

Step 5: Once the piece has been test fitted, weld away. Ignore the horrible looking welds in the picture. I was having trouble with the feed on my welder. The welds are all solid and I only had to touch up one tiny pin hole after the pipe was installed. I could have ground the welds to make them look pretty, but it was getting late at night and no one but the next person fixing the exhaust would ever see it.

Finished pipe. It's not pretty but it is solid and it fits!

A Question about Pencils...

2007-04-09T20:55:00.000-06:00

As I was looking for a pencil this afternoon, something odd struck me. I don't know about your place, but at mine there are a bunch of pencils lying around since I prefer them over pens. Pencils working the way they do, you can get a good idea how much one has been used. And this is what strikes me. I can't think of ever throwing out a pen because the final nib has become unservicable. Further, there seem to be far more greater-than-half pencils around than smaller-than-half. So, then: where are all the pencils? Are they in the same place where all the socks go that are missing from pairs after the laundry? And, where is that place, and how do they get there? Could whatever property allows these items to disappear also be used in other ingeneous, techneaks-like ways?

Flatten Warped Boards

2007-04-09T14:24:00.000-06:00

I have some old 9" oak baseboards that came with my house. I toolk them all off months ago to insulate and rewire and am now ready to put them back up. Problem is, the face side is varnished and the back is not, so over the years the back has dried out and the boards are all warped now. This isn't a problem in the center of a wall, but makes it just about impossible to make nice mitered corners. The boards are abou 3/4" thick, so just bending them straight isn't going to happen.

Some book once told me that to bend or round a moulding, i.e. something non-structural, you can cut slots about 2/3 of the way through the material from the back, in parallel with the direction in which you want to bend the wood. The material will then act as if it were only 1/3 as thick as the original, making it that much more flexible. The more slots you cut, the more even your bend will be.

I made 7 cuts along the back of the boards on my tablesaw. At that point I could bent the boards straight, but they wanted to bend into a "W", so I think for future reference there will be more closely spaced cuts nearer the edges. I am sure there would be a way to calculate the ideal spacing, but I won't even go there.

With the cuts spaced as it is I was able to clue up the corners in a decent mitre joint.

New Contributers

2007-04-03T19:16:00.000-06:00

Just a quick note to welcome our new contributers, SEO Guru (Carey) and Berserk (Tina). SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization (I believe) and he might give up a glimpse into the esoteric world of getting your web page to the top of the Google searches. Berserk has already (finally) shown us how to more effectively cut ourselves. I am hoping Sox can sometime give us something on wood spirits and Yantski on photography, or whatever they desire!

Welcome to all!

Give Knives a Quick Bite

2007-04-03T18:18:00.000-06:00

Well, here I am finally getting around to signing up, since I finally thought of a brief little techneak.
If you have a kitchen knife that just skids off the tomato you are peeling, you can give it a rough sharpening on the bottom of a mug. Turn over your mug, make sure it has an unglazed ring around the bottom. Drag the edge of your knife across that at a ~30 degree angle a few times. This should give you a rougher and sharper edge.
Sharp knifes are less likely to hurt you than blunt ones, but still, don't blame me if this Techneak helps you draw blood :-)

Track new blog posts with Google Reader

2007-04-01T17:00:00.000-06:00

Google has a fabulous new tool - go to http://labs.google.com/ and click Google Reader. There's a short tutorial, after which you spend a few minutes trying to figure out how to add blogs. Then it becomes easy.
(1) At the bottom of the "Browse" page, go to the area called "Search and browse".
(2) Just paste the URL of the blog into the field, and then click Search for feeds.
(3) When you see the right results, click Subscribe.

If you have the customized Google home page (requires a Gmail address), you can add a Google Reader gadget to your home page. Then you can see all the new posts to the blogs that interest you without having to visit each one individually.

Thank Google! ;D

Milling on the Cheap

2007-03-31T19:09:00.001-06:00

In the past couple weeks I have acquired a cross slide and some end mills. A cross slide is basically a vise that has cranks so you can move it left-right and back-forward and an end mill is like a drill bit except instead of drilling, it cuts sideways. I have just tried them out for the first time to make a piece for my adjustable square that was broken. Here is a picture of the piece I made next to the piece that was broken then some pics taken during milling.

Word's Most Useful Shortcuts

2007-03-20T08:24:00.000-06:00

Most of us have seen lists of Word shortcuts, but unless we use them regularly we tend to forget. This site has a list that many of us will actually USE: http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/Shortcuts.htm. For example,

Press SHIFT+F5 to return to the last editing point in the document. You can press it 4 times, the last time returning you to the starting point.
Repeat commands using F4.
CRTL+Spacebar removes character formatting, and CTRL+Q removes paragraph formatting.
To change the order of table rows, use ALT+SHIFT+Up and Down arrows.

Enjoy!

Free Online Courses from MIT

2007-03-18T22:46:00.000-06:00

I just read about the coolest thing! MIT offers most of their courses for free online to anyone. The catch is that you can't use this method to take courses and get a degree. However if you are just interested in buffing up on your knowledge of French, Engineering Systems, Aeronautics, History Brain Cognition, or *ahem*, Political Science, (or a myriad of other topics), you can sign yourself up and start tonight. Way cool eh?!

Get learning everyone!
MIT Open Course Ware

Join the Techneaks Team!

2007-03-13T18:33:00.000-06:00

If you have been invited to become a Techneakician, send me:

your pseudonym (e.g. ruzter)
a picture (avatar) you want by your name in the Techneakicians section! Your real pic, a southpark character of yourself, your favourite tool, whatever!
your title is you like. Mine is Master Tinkerer. Suggested terms include master, chief apprentice, journeyman, combined with jiggler, fiddler, taker-aparter, inventor, concocter, craftsman, craftswoman, craftyman... use a thesaurus, I just did! I reserve the right to assign/change titles as I see fit.

I will then give you permission to post your interesting but not necessarily useful tips, tricks, discoveries, and pictures. Things for us all to add to our "toolboxes" for that seriously unlikely situation.

Feel free to give suggestions on the blog, I like to give the illusion of a democracy!

The Management

P.S. And of course, Cheri can correct our grammar and spellign! ;P