Hammer Time

So I wanted to use my new diy forge to make something recently. The only problem there is I didn't have a hammer to use as my housemate has been using his elsewhere for a while. My brother had a few old hammer heads that he has found around the place so I figured that with some of the old wood that has been in the shed for a while we could make a new handle for a hammer.

This is what we started with.

For a brief look at what is possible to do for free follow on after the break.

Shaving Dangerously

So for the last few weeks I've been using a new razor I bought from here: http://www.safetyrazor.com.au/
This is the razor I've been using. It's very similar to a straight razor, however it uses replaceable blades. This means that I don't have to worry about honing or stropping to have a nice sharp edge.

The stuff I ordered.

So after using this razor for a few weeks I have been very happy with it. I have nicked myself and had to use the styptic pencil. Thankfully that was only one morning. I'm hoping to buy a proper brush and a bar of shaving soap soon which I expect will improve my shaves significantly.

Just quickly, on the styptic pencils. I had to look a little to find instructions on their use. So here is my method from what I found. After cutting yourself you wet the end of the pencil so it will leave a little of itself behind when rubbed on the skin. Then just rub the tip of it on the cut. This will sting a little depending on how bad you've nicked yourself. Once you've rubbed it around for a short time just rinse the blood off the pencil and put it somewhere to dry.

So apparently the way they work; is when the pencil is wetted it leaves a little of itself behind in the cut when you rub it in. The main thing that does the job is called Alum which I believe is an aluminium oxide of some description. It works by causing the tissue in that are to shrink. In particularly the capillaries that have been broken. This shrinking is what stems the flow of blood.

Once I get a brush and soap I will write a followup and discuss any differences I find with that as well.

Cheers,
Rex

Easy Car Repairs

So I have recently done what is probably the easiest repair/modification to any car I have ever done. My 2006 Holden Rodeo had a cracked door mirror that wasn't going to pass rego so I needed to replace it. I was a bit worried about how hard it was going to be because although I could find the parts, I couldn't find any instructions on how to do it. I needn't have worried. After the break is how I did it. Hopefully it will inspire some confidence.

The problem mirror.

Bypass ".docx" Password Protection

If you're just here for the how to, skip down to the pictures after the break.

Now I know that bypassing passwords is something that not everyone likes to do. However sometimes you can forget the password for a critical file or someone has sent you a file and forgotten to tell you the password to edit it.

Microsoft office's new (can I still call it that) xml based document formats have capacity for accidental write protection. Some of these include password protection. While this is great, particularly if sending spreadsheets to a customer; it isn't so great when HR send a file that needs to be edited and even they can't remember the password. That was the problem and thanks to Horatio and this Superuser answer. I was able to save the day and remove the password protection.

Hot Stuff and a finished project

So I have finished installing the radials on the vertical antenna. In the end I decided I'd read the instructions and see how they say to earth it and this is what the instructions gave me:

This is my completed attachment to the bolts that hold on the insulator at the base of the bracket. Check it out after the break to see how I got to this point.

Epson Printer Drivers

Hi, Just a quick post, mostly to remind me when I go to do this again.

I was having trouble printing to our Epson NX430 TX435 from my laptop (Running Debian Linux) over the wireless connection. The solution? Download the latest drivers from Epson of course. This is the link I used. If you open that link and do a search for the model of printer it will give a list of downloads for Linux operating systems.

The "latest" tag wasn't correct, but going from versions and dates it was fairly easy to establish which download was for the latest version. I installed this with no problems and the jobs that had queued up started to print immediately.

I hope this helps you, but it will probably help me when I forget.

Cheers,
Rex

Nearly time to start Milling

So one of the other projects I did some work on over the weekend was the Mill. I now can move all 3 axes and using the mkwrapper tool I can control it from my tablet, laptop or phone without having to put a screen onto the Beaglebone that is running the mill. Something I think I will have to add though is a button as part of the GUI that allows the Beaglebone to shut down cleanly without having to ssh into it. That shouldn't be too hard and will probably be one of the things I will work on along with the rest of the GUI now that it will move.

Below are some pictures of what I did. Not very exciting though mostly just soldering and tracing wires. I even managed to get 2 out of 3 motors spinning in the right direction.

 This is with the Z Axis and the X Axis wired up, Z on the right, X on the Left.

Now all 3 have been done. The 3 unconnected wires will be used for e-stop and some limit switches
I think, possibly for spindle speed manual override. I have another Cable that I will use for the other needed signals.

In the back right you can see the connections I have made so far. I will put a proper enclosure
over the connection before I call this project finished.

This is a closeup of the final connection. The knot is for strain relief in the main cable.

 Thinking back now even before I have finished there are some things I would do differently. If I were to start again I would probably not cheap out and use more plugs, one between each motor and an enclosure proably on the back wall, then the big grey cable would have a plug on both ends rather than being soldered to the mill at one end.

Anyway, full speed ahead and onward ho. If I get to the end and decide it isn't working then I'll change it.

I have another 1 or 2 projects that I got up to over the weekend coming up so keep a wearther eye out.

Cheers,
Rex