Jared's Garage

Frankenstein Neck Electrical Studs

2010-10-31T22:14:00.000-07:00

So this year Kayla decided she wanted to be Frankenstein's Monster's bride. She picked out the hair and used one of her dresses, and while the bride doesn't have the neck studs in the movies, I thought it would be a nice tough to make it more easily recognizable.

I started out with a scrap of leather, 1/2" PVC end caps, some chrome paint and super glue. I painted the end caps and had Kayla blow dry them as we were in a hurry.

When then filed the bases of the end caps flat to help give them a better gluing surface. We put the strap around her neck and marked it for where to place the velcro and studs, then glued them in to place with the superglue (either superglue or hot glue seems to end up in most of my projects :-S). I also drew some stitches on the strap for kicks.

I think it turned out pretty nice and she was happy with it. Should be fun to see what they want to do next year! :-). Jenny should be getting pictures of the kids up on duttonlabs sometime soon for more pics of the kids.

Scary Pumpkin!

2010-10-31T22:01:00.000-07:00

So on a whim on Sunday morning I decided to remake the Scariest Pumpkin Ever as seen in Make Magazine. I didn't want to spend too much time on it as it would be dissassembled shortly after creating it so just used a little breadboard to make most of the connections. I took these photoes of the dissassembly as I didn't take any putting it together.

Crammed the Ooga horn inside the pumpkin, just barely fit. I had to take it out once during assembly because I pulled out a bunch of wires from the breadboard while fitting it in.

I put the electronic bits (Arduino, Solid State Relay) into a little box to keep them from getting too wet.

And here is a decent pic of the electronics. I put duct tape around the breadboard to keep the wires from pulling out again.

And finally a video. I was out with the girls trick or treating so wasn't able to witness most of the scares, but Jenny said that everyone that tried it really liked it or really didn't for some of the younger ones :-D. I wish I had set a video camera on it all night long to get the reactions, maybe I'll have to work something up next year for that :-).

Ooga Horn on Motorcycle

2010-08-15T18:32:00.000-07:00

I have been getting tired of the anemic horn on my motorcycle for a while. About 8 months ago I picked up an Ooga horn from Harbor Freight (bright red) but just hadn't gotten around to installing it. Anyway, finally got to it. Made a little bracket out of some steel, though I might have to modify it somewhat when I get the batwing fairing installed or if I ever decide to pick up the take project again.

Painted it all black with some cheap Krylon.

And a video of it in action. The horn was too loud for the mic on the video camera, so it doesn't sound very true to life, but just as the horn starts making noise you can get an idea:

Google's new image search layout

2010-07-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

Just a couple quick complaints about the new google image search layout.

What is with the new layout? If I wanted Bing image search I would go Bing. While this is something I can adapt to, it is somewhat annoying.

The javascript image resizing? Not only is that annoying but it causes problems with opening images in new tabs using the middle click. Either have to middle click before it resizes or wait until it has resized.

Opening the image on the target page with more javascript crap. Now I have to close the image before I can see the context and related images on the page. Just one more click to get to what I'm looking for. The frame at the top has always been a nuisance, but this is worse.

On a plus note, I have found that altavista's image search has none of these issues, and takes you directly to the target page. Wow, altavista, feels like a blast from the past, but it works so I'll be using that for image searches for now.

http://www.altavista.com/image/

So, how would I fix this if I were google? I would probably leave the layout, but turn off the javascript image expansion on the results page or make it an option. Likewise with the image on the target page, either make it an option or get rid of it.

New Clutch on Honda Shadow

2010-05-10T21:00:00.000-07:00

So the clutch on my motorcycle has been slipping lately. Usually just when shifting gears but occasionally when accelerating hard it would start slipping around 3k rpm. I've been in it before trying to fix it without luck. It had a new clutch spring, all the friction plates and disks measured well within spec. Tried different oils, checked to make sure my one way clutch was in right. Nothing, still slipped.

So there were a couple things I was hoping to do away with: the one way clutch (because it could potentially slip on the shaft) and the conical spring (no aftermarket replacements, also, I can't imagine it was a good design as they phased it out the next year).

So here's the bike, just about ready to take the side cover off. Exhaust removed, forward controls removed, piece of the frame removed, cross member removed. Yay!

So after careful measurements the outer clutch basket was almost identical with the exception of the big gear at the bottom of it, slightly taller on the '86, so I decided to keep it. Basket depth and overall height was the same so I wasn't too worried. Notice the nice spot for the 5 springs.

It didn't quite go as smoothly as I had hoped, but I didn't get any pics of the process. The shaft coming out of the transmission must be a little shorter on the '87, so I ended up having to put in a spacer for the nut to hold the inner clutch to the transmission shaft (I made it from the one on the '86 with an angle grinder and drill press). The longer shaft from the tranny also meant that the clutch didn't compress enough to engage the disks. To fix this I experimented with different shim arrangements until I got one of the inner metal disks and used it to space it out a little.

Here you can see the super conical spring on the old clutch.

So anyway, back to the new clutch. The addition of the clutch disk as a shim caused the clutch to stick out from the bike further and interfere with the clutch cover. Aftermaking a spacer from a part of the old clutch going back wasn't an option, not that I would have anyway, so I figured a spacer would be the easiest way to solve this. A few quick measurements on the bike and I was off to the store to buy some 1/4" 6061 aluminum plate.

After talking to Roy on the phone he suggested gluing the gasket to the plate, which was much better than my idea of tracing or marking compound on the cover. Anyway, I figured I could probably pull it off and not have to get the glued on gasket off by laying the gasket on and using it as a paint mask.

And it worked pretty well. Just need to cut off the areas with paint. I was thinking it would be cool to have a milling machine/water jet that could remove areas with a certain color paint or marker on them, then you could fab up parts without having to draw them up in a cad program for quick one off projects like this.

Here we go ready to cut some tests. I put the hole in the middle in case I made a big gnarly mess for my test cut and didn't want to mess up the contact surface.

Test cut with the jig saw went well, but it didn't turn well so I drilled a bunch of relief holes to make it easier. The inner radius was still too tight for the jig saw so but they helped with using the scroll saw with a wood cutting blade.

Jenny made me get a band saw for this project so I used it to cut away the exposed side while it was still heavily supported.

I finished up the inside with the scroll saw that I've had since around 12 years old. Still works like a champ :-).

I kept a candle around and would apply the wax to the blade to reduce the friction and help it pull the metal particles out of the cutting area. I read online that beeswax would have been better but this worked pretty well. That's what most of the crud on the cut out area is.

And another nice clean cut to finish it up from the bandsaw. This was my first time using a band saw, so I was a little nervous before I got started. I need to do a little more tuning on the saw to get it to stop wobbling (it's not too bad, just a little), but the band runs true on the belts and everything was nice and quiet and seemed to cut just fine. I also used wax on this while cutting.

I left a bit of a mess from the cuts and didn't want it to look out of place on the bike, also needed to remove any hanging bits. I started off with some 80 grit, worked up to 220 then used a scotch brite belt to finish it off. I didn't worry as much about the inside, mostly just needed to make sure no hanging bits of metal would come off and make sure that the inside of the bolted areas wouldn't contact the spinning clutch.

Looks pretty close, this thing would get pretty hot while sanding so I had to take a lot of breaks.

And now we're ready to roll. Outside looks good, inside looks good. Seems to fit properly.

Here it is giving me that extra space I need and then some. The blue crap is RTV, the red crap is some grease on the paper gasket (that I cleaned the paint off of). I figured that if I pulled it apart I would leave the spacer and the cover connected via RTV, and the grease should keep the paper gasket from adhering to the faces for a while.

As for the test ride? Woohoo! I don't think I realized how much and how often it was slipping until it was fixed. Every time I'd drop into a new gear it would slip a little as I released the clutch, now it's nice and solid. The handle is a little tougher to pull, but I guess more friction has to come from somewhere.

So, if you've got an '86 with a clutch driving you crazy this might be a fun project to undertake. If you had the shim fabricated before hand it would be a pretty quick job, wouldn't even require removing the side of the case, just the clutch cover. Happy Riding!

Craigslist Image Preview

2010-04-22T22:36:00.001-07:00

So if you're a craigslist addict, this might make things worse (if you're a firefox user).

After using CraigsToolbox before they were commercial I got hooked on having images show up under the ads. I found some decent image preview plugins for Greasemonkey for firefox, but they just didn't have the smooth flow I was looking for...so I did what anyone would do, fork the source and modify what was there to fit what I wanted:

Craigslist Image Preview 2.1

You'll have to install GreaseMonkey in order to use it, but with Greasemonkey there are other nice scripts (Flag Spam Easier).

Craigslist Alone:

Here's a screenshot (what blog post is complete without some sort of image?):

Mouseover Thumbnail:

New saddlebags on motorcycle

2010-04-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

I was getting tired of the sissy bar on my motorcycle and figured some saddle bags would look nice in its place. So just a quick before and after. I picked up the saddle bags at Cycle Gear on clearance for $50.

I think it looks much nicer this way, though I lost a good tie down point in the process :-).

Next for the motorcycle: Figure out why the stinking clutch slips when I lay on it, finish up the batwing fairing and mount it.

Attic Fan, a good job for someone else to do...

2010-04-01T21:30:00.000-07:00

I've been on a kick to get my utility bills down and make the house more comfortable to be in. On my laundry list of ideas to try was an attic fan, reasonably priced at under $100 and no waiting for things to grow. I had a $10 off a Lowes so picked up their 2300 sqft model. The box has a template on the side, so I cut it out and headed into the attic to make sure it would fit the way I wanted. That's it, in the false gabled end through that hole. Fun.

After crawling back out with measurements of how big to make a mounting board I got it all cut out. It is necessary to block off the air passages around the attic fan to prevent the air from swirling instead of being pulled through the attic, thus the 20"x30" piece of plywood.

All mounted up with the thermostat, looks pretty good.

Also hooked up the wiring before entering the attic. I measured how much romex I needed before leaving the attic, this needed to be a two trip deal.

I got a little concerned about fitting it through the hole, it isn't even the width of the trusses (which are 22"ish). It fit fine.

Now for the fun part, I thought it was bad enough getting out to the gabled end when I didn't have to carry anything other than a tape measure and piece of cardboard. This was a pain. And of course I made the classic weekend handyman mistake, didn't measure to make sure I could get it into place. I got lucky with being 20" tall, as I could skootch it between the trusses on top of the insulation. Getting it upright was interesting. I thought I would be yelling for a jig saw to take off the corners but with a bit of jostling was able to work it into place. A few screws later and I was crawling backwards with the wire in hand.

And that was it. I wired it into some unused plugs that are for swamp coolers on the roof. Guess I better make sure they are hot before summer arrives. The thermostat is set to 120F, the hottest it would go. I figured this would be a good starting place but may turn it down a little if I can crawl in there again.

Reel Mower Basics

2010-03-31T21:50:00.000-07:00

In an effort to get in shape and have fun with old American Steel (I really do have a trouble not purchasing it when I see it) I picked up a reel mower from Deseret Industries. I didn't want to ride home, get the truck, head all the way back to DI and pick up the reel mower. Nor did I want Jenny to have to make a trip with the kids all the way down there just to turn around and head home. So I did what any half crazy person on a motorcycle does, strapped the reel mower to the back. I took it apart first of course, and bought a bag to protect my newly upholstered seats :-).

When I first got it home I couldn't wait to try it out. Pushing on the driveway was easy and got the reel spinning really fast. I thought it looked great and would be perfect to cut the grass with. Ugh. It was a pain in the butt. Blisters all over my hands and I was exhausted, huge pain to push around the yard, and I had only done the small front patch of grass. The next day Elizabeth mowed the rear lawn for me because I couldn't do it with the reel mower.

I had a lot to learn, as usual. The reason the mower was so easy to push on the driveway was that the reel wasn't making contact with the cutter bar.

/****************************************
Skip this section if you don't want to be bored to tears about how I sharpened my mower
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The cutter bar is in the back and requires light pressure on the reel to get the shearing action like scissors that it's supposed to. Because of the gap between the reel and the cutter bar the grass would bunch up in there as the reel spun until there was so much it would rip the grass off. After watching and reading way too much stuff online I figured I'd better go make some adjustments and sharpen the reel and cutter bar while I was at it.

Don't bother with the silly reel mower sharpening kits from the store, they look like even more work than what I did. First pop the wheel covers off. On my old model there are holes on the inside, then had to spin the wheels for the magic spot on them to pop the covers off. Then remove the C clips. Then the wheels pop off. I swapped the gears from one side to the other and turned around the gear catches. Put the wheels back on and C clips back on. Then I got some valve lapping compound for $4 from Auto Zone. I would put a dab of it on my finger then pinch it onto each reel blade and run it down in order to leave a nice thick bead on the cutting portion of the reel blade. Repeat for each blade (mine has 7). Now, adjust the screws on the cutter bar to make light contact with the reel blades. Maybe a little more than light, I always overdo things. Now just go have a 10 minute push with the mower backwards, spinning the reel backwards against the cutter bar. If it gets too loose or the blade spins too freely just tighten up the cutter bar a little bit. If it won't budge you're too tight and loosen it up. Now that it is sharpened put it on its side and turn it real slow, make sure the reel contacts the cutter bar down the whole length (mine was still loose in the middle). Keep sharpening until it has full contact.

Now that the sharpening is complete you'll need to clean off the valve lapping compound. I used some WD40 on a rag to clean it off, but pick your poison. You could probably get away with hosing it off if you can dry it off afterward.

All cleaned up and ready to cut. Tighten up the cutter bar until it makes light contact with the reel again (you loosened it to get the lapping compound off right? I did....maybe you were smarter). Take the wheels off again and swap the gears back to the way it was. You should be able to cut newspaper between the reel and the cutter bar all the way down. If it doesn't don't get too upset, mine took a couple sharpenings before it would. Go make a mess of it all over again and see if that does the trick.

Now, spray the crap out of it with WD40 and you're all set for mowing. You'll notice the shearing sound and the blade won't keep spinning for too long on when not on the grass now. Whew, now we're ready to mow. Apparently you only have to do the sharpening once a year, not sure if I'll have to adjust the bar more often.

Also, if you bought a new one from the store, they usually back off the cutter bar in order to prevent damage during shipping. Tighten it up until you have light contact and you should be set. If your cutter bar isn't tight enough then you'll hate your mower, trust me.

Push push push. It shouldn't be too tough at this point. If the grass is too wet it won't stand back up quick enough after you run over it with the wheels and end up with lines of uncut areas, like a rotary mower but perhaps a little more pronounced.

/****************************************
You can resume reading here. Somewhere in the skipped section I figured out how to adjust the mower so it wasn't so hard to push and would cut properly.
*****************************************/

It *is* more work than a rotary mower. At least with mine it is, not tons more, but more. I have no idea how old my mower is, 15, 20 years maybe? Maybe more, the wheels and gears look like cast iron. Newer units are likely lighter and easier to push. It is much less frustrating than my rotary mower, at least in this wet rye grass. The grass would clump up and stick to the underside of my rotary mower until it was too heavy, then fall back onto the spinning blade and shake the whole mower, leaving a pile of wet grass where it happens. So after mowing with the rotary mower I had to go clean up the 7 or 8 spots it made a mess, what a joke.

With the reel mower I just let the grass fly. Nice light pieces of grass fly through the air as the mower slices through it, it's really kinda fun. Come on over and give it a try sometime ;-). I'll probably keep it up until it gets unbearably hot, but even then I've got the pool nearby so might use it all summer. It doesn't get quite as close to obstacles as the rotary mower so I have to use the weed eater a little more, but the rotary mower didn't get all the way up to them either.

Notice the shiny blades in this photo. If yours aren't shiny you probably need to adjust your cutter bar, maybe sharpen and adjust your cutter bar.

Garden Update March 27

2010-03-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

The plants have been coming up for a while now. The corn is coming up in the rows and I transplanted a bean sprout into the corn rows to get two of the three sisters growing together. I will probably try doing the three sisters in that area next time I plant, but that will have to wait for now.

Lots of transplants make it look like I've really done good so far! The basil (lower left two) isn't doing that great, but might just make it. The four red cabbage transplants are looking great. The tomatoes and bell peppers weren't looking so hot at first but seem to have turned a corner for the better. The beans and peas are growing fast, but the beans by far the fastest. The peas leaves are a little yellow, but it seems to come and go, maybe I'm not watering a way they like?

The roma grape tomato plant is by far the best looking of the ones we got. Hopefully it will bring out a good bunch of us this year. This planter has the lettuce which are growing great, radishes that I've had a dozen of and taste delicious and some carrots in need of thinning.

And what garden would be complete without some stinky composters nearby? Actually, the one on the left is ready to use and never really smelled while it was composting, as I had a lot more leaves when I started it (well, them, I combined them into the left one when they broke down). The one on the right is a new start and it reeks. It has way too much nitrogen from grass clippings, even mixed with sawdust it's still too much nitrogen. The color of the green grass and the yellow sawdust makes it look as disgusting as it smells. As long as I don't turn it though it doesn't really escape the barrel. I recently added a bunch of shredded cardboard in an attempt to bring balance to it, but I doubt it was enough.

Much more interesting with them open:

Garden Update Mid February

2010-03-29T09:32:00.000-07:00

So after a month or so of waiting the seeds finally arrived. I couldn't stand waiting around to get them started in the ground so got busy making grids in the square foot garden type of setup. This made mapping out where everything is nice and simple, Elizabeth did most of the work of making the map, filling it in and transferring it to excel.

The grids came out nicely. They are held together with brad nails and not permanently attached to the raised beds. At the places edges of the raised beds are little blocks of wood on either side of the grid pieces that hold them in place.

Notice on this side of the raised beds the ground is still flat. That didn't last long.

Partially turned up, with the sandy loam mixed in.

And here it is turned up and ready for planting. Some of the seeds hadn't arrived yet at this point for the mounds, but the corn is planted in the rows on the left. The mounds are a bit higher than I should have made them I think, but we'll see how stuff grows before I discount them entirely.

Garden Raised Bed Planters

2010-03-25T20:16:00.000-07:00

My family has been wanting to get another garden for the last couple years, but either to do knowing that we *could* move or just having moved and not having a place for it have just gotten to it this year. My sister Angie and friend Narasimhan had also been talking up square foot gardening, so I figured I could try a variation of that. By far the most work of this project has been clearing the rocks. The previous (or previous previous) owners that put them in were through and they were several inches deep. I hauled off 3 tons of them in my truck (in one load, bed bottomed out) and still have as much or more left.

Then the raking, getting the scraps up and. Then getting the liner up. Since then it's been pretty smooth sailing. Put up a temporary divider (temporary as in year or two). Got the remaining scraps of river rocks thrown over (though we are constantly pulling more rocks out) and you have the picture below! :-)

I did a lot of overthinking on the raised beds, but eventually settled on 4' x 6' beds 1' deep. This seems to be a nice size and will allow some room for planing some shade for the west wall (currently thinking oleanders). Add some nails two some 2x6's and you see the results below. I also capped the corners with some 4x6's that I cut short and removed most of the material leaving an L shape. This should help hold it together as it is all now held in place by mechanical interference of the nails rather than just the friction force of the nails. We'll see how long it will do the trick.

While I considered Mel's Mix that is popular among square foot gardeners I'm too cheap for that. I picked up 2.5 cubic yards of Sandy Loam from Pioneer Sand. Per the description:

33% screened fill dirt, 33% mulch, 33% manure. Sandy Loam is A great medium for vegetable gardens and other applications that utilize the warmth and micro nutrients of manure.

This is a great feeling soil that drains well. It was steaming when I picked it up (well, the tractor dumped it into my truck), apparently still composting despite being thinned. Blake was very thankful to the tractor operator for giving us all this fun dirt!

After filling the raised beds I threw the rest on the side where I plan on putting the squash and watermelon mounds as well as the rows for the corn. The kids had a great time helping out :-D.

Here they are looking good and ready for plants!

Back to the Mel's Mix. It is

1/3 vermiculite
1/3 peat moss
1/3 compost (from as many sources as possible)

Vermiculite seems to cost $10ish / cubic foot, so for that alone I would have paid around $210. Add compost and peat moss and it's more than I could justify spending at this point. This soil cost around $60 IIRC. I've got the composters running and will add it as mulch through the season or mix in as I rotate out plants. I've considered adding in vermiculite as I go along, but probably won't as I had a pretty nice garden in a mostly clay mix (from the layering* they do with new developments), and this can only get better.

*Most newer developments (well, newer as in last 15 years+ depending on where in the country you are) get their plans drawn out with desired ground elevations. Then ground is then scraped down to make a lot of underground work easier, then depending on settlement in the area piles are made to accelerate the settlement so it doesn't happen after the house it build, thus preventing cracks in the foundation. While this speeds development and is better for the house foundations in areas with high settlement, it typically means the topsoil is either buried or down the street or somewhere besides being the top layer of soil. Goodbye organic materials and drainage, hello clay!

Homework Desk

2010-03-24T20:13:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth had been asking me to make her a desk and I was wanting to do one in preparation for other projects. I thought I was going to do this one with pine, but the cost difference for the veneers wasn't enough to get it so I figured oak would be nice.

I tried to find a nice simple set of plans (no drawers) but didn't find anything that looked right so I just made them up. I drew them out in my notebook so Elizabeth would know what I was going for. I can't seem to find them but if anyone wants them let me know and I'll go digging.

I picked up a Kreg pocket (I actually tried a cheap one from the home depot, but it was a piece of crap that required far too much measuring for each hole) hole jig to do the joint work as I didn't (and don't) have enough clamps for most other solutions. I started by getting a piece cut down to size, I tried on my table saw but it just isn't big enough working surface to do a full 4x8 sheet, so I clamped a strait edge to it and used a nice blade on my skilsaw to do the trick (after trying a cheap blade anyway...).

Before I got too far I routed over the edge and stained a sample piece with some different options we had around. We went with the Red Mahogany 225, seen on the right with just one coat.

The joints looked pretty good with the pocket holes, but not perfect. Getting the screws closer together on the back side would have helped, but they didn't look too bad and a little filler would hide the imperfections.

Skipped a few steps and get to getting the legs on. These are also done with the pocket hole setup. I freehanded a pattern out onto some scraps to make the pattern at the bottom of the legs. They looked pretty good after sanding.

Those are the shelves sitting between the legs.

And here's a shot with the shelves in place. I took some strips I cut from the edge banding on the top to make the veneer for the front of the uprights and shelves. They were held on with glue and brad nails.

Here is a the stain on the finished piece For some reason it came out splotchy :-(. I was pretty upset by this as the only solution I could find was to sand out the old stain, apply some sealer and restain. That wasn't an option for me as I didn't have much veneer left after finishing the edging on the top. It also wasn't getting much darker and Elizabeth wanted a darker desk.

We found a alternative to sanding it all down and got it darker in the process! Minwax Polyshades in Bombay Mahogany gave it the color we wanted and hid the splotchyness of the initial stain! We only did one coat of of the polyshades and finished up with 3 coats of clear polyurethane on top. It looks great and fits perfectly in Elizabeth's room. It even helps with homework! Having a quiet place to concentrate does wonders.

Doing it again I would go with drawers. The large shelves (deep shelves) were a pain to sand, stain and finish. Getting the poly in them was difficult, as the brush strokes have to be done in the direction of the grain and not leave any drips or thick areas. Next time I'll make drawers, mostly because I enjoy the putting together of the wood more than the finishing so I'll spend my time there.

I definitely like the kreg jig setup, it is quick and you don't have to wait for glue to dry to move on. I hit a couple of the screws when routing over the top that didn't get in at the perfect angle so I'll either need to do thicker edge next time or not drill the pocket holes so deep.

Control My Smoker!

2010-03-24T20:09:00.000-07:00

After seeing some of the nicer smokers that are out there and having just a thrift store electric one I knew it needed some upgrades. I use the smoker in weather that varies from 120 in the summer in Mesa to single digits in Flagstaff in the fall and winter when I go see my family. The built in thermostat just wasn't cutting it for me, and the original temperature gauge only told me "ideal", "hot" and "cool" temperatures, no idea actual degrees.

I initially added a temperature gauge to let me know the temperature in the smoker, as I'd like to keep it around 215 or so for most of what I do. This helped, but the smoker never seemed to get to a decent temperature with it, always struggling to stay over 200. At one point I added an additional heat unit (butchered hot plate) in order to try to get the heat up.

It still wasn't working to my satisfaction, so there was only one thing to do: make it more complicated with another project! I needed to make an electronic temperature controller. I had been kicking around the idea to turn on a fan in the summer when it got hot in the house so figured I could make this do both.

I picked up an Arduino (no, I don't care that I could have done this on smaller, cheaper hardware or that I could have made minor changes and done it on the Atmega in C instead of the arduino language, been there, done that, don't care) to do my development on and got my prototype working in short order then when to the pain task of soldering it up. I always get bored with a project after the prototyping phase so it was a struggle to keep going at it. I ordered some kits on ebay with the bootloader for arduino burned on the atmega328 chip that came with a crystal, voltage regulator and plug for the chip, around $7 each I think. I used the microchip onewire temperature sensors, and initially programmed it to use two of them, one for meat temperature and one for smoker temperature, but backed down to one and use a separate meat sensor that has a pager.

It is currently using a Radio Shack 275-0005 relay, it will control 120v at 12 amps with 9 volt control. I took the additional heating element out of the smoker to bring total draw down to 15 rated amps and figured I'd take my chances with the relay. I used a 2n2222 transistor to control the relay as the arduino operates at 5v and I wouldn't want to put the current through it that the relay requires.

I drew up some schematics as I disassembled the circuit from prototyping phase so I could figure out how to get it back together. They may or may not be helpful.

I try to modularize the parts so I can swap them out when I improve them or blow them up, so I kept the relay on a separate board.

I even draw up how to do silly things like buttons so I don't have to draw them all or think about them next time I want to do a project.

And here is how I tied all that into the arduino (or rather, the atmega chip running the arduino bootloader).

I didn't get any pictures of the device in prototyping phase, but here it is wired up waiting for an enclosure. I hooked up the MicroChip onewire temp sensor with CAT-V plenum, kind of a pain using the solid core wire but I'm cheap and got some for free. I initially had it hooked up using dedicated power but couldn't get a reading from them at all. As I had done the brilliant move of changing my source code and the hardware at the same time troubleshooting was lots of fun. I eventually tried them in parasite power mode and they sprung to life giving readings just like they should.

Here I'm beginning the enclosure. I didn't have much laying around the house that I thought would look nice and be the right size but thought that some left over pool piping would do the trick.

I ended up splitting the pipe length wise to fit everything in so capped it with some pieces of wood that had cut off strait joints hot glued on. I also hot glued the pipe back together to keep moisture out. The hot glue probably won't hold up to well in the summer if I leave it in the sun, but the LCD probably won't like it much either.

Here it is on a maiden run of turning the heating element for the smoker on. The relay seemed to be staying cool enough and by setting the threshold temperature low I could trigger the device by heating the sensor with my fingers.

First time using it to actually control the smoker! Making some ribs while helping friends make some Adirondack chairs and wood ammo box. The ribs came out a little bitter, sure if it was the rub (which has tasted excellent before), the crab apple wood, but most likely because I didn't soak all of the wood before putting it in and I think some of it caught fire and got soot on the ribs :-(.

Ahh, nice when I actually *finish* a project, well, kinda...I've still got a lot I'd like to do with this one...

Most of the time it is just displaying current and target temperature. This pic is right after I started it up so it isn't quite at the target temperature yet.

For what it currently does. There is a switch that determines control mode and set temperature mode. When in set temperature mode the buttons closes to the LCD move it up and down. Pressing them both at the same time will reset the temperature back to 220. When in control mode pressing the buttons individually does nothing, but pressing them both at the same time will switch it from keeping things warm to keeping things cool: trigger in the opposite direction. The third button saves the settings to EEPROM, but asks first. The up button confirms, the down button denies.

Link to sketch here (fixed 2012-01-21...feel free to email me if I break it again).

The temperature seems to have about a 6 degree swing, drops to about 3 below when kicking on the heat element and about 3 over by the time it turns if off. I thought about trying to stabilize this in the software but don't think it's enough to worry about.

Future changes include a solid state relay (SSR). I ordered some of these from ebay for pretty cheap and they will simplify the circuit quite a bit. I will no longer need a 9v power supply, the relay, the transistor for the relay, etc. The SSR can also handle up to 25Amps, so no worries about overloading it either. If I get some time (yeah, right) I'd like to change it so it didn't have a switch but used the third button to change modes. One of the modes would be a program mode where you could program it to hold at different temperatures for differing periods of time. Say you want it to hold at 100 degrees for an hour, then go up to 150 for an hour, then 200 for another hour, then back to 160 for two hours. Something along those lines would be fun. I also would like to change out the Onewire temperature sensor for a Type K thermocouple due to the different packaging these come in. They have them bolt on, insertion probes, etc and some can handle up to 1400C or something crazy, and have nice wires that are better at handling heat too. This will require a little adapter, probably using MAX6675 (I had a nice place to get those and a etched board from bookmarked but can't find it right now). Then I need to make one of those for Roy as I probably eat more of the stuff he smokes than I do. Will I ever get it all done? Maybe if I don't do the time/temperature settings reprogram and get busy with the soldering iron.

A Great Mouse has died

2010-03-24T18:40:00.000-07:00

It is a sad day. My mouse since around 2001 has died after many years of hard service. I first came upon this Optical Mouseman M-BD53 Rev. B as a warranty replacement on an original Ergonomic Mouseman, which I bought after moving out and away from my original Mouseman. Unfortunately, I haven't found one that quite fills its place in terms of ergonomics and movement. A couple years ago I even purchased another Logitech mouse just to steal its cord, as the original on this one had grown stiff as the rubber broke down. For those curious, this was P/N 201404-000.

Will I find a suitable replacement? Something that I don't have to charge batteries but still feels good and moves right? The search is on.

Do I keep it and troubleshoot the problem? Reflow all the solder? Replace the cord again and hope it is a break in it? With ever increasing frequency in its final weeks it would stop working, power from the USB port would cease and the light would go out. I initially thought my motherboard was on its way out, but another mouse has worked fine with no interuptions. I'll hold onto it for a little while and see if I get ambitious with the soldering iron. Perhaps it will return as frankenmouse!

NHRA

2010-02-17T20:04:00.000-08:00

So this post has been a while coming. Last Feburary (Feb 09) I was lucky enough to be invited to the NHRA National event at Firebird Raceway by SuperComp Dragster driver Roy Stickler and his wife Kerry. It was amazing, the first dragster I've been to, where had it been all my life? The loud roaring engines, grease, gasoline, alcohol, top that off with an RV stocked full of soda and smoked meats and what could be better?

These first could shots are of Roy heading down the track in a qualifying run in the gray car:
Vroom :-D!
Back in the pits I snuck into the car for a quick shot. It was a pretty tight squeeze figuring out how to get situated into the car, but sweet.
Here's Roy and the car he was racing. Those are wicked headers, pretty fun when they belch some flames!
And here are Roy and Kerry, I had to fight to get this shot ;-). Anyway, I got to help out and be the light/wrench boy while Roy adjusted things on the car.
At the time Roy was racing his uncle's car while his was waiting for repairs.

Jump forward 8 months or so and Roy is taking his freshly repaired car out for its return to racing, mostly just getting things dialed in and reacquainted with it. Note the sweet graphics. This is a Tom Yancer frame that I got to have a good look at while helping (watching) Roy paint.
Here he is getting ready to go. That's me in the picture, holding a bottle of alcohol to get the engine going. During this race it was running a fuel injection setup on it that wasn't getting enough fuel to get the engine going, but has since been replaced with a carb'd setup. And it's awesome, I've been drooling over that engine in his garage for some time and it was super cool to see it set up and going.
Here is Roy and I with his car. We're sporting National Guard shirts from a prior season when his family was sponsoring a race team for them, but now sponsoring Army Say Thank You. That's right, it usually works the other way around with the team getting sponsors, but what can I say, his family loves racing and loves the armed forces and so are doing it the other way around. I'm sure some room could be found if someone wanted to help out though :-D. Anyway, the wrap on the car looks amazing and gets lots of comments and pictures. If you spot it be sure to stop by and say hi, Kerry and Roy are always happy to show it off and talk about it. Update: Apparently the Army Say Thank You is no longer active, want to sponsor?

I now consider myself completely spoiled. I get to hang out with good friends, sweet cars, lots of noise and get dirty, how do I top that?

Roy and Kerry are due with their first son so Roy is going to miss the February event as Kerry is due right around that time. Should be back soon for some more awesome racing!

2009 Elk Hunt in 6B

2010-01-12T20:40:00.000-08:00

Hooray! All ready for the hunt, permit and license in hand, gun ready and excited for the hunt!

The first morning of the hunt we decided to go to Buck Ridge despite the burn in the area, hoping to catch some elk passing through or around the edge. We didn't see anything, but saw some recent sign. It was a beautiful and cold morning, perfect weather. We heard a lot of shooting (which turns out was probably two of my cousins, one to the North and the other to the South) banging away :-).

We started hunting near Secret Mountain, getting the binoculars and glassing what we could see. Pretty thick country. During a hike to a glassing spot we saw this steel box chained to an oak tree. Not sure what it was for, would have been a brutal hike to get it in to where we were at.

Day two of the hunt, we spotted a real nice looking elk at around 800 yards. I'm not comfortable shooting at that range, only much practice to 400. Headed back to the truck to get the spotting scope and Elizabeth (taking a nap) and hurried back to where we spotted him. We hiked to a closer point, which brought us to 600 yards, but he had disappeared, I thought he had bedded down in the thick stuff so on we pressed. Another point and now we were at around 320 yards, nice easy shot, about what I was geared up for. We glassed and glassed but didn't see anything. There was some really thick scrub nearby so I again thought he probably bedded down in it, so off Elizabeth and I went to go push through it while Steve waited to shoot it from the opposite side of the Canyon. After a brutal and exhausting hike down and up the canyon we pushed through the thick stuff, no elk jumped up though. At the time we figured nothing was there (and still aren't sure, but based on later events, he may have just been out of reach).

Anyway, there were some real neat caves where we had hiked to. We couldn't find the really big one (probably 8 feet across, 5 feet tall with squared top, bottom and sides, and deeper than light would let me see). The terrain was brutal and we didn't know which direction it was from us, and didn't want to hike up and down too much due to how steep it was. We got this picture of Elizabeth while were down there near one of the bigger holes in the rock we *did* find.

On the way out Elizabeth spotted this neat rock with a hole in it so she took this picture.

There is a neat Sink Hole near the turn off for Winter Cabin trail that I've driven by countless times over the years, decided to climb down it and get a picture this year :-). We sat in a blind on Friday night, but walking back talked to a guy whose friend built it. He had sat in it for 9 days during the archery hunt but didn't see anything except bears, I still have yet to see one of those out in the woods.

So Friday and Saturday are complete. We headed into town for a super fun Sunday. After Church we spent the afternoon cleaning out the sewer pipe at my parents house. Talking to the guy at the Home Depot he said that Thanksgiving weekend is the busiest time for plumbers, I guess the large loads on old plumbing really takes it toll.

Back on the hunt Monday morning. We decided to go check out Casner Mountain. Unfortunately, you can only get there on foot or quad or motorcycle or horse, pretty much no vehicles. We think a Side by side might be legal too. Anyway, we have none of those except feet, so off we went. It looked about 3 miles as the crow flies, so we figured we could do it. Here I am nice and full of energy on the way in.

It was more difficult than we thought, the road winds up and down, very steep through parts. Saw some neat stuff on the way and could sure smell them in a few parts. We saw this spike that someone shot out on Casner, shame to have all that meat go to waste.

We saw a lot of sign from earlier in the hunt but nothing since the snow that had melted off on Sunday. We decided to head back as we just weren't seeing any fresh sign and didn't want to be making the walk after dark when it was cold. We were getting tired but took a few pics on the way out.

Another relaxing night around the camp fire. We had camped in a pretty remote area which made getting firewood nice and easy with the chainsaw, never had to walk far for it.

Steve and I decided to venture down into Sycamore Canyon on Tuesday. We went in near Dorsey Spring.

Babe Spring was very pretty, might be fun to bring the kids back here when the weather warms up a bit. The spring was built up and a slow trickle of water was coming from it, would have been fun to get a drink, maybe next time :-).

Just a nice shot of the trail. I need a better camera, mine flattens it out too much, the trail is pretty rocky down there and a real pain to hike through with as tired as we were from the day before. For some reason we decided to foot it all the way down to Winter Cabin, but probably would have been wise to come up around Kelsey. My Dad had gotten a shot while we were down here but we didn't know it and were having a reasonably good time, though I think I have firmly embedded in Steve that I am crazy. Who wants to hike/hunt all the way from Dorsey to Winter Cabin on foot? Well, there were a couple guys coming up from Winter Cabin, not sure if they went to Dorsey or Kelsey, but they hadn't had any luck either.

Ahh, sight for sore eyes. Winter Cabin has long been a favorite spot of mine, when you're deep in Sycamore it's a sign you're close, though the trail gets pretty steep from here. Steve and I had a rest here for a bit then parted ways, I went down into the Canyon while he headed up.

Got this nice shot (or shots, stitched together) of Ott Lake while down there. Great place to camp, but I think I've only done it once with Dennis Robbins back in '99. I got a shot at a nice elk down in the canyon that year, found a trace of blood and I tracked it all day. It looked like a small 6 point, but I never could gain any ground. At the time I was shooting some match grade bullets and didn't know much about them, turns out the lead isn't very consistent with expansion. Broke my heart :-(.

I took the panoramics of some good elk country, but those things are hard to find. I usually have luck in this area spotting something, but not today. I'm sure there were some in there, just not for me to see. I glassed for a few hours before deciding I didn't want to be down in the canyon after dark, the temps drop off a lot quicker down there and I was dressed pretty light.

All in all it was a great day, though not much for my hunt. I loved seeing the sights and missed my grandpa, this was one of his favorite areas. The peace of being down there where it is so quiet is awe inspiring. The land is great for horses and mules, which I've been fortunate enough to have most of the times I have been down there. Back around '97 I shot a small 5 point down there, I wasn't keen on shooting it but my grandpa thought it was too big to pass up. After some arguments it was decided that I'd better shoot it to keep the family peace :-). Good times, fun looking back on it now.

No big adventures Wednesday. Mostly we rested from the earlier parts of the hunt while trying to find something. I was sneaking around Turkey Butte in the afternoon and jumped a nice looking bull, or what I imagine was a nice looking bull. He was over a hill top around 50 yards from me and all I saw were the top 3 points on each of his antlers, but I never even saw an ear, much less enough of his body for a decent shot. Looked like a nice 5 point from what I saw, but it was just a flash of antler and tumbling of rocks. It got me all excited though and ready to keep hunting. I don't know if he smelled me or heard me, I tried to figure out where he went but never saw him again. While following the direction he headed off in I stumbled across a carcass from earlier in the hunt. Followed the crows and saw a beautiful bald eagle, flew about 20 yards from me. The stupid crows didn't fly and I could have shot a bunch of them, but I was still in elk mode after spotting the one I saw the antlers of. Looks like someone took the head, back straps and one of the rear quarters. The rest was still there, being eaten by birds. It was kind of frustrating that someone had left the two fronts and the rear quarter to waste. It wasn't even too far from a road, probably 3/4 mile. Jerks.

Anyway, not much else Wednesday, it was a fun day. Thursday comes rolling around and we had decided to hunt Secret Mountain area. Here is my dad on our way in, still lots of energy at this point :-).

This is the corral near the Secret Mountain Cabin, as well as Steve and my dad having a look in the cabin. There were some stove parts that I thought interesting on the remains of the wall. This would have been a sleeping only cabin from the height, I couldn't have stood up strait in it based on how it looked like they had the pitch of the roof.

We left the cabin and went to search for some elk. We got to a corral south of the cabin and I parted ways with Steve and my dad, hoping to cover some more ground. After glassing a few hills for a while I came upon the deer in this picture. A little two point (4 point if you're back east) buck, first buck I had seen all season. All that was sticking out was his head, not too tough to spot and fun to watch for a while. As I'm enjoying myself watching this little buck Steve calls me up on the radio and tells me that him and my dad have a little bull spotted that neither of them want and ask if I want to shoot it. Do I want it? Of course I do! I didn't care how little it was, I can't eat antlers so off I went. They were able to spot him because he kicked a rock and got Steve's attention, thanks Steve! :-D

But not too quick to take pictures of some more deer that were running beside me (I was running when I spotted them, they didn't care and just kept browsing).
So then it starts to get more interesting. I run past where Steve and my dad are, but eventually we are able to find each other. They take me to a pretty steep cliff and tell me there is an elk down there, and they can see it from where they are at but tell me not to go down that way because they can only see a little bit of it, not enough to shoot. So I go around to the other side of this cliff that he is off but can't find him for anything. We're shouting across the points on this mountain but the elk is holding tight, won't move for anything. I still haven't seen him, but have convinced myself that after such a long hard hunt, especially after having to fly to Mesa to get my permit, that I'm going go take him. Steve and my dad both (again, to my surprise) just didn't want one that small this far into a wilderness area.

Finally we kind of give up with the shouting and looking for this elk. Steve sets his rifle down and goes in to bird dog him for me. To my amazement, nothing happens! I don't see anything. Just Steve stomping down through there trying to scare this elk to get up. And finally it does, maybe 10 to 15 yards in front of Steve! I couldn't believe how smart that elk was, which makes me wonder if the elk from Saturday may have been near us, just tucked down in the thick brush waiting for us to walk away! Anyway, this elk starts running around the points on the mountain towards me. I had made my way to a rock ledge and had my shooting sticks to stabilize me. Unfortunately, my standing area wasn't very big and I just couldn't get a solid shooting position. The elk was running and I missed my first shot. I was hunting with my Thompson Encore in .300WM and just cracked open the action and flung the empty over my shoulder while grabbing another and stuffing it into the chamber. The reload probably wasn't much slower than a bolt, but you can't keep the gun at shoulder to do it, still, not a problem in most situations. Anyway, I can probably think of some more excuses for missing, like him being close and down from me, probably 45 degrees downward shot, bullet went over his back, whichever. Had I got him it would have been a treacherous task to clean him on the steep hill then horrible hauling him up to the top!

So I've now missed my first shot and he is heading around the point I'm on. I'm going hard up to the top of the mountain where it flattens out to get out around in front of him hoping that he won't drop strait down into the thick and impossible to get to areas. I get to the top and am hustling as fast as I can without running, trying to stay quiet and alert. I'm racing through the trees wishing I was another hundred yards further, adrenaline pumping, disappointment from missing starting to set in. This would be a year I'd go home empty handed, but I was still going to see if I could spot him and let some more lead...er...copper, solid copper, fly and knock him down. I knew it would be a running shot and tougher than the shot I already missed, so I wasn't expecting much even if I saw him.

Then it happened, thud! Rocks tumbling in the thick brush 50 yards out from me, just about where the mountain drops off again. There aren't many animals that make that kind of noise when moving, and elk only make it occasionally. I don't have much time as the animal is moving quick, but I haven't even seen what it is yet! I knew no one else was out on the mountain that day so wasn't worried about other hunters. I raised my rifle in the only opening I have around me, though there are dozens that I can't see. And I wait. The terrain is thick, I've only got about a 25 yard opening. Then bushes, and more openings I can't see. Too many choices for an elk to make, too many opportunities to miss me, go another direction and I would never see him. Then Antlers! Just the tops of them over the 7 foot brush! I thought I might have a chance, still wasn't sure if he would step into my opening but I've got my rifle up with crosshairs on the far end of what I can see. A patch of tan fur, it's him! Bang! He crumpled, hit the ground hard and slid. He jumped up once more then that was it.

He lay down and I started to pursue, but quickly realized that was a bad idea, knowing he probably had enough adrenaline to get him back off the cliff if he got scared. So I waited and waited. He had been gone for a while now, but I didn't want to lose him for being impatient. I finally snuck around him, being sure to approach between him and the nearest mountain edge. It was over.

It's always a humbling experience to take an animal, realizing they have given their life to feed you and your family. An experience you never get when purchasing packaged meat at the store. The respect for the animal and his sacrifice obligate you to take care not to waste any. A prayer of thanks to our Heavenly Father is given for the animal before the work begins. It's hard to describe the emotions, excitement, being completely elated, yet at the same time thankful to God and the animal.

I chuckled when I realized how close it was. I spent most of the year making sure the gun was in proper order. I worked up a special load, trying different primers, powders, bullets, seating depths and powder weights. The gun was shooting around MOA, probably better considering I shoot in a windy canyon and can have trouble holding still. That puts me at about a 4" group at 400 yards, very consistently. I was prepared for and hoping for that shot to brag about, 400+ yards. The Barnes XXX bullets are excellent for expansion so I was hoping for a one shot kill. But it wasn't to be. My second and final shot was a mere 20 yards. A touch higher than I would have liked, but still in a critical area to prevent him from suffering long. The shot below is from where I shot, with the bushes in the center around 25 yards. He was just in front of them when I got him. Like my first shot, I hooked the brass on the ground and loaded another in case I poorly or his adrenaline kept him going for long. Fortunately, it was quick. I picked up my brass after I knew it was done.

This is a shot of Sedona, visible from the other side of the bushes to the left in the previous shot. Beautiful day.

I told Steve and my dad that they needn't help and should go hunt for some other elk, but they knew they had played as much a part in the harvesting of this elk as I had and didn't feel the need after the exhausting week. Also, I don't think they wanted to leave me with so much work alone, the huge task of cleaning him was just beginning.

Most of the time when we're all out together we help clean each others animals, but my last elk I cut my hands up while cleaning him so my dad finished most of the work for me. This one I wanted to do myself, and I did for the most part. The next shot is of me taking a break, exhausted, while my dad cleaned up some of the hide (if memory serves me correctly).

And finally we were done. Ahh, plenty of rest ahead and stories around the camp fire. Wait, no, not at all. We still have to get this out of here. Three miles in the wilderness, no horse, no mule, just us. It's three miles of up and down terrain back to the jeep, then a few miles back to camp to get the proper packs, so we did what any half crazy without foresight person would do, carry as much as we can on our shoulders! We loaded up the tender loins and the sirloins into my camelback and on my shoulders. Also, I brought the heart out. My girls love seeing the anatomy of animals so I figured I would bring it back to show them, maybe have a few slices fried up in butter. Brilliant idea, just throw another 12 pounds on my shoulders and off I go.

I loaded up a little earlier than I should have so instead of standing around I get started on the trail. Steve and my dad were going to take the front shoulders out, each carrying one. Oh yeah, I guess I didn't mention that part of cleaning it was quartering it, that was a bit of work too, ouch. So anyway, back to the quarters, they've also got their rifles and camelbacks, so with rifle on one shoulder they throw the elk's shoulder over theirs, using the leg as a counterbalance. I got back to the jeep as fast as I could and after resting from the climb out headed back in with some gatorade to help what I could.

I made it about 3/4 mile in of the total 3 miles when I ran into them, they were tired. More tired than I was. As I took both shoulders to give them a break for a while I quickly discovered why. A single shoulder weighed more than my pack did, and when slung over one shoulder is even more uncomfortable. I didn't make it far before I had to give back one of the shoulders. They rotated between them with the remaining shoulder and the rifles while I carried the other shoulder.

What a day, we finally made it back to the jeep. It was so wonderful to see. We were all worked up into a real sweat and the sun was setting, starting to get real cold real fast. Glad we were back on the road. We didn't have room for the front shoulders inside the jeep so strapped them on the hood. We were so exhausted we just sat in the jeep a minute before proceeding, feeling the lactic acid burn.

But not too much for another pose with the jeep and elk.
Angie was missing Steve so he packed up as much gear as we could stuff into the jeep and he headed back to Flagstaff. My dad and I thought about packing the rest up and heading in but it's a long drive so figured we could use the extra rest. We had enough food for another few days and more than enough firewood and warm clothes, so decided it would be easier to camp again to get an earlier start. Well, we slept in. Made hot chocolate, bacon and eggs and had a nice slow morning. Even started a fire and rested for a bit, knowing some real work was ahead of us.

We finally got around to getting on the road, making sure to get the packs, ropes, saw and knives. The hike in was wonderful. Perfect morning, nice and cool. No load on our backs so we just had fun looking at all the scenery we snuck by while hunting. Below my dad is looking at a dredging tool used to clean the mud out of the pond in the next picture, though it has long since filled back in. We wondered if it was pulled with mules or men and pulleys, probably mules, the CCC were well equipped. It was leaning up against a fine fence post, with holes drilled in it for a split rail fence, all very nicely done.

The dam was fascinating, must have taken a lot of time to stack all the rocks and fill them in with mud.

Then as we hiked in we spotted some dams we hadn't noticed the first day. This one has concrete mortar to hold it together, allowing for it to be much thinner than the first, but also a much smaller span and not as deep.

This dam was a real treat to see. All concrete. I wondered if they got the aggregate on site and washed it there, only having to carry the cement, I don't think they would have done it another way. The water also must have been gathered on site, perhaps from one of the other reservoirs made earlier.

Here's a shot of the corral again. Studying it we could see that the bark was stripped from the rails when they were green, as they decay slower that way. Some newer repairs either didn't know to do that or more likely were made with more haste, and still had the bark on, and were already beginning to rot. It was fun to think on how they made so much down there. No chain saws or power bark strippers. Just axes and hand tools and animals. It's fun to romanticize about it, though I'm sure it was back breaking work.

After much more work removing the bones from the rear quarters of the elk we slipped him into some game bags to keep it clean and into our packs. There was a shot of me just getting the pack on, my dad was trying to get the hilarious shot of me getting the pack on by myself, all 70ish lbs of it, but just missed it so I left it out :-).
Here I am, al ready to go. Getting the weight adjusted and belt properly tensioned, feeling pretty good. Muscles starting to get stretched out again.

Here's my dad with his pack, we're finally ready to make our last trip out. We were a little surprised that none of the meat had been touched that we left out that night. Not a coyote, not even a crow grabbed the easy stuff. They had been around when we were cleaning it, but apparently too wary to come in for a taste just yet.

The hike out was tough but better than the day before, both because the packs properly put the weight on our hips and also because we hadn't worked so hard the morning before. We had left some snacks and drinks along the trail on the way in so we wouldn't have to carry them in and out to enjoy them on the way out, it was always nice to find one our caches because it meant time for a rest.

We spotted this funny looking tree on the way out. At first it looked to be covered in broken branches but further inspection showed it is covered in little stubs of branches that just grew into little horns. It was really neat to see, we wondered what kind of mutation or infection or fungus would cause it to grow like that.

And that's about it. The trail out was tough. We were so happy to make it back to the truck and drop our packs in the bed. We were exhausted, the hike had taken all our energy reserves. We headed back for camp and did all the clean up. Two tents, portable kitchen, air mattresses, sleeping bags, clothes, food, food containers, trash, chainsaw, etc etc etc. Despite having a beautiful camp spot in a low spot that avoided the wind, seeing it in the rear view mirror was nice.

Jenny and the kids had been without me for the week, or perhaps more accurately phrased, I left Jenny alone with the kids for a week! So instead of staying the night I dropped my dad off, unloaded his stuff and headed home. It was tough to stay awake but Jenny and I chatted on the phone to keep me going. When I got home I quickly unloaded into the garage, had a shower and went to bed. Ahead of us still was the butchering (yes, after all these years I was finally able to convince Jenny to let me and even help me butcher my own elk!) and packaging. I actually would have liked to have it professionally butchered, but I also take meticulous care of my elk, getting every hair off, and get frustrated when I get ground elk or a steak back that is clearly not from my elk.

The meat is delicious. Jenny canned most of the front shoulders and it is delicious and falls apart. We've had a few steaks as well, and they are tender and not at all gamy.

Looking forward to eating more! And time to put in for next year's draw already!

Again, thanks to my dad and Steve for not only finding this elk but also choosing not to shoot it then being gracious enough to help me pack it out! Oh, I guess I didn't mention, he's a 4 point. His left side was broken off and looks like it probably had 5 points before it broke, for those curious.

2009 Elk Hunt in 6B Pre Hunt

2010-01-11T21:18:00.000-08:00

So, another year and fortunately another elk hunt. At the beginning of the year we put in for a 6B bull hunt, anticipating having access to horses and mules. With the passing of my grandfather we lost immediate access to animals and the other people we know with animals had them tied up elsewhere for the week. Steve and I went by DI and picked up an old external frame backpack in case we got one, but were really anticipating getting an elk *outside* the wilderness area.

We had some family and friends hunting in the area, but plans varied so we camped alone. Elizabeth and I headed out Wednesday in hopes of scouting Thursday morning before Thanksgiving and sneaking some in Thursday evening. We got all set up and had a great tinfoil dinner of meat loaf (mmm, bacon chunks). Just as we were going to sleep I realized I still had my work shirt on, and the pen was in my shirt. As I was pondering whether or not I would need the pen on the hunt I started wondering if a game warden would let you sign your elk tag if you had forgotten, as they state "Not Valid Until Signed". I then started wondering if I had signed mine, and just as that thought entered my head I realized I left my permit in the safe back home!

So the next morning I woke up and drove until I got some cell service and called my Dad to schedule a round trip flight to Mesa. We hurried into town and helped my dad get ready for the flight. Elizabeth stayed in Flagstaff for Thanksgiving activities and my dad and I headed for the airport. Just as we were getting to the airport I remembered that I left the Garage Door Opener in the truck at my parents! This was not a good couple days for me. So I called Jenny asked if she could bring it to me. While waiting for them to bring that my dad and I were getting the plane jump started. Soon after we were in the air in the camouflage green Cessna 182.

Jenny's uncle Mike arrived at Falcon Field shortly after my dad and I touched down and took us to my house to get the permit. Five minutes after we arrived we headed over to Angie and Steve's to get a pressure canner and table cloths. We filled up when we got back to Falcon Field. The flight was nice and smooth with a tailwind heading back up to Flagstaff. This put us about half an hour late for Thanksgiving dinner but not too bad for a trip to Mesa and back.

Burn area near Buck Ridge just before sunrise (Photo by Elizabeth):

Mac and my dad looking for elk on Buck Ridge from the burn area on the eve of the hunt:

Mac, Elizabeth and Dad getting warmed up around the fire:

Jared and Elizabeth relaxing, getting ready for the hunt!:

Star Puzzle Attempt

2010-01-09T21:20:00.000-08:00

So I figured I would try my hand at a wooden star puzzle. Christian has one at work so I stole it for a few days to mess around with, measure and use for a template. The puzzle has 6 identical pieces each with a series of 45 degree angled cuts in them.

I started with a block of walnut that I think was once a leg for a piece of furniture.

After ripping it down I put a 45 degree pusher onto the miter gauge.

These pieces seemed to come out pretty nicely.

I made a few cuts on one of the pieces and test fit it into my sample puzzle. It was here I began to notice some problems with the accuracy of my cuts.

Getting the wedges cut out was difficult. I used a brad nailer to put a stop block in place where necessary then cut all the pieces that needed that particular cut in one go.

Cutting the last little bit of wood from the wedges was a pain, probably wouldn't have been necessary if I had by blade up a touch higher.

And here it is all assembled, and as it sits today, unfinished. I realized too late that my very small deviations from the sample puzzle (I was a bit undersized on all my cuts) quickly multiplied to give me a puzzle that fits together sloppy.

It was fun to make for the most part, with the exception of the heat in the garage. Next time I do one I'll make a sliding bed for the table saw first with some hold down clamps and a better way to do the stops for repeating cuts. The angled cuts were also pretty difficult with only support on the back side of the piece, would have been much easier with full support on the bottom of the piece. I had considered putting some maple veneer onto the contact surfaces of the puzzle to tighten up the joints and give it some contrast but haven't been able to get motivated on it since putting it together :-S.

Shooting, keep breaking the gong, some reloading

2010-01-06T21:01:00.000-08:00

So I broke the gong out at my shooting spot, the hook on top snapped when I hit the left side of the gong at 385 yards. Figured I needed to fix it and take it back, but only had my broken cell phone camera to snap the shot of it in place.

And a close up of my repair. It was just the rebar with a V notch in in and bent into a U shape. Hopefully this will last a little longer.

Steve and his truck, getting ready to shoot.

Looks like it broke again. I should have re-welded the rebar to the plate when I had it at home the first time, but figured it had held up so far so no reason to fix it. Figured I would weld it up right this time. I probably should have used my arc welder on this for better penetration, but the mig was all I had the power hooked up for at the time.

Steve is working up some loads for his .300WSM, it's his fault I'm hooked on those Barnes Triple Shock bullets!

Another day of shooting to bring the gong back.

Also sighting in my gun, checking the grouping at several ranges. I think I've got a target at 100, 250 and 400 in this picture.

And here it is zoomed in to the back one. Can you spot the gong?

It's out there somewhere.

Work on Thompson Encore

2009-09-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

So I picked up a Thompson Encore in .300WM early 2008 and put a Leupold VX-II 3-9X50 scope on it with Leupold dual dovetail rings. I was pretty excited about the setup but just couldn't get the kind of groups I was wanting.

My first round of attempted fixes was to lap the scope rings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4oF_07X1qU
My groups still weren't where I wanted them but I couldn't see my scope wandering anymore, so off to the next attempted fix.

Oversized hinge pin. My original didn't feel too loose, but it wasn't very much money so I ordered the over sized one and put it in, it definitely is tighter, but the groups still weren't perfect.

Next up, pillar bed the forend. I wasn't a huge fan of the feel of the plastic forend so I decided to epoxy bed it with a tight fit then put in some pillar standoffs to get the free float that I was looking for. Groups still weren't great, but the gun felt a lot better to shoot.

By now it was getting close to a hunt I was wanting the rifle for and I was running out of time to play with the gun, so I made a couple changes at once. First, I got new rings, Burris Signature rings, they have a nylon insert that not only self aligns with the scope (so no lapping required) but also is softer so when compressed will grip the scope tighter. At the same time I measured the OAL needed with the Stoney Point OAL Gauge. I switch powders to RL-22 (very popular for the .300WM) and picked up the Barnes Triple Shock bullets (primarily because they had a published distance from the ogive to the lands recomendation). I loaded up several groups of bullets with varying powders and primers with the ogive 0.050" from the lands (using my fire formed brass, not new). The combination of these changes did the trick, the gun now consistently shoots sub-MOA, touching groups at 100 when I do my part.

I have since zeroed the gun for 250 yards and all the bullets go where you point them. I think the biggest factors in getting the gun accurate were the last ones I did, scope rings that won't budge and some properly loaded ammo.

As a side note, the factory ammo only shoots so-so out of the gun, the barrel was bored too deep so factory ammo sits inside of it, giving the bullets some float between the breech and the shoulder, and thus inconsistent jump to the lands. Still good enough for most hunting, but not what I was expecting with the cost of this rifle.

I'm still debating whether it was worth the investment, it is fun to shoot and looks sharp. If I were to do it again I would have bought the frame and barrel seperately, with the barrel coming from a third party like Bergara. From my research their consistency is much higher for quality barrels.

Custom UNI Foam Motorcycle Air Filter

2009-05-21T20:27:00.000-07:00

No real need for this project, just something fun and easy to do. I got my 1986 Honda Shadow VT700c about a year ago and have had a great time riding it. I figured the air filter probably could have held out a bit longer, but due for replacement. Prior to undertaking this project I ordered a replacement OEM filter in case I was unable to finish the project in a day I could still ride my bike.

This one was nice and easy. Just remove the paper media, clean the filter frame off and glue in the UNI foam. Total cost was around $15, about the cost of an OEM filter. I picked up the UNI foam at Cycle Gear. The glue was Silicone Adhesive I got at Autozone at some point.

The old filter material didn't look *too* bad, though the clean areas probably don't get much air flow through them (thus why they are clean).

The paper media was easy to remove, just grab and pull.

I held the foam up to the filter housing and cut it a little oversized to ensure a snug fit.

Kayla couldn't resist a pose with the foam and filter housing. I think this was taken after a thorough cleaning with brake parts cleaner so the silicone adhesive would stick properly.

I used a bunch of the adhesive, probably too much, but that's how I do things. I think that's about a 1/4" bead all the way around. A few parts are a little thick, a few a little thin.

I used some packing tape to help hold the foam on the housing properly, though there was really only 1 edge that needed it.

Here it is starting to set up. Before the silicone set up I went around the inside seam of the filter and squished the silicone flat, removed what would come out. Make sure that none of it will come off and get sucked through your engine!

I used Kawasaki filter oil that I had laying around from the days of my 1983 KZ750. Maybe if I keep this bike long enough I'll be able to use the can of filter cleaner too!

And here it is all installed on the bike. You can see the oil starting to pool up at the bottom of the filter. This is of course due to my putting too much oil on it and/or not squeezing the excess oil off enough. I threw some kitty litter on the floor where it spilled out and fired up the bike to burn the rest through the engine.

As far as performance, the bike seems to pull a little harder at lower RPMs, and I like to think it sounds nicer. Both are probably just placebo effects. If I notice a difference in the MPGs I'll update the post. My average on the bike is 48.7 with a high of 56.1. The last 3 tank average prior to this filter change is 50.4, I've been taking it easy lately :-).

Lets make some knives!

2009-05-03T21:38:00.001-07:00

Alright, so more like making the end of the knives, or finishing them, as the complete make would require some blade smithing that I don't have the forge to do :-). Pat had mentioned that he was looking for some nice kitchen knives, so I used that to trick him into doing a project I had been putting off for a while. After a bit of convincing we ordered some blades and scales from Knife and Gun Finishing Supplies and waited around for them to arrive.

A little background: My brother Mac first sparked my interest in knife making when he made me an awesome knife a few years ago, complete with water buffalo handle and a hand crafted sheath. I figured I was pretty tooled up for such an adventure so why not. Jenny was needing some nice knives for around the kitchen as the current low end stuff we had just wasn't cutting it. No, it really wasn't. The cheap steal used was some generic stainless or "surgical stainless" or even 440 steel, not specifying that they are A or B. Unfortunately, most of these make great butter knives but don't really hold an edge well. To get a good edge you'll need something with a bit more carbon in it like ATS-34, 440C stainless, or some 0-1 steel. None of these are as stainless as 440A or B due to lower nickel content, but hold an edge nice enough to do some real work around the kitchen.

We went with some nice 440C blades. For the handles (slabs or scales), we went with some Pakkawood (pretty similar to Diamondwood) handles due to being impervious to water. They also look nice and are more affordable than a burl. Alright, enough intro, on with the knives.

Getting started is pretty simple, we taped the scales together and mark the holes for drilling. Also, you'll note that we taped the blades for their protection and ours, they are sharp!

You'll notice that I have an excellent support to hole the handles up for my drill press. I needed to keep it level and have space for the clamps, and these were handy.
Nice and drilled, ready to have the pins droped in and their outlines traced.

Pat, who is looking forward to a career teaching middle school shop, is instructing Narasimhan on the proper use of the drill press.

Trimming the pins to go through the handles is a pretty simple process, but only when your rod isn't wiggling around on you. Lesson learned, grasshopper.

You have to get close when cutting the scales if you hope to breath in the sawdust. Coughing up brown crud is an essential part of any project involving wood.

Pat figured out the scroll saw.

Here we are, holes drilled, scales cut to a usable size and pinned in place. One step not shown is cutting, sanding and polishing the leading edge of the handle prior to this point, as it will be more difficult to get it polished close to the blade when it is all glued together.

Someone likes bread.

Here they are, blades compeltely covered in tape to keep the epoxy off, with epoxy oozing from them. Prior to the epoxy hardening they were covered in clamps.

Blake is demonstrating proper safety attire in the shop. Missing are his big red ear muffs. Pants and shoes are always optional.

Finally getting to the more enjoyable parts, sanding the handles down to a nice shape. I picked up a nice 1" wide belt sander on craigslist for the task, though there were a couple parts where a more conventional 4" or 6" wide belt sander would have been more useful.

Handles have their rough shape, now doing a nice hand sanding on them to make sure they are perfect. This took too long and wasn't very fun. When we got down to 200 grit we wet sanded.

Sanding is complete, I think we went to 400 grit before polishing. This was a lot of fun because it took all of the rough marks out and made them really shine, showing off all the contours exposed during the sanding.

Here is Pat's finished bread knife next to mine (not even epoxied yet).

The sanding in this project took longer than I had anticipated. Getting the shape of the handles isn't too tough, but I still managed to mess it up on the large chef knife while trying to do something fancy. I have gained a new appreciation for the amount of work it takes to make one of these. I'll probably stick to hunting knives from here on out if I make any more, but am glad to have done these. One thing that I wish I had done different was ordered flat ground blades instead of hollow ground blades. I think they have a nicer look to them.

Prior to this project I had asked Mac to make me a set of steak knives for use around the kitchen, not realizing the huge task it is. I have since come to realize it is better to buy a decent set and save the craftsmanship for special knives like the chef knife or hunting knives that are likely to be passed down as heirlooms. Happy sanding :-P.

Adirondack Chairs

2009-04-28T21:19:00.000-07:00

So someone at work got it in my head that I needed to make some outdoor furniture, the plan was to make 6 chairs, 2 for each of 3 of us. After looking over a bunch of chairs and reviewing several online sets of plans, I decided to go with Norm Abram's plans (available here) from the New Yankee Workshop.

If you have a look at the picture I'll point out a few things I like about them. First, the seat curves. A lot of the plans I looked at had flat seats and that is not the shape of my butt. Second, no vertical support in the rear of the chair. A lot of plans I looked at have a support for the back of the arm rests and this one uses the seat back to support the rear of the arm rests. This set of plans also included a little table and leg rest, so off I sent for them.

For some reason I was expecting full sized plans, so was a little disappointed when I discovered that I would have to blow them up myself. After a couple failed attempts at scanning them and projecting them at work, tracing onto large paper, but couldn't ever get them scanned well enough to work out. So we were stuck with the manual method of drawing a grid on the boards and matching the lines within the grid on the plans at a larger size on the boards. We did this onto masonite so we would have a nice template to trace onto the boards. I think this part of the job took longer than the rest combined. Drawing the one inch grid on the boards was very tedious.

By the time we got the template cut out it was getting pretty hot but we decided to press on a bit longer. We cut the main supports, front legs, arms and arm supports before calling it quits for the day, more on that in a sec...

Here I am demonstrating to Narasimhan the proper way to squat (or hunker down, depending on where you're from, it's very technical) while working on any project. He is a fast learner.

Narasimhan is cutting the arm rest supports on the scroll saw, does my renter's insurance cover personal liability suits?

I'm cutting the front legs on the ShopSmith table saw. A good all purpose tool if you don't have a lot of space, but I'll be getting a real tablesaw as soon as I have some space.

And here we have the lower portion of the chair complete. This seemed to go pretty slow up to this point and it was hot and miserable.

This was my breaking point for the day. After cutting this out and routing the edges I don't pre counter-sink the wood and treat it like green pine, figuring the screw head will stuff into it fine. Nope, cracked on the last screw, and after a few choice words I sent it across the garage and quit for the day.

After resuming work (and getting a nice countersink drill bit) things moved along smoothly. I used liquid nails on most of the joints, though it got a bit tedious after a while. The arms went on fine, though I didn't get them on perfectly strait, it was good enough.

And the back support. This is bolted on pretty nicely, though it was kind of a pain keeping everything still while drilling through the (mounted) arm rests and the back support at the same time.

Hooray! Cutting out the back rest slats. Getting close to sitting down :-D.

Back supports are on! If you look at the gaps and tops of the slats you can see they don't line up quite right. The gaps are off because I didn't get the arm rests strait, and the tops are off because I was freehanding that part.

I'm routing the back seat piece. It is curved to match the curve of the back rest, fancy...

I had been screwing most things down, but by the time I got to the seat I figured some 2" brad nails would do the trick for them, as they don't get many lateral forces.

And here is the completed chair, well, almost. It still took a bit of time sealing it up with some wipe on polyurethane. I'm debating making the back rest a little taller on the next one so I can lean my head back to fall asleep, but I'm pretty happy with the way this one came out. It feels pretty solid though I wonder if I would have been better off using 2x4s for the front legs.

This was the only chair we ended up completing, though assuming the house purchase goes through I'll need some more seats near the pool. Pat (who tricked me into this project) pretends that he'll make some too, and of course Narasimhan wants his. A nice easy wood project, everyone should make a few.

Here's a quick snap of it at night all sealed:

How I got rid of my mother

2009-04-26T22:05:00.000-07:00

My mom came down in the middle of March to see her grand kids (and not just mine anymore!), and while stopping by my house before heading home to Flagstaff locked her keys in the car. It was a Sunday so I was reluctant to call a locksmith, both for their Weekend rates as well as requiring someone to work on the Sabbath.

She had mentioned just staying the night and getting it taken care of in the morning, but I would have none of it :-D. I was determined to ~~get rid of my mom~~ get into that car! I couldn't find any metal bands they use for holding 2x4s together on pallets, so I tried the trusty old coat hanger (though it was a trick to find a wire one, most of mine are plastic). I cut a little wedge out of wood to hold the window seal away from the glass like the one I used in the pro slim jim kit I have used in the past. No luck, the coat hanger didn't have enough rigidity to get a feel for the part I was looking for and after half an hour at it I gave up on that approach. Back when I had my Blazer (and frequently locked myself out) I kept a coat hanger between the leaf springs and could jimmy the door in under a minute! Not sure if I should feel smart for getting in or dumb for locking myself out so often (once out in the desert with Jenny, had to search for 20 minutes to find a coat hanger, thus the truck mounted one :-S).

There was a glimmer of hope still, as the key was on the seat. I remember reading about the diebold voting machines easily broken into by filing the key they had a picture of on their website, so I figured I would give it a shot.

I took a picture of the key and got a blank at the Home Depot (yeah, I know, shopping on Sunday...oxen in mire, trust me...). Out came my files, the one for my chainsaw was the fastest with the triangular one finishing up the edges.

It took a few attempts to get it open, filing, trying it, more filing. I started on one side of the key because most lock tumbers are only on one side of the lock mechanism, but filed the other side after I thought I had filed the first too much. I don't know which side I eventually got working because it only worked one way when I got it, and also only opened the worn mechanism in the driver's door.

Hopefully you won't have to do this one yourself, it got kind of frustrating jiggling the key around without it turning the lock.

Old Projects: 55 Gallon Smokers

2009-04-26T14:53:00.000-07:00

Back when I was in my old house I started to make some smokers for and with some friends. This was all before I had done any smoking myself, and I was mostly just helping out and providing some shop space.

We though we had it planned out pretty well. We had a full size barrel for the smoking and a barrel cut down to 1/3rd for the fire box. We were then cutting lids out of another barrel so they could be oversized and overlap the opening in the smoking barren and fire box.

I ended up moving out of the house before we could finish the project and sending the unfinished barrels and frames to Jason's house, so no finished project here, I do have some nice pictures (old low res) of the process :-).

Jason cutting an opening in the fire box.

The two fire boxes ready to have ends welded on and doors attached.

Mock up of how we'd like them layed out when complete.

Jason cutting frame pieces.

Ahh, gotta love the way the welding looks on camera :-)

Frame ready to be welded into one piece.

Tada! The barrels are just resting on the frames, we didn't make it much further after this step, maybe I'll try another time, but bigger! :-D

Buying a house!

2009-04-24T20:52:00.001-07:00

Jenny and I are in escrow on a new 1988 vintage house! As mentioned in my super fun Home AC Service post, we're in the inspection period. Neither of us can wait to close on it and get moved in! Here are some pics:

Here she is. The grass isn't looking quite as nice as it was the day these pictures were taken, but still pretty good. Can't wait to take the sign down.

Yeah, that's a 3 car garage and a RV gate!

Not a huge fan of the flooring, the wood is a little light and the carpet is a little dark, but it'll work. The paint on the other hand, has to go.

Should be fun painting the walls with the vaulted ceilings. We're debating scraping the popcorn from the ceilings while we're at it.

My TV room! Perfect shape and nice size. Can't wait to fill it up.

Appliances still in place, and look, nice ceiling fans! Corian counter tops, nice looking layout, and my favorite, maple cabinets. Hooray, not ugly!

We were hoping the house we bought would have gas, so it'll take some getting used to the electric stove, at least it looks good.

Ahh, the wonderful crap collection counter, where everything without a place goes.

Hidden buttons on the dishwasher. Now Blake won't start it when it's empty, stop it when it's full and change all the settings every day (or at least until he figures out how to open it)

Looking from the master bedroom, across the entryway and into the TV room. That closet on the right is under the stairs and unfinished inside, super cool.

That's the same cool closet with a view into the master bath.

This is where I will be brushing my teeth. Maybe I'll even get my own sink so I can have one free from toothpaste :-D.

Looking down the stairs, not a bad view, hopefully the bars for the banister will keep the kids on the stairs when they tumble down!

Another shot of the kitchen looking into the TV room. Not sure what to do with the niche, the girls think our hamster Spotty should reside there.

Hrm, a little tuscany in my house? I've never been a big fan of those types of sinks, but the faucet got me hooked, watching water fall over the spillway on the faucet and imagining wier calculations in my head.

The upstairs bathroom. Sure to be the subject of time sharing issues when the girls get older.

The back porch and view of grassy area. Wow, the grass is still alive, I'm sure to fix that problem with my greenish thumb!

The piece de resistance, the saltwater diving pool, diving board and all. I've been hoping for *a* pool, and a few houses we bid on actually had diving pools, but saltwater? Am I dreaming?

Funny rocky area. That's the 3rd bay of the garage sticking out (or, in it's present state, studio apartment). Not sure what to do with this area, more grass, garden, ash tree. We're going to have to do something to shade that wall from the afternoon sun.

That's the play area in the back. Nice slide and swing set. I think it is about a year and a half old but looks like the sprinklers are taking their toll.

Overall the house is excellent. The upgrades are very nice (hello ceiling fans) and for the most part in line with what I would have liked to do myself. I think the most disconcerting thing about the house is that the previous homeowners were unable to keep it. They did a lot of very nice things to the house, and must have been good people because unlike many of the foreclosures we have seen they kept the interior of the house in excellent condition. A few homes we have looked at were completely trashed and/or stripped by the previous owners. Hopefully they will be able to find an equally nice house when they are ready to purchase again, I know the pain of moving from a nice house into less than ideal conditions. I'm happy to finally be moving back into a nice house, it's been ages! :-D

I can't get no satisfaction Part 3: Home AC Service

2009-04-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

So Jenny and I made an offer (and it was accepted) on a house recently. At the time of the offer, there were no thermostats in the house so we were unable to check the AC units functionality. This wasn't a big deal I thought, I can wire those up without much hassle, so off to the Home Depot to pick up a couple programmable thermostats so I could check out the AC units during the inspection period and not have to wait for the bank to get it done. (As a side note, we've made many offers and this is the first one accepted, we're trying to get it done as smoothly and quickly as possible so didn't want to go back to the bank to install them).

I had no luck on the install. The wires weren't labeled and I couldn't figure them out when I looked in the units on the roof. We were having an AC tech come out and evaluate the units, and had no idea how much we were about to get raped. I attached my letter to the company, I think it explains it all well enough:

Hi Susan,

Yesterday Rafael came out to a house I am in the process of purchasing to evaluate the 2 AC units and install thermostats for both of them. The service went find and I think Rafael did a good job of determining the state of the units and letting me know what needed repair on them.

While at the house he also installed thermostats for both units, a pretty minor job by most accounts. When my wife called, she was unable to get an estimate on the installation of these as it can vary depending on the thermostat the tech has on hand, or that was the reason she was given. Despite this, we decided to go ahead and have Mears AC install them anyway, as Thermostats typically range from $30 to $50 and take 15 minutes or so to install. Were we ever wrong in our assumptions on cost, or more precisely, how Mears would bills us for the costs. Rafael installed two Honeywell Pro 5000 thermostats at a cost of $188.46 each. When doing research online I found that this is typically a $50 thermostat, the most expensive I could find it for was $80.

As a customer, I don't like to have to shop around and when I find a company that provides good service at a fair price I stick with them. I also have no problem paying more to get better service, and don't have a problem with that. I do however, know when I am being taken advantage of and will not return to a company that participates in those types of practices.

With new parts for the existing AC units needed within the next few months I was disappointed with the extremely high markup on the thermostats, as now I will have to get another estimate on the repairs to determine if the cost provided was reasonable. My wife and I had also budgeted to replace both units within the first year of living at the house, and what could have been a certain sale for Mears is now almost entirely out of the question.

And that's about that. I shall wait for their response, should they have one. If I don't hear anything I'll find out who owns the place and make sure they hear my venting :-|.

I can't get no satisfaction (Update: maybe some satisfaction) Part 2: Steering Parts

2009-04-24T20:08:00.000-07:00

Update: I took my car back to Big O and had a talk with the manager who was very helpful and got my boots all fixed up for me. He apologized for the inconvenience and gave me a free oil change for my troubles. Car is fixed, hooray! Perhaps I am getting some satisfaction :-).

Now on to my wife's car, lots of fun times there. The CV Halfshaft boots have been torn for a while, and the tires wearing unevenly in addition to some leaks from somewhere under the hood. I knew it would need some steering stuff replaced before an alignment could be done so I had her take it to Big O Tires for an assessment. They told us the passenger side inner tie rod needed replacement, when I got it home and had a look it certainly did need replacement, as it was pretty loose and popped back and forth when pulled on. I figured I would replace that along with the cv halfshafts and whatever was leaking all at once, so pulled everything apart to get it done.

As it was late and I needed a trip to the store to continue, I figured I would have a look at the EGR system as it was causing the engine to throw codes. So Jenny got in the car and started it up while I tested the vacuum solenoids, egr valve, etc under the hood. As I'm playing with this I hear the power steering pump start to whine...Blake had cranked the steering wheel all the way to one side and kept pulling! Well, lucky me, with the outer tie rod ends disconnected from the steering knuckles, the rack in the the rack and pinion steering overextended and the whole thing started pumping power steering fluid everywhere.

With the cost of seals and boots for the halfshaft being about what it would cost to get a reman unit online, I figured Jenny could drive the truck for a week while we waited for the part. We got the pretty new rack and pinion in about a week and I put it back in with a few hours work, I put on the outer tie rod ends and was pretty happy with my work, everything looked nice.

Everything seemed to go well. Jenny got the alignment done, a transmission flush (it was pretty dirty) and a set of new front tires. I was happy to not have to worry about the car anymore and she was happy knowing she isn't likely to get a flat from the worn-down-to-the-steel-belts front tire.

Then I got home. Being the loving vehicle owner that I am, I wanted to go have a look at the tie rods and see how far off I was in my alignment guess and notice this:

A Twisted boot! So I had put on a reman rack and pinion with brand new boots and they twisted them! I was not happy. So I jack up the car, take of the tire and proceed to straiten the boot. I put a zip tie on it for good measure when I was done, though it didn't really need it:

On to the next side, I could see it was also twisted when I glanced at it but didn't realize the full extent of the problem:

A TORN boot! Now I'm angry! I was willing to accept their poor service, straiten the boots and take my car somewhere else for any service next time, but this is too much. They tore my brand new beautiful boots! Now I have to take it back and hope they play nice on fixing their screwup, oh how I wish I could have done the alignment myself! This is why I do all my own work!

I'll post an update later with the results of my attempt to get it fixed.

I can't get no satisfaction Part 1: AC Parts

2009-04-24T19:34:00.001-07:00

So I've had a nasty string of bad luck with service or mix ups with advertisements lately that has reminded me why I do most of my own maintenance and repairs.

I'm working on redoing the AC system on my truck as the accumulator I got from Autozone had a leak (I didn't notice until out of warranty). Being that it was an older system I figured I would just go ahead and replace everything: accumulator, evaporator, compressor, condenser and orifice tube. Most of those are pretty easy to come by in the form they should be, except the condenser. I have the parallel flow condenser, and wanted to replace it with one, but all that the local auto stores stock are tube and fin or piccolo type condensers, both of which are older designs that don't dissipate heat as effectively as parallel flow. After much searching, I found a parallel flow condenser from Rock Auto that was made by Spectra Premium (part 74579 for any interested). I was excited when it arrived, and opened it up to have a look at it. I was very dissapointed to find a picollo style condenser in the Spectra Premium box. The part number on the supposedly Spectra Premium was 3152, the number for the Visteon picollo condenser. Through no fault of RockAuto.com, Spectra is repackaging Visteon's older style condenser's as their own. So I packaged it back up and back to RockAuto it went. The refund went fine, have to find the condenser somewhere else.

Next item, a Mastercool vacuum pump 90059 from AcKits.com, for the same truck project. This was advertised as a 50 micron vacuum pump with 10oz oil capacity. When it arrived I could see that it was a 100 micron pump with 6oz oil capacity. When I called AcKits.com they corrected their website and offered to refund my money on the vacuum pump, but I was happy with their response so decided to keep it.

So far, not too bad, just some mix ups that weren't too tough to remedy.

PIC 16F628A based POV toy

2009-03-09T16:23:00.001-07:00

I can't remember where I got turned on to the idea in the first place, I likely was linked to Ladyada's bike POV from Hackaday or something. I figured it would be a nice introduction to working with the microcontrollers, maybe lead into more interesting and hopefully more difficult projects (it hasn't yet). Have a better idea of something fun to make with a microcontroller? Let me know :-).
Using the educational version of the Microchip C compiler (C18). While it would have been easy to do such a small project in Assembly, I don't have much interest in machine level code and prefer the readability of C.
I have never been much of a hardware guy. I can do Ohm's law, parallel and series circuits and at one point could do capacitance charge and discharge calculations, but that has left me. So I try to stick with the basics. Run the power to the PIC, use it to turn on and off the LEDs. Just need a small battery pack, a resistor and a handful of LEDs.
So here it is set up in my breadboard, seems to be working OK.

And in this picture I have it set up in its final form, blinking away. That little jumpered header is the on off switch for it. Crude but functional.

And here it is attempting to work. I made the mistake of using cheap LEDs that I had laying around to make this. I think they have a 10 degree viewing angle or something crappy like that. Wide viewing angle LEDs would have made it look better, though my timing still wasn't perfect with it.

You can make out most of my name. I have it attached to a bike wheel and am spinning at different rates. I was considering making a longer strip of LEDs and attaching it to my car wheel or something, but that would have required a Hall effect sensor to test timing and I just didn't feel that ambitious at the time.

The code is pretty simple:

#include // for TRISB and PORTB declarations
#include // for 'Delay10KTCYx'

// Set configuration bits for chip
// - set HS oscillator
// - disable watchdog timer
// - disable low voltage programming
#pragma config OSC = HS
#pragma config WDT = OFF
#pragma config LVP = OFF

#define TEXT_SIZE 40
const rom unsigned char text[TEXT_SIZE] =
{ 255, 137, 129, 0, 255,
128, 128, 0, 129, 255,
129, 0, 241, 137, 135,
0, 252, 18, 252, 0,
255, 137, 118, 0, 255,
137, 129, 0, 1, 255,
1, 0, 255, 16, 255,
0, 0, 0, 0, 0 };

int val, binaryOut;
void main (void)
{
// length of bits in order to make string
// put numerical version of hex value into constant "text"
// will need to put this into EEPROM and allow to be updatable

TRISB = 0; // configure PORTB for output
for (val = 0; val < binaryout =" text" portb =" binaryOut;" portb =" 0;">

Migrate SSAS from SQL Server 2000 to 2005

2009-03-09T16:22:00.001-07:00

Just an FYI for anyone trying to migrate Analysis Services from SQL 2000 to 2005 and getting the standard:

No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it (System)

Error that I have been reading about (and found no solution online for).

The way to do it is to connect to your 2005 Analysis Services server with SQL Server Management Studio, then right click the server and click Migrate Database. Hopefully you can figure the rest out. So it's a pull type of action from the old server to the new server, not from the old server to BI Studio or SQL Server Management Studio. Fun stuff.

Now get back to work.