Repurposing

You never know when something you are considering throwing away might prove useful.  When living on Waiouru the lack of space meant it was almoist impossible to keep “stuff” that might prove useful one day.  Back on land I’ve been keeping (hoarding) anything that just might be needed at a future date. 

Today was that date!  Three cupboard doors have been fitted to my new workbench, all requiring handles.  I had one plastic bathroom handle several decades old that was surplus to a bathroom renovation.  There was also a box of round wooden drawer knobs salvaged from an old lowboy. Rummaging around in another former ice cream container I found an On/Off switch that could be used to control the planned router lift.

 

Some time was spent with the multimeter working out the switch mechanism.  With that sorted a hole was cut in the side of the router compartment.

The plastic cupboard handle can be seen adjacent to the hole for the switch.  In the last compartment you can also see the steel drawer runners.

I could buy a $2 mounting block but as there was plenty of scrap timber I decided to make one.

Actually I made a second to cover the rear of the On/Off switch.

The switch has an inbuilt safety function.  Obviously pressing the green button powers the connected appliance and the red button will cut the power.  The switch has an additional terminal which prevents the attached appliance from automatically restarting should the electricity supply fail and then reconnected. 

A couple of cable clips to be fitted and this part of the project is complete.

The next step is to install and plumb the bench top sheets.

Slow Progress – It’s Hot!!!

First signs of summer and Jan has already been forced to turn on the air conditioning.  Zero cost as the power is coming from the solar panels.

Progress on the work bench has slowed due to the heat.  It’s not an issue in the morning, but in the afternoon the sun is beating against the workshop roller door turning the interior into a quasi oven.

The front of the workbench has been constructed.

The top right compartment is where the router lift will fit.  I’ve cut a rectangular hole in the back wall to allow dust to enter the sawdust compartment.  The length of grey flexible hose will bit between the ‘gate shutter’ under the dust compartment floor to the extractor pipe outlet I installed in the shed concrete floor.  Top left is the bench saw compartment.  I’ve made this height adjustable which will give me the ability to get the top of the saw perfectly level with the final bench top.  There is room below both compartments for drawers.

The saw shelf was made adjustable by cutting two vertical slots either side.  Eight square washers were then made from a piece of scrap steel flat bar.  The knobs were purchased from the local hardware store.

A raised floor was added to the sawdust compartment.  This provided clearance to fit the gate shutter underneath.  It will be opened and closed using a length of steel rod that will run to the router side of the bench.

 

The multi-way electrical power board has been fitted.  The board power cable had to be lengthened to reach the power outlet on the concrete floor.  you can see the circular hole in the dust compartment floor where the gate shutter is fitted.

The final step for today was to enclose three sides of the dust compartment.

The clearance between the bench top (yet to be fitted) and the top of the dust compartment is for the various power tool cables.  The unseen open end of the dust compartment will have a cupboard door to provide access if required.

What have I done wrong?

Jan answered a call on my mobile phone.  It was an officious and very assertive male from the Australian Border Force.  He only uttered the first two menacing sentences when Jan interrupted telling him to “Piss Off” before hang up.  An hour later he rang again receiving the same response from Jan.  Will they arrive to cart me away for my transgressions?

Meanwhile I was blissfully unaware of the drama working in the ‘man cave’ on me new project.  I’m building a new integrated workbench to replace the one I made in 2017 after we arrived back from the UK.

This workbench will be slightly larger (2400x1200) and incorporate most of the larger power tools.  It will be on eight strong castors allowing me to easily move it around in the shed.

The DeWalt bench saw will go in the front left position and a router lift in the front right

The narrow gap between the next two partitions will be the sawdust collection compartment which I intend to connect to the dust extractor via the pipe I previously laid in the shed concrete floor.

 After the sawdust compartment will be the Mitre Saw on the right and the Thicknesser on the left.

Both will be on swivel or dropdown bases ensuring they are concealed when not required.

The last compartment will consist of three large storage drawers either side.

 

The plan is to have a 2400x1200 clean worktop which will consist of one sheet of 18mm plywood with a similar sized sheet of customwood (MDF) as the top layer. The MDF will be sacrificial, enabling me to replace it when necessary without impacting the main part of the workbench.

Rapid Charging

Half of today was spent fitting the usb power converter to the 4WD.  After looking at the existing ports I realised it was unlikely I’d ever use those that came fitted.

 

From left to right they are HDMI, USB data, eSATA and the socket I previously fitted for the 2 Way Radio.  The original three all connect to the vehicle head unit and are for connecting external data devices.  This means the USB port is low powered.

Eventually I decided to fit the eBay USB socket to the left side of the centre console and wired it into the VSR circuit.  This latter step means there will still be power to the socket when the ignition is off but it can’t flatten the battery is the VSR has a low voltage cutout.

The GPS Tablet was then turned on to check there was power.

And at the bottom of the screen

Great!  The tablet is charging rapidly.  Hopefully that solves the problem of the tablet battery going flat when used as a gps.

Rapid Charging

This may be interesting for those of you who read my post regarding the power supply problem with the Samsung Tablet being used in the Isuzu 4WD as a vehicle GPS.

To recap; the tablet battery was discharging faster than the vehicle usb port could recharge it.  After identifying this as the issue I ordered from eBay China a 12V to 5V converter rated at 3 Amps.  It arrived today.

I’ve started making a wiring loom.  However before I fit the converter to the vehicle there is something important I need to check.   I’m not sure if this is something unique to Samsung, so let me explain.

The tablet can either be connected to a usb port on a laptop or a 240V wall charger.  When connected to a laptop the tablet might be transferring data.  Moreover the tablet knows it shouldn’t draw too much recharging power from the laptop as the laptop may be damaged. Therefore, when connected to a laptop or other usb data capable port, the tablet is designed to recharge slowly at a low amperage. 

If the tablet us connected to a 240V charger with a usb port it knows the charging rate can be much higher as the charger can provide plenty of power. 

How does the tablet know when it’s connected to a mains charger verses a laptop port?  The usb plug has four pins.

The outer two pins (red arrows) are the 5V positive and negative terminals for powering the tablet.  The inner two pins (blue arrows) are the data connections. 

A Samsung 240V charger shorts out the two inner (data) pins.  The tablet identifies the pins are shorted and will accept a higher rate of charge.

One of my first steps has been to place my multimeter across the two inner pins to check whether they were shorted out.  If they weren’t I would have to modify the usb plug.  Fortunately they were shorted.

Accordingly, my new converter should provide maximum power to the GPS tablet.

 

I was attacked!!!

Trying to rebuild my fitness I went for a bike ride around the adjacent suburbs.  After managing to build up some speed I was coasting along when I was hit on the side of my head.  The helmet took most of the impact however one sharp end got me on the temple between the bottom of the helmet and my sunglasses. 

In the nano second that followed my brain attempted to identify what had happened.  Puzzlingly I hadn’t passed a tree or other obstruction.  Then I was hit again followed by loud squawking.  That’s when the brain realised I was under attack from a Magpie.  It’s the Magpie swooping season and I must have encroached upon a nest.  Male Magpies are fiercely protective when there are chicks in the nest.  Pedestrians and cyclists are “fair game”!

Photo from the internet

I’m glad I was wearing sunglasses as I suspect he was after my eyes.

The Magpie is about the size of a crow and; for a bird; quite intelligent.  They are native to Australia and therefore protected.  Magpies will usually attack from behind in an effort to drive the intruder away.  One common way of preventing attack is to wear a hat with fake eyes painted on the back. 

Magpies can also be found in NZ where they were introduced from Australia (along with possums, etc, etc).  They are not protected and I remember one occasion where; after some children had been attacked; Jimmy Hendrick, the army engineering school sergeant major brought his shotgun to work.  That was the end of the problem.

Wifi Network Problem

It’s possible I may have solved another problem.  You may recall I made a home media server which streams video over wifi to the media players and TVs at the front of the house.  Sometimes the video would freeze or the player would report “video source too slow”.  Logically the media server computer couldn’t be the cause as it’s quite powerful.  Moreover it was unlikely the server software was the problem as it is configure to downgrade the video if the server was slow.  My thoughts turned to the Android TV, but after installing a free wifi analyzer app on the TV I identified the issue as a local network problem.  The wifi signal was struggling to get though all the internal brick walls between the router at the back of the house and the TV in the front room.

There appeared to be four possible solutions

• create a wifi bridge by installing a second router in the front room and wifi linking it to the main router.
• purchase and install some ‘mesh’ routers to expand the wifi network.
• run ethernet cables through the roof and down the walls to ports that  would need to be install.
• install an ethernet connection using ‘powerline’ connectors.  This enables the house 240V electrical cables to also be used as data cables.

My days of being able to crawl through roof cavities are over and if I attempted it I’d probably put at least one foot through the ceiling.  A ‘Mesh’ system would be expensive and creating a wifi bridge with a second router might not solve the problem.  Therefore the ‘powerline’ option was selected.  It was also one of the cheaper options

After some online research I opted for the TP-Link AV2000 powerline system.  It comes with two power adapters.  Each adapter has two ethernet ports.  One adapter was plugged into the 240V socket used by the main router in the study and an ethernet cable connected from the router to the adapter.  The second adapter was plugged into the 240V socket in the front room used by the TV. An ethernet cable was then connected between the adapter and the TV.  The two adapters were then ‘paired’ to create a data connection.  The TV connection was then switched from wifi to ethernet and a speed test conducted.  We now appear to have a much faster connection between the main router and the TV.  I’ve now gone one step further and re-flashed the firmware on our old (very old) Linksys router to DD-WRT firmware giving it a new lease on life and connected it to the second ethernet adapter port in the front room.  The old router will now broadcast a strong wifi signal around the front of the house.

Carol I can see my photos on Blogger which leads me to suspect the problem is at your end. 

Ade, Jenny I will attempt to get some photos of Jan on her e-trike.  Might have to use the ‘sports action mode’ on the camera if she is using the electric motor  Jenny, it sounds like Robin is data-casting.

Fishing Boat Harbour

A trip to Fishing Boat Harbour in Fremantle yesterday.  We’ve previously visited Fremantle but never gone to Fishing Boat Harbour.  The area is a combination of fishing boats, recreational boating and tourism.  The area was steadily going into decline until the America’s Cup yacht races were conducted off the coast of Fremantle in 1986-87.  This bought significant investment into the area and major rejuvenation.

We wandered around the various eating establishments looking at menus and prices.  Obviously we don’t eat out much as the prices seemed extremely high. 

As you would expect the eating outlets all specialised in fish.  Jan eventually decided on a small restaurant selling fish and chips at a seniors concession rate.

The main reason for the visit wasn’t to eat, rather to look at bikes.  Jan rather likes the idea of an e-trike for local transport.  When I’ve taken the 4WD on a trip she has no means of transport  and an e-trike would give her some exercise, whilst also having the backup option to get home if worn out. 

The Ryder E-Bike shop is located in the former Bathers Beach House at Fishing Boat Harbour

An interesting selection of fancy looking “easy-rider” trikes for Jan to to look at but she eventually decided on a more conventional style.  I was prepared to assemble the trike however the shop assistant informed Jan they would do it at no additional cost.

On the way back to the Isuzu we noticed this lost dog.

Another Tick

You may recall, Ken and I replaced the suspension on the Isuzu. This upgrading it to something more substantial in anticipate of what has now become a delayed remote outback trip.  One foreseen and unwanted aspect of the upgrade was an increase in vehicle body height.  This actually wasn’t the concern.   In increasing the body height the angle of the constant velocity (CV) joints became more acute.  This might lead to a CV breaking leaving the vehicle with just 2WD.  To resolve this I fitted a front differential drop kit which bought the CV angle back to normal.  But of course this also had consequences.  The rear bash could now no longer connect to the middle bash plate.  I’ve been driving the vehicle without the rear bash plate.  That not an issue driving on sealed and unsealed roads.  But there is a potential fire risk when driving off road; particularly in Spinifex.  The Spinifex (dry native grass) can build up under the vehicle and catch fire on the exhaust pipe.  Having all the bash plates fitted reduces this risk.

This morning I completed a simple modification allowing the rear bash plate to be fitted.  When I write ‘simple’, it would be if I was 30 years younger.  Wriggling under a vehicle is getting more difficult.

In this next photo you can see the underside of the Isuzu.  The blue arrows point to the mounting holes on the leading end of the rear bash plate.  As you can see with the new diff drop kit beam there is nothing they can be secured to

A slightly better photo

Rummaging around in all the ‘stuff’ I’m reluctant to discard, I found a short length of angle iron left over from the bench I had dismantled several years ago.  I cut one side off the angle to give me a length of flat plate which I then cut, drilled and painted to make two flat mounting bars. These were used to secure the leading edge of the rear bash plate to the anchor bolts on the middle bash plate. 

I could purchase a new bash plate designed to go with the diff drop kit, but I didn’t want to spend the money.  Time will tell if I made a good decision.

Two More Completed

Two projects were completed today.  The laundry doorstep was installed and I finished the painting.

I can also report the washing machine no longer attempts to leave home via the back door.  Jan is happy with her choice of colours.

My sister and brother-in-law visited today and, seizing the opportunity, I had him assist with the fitting of the bedhead.

The photo is a little blurred but you will get the idea.  It’s only taken four years to finish making the bed