Do It Yourself

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/13852616

Pretty cool guide.

The guy says that he only recently realized that cleaning isn't intuitive so people need to be taught. This is for people who maybe haven't been taught how to clean or want to freshen up on their skills :)

I'm almost wrapped up with filling voids, bark inclusions, and knot holes in the boards for the bookcase. If our garage was climate controlled I expect this process would have gone faster; the same could be said if I had more horizontal working space for staging and filling. Once everything is done curing I should be able to go back over each board with the finishing grits to reach 220 - after that it's cutting to have a plumb edge and to create the shelf supports.

Since we're popping the grain in between sandings (spraying lightly with water and allowing to dry, which swells the softer grain and allows for a smoother finish) I've been able to see what these will sort of look like once finished, but the small bits of epoxy that made it over the edges of some of these really make the grain look downright sexy.

Kind of a busy week otherwise but progress is progress. I put comments on each image in the album to explain reasoning, goals, and steps taken - if you haven't done much carpentry I hope they help; if you have done much carpentry I hope you'll share your expertise. I've been around a bit and done a few things but this is not what I would call my specialty. Still, I'll do my best to answer any questions folks might have, even if I end up invoking Cunningham's Law.

I should quickly note that our house was not built to the same kinds of specifications found nowadays. Hell, it's not even built to the specifications in my books about building which were published in the same decade it was built. Improvements like fully gutting to run proper 2x8 timbers just isn't in the cards, even though it's what I would do if we were building from scratch.

Not sure if I should post this here or over in Technology, but here goes.

So I need to run two Gigabit (or better) network cables from the main switch in the garage into another room.

The problem is that that room is a shelter (small bunker), which according to Swiss regulations means no holes in the walls, and the 'door' is an airtight 35cm thick slab of reinforced concrete and steel. So the only way into that room is a small conduit for electricity. There's no way two Cat7 cables fit into that conduit, and power and data cables are not allowed to share the same space anyway. That means the only viable option is fiber - and, considering the conduit's dimensions, only fiber without a connector will go through.

There are copper/POF adapters readily available (such as this one), and they would probably do the job. However, POF is effectively limited to ~1Gbit half-duplex. If I go through all the trouble of installing fiber, I don't want it to be inferior to the existing Cat7 copper cabling. If there's a multimode solution that doesn't require me to buy two four-figure Cisco switches and five-figure tools, I'd much prefer that. Has anyone here heard of such a thing?

Hello, I’m back again. A couple small questions this time, nothing major. But I do have a fun story to tell to explain one of the questions. I’ll put all the questions in bulk at the end though for those who don’t care.

For the story, I ran a new circuit for the lights in my basement. I got that project done fine and it works exactly as expected. But on the last step, when I hooked up the breaker I noticed the 15 amp single pole breaker above it had a white wire, not a black. Ok, not the biggest issue. I just need to figure out where it goes and reverse the wires on the circuit because I thought they had the black on the ground bar instead of the neutral. Instead the black wire went to a 20 amp single pole breaker. But it gets worse.

That side of the house has a lot of electrical stuff that doesn’t work. Several outlets, outside lights etc. it really could’ve gone to anything. But what it went to I wasn’t expecting. We have an electric radiator in our bathroom that hasn’t worked since moving in. I never payed attention because even on the really cold days the bathroom stayed warm since the rest of the house is fine with heating. Turns out the radiator, which requires a 220v circuit on a double pole breaker, was wired with a 12/2 romex NM wire and wired to 2 single pole breakers…. So that’s disconnected now.

My question is, since the slots are pulled out of the panel can I leave these breakers in there not wired to anything? What is the proper way to close those up?

Also, I took out some fluorescent lights and moved them from the window to the center of the room. In doing so I have a good bit of extra cable. It’s not Romex, but it is 600v NM cable. It’s the black rubbery coating. Is it worth saving this in case I need wire for a spare project or is there some kind of risk to using the old cable?

I am looking to building my own phone from a SBC running a linux distro with plasma mobile and that can make calls. and I have some questions:

Where can I start?

Which SBC to choose?

How would I achieve the call functionality?

We finished the last piece of the cat path I posted about earlier! This one goes from the laundry room, to the stairwell, and then into the guest bedroom on the upper floor (yes, I know the carpet needs replaced in that closet). They are already using them and seem to love the new path already.

https://imgur.com/a/QExCWgN

tl;dr: Neighbors' galvanized fence is upside-down and very sharp and pokey. How can I make it not be?

To start with, the neighbor is almost never home and therefore hard to contact. Also, they only bought their property last year and probably don't even realize they own the fence. Anyway.

As you may know, galvanized fences have a top and a bottom. The bottom has sharp bits which dig into the ground while the top is more rounded off.

When I bought my house, there was already a galvanized fence in place between my house and my neighbor's. I'm no fan of these fences in particular, but that's fine. Except that I later noticed that it had been installed upside-down, meaning that the top of the 3-ftish fence is covered in sharp spikes, while the safe end has been buried underground.

When I was younger, I had a dog who had her belly horrifically torn open while jumping over an upside-down galvanized fence, and I have two dogs, so this is a serious concern of mine. While my dogs have fortunately never tried so far, a dog could die trying to jump over a fence like that.

Question is, what can I do about it?

I would offer the neighbor for me to pay for it to replace the fence, except for the fact that we are on a serious and convoluted grade and it is no small matter to replace a fence. Because of the grade, there's no way for me to put up a second fence on my side (trust me, it would require some serious landscaping to do that, in the tens of thousands of dollars--we're on a hill).

So I feel at a loss except for to try to cap off the sharp tops of the galvanized fence, and my searching suggests that there is no pre-made product for this because this fence was just installed wrong.

Any advice?

tl;dr: Neighbors' galvanized fence is upside-down and very sharp and pokey. How can I make it not be?

To start with, the neighbor is almost never home and therefore hard to contact. Also, they only bought their property last year and probably don't even realize they own the fence. Anyway.

As you may know, galvanized fences have a top and a bottom. The bottom has sharp bits which dig into the ground while the top is more rounded off.

When I bought my house, there was already a galvanized fence in place between my house and my neighbor's. I'm no fan of these fences in particular, but that's fine. Except that I later noticed that it had been installed upside-down, meaning that the top of the 3-ftish fence is covered in sharp spikes, while the safe end has been buried underground.

When I was younger, I had a dog who had her belly horrifically torn open while jumping over an upside-down galvanized fence, and I have two dogs, so this is a serious concern of mine. While my dogs have fortunately never tried so far, a dog could die trying to jump over a fence like that.

Question is, what can I do about it?

I would offer the neighbor for me to pay for it to replace the fence, except for the fact that we are on a serious and convoluted grade and it is no small matter to replace a fence. Because of the grade, there's no way for me to put up a second fence on my side (trust me, it would require some serious landscaping to do that, in the tens of thousands of dollars--we're on a hill).

So I feel at a loss except for to try to cap off the sharp tops of the galvanized fence, and my searching suggests that there is no pre-made product for this because this fence was just installed wrong.

Any advice?

Hello, I’m back with another question. Everything a read is telling me yes I can, but it really does not feel right so I’m gonna ask here for good measure. Can I run electrical wire through fiberglass insulation?

In several rooms upstairs the wire comes out of the center of the ceiling then goes across to the window where a fluorescent tube light is installed. Below all that is a drop ceiling tile with insulation packed on top of it. I want to take the fluorescent light out and put a normal light back in which is easy enough. My concern is running the wiring through the insulation. Everything says running it through insulated walls is fine and the insulation itself says it’s non-combustible. But can someone confirm that I’m reading the right stuff?

There’s a gap between two pieces of insulation that I want to run the wire between. Picture attached. Not sure how old the insulation is if that is important.

I appreciate a creative use of scrap lumber as much as the next person, but jeez. I'm getting tired of floating sistered joists and framing.

My partner and I have been talking about making some cat paths in our house since long before we owned our house. We recently got 2 new dogs, so now it is a high priority project. The first step was putting up some shelves in the hallway and making a portal from the hallway to the bedroom closet (you can see it just above the tent). The surround for the portal is this 3D printed tunnel

https://www.printables.com/model/3068-cat-door

The next project is going to be putting a portal from the spare bedroom into the stairwell so they can go up and down floors without the dogs being in the way

https://i.imgur.com/rxI55E4.jpg

If you need advice that particular kind of DIY, feel free to post here and tag me or DM me directly. Hopefully I can be very helpful to some of you folks who either can't afford to pay expensive mechanics or want to learn on your own.

I work as an independent mobile mechanic in middle Tennessee (for now). My primary work is motorcycles and small engines, but I've done plenty of work on cars too. I used to post quite often on r/fixxit back before I left Reddit.

Pic is an example of my work. That's one of my motorcycles, which I resurrected from the dead. I took that picture while was riding to the small town of Cave-In-Rock, Illinois, to rebuild 4 carburetors for a customer, and in line waiting on a ferry to cross the Ohio river.

I'm (obviously) not great with caulk but needed to re-caulk where our kitchen counter meets the outside wall as it has a crack all along the counter. House was built about 20 years ago and it may be original and just settled.

Anyway, I watched a video and the person put down painters tape on the wall and along the counter so you could get a straight edge. They showed pulling off the tape pretty quickly after applying the caulk. I did so and the caulk pulled up from the counter (and, to a lesser extent away from the tile on the wall.)

Is this an OK technique to use, generally? What could I have done to keep this from happening? I had cleaned the surface well. Should I have pulled the tape off with an angle closer to the counter? I think I pulled it off about 45 degrees. Would it hurt to wait a little longer for the caulk to adhere to the surface a bit? I'm concerned if it starts to cure much at all that it will be harder to pull off the tape without pulling the caulk away from the wall.

Going to wait until it dries, then scrape it out and try again. This is a small section that I'm using to work on my technique.

Thanks.

I have a few project ideas, and I thought of reusing the paper from various shop catalogs that I receive in my physical mailbox. I'd like to make it stiffer, something more like cardboard. I read somewhere online that you could use corn starch for this, mixed with water. Would it work? Do you have better ideas?

Hi

I am stripping and re-sealing a corner shower stall, and am having a hell of time removing all the old caulk. I also discovered the previous homeowners decided to just caulk over the previous caulk that was on there, so I am removing 2 or 3 layers depending on the location. It was leaking in the spots that had 3 layers so I think they just added more caulk to "fix" leaks. I have the chemical caulk remover, and that certainly helps, but it still is taking a metric fuck-ton of manual labor. Any tricks/suggestions for removal of very old caulk? I am about to throw a scotch brite on a palm sander and go to town.

I posted on here the other day about some suspicious 240v cable and followed the recommendations to replace it. I was already leaning that way but was kind of hoping to be told I was overthinking it. But you all confirmed what I thought. I ran close to 25’ of 10/2 cable from the second story to the basement. Nothing is wired yet because it is late and I don’t want to turn on the main breaker.

My step dad let me borrow a 50’ fishing tape and 10’ endoscope which were really helpful. I did not have to cut any walls!

Hello,

I have been doing a lot of work remodeling a house I bought. The house was in really rough shape so I was expecting a good bit of work but the last owners laziness and incompetence has really made things worse.

They had the house split into two apartments and we are converting it back to a single home unit. We knocked out a wall and installed new stairs to connect the top and bottom floors. Next we are converting the upstairs kitchen to a laundry room. We have been using the makeshift room for a few months, but we are getting a new washer and dryer. Our current dryer is a compact electric dryer that runs on a 120v outlet. The new will be a standard electric dryer and need a 240v outlet. There is 240v outlet in the room for a range. I am going to pick up a new breaker from lowes with the proper amperage but wanted to check everything else first and I think I ran into an issue with the wire itself.

There are 3 wires, which matches the outlet so I am assuming it is supposed to be 2 hots and a neutral. However, upon closer inspection there is no insulation on the neutral. I peeled back more of the larger insulation around all 3 wires but the neutral wire is uninsulated like it was a ground. Now, I have encountered this in the house elsewhere. Most of the outlets have grounds cut off, but a 3 way switch didn't have the second hot wire so they used the ground as the second hot. I got that "fixed" (I unhooked everything and made it a single switch/light circuit and eliminated the second switch). But I don't know of any 240v wire combinations that would only be 3 wires and include a ground. The wire is definitely thick enough to be 240v wire and each individual wire has multiple "threads" like a 240 wire would. But it is older wire as well so I am not sure if it is just that old that they didn't insulate neutrals when they did this. Is this wire safe to use?

A second, and more minor question, deals with a separate circuit. The house electric is still split and I pay 2 bills, one for upstairs and 1 for downstairs. The upstairs does have an outdoor AC unit on it as well that was installed after we moved in by an HVAC tech so I am trusting that to be installed right. But the entire box for the "upstairs" has 4 breakers. There is a 50amp, 40amp, and 20amp double pole breakers and a 10amp single pole. The 10amp controls a single light and one of the 240v breakers controls the AC. Another controls the range/future dryer outlet. The The 20amp double pole controls everything else upstairs which is ALL 120v. There are a few lights and all of the outlets. Is that safe? Is there a reason to do that? The upstairs is pretty small if that makes a difference, I have just never seen a double pole breaker used for a 120v circuit even if it is pretty large.

Edit: I made the original post on my PC due to the size but I’m adding some pictures from my phone

Edit 2: I am going to buy and run new wire with the new breaker. I showed a picture to my dad and he said nothing matters because that’s an aluminum ground which means the wire needs replaced due to its age regardless. So even if it’s wired wrong now, I am stripping the wire out and putting a new wire and breaker in so it should be done right

I have been investigating the fine art of dishing out a wooden chair seat for comfort today, and made discoveries that can be readily condensed into a, imho miraculously easy formula. So here goes:

Your "sitz" bones or ischial tuberosities are prominences of the pelvis that are the hard spots when you sit. They are pretty consistently located in adult humans as it turns out, though you'll have a hard time finding dimensional data if you go looking! I measured approximate spacing among a slightly inebriated and jovial crowd who endured the indignity with humor and made a rough prototype seat to check my theory. Drill two 2-inch diameter holes spaced five inches apart at center (3-inches of material remaining between the holes). For a finished seat, one would shape the edges, but don't even bother for this experiment - just drill the holes in a piece of lumber and sit down on it. shift around for comfort and when your ischial tuberosities align with the holes you will say aaah!

I will be making two holes in a rectangular stool seat at this spacing, centered about three inches from the "back" edge of the stool, and sanding smooth and dishing out the seat a little. I'll try to remember to post a finished picture, but I found this preliminary result too great and dramatic to wait.

Some individuals might be grateful for a third hole at the centerline and about two inches closer to the back edge - where a tailbone-afflicted person does not need hard support and an average person will not miss it. I have not tested this third hole yet, maybe others will report...

Crossposted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/9698836

This setup allows Arduino to read temperature, control relay based on setpoints, display info on OLED screen, and manage date/time settings with user input through buttons. Adjust based on specific hardware/project requirements.

Designed to replace the faulty electronic control of a blue heat radiator.

Code and simulation at Wokwi

Licensed under GNU GPLv3.

Hi, I have an Indesit 15b1 and it won’t run a cycle. When I turn it on, I get a error code, 3 green solid, amber start light and red flashing salt light. Nothing about it in the manual, Indesit said the same thing.

It sometimes starts working after I tilt it for a bit.

It’s not the anti flood device, the bottom is dry. I took the drain pump out, it’s clean, so is the drain hose and inlet hose.

When I turn it on, it drains the water, then I THINK it tries running the wash pump, and then tries draining again, and the pump again, and the error code.

Is there anything I can do before I take the wash pump out? I kinda don’t wanna do it cos it has those one time pinch clamps and I’d need to buy them and all

Thanks :)

I am using an old HP Pavillion 15 to make a tablet. I have all of the internal components, and am making a shell. Does anyone know what the easiest way to make a case for those parts would be?