Saturday, October 2, 2010

Quieten Kitchen Cabinet Doors



I do not like doors that don't shut quietly! These devices are like shock absorbers
and they absorb the force of the door and slow it down to a crawl. Of course you have to have hinges that are designed to close at a slight push. Most cabinets have them I believe. I bought the product from Woodworkers Hardware.






This is another view of the placement of the shock absorber.

Need a remote "ethernet port"? ddwrt for bridging

Took me a while to get to this item. Basically I was driven to get a remote ethernet port because my Panasonic Blu Ray had an ethernet port for services such as Netflix. But Panasonic would sell me a wifi device to attach for about $60-80 as I remember.

So my choices, since I did not want to spend the money, were
a)wire ethernet in the house to the Blu Ray device
or
b)set up a spare linksys wrtgp4 to receive signal over the air from the primary linksys. This technique is called "bridging"

a) was not an option, can be done but pain in the neck.
b) was easier with ddwrt software. You basically have to change the linksys software and apply the ddwrt software on primary and the second linksys. Then you have a linksys talking to another linksys over the air and providing an ethernet port for you at the second linksys. From that port you wire a small ethernet cord to your device and, voila, "bobs your uncle", and you have ethernet at your Blu Ray device.

Now using the ddwrt software is not hard, but you have to follow their instructions precisely, I mean, exactly. If they say hold your breadth for 10 seconds(!) do it or it will fail. :) Anyway go to the ddwrt site and all will be revealed. There's not much point in me repeating all that's there. They have a list of linksys or Cisco as it is now called that work. Pay attention precisely to the version number.
Now all this is a savings if you can get a linksys cheap,which you can by looking on Craigslist. People sell old linksys for $10 or so.

Mostly its a lot of fun to beat the system! Good luck. If questions, leave me a note with your email, I will delete the email before I post it.

Bending Acrylic for Home Projects

TBD

Basement Window Well Cover

TBD

Cleaning Out Basement Egress













Over time the Basement Egress window broke, the metal frame that holds the window (a.k.a buck) got rusted, the space inside the window well got filled with dirt.
Not a nice job, but the window replacement is a snap-in, since its meant to facilitate exit during a fire if you are in the basement. Also had to make an acrylic window cover since its a larger size.
Nothing difficult, just crappy work. But should be done for safety reasons.
Some of the things to do, more will be apparent as you get in there. There is a drain cover that empties into the drain tile and thence to the basement(from where its pumped out). Must be clear and should be tested with a hose.
(This was done about a year ago, so its a little dusty)
Cleaning out
-Removing mud, gravel
-Replacing drain cover
-Test the drain with a hose, fire some water and see if it enters the basement well and then pump it out
-Removing Rust from the "buck"; grind it out, or use Naval Jelly(be safe, eyeglasses, breathing filter), and then paint it.
Replacing the pull-out window; mine is a Monarch from Iowa. Call them for dealer information