I was being pedantic, when I have a little extra money, sometimes an unexpected expense takes some of it away...
I was at a gasoline station, owner (friend) was using a new smart TV, so I got one for me, just like that.
Another time, an air conditioner, it was going cheap, and it turned out money well spent, cost me less than a third of a similar new one.
TV is a big improvement on the 10 year old one, which I plan to either dispose off, or use as a computer monitor, not very sharp for that purpose.
As for repair, just the usual hand blender / dry solder type of stuff, some Lithium cells in rechargeable lanterns in place of the lead acid batteries.
Oh, and a new belt and some TLC on the washing machine.
I was at a gasoline station, owner (friend) was using a new smart TV, so I got one for me, just like that.
Another time, an air conditioner, it was going cheap, and it turned out money well spent, cost me less than a third of a similar new one.
TV is a big improvement on the 10 year old one, which I plan to either dispose off, or use as a computer monitor, not very sharp for that purpose.
As for repair, just the usual hand blender / dry solder type of stuff, some Lithium cells in rechargeable lanterns in place of the lead acid batteries.
Oh, and a new belt and some TLC on the washing machine.
Designed a DCC booster for a model railway.
PCB's came from China today so built one up.
On power up kept putting overload LED on.
So looked for problems on the pcb and found a H bridge mosfet gate floating due to missing soldering it.
Overload LED stayed off for a while but came on again once loco on track.
Had a look at H bridge power supply and it was drawing a lot of current even with no load so must be shoot through on H bridge.
Had a look at the software and I hadnt turned off one H bridge mosfet before turning on other one.
So tweaked the software and all is fine now.
PCB's came from China today so built one up.
On power up kept putting overload LED on.
So looked for problems on the pcb and found a H bridge mosfet gate floating due to missing soldering it.
Overload LED stayed off for a while but came on again once loco on track.
Had a look at H bridge power supply and it was drawing a lot of current even with no load so must be shoot through on H bridge.
Had a look at the software and I hadnt turned off one H bridge mosfet before turning on other one.
So tweaked the software and all is fine now.
My partner's toilet was a constant source of annoyance: had to manually reset the handle after every flush, then reach into the tank and jiggle the fill valve to keep it from running.
One day I showed up with a new fill valve. I will repair this toilet! Swapped out the fill valve, adjusted the new one, easy-peasy. Or was it? There was a small leak out the bottom of the new one. Drat. The twenty year old flex from the wall was showing its displeasure at being shifted. Off to the store for a new flex. Got that in, sorted! ...maybe not, a tiny bit of leakage into the bowl was still visible. The flapper valve had seen better days, but its misbehaviour had been camouflaged by the larger leak from the fill valve. Off to the store again for a new flapper. Except the purported "universal" flapper was anything but. Off to the store AGAIN, this time with flapper in hand, to find the exact item.
I could hear the knight from Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade saying "He chose... poorly."
Armed with the proper flapper this time, I decided the handle-jiggle problem was best dealt with that very day because otherwise the memory of this nightmare would warn me away from any more work on the awful thing. Got a new handle assembly -- because you can't lubricate a sticking handle, apparently. Wouldn't you know it, two nubs of plastic on the new handle assembly were just enough to keep it from fitting. No way in Hell was a fourth journey to the store considered: five minutes with a very sharp kitchen knife were enough to shave off the offending bits. Quickly, before anything else fell apart, leaked, rattled, or exploded, all the relevant bits were installed.
The first triumphant whoosh, with the silence of the tomb ensuing once the tank was filled, was most satisfying. It had taken only five hours and a couple gallons of gas, along with a few short Anglo-Saxon words, to tame the horrid hydraulic beast.
One day I showed up with a new fill valve. I will repair this toilet! Swapped out the fill valve, adjusted the new one, easy-peasy. Or was it? There was a small leak out the bottom of the new one. Drat. The twenty year old flex from the wall was showing its displeasure at being shifted. Off to the store for a new flex. Got that in, sorted! ...maybe not, a tiny bit of leakage into the bowl was still visible. The flapper valve had seen better days, but its misbehaviour had been camouflaged by the larger leak from the fill valve. Off to the store again for a new flapper. Except the purported "universal" flapper was anything but. Off to the store AGAIN, this time with flapper in hand, to find the exact item.
I could hear the knight from Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade saying "He chose... poorly."
Armed with the proper flapper this time, I decided the handle-jiggle problem was best dealt with that very day because otherwise the memory of this nightmare would warn me away from any more work on the awful thing. Got a new handle assembly -- because you can't lubricate a sticking handle, apparently. Wouldn't you know it, two nubs of plastic on the new handle assembly were just enough to keep it from fitting. No way in Hell was a fourth journey to the store considered: five minutes with a very sharp kitchen knife were enough to shave off the offending bits. Quickly, before anything else fell apart, leaked, rattled, or exploded, all the relevant bits were installed.
The first triumphant whoosh, with the silence of the tomb ensuing once the tank was filled, was most satisfying. It had taken only five hours and a couple gallons of gas, along with a few short Anglo-Saxon words, to tame the horrid hydraulic beast.
With all that other stuff in the background, it looks like you would know.
Fixed a few Eurorack modules I built years ago.
Some needed solder pads refreshed. They dated to back when I just had a Radio Shack iron and a homebuilt full/half power box.
So there were some less than optimal joins.
Also redid some multipin connectors that were atrocious. My old soldering habits had me semi melting the plastic of the multipin by the time the solder was melting. Resulting in random misaligned pins.
It's humbling to look at projects from years past!
Also put a coin battery holder in my Quadraverb GT since the factory cell gave up the ghost while it was in storage.
I've seen some discussion of whether this is kosher or not. The logic being that a lithium coin cell which isn't rechargable doesn't like being charged.
But I've also got several better things than the old Quadraverb and don't really care if the cell Chernobyls inside.
Or maybe I get a legit rechargeable cell before that happens.
Either way, I can punch in patches and they are still there when I turn it back on.
Some needed solder pads refreshed. They dated to back when I just had a Radio Shack iron and a homebuilt full/half power box.
So there were some less than optimal joins.
Also redid some multipin connectors that were atrocious. My old soldering habits had me semi melting the plastic of the multipin by the time the solder was melting. Resulting in random misaligned pins.
It's humbling to look at projects from years past!
Also put a coin battery holder in my Quadraverb GT since the factory cell gave up the ghost while it was in storage.
I've seen some discussion of whether this is kosher or not. The logic being that a lithium coin cell which isn't rechargable doesn't like being charged.
But I've also got several better things than the old Quadraverb and don't really care if the cell Chernobyls inside.
Or maybe I get a legit rechargeable cell before that happens.
Either way, I can punch in patches and they are still there when I turn it back on.
Looks like we have similar interests and RF backgrounds.
Here's my mess.
Most of the HP stuff was bought in non functioning condition. I fixed most of it and used the others for parts. The network analyzer has a weak CRT so all the bench lights have to be turned off to use it.
