LabFiles at LightningRod Labs

Ever since High School I have known that shiny red convertibles attract pretty Girls. Many things have changed in the 50 years that have passed since those carefree days. As the picture shows that belief still holds much truth. True they would rather drive than ride but than I always did and they don’t need Grandpa along any more than I did back then.
Seeing the excitement in their eyes and the smile on their faces as I hand them the keys is a pleasure thats every bit as good as what I felt back in 1959.

Spring has been slow to come but I keep busy as you can see in the Photo. I put together the computer sitting on the card table out of old parts. It has an 800 MHz processor so it is fairly usable. A 19 inch monitor I saved from the scrap-man makes it a fun Machine. I loaded Ubuntu on it and a full suite of software including lots of kid games. With the GIMP software you can do magic with digital pictures. Open Office makes working with all word documents and spreadsheets easy.
I have no use for it, so will sell sell it or give it to someone who doesn’t have a computer. Better than landfilling parts—-and I learn a few things along the way. It was also a lot more fun than cleaning the junk out of my shop.

I haven’t added anything to the page for a long time. The reason is shown below. The wife is shown with her Sister Doreen and Brother-in-law Sam. You have to say they are great people when they can put up with me for several days in a row.

We had a great time, you can see the weather when we left Minnesota. As a friend says even the ducks know enough to go south in the winter.

I have a great shop, it is kept comfortable year around. my tools are there, I spend a lot of time in it. One of the best things is nobody complains when I make a mess even if something explodes. I have had a computer out there of course, with one shortcoming. I couldn’t reach my network as I was about 120 feet from my router in my house office . Digging a cable in is possible but hard work. Being the shop building is metal sheathed Wireless would work only if I stood in front of the only window. Not handy for doing much work. My son the wizard came up with the solution. Two Belkin wireless G+ routers. The first picture is in my house office and The second is in my shop. Note both are by windows, also they are in line of sight. The third picture shows the mounting material I used, an old clear plastic clipboard about 1/4 inch thick.

This was chosen not only because it was on hand but it wouldn’t interfere with the signal on the window mount. Picture 4 shows the clear mount sheet in place. this allows the router to be mounted so the front is visible and the signal has a clear path. picture 5 shows the 50 feet of cable to get to my work bench. picture 5 shows distribution router on the shelf above my work bench.

The system works great, I understand the two wireless routers need to be identical. The only thing I bought was the wireless routers, the rest was salvage.The additional router by my bench allows me to plug in a laptop or a computer I’m working on.

I want to thank my Son the wizard for the technical knowledge that made this possible

The best laid plans of Mice and men often go astray

They said this can’t happen but it did. I’m glad I didn’t leave it on the front seat of my truck.

Our new refrigerator has had problems with shelves sagging under normal usage. After looking things over it became obvious that the design had been cheapened. The thin hollow plastic support was just not enough and I feared for the glass shelf. searching my salvage pile, I found a piece of extruded Aluminium from a old storm window that was the right size

With a little sawing and filing we soon had a good fit. The brace metal fits under the plastic and is not visible with out laying on the floor and looking up.

I think the plastic support was originally intended to have a metal brace inside, much like I fabricated.

Undoubtedly a MBA had the final decision and they rarely do anything right.

Last summer someone was telling how they drove up from Phoenix in two days. I asked them why, the reply was their was nothing worth seeing in between. This bothered me, as I have always enjoyed the back roads and side streets of America. Recently My bride and I drove out to Pagosa Springs over Wolf Creek Pass. ( No! I wasn’t driving a 47 Peterbuilt with a load of Road Island Reds.) We took the back roads, stopping often, and taking pictures. It was anything but dull. We visited a High School buddy of mine, (Willmar class of 1959) Sid did the right thing, became an engineer at Intel, now has a beautiful summer home in the mountains in addition to a home in Phoenix. We had a great time and I hope I didn’t drive them too crazy.

At one of the first of the many Garage sales a lady was selling her brother-in-laws CD of his original songs about Nebraska for $1.00 each. It wasn’t near as good as her home made brownies for the same price, but then you don’t win every time and the trunk was full when I arrived back home I enjoyed the Ford show room in Nebraska with a model train display and I looked at many nice old cars along the way. I saw a lot of project cars and more potential ones and visited with many old car lovers. Their was the old style gas station the owner refused to destroy even tho he could no longer sell gas. The owner wasn’t around, but I was told he works on his collector cars here and often has one parked in the driveway. They say he likes to visit with people that stop in so if you ever close to Norton Kansas check it out. I’ve included a few photos I took along the way.

As most of you know a good supply of compressed air is essential in the shop. The compressor I have been using I purchased new in 1975. It was a made in USA, a Sandborn 6.5 CFM with a 30 gallon air tank on wheels. It was the biggest 110 volt compressor I could buy and even had a pressure regulater so you could dial down the pressure for paint spraying. The unit has served me well over the years, I have painted cars and tractors and run many different air tools. I even got used to waiting for the air tank to catch up.

The last couple of years I have had trouble with small air leaks that were increasingly difficult to solve. That meant keeping the compressor shut off unless you were actually using air. At my wife’s urging ( she tired of my complaints) we priced new bigger compressors. I figured I needed close to 15 CFM to handled my sand blaster and paint gun. I priced compressors and found they were much higher priced than I had anticipated. I than called Greg at Surplus Warehouse in Willmar, (actually my wife dialed the phone and handed it to me). (http://www.swrecycling.com

Greg had a 14 CfM with a 90 Gallon tank by Sanborn MFD. listed at $729.00. Now I have known and done business with Greg since the 1980’s. I have great respect for him, He is a person you can do business with on a handshake without fear. Now Greg did cut me a deal and I won’t brag as you have to do your own bargaining.

The nicest thing was when I discovered it wouldn’t fit in my van or enclosed trailer Greg offered the use of his truck to haul it the 15 miles to the farm, then went along to help unload it. When asked about payment for his efforts, he just smiled and said he needed to get away from the office for a few minutes, then asked when I was going to start on a Rat Rod.

It sure is nice to have plenty of air on hand again. The tank stays pumped up for days with compressor shut off. Its nice to be able to blow the dirt off something without waiting and I’m sure I am saving money on electricity. Below is a picture of the unit.

Here are some pictures of the railing in construction. One nice thing about Iron is you can fill gaps by welding and grinding. It is very different from wood, as you can easily fill a 1/8 to 1/4 inch gap with the weld. As a matter of fact a gap in the joint makes the weld stronger as the space insures that the metal is bonded totally rather than just on the surface. If the gap is bigger just use some scrap iron. The last picture shows the finished railing.
Unfortunately I didn’t check codes and we won’t be able to use it.

There won’t be enough steel for the whole railing, but there will be enough to substantially contribute.