Fix it Fast: The Early Years 2008-2020

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > The Goodmine > Fix it Fast: The Early Years 2008-2020

Impact Damage: Mar 1, 2007; Try to avoid these conditions as much as possible.

Alright, so I'm trying to hook an old truck horn up to a battery and switch to create an obnoxious noise box that I can cause general mischief with. I know very little about electronics or the horn aside from the fact that it should function under a 12v power source. I'd imagine it's dc power and I know that it's a single wire horn so the body of the horn is the ground and the wire itself is the positive connection.

I figured that two 6v lantern batteries connected in a series would function but I guess they lack the amperage. Anyone know of a relatively cheap battery that would power this horn? I'm looking to spend maybe $20-$30, maybe a little more if it's unavoidable.

The horn in question (I don't see how this would help):

A friend's dad did something similar with a halogen headlight in an ammo box, but he used a motorcycle battery which cost upwards of $100. I'd imagine it wouldn't take all that much to make the horn toot though.

# ? Jun 13, 2008 21:35

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 8, 2024 15:21

Sapper: Mar 8, 2003; Dinosaur Gum

Lawn tractor battery? Hell, you can get a cheap car battery for about $40. Try going to a junkyard and getting one from a wreck.

# ? Jun 14, 2008 02:06

ease: Jul 19, 2004; HUGE

ease fucked around with this message at 03:10 on Jun 15, 2008

# ? Jun 15, 2008 00:47

Fire Storm: Aug 8, 2004; what's the point of life
if there are no sexborgs?

Pissingintowind posted:

Now, after seeing a deal at Home Depot for a Ryobi One+ starter kit, I'm kind of questioning myself.

I had a very similar setup (mine came with a reciprocating saw and a flashlight) and I burned out the motors in the circular saw and drill at about the 3 year mark and out of my 4 batteries, 2 didn't last that long. (This was 2002 that I bought everything). Not major use, but I will admit that I pushed the tools rather hard (concrete screws, lots of 2x4/OSB cutting). As I need them, I've been replacing the tools with moderate grade tools (Dewalt overpowered drill and Millwaukee circular saw, both corded) and haven't looked back.

BUT I will agree with Sapper:

Sapper posted:

Get some Walmart/Sears brand tools, learn how to use them, then decide if you need better tools.

Ryobi = Home Depot's brand, and I forget Lowe's brand, but the same thing. I'd just suggest corded over cordless. Cordless is convenient, but battery replacement sucks. I love my Ryobi random orbit sander to death, and I've re-sanded a few floors and walls with it. If you kill one of the cheap tools, it's a sign that you need something better.

Citizen Scheibe posted:

A friend's dad did something similar with a halogen headlight in an ammo box, but he used a motorcycle battery which cost upwards of $100.

Go to Walmart and buy a small 12v lead acid battery for less than $50 or a 12/18v pack from a cordless tool.

Fire Storm fucked around with this message at 04:07 on Jun 15, 2008

# ? Jun 15, 2008 04:04

Briantist: Dec 5, 2003; The Professor does not approve of your post.; Lipstick Apathy

We just put up some new drywall in a basement and I put the first coat of primer on tonight. It's Killz 2 (the latex one). I'm just wondering whether or not I should put on a second coat of primer.

The drywall is the fancy moisture/mold resistant kind, but I'm not sure if that makes any difference either way. The walls will be painted a light color if that makes a difference.

Thanks!

# ? Jun 15, 2008 08:17

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Citizen Scheibe posted:

Alright, so I'm trying to hook an old truck horn up to a battery and switch to create an obnoxious noise box that I can cause general mischief with. I know very little about electronics or the horn aside from the fact that it should function under a 12v power source. I'd imagine it's dc power and I know that it's a single wire horn so the body of the horn is the ground and the wire itself is the positive connection.

I figured that two 6v lantern batteries connected in a series would function but I guess they lack the amperage. Anyone know of a relatively cheap battery that would power this horn? I'm looking to spend maybe $20-$30, maybe a little more if it's unavoidable.

Are you sure it's 12V? Silly question, but depending on where you are and your definition of truck it might be 24V. If it doesn't function at 12V, I'd imagine it's knackered or 24V. Those lamp batteries should have the amperage to make some noise, but I don't want you to burn it out and blame me.

Briantist posted:

We just put up some new drywall in a basement and I put the first coat of primer on tonight. It's Killz 2 (the latex one). I'm just wondering whether or not I should put on a second coat of primer.

The drywall is the fancy moisture/mold resistant kind, but I'm not sure if that makes any difference either way. The walls will be painted a light color if that makes a difference.

Thanks!

Paint a test patch and see what you think. It's almost always cheaper to put 2 coats of primer down than topcoat.

cakesmith handyman fucked around with this message at 08:54 on Jun 15, 2008

# ? Jun 15, 2008 08:52

Briantist: Dec 5, 2003; The Professor does not approve of your post.; Lipstick Apathy

Cakefool posted:

Paint a test patch and see what you think. It's almost always cheaper to put 2 coats of primer down than topcoat.

Based on previous painting with this color, I figured we'd have to do two coats anyway (maybe we're crappy painters?). Is the second coat what you're referring to as a top coat? How often is a second coat of primer needed? Is that SOP for new walls?

# ? Jun 15, 2008 09:17

Haikeeba!: Jan 15, 2007; Thank you Mrs Peel, the money is on the dresser.

Briantist posted:

Based on previous painting with this color, I figured we'd have to do two coats anyway (maybe we're crappy painters?). Is the second coat what you're referring to as a top coat? How often is a second coat of primer needed? Is that SOP for new walls?

Topcoat in this case is simply the name for the "proper" paint - that is, the paint that isn't sealer, primer or undercoat.

For new gyprock or plaster walls the SOP is one coat of a sealer/primer, and then your colour. If you were using a deep colour, particularly a red one, I would say prime it, then give it a grey undercoat before the topcoat, but for a light colour you should be able to paint it straight on. I would give it two coats of topcoat, it will give you a more even colour. Doing an additional coat of sealer/primer would really only be necessary if the first coat was patchy.

# ? Jun 15, 2008 11:28

Briantist: Dec 5, 2003; The Professor does not approve of your post.; Lipstick Apathy

Haikeeba! posted:

Topcoat in this case is simply the name for the "proper" paint - that is, the paint that isn't sealer, primer or undercoat.

For new gyprock or plaster walls the SOP is one coat of a sealer/primer, and then your colour. If you were using a deep colour, particularly a red one, I would say prime it, then give it a grey undercoat before the topcoat, but for a light colour you should be able to paint it straight on. I would give it two coats of topcoat, it will give you a more even colour. Doing an additional coat of sealer/primer would really only be necessary if the first coat was patchy.

Okay great; thanks for the explanation! I see what he meant now about the topcoat.

# ? Jun 15, 2008 18:06

Endor: Aug 15, 2001

Blowupologist posted:

If the house isn't a long-term investment go with the option that's cheapest and easiest to install. You've already justified why you don't care about the additional reliability or quiet, so why choose the option that's going to be a pain to work with? Just make sure installing the Chamberlain is as easy as it appears at first glance. Few things are more difficult than shoehorning a system where it doesn't want to go.

Thanks for the advice, I ran out to Home Depot and picked up a 1/2 HP Chamberlain chain drive unit. I had planned on installing this weekend, but I just got royally hosed, and I really need some help. After the problem started, we detached the garage door assembly from the chain by pulling the "manual release cable". We were still able to open and close the garage door by hand though which worked just fine, just stick your fingers underneath and lift. One big issue which will come up later is that we live in a condo with a detached garage, and the garage door is the only way in & out of the garage -- there's no other door.

While closing the garage door on Friday, my fiancee took her hand off it for a second and it went crashing shut really fast. As a result, the door has managed to wedge itself shut, and I have no easy way of getting the thing open. We tried using crowbars slid underneath the door, but all they seem to do is bend the door, it barely budges a few mm. Here's what appears to have happened:

Ordinarily there's a lever arm (colored in blue) which lets the top portion of the garage door slide back along the rail when the door is lifted (top picture). I can see just enough through the crack at the top of the garage door to see that the arm has moved forward far enough that any attempt to lift the door just wedges it tighter (bottom picture), this must have happened when the door slammed shut violently. I tried sticking a flat metal bar through the crack at the top of the door in an effort to push the arm back, hopefully letting it slide normally again. I just couldn't get enough leverage to do that unfortunately. So the door's shut and I have no easy way of opening it... gently caress.

I called a few local garage door companies and they all seem reluctant to try anything to fix it besides completely demolishing the garage door and installing a brand new one. Same thing with a locksmith company. It seems like there might be a few options:

1) Drill a hole in the wood at the top of the garage door frame, which might allow me to shove some type of rigid medal rod through there and push the sliding part of the arm backwards and back into "normal" position. It's hard to do this correctly without seeing what's on the other side, and the garage door repair places seemed to have apprehensions about doing this themselves (liability issues I suppose).

2) There's a lock near the top of the garage door which is meant to serve as a manual-release mechanism (in case the power goes out, you can use this to release the door from the chain and open your door manually). However we don't have the key to it (stupid previous owners). I thought maybe we could drill out this cylinder and possibly use the hole to lever the arm back into place. This seems like it might be harder than what I already tried doing though. We'd also have to get the lock unit replaced afterwards (which we should probably do anyway since we don't have a key to it, and it might be useful in a power outage).

3) Use a jigsaw to cut a hole in the plywood separating my neighbor's attached garage from mine (there's 4 garages next to each other as one big building) big enough to step through. I could then walk into my garage, get a stepstool, and yank the arm back into place. I'm not sure how eager my neighbor will be to let me do this though, plus I'd have to fix the hole afterwards (might not be big problem though). This would probably be the least frustrating option though since I could actually get my hands directly on the problem equipment.

Any thoughts, or suggestions I may have missed?

Endor fucked around with this message at 22:03 on Jun 16, 2008

# ? Jun 16, 2008 22:00

IOwnCalculus: Apr 2, 2003

I'd probably try #2 first, and if that fails, then #3. You don't even need it big enough to walk through - a crawl space should suffice and will be a bit easier to patch up nicely.

# ? Jun 16, 2008 22:03

Beer4TheBeerGod: Aug 23, 2004; Exciting Lemon

I would be inclined to just skip trying to fix the problem with the door, and instead go directly for option number 3 if your neighbor is open to it. If the mechanical problem is as difficult as it seems then I suspect any efforts that constrain you like that are just going to be a problem. Instead of cutting a hole in the plywood (is it seriously just a single sheet of plywood?), see if you could remove an entire section.

I don't have a lot of experience with garage doors. Can you replace a single section of the garage door? If so, I would consider cutting a hole in the garage door and then replacing that single section.

# ? Jun 18, 2008 04:09

one sexy loser: Dec 10, 2007; 001111000011001101001

So I'm trying to be nice and fix a door handle in my boyfriend's flat. The wood on one side has been damaged and the screws have been ripped out. What can I use to either patch up the wood and the holes (so the screws will hold again), or is this a case where a fuckton of superglue will probably be ok?

# ? Jun 20, 2008 11:38

kapalama: Aug 15, 2007; EVERYTHING I SAY ABOUT JAPAN OR LIVING IN JAPAN IS COMPLETELY WRONG, BUT YOU BETTER BELIEVE I'LL ABOUT IT.

PLEASE ADD ME TO YOUR IGNORE LIST.

IF YOU SEE ME POST IN A JAPAN THREAD, PLEASE PM A MODERATOR SO THAT I CAN BE BANNED.

helli bubbles posted:

So I'm trying to be nice and fix a door handle in my boyfriend's flat. The wood on one side has been damaged and the screws have been ripped out. What can I use to either patch up the wood and the holes (so the screws will hold again), or is this a case where a fuckton of superglue will probably be ok?

The best way to fix it is to get dowels of a set size. Drill out a hole the size of the dowel and glue in the dowel. Let it set overnight and then you will have a clean slate to start with. There are also other ways to go that involve setting in some kind of metal but the doweling in the cheapest way to go.

# ? Jun 20, 2008 14:41

Temporary Overload: Jan 26, 2005; meh

I'm trying to clean out a filthy workshop/maintenance room at work, but the company is run by people who hate throwing anything away. There's a shelf full of random electrical wiring, and a lot of it probably dates back to the 70's or earlier. I want to scrap anything that isn't rated at least THHN/TWHN but I know I'll have to justify it to my supervisor. Is wiring rated TW or TH still up to code (for commercial building use)? How much is insulated copper wiring worth as scrap?

# ? Jun 20, 2008 16:14

inkwell: Dec 9, 2005

I just took off a bunch of wall paper at my parent's house, and it took off the finishing on the drywall underneath. How should I go about re-finishing it, or do I need to put up new drywall?

# ? Jun 20, 2008 22:29

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

you either need to reskim with plaster - skilled work in my opinion, or re-drywall.

cakesmith handyman fucked around with this message at 14:33 on Jun 21, 2008

# ? Jun 20, 2008 22:34

Haikeeba!: Jan 15, 2007; Thank you Mrs Peel, the money is on the dresser.

tempo502 posted:

I'm trying to clean out a filthy workshop/maintenance room at work, but the company is run by people who hate throwing anything away. There's a shelf full of random electrical wiring, and a lot of it probably dates back to the 70's or earlier. I want to scrap anything that isn't rated at least THHN/TWHN but I know I'll have to justify it to my supervisor. Is wiring rated TW or TH still up to code (for commercial building use)? How much is insulated copper wiring worth as scrap?

I have no idea about US safety codes, but I do know you are sitting on a goldmine with that copper. Copper is ludicrously expensive at the moment, so take as much as you can and sell it to a scrap metal dealer.

inkwell posted:

I just took off a bunch of wall paper at my parent's house, and it took off the finishing on the drywall underneath. How should I go about re-finishing it, or do I need to put up new drywall?

Depends what you are doing over the top of it, and how badly the surface is messed up. If you are putting new wallpaper, and the surface is still relatively smooth, you might get away with putting a skim coat on over the top, same with painting - but be prepared to do extra sanding and priming. If it's very lumpy, then scrap it and just put up new drywall.

# ? Jun 21, 2008 12:53

Beer4TheBeerGod: Aug 23, 2004; Exciting Lemon