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ashgromnies posted:I bought a fancy, expensive, really bright light for my bicycle that had four LEDs. Unfortunately, I thought it would hold up to regular conditions that a person might ride a bike in, such as rain. Pointless unasked for bit of advice. The best flashlights made are scuba dive lights. They are essentially bomb-proof, and they laugh at rain. I took apart a regular bike light to get the mounting hardware from it. I glued that to a Dive light (Actually two dive lights). They are expensive, and you will probably have to saw off parts of them. But I have used these for several years with no failures.
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Aug 2, 2008 01:44
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EVERYTHING I SAY ABOUT JAPAN OR LIVING IN JAPAN IS COMPLETELY WRONG, BUT YOU BETTER BELIEVE I'LL 
ABOUT IT.
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lemonlime posted:I solved a similar problem by stitching across the zipper using very thick thread and a heavy-duty needle, thus forming a barrier of sorts. The Human Cow posted:You should do this and then coat the stitching in super glue so that the zipper won't tear it up. Good call there, and easy to see explanation. Any idea on how to do the same on the far side of the zipper pull Bad drawing:  What would you do about the part that is not closed by the zipper on the far side?
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Aug 2, 2008 01:54
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OK now that you simply cannot buy VCR that record cable anymore, my VCR decided to start 'skipping'. What is causing this and how can I fix it.
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Aug 7, 2008 05:40
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RegonaldPointdexter posted:Also, don't get these: Seconding this to the freaking moon. It does not matter if thoy are plastic or metal (I've tried both) those things suck. THey just end up putting an enormous hole in your wall because they do not bear any weight at all. Get something like the first thing he posted there, that grabs the front and the back of the drywall and picnches.
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Aug 12, 2008 10:44
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Sapper posted:Taking a shower shouldn't cause a backup or anything, though. But still, block that pipe off. And for the love of God, use a new wax ring when you replace the shitter. I see these new fangled-ish rings that are not made of wax. ANy experience with them?
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Aug 13, 2008 07:28
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Sapper posted:Those GE Reveal or whatever the gently caress those light blue bulbs are good. You want a 'warm' light, something with a high color temp. I think. Cold lights, like florescent, light everything harshly. Actually the Color Temperature of those Reveal bulbs is very high 5100K.(WIth a big "kind of" attached, see the next post.) 'Warm' usually refers to a low color temperature down around 2500K. But the CRI of the reveal bulbs is supposed to be not good at all. In general for accurate lighting you really want to go fluorescent for a number of reasons. First you current fixture might even be overdrawn with a 75 watt incandescent. Many fixtures are supposed to be limited to 60 watt bulbs because of the large amount of waste heat incandecent bulbs put out. Remember, incandescent light work the same way an electic stove does: Run current through a resistive wire until it lights up. FLuorescnets work by exciting electrons to higher orbitals and having them decay to lower orbitals and blast off the orbital energy differential as a 'pure' frequency. It why they are so much more efficient, because they energy is output as visible light, not as infrared heat energy. Since they are more efficient, you can do more blending of two different color lights without spending a lot of energy. For the best color I usually mix a 'Daylight' (usually 5000k) WIth a 6000K bulb. Philips has a bunch of stuff on color temps, CRI, and what not on their site. And even if your local Home Depot does not have a display with the various color temp lights to look at, it will have them for sale. Don't buy boxes of Industrial fluorescents. Buy the bulbs one by one and try out different temps to see what you like. It's cheapest to get a "shop light" for the four foot bulbs since those bulbs are the easiest to find. Remember I am from Hawaii, so... Since we are outside most of them time we like indooors to be like natural sunlight, too, so YMMV. kapalama fucked around with this message at 02:49 on Aug 14, 2008 |
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Aug 14, 2008 02:43
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Worthwhile rant from a photographer about the GE Reveal bulbs: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1000&message=22418166 I would quote it but it is too long, and not particularly interesting except to color fascists like myself. But it does pretty much sum up everything about lighting in one post. kapalama fucked around with this message at 02:48 on Aug 14, 2008 |
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Aug 14, 2008 02:45
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disgraceful posted:Part of my kitchen sink appears to be leaking. It's very slow, and I'm wondering is it possible for me to fix this, or do I need a plumber? Plumbers are incredibly expensive here in France which is why I am trying to do it myself. If you can buy rubber washers it would be very easy to fix. First make sure that you can turn off the water on the valves underneath the sink. If you have those valves, and you can turn them off, then it is a simple matter of prying the middle part of the handles, undoing the screw to remove the handles, and then unscrewing the bit that (right now) is hidden under your handles. Take that whole bit into a hardware store (it they have them in France ??), and make sure you match the rubber bits that should be on the deep end of the thing you unscrew. Often it is just a flat rubber washer that is held in place by a screw. Replace that rubber washer, and the metal washer that goes on top of it and the rescrew into the faucet fixture. Before you reattach the handles make sure it is not leaking by turning the valaves undernesth the sink back on. If all is OK then you are golden, if not then you might need to get a 'seat tool' and replace the seat that the rubber washer mates with. In my experience, the hot is usually the culprit if is a bad seat.
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Aug 18, 2008 23:34
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Haikeeba! posted:Since it appears to be leaking out of the handles, my money is on the o-ring inside one of the spindles. Unscrew the spindle entirely, and inside there will be a small o-ring that is (in Australia) usually 8.5mm. Replace that and you should be golden. If it isn't leaking out of the spout, I don't think it is the washer itself or the seat. Mind you, if you're opening up the tap anyway, you should be able to get a set of all the washers and o-rings for fairly cheap, so you might as well just replace the lot. Also what he said... EIther way it's not hard, go for it. As long as you can actually turn the supply lines off easily, it is pretty satisfying to fix plumbing. Of course I started posting in this thread when I busted my house's main valve trying to turn it off while trying to replace a busted supply line. ANd then when the water company came out to fix the main valave, they busted something called a curb stop which meant our houses was without water for three days, and there was a backhoe digging around our foundation for a day and a half to get at the water line. SO things can go wrong. So if you cannot turn off the supply lines, stop there and get the plumber to fix it.
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Aug 19, 2008 03:26
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FYAD KNIGHT posted:Super glue works as well for a little while, if you're really up the creek. Does this work for covering up holes? (Never tried covering places where skin is missing) I have used it for gluing down flaps of skin (with varying success).
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Aug 21, 2008 09:59
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Making my own Phone cords with a crimper. Is there a standard Yellow to the right or yellow to the left (As seen from the non metal side of the plug)? Wow this cable cord is messed upI have a 3 inch piece: On one end it is yellow red green black On the other it is Yellow green red black kapalama fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Aug 23, 2008 |
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Aug 23, 2008 03:54
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Gimpalimpa posted:I've been melting casting grade 14k gold using a propane/oxygen torch. Not the smartest thing in the world, but it's what I have.. The result is very brittle and far from malleable. Is there any ways to make it softer? I feel as though I missed a step in my internet forge schooling. Also here's the BLacksmithing/Metalwork thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2905844
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Aug 31, 2008 05:28
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Tai-Pan posted:I am looking for two things I lost on the internet I keep running this through my mind, and the only thing I can come up with is an awesome anti-theft device.
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Sep 19, 2008 17:14
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Fire Storm posted:I am thinking about including a safety kill switch on my TIG welder incase someone opens the door while I am welding. Should I put the relay between the switch on the TIG handle itself or just kill power to the whole unit? DOn't have the answer but did you know about the Metal-Working Megthread? It is chock full of great info and awesome pictures: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2905844
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Sep 22, 2008 04:00
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FYAD KNIGHT posted:Do you have a multimeter? Places I would check would be the switch and then the motor to locate where the opem circuit is. Desk fans are fairly cheap though and you can easily buy a new one for less than the effort to fix it. I am going to second this opinion, having tried to fix a bunch of fans. I got a couple working, but mostly it seems the motor itself burns out.
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Sep 22, 2008 10:35
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ZeeBoi posted:It's been noisy for about a year or so, and no, no doorbell (our buzzers run through phones). Also a possibility is flurorescent light fixtures. They can be buzzy as heck but they would have to be on.
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Sep 25, 2008 22:23
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At this point, having eliminated the likely suspects, you might have to start thinking outside the box: Did you try turning off the main breaker for your apartment? (It looks like you did, but you might want to double check.) Is it constant, or does it sometimes vary or go away? On your drawing where are the windows, and where are the A/C units, for your apartment, and your neighbors (up down right and left) apartments? Do the apartments in the bulding share the same layout or are they mirror images? Oftentimes, the apartments next to each other will mirror so that the kitchen is next to the kitchen, bedroom is next to the bedrooom, etc.
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Oct 1, 2008 04:56
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Do you pay for electric or is it included in your rent? I ask because it is possible that pulling your fuse stops the exhaust fan in the next door apartment's kitchen.
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Oct 1, 2008 21:08
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ZeeBoi posted:It's included. No what I mean is the noise is probably from next door if power is included. There is no reason to wire each apartment separately, if they are not metered separately, so that noise is probably from your neighbor's apt. Make friends with yer neighbor so you can test to see if it is a fan in her apt.
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Oct 2, 2008 06:19
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Not an Anthem posted:does anyone read this! I read it but I had no useful advice. I enjoyed looking at the pictures. I would just use non-expanding filler foam, but that in no way means it is the right thing to do. (I use filler foam for everything: auto body work, plastic repair etc etc.)
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Oct 7, 2008 01:10
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Not an Anthem posted:Anyways, gently caress toilets and my sympathies to plumbers. When California went through the big 'new toilets must be low flow' boom way back when, there were landfills of nothing but old toilets.
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Oct 8, 2008 03:38
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Anyone have experience using Plasti-Aid?
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Oct 23, 2008 20:26
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:Turn the light off. That is awesome!
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Oct 27, 2008 06:50
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Edmond Dantes posted:I need to store a whole bunch of crap (mostly books/magazines, but some other stuff as well) and take them to my building's basement for storage until we decide what to do with them. What would be the best way of making sure they are not completely ruined by dirt/humidity? I was thinking putting the books in cardboard boxes and tape them shut (duh), but should I take any extra steps? (I don't know, like putting reynolds wrap around the box or something?). ease posted:I'd line the cardboard boxes with garbage bags, and tightly zip tie the opening shut to keep humidity out. (That sounds like a good idea.) I have lived in generally harsh tropical environments (with typhoons, hurricanes etc) , so take my input with a grain of salt. I would worry more about things getting wet from the bottom and/or things stewed in trapped in moisture than anything else. I would worry more about storing thing off the floor, and making sure the boxes can drain if they do get wet, than trying to hermetically seal them. In my storage experience, the killer is the bottom of a box rotting away and leaving things completely exposed, or the bottom of a plastic box not rotting away but trapping in moisture that essentially turns books into fertilizer for a mushroom farm.
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Feb 6, 2009 16:33
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ease posted:Your main water supply should have two shut offs, one near the street, within a few feet of a curb usually, and one inside where it first enters your house. Worth it to mention the fact that if you try and turn this off and bust the valve, it can run you several thousands of dollars to fix. We had that pay an extra 1.50 a month and get full coverage, and drat was it ever worth it. Anyone who owns their house: Pay the line maintenance fee for your water service. Backhoes and paving machines are not cheap to rent.
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Feb 18, 2009 17:08
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ease posted:Cut a potato in half and jam it on there. Make sure the power is off. Just so you know the last guy that tried that, on the recommendation of this thread, blew out the wiring in his whole house.
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Feb 24, 2009 20:41
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A better question about water heaters is why is there a water heater tank in the first place. Once you have lived in a foreign country you realize there'a a bunch of stupid stuff that are done just because no one has bothered thinking about. Tankless water heaters never run out of hot water, and never use energy except when you are actually using hot water. Living in houses in Japan make some American house building practices feel really stupid once you come back to America, especially in the bathroom area. But that one is just incredibly frustrating to deal with: Why the gently caress do American houses have a hot water source that never meets demand, and constantly uses energy?* (Don't worry there is stupid poo poo they do in Japan for stupid inertial reasons too. Dragging the fill hose from the bathtub to the washing machine to run a load with hot water is stupid. And not having clothes-dryers makes it fun freezing your shirts solid in winter when you hang them out to dry.)
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Mar 5, 2009 23:17
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ease posted:Tankless water heaters are more expensive. Not as expensive as Tank Style Water Heater are in Japan. (Meaning they are not actually more expensive. They just appear so because Americans (American Contractors?) don't like change, so there is no market for them.) As far as the current drain goes, Japan houses are wired with pipe cleaners running 100 volts (as opposed to 120 in the US). If their wiring can handle the amp drain, American houses, which run much, much larger appliances, and truly high drain appliances like electric clother dryers, and whole house electric heaters, can handle them. The fact that the US usually has 220 wiring to support those monstrous appliances makes it even more of a disparity. I imagine the current draw is one of those things that get put out there once people have decided not to change, as a back rationalization.
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Mar 6, 2009 00:43
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A day full of power outages has left my LG window air conditioner in a condition of powering on but nothing happening (only lights show, the fan does not work, the compressor does not start). I only need this AC for a few more weeks. Is there some internal breaker that I can reset to make it go? EDIT: In desperation, I beat on the LCD panel and it started up. (??) kapalama fucked around with this message at 19:36 on Mar 7, 2011 |
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Mar 7, 2011 19:33
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scanlonman posted:Pretty much, but I don't have much room in the battery pack I want to install them in. I want to be able to crimp them directly into the ends, not in the middle of a wire. If the ends are tinned leads crimping will not hold IME. Crimping works well on stranded wire. Soldering is the best bet for anything else. (YMMV)
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Mar 8, 2011 05:07
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Is it actually possible to finish a half-rear end wall put up just to a drop ceiling/suspended ceiling, to sound and weather insulate? The space next door's noises are not the slightest bit attenuated by celing tiles. (And also why are drop ceiling used across separate Units? kapalama fucked around with this message at 12:34 on Jun 7, 2012 |
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Jun 7, 2012 12:30
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Corla Plankun posted:Conversely, you could mount it on 2-inch wide footers. The only thing to watch for that is that sometimes that leaves a gap and the back of the shelf that is more annoying than you might originally think, and things keep slipping out the back. I ended up getting a 2X10 wider than the shelf specifically to match the studs, and then freed myself to put the shelf in the right place.
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Jun 8, 2012 01:01
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Insane Totoro posted:So I finally recaulked this area, but the existing caulking basically melted and ran down the sides of my tub. How can I get this poo poo off? Home Dpeot and the like sell a caulking remover that works great (to the point it will melt the good caulk too if you are not careful. Caulking is something we never do enough to actually get good at. Watching a pro do it is humbling.
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Jun 9, 2012 18:05
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Also it will only work if you get one of the old actual resuable coke bottles, and use a glass drill bit.
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Jun 19, 2012 00:22
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ejstheman posted:Is that safe for the drill bit? I was thinking of oil instead of water to avoid hastening corrosion of what will I assume be a relatively expensive drill bit. They are actually pretty cheap becasue they are just a head on a spindle, rather than a fluted shaft. (heh, heh, he said fluted shaft.)
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Jun 19, 2012 04:41
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Doctor Party posted:TLDR: I have a wall in my apartment that stops 18 inches from the ceiling. It is otherwise a real wall, with a door and shelves attached to it, electrical outlets etc. 1) I need to know the name of this type of wall to help me find solutions for "closing the gap" and 2) I would be happy to take ideas for closing the gap. 3) The gap must be closed because the living room and bed room will not work well together if each can hear everything going on in the other. Is there a door in the wall? (Do you have stairs in your house?) A bunch of pillows stuffed in there would work better, not be a permanent install, and then hey free pillows. Pillows are amazing sound inusulators. kapalama fucked around with this message at 11:11 on Jun 19, 2012 |
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Jun 19, 2012 11:08
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Doctor Party posted:Yes there is a door. Pillows are cheap and plentiful, and you can cover them with whatever once you are sure they will work.
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Jun 20, 2012 08:10
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Drop ceiling question: What's the best way to actually finish a wall that was just hacked together up to the ceiling tiles. Is there a reason besides the drop celing light fixtures to actually keep the drop ceiling anyway? kapalama fucked around with this message at 05:42 on Jun 21, 2012 |
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Jun 21, 2012 05:05
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anchoress posted:I need to take these shelves down so I can strip the wallpaper in my room. Trouble is, I have no idea how they're attached to the wall. Does anybody know how to get these things down? (dimensions 48"x10"x2" if that helps) There should be a nearly invisible plug or patch on the back end of the shelf near the ends that allows access to the screws underneath. Often it is a cleverly colored piece of plastic tape.
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Aug 7, 2012 04:32
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