Category: making things

I Fail At Desoldering

Published December 6, 2008

Another view of the domed caps, after some of the dried electrolite had fallen off.

My grandparents computer is an older iMac G5. When installing an Airport card in it last weekend I noticed that a number of the capacitors were domed, and some were leaking electrolyte, a sure sign of failing capacitors, possibly because of the capacitor plague. After digging around through Digi-Key, Mouser, et al I found that the cheapest way to get a set of replacement caps is to order them from The Cap King. He sells a set of the 25 needed caps for $16 shipped, and the set arrived earlier this week.

After sorting the caps, tearing down the iMac, and removing the logic board I identified which caps needed to be replaced, marked them by type, then set about desoldering two of the most accessible ones. This is where I began to have problems.

Normally I’m pretty decent at soldering, but getting these first two caps out was difficult. The first one left a lead sitting in the board, and the other three holes still contain solder. I presume its because of the number of layers in the board and the giant planes of copper near them, but I cannot seem to get enough heat on the board to melt the solder all the way through and wick it out.

Here are two photos of where things currently stand: 1 · 2. I think the next thing I’ll try is pre-heating the board with a hair dryer, then leaving the hot air flowing over it while attempting the desoldering. Hopefully that’ll help.

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x0xb0x #888 Begins

Published December 2, 2008

Parts have been checked against the BOM and sorted, the 2SA733 transistors sorted by hFE, and assembly can now begin.

The sorting of parts and confirming kit contents against the BOM is tedious. On the upside, this x0xb0x kit (#888) is not missing any parts and now that everything is sorted I can begin putting it together. That’ll be tomorrow or thursday’s task, and hopefully I’ll finish up this weekend.

This kit is slightly different from the past ones I’ve received, because it came with domed red LEDs like the ones I had to purchase separately in the past. I’ll have to order a red RUN button and some knurled black aluminum knobs from Digi-Key to match the last piece of custom artwork which it will be fitted with, but that shouldn’t be a big deal. I should probably put a power switch on this one as well.

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Next Project: Atari SDrive by C.P.U.

Published November 3, 2008

I think I’ve found what I want to do for my next electronics project. Fitting with my usual idea of taking another OSS project and adding fit and finish (and hopefully accessibility) polish to it, I want to take Atari SDrive by C.P.U. and make a new PCB and enclosure for it, and possibly sell some of the PCBs.

I intend to make the following changes from the current design:

· SIO connector to the Atari. Option for DB15.
· SMT parts.
· Double-sided PCB with soldermask.
· Different enclosure design, possibly with different label / pushbutton / switch configuration.

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2007-2008 Hard Cider Bottled

Published October 21, 2008

Tops of some of the bottles making up just over two cases of 10% hard cider.

After letting it age in the carboy for almost a year I bottled my latest batch of hard cider tonight. Having sat for so long it had almost completely cleared, resulting in some interestingly stratified sediment in the bottom. After racking it into the bottling bucket I added 160g of dextrose and a packet of Red Star Pasteur Champagne Yeast which made the cider cloudy again, but it should settle in the bottles after carbonation.

I was able to get exactly two cases (48 bottles) filled, plus one plastic bottle as a carbonation test container. Three of the glass bottles from the case used the dregs so it might have a bit more yeast in the bottom, but it should taste fine. These were specially marked so they may be avoided.

This cider started out with an original gravity of 1.082 (on 10-Nov-2008 at 5:00 PM), was at 1.020 when racked to the smaller carboy for aging (24-Nov-2007 at 3:34 PM), and today read 1.005. Based on the formula in this Wikipedia article those numbers puts the cider at 10.4% ABV. Not bad for some local cider, dark brown sugar, and local honey.

Now I just have to wait a few weeks or so for it to carbonate before trying it. After that it might take a few more months to finish settling out and completely clear again, but it should be good to drink as soon as its fizzy. Tonight I drank the leftovers from establishing density and that tasted like a tart, lightly sweet heavy apple wine, so I have good hopes for it once it’s fizzy.

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Clear Hard Cider

Published October 19, 2008

Hard cider, made from five gallons of local unpasturized cider and a pound of local honey.

This is what results when you ferment five gallons of unpasteurized cider from Rochester Cider Mill with a pound of Honeyflow Farm‘s honey, rack it, then let it sit for a year in a cool basement. It’s really, really, really clear.

As mentioned previously, this is the cider that I hope to bottle on Tuesday. I really, really hope it’s good. I’ll be quite disappointed if it isn’t.

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Founders’ Centennial IPA

Published October 19, 2008

Tonight’s beer is Founders’ Centennial IPA, a nicely hoppy 7.2% IPA. I like this, although I think that I may have liked the Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest a bit more.

Speaking of alcohol, today I was hoping to bottle some cider which I’d put to age almost a year ago. It’s become completely clear simply from settling in the carboy and hopefully will be good. Because it’s clear, when bottling it I’m going to have to add some yeast so that it’ll carbonate properly. Because Cap’n’Cork was closed when we got there I wasn’t able to get the yeast and thus the bottling has been put off until Tuesday. (They are also closed on Mondays, and I need some nice flavorless champange yeast for this task.)

Hopefully sometime around the end of next month I’ll have two cases of nicely aged hard cider available. I’m sure Danielle will love this.

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Stony Creek Mountain Bike Videos

Published September 16, 2008

I mounted my old Coolpix 5400 on the handlebar of my bike in order to get some video of bike rides.

Yesterday I decided to go for a bike ride at Stony Creek, but before doing that I grabbed some small pieces of non-slip foam and some cable ties and strapped my old Nikon Coolpix 5400 to the handlebars of the bike. (This is how it looked when riding.)

The resulting videos aren’t great, as being mounted on the handle bars made the video jerky and noisy, with every little movement, bump, and vibration translating into shake, blur, and noise. However, I think they are interesting enough, and in one of them you can even watch me fall.

These videos are only short, couple minute segments of what I feel are some of the more interesting pieces of single track at Stony Creek. Length was limited by the recording time of the camera.

Here’s the videos on YouTube in high res, including the one of me falling (#3):

· The Pines #1
· The Pines #2
· Roller Coaster #1
· Roller Coaster #2
· Roller Coaster #3 & Me Falling
· Roller Coaster #4
· Roller Coaster #5
· Marker 26 to 25
· Back to Parking Lot

The original, and thusly higher quality, MOV files straight out of the camera at https://nuxx.net/videos. Just be warned, they are large:

· stony_creek_15oct2008_pines_1.mov (46.3 MB)
· stony_creek_15oct2008_pines_2.mov (46.4 MB)
· stony_creek_15oct2008_rollercoaster_1.mov (45.9 MB)
· stony_creek_15oct2008_rollercoaster_2.mov (25.5 MB)
· stony_creek_15oct2008_rollercoaster_3.mov (24.8 MB)
· stony_creek_15oct2008_rollercoaster_4.mov (45.7 MB)
· stony_creek_15oct2008_rollercoaster_5.mov (38.8 MB)
· stony_creek_15oct2008_to_parking.mov (46.6 MB)
· stony_creek_15oct2008_up_mount_sheldon_26_to_25 (22.5 MB)

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Pulped Data is Secure Data

Published September 6, 2008

A week's worth of receipts in a Tupperware container after having been soaked in warm water and pulped with a stick blender.

I’ve had a small stack of scraps of paper on my desk for a little while now, each bearing rather important passwords. I’d intended to burn them, but that is a hassle with both my neighbors wondering why I’m burning things out front, finding a can to do it in, etc.

Wanting to clean up my desk a bit I decided to destroy the passwords in a different manner: soaking in a pint glass of water, then pulping with a stick blender.

This worked so well that I took the week’s worth of receipts which I’d just entered into Quicken, soaked them in a larger container of water, and pulped them as well. I thought about then experimenting with making some new paper from this pulp, but I don’t have any screening handy, nor do I need another project.

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My New Single Speed

Published September 1, 2008

The emergency single speed conversion done to get home. I ended up using the 22 and 13 tooth rings.

I’ve been thinking that it’d be nice to have a single speed bike to ride, but I didn’t want to acquire one this way.

Today I ate a very large breakfast then set out with the intention of riding to Lake Orion and back, then to Metro Beach and back, hoping to break 90 miles today. After riding just about four miles and getting to the intersection of 23 Mile and VanDyke, just when I was feeling warmed up, something felt odd when shifting. Looking down I saw that my rear derailleur was canted to the side with the chain coming off of the top jockey wheel. As soon as touched the assembly to try and reposition things the derailleur came off, as seen here.

I ended up doing an emergency single speed conversion by shortening the chain, tensioning it up as I could, then riding carefully home. I had to make a total of three adjustments to the chain, because I found that if I had the chain on anything but the smallest rings it would drop off and skip around.

Even after settling on the two smallest rings I had to be very careful because occasionally the chain would bounce a bit and climb up one gear, putting so much tension on the chain (and BB) that it was nearly impossible to pedal. When this happened I’d have to remove the rear wheel, re-seat the chain, then keep going again. This had to be done at least six times in the four miles home. Eventually I found that if I pedaled gingerly, never pedaled when going over bumps, didn’t apply much force when going uphill, and coasted as often as possible I was generally fine. I could

Now to figure out what to do… The Shimano SLX group is tempting, or maybe the SRAM X.9 stuff. One thing I know I won’t be doing for a while is riding my bike.

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Chainstay Protector from a Tube

Published September 1, 2008

An old tube cut into a 1" strip and wrapped around the chainstay to quiet down chain slap.

I’ve been wanting a chainstay protector to cut down on the noise from chain slap^†, but I both didn’t want to pay for one. I also particularly don’t like how most aftermarket bike accessories come plastered with logos like this Lizard Skins-brand one. So, while waiting for my biking clothes to get through a late-night wash cycle I took an old tube, cut it into a 1″ strip, wrapped it around most of the chainstay on my bike, and cable tied it in place.

This idea was inspired by this photo of an On-One Inbred Summer Season 456 with what appears to use this same setup. I really like the minimal look of it.

To cut this piece of tube I stuck a piece of 1″ masking tape on an old tube, cut along both sides of the tape, squared the ends, then scrubbed off the non-stick powder from the tube with a sponge. It was wrapped so that what was the inside of the tube is facing out, making for a consistent gray look. I would have liked to wrap more of the chainstay, but with the rear derailleur cable running under the chainstay there wasn’t a lot of clearance. The area of the chainstay which had taken the most damage (and thusly chainslap) before is covered, so it should work well.

^† Chain slap is the clanking noise made when the chain bounces and hits the chainstay (or other parts) while going over bumps or drops. Not only does it make a loud clanking noise, the impact usually chips up the finish on the chainstay.

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