Articles
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Camry no Start
February 14, 2021
Read moreFor Valentine’s day , we got a car problem.
The kid went on an expedition to the grocery store, taking our 2006 Toyota Camry. We shortly got a call that the car wouldn’t start; my wife asked if she should “deploy the Dad” to assess (and hopefully remedy) the situation.
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Chinese Death Ray
December 28, 2020
Read moreI got my wife a cool tool for Christmas. Hopefully it doesn’t burn the house down. The “K40” laser cutter/engraver has been ubiquitous for several years; it’s a fairly powerful (nominally 40W) CO2 laser, with power supply, X-Y motor drive, and controller board in a metal chassis, all for under $500 – which sounds like a real bargain, considering the several-thousand-dollar price of commercial-grade systems. However, it’s best thought of as a starter kit for the technically competent, rather than a ready-to-use consumer product…
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Sprinter Repairs
December 9, 2020
Read moreOur new-old vehicle always has something to attend to but that’s to be expected with a 13-year old van with 235,000 miles on the odometer… A recent trip revealed that the driver’s seat needed attention. I discovered earlier that the back of the seat was “floppy”; the right side could be moved fore-and-aft in a way the neither the left side, nor any part of the passenger seat, could be moved. It wasn’t immediately obvious what the source of this floppiness was, though, and driving around town it really wasn’t a problem. On a longer trip though, as I discovered, the difference in support between the left side and the right led to my back and neck and shoulders starting to lock up – thus, the seat must be fixed!
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Welding Cart
September 15, 2020
Read moreMy wonderful wife got me a MIG welder last Christmas. I don’t think she realized the slippery slope it represented… After all, MIG stands for Metal Inert Gas, so what good is it without said inert gas? Which comes in the form of a big and not inexpensive tank of Argon (mostly) and CO2 (25%). Now, hauling that sucker around the garage/yard any time you want to weld something is not just a pain, it’s a risk! Obviously I need to make a welding cart, in the name of safety. Some other tools may be necessary to complete the project…
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Bikepacking Gear List
September 12, 2020
Read moreI love to see what other people pack on their trips, so here’s my list from my last bikepacking expedition.