Above 1200 Sq/FT The ASYLUM - Happy 40th Birthday to Me! (Est. 2005)

Wingnut65 · Mar 5, 2012

Then I would think you are just about perfecctly heeled. If Mrs. S allows you up on the roof, then life is good again.

Yep, Florida, famous for rusting things and warping plywood!

Red Leader · Mar 6, 2012

Wow, 4 months went by quick!

Its no fair - you Florida boys get to have all the fun early in the season.

By the time April rolls around, oh...it'll be on! I'll be playing catch up.

To a guy who pretty much broke his ankle, nonetheless.

A testament to you're tenacity, that it is

shopnut · Mar 7, 2012

Wingnut65 - Still a long road on the recovery thing. My walk would still remind you of Herman Munster if you saw me.

As for warping wood, I'm keeping an eye on those 10 sheets of 3/4" T&G plywood originally purchased for the front loft. I have them clamped together - figured there was safety in numbers. So far, so good. All that raw material sitting around is another reason I would like to complete that loft build asap.

Red Leader - Our "season" never really ends. In fact for me, the winter is the most comforable time to work on projects. I do slow down a little when it heats up in summer, though, as it can be downright miserable at times. This year unfortunately, the past 4 comfortable months of the year flew by without much getting done on the shop while slowed down with this foot injury.

I'll be watching as you tackle that monster list of yours. It's good you put that together - it will keep you focused on the jobs at hand.

Red Leader · Mar 7, 2012

shopnut said:
Red Leader - Our "season" never really ends. In fact for me, the winter is the most comforable time to work on projects. I do slow down a little when it heats up in summer, though, as it can be downright miserable at times. This year unfortunately, the past 4 comfortable months of the year flew by without much getting done on the shop while slowed down with this foot injury.

Hmmm...so our winter is your summer.

I kinda don't want to say it but...

HA! I will have my chance to catch up....this summer

On a serious note, keep up the great work! Let us know when you watch your first ladder safety video on that newly hooked up tv :lol:

shopnut · Mar 7, 2012

I dare you to try and keep up Red Leader. No wait, I double dog dare you, even! (Hey, someone has to push you

)

PREVENTING FOUNDATION WASHOUT …

This isn’t my first battle with this problem: Reply #548

I final got around to laying new material down for preventing the ground from washing out on the lake-side wall of the Asylum. The weed-block material just didn’t hold up in direct sunlight so I took the advice offered in this thread for something that would: FOUNDATION WASHOUT - Looking for sheet material to prevent it

There’s a non-permeable plastic sheet underneath there to prevent water penetration, but this silt fence material is really there to protect it from direct UV exposure and to prevent punctures from fallen limbs and such. I’m hoping this material will give me a couple years of life, since it is meant for above ground applications. The long-term plan is still to build a wooden deck along this wall; otherwise I would have built a retaining wall years ago (as many people suggested in that thread).

A NEW BATTERY CHARGER IN MY BACK WALL CABINET…

My Craftsman C3 drill chargers are located in a recessed cabinet located on the back wall, just inside the yellow door. During the holiday season, I found a good deal on some tools that came with the new Li-Ion battery packs. The nice thing about the charger supplied with them was the fact that it charged the old Ni-Cad pack as well and I still have about 6 of those that need charging. The new multi-chemistry charger (as they call it) is the larger one mounted directly above the red Li-Ion battery. The old Ni-Cad charger is at the very top. So far I’m really impressed with those Li-Ion packs and will continue to buy more as I see deals.

You’ll notice a spring-wound 12 Hr timer located at the top left corner of the cabinet and it powers the two duplex outlets directly below it. The two chargers and my dental light are plugged into them. If I’m working out there for the day, I will simply wind up the timer to 12 hours. I don’t like to have things powered up when not being used so it gives me piece of mind knowing the power to the transformers in these devices are automatically cut off when the day is done.

The old Ni-Cad packs stated specifically to remove them from the charger when they were fully charged, so I planned it that the door wouldn’t shut with a pack in the charger as a reminder. I don’t think this is an issue anymore with the new charger since it has a “float” feature.

Red Leader · Mar 9, 2012

We have a little bit of washout under our front porch slab that was caused by the concrete sidewalk breaking up and tilting inward towards the foundation, leaving water nowhere else to run. Going to have to take care of that this summer. You are not the only one with the washout problem for sure.

That is a pretty handy dandy battery charger component. You are a smart man to put it on a time for a cutoff. You may have done your homework already, but if not, it might be a good idea to look up each specific charger to see if there has been a recall. I've heard of fires starting from malfunctioning chargers.

No bueno!

Wingnut65 · Mar 9, 2012

Shopnut, for the washout, the weed fabric should have worked, but it should have something on it to prevent UV degradation, like mulch or stones. Seeing the angle, the stones or river rock may be really what you want, even on the silt fence material. But I see you've already heard that suggestion.

If it is the roof run-off that is a concern, either add splash blocks for the whole Lent of the slope, or possibly consider something like the Rainhandler that spreads the run-off into a mist:

This would also be a benefit when the deck is built to save water tearing that up as well.

And that battery charger set-up is still amazing. The timer idea is perfect. My luck would be I'd run a battery down and put it on the charger 1 hour before it goes off and the next day it wouldn't have a full charge. But that is why I should have the other batteries fully charged.

BTW, thanks for reminding me that I left a battery in a charger overnight. I think the new generation of batteries can stand 20 hours on the charger. Hopefully.

shopnut · Mar 11, 2012

Red Leader - Thanks for the heads up on the charger. I did a rather general search and found nothing for the C3 unit, but I need to grab the P/N off of both versions and search again. I certainly don't need a fire - it's one of my biggest fears with this place.

Wingnut65 - I need to buy a section of that Rainhandler and mount it as a sample. I'm curious whether the spanish moss, acorns, and stiff little live oak leaves get stuck in it. If it can be back-flushed (upwards), that stuff could work nicely. Thanks for the product lead.

I used spanish moss as a natural cover for the fabric in the past (and I've got no shortage of that stuff), but it tends to slide down the slope over time. Plus the stuff that usually falls to the ground normally has twigs and junk in it.

As far as the charger timer goes, I tend to glance at the time left whenever I pop in a new battery to charge. If it's almost wound down, I give it a couple more hours. I bet you would never have a problem with it either.

shopnut · Mar 12, 2012

TEARING INTO THE WALL FOR THE HIDE-A-WAY SHOP TV…

It was time to test fit the TV mounting system. Removing the tileboard revealed many obstacles for mounting the TV bracket. There is a 2" flexible conduit feeding all circuits over to the apartment that has plagued me since day one. It played havoc with some of the stairway framing. This time it is occupying the same space where the bracket motor is to go. Before the TV gets mounted up there permanently, I need to remember to hook up the 3 new circuits I routed months ago for the front of the shop. They are the metal-clad loops up in the left top corner.

Somewhat limited on depth, I decided to cut about 1” deep into the 2x6" purlin so the 2" conduit could be pushed back a bit. Some framework was added to support the bracket and trailer stabilizer jack. The drive motor is temporarily situated below and you can now see that it is able to sit in front of the large conduit. (See Reply #1064 for views of these components alone)

Next was the tambour roll-up door. It’s hard to tell from the sequence of pictures I chose to include, but a large portion of the 2x6 vertical frame on the right side had to be cut away to make room for the door. I think I originally was thinking that one of our 37" TVs would migrate out to this spot, but this 42" is a bit wider and mods were needed. Structurally, it’s no big deal - that 2x6 was superficial and could be trimmed as needed. In the long run, it will be worth this extra effort to squeeze the larger TV in there. (See Reply #1051 for views of door alone)

Next came the fun part. Since I didn't have my wiring harness started yet for the real motors, I used some cordless drills to power the door up/down and bracket in/out. In the pictures you can see the one I used on the right side to operate the door. I removed the adjacent tileboard so I could reach in and run the drill when the door was closed.

One snag I ran into was clearance for the door housing. The following shot is looking up the jack arm and shows the very small distance to the rolled up door curtain, and this is with the shrouding removed. I will gain a bit of clearance when the curtain is shortened since there will be less door rolled up on the drum.

All in all, I'm very happy with the results of this little test and it proves everything is feasible. The bracket and door will come out again as the framework is strengthened to hold the weight of a TV. The original tileboard panel will have a hole cut in it just big enough to allow the TV to extend out and it will completely cover the door housing above.

tinbender 66 · Mar 12, 2012

I'm speechless................

Wingnut65 · Mar 12, 2012

Awesome. Isn't it great when a good plan comes together?! :thumbup:

Not sure if you will really gain more space with less door rolled on the drum. Isn't the bottom strip of the door left outside the door housing when it's rolled up? I'd think it is that strip that needs to be raised. However, if there is less door to roll, maybe the whole frame can be raised to give more clearance.

Looks like that spaghetti of flex conduit was fun to install. Just so long as you know what goes where and why it's there in the first place.

flybefree · Mar 13, 2012

Oh it's going to be cool!

Shaun

shopnut · Mar 13, 2012

tinbender 66 - Speechless? Well I guess my work is done here then! (unfortunately that couldn't be further from the truth)

Wingnut65 - Thanks buddy.

I'm sorry, I really didn't explain the clearance problem very well. Yes, the last wide strip stays mainly outside the housing when the door is open, but that is not where the problem lies. The 7" square housing is designed to fully enclose the drum with just a small slit to let the door panel come out. I had to remove the inner half of sheet metal cover (the back and the bottom surfaces), since the moving jack arm would surely have hit that lower corner as it pushed out the TV bracket. This basically exposes the drum to the interior of the TV cabinet, but that is no problem. With it gone, the jack arm still nearly hits the coiled up drum as it swings out.

I have about 1/2" of clearance now, and each wrap I remove from the drum will afford me another 1/2" of clearance at the closest point. I figure I will be removing about 1-1/2 wraps when I shorten the door to the proper length. I'll feel much better with 1" of clearance in there because it will be the doors exterior surface that will get scratched if they rub together. That probably didn't clear it up for you, but hey, I tried :dunno:

Some quick CAD work would have revealed this problem from the get-go, but I decided to wing it because it seemed simple enough. Luckily the parts were a bit forgiving.

I gave up Romex a couple of years ago and wish I would have started it off with the metal clad wire from the beginning. As long as I keep track of point A and point B, I really don't care what happens in between.

flybefree - Thanks. I'm crossing my fingers I can pull it off. It's looking hopeful at this point. The hand cranks are still the backup plan, and that looks feasible as well (but nowhere near as fun

).

Wingnut65 · Mar 13, 2012

Ahhhh, I understand now. I noticed the bottom panel was not installed, but I thought the clearance problem was at the bottom rail, not the spool. Sounds like you already had it engineered before the novice had an idea.

Continue forward and don't pay any mind to the man behind the curtain.

Vernmotor · Mar 16, 2012

last post been 3 days ago I had to go all the way back to the 4th page.. someone is slipping here ! lol

shopnut · Mar 17, 2012

Vernmotor said:
last post been 3 days ago I had to go all the way back to the 4th page.. someone is slipping here ! lol

Blame it on me. I've been doing more "doing" than posting lately - but that's a good thing. It means I'm back on two feet! I will admit, the foot has been slow to recover (and pretty painful), so I can only take about 12 hours a day in the shop, and then I am DONE. That foot is just screaming when I finally call it quits in the evening.

I've got lots to report on, but I need to get it all written up so it makes some sense to all of you fine folks.

Thanks for rattling my cage, vernmotor!

Vernmotor · Mar 18, 2012

LMAO well someone got to do it

I like your new thread..

Omphaloskeptic · Mar 19, 2012

Shopnut, MAN-UP; if it doesn't kill you, it'll make you stronger!.... On second thought, maybe you ought to ease into those long workdays. Ya, that's it, take a stroll around the property, build up your stamina, reduce your chance of varicose veins, take a siesta in the hammock, kick back, take the load off, have a cold beer (or two, or three), take time to smell the bougainvillea, write a sonnet to the Mrs., strum the guitar, whatever you want. Don't worry about us here at GJ, waiting with baited breath for the next installment of the 'Asylum Chronicles'. We're in absolutely no hurry whatsoever to see what the next nifty neat-o novel nicety that gets created for the shop; no hurry whatsoever - we'll just sit on our collective hands for the latest update signed by 'Shopnut'.
:Twitch:

shopnut · Mar 19, 2012

Vernmotor - Glad to hear you like the other thread. Thanks.

Omphaloskepic – Stroll around the property? Ha! The first two trips out to the Asylum (since being up on two feet) were spent “strolling” around the property, picking up all the tree limbs and Spanish moss that had fallen over the last 4 months. The fallen hickory nuts were the most treacherous thing to a guy with a feeble foot and the back of our lots are blanketed in them.

I find “resting” nearly impossible to do when my mind is running 100mph all the time. I cannot sit and relax to save my life, and that’s odd because at the same time, I’m probably one of the most patient persons you could meet. I’m my father’s son, no doubt. With that said, no one on this forum needs to feel like they’re pushing me (peer pressure, per se). I only blame myself (and maybe some of my upbringing) for the way I drive myself today, but I really know no other way.

There was another “first” since the accident.
I slung a leg over one of the cycles yesterday and Mrs. Shopnut and I took a ride. She was nice enough to let me borrow one of hers because they’re not as tall or heavy as mine. Tip-toeing at a stoplight might be a stretch for me right now, and I can comfortably flat-foot it on all of her bikes. When we got back, she commented how cool it was to have both of her BMWs on the road at once riding side by side. Is that complete trust or what?

These are the two we will be riding to work on this week as my foot continues to strengthen. She'll be piloting her new BMW R1200RT (which she absolutely loves, btw) and I'll be on the old silver R1200C. Man, it's great to be back in the saddle again. The only bad thing is now my boss is going to expect me to move back up to my second floor office, the one without a window

Oh well.

Of course, I'll be happy to get the 150hp of my FJR back after settling for the 60hp of the "C" model Bimmer. But it sure beats the fractional horsepower of this little guy...

Omphaloskeptic · Mar 19, 2012

Good looking bikes! It appears that you will have no need to occupy the 'POD', but dang, wouldn't an authentic BMW sidecar look sweet strapped onto the side of the Mrs.'s toys? Congrats on your first ride on the 'road to recovery'.

shopnut · Mar 19, 2012

I'll pass on the kind words to Mrs Shopnut, Ompha. Even though it is not real peppy, the silver one is the most likely of any of our bikes for a POD (sidecar) conversion.

Thanks, it good to be back on two wheels again before the weather get so hot. 80F is very comfortable right now.

shopnut · Mar 19, 2012

TWO NEW ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS IN THE SHOP…

Last year, I fished two new metal-clad cables between the front wall and the main distribution panel residing on the back wall. There are raceways designed into the ASYLUM to make this possible without being seen. At the time, I simply looped them up above the panel for later connection. But the timing is perfect to hook them up before the TV clutters thing up a bit.

One will be a dedicated 20A outlet circuit for the front wall, since all the other walls have their own. The second circuit is for more lights. With the front loft construction will come many more lights; too many for the other two circuits to handle. Lights on this circuit will include the large main bay center fixture, loft lights and some hanging below the rollup door drums.

Here you can see the loops of bare wire hanging down from the top left entry point in one picture, and the finished job in the other. While I was in the box, a couple other breakers got moved to group them better.

AND SOME NEW BREAKER LABELS…

The change in the main panel prompted a breaker label change. The next shots show the new MS-Excel file printout sheet, cutting it on my new (to me) 18" paper shear, and with tape applied to protect it.

A link for you to download this file and make your own labels can be found here: ASYLUM Reply #757

And here’s the finished product. The 2 white spaces third up from the bottom of the labels are remaining spares. There are breakers in the slot, but they are not hooked to anything. I have all known circuits installed now, but it's nice to have a couple spares for unforeseen things that might come up in the future.

shopnut · Mar 20, 2012

THE SHOP TV BRACKET IS MOUNTED PERMANENTLY…

I boosted the strength of the framework, providing a solid foundation for the articulating arm TV bracket. Some new vertical studs were cut and lag bolted to the existing 2x6 wall purlins. All holes were counterbored so bolt heads would not interfere with things to be mounted on them.

To hold the TV bracket, a combination of 3/8" cap screws/nuts at the top (where the highest load is) and lag bolts along the bottom were now used to secure it. Sorry – it’s hard to see them in this somewhat blurry picture.

The jack was then re-installed and I made a quick plug-in 110V cord (with reversing switch) so I could run the bracket back and forth under the power of its dedicated motor. As a test for the cable that will kick the TV to the left at full extension, I fastened a scrap piece of wire (green in the pictures) to the left side to limit the travel. This will turn into an aircraft cable with eyelets in the final version.

AND SOME LIMIT SWITCHES WERE ADDED…

Next to go in were the limit switches that sense the bracket "IN" and "OUT" positions. Since the limit switch arms are fully adjustable, I went with a simple wood board to mount their bodies in a fixed position.

This board mounts parallel to the jack and the following pictures show it in the two extreme positions. A bolt extending out from the moving arm of the jack trips the limit switch arms. In the pictures, it has an orange spacer tube on it so you can spot it better.

Next will be the mounting the roll-up door motor.

shopnut · Mar 20, 2012

THE MOTOR IS MOUNTED FOR THE TV DOOR…

Before I talk about the door motor, let me just say how impressed I am with these hospital bed motors, in general. Not only are they quiet for a gearmotor, but I discovered they have some type of torque-limiting clutch inside there that works much like a cordless drill/driver clutch, ratcheting when a given torque is reached. It almost makes me want to tear one apart to see what makes it tick, and it see if it is adjustable with a spring change or something. This feature will prove very valuable in case a limit switch fails someday. The motor should just ratchet if it tries to extend the bracket beyond the limits instead of tearing it off the wall. Anyways, here’s a shot looking up at the bracket with motor and limit switches in place.

Moving on to the door motor now, I decided to use the soft cushion supplied with the small versions (the big motors didn’t have them). I built a wooden box for it to rest in, complete with a tang in the middle. I’m not sure exactly what the mating part looks like in the bed application so I was just winging it.

Here is the complete door drive system mounted in place. Gravity holds the motor in place, and a couple 6” ratchet extensions reach up to the input shaft of the roll-up door. What complicated matters a bit was the fact that the input shaft exits the door housing at an angle, so I had to stack up 4 window shims to match it. At the top, some blue tape held the hex drive shaft in the 7mm socket temporarily while I was tinkering with all this, but gravity will do its magic here as well. Hopefully I will never need to do it, but it lifts out of there in a second for servicing.

tinbender 66 · Mar 21, 2012

A mind boggler, you are :eyecrazy:

.

Some amazing stuff goes on there at The ASYLUM. Aptly named btw

.

Red Leader · Mar 21, 2012

oooh, fancy fancy

Nice work

Wingnut65 · Mar 21, 2012

Awesome work! :thumbup:

I never gave it a thought about Hospital bed motors as a power source in the garage. Now, thanks to you, the next time I'm at a hospital, I'm gonna be on my hands and knees checking out how the bed works...

And I'd look into some Industrial Blue Tape for the final rendition. (Is that some IBT?)

shopnut · Mar 21, 2012

THANKS GUYS!

tinbender 66 - All this shop insanity is actually what keeps me sane (if that makes sense)!

Red Leader - I think if you check back in a couple weeks, you might find its about to get a whole lot fancier. But its mainly to protect that TV from the rigors of a working shop (and just maybe to have something cool to show visitors

).

I guess it's time to start thinking about other places to use those Craftsman hand wheels that were plan "B" - they won't be needed here as it looks like the motors are going to work perfectly.

Wingnut65 - Just be sure you let the patient lying on the bed know what you are up to - they might call security on the perv peeking underneath them.

I already have plans and started collecting parts for the next project with those motors - power assist for the big garage doors! I stumbled onto some parts that will make this relatively easy and I'm beginning to work out the details now.

The fact that the motors are 115VAC really makes them handy since no step-down/step-up transformer or converter is needed - just plug them in the wall outlet. Being reversible also is important for most, if not all, the applications I will have for them. Knowing that the cheapest "rebuilt" spare motor out there will set you back about $300, I think my $12 and $15 deals were pretty good.

EDIT: No, its just blue painters tape. I doubt it will need any tape in the future. But what is this IBT? Maybe I need some of that to throw in the tool box anyway.

Red Leader · Mar 21, 2012

shopnut said:
Red Leader - I think if you check back in a couple weeks, you might find its about to get a whole lot fancier. But its mainly to protect that TV from the rigors of a working shop (and just maybe to have something cool to show visitors ).

If you are anything like me, who dumps 4x4s on his newly restored tools, then you are a wise, forward-thinking man that has qualities to admire. I will strive to be more like you, especially the more I do things like 'me'

JF5000 · Mar 21, 2012

shopnut said:
TWO NEW ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS IN THE SHOP…

Last year, I fished two new metal-clad cables between the front wall and the main distribution panel residing on the back wall. There are raceways designed into the ASYLUM to make this possible without being seen. At the time, I simply looped them up above the panel for later connection. But the timing is perfect to hook them up before the TV clutters thing up a bit.

One will be a dedicated 20A outlet circuit for the front wall, since all the other walls have their own. The second circuit is for more lights. With the front loft construction will come many more lights; too many for the other two circuits to handle. Lights on this circuit will include the large main bay center fixture, loft lights and some hanging below the rollup door drums.

Here you can see the loops of bare wire hanging down from the top left entry point in one picture, and the finished job in the other. While I was in the box, a couple other breakers got moved to group them better.

AND SOME NEW BREAKER LABELS…

The change in the main panel prompted a breaker label change. The next shots show the new MS-Excel file printout sheet, cutting it on my new (to me) 18" paper shear, and with tape applied to protect it.

A link for you to download this file and make your own labels can be found here: ASYLUM Reply #757

And here’s the finished product. The 2 white spaces third up from the bottom of the labels are remaining spares. There are breakers in the slot, but they are not hooked to anything. I have all known circuits installed now, but it's nice to have a couple spares for unforeseen things that might come up in the future.

Thanks for the labels! :rocker:

Vernmotor · Mar 21, 2012

I can't wait for this Vid of the TV coming out of the wall with the space theme 2000 music playing ! LOL

shopnut · Mar 21, 2012

Red Leader - You are just too kind.

We all get a little clumsy in the shop once in a while. A while back, I forgot to tighten an 11/16" bit in my drill chuck while working on the 16' scaffold. When I tilted the drill forward, the bit slid right out, falling like an arrow towards the Corvette door. Of course the sharp end hit the car and chipped out a nice hulk of fiberglass :wtf:

I nearly cried. I just hope these cars survive this build!

JF5000 - You are very welcome. I'm always a bit hesitant to mention the labels again because the frequent readers are probably getting sick of hearing about them. But then someone always seems to benefit, so I feel it's worth it. I apologize to the rest of you for the repetition.

Vernmotor - You are about to see some still pictures of the TV up there, but the videos I took turned out pretty good and explain it much better.

I looked at signing up with youtube the other day, but it redirected me to sign up with Google. A bit confused, and short on time, I gave up that night. But I'll give it another try shortly so I can share it with the folks here. The music stuff might be a stretch though, for a video newbee like me. You guys might just have to play that in your heads

shopnut · Mar 21, 2012

TRIAL FIT OF THE TV UP ON ITS NEW PERCH…

With the bracket at full strength, it was time to hang the 42” LCD TV up there. The crane made this effortless. Some hangers first bolted to the back of the TV, and they in turn simply hook on to the face of the bracket – much better than trying to screw in bolts with something suspended in the air. I think most TV brackets are designed this way now. Note that the TV stand (for tabletop display) was attached. The reason for this is I felt it was best to have the TV standing up on the ground as I strapped it up with the crane, and then there would be a straight lift up to the cubby hole.

Here it is nestled back in its hiding place and also extended out at the angle to the left for better viewing.

And here are some shots proving the door will actually close.

It's tight at the top, but I'll keep the TV tilted down like that for the best viewing angle.

I’m glad the whole crane thing worked out because the TV will need to come down one more time before it's all over. It will stay up a short time, however, as I work all the little details out.

I took a few videos of the TV extending in and out and the door opening and closing so I really need to figure out how to get those posted for all to view. The speed of both motors were spot-on and I was extremely lucky in that respect because I have no way of adjusting them.

It was a great day finally seeing this all working. Next will be building the custom wiring harness.

flybefree · Mar 22, 2012

Great job Shopnut! Can't wait to see the video. I think the hospital bed motor idea was awesome...putting that away in my bag of tricks. Hope you can figure out how to post the video.

Shaun

Wingnut65 · Mar 22, 2012

shopnut said:
We all get a little clumsy in the shop once in a while. A while back, I forgot to tighten an 11/16" bit in my drill chuck while working on the 16' scaffold. When I tilted the drill forward, the bit slid right out, falling like an arrow towards the Corvette door. Of course the sharp end hit the car and chipped out a nice hulk of fiberglass I nearly cried. I just hope these cars survive this build!

I would be more that willing to let that Vette park in the Hideout for a little while until you are finished with all the overhead work. There is no need for those gems to take any more collateral damage than they need.

Just trying to help a freind!

That is just tooooo sweeeet! Congrats on a plan coming together.

shopnut · Mar 22, 2012

flybefree - Thanks. A little research shows Yahoo/Flickr hosts videos and I already have an account there. Of course, I have the 200 freebie photos maxxed out posting my cycle accessories on another forum that doesn't allow uploading photos. For $20/year I can go unlimited, and if this gives me the video feature, I might just go for it. So far, I've been happy with the organizational features within Flickr.

Wingnut65 - And next my friend will be asking for the car keys so it can be "moved" once in a while so the tires don't get flat spots!

(On second thought, maybe its not such a bad idea :headscrat

)

Thanks - the TV install is going pretty good. Next, I need to get the wiring all finished so I don't have to keep moving the power cord from one motor to the other - that gets old quick. And then I need to build the side tracks for the door to slide in. There's still quite a bit to do before this project is checked off.

Wingnut65 · Mar 22, 2012

shopnut said:
Wingnut65 - And next my friend will be asking for the car keys so it can be "moved" once in a while so the tires don't get flat spots! (On second thought, maybe its not such a bad idea ).

Anything for a friend! I wouldn't think of the the wheels getting a RaceDeck tile impression on any flat spots or any chance of rust on the cylinders. But I'd really hate to hear about any mroe of those nasty tool marks in the fiberglass. These things can be prevented. I can help :thumbup:

For the photos, I had to upgrade my photobucket to see my pix a while back, but it does have video uploads that I have nver tried.

Omphaloskeptic · Mar 22, 2012

Shopnut, I don't know if you're inclined to explore this MS feature for customization but...

- Click 'Start' MS Windows logo at lower left of desktop.
- Select 'Control Panel' from menu.
- Select 'Appearance and Personalization' from menu.
- Select 'Personalization' from menu.
- Select 'Sounds' icon.
- In the 'Sound' window select the 'Sounds' tab.
- Within the 'Sounds' tab page, look at the 'Program Events' scrollable list box and single click on 'Windows logon'.
- Below the 'Program Events' scrollable list box is the 'Test' button; click it to hear the default MS logon WAV. file.
- At this point you can select the 'browse' button and find another WAV. file on your system to use for your logon soundtrack in browse mode, select it for it to appear in the box to the left of the 'Test' button, select 'Test' to hear your browse selection.
- If you like what you hear, select the 'Apply' and then the 'OK' button to make that WAV. file what you hear on start-up.

I'm using the Windows7 O.S., so the procedure may vary if you are using some other O.S.. I went out on the Internet to find a sound clip of 'Also Sprach Zarathustra', the theme from 2001 at 'http://www.palantir.net/2001/tma1/wav/zarathustra.wav' and copied it down to my desktop. When I was in 'Browse' mode, I was then able to go to my desktop to select that as my WAV. file for my logon. You may want to use the 'MC gear change' sound file as your very own logon sound track.

I haven't discovered yet if it is possible to tweak the 'ALT DISPLAY' Fk button code to allow a sound track addition there too. I think it would still be cool to fully automate the VAUD on laptop switchover using the 'ALT DISPLAY' Fk button code to allow VAUD cycling with a sound track addition there as well.

Your work on the VAUD is really Uber and fun to watch as it progresses. Can't wait to see the video and hear the soundtrack too! LOL

shopnut · Mar 25, 2012

Wingnut65 - Thanks. I'm crossing my fingers the cars survive all this construction. They are being very patient waiting for Shopnut's full attention again.

Ompha- Great tutorial! Two of the 4 computers I use between work and home are Win7 so I am getting better at it. For the older Win-XP, you just have to look for "Sounds and Audio Devices" in the Control Panel and then it's very similar.

Where I stumbled was saving the .wav from the link you gave. Pasting the link text into my web browser took me to the .wav file and it sounded fine in Windows Media Player. But then I couldn't figure out a way to save it once I had it playing. :headscrat

Any tips? I thought that was going to be the easy part.

Also, I searched my computer for a "MC Gear Change" .wav and didn't find one. I guess it didn't come with my Windows Home Edition

- sounds like it has potential however. I had a .wav file of my two-stroke RZ going up through the gears and had it as my ring tone for a while, but Mrs. Shopnut thought there was a mosquito buzzing around everytime the phone rang

Big progress has been made on the VAUD and I have lots to report on this week.

shopnut · Mar 25, 2012

A WIRING HARNESS FOR THE TV SYSTEM…

Since the motors came with MOLEX connectors already installed, I decided to continue using them for the rest of the system. Here’s a PDF brochure if you want to learn more: MOLEX Connectors Apparently, they are pretty common in the HVAC world.

If you go back in the thread far enough, you will see I made an inexpensive pin extractor to release the little contact barbs. They have two barbs and it is hard to release them with just a jeweler’s screwdriver or something. The only other special tool I need to service these connectors is the special crimp tool. I opted to buy an economy version for my occasional use. I bought this Sargent brand tool for $28 and it works really well. They call it a “B” style crimper and if look closely at the recesses closest to the stamped letters, you will understand why. The tabs of the crimp contact are forced to follow that **** cheek profile, and when doing so, they curl around 180 degrees to meet in the middle.

This shot shows the progression of crimping on a MOLEX .084” contact with 16ga wire. The black wire was stripped and the raw contact is sitting nearby. The green shows the first set of tabs rolled over piercing into the bare wire strands (crimper slot “D” used). The white wire has the second set of tabs rolled over, biting into the insulation (crimper slot “C” used). I was amazed at how easy it was to get these professional looking crimps using this tool. I understand the higher priced tools roll both sets of tabs in one shot, but the two-step process is fine for my limited use.

With the rudimentary crimping stuff behind me, it was on to making the harness. I decided a centrally located junction box with branches out to each component was the way to go. An old 3-wire extension cord was cut up for the wire. Four branches fed out to the limit switches, two to the motors, and one to the wall mounted control panel. The control panel will be nothing more than a 3-position momentary rocker switch, with center being off, up to bring out the TV and down to store it away. (Hopefully forum member Call me the Breeze agrees with me on the switching logic, this time

). Each component will have a connector nearby to make it easy to replace (that’s probably not necessary, but I’m used to doing it at work). Of course, a power cord was needed to plug this into the wall outlet.

This was a complete harness so I was able to plug it in and test the logic right where it sat. I had one problem that took me about 15 minutes to troubleshoot. The harness itself proved to be fine, but I had 2 contacts flip-flopped in one of the limit switch pig-tails. With testing complete, it was ready to be mounted up in the TV recess.

Inside the junction box, it was merely a matter of connecting wire A to wire B (figuratively speaking) according to my schematic. I labeled the wire before entering the box so wiring inside would be easy. All this are braided wire which makes it very flexible and easy to work with, but I spent a little time tinning all the tips before they inserted in the terminal block - just makes it a lot easier for me.

The wiring harness looks exactly like the schematic, doesn't it?

Now that it is all wired up, I will update the schematic for wire color and also add the terminal block position used for each circuit.

Above 1200 Sq/FT The ASYLUM - Happy 40th Birthday to Me! (Est. 2005)

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member