Sick of all these tatty t-shirts. Ordered a couple of grey ones, & going to "pay" myself with a couple from business stock. 17:16:37, 2012-06-12
Also ordered some fleece jogging bottoms. Haven't worn them since senior-school. But they'll be great for winter and chilling on the sofa. 17:17:43, 2012-06-12
Jeez..Up to FIFTY THOUSAND security personnel to be stationed in London for the Olympics. Including 13,500 troops. More than in Afghanistan. 21:39:07, 2012-06-12
You know, if the UK Government really thinks London is more dangerous than Afghanistan, why the fuck are we hosting the Olympics at all? 21:40:13, 2012-06-12
Lens idea seems like it'll work. Backlighting it causes some internal reflection, but think I can compensate with lock-step PWM or lenses. 23:09:27, 2012-06-11
@renardqueenston Wondering; have you seen a boost in sales since Mindcrack started using The Queenstons on this Ultra Hardcore series? 23:34:23, 2012-06-10
Came home & tinkered with box of lenses. How to make wide-angle webcam with focus controls? Hm. 23:38:05, 2012-06-10
So to reward myself for throwing out a bunch of shit, I went out and collected a bunch more shit.
Marquee tent fabric and some stripy sunscreen fabricLarge duct fan, lighting ballast, circuit testerBunch of laptop screens, some heatsinks, couple of gearsWhite Electrolux hoover (now dismanted)Office light fitting, and again with emergency power batteryCombo printer, scanner, copier FAX MACHINEBlack & Decker strimmerDisposable helium cylinderAnd (on a technicality) a Zanusi fridge-freezer
The bulk came from a house up the road and I had a chat with the owner, so I knew most of it’s dead for it’s original purpose. Though of course I don’t know if that’s dead-dead or uneconomic-to-repair-dead..
Anyway, fabric may be used in a couple of costumes.
Duct fan has a dead motor. Already pulled it apart. AC outrunner motor, part of insulation is melted. Irreparable. May be able to replace motor, but tricky.
Ballast & circuit-tester, both fried, but ballast is fancy and may have internal parts salvagable, the tester may make a nice tiny enclosure.
Laptop screens have already been stripped down. They were very wet, but I only wanted the angled diffuser plastic anyway. May be used for a costume. Saved the EEE PC screen tho.
Heatsinks are usefully generic, but also big chunks of aluminium.
Hoover was from another place, apparently a bad switch. It wasn’t, it was full of fluff. SOLIDLY. And had been in the rain, so some had turned to clay. Also smelt of baby-puke. Stripped it down wearing gloves. De-fluffed motor and fan, tested it and it works. Earmarked that for vacuum-former project. Left housing to soak in disinfectant and hosed it down. The white plastic casing will likely be used for my pseudo-GlaDOS build.
One light fitting has a nice cast heatsink. May be useful for something. The glass looks nice. A bit Personality Core “Eye”, but will see (lol pun). The other has the big battery pack. Will see how functional that is and how/if it can be repurposed.
Combo printer will be torn down for the usual steppers, belts and steel rod and any bronze bushings.
The strimmer apparently just has a broken drive belt which the owner couldn’t replace except at silly cost. If I have one that fits I’ll return it to him, otherwise I’ll tear it down but I’m unsure what useful bits I’ll get from it.
The helium cylinder is about 9.5″ in diameter so I think it’s about the right size needed to make a chamber for the Hackspace vacuum coater/chamber. It’s technically a bit undersized, but it has the benefit over converting a propane cylinder of 1) Not having been filled with an explosive gas 2) Already having a hole in, so it’s definitely not under pressure 3) Being free and here already. ;P
The fridge-freezer is a technicality. My aunt was getting rid of it, so my mother brought it back with her on her recent trip to Sommerset. It’s the same age as my current fridge, but bigger and probably in better condition. So I increase food storage and decreas floor-space used. Only niggle is it’s going to have to go outside the kitchen in the “conservatory” to fit. Since it lay in the bus for a couple of days, leaving it standing for a day upright before turning it on again.
