tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48894745469653762862024-02-18T21:02:01.280-08:00chintabokanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-7855880346806258572012-02-12T19:02:00.001-08:002012-02-12T19:32:58.316-08:00Food ScienceWell, it's been awhile, etc etc, abandoned blog. Now for something interesting.<br /><br />Right before moving back to the SF Bay Area last year, I got a call from a local food processing company. I had been jobhunting for the better part of a year and at that point would have taken anything. They asked if I could start in a few days. A friend of my mother's (of course, she's apparently big in the California food industry) was willing to hire me, without interview, and I found myself doing research and development. Though not quite what I was looking for, I <span style="font-style: italic;">was</span> interested in R&D.<br /><br />Fast forward to here and now - most of it has become assisting in developing formulas for new food products. As one would guess, much of this work involves finely tuning <span style="font-style: italic;">flavor</span>. My boss is incredibly experienced in this, and his tastebuds seem to be finely-tuned machines, tasting the slightest hints of spices, off-flavors, and spoilage that often I won't even pick up, not even with the placebo of his suggestion.<br /><br />This got me to thinking about the tastebuds in general. I understood their evolutionary purpose, and got the gist of their function, but never really thought about how they worked. I also remembered hearing, as a child, that the sense of taste and smell were similar. Having a degree in bioengineering under my belt (however useless it has been to me thus far - well - the economy is looking up apparently), I fathomed how they worked and marveled at how I had never thought of this before. Both senses must simply be <span style="font-style: italic;">molecular sensors</span>. This is all speculation, but really, it must be something as simple as a protein or protein-complex with receptor sites tuned for different molecules, reporting to a nerve. One sense's molecular sensors are tuned to work optimally with gaseous molecules, or molecules suspended in gas, while the other's are tuned to work optimally with aqueous suspensions of molecules - I've read somewhere that you cannot taste anything with a dry mouth.<br /><br />My thoughts then careened violently into possibilities of cyborg-like electrical noses, or tongues. The closest thing I've heard of are specific gas sensors, which rely on a specific gas reacting with something coated onto a wire, causing a change in heat, leading to a detectable change in resistance. This is how breathalyzers work. But there must be hundreds, thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of types of molecular sensors in our noses and mouths in order to provide the vast array of detectable smells and tastes to us. Or are there only a relative few, but with varying proportions of each type of molecule, or perhaps varying fits/reactions to the sensor proteins causing variations in nerve response. I wonder why I never learned any of this in my advanced biochem or biotechnology courses.<br /><br />I just remembered my boss gave me an article on sweetness-receptors and the comparison of the molecular structures of the different artificial sweeteners that I never read.<br /><br />Maybe I'll stick to food science after all.<br /><br />Thinking about the whole smell/taste sense being linked tale, armed with this knowledge now, I wonder if the whole "pinching your nose" trick is a baseless myth. It was supposed to numb your tastebuds, but I remember vividly tasting full-strength bitter gourd while trying it as a child.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcK2en7fGQz7zPxu-_CbY1Xyq6fEtRLcSM6IytkZ6vBgz7TU9pRezQq6N9RZWmlelpvSoAXnnD7mwOBw93tAe3W9LqhzEAs6-MxOOUJKnMYbmA00Hf6G77MMWl3K-SfU76he9PtJ4IqdWb/s1600/PICT2614.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcK2en7fGQz7zPxu-_CbY1Xyq6fEtRLcSM6IytkZ6vBgz7TU9pRezQq6N9RZWmlelpvSoAXnnD7mwOBw93tAe3W9LqhzEAs6-MxOOUJKnMYbmA00Hf6G77MMWl3K-SfU76he9PtJ4IqdWb/s200/PICT2614.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708457257275298882" border="0" /></a>Oh, and here's a pic of some "broken" monitors I found in the e-waste at work, they just needed some new capacitors/power adapters. For some reason they love destroying the stands though.kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-12119406311487262062011-04-10T03:09:00.000-07:002011-04-10T03:32:11.518-07:00Laptop RepairI've been on a roll with repairing things lately! This one wasn't for me, however. My client had dropped the laptop, and the monitor cable had been severely damaged. Apparently it worked for a while, even with nearly <span style="font-style: italic;">all of the insulation melted off</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">and shorts everywhere</span> in one section of the cable. I just replaced the section of cable with some ribbon cable.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-NsT81Dy8UFlD010zFvfPY3TDSvDPmYusKlK9RgI1uWFHaKyQXBRVzehqW4_qNwFUYaYahVXD2UWPhVvWATOOXoTxvynBjp8FIeeTqJZkvLsxkQu_d9ujDfGXsMcrnzukrBKhUoqSNwOG/s1600/PICT2479.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-NsT81Dy8UFlD010zFvfPY3TDSvDPmYusKlK9RgI1uWFHaKyQXBRVzehqW4_qNwFUYaYahVXD2UWPhVvWATOOXoTxvynBjp8FIeeTqJZkvLsxkQu_d9ujDfGXsMcrnzukrBKhUoqSNwOG/s200/PICT2479.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593898376139716274" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivY4NqaL0evBmAotHbCRF7iB2AdeghSqt4lCr2dqoMmXmMwBw4LLq6WIyEuXtHhamvUTmArt_l9q7hMxuBVoy4W1aKfqCQxKMyfX-TDPpBWPJzLmet1qeyJU7psGrkhZJ-PveOWBb3geTD/s1600/PICT2482.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivY4NqaL0evBmAotHbCRF7iB2AdeghSqt4lCr2dqoMmXmMwBw4LLq6WIyEuXtHhamvUTmArt_l9q7hMxuBVoy4W1aKfqCQxKMyfX-TDPpBWPJzLmet1qeyJU7psGrkhZJ-PveOWBb3geTD/s200/PICT2482.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593898493486114674" border="0" /></a>Melted insulation, we meet again.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqOT0jtmsSiL37Upb9qPmWATMNesC5jMFiQCxbzPdwpKKDzyQ200NFtdV47mRvFWpaJ-1PyznwD5ZT8cPb0DxS-i67FesJuzx7MbhFclLRO2oimlKtdthLCpaFQUALctjLrSeSE0LGT3g5/s1600/PICT2486.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqOT0jtmsSiL37Upb9qPmWATMNesC5jMFiQCxbzPdwpKKDzyQ200NFtdV47mRvFWpaJ-1PyznwD5ZT8cPb0DxS-i67FesJuzx7MbhFclLRO2oimlKtdthLCpaFQUALctjLrSeSE0LGT3g5/s200/PICT2486.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593898617826312866" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDW-x2b1UuGHPwdIpx0VwhMe5zPT7wfhq0uNDDv_wgtwYFZmneoAIFe5HPg2M0cyPTNOktcH9DYwwOoOnh0JSC4VbydLUop_HL-DYTvmZUaRJQS_8Au8s2a9o_9gGvfdLOko26gI7rXRFC/s1600/PICT2487.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDW-x2b1UuGHPwdIpx0VwhMe5zPT7wfhq0uNDDv_wgtwYFZmneoAIFe5HPg2M0cyPTNOktcH9DYwwOoOnh0JSC4VbydLUop_HL-DYTvmZUaRJQS_8Au8s2a9o_9gGvfdLOko26gI7rXRFC/s200/PICT2487.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593898720834926194" border="0" /></a>It works!<br />There was shielding over the wires before, however, and now there is none. The state of the laptop is so bad, however, I don't see the owner keeping it for longer than the circuitry will last without shielding, and it shouldn't be a problem anyway if it's kept away from interference.kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-46261486986331679562011-04-08T14:02:00.000-07:002011-04-08T17:18:44.751-07:00I've resurrected my router!A long time ago (December 2005 actually) I was fed up with my wireless router's crappy performance. I had a Microsoft MN-700. I later found out it was pretty much an Asus router with Microsoft plastic and firmware, and that the firmware was just terrible.<br /><br />I stumbled upon <a href="http://liamm.com/tech/hacking-the-microsoft-mn-700">this</a> guide to replacing the router's firmware with an open-source Linux-based firmware, and got to work. In fact, I think this was one of my first excuses for installing Linux. The router came preloaded with a bootloader that wouldn't accept the firmware I wanted to install, so I had to flash a new bootloader through a JTAG connection.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNIAgcN4jiddJcCq5xz0dSaB2tXK0SmVkg3ysA2KeUwOfdm_erMJP4HUUwpX8HgE2wC-MY8wNA362JRVz3_v5odg6wH59EUgIRwnXCnVqGAxuwQBK4cyR3rQmLXdTfo_B2Ht2PnH-4FBg/s1600/PICT0011.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNIAgcN4jiddJcCq5xz0dSaB2tXK0SmVkg3ysA2KeUwOfdm_erMJP4HUUwpX8HgE2wC-MY8wNA362JRVz3_v5odg6wH59EUgIRwnXCnVqGAxuwQBK4cyR3rQmLXdTfo_B2Ht2PnH-4FBg/s200/PICT0011.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593360494197669874" border="0" /></a><br />I later learned that this JTAG wire was too long and was causing flash errors.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgULBcQniucEwBOEqXvPq1WYHyFycHyA3lWDe5ZLN3J08Euapo6QcGKrUa9DWwkEl-joLZllTthih3pdsqYfpFRZvu-rvq_4UgCS8zzotcxu4BUHF5DReTZkUcypZoYRky8AzTxIGjw4V7s/s1600/PICT0009.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgULBcQniucEwBOEqXvPq1WYHyFycHyA3lWDe5ZLN3J08Euapo6QcGKrUa9DWwkEl-joLZllTthih3pdsqYfpFRZvu-rvq_4UgCS8zzotcxu4BUHF5DReTZkUcypZoYRky8AzTxIGjw4V7s/s200/PICT0009.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593360721044834338" border="0" /></a><br />Flashing the bootloader, <span style="font-style: italic;">in Windows 2000!</span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxLAiG6TH_4qDHUG9B937Jk8xqv173Zxazdz-h8sLfZ8-B0Cg_5nB6HUNoj2Er6f54uPBfd91ZgzZAi-aQBJxjpldcb-ASodX2jWXubGWWvDIlLua7k3Did4JvMeLnpsSmUtD033vGAv_W/s1600/PICT0017.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxLAiG6TH_4qDHUG9B937Jk8xqv173Zxazdz-h8sLfZ8-B0Cg_5nB6HUNoj2Er6f54uPBfd91ZgzZAi-aQBJxjpldcb-ASodX2jWXubGWWvDIlLua7k3Did4JvMeLnpsSmUtD033vGAv_W/s200/PICT0017.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593362442122645234" border="0" /></a><br />New shorter JTAG cable.<br /><br />After a couple tries, I couldn't get a successful flash. And with each try taking hours, it didn't seem worth it to keep trying. After all, I had no idea what I could have been doing wrong.<br /><br />I recently read another <a href="http://jozerworx.com/tutorials/mn700/default.htm">guide</a> on it, this one claiming it takes several tries to get a successful flash. I thought, why not try again? The router and JTAG cable had been sitting under a bed ever since, being useless. I needed Windows XP apparently, and didn't have it on my computer, so I actually <span style="font-style: italic;">resurrected an old PC</span> with a capacitor replacement and new psu (the one from <a href="http://chintabo.blogspot.com/2011/03/bye-bye-berkeley-drawing-pc-repair.html">this post</a>) for the flash. It went through on the first try. I couldn't believe it.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYYxBnMnrSKxDk74ZuZgHjKRM1TNHgcxzQtQGeoZN8-k7nbNTxdJCkCUs6kPbb6sI2ZO8SOd-xQzxUj39NrEJ0jFlLFScJgwL0hRIDSR1mN2xs2t6oPsf_383Q7x8i6q4g4E33fqU4I6tL/s1600/PICT2477.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYYxBnMnrSKxDk74ZuZgHjKRM1TNHgcxzQtQGeoZN8-k7nbNTxdJCkCUs6kPbb6sI2ZO8SOd-xQzxUj39NrEJ0jFlLFScJgwL0hRIDSR1mN2xs2t6oPsf_383Q7x8i6q4g4E33fqU4I6tL/s200/PICT2477.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593370364356823778" border="0" /></a><br />I have another router now though, so I have no idea what I'm gonna do with this one. It's not worth it to sell, <span style="font-style: italic;">new</span> G routers are like $30. If it had a USB port (to act as a print server) I could turn it into a wifi radio, which I <span style="font-style: italic;">really</span> want to do, but it doesn't (although the datasheet for the Broadcom 4710 says it does...).<br />I'll think of something.kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-2409982528365110542011-03-19T03:50:00.000-07:002011-03-19T03:57:16.572-07:00Urdnot Wrex Portrait/Cardboard Back-Loaded Horn Update<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEQwJjIBukLl97K19p7ew4WpeLAQTYASz1-JvcI686Et3U6ad6Z2HAEAkmSobqyYxSsc1T9sBqcaE6he10fp_eN7jl4tj9cNw4E8T9fUjKzwoueftiSPfAFWmMgcfrXGMgp9MgrNcWYwsn/s1600/001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 262px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEQwJjIBukLl97K19p7ew4WpeLAQTYASz1-JvcI686Et3U6ad6Z2HAEAkmSobqyYxSsc1T9sBqcaE6he10fp_eN7jl4tj9cNw4E8T9fUjKzwoueftiSPfAFWmMgcfrXGMgp9MgrNcWYwsn/s400/001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585742387319794578" border="0" /></a><br />I just realized I never updated the <a href="http://http://chintabo.blogspot.com/2010/02/speaker-update.html">speaker project</a> (also <a href="http://http://chintabo.blogspot.com/2010/01/speakers.html">here</a>). It's been done for more than a year now! Credit for the painting goes to my former roommate. Wrex watches over my kitchen now.<br /><br />It's hooked up to a Sure Electronics class D amp right now, sounds great (though I still wish it were wood, and that I had two).kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-2101056137467346452011-03-18T09:55:00.000-07:002011-04-21T13:14:22.480-07:00Getting rid of annoying mouse cord overhang (ipod nano 6g review too)<span style="font-weight: bold;">MOUSE Cord</span><br /><br />I love my Logitech G500, and the braided sleeving on the cord is pretty cool. I recently started using a sliding keyboard tray (new desk) and noticed that now my mouse cord hangs down and if I make any sort of vertical movement, the following happens:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh17V8Jrcrg4fwCMmM7jQHwZReiFE5OUrZheacENpT4YJJ7x-39E_7Rm3nnNE3Drj6M2HR9Pzzi5etQp4A5fgPspZg5QYRdPAgFdGt9jeqfIt8oQ5sED1Se8BVerL4H21D_a9YRuIC8Tan/s1600/PICT2466.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh17V8Jrcrg4fwCMmM7jQHwZReiFE5OUrZheacENpT4YJJ7x-39E_7Rm3nnNE3Drj6M2HR9Pzzi5etQp4A5fgPspZg5QYRdPAgFdGt9jeqfIt8oQ5sED1Se8BVerL4H21D_a9YRuIC8Tan/s200/PICT2466.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585465263885330226" border="0" /></a><br />It frays the braided sleeving and is annoying, obviously. I taped the cord up under the desk surface, but that didn't allow much play: I had to constantly adjust for the perfect amount of play for the most neutral mouse moving. By the way, if you're thinking "why not just get a wireless mouse?", I have two, and they both suck in comparison to this mouse, and I can't justify a new one just because of this little issue. I'm also notoriously worrisome about batteries and think about them constantly when using wireless mice.<br /><br />While browsing the dollar store recently I happened upon some little hooks and thought, "PERFECT -- and cheap". It is non-binding, smooth, and I can easily remove the cord when I want.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoMI6CseXE3VVbVXWdPBixNpq-7Dp97j7OxPrKO1bEllLZWzg6vNdZ7kktNLMmiAdp_iX63-jKKa72Ew4wf_OlK0eQ-60b-maaczOteQuWEAATgLnA3OdeFG6e6CVhIOHHWaDMrWgmW8aE/s1600/PICT2468.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 124px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoMI6CseXE3VVbVXWdPBixNpq-7Dp97j7OxPrKO1bEllLZWzg6vNdZ7kktNLMmiAdp_iX63-jKKa72Ew4wf_OlK0eQ-60b-maaczOteQuWEAATgLnA3OdeFG6e6CVhIOHHWaDMrWgmW8aE/s200/PICT2468.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585466663944822658" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">IPOD D:</span><br /><br />Also, after years of being an Apple-hater, I turned out to <span style="font-style: italic;">need</span> (exercise) an mp3 player, and my cousin just <span style="font-style: italic;">had</span> an extra ipod nano 6g laying around: she won it, but she has an iphone already. I've actually won an ipod shuffle before, and sold it. My mother won a nano 4g and gave it to her brother... It's like they're attacking my family.<br /><br />After getting over my hatred and reluctantly installing itunes (seriously? no drag and drop or standard MTP support? I <span style="font-style: italic;">NEED</span> itunes to use this crap?), I had an ipod nano 6g with my music. I almost returned it after I found out I couldn't sync music without itunes, I have memories of friends with itunes and seeing 3 apple-related processes <span style="font-style: italic;">with it closed</span>, something like 5 when it was open. I caved and installed to my non-primary laptop, I almost virtualboxed <span style="font-style: italic;">just for itunes</span>.<br /><br />The screen is incredibly nice, the pixel density is surprising, making for a surprisingly sharp picture. I can actually tell the compression/low-res of some album art on the screen! And I mean low as in ~150^2 pixels. For some reason, however, you cannot set a wallpaper different from the provided stock-wallpapers, which is completely idiotic unless I'm missing some setting.<br /><br />I'll admit, I'm guilty of looking at them before: I'm a sucker for album art, and the UI displays AA while playing just like the Windows Media Player 12 it doesn't support... I also saw the watch-bands on some tech blogs and thought: wow, that is nifty, perfect for running as well, because the clip seemed flimsy and would not hold it in place anywhere on my clothing if I were to run with it. I thought maybe I could do similar:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-YuU1usS9lCQRzpCbf0U_4S88egfzv7IWLCWcJO1_R5wAHqJp4iP4sLznBztc6FO2tQeNdin_RouqIaEwVmGgMWfrhB-8xjJfwb7mqb4GSK26LepQ1Nx1kuIrBBbZ045q_-4qdoTHS2rh/s1600/PICT2437.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-YuU1usS9lCQRzpCbf0U_4S88egfzv7IWLCWcJO1_R5wAHqJp4iP4sLznBztc6FO2tQeNdin_RouqIaEwVmGgMWfrhB-8xjJfwb7mqb4GSK26LepQ1Nx1kuIrBBbZ045q_-4qdoTHS2rh/s200/PICT2437.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585472538250601602" border="0" /></a><br />My mother got me the star of david bracelet when she went to Israel, I found that it worked somewhat well, but it was loose and the styles clashed.<br /><br />I later bought a cheapo watch just for the continuous-strap band, and, presto! Not... clashing, very secure, and easy to remove/put on thanks to the hook/loop.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisHbiVu4m2TZia1o9jgotpu1Y_VZEv_qPD_Nw7g4w7hn5iZnJ_eCOnPhoyY8n_sIaSRuCb4tx1jrpDFWnWbc5Pf5Sly6ONsKksSkineHb_kj_TD8qZwcLiJFcu_lLXB0A6mAGYG2TWoQoG/s1600/PICT2459.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisHbiVu4m2TZia1o9jgotpu1Y_VZEv_qPD_Nw7g4w7hn5iZnJ_eCOnPhoyY8n_sIaSRuCb4tx1jrpDFWnWbc5Pf5Sly6ONsKksSkineHb_kj_TD8qZwcLiJFcu_lLXB0A6mAGYG2TWoQoG/s200/PICT2459.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585473632416821394" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">UI</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">/Features</span><br /><br />The interface is surprisingly easy to use, as I had an aversion to touchscreens prior, and was looking at the Clip+ for fulfilling my jogging-companion needs. I wanted to be able to do certain things without looking at the device, and with the latest firmware, I could "next track" (the action I do most often, second only to volume adjustment) with a double tap to the power button, which tripled as a hold switch, and there are dedicated volume buttons. To "next track" I can shake-to-shuffle as well, since I'm always in shuffle mode anyway.<br /><br />Navigating lots of music on the tiny screen was another aversion to a tiny player I had, but the hold-for-alphabet-browse feature let me get past that: one can hold a finger on the right side of the screen while browsing to slide to a certain letter.<br /><br />Regarding file formats, I really wish I didn't have to let iTunes convert my wma's to INCREDICRAPPY mpeg-4 audio files. Also, it wouldn't even consider my oggs. Really. That's how much they hate open source... that they don't profit from (since their computers are pretty much on FreeBSD). I nearly uninstalled/smashed the ipod at that point.<br /><br />The pedometer seems to work, and I suppose will be a nice way of tracking my progress (oooohhh I see some graphs in this blog's future).<br /><br />The radio works well, although reception is a bit hard to get sometimes depending on the headphones.<br /><br />The concern I have that killed my last player was a worn jack, worn from abuse and several headphones. The left channel was extremely intermittent and unreliable. This unit's jack seems solid enough, but only time will tell.<br /><br />The sound quality is decent. Bass is exaggerated for the bass-heads (I'm guessing at least half of the userbase listens to primarily hip hop), and so is the treble. As a result, the mids seem just a tad recessed in comparison. It's slight enough for me not to care, I guess I'm not an audiophile anymore.<br /><br /><br />Overall, I love the hardware and most of the user interface, but I still hate the software and company. I didn't even know what jailbreaking was until I had this thing, and now that I do, my opinion of Apple is even worse in that regard. I can at least sleep at night since I didn't directly give Apple a dime.<br />Other than that though, it is a great jogging companion, especially with the watchband.kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-58235163505891259892011-03-10T15:22:00.000-08:002011-04-10T05:58:40.021-07:00Bye bye, Berkeley. Drawing + PC repair + Wacom Bamboo Pen & TouchWell,<br /><br />I'm now (unofficially) a UC Berkeley grad. Still waiting on getting my diploma in the mail, however. Also looking for a job. Anyway, enough of that.<br /><br />During the last semester I was able to take up drawing. My friend dragged me onto iscribble.net, where I was reluctant to start. I knew I had the typical couldn't-draw-to-save-my-life skills but then realized soon that I could draw humans better than she could, <span style="font-style: italic;">with my mouse</span>. I then started studying color theory, more anatomy, poses, <span style="font-style: italic;">dinosaurs</span>, and even started the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards. At one point I was doing a study of facial features, by pencil, and just drew for hours on end, not realizing where the time had gone. Eyes, then lips, then noses, page after page of sketches: some from reference, some from imagination. For the first two weeks, I saw the world in a way I had never seen before, <span style="font-style: italic;">everything</span> looked brand new to me.<br /><br />There was a point where I did nothing but draw, for <span style="font-style: italic;">two weeks</span>. After that I came to my senses and started doing schoolwork again, but then after about October or so (when I had finally purchased a graphics tablet, ironically), I stopped.<br /><br />Here's an early iscribble work (yes it's terrible, this is before I studied color as well): my first time drawing a dress. Since it's early it's very cartoony (I started anime-style since everyone was doing it on the board) but have since then begun learning realism. I was still struck at how I was able to spew this onto my screen, where I could only spew stick figures before.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVq3gApTSm-XS1aYMMPdkD-bPVp3-yrxt-teE05zTe9ezlLecHuKPT8_NdRlpW_iu7Y5B2UJlimKObXspDxW0IPU2cauOVkYBpVv5RPUacPB64YUDS0TeIZ6e5g51Tg7KrP-vhYCmGbIY4/s1600/dressbackg.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 184px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVq3gApTSm-XS1aYMMPdkD-bPVp3-yrxt-teE05zTe9ezlLecHuKPT8_NdRlpW_iu7Y5B2UJlimKObXspDxW0IPU2cauOVkYBpVv5RPUacPB64YUDS0TeIZ6e5g51Tg7KrP-vhYCmGbIY4/s200/dressbackg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582603578399534402" border="0" /></a><br /><br />In other news, I was at a LAN party recently, where a good friend of mine whom I had not seen in a while had a broken power supply. I had read up on capacitors going bad and had my suspicions. It was a Cooler Master 550 watt, and for a while it had to be plugged in for hours before the PC would turn on. After that it just quit.<br /><br />I looked at it for a while, and sure enough, there was a busted cap. The cooling fan was also very much stuck with dust, and one of the toroids had burned through its cloth-like shroud. I bought it off him for $5.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjADgSmg87eNWISrkaJT3qzcP4Xc2P9FKvzwiGr53tLUtFM1kehrJCOijqk1yKQEB4yWFh8f5xAOT_EMF0Q-GwbIWvKLdY2JDwSA1U9ErFaD4SpsE3vMIA7vjj1UcpxGhtscCswF_Lhj_P1/s1600/PICT2414.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjADgSmg87eNWISrkaJT3qzcP4Xc2P9FKvzwiGr53tLUtFM1kehrJCOijqk1yKQEB4yWFh8f5xAOT_EMF0Q-GwbIWvKLdY2JDwSA1U9ErFaD4SpsE3vMIA7vjj1UcpxGhtscCswF_Lhj_P1/s200/PICT2414.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582609699472275074" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfRl7oQ357FFff464V178zDZJj3IdzpxVa-XVPELroidzEegws_VbBbgY8sraDWh2CRGrlIO7A6kU4R0LF5C5qlXMc17RKslFl0ZVIPyti9-rWCFKOcO6m6fjFm_cmABTdjQ_NiQTY9kEQ/s1600/PICT2415.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfRl7oQ357FFff464V178zDZJj3IdzpxVa-XVPELroidzEegws_VbBbgY8sraDWh2CRGrlIO7A6kU4R0LF5C5qlXMc17RKslFl0ZVIPyti9-rWCFKOcO6m6fjFm_cmABTdjQ_NiQTY9kEQ/s200/PICT2415.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582610057015519410" border="0" /></a><br />I had an extra 120mm cooling fan laying around, but no extra 2200 uF 10v capacitor. I was about to order some (no point in buying just one online, right?) when I remembered I had an evil Bestec power supply in an old emachines I had laying around. It wasn't broken, but it had claimed the lives of two motherboards before I searched about them and learned of their destructive 5v rails. I ripped it open, by removing the screws with a philips screwdriver, and found a 2200 uF, 16v cap with the correct lead spacing! I slapped that into the CM550 with a soldering iron and bam, working power supply! Tested on my system (risky, I know, but it passed the false-on test displaying all the necessary voltages confirmed by multimeter) and it seemed stable. The Bestec had some busted, leaky caps so I still don't trust this CM550 completely, but I now have a backup psu that may see action soon for a backup computer if I get my hands on a cheap 775 proc anytime soon.<br /><br />More on the tablet, a sort of pseudo-review:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSiH29qR4a7Lj1LUgZ-fzzRZbtD-vg3cmbMBH2YHqp8_sZFVS2AZiLutuCsN081OWScKwzZyrfmO5zMz5ZybolCn23qcO_IQo6wkcd7g06G_nxCfJCbSfy5Gh9-QE3cMrBKqiCYRLuWj3Z/s1600/PICT2431.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSiH29qR4a7Lj1LUgZ-fzzRZbtD-vg3cmbMBH2YHqp8_sZFVS2AZiLutuCsN081OWScKwzZyrfmO5zMz5ZybolCn23qcO_IQo6wkcd7g06G_nxCfJCbSfy5Gh9-QE3cMrBKqiCYRLuWj3Z/s200/PICT2431.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582615572343075026" border="0" /></a><br />Once again, this is the Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch. Please forgive my lack of a tripod. Digital artists everywhere seem to swear by Wacom, and the friend who had gotten me into drawing in the first place had a Bamboo Pen. The Pen and touch features twice the resolution, four buttons on the tablet, a pressure-sensitive eraser on the pen, and it is also a touchpad. Right off the bat: the touchpad is terrible. It may be inherent to the device or it may be the drivers, I don't know. I just know it's sluggish, unresponsive, and a tiny bit of sweat on the tablet from intense drawing registers as constant input to it. Thankfully it can be turned off.<br /><br />Drawing on it is great, however. I thought I was going to use it in relative mode but absolute mode is wonderful, I can get to where I need to be on the screen with incredible speed. I wore a flat to the tip in less than a week! This caused some awkward scratchy sounds until I realized the tip is simply friction fit and you can pull and reposition it. I rotated it 180 and it's fine now. Just like a pencil that you can't sharpen, you should wear the tip evenly and rotate it from time to time.<br /><br />In Gimp and Sai the pressure sensitivity is recognized, as well as the separate eraser. If I'm on iscribble I get neither but that's understandable. What's odd with iscribble is that it's insanely laggy on Windows 7, maybe from all the different features aimed towards tablet PCs that are loaded and active while it's plugged in. It is unbearable. I boot up Fedora and while it took a bit of work to get the drivers working, it is lightning fast. However, drawing in Gimp in Fedora occasionally misses a stroke, I'm going to assume it's the drivers for that fault. Linuxwacom (driver package) doesn't even recognize it as a Bamboo Pen & Touch, it reads "Wacom BambooFun 2FG 4x5" under devices, but I suppose it works well enough.<br /><br />Regarding the aspect ratio of the device, it is 16:10, which mapped perfectly onto my 16:10 22", but now I'm on a 16:9 24", with proportions forced. A small amount of the tablet is unusable as a result. However, it's nice that you can select which monitor and what portion of the monitor to map to. This is done in Linux with a couple commands in the shell (and some simple pixel math), whatever, I wrote a script to take care of it.<br /><br />Although ironically I almost stopped drawing soon after I got this tablet, I'm starting to draw again and am glad I got it.kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-13629934766171587212010-06-20T12:22:00.000-07:002010-06-20T13:15:09.881-07:00FORMULA SAE<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHZJgdxBRfDmi5iq6X0YZxfNspTIJwO5yKvkijDR48QJYGXh1xC7KM7wEuJCjGFNODXbVHP7V_eGT3T1FiM7IsePIJZpYX_VHYgKuyDMIyJgmkrmzHZL3433iQ1JyPJ-FUgbx_8OCxvGFl/s1600/Photo_061610_005.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHZJgdxBRfDmi5iq6X0YZxfNspTIJwO5yKvkijDR48QJYGXh1xC7KM7wEuJCjGFNODXbVHP7V_eGT3T1FiM7IsePIJZpYX_VHYgKuyDMIyJgmkrmzHZL3433iQ1JyPJ-FUgbx_8OCxvGFl/s200/Photo_061610_005.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484942892217963090" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I guess it's way past due for an update.<br /><br />The 2010 California Formula SAE competition has just finished yesterday. It was one crazy ride. So intense but so much <span style="font-style: italic;">fun</span>. It is also so refreshing and interesting to see the other cars from schools all over the world.<br /><br />I took some pictures but didn't opt to bring my camera, so they're crappy camera phone pics, for better pics search for "Cal Racing" on facebook, but our historian hasn't uploaded any pictures/videos at the time of this writing (he's probably on his way back home right now).<br /><br />While I wanted to get involved in a number of things on the team, I ended up doing wiring. I started with some chassis fabrication (tube grindin'!), and general tasks during engine dyno testing. I've always enjoyed wiring, but have never focused this much on making a safe, reliable, and <span style="font-style: italic;">attractive</span> final product. I have learned so effing <span style="font-style: italic;">much</span> about automotive wiring, but I'm still a rookie and there is much more. I really do wish I could get into other disciplines like chassis, suspension, engine, composites, at least a little bit with the little time I have left on this team.<br /><br />I regret so much not joining immediately freshman year. I have never worked this hard for <span style="font-style: italic;">anything</span> in my life, and my job isn't even that hard.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhijTdFd6v3jt8ql_7hSyft4fjBofsKi6TSYEn29m2EmGqc4cQ1nOsXdVOtQBms5UUx12_EoDG16iaS2hz2lRC1mNomfv4JbTAIiVp_PfpkG6YtJzUqR2IQS5XAZBTHNM48gy4pBELd9rEU/s1600/Photo_061710_013.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhijTdFd6v3jt8ql_7hSyft4fjBofsKi6TSYEn29m2EmGqc4cQ1nOsXdVOtQBms5UUx12_EoDG16iaS2hz2lRC1mNomfv4JbTAIiVp_PfpkG6YtJzUqR2IQS5XAZBTHNM48gy4pBELd9rEU/s200/Photo_061710_013.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484943087998666770" border="0" /></a><br />Auto Club Speedway<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggKjpBHuVTNHBP-3VpsPL3I-mu8Ocq8ivMSjzxOKhAQ80yA9Y_sqJFbMvLh32cloYG0zx62Wdp_-30rUne1ubIH41Lq_G7I7QYbc7wPt_UIO8Bak3PAOvTYjMUelZxbAxN0G4EdaviwRbr/s1600/128925.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggKjpBHuVTNHBP-3VpsPL3I-mu8Ocq8ivMSjzxOKhAQ80yA9Y_sqJFbMvLh32cloYG0zx62Wdp_-30rUne1ubIH41Lq_G7I7QYbc7wPt_UIO8Bak3PAOvTYjMUelZxbAxN0G4EdaviwRbr/s200/128925.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484943297289110450" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizNcVhKBio7kCdZFWMppXIGMvjq6AzufdsK_hOqRw9hM5zL4PQn_1iXCUEdtZoX5q3PNwyExmQ_V3eWDvrNhkFHknS_x2SoS2YV2Jg4vrHPH9QzEzU1y-Gv5J1l8d6ozMkcuFAkZkpmIwK/s1600/122481.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizNcVhKBio7kCdZFWMppXIGMvjq6AzufdsK_hOqRw9hM5zL4PQn_1iXCUEdtZoX5q3PNwyExmQ_V3eWDvrNhkFHknS_x2SoS2YV2Jg4vrHPH9QzEzU1y-Gv5J1l8d6ozMkcuFAkZkpmIwK/s200/122481.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484943191547590498" border="0" /></a><br />Some of my wiring<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaJYprwi9Oqc4sor08ZqFh8D-pbl-NYBQMC6EhggQmEqMPblsCbiRzqjdGF-j1f362nWIc9AbYgYxL4tcKirMxbDJhj9IznttGfsqD_Hfz_WW463mHhorb8GOVY0SBpI1eSq0leiPG5zJR/s1600/Photo_061710_004.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaJYprwi9Oqc4sor08ZqFh8D-pbl-NYBQMC6EhggQmEqMPblsCbiRzqjdGF-j1f362nWIc9AbYgYxL4tcKirMxbDJhj9IznttGfsqD_Hfz_WW463mHhorb8GOVY0SBpI1eSq0leiPG5zJR/s200/Photo_061710_004.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484943944168973410" border="0" /></a><br />University of Illinois - Urbana<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRtkNmRXNyowkMDJa3LqxGiCG4MfoVrCeiGoswTZZjTzuLTKqb6pIlpAl7JA-UFKJMzUe2KVEZT-PNQEFzBVaCWFBwhAukWRV0PI5XaqKP2lVigP0-ipnDUbNiDXMM9DJWIv101PNIMDd-/s1600/Photo_061710_003.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRtkNmRXNyowkMDJa3LqxGiCG4MfoVrCeiGoswTZZjTzuLTKqb6pIlpAl7JA-UFKJMzUe2KVEZT-PNQEFzBVaCWFBwhAukWRV0PI5XaqKP2lVigP0-ipnDUbNiDXMM9DJWIv101PNIMDd-/s200/Photo_061710_003.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484943925804903730" border="0" /></a><br />University of Oklahoma<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNYO6lhxlkVL6GWUZ-WNeEASK-csTDuaiH5_Mlm6LdYvAk8SyeqNODDZD8TG92BTTuQx9bkaTfP2-jkTaPR3Xon7ghLxuPL1OBPvrVUvntGLlhFT3AUlt1ITFX4E6m8dJ7JIkNcDNvC60M/s1600/Photo_061710_007.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNYO6lhxlkVL6GWUZ-WNeEASK-csTDuaiH5_Mlm6LdYvAk8SyeqNODDZD8TG92BTTuQx9bkaTfP2-jkTaPR3Xon7ghLxuPL1OBPvrVUvntGLlhFT3AUlt1ITFX4E6m8dJ7JIkNcDNvC60M/s200/Photo_061710_007.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484943900856858546" border="0" /></a><br />UC Berkeley getting worked on<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnpUzOHxy5Qgd5X99WFu2O4t0KxIMCVPtT_cyVMWXbupJQ6SbShXmpLjkfTNGIRR6M2x5Fg8ucry44akEQlzbcx2dZdUDxoM6hfwIQuNtPWbLi7q_vcv7Bee-WWASCBCCH7HzUNaY7X3CN/s1600/Photo_061610_003.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnpUzOHxy5Qgd5X99WFu2O4t0KxIMCVPtT_cyVMWXbupJQ6SbShXmpLjkfTNGIRR6M2x5Fg8ucry44akEQlzbcx2dZdUDxoM6hfwIQuNtPWbLi7q_vcv7Bee-WWASCBCCH7HzUNaY7X3CN/s200/Photo_061610_003.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484943876773117394" border="0" /></a><br />Vellore Institute of Technology [India] (University of Leeds members shown also)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_UL_5U0frSeBMQDlaAvPprLphcNaomG5SQLST7NOHoQ-0SMfbMZDurmHc-SW2jqQM3Uc0sUpmTzjTiyOd8IzvQ1cvqN58rBc4z_DfKMro8D034n6ozaU3w3fyFotf9uuzWk3aAsZw17vb/s1600/Photo_061610_002.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_UL_5U0frSeBMQDlaAvPprLphcNaomG5SQLST7NOHoQ-0SMfbMZDurmHc-SW2jqQM3Uc0sUpmTzjTiyOd8IzvQ1cvqN58rBc4z_DfKMro8D034n6ozaU3w3fyFotf9uuzWk3aAsZw17vb/s200/Photo_061610_002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484943434495207874" border="0" /></a><br />University of Leeds [UK] (Vellore Institute of Technology members shown also)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5L_GwsIYUfrRQIJklEGiL91asjGbb8E4FTrBzqGXDPFzcVyKOs_vZuO9QKhAVJiAtez7otoP50QVZelySg5XkbuQQH7yU09k5S_FGs_85qzCl9XOAZOPitBGDYp3CL6EGoMS1RicMjFNJ/s1600/Photo_061710_006.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5L_GwsIYUfrRQIJklEGiL91asjGbb8E4FTrBzqGXDPFzcVyKOs_vZuO9QKhAVJiAtez7otoP50QVZelySg5XkbuQQH7yU09k5S_FGs_85qzCl9XOAZOPitBGDYp3CL6EGoMS1RicMjFNJ/s200/Photo_061710_006.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484945414142699714" border="0" /></a><br />Montana State University - Bozeman<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Lqwu-HNsgzVObB_LfNQSAoYZk6JZa6NhGyFwQFqQ-tJcUVCZNXLLnIOJQCxnO83AqRQsI-ZR_i8PXMV2yDVLINl1TtQpGR0DNoWlUfU8X3BIW3gNvhOxMqTqnnnA_szefsfy1oc9JWne/s1600/Photo_061710_004.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Lqwu-HNsgzVObB_LfNQSAoYZk6JZa6NhGyFwQFqQ-tJcUVCZNXLLnIOJQCxnO83AqRQsI-ZR_i8PXMV2yDVLINl1TtQpGR0DNoWlUfU8X3BIW3gNvhOxMqTqnnnA_szefsfy1oc9JWne/s200/Photo_061710_004.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484943956278919522" border="0" /></a><br />University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign (University of Alberta 2009 car visible on right)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA8wCBLYl3eWnV10K7dA7EV-jE1wWYfKw9MSwxxCMt6E4t32Kdni_KFP46RODIJVboCxS5nVNfjtqbZ14rOx9SX9yWweKDTWSyD-MgtO7EhNB-1HGe1zj_NEwhyphenhyphenfzNjoBoQz-z-PmbPahj/s1600/Photo_061710_011.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA8wCBLYl3eWnV10K7dA7EV-jE1wWYfKw9MSwxxCMt6E4t32Kdni_KFP46RODIJVboCxS5nVNfjtqbZ14rOx9SX9yWweKDTWSyD-MgtO7EhNB-1HGe1zj_NEwhyphenhyphenfzNjoBoQz-z-PmbPahj/s200/Photo_061710_011.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484945542885272802" border="0" /></a><br />University of Saskatchewan [Canada]- Tech Inspection (UC Davis visible in background)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrS9iHqYkWX1HhAjCOW08dIpZ98BiuSl7p-K44ZgVYoWKBKojOJDbGkJC5YkzW7SBDrJsbUA7QNJdSj9EuZv2CG5RkfjmjY4kVO67x6UStLdeBA4Lll6cVlYMmGQ27tM42oOTAo4Ks3m30/s1600/Photo_061710_008.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrS9iHqYkWX1HhAjCOW08dIpZ98BiuSl7p-K44ZgVYoWKBKojOJDbGkJC5YkzW7SBDrJsbUA7QNJdSj9EuZv2CG5RkfjmjY4kVO67x6UStLdeBA4Lll6cVlYMmGQ27tM42oOTAo4Ks3m30/s200/Photo_061710_008.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484951690653531842" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGqkQC_lfQAL4Lai8xjvgfIz9nWgZPrwM1YKgqiR7WBkaQA8No_Fte4DcmybauBShK63PNAR6c0GfWpRg0QQFpgLrpo9fO_ekf1jrVL_v40KAnRLevRcxAlkvJEkpVho9Cd0h2zzJXWx1L/s1600/Photo_061710_008.jpg"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXJCgEZxJJVtp4mKTk2kHwbFsInKTfKiox4YxPqqI0xkbbALbUjCq7-EV450FPyjQYDYWqV6dxXnMGSjuoifRTTqb_2SkNslnd6EPWl5fFXpobJWqgnkumBszQfpRjG8POHX5IaR79nczX/s1600/Photo_061710_012.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXJCgEZxJJVtp4mKTk2kHwbFsInKTfKiox4YxPqqI0xkbbALbUjCq7-EV450FPyjQYDYWqV6dxXnMGSjuoifRTTqb_2SkNslnd6EPWl5fFXpobJWqgnkumBszQfpRjG8POHX5IaR79nczX/s200/Photo_061710_012.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484946928358680658" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMmpKKDYYiAqqMvumel1tzhMEWPV1KGrGSSPZaKfrraNNtVUf6Brbk_-f_j36SR-NiA6em5NvP2YxPZYBBqTQTkMn4ptHTatoSOfYhnEha23s_CaY_wN_zBqn1hoGRFzPZZ6IhUj141wMA/s1600/Photo_061710_009.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMmpKKDYYiAqqMvumel1tzhMEWPV1KGrGSSPZaKfrraNNtVUf6Brbk_-f_j36SR-NiA6em5NvP2YxPZYBBqTQTkMn4ptHTatoSOfYhnEha23s_CaY_wN_zBqn1hoGRFzPZZ6IhUj141wMA/s200/Photo_061710_009.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484945451822951442" border="0" /></a><br />Universidad Autonoma Estado Mexico - Tech Inspection<br />Crazy bodywork!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI7e8vK8qMMOxw-L2e9R6xaNbiqg__b_XiQIj-VG6QRx4F53xIJV0RMLftBqJkhi9x2wmIFO0gfqmTQTuKCct-yE_-KEjBLRRL0QXzpf78kZibg_MUbm7_RL5vJ_cUprRPMw60jPu4zpPL/s1600/Photo_061710_010.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI7e8vK8qMMOxw-L2e9R6xaNbiqg__b_XiQIj-VG6QRx4F53xIJV0RMLftBqJkhi9x2wmIFO0gfqmTQTuKCct-yE_-KEjBLRRL0QXzpf78kZibg_MUbm7_RL5vJ_cUprRPMw60jPu4zpPL/s200/Photo_061710_010.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484945520740206130" border="0" /></a><br />Chitkara Institute of Engineering and Technology [India]- Tech Inspectionkanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-16783963888066700782010-02-15T20:32:00.000-08:002010-02-15T20:43:00.863-08:00SPEAKER updateHere is the LM386 referred to in the last post, hastily hacked together<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4f_7tt6p3RjBg22-uyJnwg6lyhLUM3pk3GoErZejn3swJQYUiFNCvml54W5TytGI9DdemATwSppQpvp9WK0mA4WZ-P4smLKdggSO9QLVjXSytcoLLbo_lEQPC6mrqzanpj2EPimXGTiPV/s1600-h/PICT2124.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4f_7tt6p3RjBg22-uyJnwg6lyhLUM3pk3GoErZejn3swJQYUiFNCvml54W5TytGI9DdemATwSppQpvp9WK0mA4WZ-P4smLKdggSO9QLVjXSytcoLLbo_lEQPC6mrqzanpj2EPimXGTiPV/s320/PICT2124.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438696057036450722" border="0" /></a><br />I think I will remount it, perhaps on the top? back?<br /><br />And here is a sneak preview of the PORTRAIT OF A KROGAN my roommate painted in its incomplete form. Once I mount this badass speaker/portrait, and once my other roommate, the photographer, takes some good shots of it, I'll post the finished version.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwWpk1r9aPCPsEogX8mSbjEYqik6kXKROHTRdhrQgRhtrnxRB8CoWn4wqNhchYpmChNz5ObllCWLQFxACGcIPRVCSuOnqNiWG43nQqiOuQRx_v43opTLhJX0bApfdwE2cIn-2xo5g35AhG/s1600-h/Photo_021210_001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 126px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwWpk1r9aPCPsEogX8mSbjEYqik6kXKROHTRdhrQgRhtrnxRB8CoWn4wqNhchYpmChNz5ObllCWLQFxACGcIPRVCSuOnqNiWG43nQqiOuQRx_v43opTLhJX0bApfdwE2cIn-2xo5g35AhG/s200/Photo_021210_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438696650805962866" border="0" /></a><br />I wish I had 4 more for a "hidden" 5.1 setup.<br /><br />Mass Effect is so much fun. I simply must resist buying Mass Effect 2 until Spring Break, I MUST!kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-74745096061824353012010-01-27T02:12:00.000-08:002010-01-27T02:58:30.698-08:00SPEAKERS!WOW it's been quite a while. I suppose that's okay, last semester was pretty busy. No one reads this anyway.
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<br />Well, I recently picked up a Gakken "Learning for Adults" (or was it "Science for Adults"? I don't remember, it was in Japanese) magazine with a kit to build a 7 cm fullrange SPEAKER! I'm not talking about build a speaker box and throw in a driver, I actually assembled the driver! It was mostly gluing but there was some careful positioning involved too.
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<br />I had been wanting to get some fullrange drivers and try my hand at making some <a href="http://www.fullrangedriver.com/singledriver/images/diy36JC-D101S.jpg">interesting speaker cabinets</a> that help get the best sound from single drivers.
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<br />I was too excited to take pics during the build stage, so here are some pics of the finished product (courtesy of David). I built a total of three speaker enclosures out of CARDBOARD. It's uncanny how you can modify sound from enclosure design. (Box 1 omitted because it really was just cutting a hole in a box and throwing the driver in, these were built piece by piece).
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<br />Box 2
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9rvoj9gzGqg4UJGekl7PU-rKoBQMR49fQecOsDih-GSgPpxi0ndPEHYpV1boAM-BGFlyD7hnb5GGGETvNSPFxBLGZ714hPjneEnLnbM5PS-TOHKoJmYrcHwbr_giQrOELGeYz0uN_Kzqb/s1600-h/alfjv.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9rvoj9gzGqg4UJGekl7PU-rKoBQMR49fQecOsDih-GSgPpxi0ndPEHYpV1boAM-BGFlyD7hnb5GGGETvNSPFxBLGZ714hPjneEnLnbM5PS-TOHKoJmYrcHwbr_giQrOELGeYz0uN_Kzqb/s320/alfjv.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431365872944725618" border="0" /></a>I've decided I don't like gum tape on speakers (not messy like this anyway).
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdg8RUjpHkefy3cl9ux6fRmUVZoRXwRojFwNXqclwnklrsXjL6bfZWDzRlwWXxrRweG2XWz9Dlyz6_wLyxSdZp-Q87QkIeqXuD6scekhBUE4_LHNhXcRwe3OFbbVY1OD8C2he8yzR5OW4_/s1600-h/frwrvef.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdg8RUjpHkefy3cl9ux6fRmUVZoRXwRojFwNXqclwnklrsXjL6bfZWDzRlwWXxrRweG2XWz9Dlyz6_wLyxSdZp-Q87QkIeqXuD6scekhBUE4_LHNhXcRwe3OFbbVY1OD8C2he8yzR5OW4_/s320/frwrvef.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431365970458539090" border="0" /></a>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2SxeCyE55nJYmaeTVhaatT6bdbj0CSu8ujZyZ_uaCKHRMVms2S_EeZbPna065M6R-xdRSFnA1b47Y_EJ4v86cDwDalqPoP0owr-ytX03leYEoVePtc0ZVD6onIXje84tsFQ1O6uPk-86F/s1600-h/salvr.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2SxeCyE55nJYmaeTVhaatT6bdbj0CSu8ujZyZ_uaCKHRMVms2S_EeZbPna065M6R-xdRSFnA1b47Y_EJ4v86cDwDalqPoP0owr-ytX03leYEoVePtc0ZVD6onIXje84tsFQ1O6uPk-86F/s320/salvr.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431366074164987634" border="0" /></a>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2CBF-CqUS31wmxsQDJpEsQepV8BAfhP5yMVV7foSfxvkUQiAKHnbJDcVIsc5ut3UTybv7hFFiXp0oNfmJImFSFRe-k80BhkL8_5lxMsD-IsKWhRrXx0xax3aAf9BkfV6BN3cgNqXojzpq/s1600-h/oivfesfs.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2CBF-CqUS31wmxsQDJpEsQepV8BAfhP5yMVV7foSfxvkUQiAKHnbJDcVIsc5ut3UTybv7hFFiXp0oNfmJImFSFRe-k80BhkL8_5lxMsD-IsKWhRrXx0xax3aAf9BkfV6BN3cgNqXojzpq/s320/oivfesfs.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431366173250454978" border="0" /></a>
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<br />Box 3 (Design taken from the magazine)
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy8wq2K0DqdlamoL4b7JCvmSFswLNY5MF8q11NL-tpxSIN2OHAXNHoLd35R_Y5X-0ronfgF5P3EG9TNQyZrAxjOZzdxhUoo-oLDgIiesU4TfU28G6j7kdzAeeAhx0JvKljJehEzYbLLARi/s1600-h/ofhresa.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy8wq2K0DqdlamoL4b7JCvmSFswLNY5MF8q11NL-tpxSIN2OHAXNHoLd35R_Y5X-0ronfgF5P3EG9TNQyZrAxjOZzdxhUoo-oLDgIiesU4TfU28G6j7kdzAeeAhx0JvKljJehEzYbLLARi/s320/ofhresa.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431366525487334482" border="0" /></a> Look at that maze of a speaker! Really helped the bass.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR5k6_gyOORGA9S3CYCVneZ8xpv4bLhBRnqM2ZwbqUnV1rfK0PCOyTEVXlgWHOMeS09LHLB6b7h-RwQz9Cu4srxsLyeAGN7nIejlo4MqmMPlZSxCkLvIVIR2sqq0rsumzxVs60stzB_-D2/s1600-h/safjrfa.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR5k6_gyOORGA9S3CYCVneZ8xpv4bLhBRnqM2ZwbqUnV1rfK0PCOyTEVXlgWHOMeS09LHLB6b7h-RwQz9Cu4srxsLyeAGN7nIejlo4MqmMPlZSxCkLvIVIR2sqq0rsumzxVs60stzB_-D2/s320/safjrfa.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431366742231529378" border="0" /></a>
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia9RhyphenhyphenUD7AVUDHZi5zGyIhckge-tgaHyD53Lf9BOUGUxdR3gEHk_s9Cakl8qtKRJlJwiaSEsyTLwoOnOhOsKadVZ5b6POVBJXQHfpspukuIvb0T0wxNVa0zNecKnJ5k4sAm7ISKwNvbRZo/s1600-h/savfas.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia9RhyphenhyphenUD7AVUDHZi5zGyIhckge-tgaHyD53Lf9BOUGUxdR3gEHk_s9Cakl8qtKRJlJwiaSEsyTLwoOnOhOsKadVZ5b6POVBJXQHfpspukuIvb0T0wxNVa0zNecKnJ5k4sAm7ISKwNvbRZo/s320/savfas.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431367229192508386" border="0" /></a> Beautiful.
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<br />I also threw together an amp with an LM386 low-power speaker opamp I had laying around as well as other parts I also just had laying around. It's still in breadboard form if you can't tell from the pics. Sounds pretty good for cardboard and batteries!
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<br />On the note of sound quality; I thought I had been exposed to 90% of what Hi-Fi had to offer. I've listened to most of the top headphones from the top companies, and I've demoed a vinyl/tube amp/loudspeaker setup complete with <span style="font-style: italic;">actively-shielded</span> cables at a Hi-Fi store that one could sell to buy a pretty nice car, we're talking <span style="font-style: italic;">baby supercar</span>. The room was even set up with diffusers and bass traps, the works. Yet there's something about this single driver, especially in the MIDS on vocals, that is just brand new to my ears, like nothing I've heard before. I don't believe I've ever heard vocals so true.
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<br />Frequency response was a bit off, however. There seems to be a region in the spectrum <span style="font-style: italic;">missing</span> from the speakers, somewhere in the low mids or high bass. This is probably a consequence of speaker design, material (CARDBOARD, I need to start working with MDF), the driver (<3", most fullrange cabinets I see are for 4" fullranges), etc.
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<br />I think I've stumbled upon the subject for my Spring project...
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<br />Oh and maybe an amp too, since there always has to be something electronic.
<br />kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-68025889269656154472009-10-01T01:10:00.000-07:002009-10-01T01:24:40.837-07:00FORMULA SAE<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVwjef3G6lmMTzDcoNEX2yX1xN1q0X_4Jru731kS1NxNLtKkmpJGz0zT8ljJBEyTm5OLwJsuMsA65WrctKgcnvqJFKASD16vIo4Yjb0TCPcSFQgpR7uIq0YsIiqCGbU2nnYhEqa60_BU7W/s1600-h/Photo_092709_002.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVwjef3G6lmMTzDcoNEX2yX1xN1q0X_4Jru731kS1NxNLtKkmpJGz0zT8ljJBEyTm5OLwJsuMsA65WrctKgcnvqJFKASD16vIo4Yjb0TCPcSFQgpR7uIq0YsIiqCGbU2nnYhEqa60_BU7W/s320/Photo_092709_002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387541403273849346" border="0" /></a><br />So it's official, I've joined Cal's Formula SAE team! I only have a few days experience working with them, but so far I love it. The people are great and I cannot WAIT to see this year's car up and running (which won't happen until next year, probably). The pic is of me in the car from the last competition, blurry because my cameraman didn't take into account my cameraphone's delay when snapping it.<br /><br />The new engine is supposed to be dyno tested this weekend, I wonder if I'll get to see it, or more importantly <span style="font-style: italic;">hear</span> it.<br /><br />Why haven't I done this sooner? I haven't really done much with any club at Cal but I can see myself spending 80% of my weekends helping out with this. I loved metal shop in high school (I took metal 2 twice, never learned TIG though, which is hurting me right now), I love modifying/driving my RC car crazily, and I drove my Corolla wagon a little too ridiculously in high school. The only bad thing is I really can't pull myself to do work after coming home from the shop on the weekends since I'm so tired (or maybe that's just an excuse).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEf7MKIeOgpBELAPJ8jslYbTe0r7-zp98aySeHEIPNlFaWzZr-NDTqM166-rGc9_SWkfOgVeKkjAcklhrUlILezjSiBQVGyWUCei2IUln8lGW2ieUgL8ZuzD6EpMM5rc9chocX_qto_SV4/s1600-h/Photo_092409_001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEf7MKIeOgpBELAPJ8jslYbTe0r7-zp98aySeHEIPNlFaWzZr-NDTqM166-rGc9_SWkfOgVeKkjAcklhrUlILezjSiBQVGyWUCei2IUln8lGW2ieUgL8ZuzD6EpMM5rc9chocX_qto_SV4/s320/Photo_092409_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387542995725679202" border="0" /></a><br />If you haven't heard about the UCwide "walkout", well, here is a pic I took from what happened at UC Berkeley. It was so massive I could barely hear what was going on, but the chanting/shouting was kinda fun.<br /><br />If I get time/energy this weekend, maybe I'll post pics of my laptop speaker repair (it hasn't happened yet by the way, and yes I teased at it during the last post). I took apart my laptop and took them out, and to my surprise, it still works great! However, I ended up with an extra screw, which was <span style="font-style: italic;">very</span> unsettling. I spent an hour partially taking it apart and putting it back together to try to figure out where it went, in the end I guess it's nonessential. I'll have another chance to figure it out soon though, during the repair.kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-62167461453935280362009-09-25T00:22:00.001-07:002009-09-25T00:32:28.159-07:002nd Cardboard Shelf!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAEl8Ar75fo9tfZ-kemH6goptesRGAm3op-knMtstVPJgBibr5NZApWEN9-LGGbIq378vljLVloyeRZSZr4sikatCF90LSwBLB-NBpIXczZgI9REX9q_j0R0D8efkFsQQX-cyJaf8micZX/s1600-h/asklfjd.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAEl8Ar75fo9tfZ-kemH6goptesRGAm3op-knMtstVPJgBibr5NZApWEN9-LGGbIq378vljLVloyeRZSZr4sikatCF90LSwBLB-NBpIXczZgI9REX9q_j0R0D8efkFsQQX-cyJaf8micZX/s400/asklfjd.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385302588848890722" border="0" /></a><br />This has been done for a while, and I have been a bad blogger, I've neglected to update. I updated, but I updated on <span style="font-style: italic;">facebook</span>. To be honest I don't think anyone visits this blog anymore; especially after nearly 2 months with no updates, the latest being about how I'm running every other day now (still am though!).<br /><br />Here is the<a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32293&id=1067100011&l=304dec2d63"> album on facebook</a>. The link should work for everyone regardless of facebook membership status-at least that's what it tells me. Oh-I just found out this nulls any notion of anonymity on my part, but that's okay.<br /><br />The gum tape REALLY brought out the front, it just looks GREAT, compared to the <a href="http://chintabo.blogspot.com/2009/03/remember-to-properly-fillet-your-joints.html">last shelf</a>. The last shelf was "sealed" with strips of brown paper bag lined with wood glue.<br /><br />I might be repairing my laptop speakers this weekend if any readers are interested in seeing an MSI Megabook S262 teardown; but it's just a simple cable replacement, nothing too noteworthy.<br /><br />That's it for now.kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-36057996503505826722009-08-01T13:53:00.000-07:002009-08-01T14:27:25.576-07:00C25K!!!!!!!!!It's official, I've begun the <a href="http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml">Couch-to-5k</a> running program! A friend of mine linked it to me, and the intro made perfect sense:<br /><br />"Too many people have been turned off of running simply by trying to start off too fast. Their bodies rebel, and they wind up miserable, wondering why anyone would possibly want to do this to themselves."<br /><br />The last time I tried taking up running was by treadmill at the school Recreational Sports Facility, Fall 2008. I really did wind up miserable, the only thing keeping me going was my persistence and the satisfaction of a mirror (and a girl, surprise surprise). I was doing okay, at 6 days/week (I lasted a couple of months as well! And this was with weightlifting too), but I was pushing myself to the extremes, exhausting myself and torturing the hell out of my lungs. I always dreaded it.<br /><br />Now running is fun! The program calls for 3 runs/week, I've done 5 so far this week! Granted, I've only just finished the second week, but I think I'm making good progress as each transition feels smooth and easy.<br /><br />Running outside around town, parks, and residential areas is so much fun! There's still a lot of places in this city I haven't seen :D<br /><br />I bought this the first day:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4zaqg43iwpHIRuhpDyFADXE1M99vMKxvSH7ORk0KnaiZVnSylBjbaRc4pmkudtXGmmeXArdHQAUQAbOgWPTgkaBviUjNDYetKKIcDWddestfHZcNHIBBpzhKnA2NErH9xeF3-h6P-bsSH/s1600-h/PICT1987.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4zaqg43iwpHIRuhpDyFADXE1M99vMKxvSH7ORk0KnaiZVnSylBjbaRc4pmkudtXGmmeXArdHQAUQAbOgWPTgkaBviUjNDYetKKIcDWddestfHZcNHIBBpzhKnA2NErH9xeF3-h6P-bsSH/s200/PICT1987.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365104273372818994" border="0" /></a><br />Purchased at Tuesday Morning (yes I'm cheap), <span style="font-style: italic;">on</span> a Tuesday Morning lol. I realized I didn't have any kind of digital watch, and the program requires a way to measure either running distance or time. Also, as you can see, the wristband is interchangeable. It was either this or a USC digital watch, which would have misrepresented me greatly lol.<br /><br />The wristband reminds me of <a href="http://khairilhusni.blogmas.com/files/2009/03/keithurban.jpg">Keith Urban</a>, who I had just seen the weekend before the Tuesday in concert with Sugarland. Coincidence? lol. I wonder why he always wears it, maybe his extreme shredding (yes he can shred, I bet he could do metal if he wanted to) causes his forearm and hand to sweat a <span style="font-style: italic;">lot</span>.<br /><br />Also, I bought some blue Sheaffer ink and a Sheaffer calligraphy fountain pen (which was ridiculously cheap at $6, no converter though D:).<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFahekBGdMCBp-fDbtzqNg3QMguow-6OOfRay23-1bfOP_RareR-fUTLz18A5_NFWSBdruTnFzcDo6XY4VesJLms28XJdTGy6g-bqgdSyKMNFUxZwupghDaJgPforBRWVlMSel6fgP81_j/s1600-h/PICT1989.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFahekBGdMCBp-fDbtzqNg3QMguow-6OOfRay23-1bfOP_RareR-fUTLz18A5_NFWSBdruTnFzcDo6XY4VesJLms28XJdTGy6g-bqgdSyKMNFUxZwupghDaJgPforBRWVlMSel6fgP81_j/s200/PICT1989.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365105884471919554" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip6WJtn0t1JFR_if_S40uD2gter8Z_J-7qB_q2rxzyYFkkplsUYvn43IjCMPffVSGdYTjHYQPZz1hLtHIUdEivWFYvJNe8PUybugfM8h-rEcLjxOfes8gmVhlqkhpO-xbj18PDpkYuhQ25/s1600-h/PICT1992.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 135px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip6WJtn0t1JFR_if_S40uD2gter8Z_J-7qB_q2rxzyYFkkplsUYvn43IjCMPffVSGdYTjHYQPZz1hLtHIUdEivWFYvJNe8PUybugfM8h-rEcLjxOfes8gmVhlqkhpO-xbj18PDpkYuhQ25/s200/PICT1992.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365105392590889042" border="0" /></a><br />Looking through my notebooks, I think I'm improving greatly (although I don't really write down anything meaningful, I practice by writing whatever I'm listening to at the moment). Credit for top stanza goes to Brad Paisley, the bottom line from Queen. The paper is a Clairefontaine notebook.<br /><br />The ink is quite... thin. It's a perfect match for the gold-ish fountain I got for my birthday in this <a href="http://chintabo.blogspot.com/2009/03/thats-4-foot-straightedge-and-triangle.html">post</a>, since it seems to have a bit of a problem in the flow department with my other inks (it was nearly impossible to get a good line with the included ink cartridge!). The flow is nice and even now, and more importantly: reliable. The calligraphy in that post is just <span style="font-style: italic;">hideous</span> now that I look at it.<br /><br />This calligraphy thing is so addicting! I need to learn a new font.kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-85268187555752551312009-07-10T10:42:00.000-07:002009-09-25T00:22:15.979-07:00Waterproof and Water DamageWell, I haven't RC'd for more than a week, but I will post some things that happened the last time.<br /><br />Upon my latest run of the KNEX NEW BRIGHT HYBRID, I encountered a motor problem. It just died. This was unusual because it was the stock Losi Mini-T motor, I hadn't opened it up or modified it at all. I was expecting reliability! It turns out either the plastic washer, or armature lamination cover had melted and covered the commutator! I wonder if this ever happened to any Mini-T's.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoi6F3VmOXoNIhvwtfv2rDwx17nApHWXdZ98yVrMWITTK2iQfq3j1sDo2l3DACToy5umYdcsT78ykaBiKLZSO9a7VgH-aWp-u_3nf2vRffZQLzPc-a6NklhxAs0XJRP0Z4tujgnHwMx86O/s1600-h/PICT1919.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoi6F3VmOXoNIhvwtfv2rDwx17nApHWXdZ98yVrMWITTK2iQfq3j1sDo2l3DACToy5umYdcsT78ykaBiKLZSO9a7VgH-aWp-u_3nf2vRffZQLzPc-a6NklhxAs0XJRP0Z4tujgnHwMx86O/s200/PICT1919.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356894702788077218" border="0" /></a> The melted washer.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0V3yO0_eP7v1HVIhjRGR8Gsi4J6p2cY9WtaNLiqbLHpu8BeXtGDifdo1YFTJrDO3ZxyD4wc-f4kHhqXia88Q5CDkf9nuWjbS6QjXdEC1ZbH6VGGPARJ6WtQUyZ5QL3XbqJ50DATKiQzmg/s1600-h/PICT1930.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0V3yO0_eP7v1HVIhjRGR8Gsi4J6p2cY9WtaNLiqbLHpu8BeXtGDifdo1YFTJrDO3ZxyD4wc-f4kHhqXia88Q5CDkf9nuWjbS6QjXdEC1ZbH6VGGPARJ6WtQUyZ5QL3XbqJ50DATKiQzmg/s200/PICT1930.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356895539421162322" border="0" /></a>The armature. Note the melting at the edges of the white plastic rotor-caps at the upper left and right, and the <span style="font-style: italic;">entirely missing cap</span> at the bottom. The comm has been partially cleaned in this picture.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPj3Tin2eSocVFQQmQn55FeiIrquA5i1LBpgrlEIF2Ydx4Fk2rB4KaGoucy2dcEtQPSlyfcCPAWHwa5_2grJc5RlQLKpjvZi4oCRlhSPbaKhp44gZodOwioMVaVS7UJO9MIwkXMX1C6Hlm/s1600-h/PICT1929.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPj3Tin2eSocVFQQmQn55FeiIrquA5i1LBpgrlEIF2Ydx4Fk2rB4KaGoucy2dcEtQPSlyfcCPAWHwa5_2grJc5RlQLKpjvZi4oCRlhSPbaKhp44gZodOwioMVaVS7UJO9MIwkXMX1C6Hlm/s200/PICT1929.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356896062374053426" border="0" /></a> The comm. This is <span style="font-style: italic;">after</span> I began to peel away the plastic.<br /><br />I can't help but wonder if this was catalyzed by the one incident from a previous run, in which my roommate was driving. He attempted to climb a steep grade, where he was mostly successful but got stuck and <span style="font-style: italic;">kept holding the throttle</span>. If you continue to apply a current to a locked DC motor, it essentially becomes a short circuit. The current going through the coils is no longer AC (it is usually AC from the comm constantly repositioning itself with the brushes, go read <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brushed_DC_Electric_Motor">something better</a> explaining how DC motors work if you don't understand), and therefore the AC impedance of a coil is gone and the resistance basically drops to 0. This is almost as if the battery was short circuited.<br /><br />After the incident, I did smell melted plastic, but I had inspected the gearbox and there was no signs of melting. I hadn't realized it then, but it was obviously something inside the motor.<br /><br />However, on the run that the motor failure occurred, the truck was running on relatively flat ground (leaves, twigs, etc) and the failure was quite a surprise.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Waterproofing</span><br /><br />In order to run the truck through the local creek, I had previously put the receiver and speed control into little baggies, and then zip-tied them shut. This worked okay, but then after one run I discovered water <span style="font-style: italic;">inside</span> one of the baggies (the receiver one!). The servo held up well with no waterproofing whatsoever.<br /><br />This time, however, I wanted to run the truck on the beach, and maybe try to tease the water a bit (it ended up almost floating out to sea!), so I needed something a little better.<br /><br />Here was the idea:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1lT8pjRkL1iiRC08mwDB7xOXwpvGrr0gVlm5SdhXnhNy-vxM3vckU8xn3m39Vf5_EDiGsEb-WP7vbvkOtOp64Ox0-agwDomofDpsD-xAfeWpTdUTzljzeEFbSFZC3eYghATn8qSYxPYFF/s1600-h/PICT1936.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1lT8pjRkL1iiRC08mwDB7xOXwpvGrr0gVlm5SdhXnhNy-vxM3vckU8xn3m39Vf5_EDiGsEb-WP7vbvkOtOp64Ox0-agwDomofDpsD-xAfeWpTdUTzljzeEFbSFZC3eYghATn8qSYxPYFF/s200/PICT1936.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356899148490758338" border="0" /></a><br />And the execution:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh2sGGMbW24IgR6Pc5apiQYQb2u1m4jJAuUsXqXs44McS-NwT5YESEL7e7gJT2vW9eBoIuqz2rKjcDUmZpI1qzOduEwr3MJpdUKmEB2QBaCK81POP7hnHTYjoNIjdNZL17FS5frF3eamu5/s1600-h/PICT1938.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh2sGGMbW24IgR6Pc5apiQYQb2u1m4jJAuUsXqXs44McS-NwT5YESEL7e7gJT2vW9eBoIuqz2rKjcDUmZpI1qzOduEwr3MJpdUKmEB2QBaCK81POP7hnHTYjoNIjdNZL17FS5frF3eamu5/s200/PICT1938.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356901341629448706" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo8I1S8wKRe9lJHvRdIUvJ1FvFk9-BDG11dxQUqtbmyIkkmMyeVtMrija-6ZsKjWfHpp_c-2TV4CWrn6HLs-6BN-IehF7r2oG2zLlP4P8LmYtMWbS47a_sw0yoZHI_1PhwTinFI5W9hhhT/s1600-h/PICT1943.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo8I1S8wKRe9lJHvRdIUvJ1FvFk9-BDG11dxQUqtbmyIkkmMyeVtMrija-6ZsKjWfHpp_c-2TV4CWrn6HLs-6BN-IehF7r2oG2zLlP4P8LmYtMWbS47a_sw0yoZHI_1PhwTinFI5W9hhhT/s200/PICT1943.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356901666273700242" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidV_lIhcGoaZFlHAu_tVunUt-EHaFxNJQF9MtrgZt1XAkThrY7pG_A2uKqlnj1PsIFOQ_9Dm6gK9hdVDWFNmkMvSAVFeaw5P64qecWhfOh60-Al7DxkPPXrd8mG5ICeOw3IYCqGnA098qL/s1600-h/PICT1944.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidV_lIhcGoaZFlHAu_tVunUt-EHaFxNJQF9MtrgZt1XAkThrY7pG_A2uKqlnj1PsIFOQ_9Dm6gK9hdVDWFNmkMvSAVFeaw5P64qecWhfOh60-Al7DxkPPXrd8mG5ICeOw3IYCqGnA098qL/s200/PICT1944.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356901899932811138" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtRJ1WLOOpmHspaWMa9GHNnOBC_M_Jcf7BoGpwEGljHFmiZ22twWOK2FGe8dGDlQlMxdxa7hG7-7MJlXa8nO97b11gt8lKnpOEEvfZ7nd6HgRvzlNxKuqIKSz5hWNo56Xide-n6cXvtO3s/s1600-h/PICT1945.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtRJ1WLOOpmHspaWMa9GHNnOBC_M_Jcf7BoGpwEGljHFmiZ22twWOK2FGe8dGDlQlMxdxa7hG7-7MJlXa8nO97b11gt8lKnpOEEvfZ7nd6HgRvzlNxKuqIKSz5hWNo56Xide-n6cXvtO3s/s200/PICT1945.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356902104344620418" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0UNrtcWUC_Hasrs_ph4xNdWiHWvN2OY7xS8Nn7Ywce59BPy16lmTtolL4csT7k0v1QiQ-3UzH9kkjW-MqMzpIyJBkH7Ywf90N71mU8YxqOJ7dZ7qEVgmmPs7m_WRmjPRUeme7ipdmaHxD/s1600-h/PICT1947.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0UNrtcWUC_Hasrs_ph4xNdWiHWvN2OY7xS8Nn7Ywce59BPy16lmTtolL4csT7k0v1QiQ-3UzH9kkjW-MqMzpIyJBkH7Ywf90N71mU8YxqOJ7dZ7qEVgmmPs7m_WRmjPRUeme7ipdmaHxD/s200/PICT1947.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356902321116079922" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The servo I opened up, and applied liberal amounts of grease to the seams. I neglected to take photos.<br /><br />The moist beachy-area I had intended to run on was just water when I went, alas, it was high tide. I continued on to a rocky area, and it was either dry driving, or floating out to sea. Needless to say, it worked pretty well! I hadn't brought my camera, so sadly there's no good photos/footage of this event.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5EmnZAACgTU_L3vUdD3wLoHubl-pM7atNSL1gTg70ikZKAndhWjp7QheQM83EQYrq_4pBprC9_Nq1fbaT1g4q1ygLrSiZnTK-_PLPtJsitwT8BNL3_w8vUq1qlsfrhc6stcpMl24-xYMC/s1600-h/Photo_070109_001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5EmnZAACgTU_L3vUdD3wLoHubl-pM7atNSL1gTg70ikZKAndhWjp7QheQM83EQYrq_4pBprC9_Nq1fbaT1g4q1ygLrSiZnTK-_PLPtJsitwT8BNL3_w8vUq1qlsfrhc6stcpMl24-xYMC/s200/Photo_070109_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356903553758127906" border="0" /></a> I think it would have made a decent raft if I could have sealed the air inside the tires somehow.<br /><br />While the run was a success, I cannot say the same about the aftermath. Laziness has set in (I'm in class now though) and I neglected it for nearly a week before performing maintenance. This was made even worse because the water was not fresh, creek water, it was <span style="font-style: italic;">salt water</span> which corrodes much faster.<br /><br />I don't know if this happened during or after the run (probably mostly during), but some real general chem stuff happened.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWWFPq2S547qZ9Obm8z1zxyUnVWjOKl1fQVu9eTwp2m0ViaMOF7xF3Rft92Vk8DgA9vXL18Ng3iLPjAOAtv8qs9Ldh4QnKTuNEgczfr5KkTp8AcRhJxNSVPm8lYBh4jCzbrieX7Edqp3Zk/s1600-h/PICT1968.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWWFPq2S547qZ9Obm8z1zxyUnVWjOKl1fQVu9eTwp2m0ViaMOF7xF3Rft92Vk8DgA9vXL18Ng3iLPjAOAtv8qs9Ldh4QnKTuNEgczfr5KkTp8AcRhJxNSVPm8lYBh4jCzbrieX7Edqp3Zk/s200/PICT1968.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356904623984003634" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYoa5qnF7HbBV8bGrvxK63roM3hZA5wZBiVgkiV-jCitg1W0LtKQvzA03J0R5OLVBLkPdVzl0mp6ksIwqNlprGc-v89knAGSGOLeBg2SiSDvjeVP5ZVCAUgXhWyyp4F9QugesVzMu3YMCH/s1600-h/PICT1961.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYoa5qnF7HbBV8bGrvxK63roM3hZA5wZBiVgkiV-jCitg1W0LtKQvzA03J0R5OLVBLkPdVzl0mp6ksIwqNlprGc-v89knAGSGOLeBg2SiSDvjeVP5ZVCAUgXhWyyp4F9QugesVzMu3YMCH/s200/PICT1961.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356905226596452690" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdcKV4E7n4sZk0vEmUi7DP0EpEUk20ksjqOWM1fyjysi1DB_PfyOUa7xNf3ZaBtL_aoZNCvUpxkW4WnC8pVNYlCMey_VeCXd6Hhx2Jxvn-BxBKMUQdVT8a5xuh14QMdS8z_Cj7obYrZyBk/s1600-h/PICT1966.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdcKV4E7n4sZk0vEmUi7DP0EpEUk20ksjqOWM1fyjysi1DB_PfyOUa7xNf3ZaBtL_aoZNCvUpxkW4WnC8pVNYlCMey_VeCXd6Hhx2Jxvn-BxBKMUQdVT8a5xuh14QMdS8z_Cj7obYrZyBk/s200/PICT1966.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356905618384933874" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This is the battery plug (and the receiving end on the speed control, and a part of the wire where stripping occurred). Note the blue deposit over only the <span style="font-style: italic;">positive</span> contacts. I believe this is cuprous (cupric?) chloride: the contacts are probably made of copper, perhaps nickel-plated, and they were exposed to an aqueous solution of sodium chloride (the bay). The positively-charged electrode of the battery attracted the negatively-charged chloride anions, and formed the precipitate. I don't know if I'm right though, it's been years since I've taken general chemistry and I forget most things a month after classes anyway.<br /><br />Also, the motor, which turned freely after the run, is now locked tight. I'm guessing some internal rusting caused it, but I don't really want to find out. The truck has been shelved since.<br /><br />It's been fun, and completely worth it. I just wish somewhere in this city there was some MUD I could plow through.kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-7524304567006794502009-06-29T17:35:00.000-07:002009-06-29T18:43:57.176-07:00Photo quality is back... After just one more pic, I swear! I mean, this pic wouldn't be possible with anything other than my cell cam. It'll be obvious, don't worry.<br /><br />Before, this blog has had a maximum of 2 confirmed (by comments) readers at any given time, with previous picture quality. There hasn't been a comment since the poor picture quality began. Anyone remember this <a href="http://chintabo.blogspot.com/2009/05/still-miss-my-camera.html">failed attempt</a> at fixing my good ol' Konica Minolta X50? Tried to charge using the external DC jack, but then realized it doesn't charge from that jack, then tried to power from that jack ~5 volts from USB. Then I found out the USB supply current was too low for the camera to actually operate on.<br /><br />Now, I had this idea a few months ago, but then forgot about it until now. It's so simple.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjloT2_iWj-EPgo5hGL0jG7AfeYiuuOcpBIFACankFtl2K82X4bjCGP6DxUxOKN05tteZOTo43L2X6DuM-THg9pA8eZwViwDiI6_pQrAuqq1JAEj2UY_hkftbZLltKLFj3x2EkxLaSA4jhc/s1600-h/Photo_062809_001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjloT2_iWj-EPgo5hGL0jG7AfeYiuuOcpBIFACankFtl2K82X4bjCGP6DxUxOKN05tteZOTo43L2X6DuM-THg9pA8eZwViwDiI6_pQrAuqq1JAEj2UY_hkftbZLltKLFj3x2EkxLaSA4jhc/s320/Photo_062809_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352916085303662578" border="0" /></a><br />Yep. Just 4 AA's, NiMH, rated at a total of 4.8 volts, while the dc jack on the camera is asking for 4.7 volts. Close enough, even alkalines worked, which provided nearly 6 volts. I measured current draw, and it was only a little over the USB 100 mA at 340 mA. Okay, it's more than three times as much, but its still very low.<br />I'll probably re-do it with a longer cable, as this will get cumbersome when I try to use a tripod, but it worked.<span style="font-weight: bold;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><span>Also, yes that is the 4-AA holder that I also used as a receiver pack on the last post.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /><br />10 Cells</span><span><br /><br />On Saturday, after the old Ni-Cads had been cycled a few times with my discharger, I headed out to a nice little spot (in fact the only spot with flat dirt here in Berkeley) west of here to finally see what 10 cells could do-at least with my 20 turn Stinger/Flash hybrid.<br /><br />It just so happened there were a bunch of guys running nitro RCs! As I was setting up for some fun and getting ready to challenge their Losi XXX-NT (I think) to a drag race, since I was feeling confident with the 10-cell setup, I pulled the trigger (throttle) ever so slightly, it moved a little and--death. It died right there. The ESC had died. It had run on 10 cells before.<br /><br />I inspected it later that night, nothing seemed wrong, and it was rated for up to 10 cells. I went back on Sunday with the very old and weak (but dependable) Elektra, rated at 6 cells and only handling down to 20-turn motors.<br /><br />It was still fun, but I felt it could have been a lot more fun. I still went and got it a bit dirty though :D Enjoy<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-UWS7V0EKHdaflS98frXEmiND2_K0KvZSgDTxzV-qeNfUMmVpkvmbuKUSURvz_jTKHiHh-8ppA-q-eZa_gemvNshjo4cV18thCBV6n8G-u8Cw3ufbbc8OxAEynXithZvbQrJuqO5HEi6S/s1600-h/PICT0001.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-UWS7V0EKHdaflS98frXEmiND2_K0KvZSgDTxzV-qeNfUMmVpkvmbuKUSURvz_jTKHiHh-8ppA-q-eZa_gemvNshjo4cV18thCBV6n8G-u8Cw3ufbbc8OxAEynXithZvbQrJuqO5HEi6S/s320/PICT0001.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352921772035585970" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_3ib_VjVQ_iv8CzhLuf37hWAAiB_dI5ROSN1ObLTf6JEfiJ04_P7xQnLR2hRKq_NBaAMMds-3r8Xz_Gwv4cP92gJA5YDtuCNYQc8lwIkfoxoRtnOqIkymouU3aKFJGoJFzKNhSgeuXOEI/s1600-h/PICT0002.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 153px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_3ib_VjVQ_iv8CzhLuf37hWAAiB_dI5ROSN1ObLTf6JEfiJ04_P7xQnLR2hRKq_NBaAMMds-3r8Xz_Gwv4cP92gJA5YDtuCNYQc8lwIkfoxoRtnOqIkymouU3aKFJGoJFzKNhSgeuXOEI/s320/PICT0002.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352921926379148850" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrW9OmWe3dxstNH4RZsv4OtcsTlIn1AHp0YN-mg2XZijCYoRy9m3khd0qDXtPpu485bYuRYjnsDW9j8hVH9d-q0UL16TKsP-dvlNQX63XkjP7MfCt8S41Q5UMLkxuAeIGeJR-urJWPwlHn/s1600-h/PICT0003.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrW9OmWe3dxstNH4RZsv4OtcsTlIn1AHp0YN-mg2XZijCYoRy9m3khd0qDXtPpu485bYuRYjnsDW9j8hVH9d-q0UL16TKsP-dvlNQX63XkjP7MfCt8S41Q5UMLkxuAeIGeJR-urJWPwlHn/s200/PICT0003.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352922276171041090" border="0" /></a>That little red thing in the back is a ghetto (but effective) air intake to cool the motor.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxb9YTlSb8LOGwwTEHJibmoXNVJvlWtpt824fKYsduyUg6vNtS9SqxVGA0vRR-iBFCBv4Ce6-SttB_D8Tq2Yoh72xgxe2sAfS-sGXSn3RBAqMMpdKRnEmayeNujRkvVHW4QAmlCxECsMWO/s1600-h/PICT0005.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxb9YTlSb8LOGwwTEHJibmoXNVJvlWtpt824fKYsduyUg6vNtS9SqxVGA0vRR-iBFCBv4Ce6-SttB_D8Tq2Yoh72xgxe2sAfS-sGXSn3RBAqMMpdKRnEmayeNujRkvVHW4QAmlCxECsMWO/s200/PICT0005.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352922646238013506" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb70sY086tmRALoS4tfiUD8niwxruMvS6YvHJmpVFGV2Y5AcrDQaux5Q4podIQH7CA-K4Q83RjsDcwidr-qvENIcekeEucszKDIquIDPY02c878upulZb_3K1KQJ16Av-Vuy0jtNJa2vpa/s1600-h/PICT0009.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb70sY086tmRALoS4tfiUD8niwxruMvS6YvHJmpVFGV2Y5AcrDQaux5Q4podIQH7CA-K4Q83RjsDcwidr-qvENIcekeEucszKDIquIDPY02c878upulZb_3K1KQJ16Av-Vuy0jtNJa2vpa/s200/PICT0009.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352928964121329298" border="0" /></a>Where the intake leads to<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Mdou8ldc9BLEu4ml4gY6lvg_sSl69XgZIzxeeE3WOusi7QGYmEWmqV-Rz5x-GHHRHO9DSK6Z_UKOpMCzF1Ywpg5wMUnSTknqmeZH_2Rs4P-9o8dPV1VYgoKTq1wYCF3CWIqEiZlMCKpu/s1600-h/PICT0008.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Mdou8ldc9BLEu4ml4gY6lvg_sSl69XgZIzxeeE3WOusi7QGYmEWmqV-Rz5x-GHHRHO9DSK6Z_UKOpMCzF1Ywpg5wMUnSTknqmeZH_2Rs4P-9o8dPV1VYgoKTq1wYCF3CWIqEiZlMCKpu/s200/PICT0008.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352923284124574498" border="0" /></a>And another shot<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh82xYwQZcw7T9OmDKtChsNaE_9ZnGJbvsGZKqWxId8geOqwOwm4gYJs8_KbhnGWF0fCOlCHGNQ244P8Zhs3lsporGjpHlVnaKgVDYG9-E6FZEc3F6wtuf8Smkj4M6eXzt7sUIHTkaLKlDz/s1600-h/PICT0015.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh82xYwQZcw7T9OmDKtChsNaE_9ZnGJbvsGZKqWxId8geOqwOwm4gYJs8_KbhnGWF0fCOlCHGNQ244P8Zhs3lsporGjpHlVnaKgVDYG9-E6FZEc3F6wtuf8Smkj4M6eXzt7sUIHTkaLKlDz/s200/PICT0015.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352924048839274434" border="0" /></a>My favorite shot<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqMUZgan3vTzq64qSVpIbHJMw-fGSbubIl7POsVPaHhGaE6bKh8aw9rDkW48vb5p9s5yI7dWw15pCpTfXOK5blZzT_cDQ9Evijl6GebhyHW-8narh8fCNzPJfq2glA4ka8D_-TYk6OTkyf/s1600-h/PICT0021.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqMUZgan3vTzq64qSVpIbHJMw-fGSbubIl7POsVPaHhGaE6bKh8aw9rDkW48vb5p9s5yI7dWw15pCpTfXOK5blZzT_cDQ9Evijl6GebhyHW-8narh8fCNzPJfq2glA4ka8D_-TYk6OTkyf/s200/PICT0021.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352925391918129522" border="0" /></a>The Elektra, the purple heatsinks match the rear purple shocks lol.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGp390ZkLVw95oTnDZ1HcPljah0PgiEw2Ke9N7-mDGG8dmbIS_efUtWBuJm9Ldf3uE_DbsMJkfUOFK7JxFwbx8UuVvNj5CFG7XAZBfSLHgv8SD8he3TRt9gu3rUd6saj0wakw03D16QOgA/s1600-h/PICT1904.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGp390ZkLVw95oTnDZ1HcPljah0PgiEw2Ke9N7-mDGG8dmbIS_efUtWBuJm9Ldf3uE_DbsMJkfUOFK7JxFwbx8UuVvNj5CFG7XAZBfSLHgv8SD8he3TRt9gu3rUd6saj0wakw03D16QOgA/s200/PICT1904.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352925826079919058" border="0" /></a><br />The failed ESC - Duratrax Streak.<br />I don't know if you can blame it, I was pretty bad at soldering when I replaced the 14 gauge with 12 gauge. But it was working fine this entire time. Also, why on EARTH would you release an ESC rated up to 10 cells and down to 12 turns with 14 gauge wire, a tamiya plug and bullet connectors? Where are the solder posts? It was very cheap though, so I'm not too sad.<br /><br />I kind of messed up that motor mount that I described a few posts ago, so it'll be a while before I get the time and money to work on it again, but I figured by then I might as well go brushless :D<br /><br />Also, for when I get back into this, I picked up a disposable camera that can be used as a <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Bring_Dead_Ni_Cad_Batteries_Back_To_Life/">battery zapper</a>, for the next time I decide to bring out the old NiCads. I think I'll document it and everything, recording down charge cycle statistics before and after the treatment, and I'll try on the entire pack, and per cell as well. Hopefully there will be graphs.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizleNO1aZBzFZDYUZc0B0e7j3_xIetOWxsD6jBmnYqlAZMJXNzDxHHHczSthke5eVkOjzCprUW_hpSaieuTuBaoYcj9wJLXhyphenhypheneOkqM4oA1JaqL8n3e-CQob5NzBTgdaQs8noqZ9Z9E-SVe/s1600-h/PICT1907.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizleNO1aZBzFZDYUZc0B0e7j3_xIetOWxsD6jBmnYqlAZMJXNzDxHHHczSthke5eVkOjzCprUW_hpSaieuTuBaoYcj9wJLXhyphenhypheneOkqM4oA1JaqL8n3e-CQob5NzBTgdaQs8noqZ9Z9E-SVe/s200/PICT1907.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352927390095066066" border="0" /></a> Funny story about how I got this also. So, all i really went to Walgreens for was a bag of chips, I had a 6" sub for lunch and was feeling a bit hungry again, and then I passed by the disposable cameras and remembered the whole zapping thing, although I had intended to focus more on school and not RC again for a while. Anyway, I ask the clerk if I can have one of their old disposables, she asks the manager, and I'm denied. Then, as a stroke of luck, some girl happened to be there, ready to develop, and offered me hers. This was all in front of the clerks and manager too. Okay, I'm sorry, that wasn't funny at all.kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-25259664919725326082009-06-26T21:58:00.000-07:002009-06-26T22:59:32.208-07:00MORE POWAHWell, the Knex truck has been put on hold for now. I got tired of not being able to go very... off-road.<br /><br />The motor I rewound was FAST. When it worked. My crappy solder-joints kept coming off and ruining everything. So I bought a stock Losi Mini-T motor ($15, GASP!) and all is good.<br /><br />I've been meaning to get the Rustler back in operational condition, and so I said, what the heck, I'll go straight for the 10-cell setup I've been wanting to try for so long. 6-cell is standard.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj60sKxwpdKRPjSDvoi7P1oNU4mz4XTSS3D9CZQILMiL4is28mseKxa3FaaCHQ7lOSgP_p80QpH-QiVXHe4VkIgS0CretX9NZKNaJKsI7s5COC-HUBJCk4glZ8LgvynLZdZV5Op1VR_l9PD/s1600-h/Photo_062509_001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj60sKxwpdKRPjSDvoi7P1oNU4mz4XTSS3D9CZQILMiL4is28mseKxa3FaaCHQ7lOSgP_p80QpH-QiVXHe4VkIgS0CretX9NZKNaJKsI7s5COC-HUBJCk4glZ8LgvynLZdZV5Op1VR_l9PD/s320/Photo_062509_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351868873854651314" border="0" /></a> There are a total of 14 cells in this pic! Because 12 volts is too much for the receiver to receive power from the ESC, I needed a separate battery-pack to power it. Luckily I had a 4-AA holder left over from my electrical engineering course.<br />For the main battery pack, basically I just wired a cheap 6-cell 1500 stick pack with a 4-cell 1500 stick pack. The 4-cell is a chopped-up 6-cell, and that was the only soldering I had to do for the entire thing :D<br /><br />I use Duratrax/Andersen Powerpole connectors, which have a low resistance compared to the typical "tamiya" connector, but they're very unpopular nowadays compared to deans and traxxas connectors. However, you can't do this with deans or traxxas:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKxpy_YowFqciNyBX_hjNnAmOVrkZnNKuHV3LxgcAieA3tXieTH7FXo8VxeVZRGinFjxSzZL6NOam7md-Ibn0ppqA3bXTLcO4W9OcCzlzstMTAgmsHhTnOgcBROVUJS_J0IMDLB1lm9NFV/s1600-h/Photo_062509_004.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 177px; height: 141px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKxpy_YowFqciNyBX_hjNnAmOVrkZnNKuHV3LxgcAieA3tXieTH7FXo8VxeVZRGinFjxSzZL6NOam7md-Ibn0ppqA3bXTLcO4W9OcCzlzstMTAgmsHhTnOgcBROVUJS_J0IMDLB1lm9NFV/s320/Photo_062509_004.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351869761795824050" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIUbN_hJHdHgLKMvFpTtcoBBBdqie3SSA5SOhGNM3cBfAJ45FM4bLkx6zlYRabjzqFwAsy-2JEFDLEMULN54ukLCh2mjaH3O-bntuWBU-s-C803BPscd1EFI-3j3r9ijoEpzOTWDqfkRIc/s1600-h/Photo_062509_005.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 174px; height: 140px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIUbN_hJHdHgLKMvFpTtcoBBBdqie3SSA5SOhGNM3cBfAJ45FM4bLkx6zlYRabjzqFwAsy-2JEFDLEMULN54ukLCh2mjaH3O-bntuWBU-s-C803BPscd1EFI-3j3r9ijoEpzOTWDqfkRIc/s320/Photo_062509_005.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351869858022163234" border="0" /></a><br />I just turned two battery packs into one! And its reversible! This is made possible because the Powerpole plug is modular, and more importantly, has no gender (or is it hermaphroditic? who cares). I don't know about the current carrying characteristics (o.o alliteration) when comparing the three types of plugs, because the Traxxas one is relatively new and I've seen the contact plates, they're pretty big, but for my brushed-motor, NiCd application the 'poles are super. I'm glad I switched so many years ago.<br /><br />How did it run? Extremely poorly D: My comm has breathed its last breath, as I had overworn it, and the NiCd's haven't been run in years, so it's understandable they were slower than my 6-cell-matched NiMH packs.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO3Ay3b4sPHGk1axTcMMpm8ClOZaLssw71c8mEOtSUcAOWS61GoIsCQRTEzmcD03ersBRuBLv6jkMYF_pChmP1VRpeK9iFDtQqlTxuGRtRCwH3sK3d1QE0X4FncnNSXVy4qzaJgMCUWXBE/s1600-h/Photo_062609_005.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO3Ay3b4sPHGk1axTcMMpm8ClOZaLssw71c8mEOtSUcAOWS61GoIsCQRTEzmcD03ersBRuBLv6jkMYF_pChmP1VRpeK9iFDtQqlTxuGRtRCwH3sK3d1QE0X4FncnNSXVy4qzaJgMCUWXBE/s320/Photo_062609_005.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351873584131659170" border="0" /></a>The badly worn comm. It's hard to see but much of the copper is <span style="font-style: italic;">missing</span>.<br /><br />For the battery packs, I read around about zapping them with a high voltage to revive them and loosen the internal crystals killing their performance, but a tip from a guy at my local electronics shop made me reconsider. He told me to <span style="font-style: italic;">beat the packs</span>. It made sense! However, now, after a few charge/discharge cycles it doesn't seem to help that much. I haven't tried it in the truck yet, and because of the comm's condition, it looks like it will be quite a while before I get to see 10-cells and 13-turns come alive.<br /><br />Speaking of batteries, I finally made a discharger so I could perform battery maintenance better. The local electronics shop had the standard automotive 1157 bulbs for <span style="font-style: italic;">$1 for two</span>. I bought out their 6, and made a 6-bulb, 12-amp discharger. The closest automotive parts store wanted $2 each, so I didn't opt for the full, standard 10-bulb discharger. So the total cost was pretty much the $3.50 for the 6 bulbs, since I had some old 12-gauge laying around, and I have a bunch of the powerpole plugs.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg74MMX-46Vgbe9dhe0vTpEbwBT-IlHMvyOt6UYCAqTrr5plwqasJJ8Wb2CyRTvnimNWntlgaiaaLkhUeWeBo1szpmXYhwkQD9x7vvau19aKRPvu7fjxmS4kSasGhiSCdJ9nnPh8CbM9OOu/s1600-h/Photo_062609_001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg74MMX-46Vgbe9dhe0vTpEbwBT-IlHMvyOt6UYCAqTrr5plwqasJJ8Wb2CyRTvnimNWntlgaiaaLkhUeWeBo1szpmXYhwkQD9x7vvau19aKRPvu7fjxmS4kSasGhiSCdJ9nnPh8CbM9OOu/s320/Photo_062609_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351875762893865234" border="0" /></a>construction<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmGZvcJE9Irw1XATBJd9bYi2WKbotZZ0suW91A3ivU10hFO1cvnZPv0IYr65pb-KqPG1udtpTTTnnquVuK0v5scKiV2y9h7WD0b2uyN5EnRTItWhUSKMlS1w70ehuj1vuT9CgT8IMr3hfg/s1600-h/Photo_062609_008.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmGZvcJE9Irw1XATBJd9bYi2WKbotZZ0suW91A3ivU10hFO1cvnZPv0IYr65pb-KqPG1udtpTTTnnquVuK0v5scKiV2y9h7WD0b2uyN5EnRTItWhUSKMlS1w70ehuj1vuT9CgT8IMr3hfg/s320/Photo_062609_008.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351875953581714162" border="0" /></a>The finished discharger.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjytafSbdgN0rQPX7YwB4ZYITOHzHXmlcjo4MDM7E9Iz9DPXlFItkdfOdGXTo5S9U71JGDybg2BvjXuvslCtuXcgWOKEV2zMTa7BSyPaxzsdB3tk4yML4k9BUmJZTfGJAn2cP6t8uO6xjQm/s1600-h/Photo_062609_003.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjytafSbdgN0rQPX7YwB4ZYITOHzHXmlcjo4MDM7E9Iz9DPXlFItkdfOdGXTo5S9U71JGDybg2BvjXuvslCtuXcgWOKEV2zMTa7BSyPaxzsdB3tk4yML4k9BUmJZTfGJAn2cP6t8uO6xjQm/s320/Photo_062609_003.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351876079489373522" border="0" /></a>The discharger in action (it got a LOT brighter with my 6-cell sidexside NiMHs, saying a lot about the performance of shotgun-style construction, which is shown in the picture).<br /><br />The bulbs get blindingly-bright (with the NiMHs) and really hot. Each one draws 2 amps at 7 volts! This seems terribly inefficient, I've seen LEDs on lots of the newer cars (for everything but headlights) but why don't they put them on all cars now? I wonder if the prius and other hybrids use more efficient lamps.<br /><br />Hmmm... What else was there? Oh yeah. I spotted a 9.6 volt battery charger and battery on clearance at Radioshack the other day for $4. Those batteries for crappy RC cars are pretty much 8 AA batteries, like my transmitter, and I already had 8 NiMH AAs for my transmitter, and a plug that would work with my 18R transmitter (it doesn't matter I can still take out the AAs and use them with my traxxas TQ), so now I have an easy solution for charging my transmitter batteries (previously I would have to charge 4 at a time).<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvwTkiP6yioauRIrlaAX143tKwIHNixQFWjow7OIl_S4Z4aidnjq24w0bwTQ7A7Zyah_epx0ZbS6EcjZvp-tDZkfTDC5PkPIq3ZqJOCO8XnxXXEsyElGgLKlQiQ3ShcSnjGOlNh6dKBwQl/s1600-h/Photo_062509_003.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvwTkiP6yioauRIrlaAX143tKwIHNixQFWjow7OIl_S4Z4aidnjq24w0bwTQ7A7Zyah_epx0ZbS6EcjZvp-tDZkfTDC5PkPIq3ZqJOCO8XnxXXEsyElGgLKlQiQ3ShcSnjGOlNh6dKBwQl/s320/Photo_062509_003.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351879966277567842" border="0" /></a><br /><br />As for the Rustler, I've had the 20-turn armature from my Stinger motor for quite a while now just sitting in my toolbox, with its comm in relatively good condition. I went out to my local park with my NiMH packs, and while it was impressive for what it was (A "frankenstinger", a stinger armature from the old traxxas electric vehicle standard in my Reedy Flash BB can with stiff brush springs and quad magnets) the enjoyment I had from the raw power of the 13-turn was gone. It sounded underpowered. It did go pretty fast though, and I managed to completely screw over my ESC D:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic6j9irS2HXYngJHVKDAOmfs626_4JWzDwKy1GQShFAR4aNXcRpfRRgfLj1ri-UYYe3PM7fBc5FsZEIQ_tlPwNUfEOj9e8t0ZgEnjaHruiGkWmN-BETsxmCPcpF1wiwkUkfVMgOq1tvN54/s1600-h/STINGER2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 288px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic6j9irS2HXYngJHVKDAOmfs626_4JWzDwKy1GQShFAR4aNXcRpfRRgfLj1ri-UYYe3PM7fBc5FsZEIQ_tlPwNUfEOj9e8t0ZgEnjaHruiGkWmN-BETsxmCPcpF1wiwkUkfVMgOq1tvN54/s320/STINGER2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351881442770321490" border="0" /></a>The Stinger. Apparently they gave it a makeover in recent years<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibYoj5k94GeSbZ7CRbBkFmVTtvSsnuc9-fnZ14qAkUL7phrfGIHTXWV1NRrP5DulKtPtOd2mBTyM6WScSpZPn7gSh5AT6yhroeDTkBQ5IQGtvmOOYseOX1p8rrbDEOmdlJQQijc9odV2-9/s1600-h/stinger08.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 290px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibYoj5k94GeSbZ7CRbBkFmVTtvSsnuc9-fnZ14qAkUL7phrfGIHTXWV1NRrP5DulKtPtOd2mBTyM6WScSpZPn7gSh5AT6yhroeDTkBQ5IQGtvmOOYseOX1p8rrbDEOmdlJQQijc9odV2-9/s320/stinger08.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351881768088261842" border="0" /></a><br />Since traxxas electrics were (and are) extremely popular RC vehicles, I wonder if this could be like the standard "small block" that everyone has and is familiar with. Nah, that's probably where competition stock motors would lie.<br /><br />So I think I'm going to put away the RC for a while. I really miss my old small town, living in the city, I couldn't RC just anywhere. I've gone far and wide just searching for places to have this kind of fun. Looks like I'll have to start getting into microcontrollers finally...kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-9004495523744046102009-06-19T13:37:00.000-07:002009-10-14T17:55:11.339-07:00Knex/New Bright HYBRID MONSTER TRUCK, OH YEAHWhile browsing Goodwill last week, I came upon a ridiculously cheap "New Bright" Hummer H3 rc truck, the kind you find in Wal-Mart. There was no controller, so it was marked at $2, $6 if it had the controller. It had a 9.6V battery inside, and seemed to be in order. I figured maybe I could have some fun with it, use the body for future vehicles, since I've been looking into a crawler, what with their immense rise in popularity in recent years, and my thirst for the scale looks (of some) and the solid axles. My Rustler and 18R both have independent suspension, which is good, but I wanted something new.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6x4uHuvxiq0wuP0N6dfkbIb5c2r-DMDXJR1Uy_rifcT5UnsqT2adITQ_7ZOhJSMo0UWtr8f_y3IRh7zplwAWOLf4eeMAjFq12dhztU0JKoJROZDWiAabTNAjPcBBWHCGcdnqlc7ZsDZhW/s1600-h/Photo_061409_001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 232px; height: 185px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6x4uHuvxiq0wuP0N6dfkbIb5c2r-DMDXJR1Uy_rifcT5UnsqT2adITQ_7ZOhJSMo0UWtr8f_y3IRh7zplwAWOLf4eeMAjFq12dhztU0JKoJROZDWiAabTNAjPcBBWHCGcdnqlc7ZsDZhW/s320/Photo_061409_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349149688058417410" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1hJHKhoMMgftAIOvJvTGUZO6CCMdEA0LbVBoYh234hz0q8ERE6ZzJIwqD8ZLkdDrvbwfvSboMBL3KwPrNYSlHXR5i3SThMLxPQfQKhjVzs_WpmgrJwP__N6wQZa5WfPEroRAG7artwJqd/s1600-h/Photo_061409_002.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 230px; height: 184px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1hJHKhoMMgftAIOvJvTGUZO6CCMdEA0LbVBoYh234hz0q8ERE6ZzJIwqD8ZLkdDrvbwfvSboMBL3KwPrNYSlHXR5i3SThMLxPQfQKhjVzs_WpmgrJwP__N6wQZa5WfPEroRAG7artwJqd/s320/Photo_061409_002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349149824818371458" border="0" /></a><br />Upon closer inspection, there were some cool things I noticed. My experiences with cheap RC cars as a kid led me to think that they used irreversible assembly techniques, so I couldn't tamper with anything as I usually loved doing. This little truck was held together with mostly philips screws, and some parts that snapped together. The entire battery/electronics compartment had a nifty locking mechanism and came clear out (after unplugging the steering motor and drive motor) with two screws.<br /><br />However, the overall impression was still typical. There was no front suspension, at all. The front steering knuckles were mounted on stationary arms. Interestingly enough, they had shocks! same as the rear, except they just didn't do anything but look pretty.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK4twKxawskTF9b2ffelu_LHR1JTMnUfcSGOM9NQHxhZeZej3HtyQWmlyviuR0a7nv8uawicIvBFfun8MSSVaQ5sivFVj-IH5ZiY0YGUYHHa2dA9DbUKWOnU8MSxxcMAtf_mpSKRBIh5ZA/s1600-h/Photo_061409_003.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 232px; height: 185px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK4twKxawskTF9b2ffelu_LHR1JTMnUfcSGOM9NQHxhZeZej3HtyQWmlyviuR0a7nv8uawicIvBFfun8MSSVaQ5sivFVj-IH5ZiY0YGUYHHa2dA9DbUKWOnU8MSxxcMAtf_mpSKRBIh5ZA/s320/Photo_061409_003.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349151903697342002" border="0" /></a><br />The rear end had about a micron of suspension travel (laugh here). See if you can tell which picture is compressed and which is relaxed!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-iRg6zlJ0Gh4AFw90eD38Tiqfe3ub2HClox1hWB6xV__wKzQsapkQC_3RIJprFfviEaVTarpHfFd6a1jMcAGKUnakrW3vBOVSrnnAc2gc2Z-UnaDktUPRDUWaK4MGbWx50OkDXNbTTxas/s1600-h/Photo_061409_005.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 223px; height: 178px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-iRg6zlJ0Gh4AFw90eD38Tiqfe3ub2HClox1hWB6xV__wKzQsapkQC_3RIJprFfviEaVTarpHfFd6a1jMcAGKUnakrW3vBOVSrnnAc2gc2Z-UnaDktUPRDUWaK4MGbWx50OkDXNbTTxas/s320/Photo_061409_005.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349152350855150834" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht1mFRZqFxXsFJKeXP9ktIIGJsyL5CGS9kldXw2QOROd61gKTq_VotnRARJoDMv_MJB0m8E3BaC46BkPDDs20SJg7Q73t55-UVsW3gLawl2upBbRkvAOnHmA_3L1pP3KOo4umL-if-9sfZ/s1600-h/Photo_061409_006.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 221px; height: 178px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht1mFRZqFxXsFJKeXP9ktIIGJsyL5CGS9kldXw2QOROd61gKTq_VotnRARJoDMv_MJB0m8E3BaC46BkPDDs20SJg7Q73t55-UVsW3gLawl2upBbRkvAOnHmA_3L1pP3KOo4umL-if-9sfZ/s320/Photo_061409_006.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349152561254830786" border="0" /></a><br />There was about an Angstrom of available articulation.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEpX5XLrCceJ3r8FspSA7ZVcw_z4lNVYyEmekeEsukxx2vK8NA0jQgUbxuEWQhfdncCT-VmnCB1XTLt3-4-ZXyCKRfDy2cSAExUjQTxR8M6g_-OY4-Hk1A5QvdSXRLlVHm1axZwZFZAHEY/s1600-h/Photo_061409_004.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEpX5XLrCceJ3r8FspSA7ZVcw_z4lNVYyEmekeEsukxx2vK8NA0jQgUbxuEWQhfdncCT-VmnCB1XTLt3-4-ZXyCKRfDy2cSAExUjQTxR8M6g_-OY4-Hk1A5QvdSXRLlVHm1axZwZFZAHEY/s320/Photo_061409_004.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349153139550867762" border="0" /></a><br />I thought about some chassis/suspension modification. Installing my own electronics would be very easy. However, any modifications would be difficult and I would have to custom-fabricate parts with materials that would have been costly.<br /><br />It occurred to me then, what I could do. I had all I needed for a hybrid RC K'nex/New Bright monster truck!!!!! I had been wanting to do this for a year (here's the <a href="http://chintabo.blogspot.com/2008/07/more-knex-and-pen.html">post </a>to prove it! That was a working rolling chassis), but with all genuine K'nex parts (wheels, gears, etc etc). However, as I had been tossing around the thought for a year, every part of it just seemed very hard to do properly, and wouldn't perform well or be strong at all. The gearbox would have very many gears for a good reduction ratio, or I would have to use the weak supplied K'nex 130-motor-driven gearbox. The suspension system would be very weak and prone to breakage, as well as the steering system. The large K'nex tires are very narrow, and would have to be stacked, but I didn't even have any. The only working universal joint design I could find was HUGE and couldn't be trusted without tape.<br /><br />On the other hand, the New Bright rear axle was a complete solid-axle drive unit, with its own motor inside. I could easily detach it and use it separately without any complicated mechanical connection.<br /><br />I quickly set to work on a prototype.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitb1ED8EJL0a9jtwgDrYqwhd6fhE0XVTSJp71VjNhFNcDqRoov5ggKLhu4MR4bMisnNd4Oa_qSuQ55HYO_UmBp-Aqegu_l28oSl_TX7FqQe7T9u2fwH61WBHLwe7TnPqsGhnKZSYc69B2y/s1600-h/Photo_061409_011.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitb1ED8EJL0a9jtwgDrYqwhd6fhE0XVTSJp71VjNhFNcDqRoov5ggKLhu4MR4bMisnNd4Oa_qSuQ55HYO_UmBp-Aqegu_l28oSl_TX7FqQe7T9u2fwH61WBHLwe7TnPqsGhnKZSYc69B2y/s320/Photo_061409_011.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349156488451719842" border="0" /></a><br />The front axle is missing because at this point all I had was a chassis and a rear axle, which was a given.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib_gdlyMRcYePRxpRoTEGXU1sSseVLIwpdRMYKm7KLU_PuFjhm_RjkicZHCJYEUT975J5e2AOxsFiivUPyCtw9ZQ9epPfy8XfZ1cp1yMrAspkLWX5fBd5pnrI8o-0TOQVlDbW6ea1WBWRQ/s1600-h/Photo_061409_007.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib_gdlyMRcYePRxpRoTEGXU1sSseVLIwpdRMYKm7KLU_PuFjhm_RjkicZHCJYEUT975J5e2AOxsFiivUPyCtw9ZQ9epPfy8XfZ1cp1yMrAspkLWX5fBd5pnrI8o-0TOQVlDbW6ea1WBWRQ/s320/Photo_061409_007.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349156818248504002" border="0" /></a><br />Even though the axle link system I used involved only two links, which were hard-fastened to the axle, the knex rods were flexible enough to allow some articulation. The rods conveniently stuck into holes right under the shocks (which were very stiff, there would have been still more articulation had the springs been softer. However, the goal of this project was to be as cheap as possible).<br />There was more overall suspension travel:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJPzHJlQoQ5EKB_KwP6ixLg_wEbM7Q11ReLWj9sSPIVMumja0xtpLJTn2xI2jqMjwFC5QFKEbtvWdobbKvb7YTsb0-ai4blEqIWw68XoOVLcYTlDbC6aDLGvok08qzmvL_JmfkpgpANWaf/s1600-h/Photo_061409_008.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 219px; height: 175px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJPzHJlQoQ5EKB_KwP6ixLg_wEbM7Q11ReLWj9sSPIVMumja0xtpLJTn2xI2jqMjwFC5QFKEbtvWdobbKvb7YTsb0-ai4blEqIWw68XoOVLcYTlDbC6aDLGvok08qzmvL_JmfkpgpANWaf/s320/Photo_061409_008.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349157738648762370" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUO3nqgsmpBBaPNXha2aU-YJzC1Pe1jCV1HxcTZ1BO2ijqHMoYZVquRGsocMewbV3bELbQSYR7a7r2HFSbXgJklBYSmi9utXd40f2lKw2g_hAhxLnBdy2uXTk4Li-4i-syvPvPJSAN7q1/s1600-h/Photo_061409_009.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 219px; height: 175px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUO3nqgsmpBBaPNXha2aU-YJzC1Pe1jCV1HxcTZ1BO2ijqHMoYZVquRGsocMewbV3bELbQSYR7a7r2HFSbXgJklBYSmi9utXd40f2lKw2g_hAhxLnBdy2uXTk4Li-4i-syvPvPJSAN7q1/s320/Photo_061409_009.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349157854604437730" border="0" /></a><br />When it came to the front end, I tried making an "axle" out of knex. It turns out that the difference in size of the knuckle pins and knex rods were too great, there was a lot of slop and the toe-in varied by as much as ~40°. So, I ended up cutting the "axle" from the chassis itself.<br /><br />A knex rod zip-tied to it aided mounting. This project has taught me the value of zip-ties.<br />At this point, I had a rolling chassis+transmission.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsZuAXp9xAKIft31LpCPnwY1EJo0H7R2mLV0If9m7My82_HSoUiDYwH32-hg_w2x2W_Jgew_OuhmXElaxar9spgbSMt9hRpLRFMOjEKwREXO1EDnkgnkjm_RhmwyKqlsUyDC59AuJo5XKj/s1600-h/Photo_061409_016.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 243px; height: 195px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsZuAXp9xAKIft31LpCPnwY1EJo0H7R2mLV0If9m7My82_HSoUiDYwH32-hg_w2x2W_Jgew_OuhmXElaxar9spgbSMt9hRpLRFMOjEKwREXO1EDnkgnkjm_RhmwyKqlsUyDC59AuJo5XKj/s320/Photo_061409_016.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349188759257067746" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoooK-89AITIQDuODM_jh74M_FuRvKaxI94yxRQN0zAvmHmB8NQ3FsAkKajrkfbAHKC6luh97J2e56F5pfcErmTChzytN-j13K4YMsc7n_rxh0tySdiPUY7XNGCtDwZRnxUYoL9XzSHmaR/s1600-h/Photo_061409_021.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 243px; height: 194px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoooK-89AITIQDuODM_jh74M_FuRvKaxI94yxRQN0zAvmHmB8NQ3FsAkKajrkfbAHKC6luh97J2e56F5pfcErmTChzytN-j13K4YMsc7n_rxh0tySdiPUY7XNGCtDwZRnxUYoL9XzSHmaR/s320/Photo_061409_021.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349189420570332594" border="0" /></a><br />Silly truck, that isn't your body!<br />That round part in the front turned out to be the only thing preventing optimum servo mounting, so away it went. I used the stock steering link to link the two knuckles together, but can you guess what I used to link the servo to the knuckles?<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBzGUDFLGK16Sx_WmkkVA8YxHhMzAGpXC4VxkyoonK2UyL3eaqJDjdHNbkj-GDqCoZDaVPNo6ncBiYAs2CET2dVyEoK1tYPrMYp581Me-27OqBfZkk60RMcGAoZjsFJbtef2yDLy4uxUZd/s1600-h/Photo_061909_001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 244px; height: 195px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBzGUDFLGK16Sx_WmkkVA8YxHhMzAGpXC4VxkyoonK2UyL3eaqJDjdHNbkj-GDqCoZDaVPNo6ncBiYAs2CET2dVyEoK1tYPrMYp581Me-27OqBfZkk60RMcGAoZjsFJbtef2yDLy4uxUZd/s320/Photo_061909_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349191361170791506" border="0" /></a><br />Custom blue plastic tubing?<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjewc2TIfOLUgIS1AnrqN1IGbEv5oSre6s91km50TYnYT9rDO0pIkDcEOWTbDO-5mYHOPGgUPxFiiPuIh8ZsU8alYjF8QxD2VNO2pXaHgmqAGMD2fGFk_89uHW3RbVoPSq-uySE7zeHdBL8/s1600-h/Photo_061909_002.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 238px; height: 190px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjewc2TIfOLUgIS1AnrqN1IGbEv5oSre6s91km50TYnYT9rDO0pIkDcEOWTbDO-5mYHOPGgUPxFiiPuIh8ZsU8alYjF8QxD2VNO2pXaHgmqAGMD2fGFk_89uHW3RbVoPSq-uySE7zeHdBL8/s320/Photo_061909_002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349191785739247106" border="0" /></a><br />That's right, it's a <span style="font-weight: bold;">ball-point pen</span>. Fit the bill perfectly, and was free since I had one laying around. <span style="font-style: italic;"></span>(I just remembered, the cap from this pen went towards a headphone recable I did in 2007).<br />I installed all the electronics, and it was, well, <span style="font-weight: bold;">slow</span>.<br />Here are some more shots.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqYb41-ZRhnZ2Qr1-Mp4lR71dbmze1XbTcNGxa0nZeeA6dDUqxNSnxfkTf-jZNHHORDxpeXhjdqjnmIPchEO1kDigPgOljWXx71Q3MkRwayYbiMLW4cNqlOHD-pwf7oHdIGlocLl4937ce/s1600-h/Photo_061409_023.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 208px; height: 166px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqYb41-ZRhnZ2Qr1-Mp4lR71dbmze1XbTcNGxa0nZeeA6dDUqxNSnxfkTf-jZNHHORDxpeXhjdqjnmIPchEO1kDigPgOljWXx71Q3MkRwayYbiMLW4cNqlOHD-pwf7oHdIGlocLl4937ce/s320/Photo_061409_023.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349193689220957234" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHg1uyTiT3RC7RrDg-6_IVGWGwh8EpnoQQ68wdozr-9cwWjH6WXwYefdbO-kRUJu0dHtaBM3B88f40tre22A8cO3E6oEi-BZp6Kmc_xxZozeLGHL3r5JnM9wJFV7_YcrCgTr7VJai2uiCU/s1600-h/Photo_061409_027.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 208px; height: 166px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHg1uyTiT3RC7RrDg-6_IVGWGwh8EpnoQQ68wdozr-9cwWjH6WXwYefdbO-kRUJu0dHtaBM3B88f40tre22A8cO3E6oEi-BZp6Kmc_xxZozeLGHL3r5JnM9wJFV7_YcrCgTr7VJai2uiCU/s320/Photo_061409_027.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349194180840375906" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAO4bwD7oKGPgVs9AbE13YJGjM80g3otlkx6TFbtmHILV8sJP-pt3_A0RQMW9XySA5Ym6ndS-JqenzMr-tSxv9VRbD5LmmuJyzttCskt-9VdFiwk2dueipYPrVWMf-JkBxVhdc4y7Zu6LX/s1600-h/Photo_061409_026.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 205px; height: 165px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAO4bwD7oKGPgVs9AbE13YJGjM80g3otlkx6TFbtmHILV8sJP-pt3_A0RQMW9XySA5Ym6ndS-JqenzMr-tSxv9VRbD5LmmuJyzttCskt-9VdFiwk2dueipYPrVWMf-JkBxVhdc4y7Zu6LX/s320/Photo_061409_026.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349194177222553906" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOajXAVXjZrWRJTrgXn0IYUXlS95LKFJwIjkHR96dtQgoQLJgaBS_8h6sRI9oFiXjDGzJEIaqfp3zkJSE7yVOoAUi8Acmr1omtZG4RNAMbQCtTyZxs9N8iUbahPxI9ydvfe3rdC1xXWFWn/s1600-h/Photo_061409_025.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 175px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOajXAVXjZrWRJTrgXn0IYUXlS95LKFJwIjkHR96dtQgoQLJgaBS_8h6sRI9oFiXjDGzJEIaqfp3zkJSE7yVOoAUi8Acmr1omtZG4RNAMbQCtTyZxs9N8iUbahPxI9ydvfe3rdC1xXWFWn/s320/Photo_061409_025.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349194170141176498" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyPNvXP66PIXe5ZjX2swiv-Tf4m62PozP24r79p0qarETnXAalO2LbFIMLLAmZ0MRP1TRrtk80tcT51Jw5PhHRkpx1zODW9VqXofQer5XyN3IUlmScoPkron8aqXjpkde7U-x5-bOcKK9u/s1600-h/Photo_061409_024.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 219px; height: 175px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyPNvXP66PIXe5ZjX2swiv-Tf4m62PozP24r79p0qarETnXAalO2LbFIMLLAmZ0MRP1TRrtk80tcT51Jw5PhHRkpx1zODW9VqXofQer5XyN3IUlmScoPkron8aqXjpkde7U-x5-bOcKK9u/s320/Photo_061409_024.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349194163596731042" border="0" /></a><br />I've since made it waterproof (all I had to do was bag the receiver and esc), installed the motor from my car (which was way too fast, kept spinning inside the pinion gear), and <span style="font-style: italic;">rewound</span> the original motor. It was loads of fun with the 18R motor, but I wanted to drive my 18R again (also the 18R motor melted the plastic gearbox housing a little bit and it upset the gear mesh :/)<br /><br />I've been drifting the 18R, all I had to do was tape the tires. It's loads of fun and makes me want to keep it again. I'll post a crappy vid soon.<br /><br />As for the rewound motor, it went from 30 gauge (or maybe even thinner) and NINETY-FIVE turns to this cool green-enamel-coated 26 gauge I got from radioshack and twenty-nine turns. I think it's safe to say I have a nice <span style="font-style: italic;">hand-wound modified motor</span> lol. Maybe not nice since it's now my number-one source of problems, but it's a good in-between the performance of its stock form and the 18R motor.<br /><br />As for "crawling" ability, it sucks. It's not 4wd and the gear on the axle is so big! It gets in the way very often. Also the tires aren't the best for the task (hard compound with chevron+spikes). I wonder if I cut off the spikes will it be better? Boil the tires? hmmmm<br /><br />Still it's fun to try.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW8AJ6FIG5O1vYC-vWxrkmvckk0jv7g-3Vun-9qE9dfM4sLaye2oOK-AYEYYPKMVWXwV3qy8LD0ZX5z46nM-4_WGC6JuovB2gtyXlctOVVm-PZlrdkCm44XvHvHFszfjCH-lY_nwxzHcN_/s1600-h/Photo_061609_001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW8AJ6FIG5O1vYC-vWxrkmvckk0jv7g-3Vun-9qE9dfM4sLaye2oOK-AYEYYPKMVWXwV3qy8LD0ZX5z46nM-4_WGC6JuovB2gtyXlctOVVm-PZlrdkCm44XvHvHFszfjCH-lY_nwxzHcN_/s320/Photo_061609_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349197701582997730" border="0" /></a><br />All that water isn't good for the axle, but some WD-40 fixed the problem and prevented new ones<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYtt4itJcyHjQHVrOQ5do-P0HsHuh3iMVceIJxL3bQDd8zuWx788Hp8nzyCIgraCsVTWRyS3_mLXkDD3vI-HU8cd0KO_TOtlEChc7LulrWncHlYd30xKMOe7r9FB1MecFtrHKX8FrXR9cj/s1600-h/Photo_061709_001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 171px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYtt4itJcyHjQHVrOQ5do-P0HsHuh3iMVceIJxL3bQDd8zuWx788Hp8nzyCIgraCsVTWRyS3_mLXkDD3vI-HU8cd0KO_TOtlEChc7LulrWncHlYd30xKMOe7r9FB1MecFtrHKX8FrXR9cj/s320/Photo_061709_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349198098760774914" border="0" /></a><br />Shot of the motor armature before and after winding. Sorry for crappy image quality, still using the phone.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM2Y9sD8A1m3pbrGjc7pFrV66bRY-7OjMIS2JvZmY4q_7QUMFIOZA6_rfjMWcRh76Gn2iPJHvXzqMcNspFgGOjY79259Rasgn5uu72Q7I7tHZeU2tXvm38pqLlb_ROA48NIRVcAYm9negz/s1600-h/Photo_061809_002.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 184px; height: 147px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM2Y9sD8A1m3pbrGjc7pFrV66bRY-7OjMIS2JvZmY4q_7QUMFIOZA6_rfjMWcRh76Gn2iPJHvXzqMcNspFgGOjY79259Rasgn5uu72Q7I7tHZeU2tXvm38pqLlb_ROA48NIRVcAYm9negz/s320/Photo_061809_002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349198248602927746" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIHWE4VguvsDTEq81u4e-steaI1wTBfove7tHF6qTtgLlBrHrQ72EEdyJS9C6seIGqXt0DsXfPutqIzKxmnXJ1cWAmdIEB5ge7LlfEI_EdBZ7hEf-BW5WOnh1yjNR7Fe17lZLE1HG5XITy/s1600-h/Photo_061809_003.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 183px; height: 146px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIHWE4VguvsDTEq81u4e-steaI1wTBfove7tHF6qTtgLlBrHrQ72EEdyJS9C6seIGqXt0DsXfPutqIzKxmnXJ1cWAmdIEB5ge7LlfEI_EdBZ7hEf-BW5WOnh1yjNR7Fe17lZLE1HG5XITy/s320/Photo_061809_003.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349198778823947410" border="0" /></a> That green wire looks so cool, the picture doesn't do it justice.<br /><br />FINALLY, that's it for now. Actually there's more to post but I feel I need to start a new one. Tomorrow.kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-59625645721357087612009-05-11T19:50:00.000-07:002009-05-11T20:11:51.649-07:00Still Miss my Camera<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQG5XddmFwzcXmIs1__b3g8pdgQ0tmqYyQw_ZG6J5f6LJWb5Ohtjzug_ZlI6gNcohfixsXBS6O5vg64KiVWkPg2VRdZSaELC6ltVZrrgQOvMKY6yBTvRecs2e4Jx2ieHcD5S4pKZSia_IX/s1600-h/Photo_051109_001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQG5XddmFwzcXmIs1__b3g8pdgQ0tmqYyQw_ZG6J5f6LJWb5Ohtjzug_ZlI6gNcohfixsXBS6O5vg64KiVWkPg2VRdZSaELC6ltVZrrgQOvMKY6yBTvRecs2e4Jx2ieHcD5S4pKZSia_IX/s320/Photo_051109_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334766517953964354" border="0" /></a><br />This is the Konica Minolta DiMAGE X50, which was a steal for an ultracompact at the time, and was very fast to boot. In insufficient light, the picture quality was pretty bad, with a lot of noise, but this was typical of ultracompacts at the time. It did take some pretty good <a href="http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j17/jeetoi/PICT1363.jpg">shots </a>when the conditions were right though. I really miss it. Okay, it's sitting right in front of me, but I think I left the charger at <s>home</s> my mother's house.<br /><br />Looking back at previous posts, the picture quality was something I took for granted. Of course, many shots could have been better with maybe a little more sunlight and a tripod, but I was lazy.<br /><br />Anyway, I noticed there was a jack on it, labeled 4.7V DC.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdWyaMTzUQSvmnGUBbKpgG8GbmlE5n_4tEf2hYj0n8n1ds5u9Jtleotb_74z-dnbp3c5o-tpbyGt5PmcDAiB5HZv1tkEGWlRbicVbHHC1epF9uLwmPF8ezogoCNrK_pWka11RrN7oWXOjO/s1600-h/Photo_051109_002.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdWyaMTzUQSvmnGUBbKpgG8GbmlE5n_4tEf2hYj0n8n1ds5u9Jtleotb_74z-dnbp3c5o-tpbyGt5PmcDAiB5HZv1tkEGWlRbicVbHHC1epF9uLwmPF8ezogoCNrK_pWka11RrN7oWXOjO/s320/Photo_051109_002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334767795910768338" border="0" /></a><br />It's pretty hard to see it in this photo, but even if it were working I wouldn't be able to take this shot with the X50 anyway.<br /><br />So I thought, hmmm 4.7 volts, that's pretty close to 5 volts, which is the USB standard. "Maybe I could charge this thing from a USB port!" I thought.<br /><br />So I went down to the dollar store and then Radioshack and made this:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf_bxrFwk22soMZHlRlhhfl0_sxJTnoAtQLTcErUo3YfYmTTDUVCmoK4SQnrZ5k5wrJhU2Foe5e3eZuVRCGCwMOf6dntCgimiXqgzoQmO-s-XWpT3cDYIJejhouWuMrIzW-3i2nbI_yRo2/s1600-h/Photo_051109_004.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf_bxrFwk22soMZHlRlhhfl0_sxJTnoAtQLTcErUo3YfYmTTDUVCmoK4SQnrZ5k5wrJhU2Foe5e3eZuVRCGCwMOf6dntCgimiXqgzoQmO-s-XWpT3cDYIJejhouWuMrIzW-3i2nbI_yRo2/s320/Photo_051109_004.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334768172964771874" border="0" /></a><br />Well, it didn't charge anything. While hooked up, the camera tried to start, but couldn't. After being connected a while, and then disconnecting, it wouldn't even try to power up. After some googling, it turns out that jack was for an AC adaptor to use the camera off of <span style="font-style: italic;">instead of</span> batteries. <span style="font-style: italic;">It didn't charge the battery.</span> And apparently the USB standard of 100 mA wasn't enough for the camera to run off of (the USB standard allows up to 500 mA, but it must request it from the computer, which may or may not grant the device such current, depending upon the power settings).<br /><br />I really should have done a little more research before hurrying out the door to Radioshack <span style="font-style: italic;">again</span>. At least this time I saw someone I don't normally see working, all the other times I felt like such a regular.kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-59922673237605213302009-05-09T04:05:00.000-07:002009-05-09T04:29:56.283-07:00Power Supply (for phono stage)I finally built my electrical engineering course project, it's horrible, I'm not even going to post a decent pic of it. However, it has inspired me to hopefully pursue robotics (BEAM in particular) this summer.<br /><br />It left my new-old-foundatafreesigninfrontofabankruptbusiness'soldlocation folding table setup a mess (this was an early picture, it got much worse than this).<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUEuSmhqSOJGPl1PIgZdvZ_0zTilbStdyT9rnD1kta5XyUZHslfzI7HTMsnFfQhiNI8MYgES8WNyTxoEZsV-4J0mW3O6x5n6ef68YSFF2bb-Vm_jieUfQsY45ZN4hIHJlCDgjUw0CkV1-7/s1600-h/Photo_050509_001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUEuSmhqSOJGPl1PIgZdvZ_0zTilbStdyT9rnD1kta5XyUZHslfzI7HTMsnFfQhiNI8MYgES8WNyTxoEZsV-4J0mW3O6x5n6ef68YSFF2bb-Vm_jieUfQsY45ZN4hIHJlCDgjUw0CkV1-7/s320/Photo_050509_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333779447535312450" border="0" /></a><br />I should take a full proper picture of it folded up, it's so cool. I wouldn't have finished my project without it, my desk is way too cramped. Here it is, equally flooded with parts and tools and such.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNvQkHqg4Gxug2qOnEYvD5W-23fcmIDa3f1aOFfMmryUSxJ-ycQQIoiJ1Fv4z_lwzQ2XQiEMT6_GkWZ_tucCnK986fROwoaSb3Eughyphenhyphen5bRg-1-ZVrK-knlwCQneuZQHSZ0yIR6_PjGW4i9/s1600-h/Photo_050209_002.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNvQkHqg4Gxug2qOnEYvD5W-23fcmIDa3f1aOFfMmryUSxJ-ycQQIoiJ1Fv4z_lwzQ2XQiEMT6_GkWZ_tucCnK986fROwoaSb3Eughyphenhyphen5bRg-1-ZVrK-knlwCQneuZQHSZ0yIR6_PjGW4i9/s320/Photo_050209_002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333779895679357474" border="0" /></a><br />Also, much of the work was done at night, so I would have bothered my roommate much (either with solder fumes, or the cold of having the windows open).<br /><br />What to do with all my parts and tools out? A power supply for my Very Simple Phono Stage of course! The basis of which is a <span style="font-style: italic;">completely blank </span>24 V DC power supply from my local electronics store, along with an adjustable regulator, a pot, some caps, etc etc.<br /><br />It took much longer than I thought. Instead of boring you with circuit details and how I asked the good people of Head-Fi for help, here are the pics.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeA2SERQafDmEe21HdKcp7SQngWkwT1xqBgRqhEr6OSlSautpY0pJCJOrYgv7G1uK9RQpSYHwODQrBe8CsubVNOmtOQpo-cE1E98axh0wyY9rtL1e22wYW3i65MlLH57LM1MT10soqTDSg/s1600-h/Photo_050709_001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeA2SERQafDmEe21HdKcp7SQngWkwT1xqBgRqhEr6OSlSautpY0pJCJOrYgv7G1uK9RQpSYHwODQrBe8CsubVNOmtOQpo-cE1E98axh0wyY9rtL1e22wYW3i65MlLH57LM1MT10soqTDSg/s320/Photo_050709_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333780887336626386" border="0" /></a><br />PSU on the left during testing. The heatsink was remarkably cold during a few hours of operation, which was a relief. It's so small! That huge capacitor is a 1mF.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXYd7LKEUGMB_w8QMftKLa12C7E3JVwNfZXWQlHt8rnUgiE7Y0estxLGovfvF2JaiVyf4KDUOIiIsz47YeVIhagIl72v1OomA1J6bUBl0JlQNZqDJD10cQWONma1E4Spyyq-Gh4ZgOJga6/s1600-h/Photo_050709_002.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXYd7LKEUGMB_w8QMftKLa12C7E3JVwNfZXWQlHt8rnUgiE7Y0estxLGovfvF2JaiVyf4KDUOIiIsz47YeVIhagIl72v1OomA1J6bUBl0JlQNZqDJD10cQWONma1E4Spyyq-Gh4ZgOJga6/s320/Photo_050709_002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333781304755874290" border="0" /></a><br />The blank wall wart. It does its job and gets a little warm. There is a 24v dc regulated Elpacs wall wart on the right, but that is for my PPA :D<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGfRbHaLM9YlT9xpbgPghw8yzJhWtgB1xIql-rGi-sBHVhuojCNwYceJebCwW0J-A8qbJd2ijrmDFnoYgvgsIpr5BXpmpe3LNGjfvHtQ7u41MQSQZbCA8kO91sSHfZXBU_zV8CFK_qd5uP/s1600-h/Photo_050809_002.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGfRbHaLM9YlT9xpbgPghw8yzJhWtgB1xIql-rGi-sBHVhuojCNwYceJebCwW0J-A8qbJd2ijrmDFnoYgvgsIpr5BXpmpe3LNGjfvHtQ7u41MQSQZbCA8kO91sSHfZXBU_zV8CFK_qd5uP/s320/Photo_050809_002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333781750767030242" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgm3qEzGcHTy7FdIxWsNUN1cwmIooepSlif_uOThnK37v3vwfRgVpPpcMK5RU2pRMeg86rsWdtNLLIicfcS4u3-Hmk2TSJ2gFJZbJXyIR2-OT0cFZP2MB-UtlcEGEVMvbLgD2ElgikWhgj/s1600-h/Photo_050809_003.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgm3qEzGcHTy7FdIxWsNUN1cwmIooepSlif_uOThnK37v3vwfRgVpPpcMK5RU2pRMeg86rsWdtNLLIicfcS4u3-Hmk2TSJ2gFJZbJXyIR2-OT0cFZP2MB-UtlcEGEVMvbLgD2ElgikWhgj/s320/Photo_050809_003.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333781865601731490" border="0" /></a><br />And the psu, with the preamp in the background. Notice how I partially wrapped it in aluminum foil for shielding (only the bottom of these enclosures are metal). I swear it sounded better after I did it (okay, I guess I can't really tell since it could be placebo all the same). Linda Ronstadt's voice in particular sounded exceptionally better, as well as Jenny Lewis's. My speaker's strong point is mids anyway.<br /><br />I love that little fuse holder, and the heatsink, and the toggle switch, everything. It's so cute.<br /><br />Also, I saw this little gem at Rasputin's the other day. If it weren't for that price tag (it's used), I would have bought it.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHacHblpUzqXN4-GW5moBA6w6eQvy66SFHs3raxnpQj1QzM9xaRWjGBS39ImPS7LJC-DXVTc29O6rkVvpIksFqs0AJy184l94mWd4PZFeQZK6XCkuV6K0wtA2Xr7c8OQEeDeeG4encIuLv/s1600-h/Photo_050109_001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHacHblpUzqXN4-GW5moBA6w6eQvy66SFHs3raxnpQj1QzM9xaRWjGBS39ImPS7LJC-DXVTc29O6rkVvpIksFqs0AJy184l94mWd4PZFeQZK6XCkuV6K0wtA2Xr7c8OQEeDeeG4encIuLv/s320/Photo_050109_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333784073461336738" border="0" /></a> Pretty hilarious if you ask me.<br /><br />I feel so bad with these terrible pictures. I hope my camera charger turns up soon, or else the li ion inside will permanently die D:kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-42647613909279015432009-05-01T16:53:00.000-07:002009-05-01T17:37:58.543-07:00Crappy PicturesI've been meaning to post for some time now, but my camera battery died and I can't, for the LIFE of me, find the charger.<br /><br />So this update will be mostly full of pictures taken by my phone.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.geocities.com/rjm003.geo/rjmaudio/diy_pho5.html">THE VERY SIMPLE PHONO STAGE</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span>I've only been able to listen to my new (old) turntable using my old receiver. I wanted to see if it was holding it back.<br /><br />So I looked around for phono preamps, so I could maybe plug that into another speaker amp or one of my headphone amps. If I wanted to spend less than $100 I was pretty much limited to DJ models (probably fine, just something in the back of my mind steering me away from anything with the word DJ on it) and <a href="http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2573420">cheapos</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2573420"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></a>. </span>So, naturally, I searched for DIY solutions. One of the first (edit: the first) results was a thread over at diyaudio about the Very Simple Phono Stage.<br /><br />It was essentially an opamp, power supply, and a bunch of resistors and caps! The comments in the thread said it sounded pretty good, and the justification included some kind of keeping-it-simple argument, which made sense to me.<br /><br />I had an extra OPA2132 opamp from my cmoy (since in my cmoy there is now an OPA2107, which sounds much better in that application), and I figured I could just make it battery-powered (using a <a href="http://tangentsoft.net/elec/bitmaps/vgrounds/vfb-opa.png">psu </a>for the cmoy, since I had yet another opamp available) for the time being, since I didn't want to make something that I had to plug directly into the wall. I don't think I'm ready for that kind of thing yet. Also, the toroidal transformer recommended by the author was like $35.<br /><br />The parts total was around $20, not including the opamps of course, but the resistors, caps, enclosure, sockets, a switch, and some RCA plugs.<br /><br />I made a test version on breadboard (for my project, which I have yet to complete lolololololololol)<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_wap7sMLC85hDsUPuCHjIB9TO8dpQxzulusXxO2LmcfLrOzSUFIHyA0UV7iUnpGomPG1nZtBkwA6-3tY_A_Q67yyD-93QDuB_uVryWT9y33LgbXqToeHE_vQ3nboYsQNPtnrw4NMIfkqn/s1600-h/PICT1894.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_wap7sMLC85hDsUPuCHjIB9TO8dpQxzulusXxO2LmcfLrOzSUFIHyA0UV7iUnpGomPG1nZtBkwA6-3tY_A_Q67yyD-93QDuB_uVryWT9y33LgbXqToeHE_vQ3nboYsQNPtnrw4NMIfkqn/s320/PICT1894.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331013081909711666" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRkCRY2_De_3Ot3yXbO6jnXuoadXTk9XNy7L4BsyaRdoLAQ1tClZGcsd7zYWNp31l7KJ5Ch0jOr37OQFWZw2bfpvUbPHE1-YLrvUB5MFQVNU8EC9H40AsepnlwK_CddeiHtDoOHtEoNimN/s1600-h/PICT1897.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRkCRY2_De_3Ot3yXbO6jnXuoadXTk9XNy7L4BsyaRdoLAQ1tClZGcsd7zYWNp31l7KJ5Ch0jOr37OQFWZw2bfpvUbPHE1-YLrvUB5MFQVNU8EC9H40AsepnlwK_CddeiHtDoOHtEoNimN/s320/PICT1897.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331013482662887010" border="0" /></a><br />At first it sounded like crap, then I realized the output caps were too small by a factor of a thousand lol. Then I bought nonpolar 4.7uF electrolytics, slapped 'em in, dropped some Empire Strikes Back soundtrack in the Kenwood, and I was blown away.<br /><br />Nothing I have ever owned has ever sounded that good.<br /><br />And this was the breadboard version, with all the extra resistance from the mechanical connections, all the extra parasitic capacitance from the untrimmed resistor and capacitor leads, etc etc.<br /><br />I cased it up yesterday afternoon, and I seriously think I got high off of the solder fumes. Not a good thing. Anyway, here's what it looked like halfway done:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUSclf3Jsh3obm8j-75g7vFJj_Kgx9t2sUGJ_QVbifZyqNnDImVHIMKY5sXvGXSUPv9SSUNGA41snXIVAoe0ENicpaNXNQiJJhGyItcirx-AKtuYuC9XPdBjXZSOTqJDpggKJo5zMscFxZ/s1600-h/Photo_043009_001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUSclf3Jsh3obm8j-75g7vFJj_Kgx9t2sUGJ_QVbifZyqNnDImVHIMKY5sXvGXSUPv9SSUNGA41snXIVAoe0ENicpaNXNQiJJhGyItcirx-AKtuYuC9XPdBjXZSOTqJDpggKJo5zMscFxZ/s320/Photo_043009_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331015888396509186" border="0" /></a><br /><br />And all cased up:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv2PzVMV6OwXbqhveG7y-iIYAWbdzW5wLARJr36yx2oOEtKvLjnRQ6WlIxelvI3Nn5RTK5g9xTB3_tvzgTubgzUDgrvG6xdsWio708u6ykZN3trFuywUErfBNmsFuQFizHmQSYn2zp8riO/s1600-h/Photo_050109_002.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv2PzVMV6OwXbqhveG7y-iIYAWbdzW5wLARJr36yx2oOEtKvLjnRQ6WlIxelvI3Nn5RTK5g9xTB3_tvzgTubgzUDgrvG6xdsWio708u6ykZN3trFuywUErfBNmsFuQFizHmQSYn2zp8riO/s320/Photo_050109_002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331016375463037298" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Instead of making a screw terminal for the grounding wire that all turntables (should) have, I soldered a wire (not seen) from ground and had it press against the metal base. That way, I could just attach the groundwire as shown:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyFl5mj4VPbIZfo0fgol1gHtExLlfFyPGgqqaen0HxgaoFwbW_99fcZo_etgKjqUi6mLjb0iQwcY9Uyg3AojwjijFPAN6o3bsjojIw4_2ZQ-HlgeCB5oKYgeUUVPadgyzJlHKnW1kpKn3F/s1600-h/Photo_050109_003.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyFl5mj4VPbIZfo0fgol1gHtExLlfFyPGgqqaen0HxgaoFwbW_99fcZo_etgKjqUi6mLjb0iQwcY9Uyg3AojwjijFPAN6o3bsjojIw4_2ZQ-HlgeCB5oKYgeUUVPadgyzJlHKnW1kpKn3F/s320/Photo_050109_003.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331017604068356770" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />I'm listening to it right now. I've been listening to it for hours. It sounds so good.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Also, I moved my speakers and receiver, they sound much better now! My bookshelf speakers are on a bookshelf lol. And I'm less worried about the music coming from the speakers resonating with the tonearm and creating an ugly feedback sound since they're relatively far away now.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNB5oCdgTwvtBWQaaRe9Md9IV15H_yamWUWpI6XOIp-YvybHXwFR_ysr0bz1HlHHL_ykSxZUKJraseaj309xpzXLblS3d9xskfPq6mjVKMD1imqzoD59lagUL4CmRV1nBce6XF_8BRDT41/s1600-h/Photo_042909_001.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNB5oCdgTwvtBWQaaRe9Md9IV15H_yamWUWpI6XOIp-YvybHXwFR_ysr0bz1HlHHL_ykSxZUKJraseaj309xpzXLblS3d9xskfPq6mjVKMD1imqzoD59lagUL4CmRV1nBce6XF_8BRDT41/s320/Photo_042909_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331018465062212114" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This is my third Spring at college, and every Spring, around the same time (before finals) I've undertaken and finished a project. I guess it's the aggressive procrastination at work :DDDD<br />From top to bottom, and in chronological order, the cmoy headphone amp, the alien dac, and the very simple phono stage.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioYNKNnFgnIfH7sEOMm0zHI50p71ZLJtJAR0LfdEv60wsAQYFd7Aq6CdWhyi8nvfTESdVpXc7Nn1IGBYLw_7Mt6f_ucNvePTXXzvzqoRAjy9dKejAuJmkJulwwdb3v10agYckD6L4J_UFX/s1600-h/Photo_050109_005.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioYNKNnFgnIfH7sEOMm0zHI50p71ZLJtJAR0LfdEv60wsAQYFd7Aq6CdWhyi8nvfTESdVpXc7Nn1IGBYLw_7Mt6f_ucNvePTXXzvzqoRAjy9dKejAuJmkJulwwdb3v10agYckD6L4J_UFX/s320/Photo_050109_005.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331019264066588098" border="0" /></a>kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-91224594862851505152009-04-12T03:04:00.000-07:002009-04-15T00:01:08.125-07:00Frankenheadset<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc8LQ7dkBG0_kfsfPrVmsHalofk1SqPhmL0PLlZXclUv_WmurA7vunGbfjzDqi9jQYQNJC9_pAoUYzPV8p9wAkaSiXFXbp3k6hbmS-ZG12OvS5DwLO2JLDLQIYKAdoPVtdDSTPbfTSzE4r/s1600-h/PICT1876.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 218px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc8LQ7dkBG0_kfsfPrVmsHalofk1SqPhmL0PLlZXclUv_WmurA7vunGbfjzDqi9jQYQNJC9_pAoUYzPV8p9wAkaSiXFXbp3k6hbmS-ZG12OvS5DwLO2JLDLQIYKAdoPVtdDSTPbfTSzE4r/s320/PICT1876.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323746430706355122" border="0" /></a><br />Soldered this little number up today so I could stop borrowing a roommate's mic, headset with mic is much easier and more convenient anyway. Mic came from some generic earclip-headset crap I bought in the Philippines way back when, I was much more frivolous with money back then. I never even used the headset (partially because it SUCKED, the drivers at least). The drivers are KSC-75 (clearance, $8), and the headband is Koss KTX/Pro with broken drivers ($1.50). Lo and behold, the KSC-75's drivers fit perfectly into where the old drivers used to be (the old drivers have a strong resemblance to KSC-35 drivers, no pic because they are far, far away.)<br /><br />Works great! Just started playing TF2, this makes it more fun.<br /><br />Oh yeah, the soldering was limited to soldering the leads from the headset to some 24 gauge speaker cable to a cheap mini plug. The drivers are attached to the stock KSC-75 cable. I've been wanting to recable it for a while, but didn't care enough to actually buy the materials.<br /><br />If you look down at the previous post, you'll see that my 21st birthday occurred recently. I came into a little bit of money and bought this.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWLJS0mUCpPEu554j7zFJujrlLbivDW3QjmPpEt4x-VbP9YbykWcP6JAdQK4Et60EbgGCEM5u6mVOBFAdMzjXvVSeuBHu-XaRyJAjSLslMSSUscsodYQvEOut_oy7FMUazQXNkGxncS4zo/s1600-h/PICT1853.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWLJS0mUCpPEu554j7zFJujrlLbivDW3QjmPpEt4x-VbP9YbykWcP6JAdQK4Et60EbgGCEM5u6mVOBFAdMzjXvVSeuBHu-XaRyJAjSLslMSSUscsodYQvEOut_oy7FMUazQXNkGxncS4zo/s320/PICT1853.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323747631392429554" border="0" /></a><br /><br />That pic is crap. Anyway, if you care, yes there is a dust cover. It's not in the best condition so I left it out for photos.<br /><br />Yes that is the cardboard shelf (shoe-rack lol) from a previous post. After realizing most of the shoes taking up room belonged to only one of my roommates, I got selfish. After all, I made it, why should it be used to hold someone else's shoes? Anyway this is too off topic.<br /><br />It's a Kenwood KD-44R with an Audio Technica MG200E cartridge. I can find next to NOTHING about either on the internet. From the looks of the cartridge and stylus, and some forum help, apparently I can upgrade to <a href="http://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LG&Product_Code=ATS12S">this</a> stylus, which has a shibata diamond tip, as compared to my cheap AT10 or whatever with a conical tip. I was actually considering dropping another benjamin on a new cartridge! 80's Audio Technica cartridges were audio gold, according to some forum posts (don't feel like looking for them now) which said some of them sound better than cartridges selling for hundreds (think 5-8) of dollars today.<br /><br />Here is the cartridge:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEAqLSbHzPb4KS01ZfCrdqsbSZ3ZYOPkRVGnQy6Yi1ULDwY-FIrZcVGZbKuWHbZmV1CXa4b1yoOMS89yMK9f_7R4VjhbbMYzhGOb_dDidx10lHoaBwrLWz_VV1kcRmEf-C8ja59zCdT-ym/s1600-h/PICT1875.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEAqLSbHzPb4KS01ZfCrdqsbSZ3ZYOPkRVGnQy6Yi1ULDwY-FIrZcVGZbKuWHbZmV1CXa4b1yoOMS89yMK9f_7R4VjhbbMYzhGOb_dDidx10lHoaBwrLWz_VV1kcRmEf-C8ja59zCdT-ym/s200/PICT1875.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323750140152027506" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtnk541RUTw99wiH6bKiYjD3ZSv_p4A97FLB6Fe5Q_AMSljSXWJT9TbZlx9ou5oaTKKeO-mzRNPWQrsBio12ceF3UJxSjGTNEfL3nAEWXj4JOFT3jL6snRGOpkr6iKfilrMErkBFLGGUJF/s1600-h/PICT1864.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtnk541RUTw99wiH6bKiYjD3ZSv_p4A97FLB6Fe5Q_AMSljSXWJT9TbZlx9ou5oaTKKeO-mzRNPWQrsBio12ceF3UJxSjGTNEfL3nAEWXj4JOFT3jL6snRGOpkr6iKfilrMErkBFLGGUJF/s200/PICT1864.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323750307445989986" border="0" /></a><br />Removing the cart just to identify it was a bad idea, but curiosity got the better of me. It took me quite a while to realign it.<br /><br />Anyway, I absolutely love this thing. I can't stop using it. It's a good thing this stylus is rated at 1000 hours of use (or so the dealer tells me) because I swear it gets an average of 4 hours a day. That means I have to replace this thing in less than 250 days. That's less than a year, obviously. I want a new stylus anyway.<br /><br />More pics, this thing is beautiful. Perhaps it is only because I have spent the past week looking at pictures of turntables on the internet.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoBINd1D_zCO-UE8oPWL8RprTDVBATNZ5yCOeks3NDwXCVgtN8JB7rIWTEqu9mQfePAGgsAe4E-DIYZaFoY0AgM1_HoM1mY0WUx365RW8hGf31FpeBcr5EXFEHdTlcFaT_g_9KmeZtHpFI/s1600-h/PICT1850.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoBINd1D_zCO-UE8oPWL8RprTDVBATNZ5yCOeks3NDwXCVgtN8JB7rIWTEqu9mQfePAGgsAe4E-DIYZaFoY0AgM1_HoM1mY0WUx365RW8hGf31FpeBcr5EXFEHdTlcFaT_g_9KmeZtHpFI/s320/PICT1850.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323752838985550962" border="0" /></a><br />The old setup in the living room: my receiver is a little shallow front-to-back. The positioning was kind of awkward but the little rubber feet on the turntable (a nice touch!) adjusted well. They are terminated in what seems to be some kind of velvety-soft material.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRThsdqlQWFF7SUvEXztbEZZuT6cF3ejgWJjEobJspbA4VvqgkaywSTICKaAc_QY4BrPCLIaN9obKlHpHv5nWcY3aAKDF7jgB5SlGkHZCnSsNTLxW2gMuhBb4eWh0rIV_7_82moxDbOkgG/s1600-h/PICT1851.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRThsdqlQWFF7SUvEXztbEZZuT6cF3ejgWJjEobJspbA4VvqgkaywSTICKaAc_QY4BrPCLIaN9obKlHpHv5nWcY3aAKDF7jgB5SlGkHZCnSsNTLxW2gMuhBb4eWh0rIV_7_82moxDbOkgG/s320/PICT1851.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323753631284957026" border="0" /></a><br />The new setup in my room. Makes the room kind of cramped, but I tell myself this is temporary. Pictured are the turntable, receiver, my cardboard shelf, the record collection so far (about 13), my pink fake-diamond-encrusted belt (thanks Eve), and my Insignia NSB2111 speakers, which are pretty infamous. The entire thing sounds INCREDIBLE. I don't know, analog is just so much more fun and sounds so much more REAL than digital, more on some records than others though. Hopefully this will change when I upgrade my stylus. My copy of the My Fair Lady soundtrack in particular sounds excellent, even though it may be my oldest record.<br />If there are any audiophiles reading this, yes I realize how bad a very light cardboard shelf is for a turntable, this is temporary.<br />It is also a fire hazard, but it is okay as long as I keep everything off while I'm away, I believe.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiss2H4iYM0-eKgIiFDpvq6H31hXrb2oXTgoPY_PcxtxtJs5Y7xrG-khz6wkczRCLz5wzt5g5zH_YmDZfJERrUK8woexPe45lhEnmVsXsZVzFxAC6o_abiCkDg7nn-5Xt6IEFEsd1lPl8e0/s1600-h/PICT1861.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiss2H4iYM0-eKgIiFDpvq6H31hXrb2oXTgoPY_PcxtxtJs5Y7xrG-khz6wkczRCLz5wzt5g5zH_YmDZfJERrUK8woexPe45lhEnmVsXsZVzFxAC6o_abiCkDg7nn-5Xt6IEFEsd1lPl8e0/s320/PICT1861.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323754875014800322" border="0" /></a><br />So shiny! The record is Radiohead's Pablo Honey, 180g.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifPdTb6PmMVFWkYjZL-NoSfnAVtq-OZWvQtxmHvDcet9pOszeZ5KVSibhY0EpR1MqatNwwT8_3VR9XbUj-YvsGU2xiM4fcM_PqZ9dNB40BOtZUNUqoCSA8IpgSg-uzAdc2EXs4s_x8QBFD/s1600-h/PICT1862.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifPdTb6PmMVFWkYjZL-NoSfnAVtq-OZWvQtxmHvDcet9pOszeZ5KVSibhY0EpR1MqatNwwT8_3VR9XbUj-YvsGU2xiM4fcM_PqZ9dNB40BOtZUNUqoCSA8IpgSg-uzAdc2EXs4s_x8QBFD/s320/PICT1862.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323755238685239890" border="0" /></a><br />I love the look of this tonearm assembly. In fact, an edited version of this photo is my desktop background right now. My Alessandro MS-1s are in the background, as well as my roommate's desk.kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-5484256872894100342009-03-23T10:14:00.000-07:002009-03-23T10:19:33.940-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD_6Y32TW6XbNETt8CqBjnjahO1BL3_mWR6BmzN5SMncBmLUmeO20qGXegG_vfaxAdQNrUOVuZn0YJzV464cDIf2PSdUnoXGTLhJdw712nT5cLhD5493l135HDIYCV3HZi9ihuilNeEEt_/s1600-h/PICT1821.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 338px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD_6Y32TW6XbNETt8CqBjnjahO1BL3_mWR6BmzN5SMncBmLUmeO20qGXegG_vfaxAdQNrUOVuZn0YJzV464cDIf2PSdUnoXGTLhJdw712nT5cLhD5493l135HDIYCV3HZi9ihuilNeEEt_/s400/PICT1821.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316433298469805410" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis_bC0JI-VEOfiMaY3C6Yi4T8dBkmt_aJy5oKBK4JELaF04W4IdRu9g0O1glVmSq04OgUlNWwvH2WjquASw5rrInTByuxilzdvgeWAaJ001Eu6y_vqCWGTCtAf7xxZAci85y1Ze-2iRWjL/s1600-h/PICT1824.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis_bC0JI-VEOfiMaY3C6Yi4T8dBkmt_aJy5oKBK4JELaF04W4IdRu9g0O1glVmSq04OgUlNWwvH2WjquASw5rrInTByuxilzdvgeWAaJ001Eu6y_vqCWGTCtAf7xxZAci85y1Ze-2iRWjL/s320/PICT1824.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316433442406291618" border="0" /></a><br />that's a 4 foot straightedge, and a triangle. FOUR FOOT.kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-77983274285744321302009-03-14T19:05:00.000-07:002009-03-14T19:24:42.795-07:00Remember to properly fillet your joints, kids!(HAPPY PI DAY!)<br /><br />The shelf is done. I can't believe it. I was really expecting to procrastinate.<br /><br />In a way, I <span style="font-style: italic;">was</span> procrastinating by working on the shelf, instead of working on my labs/midterms. Anyway, here are the shots leading up to it:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMftNTHqIhFZS77eGSK9mNO58rPHUYPvsKNdzf771aDS_O_0Akn6oZWzHCCbHbGyRsajw1eFPjqSnVkI1NyYBuS-S9M3eX2iJ6yFLW2LVYg9e13uxZnw77iM0OBF4FDnM6ck4QtxePPwSe/s1600-h/PICT1810.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMftNTHqIhFZS77eGSK9mNO58rPHUYPvsKNdzf771aDS_O_0Akn6oZWzHCCbHbGyRsajw1eFPjqSnVkI1NyYBuS-S9M3eX2iJ6yFLW2LVYg9e13uxZnw77iM0OBF4FDnM6ck4QtxePPwSe/s320/PICT1810.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313231311870131250" border="0" /></a><br />This is a glue fillet.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCn4qcwN1WFo6-YzHuB6y9n3Ld4oCeuYj6qN2ghOdxz36j4DxNJj98oKGCWb7DHLqF3zXzeOXoQdxU_Vhyphenhyphen8tKSlndO76V9SuAgyAMEGssXEkHBIz8Pn_J8orXlbgqZN6AfSBthbGDlWLTi/s1600-h/PICT1811.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCn4qcwN1WFo6-YzHuB6y9n3Ld4oCeuYj6qN2ghOdxz36j4DxNJj98oKGCWb7DHLqF3zXzeOXoQdxU_Vhyphenhyphen8tKSlndO76V9SuAgyAMEGssXEkHBIz8Pn_J8orXlbgqZN6AfSBthbGDlWLTi/s320/PICT1811.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313231739027741874" border="0" /></a><br />Fillet drying. It looks like this shelf was designed by Casa Designs. It wasn't. Kind of funny my random cutting of cardboard worked out that way.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCxsxE78Cm2dXWdTIL5EgRROdmKztQigqpDHDj0dSCe35QF8wJyQH1KQw3UK7ikAC2RJFa9ZAAGFY08Sk-TH_Jku0Ngtmy2U8d_PDMOqZRbKh3keiy4oADmVkWs99pBBWjwkHqMl5CYCcq/s1600-h/PICT1813.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCxsxE78Cm2dXWdTIL5EgRROdmKztQigqpDHDj0dSCe35QF8wJyQH1KQw3UK7ikAC2RJFa9ZAAGFY08Sk-TH_Jku0Ngtmy2U8d_PDMOqZRbKh3keiy4oADmVkWs99pBBWjwkHqMl5CYCcq/s320/PICT1813.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313232169453709858" border="0" /></a><br />Final panel clamped down after gluing, with the force of THREE CAMPBELLS lol. David donated his international edition paperback Campbell to the cause. Other books helped too (damn Vollhardt).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIxWLjSpWvWLLqtyAUJl4wO91cRiYTouJ2UU_wWIVatToBneRK5cV6eSyd8e6E67QEyxV-Nz_lZuO5JYUbWYtS5_3pQOLvBhM7U97SzKwT8euuFeGWZPH2TG16155h3lr_axyf89zefcf3/s1600-h/PICT1818.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIxWLjSpWvWLLqtyAUJl4wO91cRiYTouJ2UU_wWIVatToBneRK5cV6eSyd8e6E67QEyxV-Nz_lZuO5JYUbWYtS5_3pQOLvBhM7U97SzKwT8euuFeGWZPH2TG16155h3lr_axyf89zefcf3/s320/PICT1818.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313232708109217538" border="0" /></a><br />Goddamn shaky fingers. Anyway, this is one possible configuration of shoes. As you can see I really should have made it ~4 inches wider to accommodate a third pair of shoes in each shelf, but it helps plenty like this.<br /><br />Final shot:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvXmE8VUPpFJhYGMwYDQaK5JUDCkbfrydWznfLXqf99wXiCqrIHB7nRLo8ozpblw3tMbFGZ_Uw_5yd6j7JfK7nHJJqhOHFEyv3nHWiTiZZhNLpnIcMWIqPuG7lMPEFm99NU5y265k9XkZL/s1600-h/PICT1820.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvXmE8VUPpFJhYGMwYDQaK5JUDCkbfrydWznfLXqf99wXiCqrIHB7nRLo8ozpblw3tMbFGZ_Uw_5yd6j7JfK7nHJJqhOHFEyv3nHWiTiZZhNLpnIcMWIqPuG7lMPEFm99NU5y265k9XkZL/s320/PICT1820.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313233189675542706" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Man, that was really fun. REALLY. It's like, more relaxed than papercrafting: with cardstock papercraft I had to cut with a precision of 0.2 mm and never ever designed anything myself. My precision is way off with this shelf (sometimes an eighth of an inch off!), not to mention I only have an 18" straightedge, but it works fine. Someday when I have more furniture and I don't care about this piece, I'm going to test it to failure. I wonder if I can sit on it.<br /><br />I feel kind of empty now. Although it was always a mess in between our living room and kitchen, it was really fun. The thought of always having something to do to this thing was comforting.<br /><br />I think my room might need some more organising help in the form of post-consumer recycled tree pulp.kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-3516324898928381682009-03-10T19:50:00.000-07:002009-03-10T20:15:53.366-07:00HOLY CRAP PROJECTOh my goodness, I've begun building something. FINALLY.<br /><br />While it doesn't involve any kind of wiring, soldering, or moving parts, it's a lot harder than it looks.<br /><br />But first: Some of what I wanted on this blog I've actually done in lab for a class I'm taking right now. Last week I made an amplifier circuit using a dual opamp to amplify a signal from a function generator. It's a shame I didn't take any pics of the breadboard or oscilloscope. Maybe I'll take some next week, where I'm going to be making an AUDIO SYNTHESIZER using the famous 555 timer, an 8 pin IC.<br /><br />Anyway, onto the project!<br /><br />This is actually day 3 of it, and I'm doing the least today (I have a 17 page lab due tomorrow and homework, and a midterm Thursday).<br /><br />It all began last summer when we (my roommates and I) were moving into our new apartment. Moving into a new place usually involves a lot of new furniture, at least if you moved from a pre-furnished dorm. This left us with a LOT of cardboard. I figured, hey, why not save the cardboard? I want to experiment with <span style="font-style: italic;">cardboard furniture</span>. It has been several months and the extra cardboard boxes have been an eyesore that I've made my roommates endure.<br /><br />So, as you might have guessed, I've begun building a piece of cardboard furniture. A shoe-rack, or a shelf, essentially. Our entryway is cluttered with so many shoes, (and I know we don't use all of them on a daily or even weekly basis, I'm not going to explicitly mention anything more) and simply getting into our apartment can be a hassle at times, tripping over shoes and whatnot.<br /><br />I've been wanting to do something like this for a while, but I really didn't know where to start with a design. I got some ideas from this <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Cardboard-shelf-for-groceries/">instructable</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZcfBWaGw7oUtNAXtAzan6a0kQTCjKnuO_6RkQ1raV0wgyLR4x0LDQsuXohg8jFbr98PiYD93oDbSSKWRlwzV5aHy0yXBwn09a3pSXASqpguvOiTO_7_pYGQaIzyP9H4AI7bzMmter3PCX/s1600-h/PICT1801.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZcfBWaGw7oUtNAXtAzan6a0kQTCjKnuO_6RkQ1raV0wgyLR4x0LDQsuXohg8jFbr98PiYD93oDbSSKWRlwzV5aHy0yXBwn09a3pSXASqpguvOiTO_7_pYGQaIzyP9H4AI7bzMmter3PCX/s320/PICT1801.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311759525637067970" border="0" /></a><br />It gets worse than this. This is when everyone's GONE.<br /><br />I don't feel like uploading the plans. the next pictures are just progress.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwG-NGQBiMs6rnWFBYRHR7tcJGwLWJRUHAfhKkR5kyODgX99JOarhXZOZs6N9VeUGRSpLP7xW-tdWwfF3lxNpWTzAq1K3lOiRoSvd0PhdfHbvLrQeyVqdhLuLeAofAAH7ez2FckmqEd62W/s1600-h/PICT1798.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwG-NGQBiMs6rnWFBYRHR7tcJGwLWJRUHAfhKkR5kyODgX99JOarhXZOZs6N9VeUGRSpLP7xW-tdWwfF3lxNpWTzAq1K3lOiRoSvd0PhdfHbvLrQeyVqdhLuLeAofAAH7ez2FckmqEd62W/s320/PICT1798.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311760731748291346" border="0" /></a><br />some pieces cut out<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5k6FI_ipgos9G6b-zYO5BCC77zNB84pNeU1bi1DOkUrV67bmazVx8amE6_qA_yumZqdA6pDiJDaEjPcmu8EsFIdfzG3055wQ6KYcPWE8gjjAM5FtlKnpTlVJMtQMJEfdsroxdi92joTE9/s1600-h/PICT1804.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5k6FI_ipgos9G6b-zYO5BCC77zNB84pNeU1bi1DOkUrV67bmazVx8amE6_qA_yumZqdA6pDiJDaEjPcmu8EsFIdfzG3055wQ6KYcPWE8gjjAM5FtlKnpTlVJMtQMJEfdsroxdi92joTE9/s320/PICT1804.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311760988660880098" border="0" /></a><br />Bottom struts inserted<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI22Pjd95i5RCfcq4d9XRZ3QwIbbqRdG7yKX3PJqk8r8zUxqZYEExUKG-DnhLVwK1uc7T856_p62_Yz-lZmRQVPjRtQYJbHJWgYV19LcoySeX0TTElBo526jrRUg-bENT6P340fq1h24BL/s1600-h/PICT1806.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI22Pjd95i5RCfcq4d9XRZ3QwIbbqRdG7yKX3PJqk8r8zUxqZYEExUKG-DnhLVwK1uc7T856_p62_Yz-lZmRQVPjRtQYJbHJWgYV19LcoySeX0TTElBo526jrRUg-bENT6P340fq1h24BL/s320/PICT1806.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311761237610894930" border="0" /></a><br />All struts inserted, bottom two rows glued.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe9fFT49IT1aCcvvk-lobsu10ANxSzpG5J5mJm-fXdKs7t7nmxyvFPXIDZBWYexrj0s1T61fAbcDP37ZwSk7qvYLPNf53rcWTy2sLQmHWd5KuvD8mZ0CPDN931Tbj3FsIUksvAIXKIo-cN/s1600-h/PICT1807.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe9fFT49IT1aCcvvk-lobsu10ANxSzpG5J5mJm-fXdKs7t7nmxyvFPXIDZBWYexrj0s1T61fAbcDP37ZwSk7qvYLPNf53rcWTy2sLQmHWd5KuvD8mZ0CPDN931Tbj3FsIUksvAIXKIo-cN/s320/PICT1807.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311761898980640466" border="0" /></a><br />Back support glued. Front support in position.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5CbTTLLUcM5CGxEesREMSTQ7MoZuc7YOZBz8XqxIR8VMaJubdZAdaTMoNtrlPp78nAb1LE2LA7o0MMHLxuIC3fkPQMv22jwwbVvQesVAksIIkT9xqrAI-TdmaBXnVscWkDjtgkzLXUrFE/s1600-h/PICT1809.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5CbTTLLUcM5CGxEesREMSTQ7MoZuc7YOZBz8XqxIR8VMaJubdZAdaTMoNtrlPp78nAb1LE2LA7o0MMHLxuIC3fkPQMv22jwwbVvQesVAksIIkT9xqrAI-TdmaBXnVscWkDjtgkzLXUrFE/s320/PICT1809.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311762172738684914" border="0" /></a><br />And this is where I am now. Front glued on, two shelf bases glued on. The second shelf supported most of those books on the left (and there's ANOTHER Campbell biology book). They're heavier than they look (especially Campbell, and there's an Ochem book on the bottom).<br /><br />I guess I could do it faster by using tape (like the instructable above dicates) or hot glue (like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZaa5poITWk">this</a> guy). Although it's only going to be supporting shoes, I would like some more strength. Most of the joints (with the supporting struts) are made using small pieces of cardboard folded in half, glued, and then placed as you would normal tape.kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-16684316548338925282009-02-03T13:30:00.000-08:002009-02-03T13:44:45.625-08:00*Sigh*Not much going on these days. Since I'm a more serious student now, not much can go on off on the side.<br /><br />Anyway, I sorta fixed my couch.<br /><br />See, we got the couch for free with the apartment, and I think I know why. The seat cushions had this habit of coming out just a little bit whenever you sat down, and gradually they'd be so far out as to be annoying.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI4AsU95UfGri86E7LewnH1pOTrAtJxu5AIiTXSzOpjcUDAcIqBOhXuE2LNgEDlubq11oRyRsgmrATdBm5NfzS4qpChHIHXSul65xFjwwTmcCWLFRcubGzTaYeanawpn4ufxPMhE89Ld4L/s1600-h/PICT1790.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI4AsU95UfGri86E7LewnH1pOTrAtJxu5AIiTXSzOpjcUDAcIqBOhXuE2LNgEDlubq11oRyRsgmrATdBm5NfzS4qpChHIHXSul65xFjwwTmcCWLFRcubGzTaYeanawpn4ufxPMhE89Ld4L/s320/PICT1790.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298687215968089426" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We'd have to shove them back in like three times a day. No wonder we got this loveseat for free.<br /><br />But no more shall the seat cushions inch outwards! For I have installed INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH VELCRO, and the cushions are now ATTACHED TO THE COUCH. HOORAY!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx5yzyUvh7rBO_ps5nSsqRWHv4tXfH4eEHa1ae2p15RIk5hyM2NN1naCwkMyyahEoqmmboUb4c1iYwS-Et49vbQMBWiKDJJSjfiNRnArpvtYXxEGtW08dR0NiTzniXu2EqKx0qN8fXLjv_/s1600-h/PICT1791.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx5yzyUvh7rBO_ps5nSsqRWHv4tXfH4eEHa1ae2p15RIk5hyM2NN1naCwkMyyahEoqmmboUb4c1iYwS-Et49vbQMBWiKDJJSjfiNRnArpvtYXxEGtW08dR0NiTzniXu2EqKx0qN8fXLjv_/s320/PICT1791.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298687752331589938" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Anyone of my readers remember <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA3CkMyMlscHNgwgjygqNZQ8CWK4VNuW8btDudfCmVFLojuHWUCbEQFEwCkSwgIowWnvlqJXaV2GhlaeITkyRJ1fLneYjW0v9GtforQNLpWHQ10UkhvUULz3Y0Z1L5bKuMzpvQRw6Yarbg/s1600-h/PICT1360.JPG">this</a> pic from a previous post? Note the tiny plastic yellow vise. The chromed locking screw is actually plastic as well, and it attaches by suction. I actually dremeled things in that vise. I don't know how, but I did. It was kind of scary at times.<br /><br />However, with the recent acquisition of a Sears gift card, my last trip to Sears produced this:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSi5t5ybHmgH_LsJUqG7b0ZVuhp1if_8uW7gkM4QoTsA4IeBkQ8o2jZs43MuJ89nUHaGjcVlcZ2QLIxq8WYbgjmI_k3aOBEkAMZ5WiWnrc9pHf5IaZJvgWvgBvKLJUaufZ7s-3STmcnLEG/s1600-h/PICT1792.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSi5t5ybHmgH_LsJUqG7b0ZVuhp1if_8uW7gkM4QoTsA4IeBkQ8o2jZs43MuJ89nUHaGjcVlcZ2QLIxq8WYbgjmI_k3aOBEkAMZ5WiWnrc9pHf5IaZJvgWvgBvKLJUaufZ7s-3STmcnLEG/s320/PICT1792.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298688757244090962" border="0" /></a><br />Sure, it still attaches by suction, but most of it is metal (aircraft aluminum), and it feels very solid. It can rotate into all sorts of positions (note the ball between the base and vise), and has rubber jaw caps for stuff I don't want to scratch. Now, if only I had a little more capital, and if Sears carried the <a href="http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00920924000P?vName=Tools&cName=Power+Tool+Accessories">Craftsman stepped drill bits</a> they have online in their stores, then I'd be set for my next amp build.kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889474546965376286.post-45938418167600975092009-01-05T12:26:00.000-08:002009-01-05T13:14:12.201-08:00New Years UpdateJESUS H CHRIST<br /><br />this blog hasn't seen an update since SEPTEMBER.<br /><br />I'm on winter break right now, maybe the school year got in the way?<br /><br />I can't even remember all the things I did that I wanted to post. For the extreme few who read this, I apologize. However, not that much has happened really. I stopped K'nexing.<br /><br />Very recently however, I recased my cmoy headphone amp, now I can finally fit 2 9v batteries in there! Still need to mount an LED somewhere in there though, and replace the duct tape with electrical tape.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwvQMk0w-0LvmrAbT0Ii1keID7PncIaHONiZUln5ZzCRWnS-57iNHU_xdVZgezMhNl3ob6gD6exFe4MUewQ08RhIelpV_zK-l4McJXiqQH7M-4X6uBLTt-uXD2j24CNcCVjrysK3Chc49c/s1600-h/PICT1767.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwvQMk0w-0LvmrAbT0Ii1keID7PncIaHONiZUln5ZzCRWnS-57iNHU_xdVZgezMhNl3ob6gD6exFe4MUewQ08RhIelpV_zK-l4McJXiqQH7M-4X6uBLTt-uXD2j24CNcCVjrysK3Chc49c/s200/PICT1767.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287909770503105698" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I also bought some new fountain pens<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0seULKHpdsGpYec5J4bSB9NVxDoY_5YraZL5RxZmmnzdmrKimBa_Wk4FT6sSwD_Bx0tN4Xa7jmrL45mjfmDpUrMTKfbirPivjCuanl-6gTe7zj0DYEaaN9_pqKlBeR0YKqs9C7jlqoywW/s1600-h/PICT1773.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0seULKHpdsGpYec5J4bSB9NVxDoY_5YraZL5RxZmmnzdmrKimBa_Wk4FT6sSwD_Bx0tN4Xa7jmrL45mjfmDpUrMTKfbirPivjCuanl-6gTe7zj0DYEaaN9_pqKlBeR0YKqs9C7jlqoywW/s320/PICT1773.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287911713323008962" border="0" /></a><br />A Pelikan Future on the left and a Pilot Petit1 on the right, nothing special, just more cheap fountain pens. I did get some gift cards this christmas, maybe I'll get a nicer fountain pen.<br /><br />Whenever I'm at home, I like to go to what we call the Monday Sale. It's basically a flea market.<br /><br />A week ago I grabbed a few things on impulse:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJBNQe_2jj8-vMTlT1qBSNmZN-UMT3uFNbpKh5QvcKfCpXtkdObmvchICQEbbQmKZD77gYo8HRU1xA_BAX5d6M0xNnv4czZHt9HccxjNSb0dXUmBHr0Q0SETY_UEqTNbOjLgvnOL_QtSnp/s1600-h/PICT1776.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJBNQe_2jj8-vMTlT1qBSNmZN-UMT3uFNbpKh5QvcKfCpXtkdObmvchICQEbbQmKZD77gYo8HRU1xA_BAX5d6M0xNnv4czZHt9HccxjNSb0dXUmBHr0Q0SETY_UEqTNbOjLgvnOL_QtSnp/s320/PICT1776.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287914165555459058" border="0" /></a><br />That's right, this is A TURBOGRAFX 16 BUNDLED WITH A BUNCH OF GAMES. This is a video game console from the 80's. THE 80'S. Since it didn't lead to a lineage of other successful consoles (I think), this is quite the novelty. Only one controller port is on the console itself (there's a huge port on the back, I have no idea what it's for, multiplayer with multiple consoles maybe?) Also, instead of cartidges like the Sega and Nintendo consoles of the time, it uses nice thin huCARDs. That game on the lower right STILL WORKS! It looks sunburnt and has CHEW MARKS ON IT. The game on the far right I've had for years, my dad found it thinking it was a PC game, and I can remember trying to shove it into my old beige IBM trying to get it to work. I can finally play it after all these years.<br /><br />I got it for a steal at $10 (ok, I paid $5, my friend owns the other half, lol we're so cheap).<br /><br />Anyway, the games are really, REALLY fun and addicting, and have the BEST music. Bonk's Adventure is my favorite so far, but I really would like to get farther in R-Type, it's so difficult.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwW-zbmJ-ks6oDmEHmI0erLWFpolYaKaguZLS7fSy50bN9VRTd-6ZDDT2gL48tfs7qMLLaxRPHxah3tdMBpsrCPvjlVxCGWD3e1ium-VkAqE0KzziH4ZXvzGM1tBqzc42psdI8iEp2cdSO/s1600-h/PICT1780.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwW-zbmJ-ks6oDmEHmI0erLWFpolYaKaguZLS7fSy50bN9VRTd-6ZDDT2gL48tfs7qMLLaxRPHxah3tdMBpsrCPvjlVxCGWD3e1ium-VkAqE0KzziH4ZXvzGM1tBqzc42psdI8iEp2cdSO/s320/PICT1780.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287916981987699010" border="0" /></a><br />(Bonk's Adventure)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMqogQIHjxns-Opd72coTONHCFiW7uJGP4PbSoEhIvvsVWFu8hzkTM1VGZD0gePWGVuo6CK2B00Fm8xe-Gg-uzJPe-clqQpA53UdqT80rxuympPu4_cYLVI53WHTNqxAlrRMY1DFlDyfDV/s1600-h/PICT1781.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMqogQIHjxns-Opd72coTONHCFiW7uJGP4PbSoEhIvvsVWFu8hzkTM1VGZD0gePWGVuo6CK2B00Fm8xe-Gg-uzJPe-clqQpA53UdqT80rxuympPu4_cYLVI53WHTNqxAlrRMY1DFlDyfDV/s320/PICT1781.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287919720685734722" border="0" /></a><br />I also bought an old sony Discman after hearing some hype on the audio forums I frequent (not so frequently, lol) about their sound quality and it works sans for a few tracking errors on the first few tracks of some CDs (fixable with pot adjustments I have no idea how to do), and some heavy distortion, which I'm guessing is due to bad caps. I really hope I don't have to replace any SMD caps, as that would be a pain and I'd probably just throw the thing away instead of continuing with the repairs.<br /><br />After reading into the forums more, however, I sadly found out apparently only the legendary cd players are worth fixing, and this unit from 1993 isn't one of them. Why did the CD players get worse and worse as the years went on? Big business and cutting costs? Units such as the D-25 by Sony are fetching insane <a href="http://www.aloaudio.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_14&products_id=3">prices </a>still.<br /><br />For $5 though, I have no regrets. After listening to it, I can hear a lot of potential through the line-out (yes it has a separate line out) and headphone out. I hope replacing the electrolytic caps and twisting some pots will do the trick.kanaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12446975245926009061noreply@blogger.com1