Author: Dave Farquhar

Electrical box screw size

Dave Farquhar DIY
Electrical box screw size

It’s a rule, right? No project is complete without three unplanned trips to the hardware store. Needing screws for an electrical box can absolutely chew up one of those trips. But I can at least make it easier. In this blog post, I’ll explain electrical box screw size, or sizes, because in the United States at least, it’s almost certainly one of three sizes. There’s no need to fumble or guess at what size screws to use in an electrical box.

The most common electrical box screw size is 6-32 machine screw. However, for many applications, 6-32 is too light duty, so we use an 8-32 or even a 10-32 instead. The thread pitch, however, is always 32.

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CRT burn in

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
CRT burn in

CRT burn in is a phenomenon where an image becomes permanently etched into a monitor’s phosphors. This causes the outline of the image to remain visible, even when the monitor is off. It’s a problem that we frequently find on vintage CRT monitors today.

Burn in is most frequently associated with CRTs, though it can happen with other display types. Modern technology usually mitigates burn in on newer displays, so burn in rarely happens with modern displays, such as LCD or LED displays.

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How much weight can a 2×4 hold?

Dave Farquhar DIY
How much weight can a 2×4 hold?

How much weight can a 2×4 hold? There’s a meme going around social media showing the differences in 2x4s over the years, decrying how old houses were stronger. But appearances can be deceiving. Modern 2x4s are probably stronger than you think.

Under optimal conditions, a single 2×4 can support about 1,000 pounds, or half a ton vertically. And when we build a house, we don’t ask it to support much more than that horizontally.

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Brushless drill vs brushed: Which is better?

Dave Farquhar DIY
Brushless drill vs brushed: Which is better?

Brushless drills are more expensive than brushed drills. But old-fashioned brushed drills are getting hard to find. What’s the big deal about a brushless drill vs brushed? Which is better?

Brushed tools are cheaper, often by $20, when you can find them. Brushless tools offer longer battery life and better reliability and lower maintenance in the long run, in addition to being smaller, lighter, and having more power.

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View headers in Gmail to see if that mail is real

Dave Farquhar security
View headers in Gmail to see if that mail is real

For nearly 20 years, I was the guy people asked if an e-mail message they got was real. And if they were interested, I’d show them how I figured out if it was real. To do that, you have to look at the headers. Here’s how to view headers in Gmail.

Gmail doesn’t have an option called view headers–it’s called Show Original. Choosing this obscure option lets you view the headers and investigate a message.

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How many Atari 2600 games are there?

Dave Farquhar Retro Gaming
How many Atari 2600 games are there?

The Atari 2600 had the largest game library of its generation, and it wasn’t close. Other systems surpassed it, but in its time, the 2600 was king. But how many Atari 2600 games are there? Like many questions, it depends.

It’s really two questions, since some titles were released under multiple names, even though they were the same title. There were about 450 unique Atari 2600 games, but the number of variations of those games pushes the total number of cartridges much higher, around 900 by some counts.

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Lionel Scout train sets: Entry level Lionel

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Lionel Scout train sets: Entry level Lionel

“It’s a Lionel Scout,” the auctioneer said breathlessly. I walked out the door without placing a bid. If you found a Lionel Scout train set and you think you found something valuable, I’m about to dash your hopes and dreams. That’s not to say Lionel Scouts aren’t interesting. But they were Lionel’s economy sets of the postwar era.

The Lionel Scout was a low-end train set Lionel introduced starting in 1948 to compete with Marx trains. When new, a Scout set sold for around $19, or a little over $200 in today’s dollars.

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Commodore 1084 monitor

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Commodore 1084 monitor

The Commodore 1084 monitor was Commodore’s flagship monitor, a monitor that worked with everything they produced in the late 1980s, including the C-64, the C-128 in 40 and 80 column modes, the Amiga line, and Commodore’s CGA-equipped PC clones like the Commodore Colt. Its versatility makes it popular with retro computer enthusiasts today. Not only does it work with almost any Commodore computer, it also works with a lot of non-Commodore computers.

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Do blackout curtains help with heat?

Dave Farquhar DIY, Saving money
Do blackout curtains help with heat?

Blackout curtains help to keep light out, making them useful if you have a lot of light pollution at night or need to sleep during the day. But do blackout curtains help with heat? Do blackout curtains save energy? And how much?

Blackout curtains can have an R value of up to 5, depending on how you use them. Considering most windows have an R value between 1 and 5, and your walls have an R value of at least 13, blackout curtains do help with heat, and can save you hundreds of dollars per year.

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How long does oil based paint take to dry?

Dave Farquhar DIY
How long does oil based paint take to dry?

If you want a good paint job, you need to make sure the paint dries thoroughly and completely before disturbing it. So how long does oil based paint take to dry? And how long does it take oil based primer to dry?

It varies depending on the paint formula and the temperature, but it typically takes 8 hours for oil based paint to dry. The general time can range from 2-24 hours, so it’s best to check your instruction label for your paint’s specifics. Oil based primer can be ready for a topcoat within 1-2 hours, but that may or may not be what you mean by dry time.

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