Author: Dave Farquhar

What are Thread Cutting Screws Used For?

Dave Farquhar DIY
What are Thread Cutting Screws Used For?

What are thread cutting screws used for? You use thread cutting screws when you need to join two pieces together, but you can’t or don’t want to use tools to cut threads ahead of time to accommodate the screws.

Thread cutting screws are a special type of self tapping screw. People often use the words thread cutting, thread forming, and self tapping interchangeably. These classes of screws are very similar but they have subtle distinctions. Thread cutting screws create less stress on the workpiece than thread forming screws do. You can also get thread cutting screws for metal or plastic and wood.

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Painting electric train track

Dave Farquhar model railroading, Toy trains
Painting electric train track

I had an interesting question come in: Can you paint American Flyer train track? You can, if you’re careful about it. There could be a couple of reasons to want do that. Here’s what you need to know about painting electric train track and why you might want to do such a thing.

Ironically, the main reasons to do it are to make old track look less rusty than it is, or to make new track look old and rusty.

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Which Commodore power supplies are safe to use

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Which Commodore power supplies are safe to use

The stock Commodore 64 power supply was notorious. I can’t overstate how big of a piece of junk it was. It was terrible in Commodore’s heyday and it’s no better now. If you have a Commodore 64 and want to keep it working, you need to consider which Commodore power supplies are safe to use, and make sure you have a good one. Otherwise, at the very least, you need to consider repair and protection for your vintage supply to prevent damage to your 64.

If your Commodore-branded power supply doesn’t have the Commodore logo in the corner of the unit, like part number 390205-01 for the 64 or part number 310416-06 for the 128, you have to assume it’s unsafe to use. Other Commodore power supplies for the C-64 fail in such a way that they deliver unsafe voltages that cause serious damage to a C-64 motherboard.

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Shower leaks but not the tub? Three fixes

Dave Farquhar DIY
Shower leaks but not the tub? Three fixes

My sons have to take baths because their shower leaks but the tub doesn’t. I talked it over with a plumber, who kindly shared three relatively easy and cheap fixes for when a shower leaks but not the tub. In my case, the shower leaks into an unfinished basement utility room and not a finished ceiling, but in either case, you want to either fix the leak or not use the shower. Leaks lead to water damage and mold, and you don’t want those things.

My local plumber’s suggestions are to replace the faucet, caulk around the faucet and the overflow plate, and shore up the caulk between the tub and the surround. If the shower leaks all the time, it’s more likely to be the faucet. If it leaks just when certain people use it, the problem is more likely to be caulk. In most cases you can fix it yourself in less than an hour with less than $30 worth of materials.

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American Flyer Transformer Wiring Diagram

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
American Flyer Transformer Wiring Diagram

A.C. Gilbert provided a wiring diagram with its train sets and transformers. But if your American Flyer transformer wiring diagram went missing after all these decades, not to worry. I have you covered. Here are some tips for American Flyer transformer hook up for the best possible operation while using as little wire as possible.

Gilbert was more consistent than some of its competitors when it came to its transformers. But some of Gilbert’s terminology may have made it so simple as to make it confusing.

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How do you make money when stock goes down?

Dave Farquhar Investing
How do you make money when stock goes down?

How do you make money when stock goes down? Counter-intuitively, it’s easier. When the stock market takes a downturn, like it did in 2008, or in late 2018/early 2019, it’s actually an opportunity. Let’s talk about what to do when the stock market falls.

Generally speaking, there are three ways to make money on stocks. The first way is on appreciation, or the increase in value of the stock itself. The second way is through dividends. The stock market going down makes it easier to make money on both of these things. Your money buys more stock, which gives you more shares to recover value. And the more shares you own, the more dividends you receive. And the third is through your employer match, if you receive one.

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What is an Out of Band Network?

Dave Farquhar security
What is an Out of Band Network?

I had a discussion with a client last week that brought up the topic of out of band networks. Out of band networks are a good security measure for reducing risk. But what is an out of band network, and what can it do for you?

An out of band network is a separate network, separate from your main network that carries production data. It is a good practice to put management interfaces such as IPMI on an out of band network and require separate authentication to access the network. This allows you to provide access to necessary functionality while reducing the chances of people misusing or abusing it.

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What is Dedicated Band Control?

Dave Farquhar Servers and Networking
What is Dedicated Band Control?

I was reading about wireless mesh networks and kept finding reviews that penalized devices for not having dedicated band control. But they never explained what this thing meant. Why not explain it if it’s important? What is dedicated band control, and do you need it?

Dedicated band control is simply having the ability to create separate settings, including SSIDs, for your 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Whether you need dedicated band control depends on the types of devices you have, or expect to have in the future.

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Buying Cull Lumber at Home Depot

Dave Farquhar DIY, Saving money
Buying Cull Lumber at Home Depot

Buying cull lumber at Home Depot is a great way to save money on your projects. If you aren’t familiar with cull lumber, here’s where to find it, what you can expect from it, and how much money you can expect to save. It’s less work than salvaging lumber from palettes and you can get greater variety.

Cull lumber is damaged or scrap lumber that the store marks down at a steep discount to make room after it receives a shipment of new lumber. Cull lumber always has problems that kept it from selling at full price. Sometimes the flaws are minor. Sometimes they’re significant. But if you can live with the flaws, cull lumber offers you significant opportunity for savings. 

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Why are Lionel trains so expensive?

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Why are Lionel trains so expensive?

When the weather turns cold, people frequently ask me where they can buy a Lionel train these days. Then they check prices on their phone and follow up with a second question: Why are Lionel trains so expensive?

There was a time when Lionel built electric trains in the kinds of quantities that game consoles are today. That isn’t the case anymore. But even considering today’s smaller economies of scale, Lionel trains never really were inexpensive once you factor for inflation.

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