David L. Farquhar, computer security professional, train hobbyist, and landlord
It’s inevitable. You’re painting, and you reach a point where you have to let the paint dry, or you’re just out of time for the day. But you’re going to have to come back and paint again, so it seems like a waste to clean the brush, only to load it up with the same color paint again. Here’s how to keep paint brushes from drying out. Both during a project and at the end of the project.
At my second job at Best Buy, we were taking out a display to make way for flashy new product that needed lots of space. That meant a new shelf layout, and new power strips. “No daisy chaining!” the manager bellowed as we plugged in the power strips. But what is daisy chaining? And is it always bad?
Daisy chaining means plugging one device into another, like tying together a garland from daisy flowers, rather than running wires all the way back to the original source. Daisy chains can be used for transmitting power, data, or both.
Sometimes when you’re working on a project, you have to drill a hole to a certain depth, and you don’t want to go completely through your workpiece. How do you not drill too deep? Here’s how.
To not drill too deep, you need to stop the drill from going any further than you want. You can use something called a drill stop to do this, or you can improvise your own with stuff you probably have in your shop.
Rigid foam insulation board claims to be easy to cut. It says right on the board, usually. But when someone saw me doing that in the Home Depot parking lot, he said, “You’re a braver soul than me!” But if you know my trick, it’s not hard. Here’s how to cut rigid foam insulation board, with simple hand tools, and minimal mess. The best way to cut foam board even allows you to cut it right in the Home Depot parking lot, so the board will fit in a small SUV.
Thin foam board will cut with just a utility knife, but you can easily cut the thicker 2-inch boards, even with just simple tools.
Some Youtubers, including Casual Retro Gamer, use picture ledges to keep their vintage computer systems on the wall when they’re not using them. You can buy a picture ledge, but they’re easy to make, too. And if you make them, you can make them whatever length you want.
A picture ledge is a small, J-shaped shelf that mounts on the wall, normally used for displaying art without having to use a bunch of hangers. But their size works well for vintage home computers and game consoles too, allowing you to store and display them.
As a retro computer hobbyist, former bookseller, and landlord, I’ve had to deal with stickers a lot. It’s not always easy, but it’s possible to remove sticker residue from almost anything. Even paper. Yes, even paper. I’ve removed stickers from inside books and left the page completely undamaged. Here’s how.
Removing sticker residue often requires use of several different techniques including heat and chemicals. My favorite is rubber cement thinner, as it will even remove sticker residue from paper, but different surfaces require different options.
There comes a time when we have to remove tape from something and don’t want to damage it. It’s not always easy, but it’s possible to remove tape residue from almost anything. Even paper. Here’s how.
Removing tape residue often requires use of several different techniques including heat and chemicals. My favorite is rubber cement thinner, as it will even remove tape adhesive from paper, but different surfaces require different options.
Roofs are expensive. So there’s every incentive to try to make it last as long as you can before replacing it. But sometimes you reach a point of diminishing returns with repairs. Here’s how to know whether to replace or repair your roof.
When a roof tends to leak and repeated repairs don’t clear the problem, that’s a sign the roof has hidden issues. I’ll try to repair a roof once, but repeated repairs that don’t solve the issue is just throwing money away.
If your lawn mower bogs down in thick grass or under any other heavy load, there are a couple of possible reasons for it. Fortunately they are also things you can fix yourself.
Building inspectors get cranky when they find reverse polarity outlets, because it causes a dangerous situation. Let’s look at the danger of a reverse polarity outlet and how to fix it.
Reverse polarity on AC outlets is a code violation. It poses a danger because it can cause wiring to always be electrically live, even when the device is turned off.