David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more
Sometimes you need to fill a space on your layout that no off-the-shelf length of track will fit. The advantage of tubular track is that you can cut custom lengths with little to no difficulty. Here’s how to cut Lionel tubular track.
Lionel tubular track, both O and O27 varieties, cuts relatively easily with a hacksaw. If you have a lot of track sections to cut, you can use a miniature chop saw as well.
Elmer’s Glue is an iconic product. Or, should I say, pair of products. Elmer’s Glue All and Elmer’s School Glue look a lot alike, and stores often sell them side by side. And Wikipedia says there’s no difference. But is there? Let’s look at Elmer’s Glue All vs School Glue.
Although the two glues share the same ingredients, the formulation isn’t identical. Elmer’s School Glue is easier to wash out, and forms a more flexible bond than Elmer’s Glue All. Depending on your use case, each can have definite advantages.
Husky is one of Home Depot’s house brands for hand tools. As a house brand, they are less expensive than the big name brands. But are Husky hand tools good? And who makes Husky hand tools for Home Depot? I did some digging to find out.
Most Husky tools are made by Apex Tool Group, a company owned by Bain Capital. Apex also makes several brands you may have heard of, including Wiss, Allen, and Weller. Apex also makes tools for numerous Home Depot competitors, including Lowe’s, Menards, and Sears.
It never fails. After the first freeze of the year, the tire light goes on in the car. Frequently both of the family cars. And if it only happens to one, it’ll happen to the other when the first really deep freeze of winter hits. Low tire pressure when cold isn’t just your imagination. Here’s why it happens and how to know if it’s a 75-cent problem or a $200 problem.
Every 10 degree drop in temperature can lower your tire pressure by about a pound, which can cause low tire pressure in cold weather. Don’t drive on a tire with less than 20 pounds of pressure in it.
Eventually, whenever the discussion of proper O scale railroading comes up, someone mentions Q scale. What was Q scale model railroading, and why didn’t it catch on?
Q scale was the North American equivalent of European O scale, which sized models at 1:45 scale, or 17/64 of an inch to the foot.
We use the two terms interchangeably. But is isopropyl alcohol the same as rubbing alcohol? Not necessarily, but the difference may or may not matter, depending on what you’re using it for. Let’s look at isopropyl alcohol vs rubbing alcohol.
Rubbing alcohol can be either isopropyl or ethyl alcohol, but the main difference is purity. Rubbing alcohol is 70% pure, where products sold as isopropyl alcohol are typically 91% or 99% pure.
If you’re looking for the best chip puller or IC extraction tool, I don’t think anyone will argue with my assertion it’s the Jonard EX-2. I finally picked one up this fall after watching various retro Youtubers use them for more than a year. The videos aren’t exaggerating. This chip puller makes life with retro machines much easier. This is my Jonard EX-2 review.
Can you stain pine wood to look like oak? You can, but it takes some patience and the right materials to get consistent results you’re likely to be happy with. Practice helps too. Here’s how to stain pine to look like oak.
This trick can be helpful if you want to attempt a DIY project like a picture ledge, but want it to match other furniture in the room. And it also applies to other finishes, not just oak.
On Thursday, November 12, 2020, I migrated to a new host. My old host was a bit too far behind on some of the major software required to run current WordPress builds correctly. I decided that building a new server and migrating my 20+ years of content to it was my best option.
It should be a lot faster. The new hardware is faster. The new software would be faster even if it were running on the same hardware. And I found and fixed a couple of problems along the way. But if you notice something not working, please post a comment to let me know.
And if you noticed the server was up and down a lot on November 12, that’s why. The new server didn’t work on the first try, and it takes about two minutes to change the firewall rule to point to a different server.
One question that comes up pretty frequently among vintage computer enthusiasts is what to use as a MOS 6522 replacement. Commodore used this chip extensively, but so did others. There are suitable replacements in the form of second-source 65c22 chips, but not all of them work. Here’s what to use.
Commodore went out of business in 1994, and started winding down its chip production as early as 1992. But some of its designs were available through second sources, and the 6522 was one of them.