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Silver frame Marx cars

Dave Farquhar Toy trains April 19, 2019May 4, 2023

In 1938 and possibly 1939, Marx produced its 6-inch cars with plain tin-plated frames, rather than lithographing or painting them. But these silver frame Marx cars were short lived. As such they provide a challenge for collectors today.

Silver frame Marx cars are a bit difficult to find because of their short production time but are also easy to fake. Don’t pay a heavy premium for a frame that looks too good. In this blog post, I’ll tell you how to identify one that’s too good and probably fake.
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Why are mechanical keyboards so expensive?

Dave Farquhar Hardware April 18, 2019June 2, 2019

I’m a mechanical keyboard fan. Mechanical keyboards have gone in and out of fashion, but I kept using them regardless. I only see one drawback with them: the cost. So what does a mechanical keyboard cost? And why are mechanical keyboards so expensive?

A mechanical keyboard costs 10 or even 20 times as much as a cheap membrane keyboard, so the price can be off-putting. The reason is because mechanical keyboards have many more parts, and they are more labor intensive to make. The cost is easier to justify if you use it a lot, but the price does make it feel like a commitment.

Will a table saw cut through nails?

Dave Farquhar DIY April 17, 2019March 19, 2019

Will a table saw cut through nails? Unfortunately I know the answer is yes. But I don’t recommend it, generally speaking, for a couple of reasons.

The visible sparks that happen when you try to cut through nails with a table saw suggest what you’re doing isn’t a great idea. But you’ll also dull your blade, which creates a safety hazard long after the sparks stop flying. Read more

How to fix a crooked valve stem on a bike

Dave Farquhar DIY April 16, 2019April 13, 2019

My son asked me to help him air up his tires on his bicycle because the valve stem was crooked. His friends tried to help him and couldn’t figure it out, and it was a new one to me too. Here’s how we learned to fix a crooked valve stem on a bike.

The good news is you don’t need a new bike or even a new tire, necessarily. Crooked valve stems are caused by a deflated inner tube bunching up. Sometimes you can deflate the tire and straighten the stem, but other times you have to pull the tire and stretch out the tube.

Why VHS beat Betamax

Dave Farquhar Hardware, Video April 15, 2019February 14, 2026

It probably wasn’t the first format war and it certainly wasn’t the last. But VHS vs Beta, the battle of VCR formats, has served as a cautionary tale for more than a generation now. But there was no single reason why VHS beat Betamax. It was an accumulation of things that led to VHS winning.

Betamax was first on the market, and it had better image quality and generally better build quality. But VHS cost less and the tapes gave a longer run time, so in the end VHS won because it achieved critical mass among early adopters first.

Lionel TW transformer

Dave Farquhar Toy trains April 12, 2019March 23, 2019

The Lionel TW transformer is an easy to overlook, easily misunderstood transformer from the postwar era. It was designed for single-train layouts with lots of accessories. It contains two transformers in the case, one for the train and one for the accessories.

The Lionel TW provides 175 watts of power and variable voltage of up to 20 volts on its A-U posts, but its main source of appeal is its large number of fixed voltage circuits at varying levels.

Script to determine if an IP is in a CIDR range

Dave Farquhar security April 11, 2019March 15, 2019

Sometimes you have a long list of IP addresses and need to know which ones are in a particular CIDR range. That’s easy enough to do by hand if it’s a nice, even multiple of 8. But usually it isn’t, so I wrote a simple script to determine if an IP is in a CIDR range.

In days of yore, computer magazines would publish short, useful programs and explain how they worked. That doesn’t happen anymore. Consider this a throwback post.

Why Microsoft is the best – in some minds

Dave Farquhar Windows April 10, 2019January 7, 2025

Microsoft is a classic American story. If you want to know why Microsoft is the best in some people’s minds, it helps to start with that. But two people can look at the same set of facts about Microsoft and come to very different conclusions. That makes Microsoft interesting to follow, but at times confounding.

Microsoft’s story is basically the story of a string of successes, in sequence. The details matter, but in a nutshell, people’s opinion about Microsoft is generally shaped by their opinion about that success.

Change or remove a doorknob faceplate

Dave Farquhar DIY April 9, 2019May 13, 2020

When you buy a new doorknob, they almost always have a rectangular faceplate on the mechanism. In some older houses, the doorknobs just have small, round faceplates, or no faceplate at all. Here’s how to change or remove a doorknob faceplate so a new doorknob fits without you having to mortise the door.

To change or remove a doorknob faceplate, you literally pry the faceplate off with a screwdriver. The trick is just knowing where to pry. If you’re changing a lot of doorknobs, the time you save by not having to mortise the door adds up quickly.

Commodore 1702 monitor

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing April 8, 2019January 6, 2026

The Commodore 1702 was a popular monitor designed for and marketed with the Commodore 64 in the early 1980s. While this is just my opinion, I think it was the best monitor Commodore ever sold.

The Commodore 1702 monitor was a composite monitor that handled both standard composite and what we now call S-Video. Its gray-beige color matched the original breadbin-style Commodore 64 and 1541 disk drive.