David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more
There was a certain look that defined kitchen cabinets, and to some extent, furniture in general in the 1980s and 1990s. A lot of it had to do with the material. So what were 1990s kitchen cabinets made of? Read more
Tin lithography is a manufacturing process involving printing a design on tin plated steel, then forming the metal into a design. Lithography is the specific printing process in this case.
Tin lithography is something of a lost art today, or it is at least much less common than it used to be. Tin lithographed toys were, in some ways, the cheap plastic toys of their era, occupying a lowbrow space alongside cast toys made of pot metal. Today the process is largely used for gift boxes and novelty items.
Sometimes you hear the phrase adjusted OPS. Adjusted OPS is sometimes also called OPS+, which may or may not help clarify things. So what does adjusted OPS mean? And what is a good adjusted OPS?
To the uninitiated, primer seems like a rip off. An expensive product you put on before you paint that you never see. But primer can be essential. So here’s a primer about paint versus primer, as well as when you need it, when you can get by without it, and what paint plus primer in one means.
When repainting or restoring post-war Lionel locomotives, many hobbyists used and recommended a Krylon product. That part number was 1613, and it was available at many hardware stores. Unfortunately, Krylon no longer sells it at retail. Fortunately, there is a substitute you can use today for Lionel semi flat black.
In woodworking or refinishing furniture, you sometimes hear people talk about raising the grain. What is raising the grain, how do you do it, and why is it important?
Read more
Let’s talk about my dad’s favorite Hall of Fame case: Roger Maris. Maris broke babe Ruth’s single season home run record, but then you never hear much else about him. How can someone break a record that stood for 34 years and not be in the Hall of Fame? Let’s take a look at why Roger Maris fell short of the Hall of Fame.
Dad had no reason to like Roger Maris. He played for the team he rooted for as a kid that left Philadelphia and went west. And then right when he got good, The New York Yankees traded for him. And then of course, he had his best years with the Yankees.
But Dad admired a guy who played hurt. Maris played hurt a lot. And I think it bugged him that the Yankees didn’t really appreciate him outside of his magical 1961 season. Read more
You don’t have to hang out with Lionel enthusiasts for long before you hear about a mysterious thing called an e-unit. But what is a Lionel e-unit, anyway?
The Lionel e-unit is an electromechanical device that allows Lionel trains to sequence through forward, neutral, and reverse when the operator cycles power to the track, making it easier to simulate train operations. Originally the e-unit operated using a solenoid, copper fingers and a drum to change the motor’s polarity. In recent years, various companies have replicated the e-unit’s function with electronics.
What does dot matrix mean? Dot matrix printers were the dominant form of computer printer for around 20 years. Although they are largely obsolete today, they do still have niche uses. For example, if you get a paper paycheck, it’s probably printed with a dot matrix printer.
Dot matrix printing gets its name from the technique it uses. It defines a rectangular matrix consisting of dots, usually nine or 24 dots across. The fewer dots in the matrix, the more noticeable the gap between the dots, resulting in crude looking letters. The text is recognizable, but looks very much like it was printed by a computer.
There are various reasons why wire nuts can stop working, some of them more obvious than others. So if you’re in the middle of a project and your wire nuts aren’t working, or if a wire nut stopped working after a period of time, here are some things you can do about it.