Alright, so the frost inside my freezer has really built up over the summer and I decided a quick fix was using a chisel and hammer. I punctured the corner of the aluminum inner wall. How bad is this?
>>1055243
Very bad, the cold will leak
Worst case scenario, it is totally dead due to puncture of coils.
Best case scenario, you did superficial damage and possibly slightly reduced it's efficiency.
>>1055249
I'm really hoping for this one.
Thanks for the replies
Moving in with my grandparents and the room they have has a shitty carpet, to hide what I'm assuming is shitty flooring. I've never done anything like this in my life but am willing to learn. How much of a pain would it be to get rid of the old carpet, and old flooring (idk what it's called) and replace it with some nice vinyl plank flooring or something like that?
My main concern is that it's an old building they're renting in, and idk if I can even do this. And if I can, is it even worth the trouble?
>>1055118
>renting
>never done this
>get rid of flooring for no reason at all
Stop right fucking there, you need to ask your landlord first. Also, you can just put the new flooring on top of the carpet.
>>1055120
>Also, you can just put the new flooring on top of the carpet.
This is a joke right?
Buy a rug.
I'm trying to paint some small plastic buttons and swtiches (pic related) that go on a control panel and I wonder: What's the best way to get them to be smooth and glossy without sticking inside of their holes? Any advice on how I can make them look clean and slick?
I've gathered some plastic primer, valspar interior paint of the color I want (latex I believe) and some minwax polycrylic glass spray to clearcoat over it (all based off the advice of the Lowe's guy). Is everything good to go for me?
The bottoms/switches are going into the "turbo panel" of an arcade stick not unlike this: http://www.genkivideogames.com/imagesnew/HPJ08shots.jpg
Is this either a dumb question or something so specific /diy/ doesn't know?
>>1055377
Original post was at a bad time.
Mount the buttons on a piece of paper or something so the spray doesnt knock them around while priming. Piece of play-doh works.
One coat of primer. very light sanding to take off any rough spots.
One coat of color. even lighter sanding.
another coat of color.
Final coat of clear.
Wait at least 30 min after spraying before sanding and always rinse and dry after sanding.
>>1055383
500 grit on primer.
1000 grit on color.
if it needs more then you can go all the way to 2000 grit wet sanding
I've designed this corner desk in sketchup. Pretty simple when you look at it; three C shaped legs, a frame, a tabletop and skirting between two longer spaced legs to keep it from toppling if leaned on. However, I'm running into quite a few problems that I need some help solving.
>problem 1 - skirting to leg joint
From what I've read the best way to go about attaching the legs together would be a double mortise and tenon joint on the top/bottom of the vertical piece. However, this then creates the issue of how the fuck I'm meant to attach the skirting to the bottom legs when there's a tenon going two thirds of the way through its thickness.
I'm (probably obviously) a beginner to woodworking and this is the first project I've set out to do. I really like the design of this desk and I've customized the overall dimensions of the desk to utilize the best amount of space in my room. However, I clearly need as much help as I can get with all the joinery and wouldn't mind any suggestions to the design. I'm still not sure if the short side of the desk is long enough to justify even having a corner desk but it seems like the best way to make use of the little space I have in my room.
Will be posting various pictures of my design to the thread, with dimensions for your reference. And if need be I can probably upload the sketchup file somewhere.
>>1054948
>more on problem 1
As you should be able to tell, the double mortise and tenon joint keeps the legs held nicely together. However, it leaves me no room to attach the skirting to the leg without fucking the whole thing up
>>1054951
>more on problem 1
This is just how I've attached the two sets of large legs together for reference. The 'large legs' are the set on the left and the set in the back corner; they are both 'large' because they are an extra 50mm in length compared to the 'small' set at the front.
Hopefully that makes sense
>>1054954
>more on problem 1
Here's the dimensioning for the lower joint in the legs
How do I remove this logo from my key? Sandpaper or something?
That key unlocks any Lowe's store in existence, but only by the power of the logo that has been placed upon it. Removing it breaks the spell. Don't do this.
Source: my dad, who works for Lowe's
Sandpaper or plastidip that part of the key.
>>1054759
Bench grinder or a Dremel if you have one. Follow that up with sand paper for a nice, smooth finish.
That key is brass, though, with a nickel plating. Once you remove 1/128" of the surface, it's going to look coppery and then full on brass.
GL.
How do you lay a concrete slab?
I'm tired of moving my boat every weekend in the yard when I mow so grass doesn't grow tall under it and invite all sorts of critters into my boat. My shed/workshop is on a concrete slab. How would I go about extending it? I've called some companies that do it and it seems way too expensive. What could it cost to lay say a 14x28 slab? Would it be cheaper to just lay gravel?
Gravel is much cheaper, but the concrete will look better. You will wanna put expansion grooves in it. I don't care what your friends tell you, if you do not get the expansion grooves it will crack and look like crap. You can go to home depo or lows. They will help you get an idea of how many bags pre square foot. I would at least watch some Youtube videos. If you wanna make it look really good you can buy molds and dyes and make it look like stone. But I would understand if that is not in your budget.
>>1054689
Unless you want to make a gigantic slab (10+ meters long) you don't need expansion joints.
>>1054679
Why not just put down tiles?
Hey, /diy/. How does one effectively unclog a drain? What are the many methods?
>>1054649
Zipstrip, then snake, then replace p-trap, in that order. Avoid liquid drain cleaners.
>>1054649
Come on, anon. This is child's play.
>Zip-it plastic drain stick
>Baking soda trick
If the problem is deeper than that, you'll have to use a cobra wire drain or something.
Can't yoy just pop open the water trap and clean that shit a little?
I spent maybe 5 hours over the course of two days cleaning all the pigeon shit off my balcony. We're talking 5-6 lbs of baked-on pigeon shit. Then I put up a plastic owl to scare away the pigeons. I go to paint said balcony today, and now there a turd there from something much, much larger, I'm guessing an owl who thinks my balcony is the new owl hangout. That's an improvement at least, as it's larger and easier to clean up. So I clean up the owl shit and paint everything.
Just went out to see if the paint was try and now there's more pigeon shit, plastic owl be damned.
What can I do to finally get rid of these pigeons? I don't want to have to clean up a bunch of shit every time I want to use my balcony.
Tanglefoot, a glue trap for birds. Trap them, kill them, clean them, and enjoy squab for dinner.
Or maybe you can sell live pigeons to fanciers, if you don't wanna kill them.
Soak some bread in anti-freeze and throw it onto the balcony. The birds will just dissapear after a few days.
>>1054627
Fishing wire everywhere they like to land.
Hi /diy/
Not sure if this is the right place to be.
TL;DR I was taking apart an old Sunpentown rice cooker to clean off the grime and mold, took off part of the lid, and I discover the's two black wires.
Are they supposed to be connected to each other? Connected to something in the lid? I don't know anything about wiring or electricity.
>>1054524
They are the thermostat, you have broken it, now it is useless
>>1054525
Fuck
Is there any way to fix it?
>>1054528
See that little opening there, that is where the wires go into, you need to open up the lid assembly, and find those connections, and then solder them back, and it should work. But, rice cooker like these are very often not made to be serviceable, it is better to get a new one than try to fix it and then start a fire when it gets loose again during a cooking session.
So I bought a digital photo frame from the thrift store a couple days ago. It was super cheap and I needed a small screen for a costume I'm building anyway. The problem is, it automatically shuts itself off after a couple minutes. I need it to stay on. There's no setting for this in the options menu. Is there anything I can do to keep this thing on until the battery runs dead?
>>1054444
Make a 555 circuit close a relay that replaces a button that keeps it working and have it press it every x seconds.
>>1054506
I've seen fake security cameras that have a flashing red led, the PCB from that would if connected to the button points on the pic frame in place of the LED without having to build a circuit right?
Any suggestions for a super cheap alternative to this thing? I just need a small screen that will display at least just an image. It would be great if it could also display something animated, but that's not necessary. I have a very small budget for it though, like it would need to be around $10.
I have minor scratches on my black car. Any way 2 fix it without paint
Watch ChrisFix's video on it
T cut
Nail polish
Cob experience anyone? Was it easy? Cheap? Turn out looking like a pile of shit rolled down a haystack?
>>1054283
It is best done with lots of people and with patience. You can make them yourself, but having friends help is more fun and things move along a bit faster. You have to build it slow enough to allow the lower parts to dry or it will sag and fall.
It isn't "easy" as other building methods and still takes a lot of work. It can be very cheap or even free, but that depends on your location, resources, and methods.
What it looks like really depends on who is designing it. Since it is a non-standardized building medium, people are not restricted to dimensional lumber sizes and can be very artistic. That is great, but you do end up with some real lemons when people don't know how to make something that looks good.
Remember, you can build it anywhere in the world if you have the materials, a good foundation with low masonry wall, and a good roof.
"Having friends helps"
What is an easier building method than cob? Are there design plans if you're not super creative in the artistic way?
Okay I went full retard. Trying to open my window, I pulled two latches at the top which have arms extending to the sides, not knowing those kept the window in place or something.
When I pulled the window up, the top fell down on my head.
There are two black bars inside the window frame rails, I pulled those out of their keepers thinking those would do it. Now I see that won't work, and in trying to put them back in, the left one just won't go.
The slots of metal that go into the keepers are supposed to go in straight and you pull the keeper down to lock them in place, but one of the slots is sideways; It won't go back in and I can't rotate it.
Also can't do anything outrageous as this is my university dorm, I'm just trying to put the window back in.
I'll upload a couple of pics to help illustrate my point.
How do I rotate this to get it back into its keeper?
How do I make a model airplane that's really good at flying in high winds?
Everything is on the table, including various forms of feedback control.
>>1054240
get a quadcopter board like kk board and use plane stabilization firmware
>>1054244
Agreed.
In addition to a 6+DOF gyro, you'll want a pitot tube to measure airspeed so you can compensate for wind.
Ardupilot and others have 'stabilization' and other modes to filter out either environmental or pilot induced fuckery.
It's also nice to toggle into a stabilized 'loiter' mode that circles around a point when you have to take a piss/smoke/wardrive/stalk/etc.
http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/flight-modes.html
>>1054240
I just added a gyro to the roll axis of my RC airplane to stabilize it in high winds.
Hey /diy/ i have always wanted to get into amp building, since i have a lot of spare time , i would like to build a tube amplifier or at least learn how to.
I have seen some builders around but they mostly work on fixing and modding them.
I have little to no knowledge about tube amps . I know the basics of working with electricity but i have never worked with high voltages.
So i want to know what would i need.
>any literature would be helpful
>any videos
>lessons
>places to buy materials (preferably not expensive)
>essential tools ill need
>good build to start with
>DOs and DONTs
>share your stories
>post your builds
>pic related
>my goal
Why not start with a kit?
tubeamplifierparts.com/watts-store/guitar-amplifier-diy-kits.html
It won't necessarily teach how it works but researching each part and examining schematics will help.
>>1054136
They all cost 300$ and up , living in 3rd world thats too much for me to spend right away , thats why i prefer building instead of kits , i can buy all parts second hand at 60% price. Any experience with kits ? Seen some 100$ kits on ebay
Read the RCA Tube Manual. See if you can grasp the concepts.
Learn about the different tube types. Fun With Tubes is an excellent site, same with The Valve Wizard.
Learn to draw load lines. Steve Bench wrote up an excellent article. He teaches you how to draw load lines for triodes and pentodes, both SE and PP, and calculate the resulting distortion.
I buy all my parts off ebay and from a local electronics store. However I only use that stuff for experiments, if I restore a piece of gear that is worth money, I use only the best parts.
I would recommend building the 12AU7 headphone amp to start, it's on DIYAudio. You can experiment with plate/cathode resistors, read voltages and understand what each component does hands on if you are not into theory AND it's low voltage which leads me to...
Tube stuff is very dangerous. It will kill you if you aren't paying attention. Being bit by 250V once taught me a huge lesson, don't be stupid and play with it plugged in, power on. Capacitors can be lethal even after being left alone for hours. Just be cautious...you don't have to fear it but always respect it.
Here's a pic of a silly amp I built. The blue tubes are mecury arc rectifiers, I don't suggest those as beginner tubes though.