mending things

The inevitable problem, too many records. Turntable and amplifier on top Like many record collectors around the world, I have a number of IKEA cube cabinets from both their EXPEDIT (older) and KALLAX (newer) ranges. These are easy to make, cheap to buy and perfect for record storage. The system comes flat packed and uses bolts and dowels to hold the system together. If you follow the instructions  the system is strong and should not collapse. You can augment the joints with PVA wood glue for extra strength. My turntable sits on top of an EXPEDIT 2x4 cabinet, laid along the long side, with some felt feet to support it from the floor, and you can use KALLAX in the same way. It's been great but has two problems I wanted to address : 1) Because the system has no back panel, the records  can be pushed too far back. 2) While the structure is strong and fairly rigid, there was some lateral movement. With heavy equipment on top, I found that if I nudged or knocked either top side, thi...

I'm ashamed to say that recently I noticed rust developing at the base of the microwave interior glass door panel, and the paint flaking. Cooking items like potatoes releases a lot of moisture , which probably should be wiped away immediately to avoid this, but when you are preparing a meal and everything you forget (or I do at least). The Microwave is a Bosch and has a face plate so it fits into a recess in our fitted kitchen. I looked into replacing the door but Bosch do not supply this as a spare, not could I find a donor oven online. A whole new oven would be around £300, which seemed a lot for a problem that might be fixable.  I read online about Rusty Microwave ovens, and advice ranged from " It'll be fine " through to " immediately remove the oven and place in a lead lined container at the bottom of the sea " type of response. Filtering the informed advice from the hysterical took a while. In the USA you can purchase Microwave oven pain...

A number of my posts here regard my battle to replace GU10 and MR16 Halolgen bulbs with LED equivalents, via a short period of CFL bulbs. This has been successful, with all the 40 halogens having been replaced with LED some 5 years ago. My energy consumption has gone down and so has the amount of heat generated into the loft and ceiling space from the bulbs. Since then I have kept an eye on LED full size light bulbs for ES (Edison Screw) SES (Small Edison Screw and Bayonet fitting bulbs, all of which are represented in my house. Until recently I had found the LED lightbulbs to have dimmer light and a cold blue tint, much as the first Halogen replacements had. A few weeks back while in my local B&Q DIY store I saw a display of Philips LED Bulbs, some of which featured clear glass and a kind of internal perspex crown-shaped diffractor. I'm pleased to say I have tied both in SES , ES and Bayonet form-factors and they are superior to the Com...

In the UK  most houses appear to use some form of modular plastic guttering. It comes in different colours and cross sections. Pieces are held up using brackets. Where sections join together a connecting pice is used which clamps beneath the two sections  coupling them together, and an outer clip piece binds both pieces together with a rubber seal as the filling in this sandwich.  The rubber seal consist of a length of rubber strip which sits in a groove in the juntion piece. In the picture above you can see a corner section, below you see a mid section join between two longer lengths. I routinely find persistent drips from these junction points. This is not great as where the water lands you get splashing, which over time can soak the walls close to the splash point. It can also start to damage wooden paint work. if your in a room  nearby a persistent drip-drip-drip is also annoying. So dripping gutters are a bad thing. I have repaired gutters in 3 house...