mending things

I recently decided to dust off an old gaming PC from around 2006 that was in the attic. I'm interested in folding@home , a way of assisting medical science donating computer time from home , and  wanted to see if I could build a dedicated FAH (Fold at Home) rig using spare hardware we had.  I'm also interested in computational heating i.e better exploiting the waste heat from computer systems . This  will be the subject of another blog shortly, but when I got this PC down and booted it up, I immediately hit an issue with the LCD screen. It kept turning on and off approximately every second , but sometimes staying on for longer. I could see the boot screen, the BIOS and eventually the windows logo, but the screen wouldn't stay on. Very frustrating I later realised that if I left the monitor on for at least an hour it would stabilize and become usable. I looked around  on the internet and realised this was probably a problem with the capacitors in the power supply. If...

I decided to clean some bikes during this unprecedented period of isolation, and got out a Karcher pressure cleaner we purchased some years ago for cleaning our decking. We have had it for 4 years, it works fine and creates a powerful spray which blasts the dirt off, and has a mode which dispenses detergent at a lower pressure first to fully soap the item, be it car or bike or garden furniture etc. However while the pressure hose worked fine I could not get any detergent to dispense. I checked the bottle which inverts onto a connector with a rubber seal. All appeared fine. I looked online via google and  remembered that the detergent only dispenses when the nozzle dial on the gun part is turned down to the 'Mix' setting. However I tried this and it made no difference. There are clear pipes which deliver the detergent from the bottle dispenser via a dial which sets the amount. I could see no movement through these pipes I decided to open the Karcher w...

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...

I have had a 4 slot Dualit toaster for the last 15 or so years, and it has worked well. I replaced one of the heating elements some time ago, covered in another post. The timer switch had recently become unreliable, sometimes when you turn it, the red "on" light didn't engage and the elements didn't come on. I ordered a new timer from Dualit, which was not cheap , £27 from Dualit via their website, but I like the toaster and don't like throwing items away when a small part fails. The spare duly arrived and this is the fairly easy replacement procedure. NOTE : TOASTERS USE MAINS ELECTRICITY. ONLY ATTEMPT THIS IF YOU ARE COMPETENT WITH ELECTRICAL REPAIRS.  ALWAYS ENSURE THE ITEM IS FULLY DISCONNECTED AT THE WALL FROM THE MAINS SUPPLY BEFORE UNDERTAKING ANY OF THE FOLLOWING To gain access to the timer you need to remove the crumb tray and flip the toaster on its top. I use a plastic tray to sit the toaster in, collecting any screws and bread crumbs tha...