Ever felt stupid ... ?

[Arfa Daily]

I had a Hartke combo on the bench today. Owner is a keyboard player, and
reckons that he blows the tweeter fuse regularly, and as a result, the
fuseholder was getting slack and intermittent, so could I put a new one in,
please. He normally gains access to the crossover board to replace the fuse,
by taking out the right hand side handle insert, but the captive nuts were
getting to be a poor grip in the wood, so I decided the easiest alternative
way to do the job, obtaining good access to the board, was to remove the
speaker. The grill is held by ten quite large wood screws, and the speaker
by eight large machine screws, into more captive nuts. I didn't unsolder the
bass driver. Just left it on the bench at the end of its wires. It didn't
take long to fit a new fuseholder, and screw the board back in. I dropped
the speaker back into its hole, and then went to have some lunch. When I
came back, I started to look for the screws to reassemble the thing, and
they were gone .... Now the bench is pretty tidy at the moment, so there's
no reason that they shouldn't have been easily visible, but they weren't.

I spent the next half hour turning the air blue, and accusing everyone from
the missus to next door's cat, of hiding or stealing the screws. I crawled
through all the normal detritus and solder splats under every bench, but
nothing. Eventually, I decided that I must have had a senior moment, and
tidied them into a film pot (I always put screws from items waiting for
parts, into film pots), and put it inside the cabinet. And then forgotten
that I did, so excited was I at the prospect of my toasted cheese sandwiches
for lunch. So I lifted the speaker back out and felt around in the wadding,
but no, nothing. Then the phone rang, so I laid the speaker back down on the
bench and yes - you've guessed it - 18 bloody great screws stuck to the
magnet ... DOH ! d:~\

Arfa

 

[Jim Yanik]

"Arfa Daily" <arfa.daily@ntlworld.com> wrote in
news:a9ncq.2650$7C3.357@newsfe07.ams2:

I had a Hartke combo on the bench today. Owner is a keyboard player,
and reckons that he blows the tweeter fuse regularly, and as a result,
the fuseholder was getting slack and intermittent, so could I put a
new one in, please. He normally gains access to the crossover board to
replace the fuse, by taking out the right hand side handle insert, but
the captive nuts were getting to be a poor grip in the wood, so I
decided the easiest alternative way to do the job, obtaining good
access to the board, was to remove the speaker. The grill is held by
ten quite large wood screws, and the speaker by eight large machine
screws, into more captive nuts. I didn't unsolder the bass driver.
Just left it on the bench at the end of its wires. It didn't take long
to fit a new fuseholder, and screw the board back in. I dropped the
speaker back into its hole, and then went to have some lunch. When I
came back, I started to look for the screws to reassemble the thing,
and they were gone .... Now the bench is pretty tidy at the moment, so
there's no reason that they shouldn't have been easily visible, but
they weren't.

I spent the next half hour turning the air blue, and accusing everyone
from the missus to next door's cat, of hiding or stealing the screws.
I crawled through all the normal detritus and solder splats under
every bench, but nothing. Eventually, I decided that I must have had a
senior moment, and tidied them into a film pot (I always put screws
from items waiting for parts, into film pots), and put it inside the
cabinet. And then forgotten that I did, so excited was I at the
prospect of my toasted cheese sandwiches for lunch. So I lifted the
speaker back out and felt around in the wadding, but no, nothing. Then
the phone rang, so I laid the speaker back down on the bench and yes -
you've guessed it - 18 bloody great screws stuck to the magnet ...
DOH ! d:~\

Arfa

that's not too bad. at least they were not embedded in the speaker cone.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com

 

[Jeffrey Angus]

On 9/15/2011 8:33 AM, Arfa Daily wrote:

18 bloody great screws stuck to the magnet ... DOH ! d:~\

Thank you for not making ME feel completely stupid.

Jeff


--
"Everything from Crackers to Coffins"

 

[N_Cook]

Arfa Daily <arfa.daily@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:a9ncq.2650$7C3.357@newsfe07.ams2...

I had a Hartke combo on the bench today. Owner is a keyboard player, and
reckons that he blows the tweeter fuse regularly, and as a result, the
fuseholder was getting slack and intermittent, so could I put a new one
in,
please. He normally gains access to the crossover board to replace the
fuse,
by taking out the right hand side handle insert, but the captive nuts were
getting to be a poor grip in the wood, so I decided the easiest
alternative
way to do the job, obtaining good access to the board, was to remove the
speaker. The grill is held by ten quite large wood screws, and the speaker
by eight large machine screws, into more captive nuts. I didn't unsolder
the
bass driver. Just left it on the bench at the end of its wires. It didn't
take long to fit a new fuseholder, and screw the board back in. I dropped
the speaker back into its hole, and then went to have some lunch. When I
came back, I started to look for the screws to reassemble the thing, and
they were gone .... Now the bench is pretty tidy at the moment, so there's
no reason that they shouldn't have been easily visible, but they weren't.

I spent the next half hour turning the air blue, and accusing everyone
from
the missus to next door's cat, of hiding or stealing the screws. I crawled
through all the normal detritus and solder splats under every bench, but
nothing. Eventually, I decided that I must have had a senior moment, and
tidied them into a film pot (I always put screws from items waiting for
parts, into film pots), and put it inside the cabinet. And then forgotten
that I did, so excited was I at the prospect of my toasted cheese
sandwiches
for lunch. So I lifted the speaker back out and felt around in the
wadding,
but no, nothing. Then the phone rang, so I laid the speaker back down on
the
bench and yes - you've guessed it - 18 bloody great screws stuck to the
magnet ... DOH ! d:~\

Arfa

So did you put a lamp in there along with the fuse?

 

[Arfa Daily]

"N_Cook" <diverse@tcp.co.uk> wrote in message
news:j4t361$23g$1@dont-email.me...

Arfa Daily <arfa.daily@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:a9ncq.2650$7C3.357@newsfe07.ams2...
I had a Hartke combo on the bench today. Owner is a keyboard player, and
reckons that he blows the tweeter fuse regularly, and as a result, the
fuseholder was getting slack and intermittent, so could I put a new one
in,
please. He normally gains access to the crossover board to replace the
fuse,
by taking out the right hand side handle insert, but the captive nuts
were
getting to be a poor grip in the wood, so I decided the easiest
alternative
way to do the job, obtaining good access to the board, was to remove the
speaker. The grill is held by ten quite large wood screws, and the
speaker
by eight large machine screws, into more captive nuts. I didn't unsolder
the
bass driver. Just left it on the bench at the end of its wires. It didn't
take long to fit a new fuseholder, and screw the board back in. I dropped
the speaker back into its hole, and then went to have some lunch. When I
came back, I started to look for the screws to reassemble the thing, and
they were gone .... Now the bench is pretty tidy at the moment, so
there's
no reason that they shouldn't have been easily visible, but they weren't.

I spent the next half hour turning the air blue, and accusing everyone
from
the missus to next door's cat, of hiding or stealing the screws. I
crawled
through all the normal detritus and solder splats under every bench, but
nothing. Eventually, I decided that I must have had a senior moment, and
tidied them into a film pot (I always put screws from items waiting for
parts, into film pots), and put it inside the cabinet. And then forgotten
that I did, so excited was I at the prospect of my toasted cheese
sandwiches
for lunch. So I lifted the speaker back out and felt around in the
wadding,
but no, nothing. Then the phone rang, so I laid the speaker back down on
the
bench and yes - you've guessed it - 18 bloody great screws stuck to the
magnet ... DOH ! d:~\

Arfa


So did you put a lamp in there along with the fuse?

There already is a festoon bulb, as you often find, and it lights up jolly
nicely when you give it a good thrashing. There was no indication on the
board what value or type the fuse should be. There was a 1.6A fitted. The
owner is not a 'dumb' user, so I'm guessing that the first time he replaced
it, it was a 1.6A that came out. Seems about the right sort of value to me
for a horn. The only thing that I would say, is that the fuse that was
fitted, had no fusing characteristic markings, and looked like a 'straight'
type - but I accept that it can sometimes be hard to tell just from
appearance. It had failed 'cleanly', so may well have been just repeated
stress. I have replaced it now with a 'T' rated type of different
construction, so I guess we'll see ...

Arfa

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:33:57 +0100, "Arfa Daily"
<arfa.daily@ntlworld.com> wrote:

...so I laid the speaker back down on the
bench and yes - you've guessed it - 18 bloody great screws stuck to the
magnet ... DOH ! d:~\
Arfa

Chuckle. Now, I don't feel so bad. I use plastic yogurt "tubs" to
store screws. If the unit is going to sit around for more than a day,
I transfer the contents to plastic zip-loc bags. My favorite idiot
error is to knock over the tub, scattering hardware everywhere.


Things I learned a few days ago, while refilling laser printer toner
cartridges.

- Do not try to fill a laser toner cartridge outside
in the wind.

- Do not overfill the toner cartridge.

- Always empty the "waste" toner BEFORE refilling.

- Do not drop the toner bottle on the carpet.

- Do not vacuum toner with a non-HEPA filter bag.

- Do not empty trash can, full of loose toner, into
the dumpster, in the wind.

- Having a spare change of clothes in the office is
very handy.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Jamie]

Jeffrey Angus wrote:

On 9/15/2011 8:33 AM, Arfa Daily wrote:

18 bloody great screws stuck to the magnet ... DOH ! d:~\


Thank you for not making ME feel completely stupid.

Jeff


Why do a partial job

Jamie

 

[Jeffrey Angus]

On 9/15/2011 10:12 AM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

Things I learned a few days ago, while refilling laser printer toner
cartridges.

And cold water is your friend, HOT water really just makes it worse.

Jeff-1.0


--
"Everything from Crackers to Coffins"

 

[N_Cook]

Arfa Daily <arfa.daily@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:gAocq.5491$4X4.219@newsfe27.ams2...

There already is a festoon bulb, as you often find, and it lights up jolly
nicely when you give it a good thrashing. There was no indication on the
board what value or type the fuse should be. There was a 1.6A fitted. The
owner is not a 'dumb' user, so I'm guessing that the first time he
replaced
it, it was a 1.6A that came out. Seems about the right sort of value to me
for a horn. The only thing that I would say, is that the fuse that was
fitted, had no fusing characteristic markings, and looked like a
'straight'
type - but I accept that it can sometimes be hard to tell just from
appearance. It had failed 'cleanly', so may well have been just repeated
stress. I have replaced it now with a 'T' rated type of different
construction, so I guess we'll see ...

Arfa

Partial shorted turns on the VC ?

 

[Jeffrey Angus]

On 9/15/2011 1:11 PM, JeffM wrote:

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
I use plastic yogurt "tubs" to store screws.[...]
My favorite idiot error
is to knock over the tub, scattering hardware everywhere.

Glue each of those to a base that is broader than the tub.
A piece of 1 x 4 would do.

Right, then I can knock them ALL over at the same time.

Jeff
(The other other one)

--
"Everything from Crackers to Coffins"

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:11:54 -0700 (PDT), JeffM <jeffm_@email.com>
wrote:

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
I use plastic yogurt "tubs" to store screws.[...]
My favorite idiot error
is to knock over the tub, scattering hardware everywhere.

Glue each of those to a base that is broader than the tub.
A piece of 1 x 4 would do.

Won't work for me. There's no room on the workbench to put anything
that big.
<http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/home/slides/BL-shop6.html>
The plastic tubs work well enough when all that's inside are some
screws. However, if I put in some brackets or sheet metal hardware,
it becomes top heavy and subject to getting knocked over. Maybe cat
food cans would work better.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[JeffM]

Jeff Liebermann wrote:

My favorite idiot error
is to knock over the tub, scattering hardware everywhere.

Glue each of those to a base that is broader than the tub.

A piece of 1 x 4 would do.

 

[JeffM]

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
I use plastic yogurt "tubs" to store screws.[...]
My favorite idiot error
is to knock over the tub, scattering hardware everywhere.

JeffM wrote:
Glue each of those to a base that is broader than the tub.
A piece of 1 x 4 would do.

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
There's no room on the workbench to put anything that big.
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/home/slides/BL-shop6.html

That is pretty cramped.

Adding a base to the cup, however
shouldn't require _that_ much more real estate.
The lip is usually wider than the bottom anyway.
(My favorite beverage vessels have the inverse configuration.)

if I put in some brackets or sheet metal hardware,
it becomes top heavy and subject to getting knocked over.

Douglas Fir is usually available, but it's the bare minimum.

A chunk of Oak has several times the density.
A piece of steel or lead as a base will offset most loads.

If there's enough steel *inside* the container,
a heavy magnet beneath the platic tub might be the trick.
Magnetized hardware might be an issue, however.

Maybe cat food cans would work better.

Yeah. Low-and-wide tuna cans are hard to upset.

Again, brackets and such are the fly in the ointment.

No *one* perfect solution, I guess.

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Thu, 15 Sep 2011 12:49:34 -0700 (PDT), JeffM <jeffm_@email.com>
wrote:

There's no room on the workbench to put anything that big.
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/home/slides/BL-shop6.html

That is pretty cramped.

That was the RF bench at home. Here's some of the palatial office
workbenches.
<http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/office/office-mess-02.jpg>
<http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/office/office-mess-03.jpg>
The other benches and desks are worse.

Adding a base to the cup, however
shouldn't require _that_ much more real estate.

Every square mm is precious.

The lip is usually wider than the bottom anyway.
(My favorite beverage vessels have the inverse configuration.)

That makes them tip over. My problem is that I tend to put the cups
and cans on top of the mess. Move anything and over it goes. Putting
a base plate on the cup or can isn't going to help much. A bigger cup
or can, with a cover, just might work.

Maybe if I clean up the mess... never mind, that will never happen.

No *one* perfect solution, I guess.

Actually, the plastic zip loc bags seem to work well. I haven't
dumped those all over the carpet, yet.

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
# http://802.11junk.com jeffl@cruzio.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS

 

[Jamie]

Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Thu, 15 Sep 2011 12:49:34 -0700 (PDT), JeffM <jeffm_@email.com
wrote:


There's no room on the workbench to put anything that big.
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/home/slides/BL-shop6.html

Hey I have that service monitor you have sitting there on your main
bench, along with 2 8640B's with all the goodies in them. Looks like
what you have sitting there in the middle of the pile on the upper
deck towards the right..

That is pretty cramped.


That was the RF bench at home. Here's some of the palatial office
workbenches.
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/office/office-mess-02.jpg
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/office/office-mess-03.jpg

Damn, that looks a lot like my place

The other benches and desks are worse.

I will say how ever, I have a bigger path to my benches!

Jamie

 

[Arfa Daily]

"N_Cook" <diverse@tcp.co.uk> wrote in message
news:j4t6em$qo0$1@dont-email.me...

Arfa Daily <arfa.daily@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:gAocq.5491$4X4.219@newsfe27.ams2...



There already is a festoon bulb, as you often find, and it lights up
jolly
nicely when you give it a good thrashing. There was no indication on the
board what value or type the fuse should be. There was a 1.6A fitted. The
owner is not a 'dumb' user, so I'm guessing that the first time he
replaced
it, it was a 1.6A that came out. Seems about the right sort of value to
me
for a horn. The only thing that I would say, is that the fuse that was
fitted, had no fusing characteristic markings, and looked like a
'straight'
type - but I accept that it can sometimes be hard to tell just from
appearance. It had failed 'cleanly', so may well have been just repeated
stress. I have replaced it now with a 'T' rated type of different
construction, so I guess we'll see ...

Arfa



Partial shorted turns on the VC ?

Hard to say. It measures about 6 ohms DC, and produces a nice click when the
Avo is put across it on the /100 range. In my experience, if the Avo can
make a speaker click, then the coil is probably good. Not very scientific, I
know ...

I bunged about 10kHz in from the generator, and with the gain pot no more
than half way up, it hurt my head, which would also tend to indicate that
the horn is probably working pretty much as it should.

Arfa

 

[Arfa Daily]

"Jeff Liebermann" <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote in message
news:vt4477tntc3tkedljd22h2ddh45o7p1pda@4ax.com...

On Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:33:57 +0100, "Arfa Daily"
arfa.daily@ntlworld.com> wrote:

...so I laid the speaker back down on the
bench and yes - you've guessed it - 18 bloody great screws stuck to the
magnet ... DOH ! d:~\
Arfa

Chuckle. Now, I don't feel so bad. I use plastic yogurt "tubs" to
store screws. If the unit is going to sit around for more than a day,
I transfer the contents to plastic zip-loc bags. My favorite idiot
error is to knock over the tub, scattering hardware everywhere.


Things I learned a few days ago, while refilling laser printer toner
cartridges.

- Do not try to fill a laser toner cartridge outside
in the wind.

- Do not overfill the toner cartridge.

- Always empty the "waste" toner BEFORE refilling.

- Do not drop the toner bottle on the carpet.

- Do not vacuum toner with a non-HEPA filter bag.

- Do not empty trash can, full of loose toner, into
the dumpster, in the wind.

- Having a spare change of clothes in the office is
very handy.

--
Jeff Liebermann

I have a big bag of 35mm film pots scavenged from a local film developing
lab. They have a nice 'click-fit' lid, and are just a nice size to 'jam'
nicely into holes between bits of mech. They get endlessly recycled into the
bag, then back out again and into some bit of equipment, and then back into
the bag. They last for years. I use the white 'polythene' ones, and you can
write on these with a Sharpie to remind you where the screws came from. When
the pot comes to be recycled back into the bag, the writing is easily wiped
off with a drop of alcohol on a cloth.

Arfa

 

[Arfa Daily]

"Jeff Liebermann" <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote in message
news:7505779igkt3or5ar6jc8gc4gcnbq0ts8v@4ax.com...

On Thu, 15 Sep 2011 12:49:34 -0700 (PDT), JeffM <jeffm_@email.com
wrote:

There's no room on the workbench to put anything that big.
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/home/slides/BL-shop6.html

That is pretty cramped.

That was the RF bench at home. Here's some of the palatial office
workbenches.
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/office/office-mess-02.jpg
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/office/office-mess-03.jpg
The other benches and desks are worse.

Adding a base to the cup, however
shouldn't require _that_ much more real estate.

Every square mm is precious.

The lip is usually wider than the bottom anyway.
(My favorite beverage vessels have the inverse configuration.)

That makes them tip over. My problem is that I tend to put the cups
and cans on top of the mess. Move anything and over it goes. Putting
a base plate on the cup or can isn't going to help much. A bigger cup
or can, with a cover, just might work.

Maybe if I clean up the mess... never mind, that will never happen.

No *one* perfect solution, I guess.

Actually, the plastic zip loc bags seem to work well. I haven't
dumped those all over the carpet, yet.

--
# Jeff Liebermann

My workshop was beginning to look like that - well maybe not quite that bad,
but getting there. My elder daughter kept threatening to clear it up for me,
so a couple of weeks back, I let her start going through the 'junk' under
the benches, and on top of the one that I mostly work on. It was sorted on
three basic criteria. If I didn't even know that the item was there, it was
time for it to go. If I did know it was there, then it was up for
evaluation. If it hadn't actually been used, or dragged out as a component
donor in the last 2 years, then it was time for it to go. Otherwise, if it
was potentially useful, or had some nostalgic value, then it was cleaned,
catalogued, and tidied back away. The stuff that was deemed 'must go', was
put up on FleaBay. So far, I've made nearly 400 quid ($600). It never ceases
to amaze me what people will buy, and pay good money for. That said, I just
sold an old CB radio. The guy that bought it messed me about with withdrawn
and re-placed bids, and finally got it for a very good price. It was shipped
out the next day by first class signed-for post. Despite my giving a very
accurate description of it, he still found it necessary to continue asking
me questions that he was now in a position to answer for himself. Finally,
today, he left me feedback. "Received OK".

Cheers pal ...

Arfa

 

[Meat Plow]

On Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:33:57 +0100, Arfa Daily wrote:

I had a Hartke combo on the bench today. Owner is a keyboard player, and
reckons that he blows the tweeter fuse regularly, and as a result, the
fuseholder was getting slack and intermittent, so could I put a new one
in, please. He normally gains access to the crossover board to replace
the fuse, by taking out the right hand side handle insert, but the
captive nuts were getting to be a poor grip in the wood, so I decided
the easiest alternative way to do the job, obtaining good access to the
board, was to remove the speaker. The grill is held by ten quite large
wood screws, and the speaker by eight large machine screws, into more
captive nuts. I didn't unsolder the bass driver. Just left it on the
bench at the end of its wires. It didn't take long to fit a new
fuseholder, and screw the board back in. I dropped the speaker back into
its hole, and then went to have some lunch. When I came back, I started
to look for the screws to reassemble the thing, and they were gone ....
Now the bench is pretty tidy at the moment, so there's no reason that
they shouldn't have been easily visible, but they weren't.

I spent the next half hour turning the air blue, and accusing everyone
from the missus to next door's cat, of hiding or stealing the screws. I
crawled through all the normal detritus and solder splats under every
bench, but nothing. Eventually, I decided that I must have had a senior
moment, and tidied them into a film pot (I always put screws from items
waiting for parts, into film pots), and put it inside the cabinet. And
then forgotten that I did, so excited was I at the prospect of my
toasted cheese sandwiches for lunch. So I lifted the speaker back out
and felt around in the wadding, but no, nothing. Then the phone rang, so
I laid the speaker back down on the bench and yes - you've guessed it -
18 bloody great screws stuck to the magnet ... DOH ! d:~\

Arfa

Been there several times. Make it now a priority to check the magnet
structure for missing screws.



--
Live Fast Die Young, Leave A Pretty Corpse

 

[Jim Yanik]

Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote in
news:7505779igkt3or5ar6jc8gc4gcnbq0ts8v@4ax.com:

On Thu, 15 Sep 2011 12:49:34 -0700 (PDT), JeffM <jeffm_@email.com
wrote:

There's no room on the workbench to put anything that big.
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/home/slides/BL-shop6.html

That is pretty cramped.

That was the RF bench at home. Here's some of the palatial office
workbenches.
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/office/office-mess-02.jpg
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/office/office-mess-03.jpg
The other benches and desks are worse.

Adding a base to the cup, however
shouldn't require _that_ much more real estate.

Every square mm is precious.

The lip is usually wider than the bottom anyway.
(My favorite beverage vessels have the inverse configuration.)

That makes them tip over. My problem is that I tend to put the cups
and cans on top of the mess. Move anything and over it goes. Putting
a base plate on the cup or can isn't going to help much. A bigger cup
or can, with a cover, just might work.

Maybe if I clean up the mess... never mind, that will never happen.

No *one* perfect solution, I guess.

Actually, the plastic zip loc bags seem to work well. I haven't
dumped those all over the carpet, yet.

you could use an icecube tray,or a muffin/cupcake baking sheet(pan).
they make them in several sizes. Or Even an old egg carton.

if you want to get fancy,use the cupcake liners in the cupcake pan,so you
can lift the hardware out and dump in your ziploc bags.

then there's plastic fishing tackle boxes,available at WalMart.
some of them,you can customize the compartment sizes.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com