#murknorth — Public Fediverse posts

(smoke detectors) Okay, let’s write this down to think it though

The latest smoke detector to howl pointlessly into the night sends out 11.3V DC onto the signal pin when triggered but running off batteries. I suspect that’s 12V nominal, and it probably delivers 12V when operating on AC power.

Most importantly, it’s not like… 500mv. Or AC. Or complicated. It’s plain, simple DC.

When acting as a non-reporting satellite node, it triggers when receiving 4V DC on the signal pin (4.0 exactly), and that voltage is polarity sensitive. -4V doesn’t trigger the alarm.

Checking for DC on the signal line, I get functionally nothing. 20ma DC at most, and even that’s something I’m picking up out of noise floor shift rather than direct measurement.

(Yes, I checked for AC as well. Still functionally nothing.)

My thought was that if the signal line was somehow floating in whole number volts (for whatever reason) than maybe somehow the right RF noise could kick it over.

The problem with that is that I can now also confirm that non-detecting units go off exactly as long as a detecting device keeps saying it’s detecting by putting voltage on the signal line. If that voltage goes away, so do the satellite alarms – and immediately.

And that’s not what happens. We have to manually intervene and shut the alarms off ourselves.

The reason I paid meaningfully more than baseline for this particular set is that they report exactly which detector went off and why. That way, if it were the signal line somehow triggering the alarms, none of them would claim to be the originating unit; they’d all report it came from the signal backbone.

But they don’t. There’s always a unit claiming to be the active detector and it’s always smoke (and there is never actually smoke), and none of them shut up until we shut off that unit, which sometimes seems to require removing it from power.

So today’s afternoon check was basically just another way of confirming what we already knew, and I guess I’ve done that now, but…

All that does is get us right back to where we started, which is, “we have alarm after alarm after alarm of different makes, methods (ionisation, photodetector), and models which just in this house are determined to go off randomly, usually but not always at night, for absolutely no detectable fucking reason, and then pass self-test just fine afterwards.”

And no, regular cleaning – even weekly cleaning – does not help. I do all the things. None of it stops the problem.

If you’re new to this adventure, I have heard this exact same story from many other people at this point – though nobody I’ve talked to has said they’ve literally taken metres to the signal wires to verify that way.

Regardless, I know it is not just us.

What I’ve been told from others who deal with this is to RMA individual units that trigger randomly one at a time until you end up with a set that doesn’t. And I guess that’s what I’m gonna do, but

holy shit, team

holy shit

this is the opposite of fire safety

this is the opposite of how anything like this should ever work, I mean

what if all the RMAs are getting you are a set that won’t go off even when they should?

but whelp

guess i’m gonna find out

’cause this sure ain’t workin’.

(smoke detectors) Okay, let’s write this down to think it though

The latest smoke detector to howl pointlessly into the night sends out 11.3V DC onto the signal pin when triggered but running off batteries. I suspect that’s 12V nominal, and it probably delivers 12V when operating on AC power.

Most importantly, it’s not like… 500mv. Or AC. Or complicated. It’s plain, simple DC.

When acting as a non-reporting satellite node, it triggers when receiving 4V DC on the signal pin (4.0 exactly), and that voltage is polarity sensitive. -4V doesn’t trigger the alarm.

Checking for DC on the signal line, I get functionally nothing. 20ma DC at most, and even that’s something I’m picking up out of noise floor shift rather than direct measurement.

(Yes, I checked for AC as well. Still functionally nothing.)

My thought was that if the signal line was somehow floating in whole number volts (for whatever reason) than maybe somehow the right RF noise could kick it over.

The problem with that is that I can now also confirm that non-detecting units go off exactly as long as a detecting device keeps saying it’s detecting by putting voltage on the signal line. If that voltage goes away, so do the satellite alarms – and immediately.

And that’s not what happens. We have to manually intervene and shut the alarms off ourselves.

The reason I paid meaningfully more than baseline for this particular set is that they report exactly which detector went off and why. That way, if it were the signal line somehow triggering the alarms, none of them would claim to be the originating unit; they’d all report it came from the signal backbone.

But they don’t. There’s always a unit claiming to be the active detector and it’s always smoke (and there is never actually smoke), and none of them shut up until we shut off that unit, which sometimes seems to require removing it from power.

So today’s afternoon check was basically just another way of confirming what we already knew, and I guess I’ve done that now, but…

All that does is get us right back to where we started, which is, “we have alarm after alarm after alarm of different makes, methods (ionisation, photodetector), and models which just in this house are determined to go off randomly, usually but not always at night, for absolutely no detectable fucking reason, and then pass self-test just fine afterwards.”

And no, regular cleaning – even weekly cleaning – does not help. I do all the things. None of it stops the problem.

If you’re new to this adventure, I have heard this exact same story from many other people at this point – though nobody I’ve talked to has said they’ve literally taken metres to the signal wires to verify that way.

Regardless, I know it is not just us.

What I’ve been told from others who deal with this is to RMA individual units that trigger randomly one at a time until you end up with a set that doesn’t. And I guess that’s what I’m gonna do, but

holy shit, team

holy shit

this is the opposite of fire safety

this is the opposite of how anything like this should ever work, I mean

what if all the RMAs are getting you are a set that won’t go off even when they should?

but whelp

guess i’m gonna find out

’cause this sure ain’t workin’.

(smoke detectors) Okay, let’s write this down to think it though

The latest smoke detector to howl pointlessly into the night sends out 11.3V DC onto the signal pin when triggered but running off batteries. I suspect that’s 12V nominal, and it probably delivers 12V when operating on AC power.

Most importantly, it’s not like… 500mv. Or AC. Or complicated. It’s plain, simple DC.

When acting as a non-reporting satellite node, it triggers when receiving 4V DC on the signal pin (4.0 exactly), and that voltage is polarity sensitive. -4V doesn’t trigger the alarm.

Checking for DC on the signal line, I get functionally nothing. 20ma DC at most, and even that’s something I’m picking up out of noise floor shift rather than direct measurement.

(Yes, I checked for AC as well. Still functionally nothing.)

My thought was that if the signal line was somehow floating in whole number volts (for whatever reason) than maybe somehow the right RF noise could kick it over.

The problem with that is that I can now also confirm that non-detecting units go off exactly as long as a detecting device keeps saying it’s detecting by putting voltage on the signal line. If that voltage goes away, so do the satellite alarms – and immediately.

And that’s not what happens. We have to manually intervene and shut the alarms off ourselves.

The reason I paid meaningfully more than baseline for this particular set is that they report exactly which detector went off and why. That way, if it were the signal line somehow triggering the alarms, none of them would claim to be the originating unit; they’d all report it came from the signal backbone.

But they don’t. There’s always a unit claiming to be the active detector and it’s always smoke (and there is never actually smoke), and none of them shut up until we shut off that unit, which sometimes seems to require removing it from power.

So today’s afternoon check was basically just another way of confirming what we already knew, and I guess I’ve done that now, but…

All that does is get us right back to where we started, which is, “we have alarm after alarm after alarm of different makes, methods (ionisation, photodetector), and models which just in this house are determined to go off randomly, usually but not always at night, for absolutely no detectable fucking reason, and then pass self-test just fine afterwards.”

And no, regular cleaning – even weekly cleaning – does not help. I do all the things. None of it stops the problem.

If you’re new to this adventure, I have heard this exact same story from many other people at this point – though nobody I’ve talked to has said they’ve literally taken metres to the signal wires to verify that way.

Regardless, I know it is not just us.

What I’ve been told from others who deal with this is to RMA individual units that trigger randomly one at a time until you end up with a set that doesn’t. And I guess that’s what I’m gonna do, but

holy shit, team

holy shit

this is the opposite of fire safety

this is the opposite of how anything like this should ever work, I mean

what if all the RMAs are getting you are a set that won’t go off even when they should?

but whelp

guess i’m gonna find out

’cause this sure ain’t workin’.

(smoke detectors) Okay, let’s write this down to think it though

The latest smoke detector to howl pointlessly into the night sends out 11.3V DC onto the signal pin when triggered but running off batteries. I suspect that’s 12V nominal, and it probably delivers 12V when operating on AC power.

Most importantly, it’s not like… 500mv. Or AC. Or complicated. It’s plain, simple DC.

When acting as a non-reporting satellite node, it triggers when receiving 4V DC on the signal pin (4.0 exactly), and that voltage is polarity sensitive. -4V doesn’t trigger the alarm.

Checking for DC on the signal line, I get functionally nothing. 20ma DC at most, and even that’s something I’m picking up out of noise floor shift rather than direct measurement.

(Yes, I checked for AC as well. Still functionally nothing.)

My thought was that if the signal line was somehow floating in whole number volts (for whatever reason) than maybe somehow the right RF noise could kick it over.

The problem with that is that I can now also confirm that non-detecting units go off exactly as long as a detecting device keeps saying it’s detecting by putting voltage on the signal line. If that voltage goes away, so do the satellite alarms – and immediately.

And that’s not what happens. We have to manually intervene and shut the alarms off ourselves.

The reason I paid meaningfully more than baseline for this particular set is that they report exactly which detector went off and why. That way, if it were the signal line somehow triggering the alarms, none of them would claim to be the originating unit; they’d all report it came from the signal backbone.

But they don’t. There’s always a unit claiming to be the active detector and it’s always smoke (and there is never actually smoke), and none of them shut up until we shut off that unit, which sometimes seems to require removing it from power.

So today’s afternoon check was basically just another way of confirming what we already knew, and I guess I’ve done that now, but…

All that does is get us right back to where we started, which is, “we have alarm after alarm after alarm of different makes, methods (ionisation, photodetector), and models which just in this house are determined to go off randomly, usually but not always at night, for absolutely no detectable fucking reason, and then pass self-test just fine afterwards.”

And no, regular cleaning – even weekly cleaning – does not help. I do all the things. None of it stops the problem.

If you’re new to this adventure, I have heard this exact same story from many other people at this point – though nobody I’ve talked to has said they’ve literally taken metres to the signal wires to verify that way.

Regardless, I know it is not just us.

What I’ve been told from others who deal with this is to RMA individual units that trigger randomly one at a time until you end up with a set that doesn’t. And I guess that’s what I’m gonna do, but

holy shit, team

holy shit

this is the opposite of fire safety

this is the opposite of how anything like this should ever work, I mean

what if all the RMAs are getting you are a set that won’t go off even when they should?

but whelp

guess i’m gonna find out

’cause this sure ain’t workin’.

(smoke detectors) Okay, let’s write this down to think it though

The latest smoke detector to howl pointlessly into the night sends out 11.3V DC onto the signal pin when triggered but running off batteries. I suspect that’s 12V nominal, and it probably delivers 12V when operating on AC power.

Most importantly, it’s not like… 500mv. Or AC. Or complicated. It’s plain, simple DC.

When acting as a non-reporting satellite node, it triggers when receiving 4V DC on the signal pin (4.0 exactly), and that voltage is polarity sensitive. -4V doesn’t trigger the alarm.

Checking for DC on the signal line, I get functionally nothing. 20ma DC at most, and even that’s something I’m picking up out of noise floor shift rather than direct measurement.

(Yes, I checked for AC as well. Still functionally nothing.)

My thought was that if the signal line was somehow floating in whole number volts (for whatever reason) than maybe somehow the right RF noise could kick it over.

The problem with that is that I can now also confirm that non-detecting units go off exactly as long as a detecting device keeps saying it’s detecting by putting voltage on the signal line. If that voltage goes away, so do the satellite alarms – and immediately.

And that’s not what happens. We have to manually intervene and shut the alarms off ourselves.

The reason I paid meaningfully more than baseline for this particular set is that they report exactly which detector went off and why. That way, if it were the signal line somehow triggering the alarms, none of them would claim to be the originating unit; they’d all report it came from the signal backbone.

But they don’t. There’s always a unit claiming to be the active detector and it’s always smoke (and there is never actually smoke), and none of them shut up until we shut off that unit, which sometimes seems to require removing it from power.

So today’s afternoon check was basically just another way of confirming what we already knew, and I guess I’ve done that now, but…

All that does is get us right back to where we started, which is, “we have alarm after alarm after alarm of different makes, methods (ionisation, photodetector), and models which just in this house are determined to go off randomly, usually but not always at night, for absolutely no detectable fucking reason, and then pass self-test just fine afterwards.”

And no, regular cleaning – even weekly cleaning – does not help. I do all the things. None of it stops the problem.

If you’re new to this adventure, I have heard this exact same story from many other people at this point – though nobody I’ve talked to has said they’ve literally taken metres to the signal wires to verify that way.

Regardless, I know it is not just us.

What I’ve been told from others who deal with this is to RMA individual units that trigger randomly one at a time until you end up with a set that doesn’t. And I guess that’s what I’m gonna do, but

holy shit, team

holy shit

this is the opposite of fire safety

this is the opposite of how anything like this should ever work, I mean

what if all the RMAs are getting you are a set that won’t go off even when they should?

but whelp

guess i’m gonna find out

’cause this sure ain’t workin’.

blinked out on me like a double-striped peppermint stick

Had a very surprising moment as I was going down the front stairs today to go out biking and two of the stairs disappeared out from underneath me, blinking out of existence like a double-striped peppermint stick

Of course they had not actually disappeared, it just turned out the fuckers who installed them used framing nails in an outdoor application and guess what they’ve been rotting out from the inside allllll along

(To be clear, the nails have been rotting out, the wood seems to be fine.)

Fortunately it was me and not any of the delivery people, my reflexes are pretty good and I just ended up sitting on the next surviving stair going “wha happen?!”

Pics at Mastodon if you’re into it

[link] #HomeEc #HomeEc #murknorth

blinked out on me like a double-striped peppermint stick

Had a very surprising moment as I was going down the front stairs today to go out biking and two of the stairs disappeared out from underneath me, blinking out of existence like a double-striped peppermint stick

Of course they had not actually disappeared, it just turned out the fuckers who installed them used framing nails in an outdoor application and guess what they’ve been rotting out from the inside allllll along

(To be clear, the nails have been rotting out, the wood seems to be fine.)

Fortunately it was me and not any of the delivery people, my reflexes are pretty good and I just ended up sitting on the next surviving stair going “wha happen?!”

Pics at Mastodon if you’re into it

[link] #HomeEc #HomeEc #murknorth

blinked out on me like a double-striped peppermint stick

Had a very surprising moment as I was going down the front stairs today to go out biking and two of the stairs disappeared out from underneath me, blinking out of existence like a double-striped peppermint stick

Of course they had not actually disappeared, it just turned out the fuckers who installed them used framing nails in an outdoor application and guess what they’ve been rotting out from the inside allllll along

(To be clear, the nails have been rotting out, the wood seems to be fine.)

Fortunately it was me and not any of the delivery people, my reflexes are pretty good and I just ended up sitting on the next surviving stair going “wha happen?!”

Pics at Mastodon if you’re into it

[link] #HomeEc #HomeEc #murknorth

blinked out on me like a double-striped peppermint stick

Had a very surprising moment as I was going down the front stairs today to go out biking and two of the stairs disappeared out from underneath me, blinking out of existence like a double-striped peppermint stick

Of course they had not actually disappeared, it just turned out the fuckers who installed them used framing nails in an outdoor application and guess what they’ve been rotting out from the inside allllll along

(To be clear, the nails have been rotting out, the wood seems to be fine.)

Fortunately it was me and not any of the delivery people, my reflexes are pretty good and I just ended up sitting on the next surviving stair going “wha happen?!”

Pics at Mastodon if you’re into it

[link] #HomeEc #HomeEc #murknorth

blinked out on me like a double-striped peppermint stick

Had a very surprising moment as I was going down the front stairs today to go out biking and two of the stairs disappeared out from underneath me, blinking out of existence like a double-striped peppermint stick

Of course they had not actually disappeared, it just turned out the fuckers who installed them used framing nails in an outdoor application and guess what they’ve been rotting out from the inside allllll along

(To be clear, the nails have been rotting out, the wood seems to be fine.)

Fortunately it was me and not any of the delivery people, my reflexes are pretty good and I just ended up sitting on the next surviving stair going “wha happen?!”

Pics at Mastodon if you’re into it

[link] #HomeEc #HomeEc #murknorth

northshore bike map release candidate 1

This is a link to my new Greater Northshore bike connector map, built to link the long-maintained Seattle and new Eastside 2 Line Rail connector bike maps. Since we haven’t had one and nobody else is going to connect the dots, I decided I would.

The partially-covered white map at the bottom left is Seattle’s; and the lower-down equivalent on the bottom right is the very top of the 2 Line Rail Eastside map. Everything else is this map.

If printed at 300dpi actual, the map is 24″x10.4″ or 608x264mm in size. It should fold down nicely if you’re into that sort of thing.

NEW IN RC1:

• Steepness markings, measured using Google Maps data and trigonometry, with the single- and double-chevron steepness indicators pointing uphill and scaled as per the 2 Line Eastside map.
• A couple of very small corrections

What’s not listed: trails on private property and some completely isolated islands of quasi-bike-lanes that go nowhere.

Corrections desired.

Finally, thanks to the other contributors to this map:

• Erik H on Facebook (Bothell additions)
• @[email protected] (Shoreline additions)

#BikeTooter #BikeMap #maps #Shoreline #LakeForestPark #Kenmore #Bothell #Woodinville

[link] #art #biking #BikeMap #BikeTooter #Bothell #Kenmore #LakeForestPark #maps #murknorth #northshore #seattle #Shoreline #Woodinville #worldData

northshore bike map release candidate 1

This is a link to my new Greater Northshore bike connector map, built to link the long-maintained Seattle and new Eastside 2 Line Rail connector bike maps. Since we haven’t had one and nobody else is going to connect the dots, I decided I would.

The partially-covered white map at the bottom left is Seattle’s; and the lower-down equivalent on the bottom right is the very top of the 2 Line Rail Eastside map. Everything else is this map.

If printed at 300dpi actual, the map is 24″x10.4″ or 608x264mm in size. It should fold down nicely if you’re into that sort of thing.

NEW IN RC1:

• Steepness markings, measured using Google Maps data and trigonometry, with the single- and double-chevron steepness indicators pointing uphill and scaled as per the 2 Line Eastside map.
• A couple of very small corrections

What’s not listed: trails on private property and some completely isolated islands of quasi-bike-lanes that go nowhere.

Corrections desired.

Finally, thanks to the other contributors to this map:

• Erik H on Facebook (Bothell additions)
• @[email protected] (Shoreline additions)

#BikeTooter #BikeMap #maps #Shoreline #LakeForestPark #Kenmore #Bothell #Woodinville

[link] #art #biking #BikeMap #BikeTooter #Bothell #Kenmore #LakeForestPark #maps #murknorth #northshore #seattle #Shoreline #Woodinville #worldData

northshore bike map release candidate 1

This is a link to my new Greater Northshore bike connector map, built to link the long-maintained Seattle and new Eastside 2 Line Rail connector bike maps. Since we haven’t had one and nobody else is going to connect the dots, I decided I would.

The partially-covered white map at the bottom left is Seattle’s; and the lower-down equivalent on the bottom right is the very top of the 2 Line Rail Eastside map. Everything else is this map.

If printed at 300dpi actual, the map is 24″x10.4″ or 608x264mm in size. It should fold down nicely if you’re into that sort of thing.

NEW IN RC1:

• Steepness markings, measured using Google Maps data and trigonometry, with the single- and double-chevron steepness indicators pointing uphill and scaled as per the 2 Line Eastside map.
• A couple of very small corrections

What’s not listed: trails on private property and some completely isolated islands of quasi-bike-lanes that go nowhere.

Corrections desired.

Finally, thanks to the other contributors to this map:

• Erik H on Facebook (Bothell additions)
• @[email protected] (Shoreline additions)

#BikeTooter #BikeMap #maps #Shoreline #LakeForestPark #Kenmore #Bothell #Woodinville

[link] #art #biking #BikeMap #BikeTooter #Bothell #Kenmore #LakeForestPark #maps #murknorth #northshore #seattle #Shoreline #Woodinville #worldData

northshore bike map release candidate 1

This is a link to my new Greater Northshore bike connector map, built to link the long-maintained Seattle and new Eastside 2 Line Rail connector bike maps. Since we haven’t had one and nobody else is going to connect the dots, I decided I would.

The partially-covered white map at the bottom left is Seattle’s; and the lower-down equivalent on the bottom right is the very top of the 2 Line Rail Eastside map. Everything else is this map.

If printed at 300dpi actual, the map is 24″x10.4″ or 608x264mm in size. It should fold down nicely if you’re into that sort of thing.

NEW IN RC1:

• Steepness markings, measured using Google Maps data and trigonometry, with the single- and double-chevron steepness indicators pointing uphill and scaled as per the 2 Line Eastside map.
• A couple of very small corrections

What’s not listed: trails on private property and some completely isolated islands of quasi-bike-lanes that go nowhere.

Corrections desired.

Finally, thanks to the other contributors to this map:

• Erik H on Facebook (Bothell additions)
• @[email protected] (Shoreline additions)

#BikeTooter #BikeMap #maps #Shoreline #LakeForestPark #Kenmore #Bothell #Woodinville

[link] #art #biking #BikeMap #BikeTooter #Bothell #Kenmore #LakeForestPark #maps #murknorth #northshore #seattle #Shoreline #Woodinville #worldData

northshore bike map release candidate 1

This is a link to my new Greater Northshore bike connector map, built to link the long-maintained Seattle and new Eastside 2 Line Rail connector bike maps. Since we haven’t had one and nobody else is going to connect the dots, I decided I would.

The partially-covered white map at the bottom left is Seattle’s; and the lower-down equivalent on the bottom right is the very top of the 2 Line Rail Eastside map. Everything else is this map.

If printed at 300dpi actual, the map is 24″x10.4″ or 608x264mm in size. It should fold down nicely if you’re into that sort of thing.

NEW IN RC1:

• Steepness markings, measured using Google Maps data and trigonometry, with the single- and double-chevron steepness indicators pointing uphill and scaled as per the 2 Line Eastside map.
• A couple of very small corrections

What’s not listed: trails on private property and some completely isolated islands of quasi-bike-lanes that go nowhere.

Corrections desired.

Finally, thanks to the other contributors to this map:

• Erik H on Facebook (Bothell additions)
• @[email protected] (Shoreline additions)

#BikeTooter #BikeMap #maps #Shoreline #LakeForestPark #Kenmore #Bothell #Woodinville

[link] #art #biking #BikeMap #BikeTooter #Bothell #Kenmore #LakeForestPark #maps #murknorth #northshore #seattle #Shoreline #Woodinville #worldData

it be COLD

YEP IT COLD

But it’s also dry and exceptionally clear. The low “overnight” was like at 10:30AM which is kinda nuts, at roughly -9°C, which is not as bad as they got on the other side of the border but is still Cold Enough For Me, Thanks.

Mostly the last couple of days tho’ I’ve been at the 3D printer, because Anna got me a device called a BL-Touch, which is a sensor that lets the printer discover the print bed level – and any irregularities in it – by itself, using a little probe that goes around the print bed in a grid making measurements.. (BL-Touch = Bed Level by Touch, you see. I have to explain that because BL has rather different meanings in some places, particularly Japan I am just saying, and it’s always a little yikes to me as a result.)

I also replaced three failed bearing wheels that absolutely should not have failed but did, and in the unlikely event you’re one of the nontrivial number of people who downloaded my nozzle size dial, you’ll want to know that I had to make a new one that’s BL-Touch compatible. I found this out by not knowing my old design wasn’t BL-Touch compatible, turning the printer on, having it start a level pass, and then slamming the hot end continuously against the far left side of the hot end gantry in a way that sounded like a garbage disposal eating its own bearings until I could turn the stupid thing off.

So that was exciting.

The printer is fine, thankfully. The BL Touch is really nice and I’ve managed to improve the flatness of my printer bed using aluminium foil as a spacer, thanks to being able to see the irregularities. I was able to get it to 0.05mm, which I think is pretty good.

Anyway, I’ve got enough material for a few Fascism Watches, I’ll drop more soon. Also this is the first test of my edited “can we make Featured Images look less stupid on Dreamwidth?” functionality. Let’s see how it looks!

eta: TALL HOLY SHIT TALL let’s see if I can fix that lol

eta2: YAY I can! Okay, I think this’ll do. ^_^

#3dPrinting #3dPrinting #murknorth #photography #t0000000000bs_

it be COLD

YEP IT COLD

But it’s also dry and exceptionally clear. The low “overnight” was like at 10:30AM which is kinda nuts, at roughly -9°C, which is not as bad as they got on the other side of the border but is still Cold Enough For Me, Thanks.

Mostly the last couple of days tho’ I’ve been at the 3D printer, because Anna got me a device called a BL-Touch, which is a sensor that lets the printer discover the print bed level – and any irregularities in it – by itself, using a little probe that goes around the print bed in a grid making measurements.. (BL-Touch = Bed Level by Touch, you see. I have to explain that because BL has rather different meanings in some places, particularly Japan I am just saying, and it’s always a little yikes to me as a result.)

I also replaced three failed bearing wheels that absolutely should not have failed but did, and in the unlikely event you’re one of the nontrivial number of people who downloaded my nozzle size dial, you’ll want to know that I had to make a new one that’s BL-Touch compatible. I found this out by not knowing my old design wasn’t BL-Touch compatible, turning the printer on, having it start a level pass, and then slamming the hot end continuously against the far left side of the hot end gantry in a way that sounded like a garbage disposal eating its own bearings until I could turn the stupid thing off.

So that was exciting.

The printer is fine, thankfully. The BL Touch is really nice and I’ve managed to improve the flatness of my printer bed using aluminium foil as a spacer, thanks to being able to see the irregularities. I was able to get it to 0.05mm, which I think is pretty good.

Anyway, I’ve got enough material for a few Fascism Watches, I’ll drop more soon. Also this is the first test of my edited “can we make Featured Images look less stupid on Dreamwidth?” functionality. Let’s see how it looks!

eta: TALL HOLY SHIT TALL let’s see if I can fix that lol

eta2: YAY I can! Okay, I think this’ll do. ^_^

#3dPrinting #3dPrinting #murknorth #photography #t0000000000bs_

it be COLD

YEP IT COLD

But it’s also dry and exceptionally clear. The low “overnight” was like at 10:30AM which is kinda nuts, at roughly -9°C, which is not as bad as they got on the other side of the border but is still Cold Enough For Me, Thanks.

Mostly the last couple of days tho’ I’ve been at the 3D printer, because Anna got me a device called a BL-Touch, which is a sensor that lets the printer discover the print bed level – and any irregularities in it – by itself, using a little probe that goes around the print bed in a grid making measurements.. (BL-Touch = Bed Level by Touch, you see. I have to explain that because BL has rather different meanings in some places, particularly Japan I am just saying, and it’s always a little yikes to me as a result.)

I also replaced three failed bearing wheels that absolutely should not have failed but did, and in the unlikely event you’re one of the nontrivial number of people who downloaded my nozzle size dial, you’ll want to know that I had to make a new one that’s BL-Touch compatible. I found this out by not knowing my old design wasn’t BL-Touch compatible, turning the printer on, having it start a level pass, and then slamming the hot end continuously against the far left side of the hot end gantry in a way that sounded like a garbage disposal eating its own bearings until I could turn the stupid thing off.

So that was exciting.

The printer is fine, thankfully. The BL Touch is really nice and I’ve managed to improve the flatness of my printer bed using aluminium foil as a spacer, thanks to being able to see the irregularities. I was able to get it to 0.05mm, which I think is pretty good.

Anyway, I’ve got enough material for a few Fascism Watches, I’ll drop more soon. Also this is the first test of my edited “can we make Featured Images look less stupid on Dreamwidth?” functionality. Let’s see how it looks!

eta: TALL HOLY SHIT TALL let’s see if I can fix that lol

eta2: YAY I can! Okay, I think this’ll do. ^_^

#3dPrinting #3dPrinting #murknorth #photography #t0000000000bs_

YEP IT COLD

But it’s also dry and exceptionally clear. The low “overnight” was like at 10:30AM which is kinda nuts, at roughly -9°C, which is not as bad as they got on the other side of the border but is still Cold Enough For Me, Thanks.

Mostly the last couple of days tho’ I’ve been at the 3D printer, because Anna got me a device called a BL-Touch, which is a sensor that lets the printer discover the print bed level – and any irregularities in it – by itself, using a little probe that goes around the print bed in a grid making measurements.. (BL-Touch = Bed Level by Touch, you see. I have to explain that because BL has rather different meanings in some places, particularly Japan I am just saying, and it’s always a little yikes to me as a result.)

I also replaced three failed bearing wheels that absolutely should not have failed but did, and in the unlikely event you’re one of the nontrivial number of people who downloaded my nozzle size dial, you’ll want to know that I had to make a new one that’s BL-Touch compatible. I found this out by not knowing my old design wasn’t BL-Touch compatible, turning the printer on, having it start a level pass, and then slamming the hot end continuously against the far left side of the hot end gantry in a way that sounded like a garbage disposal eating its own bearings until I could turn the stupid thing off.

So that was exciting.

The printer is fine, thankfully. The BL Touch is really nice and I’ve managed to improve the flatness of my printer bed using aluminium foil as a spacer, thanks to being able to see the irregularities. I was able to get it to 0.05mm, which I think is pretty good.

Anyway, I’ve got enough material for a few Fascism Watches, I’ll drop more soon. Also this is the first test of my edited “can we make Featured Images look less stupid on Dreamwidth?” functionality. Let’s see how it looks!

eta: TALL HOLY SHIT TALL let’s see if I can fix that lol

eta2: YAY I can! Okay, I think this’ll do. ^_^

https://solarbird.net/blog/2024/01/12/it-be-cold/

#3dPrinting #3dPrinting #murknorth #photography #t0000000000bs_

surprise spring parts

Anna and I were getting ready to bike first to exercise then to go to the grocery and I noticed this metal ring on the floor of the garage and looked at it and thought, “uh, that looks automotive,” which was bad given it was next to Housemate Paul’s car.

So I looked at it and looked at his car and didn’t see anything before I turned to where Anna had already gone outside with her bike, and that’s when I saw the big garage spring just kind of dangling there by the door – a place it should certainly never be.

(That’s bad.)

You know the little coils at the end of a long spring that is like at 90 degrees from the rest of the spring, and that’s where you hook it onto things if you’re using the spring that way? That’s what had broken off.

So I left it for the moment, but once we got back I started working on it, and it took a few tries but I settled on something which I think is a pretty good fix. The first couple of fixes absolutely worked, but I got worried about the tension strength and how it would interact with edges of connected materials. The spring does have a little bit of an arch now, but I think that’s actually okay? I mean, before, it had a 90-degree turn in the metal, and, well, that made fools of us all, now, didn’t it.

I also shortened the run a little bit to make up for the reduced spring length, and I got the tension pretty well equal with the rest of the springs. The door opens and closes easily now. But if I’m hideously wrong about something for a very specific reason, let me know.

#diy #murknorth

surprise spring parts

Anna and I were getting ready to bike first to exercise then to go to the grocery and I noticed this metal ring on the floor of the garage and looked at it and thought, “uh, that looks automotive,” which was bad given it was next to Housemate Paul’s car.

Right where Bilbo left it

So I looked at it and looked at his car and […]

[link] #diary #homeec

surprise spring parts

Anna and I were getting ready to bike first to exercise then to go to the grocery and I noticed this metal ring on the floor of the garage and looked at it and thought, “uh, that looks automotive,” which was bad given it was next to Housemate Paul’s car.

So I looked at it and looked at his car and didn’t see anything before I turned to where Anna had already gone outside with her bike, and that’s when I saw the big garage spring just kind of dangling there by the door – a place it should certainly never be.

(That’s bad.)

You know the little coils at the end of a long spring that is like at 90 degrees from the rest of the spring, and that’s where you hook it onto things if you’re using the spring that way? That’s what had broken off.

So I left it for the moment, but once we got back I started working on it, and it took a few tries but I settled on something which I think is a pretty good fix. The first couple of fixes absolutely worked, but I got worried about the tension strength and how it would interact with edges of connected materials. The spring does have a little bit of an arch now, but I think that’s actually okay? I mean, before, it had a 90-degree turn in the metal, and, well, that made fools of us all, now, didn’t it.

I also shortened the run a little bit to make up for the reduced spring length, and I got the tension pretty well equal with the rest of the springs. The door opens and closes easily now. But if I’m hideously wrong about something for a very specific reason, let me know.

#diy #murknorth

surprise spring parts

Anna and I were getting ready to bike first to exercise then to go to the grocery and I noticed this metal ring on the floor of the garage and looked at it and thought, “uh, that looks automotive,” which was bad given it was next to Housemate Paul’s car.

So I looked at it and looked at his car and didn’t see anything before I turned to where Anna had already gone outside with her bike, and that’s when I saw the big garage spring just kind of dangling there by the door – a place it should certainly never be.

(That’s bad.)

You know the little coils at the end of a long spring that is like at 90 degrees from the rest of the spring, and that’s where you hook it onto things if you’re using the spring that way? That’s what had broken off.

So I left it for the moment, but once we got back I started working on it, and it took a few tries but I settled on something which I think is a pretty good fix. The first couple of fixes absolutely worked, but I got worried about the tension strength and how it would interact with edges of connected materials. The spring does have a little bit of an arch now, but I think that’s actually okay? I mean, before, it had a 90-degree turn in the metal, and, well, that made fools of us all, now, didn’t it.

I also shortened the run a little bit to make up for the reduced spring length, and I got the tension pretty well equal with the rest of the springs. The door opens and closes easily now. But if I’m hideously wrong about something for a very specific reason, let me know.

#diy #murknorth

surprise spring parts

Anna and I were getting ready to bike first to exercise then to go to the grocery and I noticed this metal ring on the floor of the garage and looked at it and thought, “uh, that looks automotive,” which was bad given it was next to Housemate Paul’s car.

Right where Bilbo left it

So I looked at it and looked at his car and […]

[link] #diary #homeec

Prototype 3.2: I never did write up a final report on the dryer heat recovery system, did I?

I never did write up a final followup report on the clothes dryer heat recovery system, did I? A writeup on Version 3.2, which I promised over a year ago when writing up Version 3.1.

Well: it works! It works really well, honestly. The house is more comfortable with a little more retained humidity in the winter but never gets at at all damp – if anything, what we need is more humidity reclamation, not less.

We also successfully reclaim a noticeable amount of heat, same notation. I don’t have any reason to change my numbers, so it even works out to a net operational profit! It even saves money, on top of everything else.

It really does all just work. We got to use it from November until May’s heat wave, even longer than we did last year, thanks to last winter’s particular weather. The very minor strengthening was all it needed, though honestly I’m not sure it needed even that.

The way to “close” it for summer pressure testing turned out to be really simple: a thin sheet of cooking silicone cut to the right size, slipped inside the door to cover the filter intake, held in place by the friction of the door itself and air pressure. It worked perfectly; we had no sign of leakage, the rigid air ducts I used to connect it to the dryer and outside vent never built up abnormal amounts of lint, in short: the pressure testing over summer showed no issues.

Once actively in use this past winter I cleaned it weekly, but I could’ve easily cleaned it every second or third week, based on the amount of lint build-up on the inside of the filter. The furnace filter is still good and can still be used again for another year, no question; I think the charcoal should be replaced more than once a winter, since we did get more laundry smell over time.

Which gets me to why I’m probably not really likely to reinstall it this coming autumn.

Over winter, one of my housemates switched back to scented laundry supplies. They did so for specific reasons which are pretty reasonable, honestly. I couldn’t even criticise it if I wanted to. But… even with the charcoal filter layer, those scents started becoming more and more of a presence. Most of the time just in the laundry room, but when their laundry was drying it’d creep out to other parts of the house, and even when it wasn’t their laundry, you’d still get some of the smell just from accumulated build-up inside the vents.

And I don’t like those scents. I use unscented laundry supplies for reasons. It’s not nasty or something, but it’s artificial and perfumey and I just really dislike it. On clothing, the amount left behind is hardly noticeable – but in the air, it really kinda is.

So in the end: this is a solved problem. Version 3.2 works and works well. I have no meaningful new notes or plans version a version 3.3, much less a version 4, because… it’s done! It works! It saves money and energy and helps keep the house from getting too dry in the winter and it’s low maintenance and safe! It’s genuinely quite nice!

Unless if you have people using scented laundry supplies, and you don’t like the scents. Then… it’s not as nice.

You never know. Maybe I’ll reinstall it anyway. Try changing the charcoal layer every month or something nuts like that. Particularly if it starts getting really really dry, come January.

We’ll see.

eta: This post includes a bunch of photos showing the design. This is of Version 3, but the only differences between versions 3 and version 3.2 are more bolts tying everything together better. Refinements, not replacements. Air comes in the right side, mostly goes out the front panel, excess pressure goes out the left and out of the building, and that’s also the safety release in case somehow everyone forgets to clean the system for several months.

#3dPrinting #andTheySaidIWasMad #diy #murknorth

Prototype 3.2: I never did write up a final report on the dryer heat recovery system, did I?

I never did write up a final followup report on the clothes dryer heat recovery system, did I? A writeup on Version 3.2, which I promised over a year ago when writing up Version 3.1.

Well: it works! It works really well, honestly. The house is more comfortable with a little more retained humidity in the winter but never gets at at all damp – […]

[link] #3dprinting #homeec #maker

Prototype 3.2: I never did write up a final report on the dryer heat recovery system, did I?

I never did write up a final followup report on the clothes dryer heat recovery system, did I? A writeup on Version 3.2, which I promised over a year ago when writing up Version 3.1.

Well: it works! It works really well, honestly. The house is more comfortable with a little more retained humidity in the winter but never gets at at all damp – if anything, what we need is more humidity reclamation, not less.

We also successfully reclaim a noticeable amount of heat, same notation. I don’t have any reason to change my numbers, so it even works out to a net operational profit! It even saves money, on top of everything else.

It really does all just work. We got to use it from November until May’s heat wave, even longer than we did last year, thanks to last winter’s particular weather. The very minor strengthening was all it needed, though honestly I’m not sure it needed even that.

The way to “close” it for summer pressure testing turned out to be really simple: a thin sheet of cooking silicone cut to the right size, slipped inside the door to cover the filter intake, held in place by the friction of the door itself and air pressure. It worked perfectly; we had no sign of leakage, the rigid air ducts I used to connect it to the dryer and outside vent never built up abnormal amounts of lint, in short: the pressure testing over summer showed no issues.

Once actively in use this past winter I cleaned it weekly, but I could’ve easily cleaned it every second or third week, based on the amount of lint build-up on the inside of the filter. The furnace filter is still good and can still be used again for another year, no question; I think the charcoal should be replaced more than once a winter, since we did get more laundry smell over time.

Which gets me to why I’m probably not really likely to reinstall it this coming autumn.

Over winter, one of my housemates switched back to scented laundry supplies. They did so for specific reasons which are pretty reasonable, honestly. I couldn’t even criticise it if I wanted to. But… even with the charcoal filter layer, those scents started becoming more and more of a presence. Most of the time just in the laundry room, but when their laundry was drying it’d creep out to other parts of the house, and even when it wasn’t their laundry, you’d still get some of the smell just from accumulated build-up inside the vents.

And I don’t like those scents. I use unscented laundry supplies for reasons. It’s not nasty or something, but it’s artificial and perfumey and I just really dislike it. On clothing, the amount left behind is hardly noticeable – but in the air, it really kinda is.

So in the end: this is a solved problem. Version 3.2 works and works well. I have no meaningful new notes or plans version a version 3.3, much less a version 4, because… it’s done! It works! It saves money and energy and helps keep the house from getting too dry in the winter and it’s low maintenance and safe! It’s genuinely quite nice!

Unless if you have people using scented laundry supplies, and you don’t like the scents. Then… it’s not as nice.

You never know. Maybe I’ll reinstall it anyway. Try changing the charcoal layer every month or something nuts like that. Particularly if it starts getting really really dry, come January.

We’ll see.

eta: This post includes a bunch of photos showing the design. This is of Version 3, but the only differences between versions 3 and version 3.2 are more bolts tying everything together better. Refinements, not replacements. Air comes in the right side, mostly goes out the front panel, excess pressure goes out the left and out of the building, and that’s also the safety release in case somehow everyone forgets to clean the system for several months.

#3dPrinting #andTheySaidIWasMad #diy #murknorth

Prototype 3.2: I never did write up a final report on the dryer heat recovery system, did I?

I never did write up a final followup report on the clothes dryer heat recovery system, did I? A writeup on Version 3.2, which I promised over a year ago when writing up Version 3.1.

Well: it works! It works really well, honestly. The house is more comfortable with a little more retained humidity in the winter but never gets at at all damp – if anything, what we need is more humidity reclamation, not less.

We also successfully reclaim a noticeable amount of heat, same notation. I don’t have any reason to change my numbers, so it even works out to a net operational profit! It even saves money, on top of everything else.

It really does all just work. We got to use it from November until May’s heat wave, even longer than we did last year, thanks to last winter’s particular weather. The very minor strengthening was all it needed, though honestly I’m not sure it needed even that.

The way to “close” it for summer pressure testing turned out to be really simple: a thin sheet of cooking silicone cut to the right size, slipped inside the door to cover the filter intake, held in place by the friction of the door itself and air pressure. It worked perfectly; we had no sign of leakage, the rigid air ducts I used to connect it to the dryer and outside vent never built up abnormal amounts of lint, in short: the pressure testing over summer showed no issues.

Once actively in use this past winter I cleaned it weekly, but I could’ve easily cleaned it every second or third week, based on the amount of lint build-up on the inside of the filter. The furnace filter is still good and can still be used again for another year, no question; I think the charcoal should be replaced more than once a winter, since we did get more laundry smell over time.

Which gets me to why I’m probably not really likely to reinstall it this coming autumn.

Over winter, one of my housemates switched back to scented laundry supplies. They did so for specific reasons which are pretty reasonable, honestly. I couldn’t even criticise it if I wanted to. But… even with the charcoal filter layer, those scents started becoming more and more of a presence. Most of the time just in the laundry room, but when their laundry was drying it’d creep out to other parts of the house, and even when it wasn’t their laundry, you’d still get some of the smell just from accumulated build-up inside the vents.

And I don’t like those scents. I use unscented laundry supplies for reasons. It’s not nasty or something, but it’s artificial and perfumey and I just really dislike it. On clothing, the amount left behind is hardly noticeable – but in the air, it really kinda is.

So in the end: this is a solved problem. Version 3.2 works and works well. I have no meaningful new notes or plans version a version 3.3, much less a version 4, because… it’s done! It works! It saves money and energy and helps keep the house from getting too dry in the winter and it’s low maintenance and safe! It’s genuinely quite nice!

Unless if you have people using scented laundry supplies, and you don’t like the scents. Then… it’s not as nice.

You never know. Maybe I’ll reinstall it anyway. Try changing the charcoal layer every month or something nuts like that. Particularly if it starts getting really really dry, come January.

We’ll see.

eta: This post includes a bunch of photos showing the design. This is of Version 3, but the only differences between versions 3 and version 3.2 are more bolts tying everything together better. Refinements, not replacements. Air comes in the right side, mostly goes out the front panel, excess pressure goes out the left and out of the building, and that’s also the safety release in case somehow everyone forgets to clean the system for several months.

#3dPrinting #andTheySaidIWasMad #diy #murknorth

Prototype 3.2: I never did write up a final report on the dryer heat recovery system, did I?

I never did write up a final followup report on the clothes dryer heat recovery system, did I? A writeup on Version 3.2, which I promised over a year ago when writing up Version 3.1.

Well: it works! It works really well, honestly. The house is more comfortable with a little more retained humidity in the winter but never gets at at all damp – […]

[link] #3dprinting #homeec #maker

the last paid project before layoffs

With Anna getting laid off/facing contract expiration, we’re pulling back hard on projects we’d hoped to do this year. But we did go ahead and order this last one, since it had been in the queue and was also not the sort of thing you want to leave forever.

So. The original owners some 20+ years ago built a smallish patio when they built the rest of the […]

[link] #diary #economics #homeec

the last paid project before layoffs

With Anna getting laid off/facing contract expiration, we’re pulling back hard on projects we’d hoped to do this year. But we did go ahead and order this last one, since it had been in the queue and was also not the sort of thing you want to leave forever.

So. The original owners some 20+ years ago built a smallish patio when they built the rest of the […]

[link] #diary #economics #homeec

the last paid project before layoffs

With Anna getting laid off/facing contract expiration, we’re pulling back hard on projects we’d hoped to do this year. But we did go ahead and order this last one, since it had been in the queue and was also not the sort of thing you want to leave forever.

So. The original owners some 20+ years ago built a smallish patio when they built the rest of the […]

[link] #diary #economics #homeec

the last paid project before layoffs

With Anna getting laid off/facing contract expiration, we’re pulling back hard on projects we’d hoped to do this year. But we did go ahead and order this last one, since it had been in the queue and was also not the sort of thing you want to leave forever.

So. The original owners some 20+ years ago built a smallish patio when they built the rest of the […]

[link] #diary #economics #homeec

the last paid project before layoffs

With Anna getting laid off/facing contract expiration, we’re pulling back hard on projects we’d hoped to do this year. But we did go ahead and order this last one, since it had been in the queue and was also not the sort of thing you want to leave forever.

So. The original owners some 20+ years ago built a smallish patio when they built the rest of the […]

[link] #diary #economics #homeec

100% live data

100% live data, folks. Got the new controller hooked up to the actual, real air-exchange system and we’re up and running. 😀

#ambientHvac #diy #murknorth

100% live data

100% live data, folks. Got the new controller hooked up to the actual, real air-exchange system and we’re up and running. 😀

Semi-passive/air-exchange HVAC assistance system running against live data on real hardware. We’re in summer mode and it’s warmer outside than in – building composite temperature 22.0°C, outdoor 22.5°C – so the […]

[link] #electronics #maker #tech

100% live data

100% live data, folks. Got the new controller hooked up to the actual, real air-exchange system and we’re up and running. 😀

#ambientHvac #diy #murknorth

goddammit printers

BEST THING: when your networked ancient but non-DRM laserprinter has been crashing on certain PDFs for months so you think there must be something new in PDFs and maybe it’s replacement time BUT

you discover your printer has room for RAM expansion so you check and it’s at minimum configuration so maybe it’s just running out of RAM […]

[link] #tech

goddammit printers

BEST THING: when your networked ancient but non-DRM laserprinter has been crashing on certain PDFs for months so you think there must be something new in PDFs and maybe it’s replacement time BUT

you discover your printer has room for RAM expansion so you check and it’s at minimum configuration so maybe it’s just running out of RAM […]

[link] #tech

violet water day

woah it’s a violet water day

If you can’t see ultraviolet, which is most of you, it’s one of those days when you are reminded that UV is not blocked at all by clouds even when a lot of other light is, and so the UV is as bright as ever, and everything else isn’t. So if your kitchen sink is in front of a window, the water is […]

[link] #wawx