Monday, July 2, 2012

It's Pronounced Lie-Berry

So my bff/gf/housemate and all around wonderful human being is studying to be come a lie-berry-an. So, I figured I would get her her very own lie-berry (yeah, I just correctly used the same word twice in a row). Enter the Little Free Library.

The first step in any big engineering project is the drawings (actually, that is close to the last step, but who is telling this story anyway??? Shutup and listen... er, read)

Now we frame it:



And yes, it is very hard to work in the shop on a nice day with the view of my hammock.
But, no fear, I put up the paneling:

Now for the calking and edging to "waterproof" it:

I unfortunately bought too much edging. Grrrr:

And my 20 Year old sanding belt failed.
They just don't make tools to last :(
Now for Paint:
Soo cute!
Take that! And PAINT!
The paint chip was more subdued...
Add a roof:

and a door:

Plant it in the ground:

Seed it and see what will grow...

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Round Peg in a Square Hole

So, when I was a small eel I had a bunch of tests including the classic board with a bunch of shaped holes that have corresponding pegs that go in each hole. Well, I was always quite good at spacial relations, and always a smart ass. So, I finished all but the round and square pegs in a better time than most adults would get...
then spent about a minute "trying" to get the round peg into the square hole.

Cut to 30 years later, and my old thermostat is on the fritz
I wanted replace it with a fancy new Nest thermostat:

But it does not work with my old millivolt wall furnace.
So, I wired a new outlet (yes Mr. Inspector, I did put a new circuit in for it) and attached a 110V to 24V transformer:
Then sent both prongs of the 24V up to the thermostat (Rh and C), and sent the heater control wire back down (W1).
When the thermostat decides to turn the heat on, it does it by shorting Rh to W1, so I wired a relay to W1 and C (C on the transformer side)
Then wire the other side of the relay to the heater
Velcro it up to the wall
"Tidy" the whole mess up
Plug the thermostat into the socket:
And fire it up
Later I will tell you how it worked out with the poor lady administering the test, but that will require you ply me with bourbon first.