Oaken Gearbox

If you've ever bought anything from a smoker, you know exactly how hard that smell is to lose. I recently bought an older ThinkPad on Craigslist with this problem. Every time the fan kicked on, my living room was filled with the smell of stale cigarettes. The fix took some effort, but it did work. I first disassembled the whole case and removed the fan. I found some very good instructions for my particular model that helped me accomplish this without doing permanent damage. If you've worked on computer hardware at all, you're probably familiar with the grey scum that accumulates on fans and vents. Well this one was full of a black scum (ash? nicotine?). I wiped it as clean as I could with wet Q-Tips. After all the scum was gone I sprayed the whole thing, including the nearby foam inserts with pine scented air freshener. After reassembly, it now smells like air freshener, a big improvement over cigarettes. It did seem to make the fan noisier, though, so I would reco...

I grew up building fences. Pounding steel posts into the ground and stringing wire fencing was one of the better jobs on the farm. This fall I decided to fence in my small city lot, but my wife wanted something a little nicer than barbwire. I flat out refused a white picket, so we compromised on a scallop top picket board fence. I opted to use 4x4 green-treated posts, five quarter decking boards ripped in half to 3" wide for stringers, and 1x4's for the pickets. Some online research and conversations with friends indicated that recommended post spacing was 4 to 8 feet. I opted for 8 ft spacing, which seems sufficient for my 4 foot high fence. Tools Needed Gas-Powered Auger Manual Post hole diggers Spud Bar Circular saw Drill Router (optional) Level Step 1: Design your fence Decide: How far to space your posts How wide to make your pickets and how far to space them Where your gates will go, so you can set hinge posts Step 2: Plan your fence Thi...

When I moved into my "new" house last year, I quickly realized that something about the switches for the light above the stairs wasn't right. Once the upstairs switch was "off", the downstairs switch no longer turned it on. Although it isn't hard to wire up two switches to control one light, cleaning up after someone else who did it wrong can turn into quite a puzzle. The first step is understanding exactly how these simple, convenient circuits work. The diagram below shows this. This is not the only way to wire it, just the simplest. If you want to see a few of the stranger variations, check out this link . Note that each one does the same thing, it just splices the wires in different places. To begin unraveling the puzzle you will need a multimeter , screwdriver , and maybe a pair of pliers . First, flip the breaker for the circuit you're working on. Pull the covers off both switches and pull unscrew the switches from the box.  Before to...

About a week ago the steering started acting up on my '02 Subura Impreza WRX. The only way I could describe it is, "notchy." It would be very stiff for half a rotation of the wheel, then very loose for the next rotation. My first thought was that power steering fluid was probably low, but a quick look at the reservoir showed  it right where it should be. I then began to worry about the differential, or some other component of the AWD, but I was able to rule that out since it did the same thing while cranking the wheel without moving the car. It this point I put the front of the car on jackstands, started the car, and had my wife turn the steering wheel while I looked under the hood for bubbles in the power steering fluid, a slipping belt, or any other issues. Nothing. Finally, I shut the car off and turned the steering wheel myself with the front wheels in the air and the engine off. Still notchy. At that point there was nothing left to cause it but the steerin...

Day 0: The drive to Sawbill The trip up I-35 was largely uneventful, the highlight being a stop for lunch at Culver's. We arrived at Sawbill Lake in the late afternoon and set up at Site 18, a nice private site. Although it backed up to the lake, there wasn't a clear path down the steep bank. Site 18, Sawbill Lake After stopping by the well-stocked (and reasonably priced) camp store for some last minute supplies, we roasted hot-dogs over a small and smoky fire built with the green firewood sold for $5 a bundle at the same store. Green Firewood :( Before we'd even had time to break out the marshmallows a huge thunderstorm rolled in that lasted until just before dawn. Mom and Dad's  REI tent stayed bone dry, but the larger Eureka! that I shared with my brother and sister left us a little soggy by morning. Day 1: Sawbill to Hub Lake I was already awake when the sky started turning grey early on the morning of our first day, so I got up and began pa...

Aldi is fast becoming my favorite store. After moving to a city devoid of normal grocery stores like Kroger, my wife and I gave  Aldi a try and were instantly hooked by the low prices and convenient layout. Even so, there's a big difference between buying off-brand tomato sauce and trusting your dry sleeping bag to an " Adventuridge " tent. With name brand tents at REI running somewhere north of $300, though, we decided it was worth the risk. After spending three nights (one of steady rain) in the tent, I can say it is more than worth the $60 price tag. The rain flooded the older 3 room tent our friends were using, but our Aldi tent had only small puddles under the windows. It's heavier than anything I would drag backpacking, but its perfect for car camping, and could probably even work for canoeing. The Good: Bathtub floor keeps the water OUT. High ceiling lets adults stand up inside. Room to comfortable fit three adults, a Pack-N-Play, and al...

Last year my wife and I bought our first house, built on a shady eighth acre plot in a fifties suburb of Minneapolis. Since my wife and I both grew up in rural Ohio with big gardens, we were excited to start one of our own. Wanting to give our new garden the best chance possible, I checked out a few books from the library and, of course, searched online. My most valuable advice came from family and friends who had been planting vegetable gardens for years. Talking to neighbors was also helpful, since they already knew the soil and climate from experience. It's still early in the growing season, but so far our garden seems to be pretty successful. Below are the basic steps most people seem to agree on, as well as my personal experience with them. Picking a spot for your new garden Sunshine, sunshine, and more sunshine. My yard is small with lots of shade trees, so this was tricky, but I managed to find a small plot on the east side of the house that gets full sun for abo...

For the first twenty years or so of my life, burglary was not something that I thought much about. I locked the front door when I left home or went to bed, and that was the extent of my home security. Then during my senior year of college, the house I shared with four other guys was broken into; twice. Once through a back window left unlatched for ventilation, once by picking the deadbolt on the front door. That experience, combined with the added responsibility of my own home and family have caused me to give home security some more serious thought. These are a few of the simple measures I've taken to protect my own home. I'm convinced that if my roommates and I had adopted even a few of them we'd be at least one entertainment system and two iPods richer. Although I actually learned most of these tricks from friends and family, and not USA's 'Burn Notice', I'm convinced they would make ex-spy Michael Westen proud. Note that following these tips will not...

Nothing beats the smell of a freshly cut 2x4. Seriously, it's the one of the best smells on earth, and when you catch a whiff of that smell and hear the high pitched whine of an electric saw on a sunny Saturday afternoon it means times are good. Two-by-fours are generally used for construction, but they are good for a whole lot more than just building houses. You may have to spend a few minutes sorting through the bin at your local big box hardware store for good, straight boards without a lot of knots, but its time well spent. Two-by-fours are cheap, sturdy, and easy to work with. You may not end up with an heirloom quality piece that will be passed on for generations, but for less than $20 in materials and a long weekend you can construct some basic furniture that far surpasses what's available at Ikea or Target. Take this small kitchen table I built to go next to our gas range for example. Materials 2 2x4's 1 3/4" x 5" board 1 16 x 36" pine ...

Although the big tech companies like Google, Apple, & Microsoft spend a lot of time creating "ecosystems" that integrate all their products and services slickly together, I, like a lot people tend to pick and choose and end up with a conglomeration that doesn't always play nice together. When I got my Android phone a couple years ago, I discovered Google Calendar Sync, a light utility that can be installed on a Windows Computer and pull calendar events from Outlook and add them to Google Calendar (and therefore your Android), as well as the other way around. I've been told this also works for iPhone. I don't have one, but as long as you can use Google Calendar on an iPhone I don't see why it wouldn't. When I recently got a new work laptop and tried to reinstall this handy utility, I discovered this program is no longer available for download from Google. http://support.google.com/calendar/answer/94020?hl=en (c'mon, Google, remember, don...

There are many, many ways to build drawers. I've tried several, but the half-blind dovetail/rabbet is my favorite. This drawer is a classic I first encountered in a dresser I bought for $30 dollars on Craigslist. Although the dresser was falling apart and all the glue had completely deteriorated, the pieces of the dresser fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, making it easy to re-assemble just like new. If you stop to think, you will realize that a dresser drawer, or any drawer, really, is just an open topped box, made up of five parts: the front, the back, two sides, and a bottom. The real difference between a strong drawer and a flimsy one is how those pieces are attached to each other.  How to Build a Half Blind Dovetail and Rabbet Joint Drawer Recommended Tools: A Tablesaw A Router & Dovetail Bit A Planer Clamps Chisels Design: Decide what size you want your drawer. I typically make mine 1/8"-3/16" smaller than the opening it's made for so it will...

Ever wondered how to add an auxiliary input to an old stereo/tape player using nothing but a soldering iron and some old headphones? Then stop reading right now and head over  here . Just want to learn a little more about how analog audio equipment works and doesn't work? Then read on to hear a little of what I've picked up over the years. Last week the cassette adapter I was using in my car to listen music from my phone gave out on the left channel. I was pretty sure it was just a break in the cable, since I was able to get sound back by holding the wire just right, so I decided to give repairing it a shot. I started by cutting the earbuds off an old set of airline headphones and stripping them back to bare wires on the ends. When I opened up the cassette, I was surprised to find not two, but three wires soldered to the tape head. Some quick research revealed that the third wire is a signal ground , which makes contact with a ground pin inside your iPod or...

Today's post has a guest author, my beautiful wife. Although she runs her own blog over at crimsoncinder.blogspot.com , this project was so cool I asked her if I could post on my blog too. Although this project was specifically for a Barnes and Noble Nook Simple Touch, you could just as easily make one for an Amazon Kindle, or any other tablet or e-reader. The Making of the Nook Book When contemplating what to get my brother-in-law for his birthday, I was stumped. I couldn’t think of anything to get a teenage boy who loved technology that would fit in my budget. I settled on trying to find a cover for the nook that he had received for Christmas. I looked for deals but still didn’t hit my price point. I thought I would end up sending a lame card with cash and didn’t feel that great about it. Then, it came to me! I could still get him a cover…but just make it! My normal go to in something like this is to crochet it, but I wanted to do something different. On the next few ...