| TiVo PVR: A
Linux based computer with two hard drives which serves as a marvelous
Personal Video Recorder. TiVo is recording continuously (24/7) and hard
drive failures continue to plagued me. I have spent much time and money
trying to develop a backup system for the recordings, but the TiVo
designers have made that impractical. Now I am setting my TiVo
recordings to highest resolution in order to burn the best quality
DVDs. DVD
list. I won't lose any
programming when another drive fails because I will be watching them
from my DVD player |
| Computer Backup:
I use CRU Dataport cartridges so that all of my hard drives can be
removed and replaced quickly. Norton Ghost 2003 clone tool is installed
on a bootable floppy which I use periodically to clone my working
drives to several backup drives. Takes about 15 minutes. Then the
cloned drive is identical to the main drive. I also use Partition Magic
8.0, which is also on a bootable floppy.
   _
|
| Vacuum Forming Concept:
Install a piece of thermal plastic in a metal frame and heat until it
droops 1.5". Place onto a forming chamber and use vacuum to draw the
hot plastic around the mold. (vacuum forming book
and Styrene and Acetate
butyrate plastic ). I used a toaster
oven, a one gal fruit can as a vac chamber and a .06 aluminum clamp
frame with .75" and 1.25" binder clips to secure the plastic sheet.
Frame handles also serve as a spacer while heating, to protecting the
drooping plastic. I had failures until I placed a spacer under the
mold.
       
|
| Phone Mod: Had
to modify my new wireless telephone because it was too small for me.
Couldn't hear it very well so I installed a soft ear pad from an old
headset and that helped a lot, but the phone was so short nobody could
hear me. To cure that problem I made a snap on reflector that gathered
more sound and pumped it into the microphone. Now it's fully usable. See photoprojects.net/phonemod.jpg |
| Printer maint:
To keep my Epson 1270 printer functioning properly I run nozzle check
utility daily at first bootup. Minimum amount of ink is used and every
nozzle is tested. |
Epson Stylus Photo
1270 Printer: Finally failed
me so I replaced it with a Photo 1280. Removed the print head
from the 1270 because I had to see it up
close. Very messy, so I decided to wash it with gasoline. Didn't help
and started dissolving the back plastic. The head cleaner
has an O-ring seal that
presses against the print head and allows the vacuum pump to clear
plugged jets. A 1.5" felt pad covers the bottom of the printer to
collect the excess ink.
|
Mattress (Memory
Foam): I have a painful
trigger point in my right hip and my present mattress is too firm for
comfort and interferes with my sleep. I wanted to replace it with a 6"
memory foam mattress, but the prices were outrageous.. I did find some
foam toppers at Overstock.com
that I could afford so I decided to make my own using two 3"
toppers. Toppers are generally a little smaller than the mattress so I
bought oversized and trimmed them to fit my full size box springs. I
used a razor sharp, rippled edge bread knife. Worked quite well. Also
bought two oversized memory pillows and trimmed them to fit also. When
the pillows are pushed together they function as a full width single
pillow. A pleasant
surprise. The new mattress is a success and I'm proud.
|
