Saturday, August 8, 2015
Cow Hunting
The reader who suggested a sign "NO TRESPASSING--VIOLATORS WILL BE EATEN" got a good laugh, but because of Idaho being an open range state, all I can do is annoy them or build even more expensive fences. I am still partial to getting a paintball gun, and making the herd look like the cattle rancher is celebrating diversity, but in the meantime the AirSoft gun I bought a couple months back is working. The pellets sting when they human skin, and the reaction when I shoot the cattle suggests it annoys them. The question is whether they have a long enough memory.
New Tools
I really mean to get back to the CNC mill, but orders keep coming in and I need to fill them. Complicating mattes is that the Ryobi chop saw I use for cutting aluminum tubing and acetal rods suffered a catastrophic failure when trying to cut some aluminum rod, with teeth breaking off making the blade unstable. So I bought a new blade, with the intent of replacing it. But the hex head left hand thread bolt that clamps the arbor that holds the blade is now closer to a round head bolt. It is uncooperative, even when using channel locks. I could drill the bolt out, but getting this beast onto the drill press and staying there is enough work that it is easier to sell it on craigslist and buy a new fancier, compund version with a laser. If it doesn't sell in a few days, maybe I will drill out that bolt.
Like all simple projects such as draining a swamp, in no time at all you are up to your butt in alligators. It is enough bigger than the old one that it would not fit in that shelf, so my wife, who has excellent spatial organizational skills, decided it was time to reorganize my shop. The drill press moved; the lathe has a new home; the CNC mill and laptop are on their own table; as is the new chop saw. There are a series of machining stations now which will make it easier for ScopeRolller to expand into a mass production facility as demand increases. (Regular readers know that I have pretty bizarre dreams.).
There is a 10" bandsaw that I almost never use because it never manages to cut aluminum very well (although wood cuts very nicely), and it is also up on craigslist. Obviously, if you a local reader, I would love to sell these items to you.
Like all simple projects such as draining a swamp, in no time at all you are up to your butt in alligators. It is enough bigger than the old one that it would not fit in that shelf, so my wife, who has excellent spatial organizational skills, decided it was time to reorganize my shop. The drill press moved; the lathe has a new home; the CNC mill and laptop are on their own table; as is the new chop saw. There are a series of machining stations now which will make it easier for ScopeRolller to expand into a mass production facility as demand increases. (Regular readers know that I have pretty bizarre dreams.).
There is a 10" bandsaw that I almost never use because it never manages to cut aluminum very well (although wood cuts very nicely), and it is also up on craigslist. Obviously, if you a local reader, I would love to sell these items to you.
Friday, August 7, 2015
Another Fake Hate Crime
There are a lot of these. That's why I have a label "fake hate crimes' for news accounts of them. From August 5, 2015 New York Daily News:
There is even a web site devoted to fake hate crimes.
A lesbian couple faked a hate crime that left their home a pile of charred rubble at their Venore, Tenn., property in 2010, local reports said.
An insurance company caught on to the ruse months after the blaze and accused Carol Ann and Laura Stutte of perpetuating a hoax and blaming the fire on their neighbor, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported.
A federal jury ruled in favor of the insurance company’s belief that the couple spray-painted an anti-gay slur on their own garage to spin the fire as a hate crime based on their sexual orientation.
The homeowners intended to bank on an insurance claim of more than $276,000, American National and Casulty Company alleged in court documents obtained by the News Sentinel.
There is even a web site devoted to fake hate crimes.
Iran's Bomb Deal Starting to Unravel
Senator Schumer appears to be listening to his voters. From August 9, 2015 New York Times:
WASHINGTON — Senator Chuck Schumer, the most influential Jewish voice in Congress, said Thursday night that he would oppose President Obama’s deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program.
“Advocates on both sides have strong cases for their point of view that cannot simply be dismissed,” Mr. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said in a lengthy statement. “This has made evaluating the agreement a difficult and deliberate endeavor, and after deep study, careful thought and considerable soul-searching, I have decided I must oppose the agreement and will vote yes on a motion of disapproval.”Mr. Schumer had spent the last several weeks carrying a dog-eared copy of the agreement in his briefcase and meeting with Mr. Obama and officials like Wendy R. Sherman, the deal’s chief negotiator. With his decision, he paves the way for other Democrats on the fence to join Republicans in showing their disapproval.
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Weird Dreams: HP, Corvettes, Mosques, and Sandworms
I have had a couple of weird dreams involving HP over the last few weeks and since some of you have worked for HP, I thought you might enjoy them. These are not realistic dreams, more an expression of the locked ward management style I saw there.
The first dream, I have been assigned to inventory a vast pile of equipment behind a building evenlarger than the HP Boise complex. As I dig through the collection I find vast numbers of cars. Some of them are valuable collectors' items like 1990s Corvette ZR1s, many still with new car stickers on them, with a few hundred miles and dead batteries. Many of the others would not even be collector cars in the locked ward like 1970s Chrysler K-cars. I've driven one of these ( a rental) over 90 mph on a 2 lane road. (Just a little crazy.)
The second dream, last night, the pile of junk is now an enormous sand dune. When I get over the top of the first dune, I find an entire Saudi town, including a mosque with the muzzein calling everyone to prayer. (Apparentlty HP is part of some Islamist conspiracy. They certainly aren't much of a capitalist conspiracy.) I decide to leave because I can see one of Dune's sandworms going through the dunes. Then I am confronted by a sterotyped old Arab who tells me that infidels are not allowed. I ask him which direction to go. He points one direction and tells me that Hamburg is that way.
Utterly strange.
The first dream, I have been assigned to inventory a vast pile of equipment behind a building evenlarger than the HP Boise complex. As I dig through the collection I find vast numbers of cars. Some of them are valuable collectors' items like 1990s Corvette ZR1s, many still with new car stickers on them, with a few hundred miles and dead batteries. Many of the others would not even be collector cars in the locked ward like 1970s Chrysler K-cars. I've driven one of these ( a rental) over 90 mph on a 2 lane road. (Just a little crazy.)
The second dream, last night, the pile of junk is now an enormous sand dune. When I get over the top of the first dune, I find an entire Saudi town, including a mosque with the muzzein calling everyone to prayer. (Apparentlty HP is part of some Islamist conspiracy. They certainly aren't much of a capitalist conspiracy.) I decide to leave because I can see one of Dune's sandworms going through the dunes. Then I am confronted by a sterotyped old Arab who tells me that infidels are not allowed. I ask him which direction to go. He points one direction and tells me that Hamburg is that way.
Utterly strange.
Feeling A Bit Better
My doctor upped my Prozac to 37.5 mg and Lamactil to 100 mg. Theoretically, the increase should not have an effect so quickly because Prozac takes a couple weeks to reach therapeyutic levels, but I seem to respond faster than average to it. Today I actually felt pretty darn good!
I also finished getting the Sherline operational. The replacement stepper motor for Z-axis arrived yesterday, and worked perfectly. But Y-axis suddenly started grinding in one position. After discussion with Sherline support, I disassembled the Y-axis and discovered an aluminum chip had occupied a thread on the lead screw (which is not unknown) prenting the anti-backlash nut from moving down the lead screw. So I used some channel locks to remove the nut, lubricated the lead screw and reapplied the nut. But, you say, that can't work, the steel leadscrew will just damage the brass nut. But the real issue was the aluminum feposit in the thread. The brass knocked it right out. All axes are now working. Tomorrow, once Idfinish one order and a mac hinig project for one of my readers, I can resume what I bought this gadget for.
I also finished getting the Sherline operational. The replacement stepper motor for Z-axis arrived yesterday, and worked perfectly. But Y-axis suddenly started grinding in one position. After discussion with Sherline support, I disassembled the Y-axis and discovered an aluminum chip had occupied a thread on the lead screw (which is not unknown) prenting the anti-backlash nut from moving down the lead screw. So I used some channel locks to remove the nut, lubricated the lead screw and reapplied the nut. But, you say, that can't work, the steel leadscrew will just damage the brass nut. But the real issue was the aluminum feposit in the thread. The brass knocked it right out. All axes are now working. Tomorrow, once Idfinish one order and a mac hinig project for one of my readers, I can resume what I bought this gadget for.
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