Adventures in equipment modding
I have it! I finally (as of yesterday) got all the parts needed to build the stuff I wanted to finish for the studies we have coming up. This will be months of thinking through how to improve our setup and improve the noise rejection capabilities of the equipment. A LOT of planning went into the design and now that I have all the parts for assembly it’s time to earn my keep. But it’s not all smooth sailing.
(more…)From imagination to reality
It’s amazing what a good night of sleep will do for a person. Hopital-PI often has what he calls his “shower ideas” and frankly, my “big idea” was also a shower idea, but I find that the best ideas come to me when you’re not even thinking about them. When you step away from a problem and focus on something else, your brain just does something magical and works out the solution without you even realizing it, sometimes anyway.
(more…)The art of fixing things
Well today has been one hell of a day. It’s a long story and we’ll get into it, but I had to once again do some car repairs. It got me thinking about others who may not have the skill to do that or other things that feel very necessary for living, but I’ve had a hard life and so you have to learn the skills that others may not have needed.
(more…)DIY Research
Working in a big fancy hospital research lab means I get access to all sorts of very expensive, very cool equipment that I wouldn’t be able to use normally. Things that I take great pains not to break because, well… it’s not cheap. If we need something, we order it and the process is surprisingly fast considering the amount of paperwork that goes into placing an order. However, on occasion there are no ready pieces of equipment that I can just use for an experiment or we don’t know that the big expensive piece of equipment that we’re looking at is the thing we actually need. So what other options do we have? Spoiler, it’s arts and crafts time.
(more…)A beginners guide to watercooling, from a beginner.
I have built a lot of computers over the years. It’s actually not that hard to do since most things are labeled and use different types of connectors so it’s hard to screw it up unless you’re not paying attention. Up until recently I’ve never watercooled a PC, at least not in the build it myself sense. The internet is full of how-to guides to help you do this, but most of them are from people who do these types of builds regularly. I find that they skip over some of the basic things that you may need to know because they’ve forgotten that it’s not common knowledge. Since I’ve successfully finished my first build and don’t like hoarding knowledge, I want to share how to do it, for beginners, by a beginner.
(more…)PC build part eight, closing the loop
As promised this is the grand finale to the custom water cooling hard tube build saga. As in, the computer is back up and running… finally. It’s been a journey, but I’m hopeful that the latest mods will keep me from having any more problems that I need to stop my work and fix. I mean modding your computer for fun is one thing, needing to do it is a whole other thing. Still, I’m thankful for the little pause and I got to make a few needed changes/upgrades while the computer was down so it isn’t all that terrible.
(more…)PC build part seven, the tale of the leaky loop
Well I’ve done it… mostly. The loop is finally complete and I’ve pressure test it. There were of course some technical difficulties, which I resolved, but I also caused because I’m an idiot. I wasn’t planning on making another computer post until I had the thing turned on and finished, but today I want to tell the story of how a $20 USD part saved my computer.
(more…)PC build part six, now with more bends!
Yep, still working on the hard tube bends. It’s a lot… harder than it looks! Pun fully intended. Today I have good news and bad news. The bad news is there’s still some work to be done before I get to pressure test and finally finish this build. The good news is there’s only one bend I need to make and one or two I would like to redo if I have enough tubing for it.
(more…)PC build part five, the first bends
We’re getting bendy! After all the work I had to do yesterday I didn’t think there would be time to bend tubing yesterday, but I was determined to get started and I did. The good news, some of it’s done. The bad news, bending tube isn’t easy. There was a lot of trial and error, even more waste, and even now it’s not perfect *sad face* … but it’s almost time to wrap this project up!
(more…)PC build part four, electrical fire edition!
Okay, okay clickbait headline, I admit it. If you’re here for a real electrical fire you’re out of luck. Thankfully I haven’t had an electrical fire… yet, I haven’t turned the computer on since I’ve started this project. However, a few things happened yesterday so I need to figure out my cable management before I get too much further. It’s something I’ve been ignoring and I’m finally sharing some of the mess that I’ve (somewhat purposefully) been hiding.
(more…)Part three, extreme PC modding!
It’s no secret, it’s been a hell of a week for me. To help distract me (unsuccessfully) I decided to do some of the major mods to the PC that needed to happen in order to get everything the way I want it for the final assembly. I’m hoping tomorrow will be that day, but there are still (STILL) parts I’m waiting on, so it may be a photo finish. If not, well I can always finish is during the week or next weekend (probably).
(more…)Day two, the computer teardown
Well it’s day two of the big computer watercooling loop install and I’m already running into several problems. Some of them can be fixed quickly, while others… let’s just say I needed to get different parts so I’m in the process of doing that. As promised, there are tons of photos and explanations of everything I’ve done so far and why this is turning into a headache. Sometimes doing a custom job means getting extra custom.
(more…)Day one of the computer rebuild
Well today’s the day I crack open the computer case and get to work on fixing my desktop computer. Since I have not popped anything open yet, I want to talk a bit more about the plan going in, how I am going to do things, why you should do it too if that kind of thing sounds fun to you, and why I selected some of the things I did.
(more…)Woodworking progress
Well I went a little overboard yesterday. Really I got into a good groove and the vanity project is almost complete. Today I’m attaching the last few boards, drilling one more hole into the top (for the faucet) and if I can, I’ll glue the top together. Then all that’s left is the finishing and the fitting. Yeah, I got a lot done, so let’s take a peek at the progress I’ve made since we last talked about the project.
(more…)Day 274: DI..why?! – Removing the forever cabinets
Today we’re going to do some demolition! Woo, time to break things!!! Actually I was hoping this was going to go smoothly, but I’ve already ripped out some of these cabinets and they are not easy to do, even after thinking I had the experience I needed to rip them out. Let me introduce you to the forever cabinet.
Day 273: DI..why?! – How to install a smart light switch
Today we are installing a pair of these, we’ll cover how to install one and you’ll be able to do as many as you want once you get the first one down!
I had three options for a post today, so we’re going to go with the simplest and probably most helpful. Here’s the scenario, you want to change out a light switch, but you don’t know how to do it. You could pay someone, but why spend the money? You’re in luck, this is a simple job and I think anyone can do it, why did I change out a light switch, well I’ll tell you my reasons, but they may not be the same as yours, that’s fine too. No judgement here!
Day 272: DI..why?! – Holes in walls
You may notice my wood ladder, I built it to get to the ceiling.
Today we’re going to go over a few other patch jobs I’ve had to make around the house since I’ve been here. These were intentional as you’ll see. I needed some outlets put in and in order to do that holes were made, luckily I have some photos of that portion of the work just because it was so fun to watch. While, the plugs were installed professionally, the patches were done by me.
Day 271: DI..why?! – Awkward lighting
What do you do when you want to install this, but the electrical box is 8 inches to the right? Well let’s go over that!
Well since I anticipate a lot more DIY posts, I’ve created a new category for them! I’m calling it DI…why?! because every time I try to fix something, I find something else that was wrong with the way they built the home. To kick this off, let’s talk about the curious case of the cockeyed casing. Or without the alliteration, the stupid builders put the electrical junction off center for no apparent reason and we’re going to fix that.
Lunatic Laboratories 