Saturday, April 26, 2014

Wireless mouse and wireless flexible keyboard from ebay - See review and videos

Declutering my work area by going wireless

I purchased an all in one desktop computer, finally. But I bought it used from a Pawn Shop in my area.  It's a 19 inch Lenovo All In One desktop computer. The big plus, instead of Windows 8, it has Windows 7 and it's a touch screen.  I think I got a deal.  I paid $275 each.  I also bought exactly the same unit for my daughter.

It came with a wired keyboard and mouse.  I'm all about simplicity and needed to stay compact in my tiny office.  To stay in budget, I went to ebay.com and purchased wireless keyboard and mouse.  So far, they are working and responding pretty good.  I'm getting used to the keyboard, more and more, even though I've only used it for a couple of days but I'm really liking it.

wireless mouse

wireless flexible mouse



flexible folding rolled up keyboard

all in one desktop computer 




Friday, April 18, 2014

How to build a geodesic dome out of metal conduit

I have postponed this project for so long and finally have a chance to build one after collecting all the tools to make the job easy.

Ques:  Why build a geodesic dome?

Ans:  My main reason to build a geodesic dome is for my dogs.  I didn't want to spend $200 to purchase a dog kennel.  I thought by building one out of geodesic design, that, it should save me money and earn a new skill.  But the use for geodesic dome doesn't end their.  I also, wanted one, just to have an outside room to chill at, a greenhouse, and a shed.  There are so many use for geodesic domes, and its a plus because they can easy be taken down and take with you on your next place, specially, I'm renting a house.

The Plan for Dog Kennel
The plan is to build a 2V geodesic dome and wrapped the bottom half part with a roll of wire fencing.  Covering it with a tarp that's secured with grommets or zip ties.

The Tools I've purchased for this project

  • 12 Ton Press
  • 5 Speed Drill Press 
  • Safety Glasses
  • 18 Volt Cordless Drill
  • Titanium Drill Bits
  • Titanium Nitrate Step Drill 
  • Pipe Cutter
Materials Needed
  • 1/2 Galvanized Metal Conduit (35 Quantity)
  • Tarp
  • 1/4 x 2 nuts, bolts and washers
  • Round swimming Pool Cover
The Plan:  To build a 2v dome. 
The Size:  8ft 7in in diameter
I bought 35 of 1/2 metal conduit, cut them to size.  Strut A is 4.7 (You will need 30 of these struts) and Strut B is 5.3 (You will need 35 of these struts).  Struts are the frames for the geodesic dome.  In this case the 10ft metal conduit is the frame and is cut once to have two different size struts (leaving you with less waste materials).  2V, means two different struts size.  So if you are building a 3V dome, it means that you are using 3 different size stick or struts.  

The first thing you want to to do is to cut your metal conduit pipes.  Then you want to flattened each end. My calculations was already included to have 1.5" of area to flattened.  So don't forget that if you are using a different size.  Make sure to include 1.5 inch for flattening and drilling holes   And then drill a hole about 3/4" away from the ends.  

Putting it together
My experience, its better to build, bottom to top.  I tried the top, with a 1V dome, and it was a mess.  Won't do that again.

It's really hard to avoid using www.desertdomes.com  They have a more detail explanations of building and they have a dome calculator.
$5 Pipe Cutter from Harbor Freight, it cut all of my conduit with out problems

I got this to drill the holes at the end of each struts, but ended purchasing a drill press to speed up the process.  I ended using this cordless drill with a socket attachment to tighten the bolts.

Titanium step drill bit, this made drilling the holes without having to use a spare.  It works with the cordless drill and with the drill press

the pipe cutter still in packaging.  $5 from harbor freight

Pressed conduits or pressed struts

I marked each end with a template.  3/4" inch from the top. 
Mark for the holes.

Pressing the conduits struts

12 Ton Press from Harbor Freight


1V dome.  Although the plan was called for a 2V dome, I wanted to test my work.
This is a 1V dome using 25 of my B struts.

I just hand tightened, planning on disassembling it to build the 2V dome.







Thursday, April 17, 2014

USPS phone customer service sucks

I've been waiting for a package and was expected to be delivered by the 12th.  Well... it is now the 17th and no package yet.  So I call my local post office and I get a message that, she won't be back 'till Monday, today is Thursday.  and recommended to call the national # which is 1800.275.8777.  And because I have no other alternative, I call the freaking #.  It was so anoying, it was so hard to get an agent, the robot agent, didn't understand what I was saying, and kept insisting I was saying something else.  I'm not trying to track a package, because I could do that online.  What I want to know, is what happened to it and why is not getting to its final destination.  So I wanted to speak to an agent, but the Robot keep asking why, so I'm repeatedly saying "Lost Package", "Lost Delivery", Agent, and Robot representative just keeps repeating a cycle or options that I am not requesting.  So I just kept saying "Agent" over and over again, and finally I'm on hold to speak to one after ten minutes.  So I've been on the phone and still no human.

No wonder why they are going out of business.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

No more cds for new printers

I'm a printer-holic.  Not a year goes buy without buying a new printer or two or three.  This year I bought the Brother Laserjet Priter HL-2270DW.  I love the compact desktop printers that Brother makes. Specially this buy.  Because it has automatic duplex and its wireless.  Although  I don't have it hook up as wireless, I'm still using USB cable to connect to it, I'm loving it so far.

But what I noticed with this purchase, is when I plugged it to my hp laptop, my pc didn't prompt for me to install the sofware using the CD that came with it.  It automatically did it for me.  I'm like, "WOW!", so I'm thinking, maybe because it's Windows 8.1, so I tried my Window 7 desktop printer and Eureka!, it works also without the need of software installation.  I love it.  No more collecting these CDs for printer softwares.

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