Water Vitalizer Beta

Now there are no parts of the Legacy Water Vitalizer left in my system.  I've got a Erlenmeyer Flask, and a Magnetic Spinner "Pill", sometimes called a Flea.  I still tuning the system a little.  The Spinner is a little short for the Rotor's magnet spacing, so it can sometimes break loose from the Rotor, and jump around like a Flea.  The Erlenmeyer Flask is two liters, and I'll need a better coupling between the Rotor, and the Spinner to get that much Water moving at a rate which can Oxygenate the Water.  Overall it is working fairly well, and with a little more tuning it will Rock!

New Water Vitalizer

Over the past week I have been breaking in the New Water Vitalizer.  The philosophy of the Legacy Water Vitalizer was to use a mineral basket to ionize the Distilled Water that you were supposed to put into it.  Well those mineral baskets are expensive, and prone to harboring contaminants.  Mold grows in them if they sit for any length of time without being used.  You cannot keep the lid on the pitcher when the unit is idle.  You'll wind up with a science experiment growing in your Water Vitalizer.  My spin on this is to use pre-oinized water which is in great supply.  The pre-ionized water gets reorganized in the Magnetic Stirrer.  This eliminates the contaminant trap.

Pre-ionized water is Spring Water.  The Ion that the pre-ionized water is ionized with depends on the Aquifer.  It is usually Sodium, or Calcium.  If you were to use Rain Water, or Distilled Water you would want to use something to add the Ions to the water, and that is why the Mineral Basket is there in the first place.  But if the Mineral Basket is going to harbor potentially harmful stuff I don't want to use it.  This gave rise to the idea of using pre-ionized water, and then just stir it.  You can apply a specific amount of energy to the water by the time you let it spin.  Over the past few days I have let a pitcher of water stir all day long.  I'll experiment with this more in the future...

Water Vitalizer... Hacked...

My Water Vitalizer broke down this weekend.  The motor quit.  I can hear the circuit trying to apply current, but the motor has too much friction to start.  Oh Bother!  I can't haz this...  I need my Water Vitalizer...

 Well, fortuitously I already have reverse engineered the magnetic coupling system, and built a Magnetic Stirrer.  So, I put the major parts together to see if they will work together, and they do.  The Magnetic Coupling System is almost perfectly matched.  So I have run a couple batches of water now, and it seems like its working good.  Itza Electromechanical Hack...

More RX300 Windows

Electromechanical things are very predictable.  They say if it has tits, or tires its gonna give you trouble son...  Well same thing applies to dry contacts.  Electromechanical relays are destined to fail, and they need to be replaceable.  So, driving home yesterday, in July, in Texas, my driver window decided its not gonna roll up.  So I got 13 miles of hot, highway air...  Blarg, time to change another window relay.  I did the passenger window last December.  That one I dealt with for a couple years before I found a way to fix it.  This time I have a stash of relays, and all I had to do was pull the window controller, open it, desolder the old relay, and wire the new one in.  It took like an hour, LOL!

PWM Modulator for the Magnetic Stirrer

The last time I was working on the Magnetic Stirrer I was using a Laboratory Power Supply to modulate current to a DC Motor, and then was stuck there, looking for a more suitable motor, and a cost effective way to modulate power to the motor.  To build copies I need to have an affordable way to modulate power because not everyone will want to buy a couple hundred dollar Power Supply for their Magnetic Stirrer.  My solution for this is Pulse Width Modulation, and a cheap DC Motor.

The Motor is salvaged from an old Ryobi Drill.  Its a common brushed DC Motor which are very cheap now.  Most Motor Technology has moved on to Brushless Motors, and Stepper Motors, and the Brushed Motors are the cheapest technology now.  The Drill used a PWM Power Control scheme, but had it integrated into the Trigger for the Drill which was a spring loaded mechanism.  For a cabinet top kitchen appliance I need a power switch, and a dial speed control, something that can be set, and left running without continuous pressure on a trigger mechanism.  In the above photo you can see a toggle switch, and the potentiometer handle.  Also notice that on top of the plexiglass there is a magnetic spinner spinning.

I used the venerable NE555 Timer IC that gets used for all sorts of pulse control, and modulation schemes.  This Timer was introduced by Signetics back in 1972, and is so versatile that it is still very popular today.  Previously I had made some very sophisticated PWM Power Contollers using PIC Processors, but for this project I wanted cheap, simple, and easy, not to mention quick, and dirty.  Well, yeah, this analog timer is dirty.  Its got a scratchy potentiometer which makes the PWM intermittent, and it also doesn't span to full 5 to 95% of the PWM range.  The motor also stalls at the end of the potentiometer throw.  Caveats to Cheap, Quick, and Dirty.  But it makes the spinner spin right?

Another caveat to using a "cheap" motor is a massive inductive kickback when the brushes break contact with the armature.  The motor is generating almost 70 Volt inductive kickbacks.  I managed to pop one of my NE555 Timers because of this.  I think it was an older one that didn't have freewheeling diodes on the output.  For the circuit values I picked a "off the shelf" schematic from the interwebs, above.  I did have to spend a little time debugging it, but overall it worked good.  Now my little Magnetic Stirrer is working good, and it doesn't need my laboratory power supply to run it.  The original intent for this stirrer was to stir the Wort for Home Brewing.  Lets make High Gravity Lager...

Clean Space

I worked on the Garage a little this weekend.  I was able to clear off one of the workbenches, and make some clean space.  Also got to clean off the Tool Box, organize all the crap that was sitting on top of it.  I closed a few projects like the Smoke Detector, and that pile of slightly used AA Batteries.  I found a under cabinet LED lamp that runs on AA Batteries, so it can be used to deplete those used batteries.  Also illuminated the new clean space...

EVAP Redo

Now I've replace the rest of the Vapor Line from the EVAP System.  This line comes from the Charcoal Canister, and feeds the Fuel Vapors from the EVAP System to the Intake Manifold via a couple valves mounted on the Intake Manifold.  This line holds the EVAP System Service Port, and a Vacuum Surge Tank, so I replaced 3 links of vapor tubing, and all the hose clamps.  Also replaced the clean air line which goes to the EVAP System by the gas tank...

Speaker Restoration

This shouldn't be a surprise.  The Speakers are Blown...  Well, you take old speakers, and play them loud you're gonna get shredded cones.  Monster Truk is 16 years old this year, and the speakers show it.  The plan is to maintain the acoustic properties of the mount, and replace the speaker with a right size speaker.  Monster Truk has Premium Sound, that is what I want to preserve.

The front door speakers have a kicker box that seals it to the door frame.  This allows the bass frequencies to travel into the door, distributing the bass sound, so it fills the Truk.  This is what it was missing before because the seal was broken, the cone suspension.  The old speakers had a plastic frame, and were glued into the kicker box.

There were several plastic mounting struts that supported the magnet in the middle of the kicker box.  The the cone, and voice coil were supported by the ring around the periphery.  I used a large pliers to break the plastic struts, and then a chisel to cleanup those areas.  Finally to mount the new speaker I fabricated some small wooden anchors that would fit in the small gaps around the periphery of the kicker box.  This is the carnage of removing the old speaker.

Doh! There it is...

Been chasing the EVAP problem for a while.  I've replaced every minor hose in the EVAP System, with hose clamps.  Also replaced the gas cap, lost it, then bought another, LOL!  The problem was right in front of me, literally.  Right on top of the engine, a little to the right of the intake manifold EVAP assembly is a short hose that connects the Body Side of the EVAP System to the Engine Side of the EVAP System.  Short hose, 3 inches long...  The Engine side was loose, and oily.  So I removed the hose, cleaned the hard tubes, and used a new piece of hose with Worm Clamps.  And that was the leaking hose.  I'm going to replace the rest of the hoses in the area also.  That particular hose was petrified, hard as rock...

Puppy Prints...

There is an ongoing battle to stop the muddy Puppy print trail into our house.  This is the latest campaign..  Close to the patio we have some large shady trees, so the grass isn't growing very well in these areas, and they tend to get trampled a lot, so it became sort of a mud pit.  So we decided to pave part of this area, making a path to the garden, and place new sod on the rest.  We learned that Zoysia grass grows better in low light conditions, so we planted Palisades Zoysia.  Its a really nice looking grass.  Also we trimmed the tress considerably so that the grass is getting a lot more light.  So, over this weekend I finished planting the Zoysia sod, and this area is looking a lot better...

South Gate Chain Gang

I replaced another fence post this weekend.  This is one of those posts that I have earmarked 'Working on the Chain Gang."  This is a fence post that has completely disintegrated below the ground, and there is nothing left to grab onto to Pull the post.

Usually my Modus Operandi is to  excavate the ground around the mushroom top of the concrete stump around a broken fence post, then drive a long Screw Eye into the remaining post to get a handle on it.  Then I can use a long lever to "Pull" the Post Stump.  Well, on this one there is no wood left, it is all rotted out.  So I have to bust the concrete stump out of the ground in little pieces.  Double Stump was like this...

This one seemed to be extra difficult, but they all seem like that when you are working on them.  I started working on this one a few weeks ago, then got distracted by other things.  I finally got back to it this weekend, and finished pulling the concrete out, widened the hole for a 6x6 Post, and got the new Post planted.  This one is the Hinge side of the South Gate.  Now it is extremely sturdy, and conversely the Latch side is extremely floppy.  The South side of the Fence is only about eight feet long, and I think I'm going to replace the whole thing.  That means I've got one more 6x6 Post, one 4x4 Post, the Gate, and the Fence Panel.  This is making me hungry...

Texas Springtime Snow

Yesterday it snowed in North Texas.  I was working on a Cascade Refrigeration System, you might know it as a Deep Freeze, and in testing the Environmental Test Chamber I made some snow.  Its about the only way to make snow in North Texas in March.  This chamber a leaked out its refrigerant over a long period of time.  We had an AC guy quote charging it, and he wanted $1500.  Wut?  So, we hatched a plan, did our interwebz research, got a manual, and a schematic.  This Thermal Test Chamber wanted exotic, and obsolete refrigerants, very expensive.  Our methodology is low budget, so we had to find the most cost effective way to do this.  We used some borrowed AC Gauges, R12 to R134a adapters, and one 12 oz. can of R134a to recharge this Thermal Test Chamber.  $12.99 at Autozone...  It hit -45F because of the Cascade, two stage, Refrigerant System...  Snow!

Z Gate Update

Here are a couple shots of the Z Gate after it has cured for about three weeks...

I cleared away the scrap concrete pieces, and there is a little natural mulch accumulation.

Its got a sturdy look...

Leavitt Garden

We had a plan to build two 8x4 Raised Garden Boxes on Saturday.  Casey had picked a design out of a Garden Manual, gathered the materials, and started working on the Boxes before I had arrived.  It quickly turned into a major undertaking when we all realized the volume we were dealing with.  Kevin and Casey went to get two cubic Yards of Raised Bed Soil.  That's 54 cubic Feet of Dirt.  It completely filled the bed of his Dodge 2500 HD pickup.

We had to start by marking off the area where we wanted to put the Raised Beds.  This spot is on the North West corner of the yard, and has good light all day long.  We used frame pieces to mark off the area, and then started using my new Pick Mattock to remove the Bermuda lawn.

 This was a fairly warm Spring Day, perfect for building another Organic Garden.  After removing the grass from the area, we dug the post holes to anchor the frame to the ground.  We didn't use concrete, instead we filled the holes with the native clay soil, then compacted the soil around the holes.  The posts are well planted.

After thee posts were planted then we added the sides of the box.  The Raised Bed is three 2 x 4s deep, about 10.5 inches.  We picked up two cubic yards of soil.  The Raised Bed is 16 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 10.5 inches deep (0.875 feet).  That works out to 56 cubic feet, and the two cubic yards of soil is 54 cubic feet, so the load of soil almost perfectly matched the size of the box.

So during the construction process the design of the Raised Bed changed, and it became on 16 foot, by 4 foot box.  The number of posts changed, not a bad thing.  The finished Raised Bed has a clean, and symmetrical look.  Now we are ready for some Tomatoes.

After we finished the Raised Bed we made some Smoked Chicken Tacos, Vegetable Kabobs, with fresh Pico de Gallo.  We all needed some proteins after this job...

Z Gate

This is the follow up to Double Stump.  I had decided to use 6 x 6 Posts, and did the same on the other side of the Z Gate.  So the mounting point for the Z Gate hinges is extremely solid.  This contrasts the way it was, saggy, and broken.  This time I build a little frame around the post to contain the concrete, and get the joint between the concrete, and the post off the ground.  This way water cannot stand at the base of the post.

Yes that was a muddy mess, but in the end ir is very nice looking.  Another thing about the Z Gate is the "Z" configuration.  I did several things to the Z Gate to give it dimensional stability.  There are two cross boards at the top, and a cutout for them in the side frame pieces.  They are connected with 3.5" screws.  The bottom cross piece also has 3.5" screws.  Then the "Z" piece crosses from the bottom hinge side to the top swing side, also secured with 3.5" screws.

The previous gate didn't have a frame.  It was all hanging off the 2 x 4 with the hinges attached, and nailed together.  So, over time the wood shank, the nails became loose, and the gate started to sag, causing the bottom to scrape along the ground.  The Z Gate is designed to maintain its shape, and not fail this manner.

Then the biggest job for the Z Gate is to contain Harlz...

Double Stump

Had some fun playing in the dirt this weekend.  Behold...  The Double Stump...

Nuf Said...