Simple tips of the day
Hey, two tips I've recently learned that I'd like to share:
Silicone Sealant is your friend.
The GE Silicone II sealant you can find at your local hardware store is waterproof, a great insulator, withstands up to 400°F, dries in 30 minutes, goes on cold, and withstands vibration pretty well. This is a great alternative to hot melt when you need to seal or add vibration resistance to something. For instance, the DC to PC power converter I purchased looked like it would work great for a car but many of its components looked like they would shake loose when run in outdoor terrain on my monster truck chassis. I didn't want to use hot melt because some of the components (5V power regulator for instance) would get hot in operation and I didn't want the hot melt becoming viscous.
If you're a software developer who wants to work on robots, ask your sister-in-law to marry a machinist
Over the holidays, my sister-in-law and her new husband, Gene McDonald, came over and visited for a couple of days. Since I write code for a living, I've always struggled with my tools, from which solder to buy to how to make a really good hole with my drill press to how to cut plastic without melting it. Gene, who does amazing things with tools for a day job, was able to clear up a lot of little, stupid things I was doing and show me a lot of cool tricks in the space of a few days. On a personal note, as an only child it felt pretty cool to have a brother (inlaw or not) who could come by, slap me upside the head, and show me the right way to do things.
The GE Silicone II sealant you can find at your local hardware store is waterproof, a great insulator, withstands up to 400°F, dries in 30 minutes, goes on cold, and withstands vibration pretty well. This is a great alternative to hot melt when you need to seal or add vibration resistance to something. For instance, the DC to PC power converter I purchased looked like it would work great for a car but many of its components looked like they would shake loose when run in outdoor terrain on my monster truck chassis. I didn't want to use hot melt because some of the components (5V power regulator for instance) would get hot in operation and I didn't want the hot melt becoming viscous.
Over the holidays, my sister-in-law and her new husband, Gene McDonald, came over and visited for a couple of days. Since I write code for a living, I've always struggled with my tools, from which solder to buy to how to make a really good hole with my drill press to how to cut plastic without melting it. Gene, who does amazing things with tools for a day job, was able to clear up a lot of little, stupid things I was doing and show me a lot of cool tricks in the space of a few days. On a personal note, as an only child it felt pretty cool to have a brother (inlaw or not) who could come by, slap me upside the head, and show me the right way to do things.
posted by Jay Beavers at 1:36 PM
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