September 28, 2023

Yesteryear
One year ago today: September 28, 2022, the anti-pavilion hurricane arrives.
Five years ago today: September 28, 2018, coffee maker turns five.
Nine years ago today: September 28, 2014, a generic day.
Random years ago today: September 28, 2007, unmentioned difficulties.

           Another day so busy, that’s what became the blog topic. Breeze and clouds, I was up early and completely trimmed the weeds and such out of the front yard landscaping. I waited for a cool morning, since that’s crawling around work. No pics, it was still kind of dark when I quit. Let’s determine how busy, since I’m in the mood for a quiet afternoon with plenty of coffee. The pictures convey the pace, there’s the avocado beginning to sprout new leaves, one tiny and another even tinier. Not only that, a second seed has sprouted, I’ve got to build a cage.

           More muffins before dawn, I buy the paper cups in a package of 180, and just used the last of the July purchase. Have I really made 30 half-dozen batches? I guess so, Taylor probably doesn’t touch anything with that many carbs. I’m just surprised, but I supposed if you don’t count muffins, they can sneak up on you. You don’t see that many skinny staff at Dunkin, y’know.

           There’s the latest in birdbath tech, the satellite dish dripper. It’s in operation but not visible. And some limes and popcorn snacks. Leftover popcorn, if you put two stacks, one plain and one with salt, the birds prefer the salted. With my hobby of small electrical components, I have not really used the formulas much. Hook it up and see if it works. If so, let some engineer type toil with the values.
           I’ve decided on an exception. If you’ve read 2012 era here, you’re aware I was truly miffed by experts contradicting each other. These days, I just treat every on-line “expert” as a bullshit artist. Was the transistor a switch or an amp? In the context of what I studied, it could not be both, so every so-called expert was either lying or leaving out something so important that he might as well be lying. Well, I eventually figured out on my own, by the way, Elliott, that there is a narrow range in which the transistor amplifies.

           And that is what I would like to be able to calculate. I’ve build a few small amps off diagrams from the web, and they work quite terribly. I knew it was level mismatches and I’d like, in this one narrow context of microphone to amplified connection to be able to do the arithmetic. Whoa, the yard is alive with birds. Not one, but two birdbaths. No waiting. But, I’m documenting business today and here are more representative photos. There’s all my oil rags drying in the sun, remind me to pick up a pack of microfiber from Harbor Freight. This is the blog that dares feature a picture of rags in the sun--because sometimes, once you retire, that becomes the big event of the hour. Anybody who tries to tell you different is selling something.
           The final picture this morning, a five-hour morning by the way, shows the Reb’s art box drying. The dark walnut stain is sanded very smooth to the touch. It’s propped open to circulate the air and you can see the thumb hole on the tray insert. The hardware is re-attached but the belt buckle has to wait until I decide what to finish it with, probably some gloss finish. This is not everything I’ve done this morning, only what I took pictures of.

Picture of the day.
Drake Passage.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           The back fence is covered again, but temporarily. Without this, both back yards are open to view, so I made it a priority to at least get something in place to block the opening. Most of the old pickets are so old and brittle, I barely was able to patch it as shown here, and I had to leave a couple loose to clean the debris between the fences once it dries out. It’s done for now, this was dirty, dusty, sweaty work with lots of ants for company. See that shiny new 2x3” rail along the bottom of the fence? They don’t get there by themselves.

           The compressor is now a daily necessity in the workshed, so should be soundrpoof it a bit? Not that it’s noisy but you can hear it from inside the house. I’ll be a good neighbor and see what I can make from what I’ve got. The neighbor bought one of those lithium battery boosters and the plastic battery clamp promptly broke. I have some surplus metal clamps so it is on the bench for repair.

           And that’s a view of the bench, s lot of items soaking in rust remover. One day, somebody will invent something that really works for that. I find no matter how long you soak things following the instructions, you still have to attack the rust with a wire brush. The package says the rust removes itself, but don’t you believe it.
           The Biden-haters are having a field day with the farce of a “Republican debate.” It’s like this, by now everybody knows the polls are lying. The combined candidates don’t come close to Trump’s numbers. And many of the candidates are known RINOs. The ratings are a disaster without Trump and it is all they can do to prevent him from being the central topic without even showing up.

           That bloated freak Cristi is trying the angle that Trump is “afraid” to be questioned, which is so ridiculous it stinks. The other candidates won’t mention Trump. It’s pathetic to hear these people go on about the Ukraine, climate change, and COVID while ignoring the vast Democrat program of destroying White America. This is a constant with the far left since the 1870s—they would rather burn something down than let you have it.
           The MSM has completely blacked-out Biden’s impeachment today. This only boosts Trump’s approval rating, as his impeachment in 2019 was blasted out 24/7. Even the weakest minds are perceiving how rotten big media has become. Hollywood, CA, becomes a ghost town as businesses shutter up due to looting. Serves them right. Trump states he will not choose any of the GOP debaters as his VP. Not when they ignore the border crisis as state White “Supremacy” is the biggest threat. New York City, the sanctuary, is distributing flyers at the border in Texas telling illegals to go elsewhere. The Bidenistas are on the retreat everywhere.

           The next pictures show earlier projects that are still in progress. I found the 8” saw blade, it was covered in sap and paint. Chances are that meant it was used on old lumber. As shown, the blade was soaked in de-rust but needed ten minutes with the drill brush to get what you see here. The other side isn’t touched yet. The carbide teeth are in relatively good shape. This close-up is from the camera, not the microscope I have not check to see if this size will fit the tool. It wont’ be long. I’ve spent nearly an hour refurbishing this saw blade, it’s perfect weather for this work, I remain astonished it does not put any undue demands on my system.
           There’s the switch box for the sifter. That’s the coarse tray on top, I build that a few months ago. I haven’t devised how to clamp it on top of the vibrator tray because it has to be emptied often and I don’t want some system that creates too much work. It picks up the buzzing vibration from the medium box, the two sizes of hardware cloth being 1/2” and 1/4". Before you as if I plan a fine screen, no. I’m not prospecting for diamonds. I’ve already recovered enough small screws to repair a backyard fence.

           The art box. I removed the carrying knobs because the natural tendency is to pick the box up by the leather strap. I will cut a hold in the strap and fit it over a round-headed screw. This holds the lid in place, while fastening the strap leaves enough space to create a handle. I’ll get you pictures. I got some very positive comments on that leather strap arrangement.

ADDENDUM
           Microphone amplicifaction. The circuit is easier to understand if you consider the two components in isolation. What I’ve got is a checklist on how to proceed with the calculations. I’m learnng and I have not built any of the circuits yet. Most sources say use a voltage divider circuit, with the microphone taking the place of R2. Those of you interested can pursue the wiring on your own. The challenge is that the output of the microphone is so tiny, it does not provide enough oomph to be amplified. It needs a boost.

1. Calculate the maximum DC voltage of the speaker design Use Ohm’s law.
2. Measure the internal resistance of the speaker and find a near matching resistor.
3 Connect the calculated DC voltage to the voltage divider.
4. From the center tap use a capacitor to remove the DC component.
5. The capacitor is a tradeoff. Too much blocking or too little distorts.

           That’s the microphone part of the circuit. The varying or AC component goes through the capacitor and that is what you connect to the amplifier part. It is a varying CURRENT, not a varying VOLTAGE. This current coming out of the capacitor is far too tiny to be amplified. For the first time, one of the graphs on the transistor datasheet makes sense. It is the base-emitter chart crossed with the collector current. It says that collector current must be amplified, so let’s get another set of steps written out.
           The idea is to get the weak current out of the capacitor to ramp up to a size that will work on a transistor base. This is called bias or biasing the circuit. It’s another voltage divider setup, but calculated to match the transistor parameters. Wait a second, this is where the Russian guy says forget all the bias calculations and just put a trim pot (potentiometer) in place, connecting the center pin to the transistor base. Makes sense to me.

           Most transistors “turn on”, that is, move between cutoff and saturation at 0.6V and 0.8V. So trim the pot so the signal centers on 0.7V. That’s all. This whole arrangement is connected to a second transistor, then a speaker. But I’m here just to learnt the microphone amplifier parts. One new concept I learned was the tendency of transistors to keep a voltage steady. I may have that wrong, but the Russian guy points it out twice. His accent makes it tricky to follow.

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