Thursday, September 25, 2014

Home Theater PC (with more fans)

Changed the Home Theater PC so that it had better cooling and wire management, also should be, on the whole, even quieter now.


Home Theater PC: Custom
Case: Cooler Master HAF XB EVO (Fans: 2x 140 mm front, 1x 200 mm top, 1x 120 mm exhaust)
MB: MSI 890FXA-GD70
CPU: AMD FX-8120 @ 3.1 GHz Socket AM3+ 125W
HSF: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus (setup with 2x 120 mm fans in push-pull)
RAM: 2x 2 GB DDR3 1600 G.Skill Ripjaws PC3 12800 [4 GB total]
GPU: 1x Asus HD6450 Silent (1 GB DDR3)
Sound: On Board
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silnence Mk II 950
HDD: 1x Mushkin Chronos 120GB SSD
Networking: Dual Gigabit, Asus Wireless-N PCE-N15 PCIe Adapter, 2x TP-Link Antenna TL-ANT2408CL (because this will be placed in the living room far away from the router)
Optical: LG Blu-Ray Combo Drive UH12NS30
Primary Monitor: Toshiba 37AV50U 37" LCD HDTV
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64

Home Theater Software: XMBC

Twin 120 mm fans that came with case:



Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Bathroom Improvements while Renting

So, first, I'll start with a mistake.

I bought these  InterDesign Axis Loop Shower Curtain Hooks from Bed Bath & Beyond because I really liked the look. And I still do like the look and there have been no rust issues or anything. It's just that if you're not careful when moving the shower curtain one or two has a tendency to fall off the bar and this annoys me. So, we'll probably replace these.





Bicycle Storage - Thule Bike Stacker Storage Rack

Not wanting to put holes in our walls or ceiling we decided to go with free standing bike storage.

We ordered a pair of Thule Bike Stacker Storage Rack from Jenson USA.

I wish I had taken a picture of the mess of bikes before, but it was a mess of four bikes all piled upon each other and not at all convenient for accessing the bikes or storing anything else in the same space.


Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Home Theater PC

Built a home theater PC out of spare parts I had plus a few new parts.


Home Theater PC: Custom
Case: Cooler Master HAF XB (Fans: 2x 120 mm front)
MB: MSI 890FXA-GD70
CPU: AMD FX-8120 @ 3.1 GHz Socket AM3+ 125W
HSF: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
RAM: 2x 2 GB DDR3 1600 G.Skill Ripjaws PC3 12800 [4 GB total]
GPU: 1x Asus HD6450 Silent (1 GB DDR3)
Sound: On Board
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silnence Mk II 950
HDD: 1x Mushkin Chronos 120GB SSD
Networking: Dual Gigabit, Asus Wireless-N PCE-N15 PCIe Adapter, 2x TP-Link Antenna TL-ANT2408CL (because this will be placed in the living room far away from the router)
Optical: LG Blu-Ray Combo Drive UH12NS30
Primary Monitor: Toshiba 37AV50U 37" LCD HDTV
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64



Power supply, hard drive, and Blu Ray drive installed.
 


Tuesday, August 26, 2014

On Storage while Renting

So, one of the things that makes renting interesting is from place to place you move you wind up with very different storage arrangements.

The place I lived a few months ago I had a garage, a place to put my tools, and a large cabinet in my kitchen that I used as a pantry, and a linen closet.
The place I lived last (for a few months) did not have a garage, I used a storage unit to keep a lot of my stuff in, and had a walk in pantry.
The place I live now has no garage, no pantry, and no linen closet.

What this means is I need storage.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

This End Up, Classic Queen Platform Bed, Finishing (Part III)

After letting the second coat of MinWax Antique Oil Finish dry for around fifteen hours it looked like this:


This End Up, Classic Queen Platform Bed, Finishing (Part II)

For a finish we decided to use MinWax Antique Oil Finish.
For the first coat we applied the finish liberally using Flat Foam Brushes. We immediately sanded using 3M 400-Grit Wet/Dry Sandpaper in order to work the finish into a slurry and into the wood.
After about five minutes we did a "wet buff" using finish soaked HDX Staining Pads. This made the coat even thicker.
After another ten to fifteen minutes we dry buffed with Cheese Cloth (again, can't have enough of this).
Keep in mind when buffing that if the surface is tacky you need to add a little bit more finish to buff, you do not want to be sticking to the wood.

First coat applied and more or less wiped with cheese cloth:


Sunday, May 25, 2014

This End Up, Classic Queen Platform Bed, Finishing (Part I)

This projects starts with a This End Up Classic Queen Platform Bed that was ordered unfinished, it's made primarily of pine.

This is the bed setup with a rather thin memory foam mattress:


Introduction

I decided I'd start another blog for projects done outside of automotive.
I think I'll post some old ones as well as new.
Hopefully I get better at these things as I go along.