Category Archives: Tricks
Coaxial center finding
Herga foot switch for DeWalt band saw
Alternative to Zerk type oiler for bridgeport milling machine
To oil the ways of the mill, oil must be applied daily. in order to do this (conveniently) most mills are fit with a hand pump that pushes oil through the machine through a series of pipes. my vintage machine does not have that…so a handhelf oiler must be used. Normally these come from zerk but I found an alternative in this vintage British made grease pump. Works a charm!
TECALEMIT NO CG3020
$20 on eBay.
Pem Fasteners, nuts, standoffs, Studs and Pins For Sheet Metal and PCBs
MacBook Pro Ubuntu installation
Cleaning a Magnetic USB charger connection
lathe tooling – used is best
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A great Lathe score includes hand ground tools. This is where someone hand grinds a shape or a pattern to accomplish a very fine detail for a feature.
Fixing Logitech trackball performance
I love these Logitech Marble Mouse trackballs, I have one for every computer. After a few years they slow down physically. Cleaning the dust off does not help enough, something different needed to be applied. I’ve been researching lubricants and oils, doing some tests with households; but I think I’ve found the perfect fluid. Ian Gomes of Union Sound Company made a recommendation a few years back for Penny and Giles faders. A quick amazon search lead me to Lucas Silicone Shock fluid. I must report that it is the perfect product for this application. If you need a drop, I’ll send you a q-tip of it in the mail.
Antoinette before
Macbook Charger Double Wrap
Studer A80 Bulb – LED replacement
Channel 3 used an original bayonet style bulb… it needed to be changed to match the other LED lit VU meters 
19.22″ EXACTLY….
Dave Adams did my a solid today. I needed some support cut to exactly 1.6 *12 plus 0.02 worth of “wiggle room” spaced over 12 modules. He has the tools and knows them too well! Thanks again Dave! 
SOUND GUY XMAS! The family delivers sound guy gifts!!
I’m so lucky to have such thoughtful family.
I know how difficult it is to shop for us sound guys.
I hope the ideas I’ve been sharing have been of inspiration to eager shoppers.
I thought I would share some of the ideas my family and friends came up with that I missed and appreciate as professional tools and inspiration to learn from!
Super bright LED flashlight. This one is very small, takes 4 AAA batteries and I bet will last a very long time!
Gear tie Flexible ties. I’ve never seen these! This things are very soft and wont scratch anything.
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=67776&cat=1,43326,59481
Maped pencils. These are awesome because they are orange and they are triangular. Very nice to work with!
Ike Zimble of Zimble Audio hooked me up over the holidays with a product he really enjoys.
Rawn America’s Tefrawn, I’m very excited to try it out! Truly a Sound Guy Gift!!
I’m very protective of my hearing (and the family knows this).
I’m going on a trip this week and there will be swimming in the ocean. Aqua Ears!
Make it stick – the science of successful Learning, a very very good read. I got 1/2 way through and gave it to a teacher that needed it more than I did.
Flex X-RAP Finger protection. I’ve never seen anything like this stuff. If you’re making a bunch of cables and want to move faster this is the ticket! http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=64762&cat=1,42207,64762
A KAZOO!!!! Because I’m easily entertained.
Happy holidays to everyone! You’re all an inspiration to me and mine! Keep the feedback coming!
Sound guy xmas Idea – CN37 Light guided Connector Assembly
Got a Call from Christopher today. “I do a lot of EDACs” I said. He said “what you really want is the CB37 Light Director Board“
And he was right.
Visualization of what’s on your hard drive
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I was introduced to “Disk Inventory X” that displays a visual representation of what’s on your hard drives. Within minutes I identified HUGE files that were plugging up my laptop. The worst culprit is parallels… but I already knew that virus was huge!
By selecting a file, you can reveal it in the finder and see what it’s really doing!
I would recommend checking it out, just for fun!
McDSP ultimate Compressor and Eq
Today I had the good fortune of meeting with Derek Heimlich of McDSP. Derek introduced me to a solution to a grief I’ve always had with software plugins. After his introduction and chat about this product, I blurted out that “Software has sucked, until now”
McDSP has released the 3060 Ultimate Compressor and 6020 Ultimate Equalizer bundles.
Until now no software allowed users to switch the character of an equalizer and compressor without loosing their settings. Modeled after some of the industries most revered equipment, McDSP comes through with another must have studio essential tool. This functionality gives you a true A/B between different compressors and equalizers. A unique experience. “I know what I want to achieve when I compress and eq, all I ever want to do is change the character”. As far as I know this is the only piece of software that keeps the EQ and compression setting between plugins. A+ work in my opinion.
I would suggest you give them a shot today for your next project. McDSP offers a free demo that is a worthwhile experience and great investment, check it out.
Dinner Box – M461
Herman Miller Chair repair
My Old Herman Miller wheels were really ruining my floor. This is something you don’t really think about until it’s too late…
I ordered hardwood floor safe wheels for my chair. I really recommend them for any surface… the soft rubber really keeps your floor looking new.
While I had the chair upside down I thought I’d share a mod I do to them. If you’ve spent a lot of time in these chairs you’ll know the KLANG the legs make… to keep that klang down to a minimum I Supper 77 in some scrap acoustic foam to the legs.
Transistor Man
a whole semester summed up in one drawing
From the Art of Electronics second edition – Paul Horowitz and winfield Hill