The Good Saturday

We had an exciting day this past Saturday. We were able to go down to Indianapolis and watch the Memorial 500 Parade in the downtown. We met some friends, and sat in the middle of Vermont Street watching the parade go down Meridian.

The weather cooperated nicely. It took awhile for the parade to get to us. Lucky we brought bubbles....

The parade was pretty cool. The kids enjoyed the big balloons. I enjoyed the cars. We were able to get out of the area around 2:30 in the afternoon.



We visited with our friends at their house in Fishers, and got back home late to see our front yard under water. according to our neighbor, we only had 0.8 inches of rain, but it came in a flash. And since our ground is pretty well saturated, there weren't too many places for it to go. Here is a picture looking to the north.



And here is a picture from near the house looking to the east. Pretty soggy out there....

The Air Compressor Fix

Dad's air compressor blew up. He took off the cylinder head to find a screw or two rattling around inside the compression chamber. I happily offered to clean up the damage.

Firstly, I sandblasted out all the dirt and grime, and flattened the seating area on a flat granite block with 1000 grit sand paper.

The intake valves were easy - chase the 8 threaded holes with the appropriate tap. It was a very odd sized - #5-40. I use #4, 6, 8, and 10 all the time, but this is my first opportunity to work with a #5. I had to go to my machinist buddy to get a #5 modified bottoming tap.

The exhaust valves needed to upsize a little. The threads were bad, so I went from a #5-40 to a #8-32 button head stainless steel screw. Drill out the hole, thread it, and also drill out the valves and valve retainers to the OD of the screw.

I think this should now work nicely. Delivery is set for Easter weekend.

Watts to Pancakes

This is the first year we tapped our maple trees for syrup making. The wife has been collecting bucket loads of sap every day from just two trees. Each of these 2 trees has just one tap in it.

We don't have a very efficient way of boiling down the sap. We have been evaporating the sap on our stove top. I had the inclinatation this is a very inefficient way to go about doing so, so I did some math.

It turns out there are alot of interesting factoids and conversion factors to ponder in maple syrup engineering.

First, I needed to figure out how much electricity our stove top is consuming. I shut off all the circuit breakers in the house, except for the stove top. Then, at the electric meter, I could count how fast our meter was spinning.

From the internet, I found an equation that turns electric meter RPM into watts. It turns out our stove uses 1200 Watts of power for boiling down maple tree sap.

Here are some other factoids necessary for the final math equation:

• I put 2 Tablespoons of syrup on each pancake
• Sap boils down to syrup in a ratio of approximately 40:1
• Our current electric rate is 9 cents per Kilowatt-Hour

Thus, 2 Tablespoons of syrup per pancake = 80 Tablespoons of sap. There are 256 Tablespoons per gallon, thus it may be easier to say that for every 3.2 pancakes you eat, 1 gallon of raw tree sap is consumed.

How fast does our 1200 Watt stovetop boil down sap? That is an important part of the equation behind my final answer. We figure we yield about a half a cup of maple syrup after an 8 hour day of boiling.

So, 8 hours of cook time at 1.2 KW = 9.6 KWH

Thus, 9.6 KWH at 9 cents per KWH = $0.86

These figures assume the production of 1/2 Cup of maple syrup. (1/2 Cup = 8 Tablespoons)

Thus, 9600 Watts divided by 8 Tablespoons = 1200 Watts of power per Tablespoon.

Since I use 2 Tablespoons per pancakes, my final number is 2400 Watts Per Pancake. Wow!

My Favorite Tools

I have a few favorite tools. A good quality tool is so nice to use. Many of these I use every day:

The Pocket Knife: I like this one because its so small, and has only the essentials (knife, scissors, screwdriver). I think Dad gave this to me many years ago. The backside says "Ciba Geigy" which I think is some fertilizer company or something.


Mitutoyo 6" Calipers: Always accurate, and has a good "feel" to it.

Hand vice / bench vice: This awesome little vice is great for small parts. It can be either a hand vice, or you can mount it to a benchtop. I use it alot for holding piping and tubing.

My Pocket Ruler: I carry this everywhere, because I use it so often. Perhaps Dad can lend me a pocket protector, eh?

My 1/4" Drive Socket Set: I use this all the time now. I made 3 little custom-built socket holders to keep the 3 styles of sockets organized (6pt, 12pt, and metric) and that has greatly increased the usability of this set. This set is small enough to go everywhere. I used it so much I had to have Sears replace the ratchet wrench last year. Sadly, the new ratchet now has a plastic "reversing" lever, and it doesn't have the same feel as the old one.

The DeWalt Portable Bandsaw (or Portaband, for short). It makes quick work of chopping out stock.

The Knee Mill: This is a knockoff of a Bridgeport, but it does everything I need it to do. Complete with digital read out.


The list could go on, but that's all for now.

Remembrances of Fall

I posted my first video to Youtube. I think it turned out pretty well....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sA8Pik1Q0U

Notes:
1. Meridian Road
2. Driving south
3. Coming home from the Huntington Pioneer Festival
4. 12 to 14 mph

This is my Boy's favorite video.

With Friends Like These....

.... who need enemies?

Yesterday at work, we went to our normal group lunch event where the entire staff goes out to eat as a big group. We do this every Tuesday, and one person from the group picks the restaurant of their choice to go to. Yesterday, we went to El Meson, a very good Mexican restaurant in town. It is one of my favorites.

While at the restaurant, word leaked out to the wait staff that it was my birthday. As you may know, Mexican restaurants really like to celebrate birthdays, and I was easy prey in front of my 14 friends from work.

At the end of the meal, the wait staff rushed out and slammed a big sombrero on my head and placed a Fried Ice Cream dessert in front of me. The embarrassment didn't stop there. The head waiter then took a spoonful of whipped cream and plastered it across my face. The picture above is a little premature, and does not show the full effect.

I had so much whipped cream on my face I got it right up my nose. Not only did I have a hot sombrero on my head, 14 friends shooting pictures, and the entire restaurant watching in horror, but now I had breathing difficulties.

It really wouldn't have been so bad if they had left off the chocolate sprinkles as a topping, but those went up my nose, too.

On a positive note, my sinuses have been clean and clear ever since!

Christmas Highlights

Here are a few of the highlights from our Christmas in Michigan. We all had a good time, and put nearly 800 miles on the car with our travelling.

First, we started off in Frankenmuth, Michigan. The kids were in awe of the Franken-moose:

We were able to walk around the little shops within Frankenmuth, and happened upon a nice nativity scene with the Bavarian Inn Lodge in the background.

What? Sharing presents? Surely not my children:


Showing off her Dad's new slippers:


Showing off his favorite Christmas gift - a Tootsie roll from his Tootsie roll bank.