PeteM

I made two gkids sets of basic blocks (the first photo in this conversation). I used food coloring. It makes pastel colors. Let it dry for a couple days.... or a Mom will share pics of pink tongues with you! The colors are not vibrant, but realize that to a 2~3-yo kid, esp one without any other toys, even the simplest item is a wizzard.

Let's do this! And after they top out, let the plumber start soldering pipe on the ground floor. Try for July 4.

Oh goody, someone left pizza in the fridge

Dust: you might consider the PURPOSE before interviewing equipment. From my experience (personal and professional), I find there is a progression of dust handling. --Housecleaning: shop vac connected to tool: keeps the dust from getting too deep. Good for small volumes, hobbyist. If the space is decently vented (two doors open), the fact that the shop vac doesn't capture the fine dust isn't a big problem. Biggest drawback is the frequency of emptying the canister and cleaning the cartridge filter (you can clean them forever, don't need to replace). Handy to roll around, don't need piping installed. Good starting place, gives experience with how tools/dust interface. --Volume dust buildup: tapered centrifugal separators (dust deputy, etc) make accumulation of dust easier to tolerate because they end up in bigger cans (often a 30 gal trash can) that don't need so frequent service. The c-separator does NOT improve the final dust particulate size ejected from the fan. --Fine dust control, volume increase, but still portable (wheeled): Portable (wheeled base) DC fan/bag combo: While there are a lot of variations, these usually have plenty of on-board storage for light commercial/hobbyist volumes, and they have more control over the dust particle size ejected. Most of these start from factory with a rating of "3 micron" (or thereabouts); the rating is pretty meaningless, but it tells you the starting point. Most of these can be converted to "1 micron" bags (in a two-bagger, the upper bag has the 1 micron rating, and has to be sized for the fan volume; the lower bag is lined with an impervious trash bag). Unless you have unusual allergies or sensitivities, a "1 mic" rating is good. The portables do pretty well as compromise between air volume, storage, particulate control. They definitely are a "one tool at a time" app. Manufacturer rating of fan is about 800 cfm: ignore the reality, it won't go for that much air flow in operation, but it's kind of a benchmark. Fan inlets usually 4" or 5". --Higher volume, multiple tool capacity: stationary DC, permanent duct (pipe). Mfr rating usually over 1000 cfm*, and 5" or 6" inlet to fan. You have to be making a lot of dust (or be obsessive) at this end of the spectrum. Lots of variations on ducting. --One most important thing in ducting: look for "long radius" elbows; they're not commonly found in ww or big box stores, but you'll find them on line. Straight (smooth, not flex) duct/pipe has a trivial pressure loss compared to a standard ("short radius") elbow; a bend in flex material can be a killer to air flow. So putting your DC in a corner and running more straight pipe isn't a problem....unless it forces more elbows. Bang for buck: figure out the benefits you want before picking the equipment. Luck! *manufacturers in this industry actually have no idea what they're doing with fans, ducts, pressures. They seem to pretty much just copy what others have done.

ooooooh, I love happy endings

I do/have done a lot of energy analyses. Two things emerge: it always costs MORE than expected and the savings are LESS than expected. So I tend to be conservative, but there are many good ideas out there. However, going into competition with an electric utility isn't one of them. I only spend about $1700 per year on electricity, but our utility is known for low cost base (hydro: Arizona). But double my cost to $3500 per year for talkin' purpose. Peak loads here extend to 8 pm (equals 9 pm for all you on daylight savings time!), so daylight-only don't cover the spread, have to go with batteries. I figure a "whole house" approach to completely divorce from utility would upfront for about $25--30k. IOW, 7--9 years payback ("simple payback") for a more expensive utility than mine. My criteria for personal, residential and small commercial proposals is 3 year payback (because beyond 3, really hard to hold the variables in place: people die, move, sell the biz). At more than 5 years analysis, have to start expecting component failures, which then extends the payback. At 10 years, major component replacement becomes likely, pushing it further. Half-way measures such as 5kW solar have a high initial cost for a low savings, and utilities are starting to charge for "connect only" costs (minimum charge even if you use NO power; this is pretty typical for commercial rates, but starting to get popular in residential). The scenario that would cause me to do a stand-alone: belief that utility power might be in jeopardy. Can't live here without power unless we move to Outer Montana and live in a log cabin. At the moment, looks like we (literally) won't live that long. Cheerful news!!! ?

It's like finding a piece of pizza in the fridge, and after taking a bite realizing it's a couple of months old.

Hunh. Who's Kali? oh.

Course instructor recommended this book, and I found it for under $10 (with shipping), and well worth the effort. I haven't implemented all the ideas I'd like, but the first few have been very handy. It's amazing how many wood books are out there, and real bargains if you scratch around a bit.

Wow. "Burn Barrel": takes me back to oooooold days, burning classified docs and PAL cards. Sarge confirmed that gasoline is not a good fire starter (he lost his eyebrows...I already knew the trick).

Outstanding

Well, I never. Intriguing. When you decide what it is, would you share that info with the rest of us? :-)

Sneer not we at Engineers. There is a whole industry (including me) employed in fixing their errors . Credit where credit is due: they break things faster than we can fix. It's called "job security".

Text says 1946 NEC. Since code is updated every three years (altho not sure when the interval was back then), slide rule itself dates to the late 40's? There is a museum devoted to slide rules, and I noticed they have electrical ones. If you want history, https://www.sliderulemuseum.com/MiscUSA.htm

I try to "shop local", but increasingly places like HD and Lowes don't stock things, offering to ship it in to the store (or for a premium, to my house). Or I buy something not as good that they have in stock. And of course, going to the BB store, searching the aisles, discovering that they inventory is wrong (again) and it's not there....increasingly I'm letting my fingers do the walking. For better or ill, Amazon has changed the metric. It doesn't hurt that the Phoenix area has 6 or 7 A-warehouses (and my company built 5 of them...so my retirement was partially funded by Jeff's Gang). I swim upstream just so long.