Monday, March 11, 2013

SMPS fan reused

My computer CPU was not working.  The service engineer was called.  He diagnosed that the "SMPS unit" had gone out of order and said that it had to be replaced with a new one.

After he replaced a new unit the old one added to the 'junk'.  There was this fan in the unit.  Removed the screws to take it out.  Discovered that the fan ran on 12v DC, from the sticker label.  There was an adapter [used for a  radio] with output voltage option and 12v was possible. I connected the wires to the molded jacks with proper polarity and switched it on.  Lo, it worked.
Now this is serving as a tiny fan beside my computer.  I can turn it in any direction I want. Summer is already here now as I post this and this is going to be a 'cool' thing!  The fan was not junked, but the circuit in it had gone bad, hence it was discarded away.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Pencil hanger

 The blue rope is a neck rope that was of some identity card holder.  I removed the plastic that held the identity card, used the rubber sleeve from a discarded ball point pen - you saw the other post on this idea before [pencil extender] - and connected the hook-ring to the sleeve. It can be hung on the neck and carried during any carpentry project or any such work that needs a pencil!  When not in use, it can be hung on to something.  

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Tennis Racket Vibe Absorber


I had switched over to the composite graphite racket [also racquet] from the olden days' wood racket.  Graphite rackets are tightly strung and while the ball is struck, it produces a vibration like a string instrument!  It is in a way disconcerting and hence not desired by players.  To absorb this vibration, a rubber piece is attached off the centre of  the strings.  They were available in sports shops. But why I not experiment by making one myself?  I had in the junk box some rubber stoppers of old injection bottles.  I stuck them after cutting the portions that fitted the neck of the bottles, leaving just enough relief so that it takes the string in the groove formed - see picture above.  It worked fine but I bought a ready made from the sports store later. The green one above is this while the one I made is on the right. Both work well. 


Slingshot to scare monkeys


In our locality, monkeys monkeyed around playing havoc in people's home gardens, yards and even houses. They had learnt to remove the roof tiles and enter the house [like thieves] in search of food. It was a real menace. Pictured above are residents near the foothills of Chamundi Hills, just to 'remember' them here, in the absence of photos from our house. The best weapon to scare them away was the a simple slingshot.


For making it, we needed bicycle tube rubber, a 'Y' and a leather piece.  We used to have old rubber tubes or we got one from the nearby Shivaram's Cycle Shop. The leather I have used to hold the 'bullet-stone' was the tongue from a discarded shoe that belonged to my grandfather.   The 'Y' is from our Guava tree branch.  Guava wood is strong.  Hence it was the chosen material by us as there were many such trees in people's yards.  We used to make playthings from the wood for Gulli Danda we played on the street!

Just a mock action of loading and firing from the slingshot was enough for the monkeys to run for shelter.  They were so afraid of this!  They knew the missiles came too fast from this for their quick reflexes which they could not avoid. If we threw stones at them, they would watch and follow their trajectory and continue to sit there on the parapet or tree branch.   But just the sight of a slingshot would make them run away. 

This weapon is lying idle now as monkeys have stopped coming to the premise since a few years, perhaps due to increase in traffic or availability of food for them in other places. But in the other locality where we lived till 14 years ago, they continue to be a menace.

Key Holder from mesh


A piece of 1"x1" mesh was scrapped after a grill-work was done to a room12-13 years ago. Since it was neatly cut I just bent the 'protruding' ends and made it as a key-holder.  I found a wooden bird from a set of 5 and one of two saved. That was a set of wall decoration my father had been given in 1976 or so by Rotary Club of Mysore for some assistance he had provided during a small function. I stuck this bird to add some look to the holder.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Small carry bags

I cannot remember when I first stitched a hand bag from cotton cloth. It must be at least 35 years or so ago. I have been doing this every now and then, most of the time, just for kicks to convert some cloth piece into something useful.  I store these pieces in an old suitcase and if someone opens, it will look like a madman's collection of rags!  But that has come in handy oftentimes when smaller pieces were needed for some emergency patch work also. 

The easier ones to make are the carry bags of simple patterns.  There is a greater need for these to be used and carried around, in these times when plastic is a bane because it is misused and abused. With these on hand, we can boldly refuse a carry bag which means one or two bags less on that outing.   I have faced shopkeepers telling me that I was the first one to refuse a carry bag in his 4-6 years of business!  This only shows the utter neglect of the citizens towards the unwanted, growing garbage hill! 

Here are the smaller ones I have made over some years.  They are on a hook readily available for use. Just some basic skills in sewing will do to create any number of such things.  


The latest one is a shoulder bag [see image below] I made using my grandfather's beautiful cotton drill cloth trousers. They had been altered by my father to fit his waist and later I used too after another alteration. It is an old cloth, may be 50 years old and the quality is of very high class.  It could be used no longer as I had grown out of it and decided to cut to make this bag which will hang around for some more years. 


I later lengthened the shoulder strap as it was too short. 


That was how that bag was made.  Self-timer shot. Ten seconds time.  Had to set, click and run to sit there in the most natural way!


The four dots in permanent 'washerman's ink' are the identity mark of the washerman, one Papaiah, a frail old man who used to come home and pick the clothes for washing/ironing.  This was in the early 1960s. 

They are also called 'tote bags'.

Say no to plastic carry bags, whenever it is possible.  Save and protect the environment.