Desktop monitor curved in both directions

This thought came to me when someone suggested a portrait monitor to avoid lots of scrolling.

It occurred to me that you could have a section of a sphere to get the benefit of both a landscape and a portrait monitor.

Expanding on that, it would probably be better if it was square rather than circular.

Something about 90cm (35") square would be the ideal size. Anything wider and I've found that it requires too much head movement to be comfortable.

The radius would be the same in both directions and similar to the generally established norm for the current crop of curved wide screen landscape monitors. A desktop monitor would therefore have a radius of about 1800mm (1800R.)

Using current standards the resolution would be 3840x3840 pixels.

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Computerised filing

For a long time I've found the file systems on computers disappointing. Increasingly I find I want to store things in multiple places.

"\Top-Level\Sub-Level\My-File"

The concept of folders is not efficient for the computer nor is it helpful in finding files that relate to multiple subjects.

"My-File, #Top-Level, #Sub-Level, #Also-Something"

I think, in this day and age, all files could use a tagging system.
Computers are powerful enough to carry out these searches in real time. The tags would need to be indexed and stored in a database.

Many online systems already use tags instead of folder.

Very simple to implement. When the file is saved the person would get the opportunity to add tags to the file. These would be saved with the file and indexed in a database.
Existing tags should be easily browsable at the point of saving, exactly like the existing folder structure.

"Other-File, #Top-Level, #Something-Else"

When browsing files, the existing folder structure gets translated, automatically, to a search. Rather than a folder and sub-folders, it would be a list of tags with the logical AND applied to them. In addition a manual search box could be used so the logical OR would take precedence.

"#Top-Level\#Sub-Level" = files tagged #Top-Level AND #Sub-Level
"#Top-Level,#Sub-Level" = files tagged #Top-Level OR #Sub-Level

The important bit is that a browsable hierarchy exists. You don't have to remember any of the tags used nor the file name. As you select tags any tags that are also on files with that tag are displayed for easy selection along with a list of all the files tagged with the selection.

File Manager
"#Top-Level"
Browse: #Sub-Level, #Also-Something, #Something-Else
Matching files: My-File, Other-File

File Manager
"#Top-Level\#Sub-Level"
Browse: #Also-Something
Matching files: My-File

File Manager
"#Top-Level\#Something-Else"
Browse:
Matching files: Other-File

I'm sure there must be some disadvantages but I'm struggling to think what they would be.
The system can easily integrate in to the current way of working with the additional benefits being available in parallel.

If only I had time to write a file system.

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External storage with a display

I was thinking about all the games I have moved on to an external hard drive to free up space on the internal storage of my Xbox One. That led me on to think about how best to keep track of what's on a disk that is not connected to a machine.

At the moment I only have one external drive for the Xbox but lots of similar drives with other things on. When those drives are in a cupboard, unused, I need to know which of the drives has what on it. It would be handy to have a tidy way to display what games are on what external storage device that could be easily changed. At the moment I stick a bit of tape on the drive and hand write a list.

With the display technology used on things like the Amazon Kindle, where no power is needed to maintain the image, it would be possible to have an easy to read and easy to update visible list. Easier to change than crossing out and writing a new name on a paper list on the outside.

I had a search and was surprised that no one had produced one. The nearest I could find was an LCD touch panel for security.

The same could be applied to USB keys, perhaps with only room for a title. The technology can't be that difficult because they are already USB as are external hard drives. Adding a completely separate board to update the display would just show two USB devices when it is plugged in.  Even easier would be to get the device to read a text file with a known name and use the contents of that for the display on the outside.

With so much data that needs backing up hopefully this idea will get picked up by someone.

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Measuring sticks

I calculated some measurements for Shelley to plant a long run of hornbeams.

To make it even easier I made up some sticks of various lengths.

They are marked up with the number of plants and the distance they would span if spaced at the length of the stick.

Frozen car locks... Idea

Having struggled to get in to Fender several times this month due to the frost over night, I have been looking for and thinking about solutions.

I thought about bubble wrapping the lock and handle but came up with a better idea using foam matting.

I tried it last night and despite temperatures of minus 3C I was able to get in to Fender this morning. The lock was still initially stiff but not solid. It's only been one night so I'm not claiming this problem is solved but it's enough progress to be worth typing up these notes.

Many people on Land Rover forums recommend ACF-50. Spray that in the lock barrel, in the lock mechanism and also on all the connecting rods. It's a bit like WD40 in that it replaces the water and therefore prevents ice forming. Apparently ACF-50 penetrates better and lasts longer.

Most also recommend silicone spray on the rubber door seals to stop them freezing shut.

I have some ACF-50 on order to try and already have some silicone spray.

Before I do that I am trying out my door lock insulators. They just hang over the driver's door handle at night.

I've measured and designed them to fit both Defender and Discovery 2 door handles. They are symmetrical so they can be used on the passenger doors as well.

I happened to have some interlocking foam mats handy. They are about 10mm thick. The foam is easy to form. Just heat it up with a heat gun along the length of the curve. Bend and hold it in place. It took about 4 heating's to get to the full bend I needed.

The foam always springs back a bit so it is necessary to bend it more than double to get a parallel 'U' shape. I used a metal bar as the former and a box full of tools to weigh it down.

The final measurements were 270mm wide by 280mm long. That was then cut to form the tab. The tab is 120mm long and 90mm wide with 90mm wide shoulders each side.

I deliberately wanted some of the foam to curve over the top of the handle, specifically to cover as much of the lock barrel as possible.

With hindsight it would have been easier to bend if I had left it as a rectangle and bent that double. Then afterwards cut out the corners so it fits the door handle. That would have formed a tighter curve at each end.

I need a few more frozen nights to know if this is a good solution or not.

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Update: Second frozen night
The temperature in the morning was about minus 4C. Frost all over the car. The lock was easy to open. Still a bit stiff but barely any effort to unlock.

It's not all good news. I have found a flaw in the construction.

I have been using this on Junior (Jr), our Discovery 2 as well as Fender our Defender. While I'm driving I have left it in the passenger foot well. Unfortunately, for this design, the heaters work very well in Jr and the temperature is enough to slightly unfurl the tight curve of the insulator.

I will have to re-think the construction. Probably just a wire tie loop to hold both sides together.

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Update: Third frozen night

We have decided that the insulation does work. At least down to -4C.

It is obvious on Jr that the area under the foam is protected more from the frost.

The ACF-50 arrived yesterday so I decanted some in to a small bottle with a needle nose dropper and used that to inject the ACF-50 in to the barrel of the lock. Hopefully that plus the insulation will sort out the frozen locks.

I'll also spray ACF-50 inside the doors when I have time to take the door cards off.

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Update: Minus 6C

Another cold morning and yet again the door opens.

Frozen drinks

This time the lock barrel had been treated with ACF-50 and my home made insulator had been on the handle all night. That combination has worked down to -6C.

Belt sander dust port

I am lucky that I have a fairly large shed but I still pack a lot in to it.

The dust extraction port from my belt and disc sander is too close to my spray booth. The sawdust would get pushed under the lid of the spray booth and could get stuck to any paint that may have been drying.

To reduce this I have 3D printed a cowl that sends the extract to the back.

I didn't get the measurements of all the angled faces quite right but it works well enough simply held on the end with a double sided sticky pad.

Engine Water Ingress

Well, our poor car is off to get a reconditioned engine.

At least we know the cause, this time. It is the air filter housing.
The raised air intake (snorkel) was pointless because, unknown to us, the air filter did not fit the housing properly and water was sucked in from under the bonnet.

It is evident, if you open up the air filter.

The mud from the last outing is obvious.

The previous owner had fitted a high performance lifetime air filter, so it was rarely looked at. It also never occurred to me that it might be less suitable for off-roading.
We will be going back to a standard Land Rover filter.

This got me thinking.
Why don't engines designed for off-road use have a pressure release valve to avoid Hydrostatic Lock (Hydrolock) caused because water does not compress but air does!

To my mind it would be a fairly easy design.
Just an idea.

Under Towbar Slider

Having a towbar can be an issue when used for competitive off-road events or pay and play days. The metalwork significantly reduces the departure angle and digs in to the ground. In the worst cases it stops you moving.

I have selected a towbar that has the minimum height and no unnecessary overhang but it still has the potential to act like a drag anchor.

To reduce this effect I came up with the idea of fitting under body protection under the towbar to also act as a smooth surface to drag along the ground rather than the towbar digging in.

The design is simple and based on the typical steering guards.  A big thick bit of alloy plate mounted on a steel frame.

I used a bit of stainless steel angle drilled to fit the tow ball mounting holes and two more bits to fit where the towbar side brackets fit on to the chassis. I added some extra holes in those as additional rescue tow points.

I hit a snag with the construction in that my own tools were not capable of making any holes, let alone large holes, in 6mm stainless steel!  Oops!

Luckily our Farrier is also a blacksmith and had a workshop full of tools capable of doing the job. Thanks to Dean the bits were made in no time at all.  He also had a giant guillotine to cut the 6mm alloy to shape.  I drilled the alloy and fitted the bits together on the car.

The alloy is fixed to the steel using stainless steel M8 round head bolts at the chassis end and counter sunk head bolts at the tow ball end to minimise the collection of mud.

The initial fitting was a bit rushed as we were going off-road that day and I finished drilling the vent holes another day.

I can see how effective the plate has been by the scratch marks, bend and burrs on the plate.

3D Printed Car

Some thoughts that resulted from a conversation over dinner with friends.

We were talking about Land Rovers and replacing or welding inner wings that have rusted.  The outer wing bolts on but the inner needs welding.

It would be much easier if cars clicked together like Lego bricks.

As children my brother and I deliberately made cars out of Lego as strong as possible and smashed them together.  The winner was the car that survived the longest.  Based on those early 'scientific' experiments I reckon that Lego would be strong enough to make a full sized car.

I have no idea how heavy it would be but that got me thinking.

Why are cars a shell of thin metal.  Why not make cars out of solid sections with a light weight interior.

That is exactly how 3D printers create solid objects with the minimum amount of plastic.  The insides are a hollow honey comb type structure with a solid skin.

At the moment low cost 3D printers are too small to make a body section for a full sized car but the parts could be made to intersect like a jigsaw or clip together like Lego.  How great would it be if, when you had a dent or something broke, you just printed out a replacement section.

It adds all sorts of possibilities.  Cars could be made with weaker and lighter components knowing that if a bit breaks off you just print out a new one.

I expect there are loads of other possibilities if the starting point is not pressed steel.

Just my thoughts for the morning.

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Update:
3D printers are large enough now to print houses and boats. They are often used on car parts.

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Bow Sling Knots

Inspired by the Olympics being here in the UK I've been thinking about doing a bit of archery again. 

It's been over 6 years since I last strung my bow so I've been doing some reading to bring myself up to speed.  I was also watching the Olympic Archery on the BBC iPlayer and the TV.

Olympic Equestrian
The only events we wanted to see live was one of the equestrian events. We were lucky enough to be able to get tickets for the finals of the 3 Day Eventing at Greenwich Park. 
My wife has some pictures and more info. on her blog:
http://tomandhenry.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/greenwich-park-equestrian-eventing.html

Equipment

Every archer I saw on the Olympics had exactly the same setup.  If there was any deviation I did not notice it.  Even the arm guards were almost identical and everyone used a finger sling that looked like it was made out of a shoelace.  While I was looking to find out how they tied the shoelace finger sling I came across a few braided wrist slings which I liked the look of.

The wrist slings were not expensive, even the nicest ones that would have to be shipped from the USA were only about $20 but I just fancied trying to make one.

The above picture shows what I ended up with after a couple of attempts.

Knots

Although I've tied a few knots in the past and somewhere I have a small book on how to tie them, it was much quicker to do a search on the Internet.  I found loads of web sites and videos and quickly discovered that the string to use is called Paracord and the type is described as 7 strand or 550.

I bought two colours I thought would match the bow.  There are lots of bright colours available as well but I decided on subtle for the time being.  I found lots of choice on Amazon and finally bought from:
http://www.hunterscampingandbushcraft.co.uk/ via their Amazon store:
Very prompt delivery.

I watched a few videos but to tie the knots I ended up finding everything I needed at:
http://www.animatedknots.com/

I used a single rope braid for the main length and a Cobra lanyard knot for the thickened wrist section.  Both are in the decorative section of the web site:
http://www.animatedknots.com/indexdecorative.php

The single rope braid is exactly as described on the site but I slightly changed the Cobra knot after some trial and error.

Changes to the Cobra

On the example I followed it had a loop for the lanyard part.  That was unnecessary because I was using it round the braid.  To start I just ignored the extended loop ending up with just the first knot round the braid.

The other change I made was the way I finished the knot to hide the ends.

On the example I followed both ends were looped back under the rest of the knot on the top. This is done by keeping the last few loops loose, tucking the ends in and then pulling tight.

I found that with both ends on the top of the braid, one side would pull the Cobra knot out of shape when I tried to tighten them.  All I changed was to loop the offending end under rather than over the braid which allowed me to tighten it without distorting the rest of the knot.

A little tip if you try making this yourself.  Don't make the Cobra knots too tight.  I needed to slip it along the braid to get it in the centre.  The first time I tried this the Cobra knot was so tight I could not even edge it along the braid.  The next time I tied the knots I checked that I could just move it.  Deliberately tight but it would move.


Attach To The Bow

This type of wrist sling attaches using the long rod.  The more decorative slings typically used a leather tab and the more modern used a plastic plate with holes in.

Looking through my bits and bobs in the shed I settled for cutting a rectangular shape from a bit of plastic packaging.  Tough and flexible, should outlast me.

The holes are just punched with the largest size on my hand punch with two holes next to each other to form an oval just large enough for the braid to pass through.  It needs to be tight so the in and out has enough friction to hold the braid at the desired length.

Looks much nicer than the type of sling I used before.

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Follow up.  I enjoyed making this and tried it out a few times but I ended up preferring to use a finger sling the same as all the Olympic archers used at the previous tournament.