Morphex's blogologue (Life, technology, music, politics, business, mental health and more)

Fixing a damaged power cable on a work lamp

I bought a used work lamp dirt cheap a while ago, and tested it the other day. I then noticed that the power cable had weathered to the point where the inner cables were exposed:



So the other day I bought a new cable to replace it. Since it is alternating current, +- doesn't matter, just have to get the grounding cable right.





And, here's the result, a powerful work lamp. I bought some cheap LED working lamps since then that use a lot less power, I don't think it makes much of a difference on the big power generator, it will use a lot of gas regardless.



As for the remaining, old cable, I guess I can use that as a grounding cable for the smaller power generator pictured above. 3 wires leading to plugs in the soil should be more than enough.

[Permalink] [By morphex] [Building a home (Atom feed)] [14 Jul 16:57 Europe/Oslo]

Preparing the roof for work / breakage

I've been itching to get some work done on the cabin, and today it was a toasty 6 degrees Celsius (as forecast), so I got some mounts setup for the tarpaulin that will go on the roof sooner or later.

Behind the cabin there are a couple of large trees, and I'm hoping get those taken down early this spring, before they start to leaf out - which would mean it gets more difficult to see where everything is, and they also would sway more in the wind.

The roof is in need of replacement, so it seems like the logical thing to do, to take down the trees behind the cabin first. It would be bitter if a part of the tree fell down on a new roof, and breaking it would mean a lot of repair work. Either dropping a part of the tree by accident, or a piece of it breaking off during a storm. That happens.

So I figured it would be right to get these mounts up now. I'm also mulling anchoring the mounts to the ground using some anchor and a rope; I think a large tarp could catch wind easily, and over time this would just rip the mounts from the beams they're screwed to, even though there is quite a bit of flex in the metal build fittings adapted to be mounts.

Here are some pictures of the mounts and trees:







[Permalink] [By morphex] [Building a home (Atom feed)] [21 Feb 14:10 Europe/Oslo]

Reworking the balcony

So, I'm staying at my dad's cabin, going to fix it up as I go along.

Some rot in the balcony caught my eye, and eventually I found that parts here and there in the lower section of the balcony was rotten and had cracks.

So I'm going to keep the roof, for now, and remove whats underneath. Today's project was to prepare the roof for a new mainstay at the outer edge.

So I had to remove some bits of plank that were added to support the fixture where the water drain that runs along the roof is attached.



I, rather romantically, started thinking I could drill some holes in the place I wanted to break the planks at the right place, or use an iron tap, but those bits of plank there were solid, and they've been there for many decades - good wood and/or they're in a well ventilated place.



I've made it a point to make the process as safe as possible for me and for anyone else, so nails that are left, are bent and/or hammered into the wood so it doesn't become for example a tetanus trap.



Eventually though, the romantic, soft approach turned into a brutal and time-saving process, where I just hammered on the plank to make it break.



That worked rather well actually, the wood broke at the right place to still keep things in place, and clearing the supporting struts so that a mainstay can be put in place.

Some good wood here, getting chucked:



Making sure removed nails etc. are put in the "jewelry box":



I guess the only disappointing part today was that one of the supporting struts beneath the roof had rot:



But it's not very surprising, it was on the corner with rot that first got me started with this. Is it the weather exposure and/or bad ventilation?

I don't know.

Anyway, final result!



The balcony roof is now ready for a new mainstay a bit below the old one, some concrete can be poured, and the roof will have some new support columns, and the lower part of the balcony can be removed.

[Permalink] [By morphex] [Building a home (Atom feed)] [07 Jun 16:47 Europe/Oslo]