Tag: home improvement

  • Gate Automation

    Gate Automation

    Our gate is the most important motor in our home. It’s critical for security, and if it’s open, the dog escapes. As all our kids cars go in and out, it’s always the gate opening and closing. It matters. The problem is that we have to open it and we don’t always have our phones…

  • Kerf Mounted Corner Brackets

    Kerf Mount Corner Brackets are great. But it takes some thinking if you are working with larger lumber. I recently purchased these and these from amazon. The corner bracket looks like this: The trick is figuring out where to cut the leg at 45 degrees and the kerfs, especially if the leg isn’t square. I…

  • Lauren’s Bed

    Overall Design Lauren was disappointed when we had to take 30" away from her already small room to build a bench for a duct after adding a furnace to the third floor. Lauren did an initial sketch of what she wanted to build. Her overall goal was to maximize the space available in a smaller…

  • Wiring for 3HP 220V (for Laguna Tools 18|Bx)

    I recently purchased a Laguna Tools 18|Bx 3HP 220V 18″ Bandsaw, specifically a MBAND18BX2203, and needed to wire a 220 Volt outlet. I’ve done a fair bit of electrical work (both low and high voltage), but I had a couple questions. Just for the record, I enjoyed this video to make sure everything was setup…

  • Three Way Troubleshooting

    Tonight, I was rewiring switches to a more modern set of switches. These days I don’t have time to learn by experience, I have to think my way through this. Without experience, I have to go back to first principles. Funny enough, understanding a four way switch is very similar to understanding digital logic and…

  • July 4th Home Project: Thermostat Bracket

    This post is about how to use design tools to save time and build nice stuff at home using computer controlled machines (CNC). In addition to describing my design process, I’ve also included the helpful references I found along the way. Our old thermostat was too small for our wall. I could have replaced the…