T&L Publications

Years ago when we all transitioned to broadband I decided to keep my dial-up modem as a backup. Cost almost nothing. I'm glad I did, because broadband has never been 100% reliable in my community. I have several brand new Jaton WinComm V.92 modem cards. The chipset is Intel/Ambient MD5628 D-L-C. I j...

I googled "membrane switch" and there are a million images. Anything soft and mushy reminds me of a membrane, but I guess the strict technical definition does not include those silicone keys on a TV remote. Normally, I would never consider repairing a TV remote. The three units I've got ar...

My favorite bench style DMM was manufactured by B&K Precision. This instrument had every feature I wanted and when all the switches began to fail it was depressing. I asked a service company to estimate the cost of repair. It was more than I had paid for the thing, so I did the job myself. It wa...

It's hard to remember, but there were X10 modules that did not have a rotary code switch. My unit is very simple! I think they were made exclusively for Radio Shack. There were three codes. A, B, and C. Because the LED on the remote is lighting up, I'm going to assume there is nothing wrong with the...

Many years ago I built two complex brackets to support a simple X10 remote and a control module. The darn thing has been in my garage for more years than I can remember. The remote uses an A23 12 volt battery that also seems to last forever. The remote or control module is having a problem. It may n...

I wanted someone besides me to use the word "abrasion." I've got the usual assortment of Dremel accessories. I also have a more costly flexible shaft rotary power tool made by Foredom. Foredom power tools are same quality used by dentists. The edges of any drilled hole can be very sharp. E...

My business has nothing to do with the manufacture of Kevlar. For other reasons, my partners and I visited a Kevlar factory a few years ago. They gave us spools of Kevlar thread as samples. I decided to test the strength of this thread, so I performed some tests. Six cinder blocks were lifted 4 ft. ...

Yes, I'm very familiar with all the passive and active cooling components used in computers. My head hurts when I think too much about this, but I'll briefly explain why this wedge shaped gap exists. About six years ago I built a "hybrid" computer. It's a cross between a desktop and server...

I've got to force some air into a wedge shaped gap. There is one hot spot. It can't be more than two (maybe three) square inches. A stream of air from a four inch desk fan completely swamps the problem, even though 95% of the air flow from a round desk fan does not enter the gap. As you can see in t...

I managed to pry the case apart using a chisel (flat) X-Acto blade. You can see the hub case and board in the attached images. There are four articulated ports (0º - to - 90º) and six soldered to the board. The switch is a simple SPST rocker. Both switch terminals had sheared away from the board! I ...

My experience buying stuff through eBay has been 99% positive. PayPal was a seperate company that became the "bank" for eBay. eBay owned PayPal for several years. A few months ago PayPal became an independent company again. I like PayPal! The few times I had serious problems with eBay they...

I was searching eBay for a small USB hub that I could use with a laptop on business trips. I found several round 8-port hubs like the attached image. I liked the vertical ports a lot. There was one seller from the USA. All the others were from China. The guy from California sent me a different hub! ...

Yes! I love that name. I'm the Evil Spammer! This problem reminds me of something else that can get you banned from some forums instantly. I've been creating scripts for decades. These scripts automate incredibly complex and tedious processes. The scripts are used in my home office and a small LAN (...

When you have one question about a particular subject your only option is to join a forum. I've joined more forums than I can remember, just to ask a single question. My question was about a "Vos Sports" jacket. The company selling them wasn't helpful, so I joined a men's apparel forum. I ...

Does this sound familiar? You started buying components many years ago. Most of what you purchased was not for a specific project. If you were anything like me, you devoured catalogs and data books like some people read the bible! I have racks with hundreds of little drawers. Each drawer carefully l...