T&L Publications

In the very early days of Ebay I found a listing that made me laugh out loud for a couple of months. In fact, I printed the item description and made a few dozen copies. It said, "Bag-O-Crap'n Junk." The starting bid was $25.00! Don't you worry ladies and gentlemen, I'll be auctioning off ...

Wow guys! If my head were spinning any faster it would rocket straight off my shoulders and drill a hole in the ceiling! I asked several people in my neighborhood about Comcast broadband. I drove about 20 minutes to one of Comcast's main signal distribution centers in this area. The place is bristli...

About a year ago I moved into a new home. Comcast is the only cable provider. DBS (those little microwave dishes) is another option, but you really don't save any money with a DBS system. Many of my neighbors dumped Comcast when DBS providers promised a thirty or fourty percent reduction in their mo...

I appreciate all your replies. Thanks guys! I didn't know that Blackstone Sr. did the same floating bulb gag. I remember a late night radio program many years ago where Blackstone Jr. talked about the floating bulb. He said that it always made him nervous if the bulb was too close to the audience be...

Penn & Teller (tall guy with long hair who talks and short guy or doesn't) have said many times that they thought magic acts were incredibly boring. They have become rich and famous because a lot of people think their magic shows are not boring. I detest all magic acts, including Penn & Tell...

Some of you might remember my posting about those laptop hinges that created more static than a van de graph generator! I tried all sorts of lubes and cleaners. The static would usually go away for a few days, only to return with a vengeance. About ten days ago the cause of all that static revealed ...

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I've tried to design a lightweight enclosure with some kind of ducting or pipe that would allow the motor to "breath" normally. One idea I had was to use one of those fiberglass dog houses that are insulated with polyisocyanurate. You've probably seem ...

When I'm sick I usually don't sleep much so I watch a lot of garbage TV. If you're familiar with the first "X Men" movie you might remember the last few minutes when Patrick Stuart is visting Magneto in his plastic prison. One of them says, "why do you ask questions you already know t...

Even though I knew the hinges were the cause of all the noise I waited several weeks before trying the lube. Why? Have you ever had a set of hinges of any kind (not just laptops) that were too stiff? You add a few drops of lube and the hinges instantly become so loose they are effectively useless. F...

One of my two laptops started having speaker trouble. It effected both the internal and external speakers. The static and popping were terrible. When I moved the display on it's hinges the static got much worse. I removed the end caps that protect the hinges. The hinges look like thin sheets of meta...

Your replies are all super fine! Thank you
Chris, Michael, jwax, Jolly Roger, and Dean.
I'm keeping a file with all your valuable info.


Thanks again!

I just finished rebuilding a somewhat unconventional water filtration unit in my home. I designed the system myself and its worked perfectly for ten years. I was just about to make the final connections this evening when I ran into trouble. The original tubing that I used ten years ago was very flex...

If I remember correctly, the entire Milwaukee drill kit with two battery packs cost me around $225.00. Home centers like Home Depost want $80.00 for one battery pack! They're suppose to last three or four years but they don't. I should have guessed that the solder tabs would be spot welded. There is...

I was just looking at a listing on ebay by a company called Voltman Batteries. They rebuild power tool battery packs. I've been soldering, welding, and brazing big and little things for decades. Naturally, my first thoughts were, "if they can do it, I can do it too!" I opened a dead Milwau...

Thanks for taking the time to reply, Mike, Dale Y, and L Daniel Rosa. Hey Mike, you almost make me cry. You're a charter member at this forum and you didn't know how to take a current measurement with a DVM? Please tell me it ain't so, Mike! I learned basic electronics when everything was analog. I'...