T&L Publications

Many years ago Toro made a battery powered string trimmer (you know, weedwacker). It cost $50.00. I purchased two. The Toro engineers decided to completely ignore the appearance of this device. It was really ugly! The sealed lead-acid battery was large, which made the trimmer top heavy. I loved thes...

You're absolutely correct, Steve G. All of these small battery powered saws stall out if you push them too hard. Startup or inrush current are big problems. Batteries are very forgiving because they're little chemical factories. As long as they don't run too hot, batteries quickly recover from high ...

It seems like I've always had a shop for wood, plastic, metal, etc. If you've been a lifelong tinkerer and builder I'm sure you have tools that failed for some reason. Total junk gets tossed but some tools are just stored away for years. You think, "someday I'll get that thing working again.&qu...

Since there is nothing we can do about it, I was afraid to mention digital telephony as a possible cause. Before the complete change over from analog to digital broadcasting, my TV signal from Comcast was very good. Now that everything is digital there is frequent (brief) signal loss that effects th...

Virgin Mobile is my provider. They use Sprint's network. Signal strength is always strong (4 or 5 bars). I can call anywhere and person I'm speaking to hears every word I say. On my end there is a problem. The signal briefly cuts out about 50% of the time. I miss spoken words, so I'm constantly aski...

(I deleted the first two paragraphs, describing the device these levers are attached to. It really doesn't matter, but I'll include the info if anyone is interested.) Using 25 mm thick aluminum, I've machined a large bracket that clamps to a big lever. The darn thing fits like a second skin. Several...

OK Janitor Tzap. I should have checked on the availability of parts, before posting about this AIO. If you mention a malfunctioning printer to almost anyone, they'll tell you buy a new model. The exception are expensive laser office printers, that are usually serviced by a contractor. Reseting the p...

Several years ago my business partners and I took that big "off-ramp" and abandoned Windows. Linux distros saved us a small fortune. Sometimes I think our business would have gone under in 2008 when the economy went bust, if we had continued using Windows. In my home office I've got a high...

I think we all used boolean logic or search operators in the early days of the web. As amazing as Google has become, it was fairly primitive when it first got started. Now, I've got a problem with no solution. I should post on the eBay forums, but all they do is get angry, curse a lot, and throw roc...

Folks have always liked the stuff I've designed and built. Except for my business partners, no one knows how slow I work! I simply don't have the time to build a device that will work reliably. We all know what that means. You build something that works fine 100 times. Attempt number 101 is a mess. ...

Please see the attached jpeg. A relative wants to visit. You want them to visit. They use a hospital style motorized bed at home. I thought it would be relatively easy to find a motor powered version of this Drive Medical backrest. A simple wired up and down controller could be used to raise or lowe...

Yes haklesup, I did think about those asian ebay sellers. I purchased a computer component from one of those guys, because the price was low. When I realized it was being shipped from Hong Kong I got scared and tried to cancel the sale. If I remember correctly, it was in my mailbox four days after m...

OK guys, remember all those factory made cables with ¼" plugs and sockets? It was easy to cut them open and change the wiring to suit whatever you wanted. Then came the "mini" versions. Just when you thought it couldn't get any smaller, we got micro connectors for handheld devices lik...

Search for "DIY cell phone antenna." You can find ideas that use coffee cans, paper clips, nails, screws, the kitchen sink, etc! There are also companies that sell amplifiers and antennas that mount inside or outside your car. Wilson manufactures a lot expensive equipment for improving cel...

The transmitter is perfect. That 56db teddy bear receiver is fine for a small child
who wanders away from a parent. My elderly uncle is not going to walk around
with a plastic teddy bear. All they need is a peaceful beep-beep-beep.