Tag: diy

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CX-10 Microsoldering Job

I crashed my “racing” CX-10 and when I picked it up, it was dead. No spinning props, no lights, nothing. I checked the power from the battery to the board with a multitester and it’s fine. With a heavy heart, I decided to disassemble it for parts. I removed the props and was about to unsolder the motors and the battery when I noticed that the board seems to be missing a small part (see pic, not mine). I went back to the crash site (aka kitchen floor) and sure enough there was a tiny component lying there. It’s surface-mounted but since I didn’t have a heat gun or soldering paste or even flux, I had to make do with my soldering iron and soldering wire. I put tiny amounts of solder onto the tip and gradually pre-tinned the pads and the feet. Then I positioned the component using tweezers and pressed the tip in to melt the solder. It was the tiniest soldering I’ve ever tried and it wasn’t pretty. But once I was finally done, my CX-10 was alive once more!

UPDATE 4/4/2017: And it broke again. This time pulling a pad off. It’s the end for this board :(

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Medicine Cabinet Build

Michelle and I saw this nice-looking medicine cabinet so we had a recess built into the bathroom. Unfortunately, it turned out to be an quite expensive cabinet so I decided to build one instead.

  1. Cutting I started with a 3/4″ plank which i sawed and sanded to size.
  2. Assembly I then glued and nailed the pieces together. I used nails because the plank was a bit warped so I had to force the pieces into position. I added a 1/4″ plywood as backing. Also to further help force the pieces into position.
  3. Filling I filled the seams, pits, and imperfections with 2-part polyester bodyfiller. This stuff is awesome! It’s firm and easy to work with and dries fast and hard.
  4. Sanding I then sanded everything with 240-grit sandpaper. I test-mounted the cabinet into the recess. It fit more or less.
  5. Priming I then primed the wood with Boysen Flat Wall Enamel. I searched high and low for something that actually says “primer” but I couldn’t find any. So I got the flat wall enamel. Luckily, it turned out to be what Boysen recommends for use as primer for quick dry enamel. I applied 3 coats of primer, sanding with 240-grit sandpaper between coats. I press-fitted the cabinet into the recess.
  6. Grouting When I was happy with the fit, I filled the seams between the tiles and the cabinet with pre-mixed grout.
  7. Painting I then painted the cabinet with 2 coats of Davies Gloss-It quick dry enamel, wet sanding with 600 grit sandpaper between coats. But I didn’t like the off-white shade of Davies so for the top/final coat, I used Boysen Quick Dry Enamel.

Next up, the mirrored door.

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DIY Day: Assembling A Locker

Today, we got a small locker for the small room at home. It came disassembled and as usual, I was excited about assembling it. As soon as we got home, I got going on assembly right away. And then ran smack into the poorly-made one-page assembly instructions. For many long minutes I puzzled it out but eventually I figured things out one after the other and got into the physical aspect of the assembly. A bit more physical than I was planning since I couldn’t find my power screwdriver. But pretty soon I completed the assembly and stood sweaty and tired admiring the result of all my hard work. Sometimes simple things just make your day.

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Home DIY Day 3

Michelle had an appointment with the dermatologist this afternoon so instead of walking around the mall, Jeanne and I went to James’ place. It’s looking more and more an inhabited space but there still are some things to be done. One of these is the mounting of a medicine cabinet. It was relatively easy after our previous experience installing a shower caddy. We positioned the medicine cabinet, marked the mounting holes and went drilling. It was almost perfect except for a misaligned mounting hole. Still, it didn’t look too shabby mounted.