You are either bored or....

You are either bored or.... (Full Version)

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jlf1961 -> You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 8:23:53 AM)
Okay, as many of you know, my sister and I share a house. This comes with its trials, tribulations and the common WTF moments. Well, yesterday, my sister's beloved (I personally think it was an unnatural love affair) old Kirby bit the dust. The problem was easily diagnosed as "Sis, the vacuum cleaner is smoking, and I smell wires burning." Well, it went to the dumpster amid much "How the hell are we going to keep the dog hair in check?" to which I replied, "Hey, I lost my skeeter sucker." You see, while sis used it for cleaning, I would put the hose on it and suck mosquitoes out of the air (along with the occasional wasp and crawling spiders.) Well, late last night a friend of ours who we have helped through some trying times showed up with a brand new Kirby with all the attachments (I half expected to find sex toys in the damn box) which he called a 'full boat" (the damn thing is a vacuum cleaner and as such is not water proof nor will it float.) Well, this morning, sis decided to put the new appliance to use, and the first gadget she used was the 'inflator' attachment. This was prompted by my complaint that I was out of canned air to blow the dog hair and dust out of my desktop. Well, after consulting the book (why do they include manuals with vacuums anyway?) she hooked everything up and turned the machine on. Now, before I proceed, I have to ask, has anyone of you readers EVER been hit by a vacuum cleaner attachment propelled through the air by the sheer force of the vacuum? I was, at a range of 20 feet, while heading for the kitchen to refill my coffee cup. It seems that you have to open a little vent on top of the 'inflater/deflater' attachment to keep the very small nozzle from leaving said appliance with a considerable amount of force. Well, to continue, she proceeded to blow out my desk top, and I am forced to admit, that it proved a hell of a lot better than the canned air had in the past (not to mention that there was no chance of frostbite as the attachment did not get cold like the can of air.) Well, after she was done, I just had to find out what the range was on this high powered, albeit not so portable, projectile launching system (not to mention finding out just what it would actually launch) and have made the following discoveries. The nozzle that fits on the end of the tube will fly a good thirty feet, or from my door well into the kitchen. Velcro ball darts will fit nicely into the tube and fly almost halfway through the house (not to mention damn near knocking over a coffee cup, vase, and a really ugly framed picture of yours truly.) Now, having an old nerf gun in the house has given me some ideas as to how to proceed with future experiments. The only problem is my sister's same old attitude of "Its not a toy!"

needlesandpins -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 8:35:54 AM)
[:D] My son would be doing exactly the same thing with it. In fact I'd probably be luck to get it back. Needles

ShaharThorne -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 8:42:31 AM)
[sm=biggrin.gif]

jlf1961 -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 8:42:39 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: needlesandpins [:D] My son would be doing exactly the same thing with it. In fact I'd probably be luck to get it back. Needles Come to think of it, I do have an old air driven reciprocating motor (the kind that drives an arm back and forth) which brings up a whole new bunch of ideas for Kirby attachments that would cater to the adult kinkster consumer.....

freedomdwarf1 -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 9:39:47 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: jlf1961 quote: ORIGINAL: needlesandpins [:D] My son would be doing exactly the same thing with it. In fact I'd probably be luck to get it back. Needles Come to think of it, I do have an old air driven reciprocating motor (the kind that drives an arm back and forth) which brings up a whole new bunch of ideas for Kirby attachments that would cater to the adult kinkster consumer..... I used to have a Kirby - an ancient Heritage II model. I can assure you it did a lot more than just vacuum the carpets!! Tell your sis it's a truly wonderful toy. Enjoy it!

DesFIP -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 11:27:33 AM)
Take over the vacuuming and it's yours to play with.

jlf1961 -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 12:20:21 PM)
Well, with a bit of tinkering, I have actually adapted a nerf gun to accept the blower tube.... Nerf darts DO leave bruises. Now, if I could just get greedy down here........

WhoreMods -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 12:27:08 PM)
Good luck, and keep us posted. (Would doing the "Pics or it didn't happen" thing here seem sceptical? Pics will be good. The way you're talking, pics might be awesome, never mind merely good...)

needlesandpins -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 12:30:50 PM)
And the tangent threads continue lol Needles

Gauge -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 12:44:54 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: jlf1961 Well, to continue, she proceeded to blow out my desk top, and I am forced to admit, that it proved a hell of a lot better than the canned air had in the past (not to mention that there was no chance of frostbite as the attachment did not get cold like the can of air.) Be extremely careful about getting the vacuum cleaner close to your desktop. Vacuum cleaners generate a lot of static and could potentially fry your PC. I learned this the hard way many, many moons ago.

WhoreMods -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 12:57:05 PM)
Back when if you had a PC on your desk, you'd probably bought it from Sinclair or Commodore? (Seriously: I thought they had a lot better shielding against static these days?)

Gauge -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 1:02:15 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: WhoreMods Back when if you had a PC on your desk, you'd probably bought it from Sinclair or Commodore? (Seriously: I thought they had a lot better shielding against static these days?) I still have a PC on my desk, I built it because I am a gamer and laptop gaming such as it is, sucks. Nope, nothing has changed as far as the sensitivity of computer components to static. You still have to ground yourself when putting your hands in one. It only takes a little bit of static to fry a CPU... static that you won't even feel happen. The static from a vacuum is more than enough to damage a machine.

WhoreMods -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 1:30:03 PM)
My bad. I thought the boxes had better shielding now than they did thirty years ago. (That's depressing.)

Gauge -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 1:36:20 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: WhoreMods My bad. I thought the boxes had better shielding now than they did thirty years ago. (That's depressing.) The case could shield the inside components until the cows come home, the very nature of micro-electronics makes them very delicate to handle. I usually clean my case once every other month, I never put my hands inside, I just handle the case and use the canned air. For any work, moving wires, or if I must change a component, I have a wrist strap that I use. As a last resort, without a wrist strap, I keep my forearm against the case, not the most reliable ground, but it does work.

jlf1961 -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 1:47:56 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Gauge quote: ORIGINAL: jlf1961 Well, to continue, she proceeded to blow out my desk top, and I am forced to admit, that it proved a hell of a lot better than the canned air had in the past (not to mention that there was no chance of frostbite as the attachment did not get cold like the can of air.) Be extremely careful about getting the vacuum cleaner close to your desktop. Vacuum cleaners generate a lot of static and could potentially fry your PC. I learned this the hard way many, many moons ago. Leave the power unit on the ground, and use the hose. Of course, even using canned air, I shut the unit down completely. And then there is the lessons learned over the years playing with electronics of all kinds, from computers and short wave radios, to various controllers of all types, back to the days when you could look at a IC chip crosseyed and zot the damn thing. 1) Every desk and work bench I have, store bought or hand built has a grounding bar across the back of it which is connected to a ground line that goes to a grounding rod outside the house (okay this means drilling a hole through the outside wall, running a pass through, then sealing the hell out of it with silicone caulk.) 2) Every radio case/chassis and computer case is grounded internally as well as a line running to the grounding bar.

freedomdwarf1 -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 2:26:50 PM)
That sounds like a bit of overkill Jeff. The electrics here are all 3-pin. One live, one common/neutral, and one ground. The ground wires are in all the house wiring - it's required by law and has been for eons. The ground wire goes straight from the main fuse box to an earthing rod buried in the ground several feet deep. Just about every house built here is like that because it's a legal requirement (building regulations). Even all our metal water pipes are grounded for safety. It's been that way here since long before I was born. So everything you plug in with 3 pins is automatically grounded via the framework/chassis and then to the ground wire. Is it normal to have house wiring that isn't automatically grounded in the US as a matter of course?? ETA: When I work on any machine, I just need to earth myself by touching the chassis when it's plugged in but switched off. That's just as good as holding an earthing rod at the same time.

DesFIP -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 2:53:25 PM)
There are a lot of old houses where no one's brought the wiring up to code. If they aren't sold, they don't need updating. The Man has a client who owns two homes dating from 1760's and one from 1880's. Bought 50 plus years ago. Any time work needs to be done, the electrician shuts down power for the day while he tries to figure out where wires are going. The attic had the old plug and posts still going through it when he was called in a couple of years ago.

Gauge -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 2:53:33 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: freedomdwarf1 Is it normal to have house wiring that isn't automatically grounded in the US as a matter of course?? In much older homes it is not unusual to see. In newer homes circa 1960's on up, it became standard to include grounds. quote: ETA: When I work on any machine, I just need to earth myself by touching the chassis when it's plugged in but switched off. That's just as good as holding an earthing rod at the same time. Actually, that is risky if you have it plugged in unless you switch the power supply off, because otherwise the components have power to them. While you may be grounded, fiddling with the components is not a good idea. They do make a single grounding plug that is suitable to plug into the wall socket without allowing power to get to the machine.

freedomdwarf1 -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 3:05:05 PM)
I'm not sure how the machines are setup over there but every machine I've had here (many hundreds), there is no power to the mobo even when plugged in but switched off. Unless I short the power connector on the board (or hit the power button), there isn't any power - and I've tested that on some boards that have passed thru my hands. Those with an LED power indicator on the board (like mine) doesn't light up and there's no power to the 5V or 12V rails either - I've checked, the PSU doesn't give any output power until triggered. As for older houses and buildings, even ancient ones from the Edwardian or Victorian era were forced to be upgraded when the new building regulations came in; they weren't given any choice about it. If it had electricity, even from an off-grid source, it had to be upgraded.

DesFIP -> RE: You are either bored or.... (8/27/2016 3:22:59 PM)
In the urban areas, things have had to be brought up to code. But small, rural areas don't get inspected unless they are sold.

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