Random photos, comics, etc.

[Leo Enticknap]

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So "possible light rain" risks causing a flash flood (there had been no rain at all in the area for weeks before this "possible light")? I knew that we'd underinvested in infrastructure over the last decade or so, but had no ideas that things were that bad!

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Interesting that the California DMV is now texting its enforcement notices from a cellphone number in The Philippines! That, combined with the fact that I haven't driven on a toll road in California since December 23 last year (my wife and I share a Fastrak transponder: shortly after that journey it went into her car, and hasn't returned to mine since), means that the scammers will really have to up their game if they hope to make any money out of me.

[James Biggins]

"Invalid file specified"

[Jim Cassedy]

Q: What do a cell phone and a dog have in common?
A: "Collar ID"

[Jim Cassedy]

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I always wondered what this closet in our server room was for. . .

[Randy Stankey]

Do you have an old toaster oven that you could keep in the basement or garage for use in such projects?

[Leo Enticknap]

...baking bi-carb into carbonate will result in a product that is as good as or better than bespoke sodium carbonate that you would buy from a chemical supplier.

I fear that if I tried that in our kitchen, my wife would suspect me of starting up a meth lab. There again, she might not object too much, as I'd likely make more money doing that than fixing projectors...

[Randy Stankey]

It depends on how badly the movie stinks.

[Harold Hallikainen]

Does baking soda in the projector remove odors like it does in a refrigerator?

[Randy Stankey]

Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) is one of the few pure chemicals that you can buy in a grocery store. The stuff has to be USP/Food grade in order to cook with. USP is a higher (more pure) grade than Lab Grade but lower than Technical Grade which is the highest grade that is commonly available. USP Grade is somewhere between the two. If you use proper technique to avoid contamination while you are working with it, baking bi-carb into carbonate will result in a product that is as good as or better than bespoke sodium carbonate that you would buy from a chemical supplier. It's a damn-sight cheaper and easier to get, too!

Y'know... Back in the old days, I might have recommended putting a dish of baking soda inside your projector's lamphouse, near the carbon arc, and just leave it there while the movies run. Eventually, over time, it will turn into sodium carbonate that you could use to clean metal parts. Even if it didn't completely convert from bi-carb to carbonate it would still be good enough to clean parts with.

[Leo Enticknap]

Sodium carbonate (without the bi-) was not available at any supermarkets or hardware stores in these parts the last time I looked for it, but Barco tech support told me that sodium bicarbonate (sold as baking soda in supermarkets) would work just as well. It seems to: after about an hour of immersing a Barco S2 (S4 filters take a lot longer, due to their thickness) air filter that has enough crud on it, and/or moist enough crud, to defeat the DataVac, it has all either dissolved or washes away under running water, without any problem. I am currently just over half way through a 32lb bag of it, but see that Amazon does now have sodium carbonate without the bi-, and so will likely go fully official once I've finished that bag.

[Randy Stankey]

Prior to my current job, I was a lab tech in a plating shop, taking samples, performing titrations and adding chemicals to the plating baths all day.

Sodium carbonate and sodium hydroxide were often used to clean and degrease parts prior to plating.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Just a fun fact: You can make sodium carbonate from sodium bicarbonate by heating. Put some baking soda in a shallow, glass container and heat it in the oven at 100º C for about an hour. The stuff will bubble and release carbon dioxide plus water vapor as it decomposes. When it's done, you'll be left with sodium carbonate.

You can also find sodium carbonate in the grocery store. It is often sold as coffee pot cleaner. If you decide to try it, be sure to read the ingredients on the label. Sometimes, companies put in other stuff.

Brad needs to change your Forum name to Mr Wizard...

[Randy Stankey]

Just a fun fact: You can make sodium carbonate from sodium bicarbonate by heating. Put some baking soda in a shallow, glass container and heat it in the oven at 100º C for about an hour. The stuff will bubble and release carbon dioxide plus water vapor as it decomposes. When it's done, you'll be left with sodium carbonate.

You can also find sodium carbonate in the grocery store. It is often sold as coffee pot cleaner. If you decide to try it, be sure to read the ingredients on the label. Sometimes, companies put in other stuff.

[Leo Enticknap]

You probably could have put them through a dishwasher, using regular dishwasher detergent. Fail that, lye and hot water would be the next thing to try.

It boils down to what is possible within the constraints of a service call, and what isn't. I have what I call my "Barco wet kit." This is a bucket containing the bits and pieces needed for a coolant flush described here, plus a large kitty litter tray (don't worry: not one that was ever used for its intended purpose!) and a jar of sodium bicarbonate / baking soda for washing Series 2/3 and 4 air filters. On this particular day, my call instructions were to replace a failed Enigma board at a site that is a 180-mile drive away, not one of our service contact sites, and that we do not do regular one-time calls to. In fact, this was the first and so far only time I've been there. So the wet kit did not go in the trunk of the car that morning.

When I got there, I found that the card cage air filter was the worst I'd ever encountered, and by a big margin. I had to do something to it, or else the replacement Enigma would likely have overheated and died again. A large sink and some dish soap was the best thing I and the site manager could come up with, within the constraints of the budgeted time on site and what was available.

Be careful! If any parts of the filters are made from aluminum, you don't want to use anything that is strongly alkaline.

I guess they must be steel mesh, then, because this is how Barco tells you to clean them:

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[Randy Stankey]

I...I discovered that the layer of goo on the outward facing side was so bad that even after two hours of full immersion in a sink of warm water and dish soap. ...

You probably could have put them through a dishwasher, using regular dishwasher detergent. Fail that, lye and hot water would be the next thing to try.

Be careful! If any parts of the filters are made from aluminum, you don't want to use anything that is strongly alkaline. Sodium hydroxide will corrode anything made from aluminum, quite quickly.