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http://www.harborfreight.com/100-piece-security-bit-set-91310.html

"BTW, for those that think that trucks/hummer/semis do not make sense, well, let me point out that many trucks are used for job sites."

I know a dozen people with trucks and SUVs, none of them work on a "job site". Every one of them have a desk job.

I would like to know where you get your "many trucks are used for job sites" information. I would say the opposite is more likely, that most trucks are never used on a job site.

A car with a trailer hitch makes more sense than buying a truck 99% of the time. Drive your car, get good gas mileage 364 days a year. Moving a fridge and couch once a year? Pay $20 rent a trailer from U-Haul for the day. Need the trailer for several days? Just buy an 8 foot trailer for $300

I don't want to tinker, but if I fix something simple like an air filter, I want to be able to reset the console warning lights.

If you just want to be able to read diagnostic codes and reset the warning light(s), at most you need a standalone OBDII device, not a laptop, special hardware and software. Harbor Freight has them for US$50 right now, and I got one on sale there for about $30.

The only reason I know of to go the laptop route is to get detailed engine data like an emissions-testing station or performance tuning shop would want.

It's all in where you look: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=39642

For the purposes expressed in the comic, the above wrench should be more than adequate. Granted it might not hold up long, but it'll get the job done. YMMV

I haven't looked at the reliability of Insteon in my current setup as a result of my X-10 install here. I have a lot of devices that really affect the signal-to-noise either by adding noise to the powerline or by sucking the signal out of it... my 2 remaining X-10 devices are on a dedicated circuit with a noise filter at the end of it, so they work fine. Having to identify and isolate things that are generating noise on the power line is a PITA and not what I consider fun, so I vowed to migrate away from it.

I know there are many people that are happy with their powerline setup, but I didn't want to spend money to find that I wind up with the same problems. I've heard that newer powerline protocols actually have the capability to analyze the operating environment but I have no experience with that. Additionally, the ability of Z-wave to create and route through a mesh network really sold it for me... If you're trying to reach from A to C and B isn't responding, it'll use A to D to C instead. It's also quite fast - I noticed a couple second delays via X-10 from command to execution that just aren't there via Z-wave.

Regarding occupancy, I have a couple logic gates that make the house "occupied" or not. An active RFID transmitter in the cars is one, motion sensors and pressure pads (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=96481 - very DIY but works great to detect a sleeper!) are another, and a really ingenious idea I found at http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11317 allows me to track individual keychains.

Harbor Freight is awesome for tools like that. When you just need something big and heavy and you don't care about it breaking, you can get them for half the price or less ;)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91310

Exactly Home Power had an article on how to do exactly what this guy did over 4 years ago.

Some random guy does it in a garage and blogs about it and all of a sudden it's news.

Guess what, the best deal I found is actually Harbor Freight. They have Solar array kits for very low price, lower than me buying reject cells and building a panel. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90599 45W for $199US is cheap. I have 3 of those kits on my garage that supplies all my lighting and power needs out there including the garage door opener. (No I am not using their inverter/charger I'm using a real one)

yes that includes me counting my labor as free.

I have this set that seems a little better suited to working on laptops. It comes with a wider variety of the smaller screw sizes you see in such applications, including the tiny Torx bits and the triwing bit.

Note, too, that the bits in this set are smaller than the standard 1/4" hex shank - these are 5/32" - so they're more likely to fit in the smaller spaces you get in laptops.

And, replying to what another poster has said, if the hardness of the steel is a problem for you in a tiny application like this, you're probably torquing the screws a bit too hard.

or geek up and get the screw driver kit you should already have http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91310

You can buy an OBDII scanner from Harbor Freight for $40.
If you're handy you can build your own that interfaces to a laptop and gives you full access to the internals, allowing you to make GTK-based virtual instrument panels.

And while I generally agree that American cars are hard to work on, so are many Japanese cars. They're better-engineered, true. You don't have to take off a wheel to change the oil (like on my mom's Saturn) or change a battery (like on my friend's Dodge) but on my Subaru I have to remove the windshield wiper fluid reservoir to change the spark plug.

Harbor Freight sells OBD-II readers for $40 and have several other more expensive models as well. They read and clear diag messages.
You can build your own based on a pic microcontroller; this will interface to a laptop and give you real-time access to all the OBD-II information. There are opensource software packages for Windows and Linux that allow you to build virtual instrumentation if you want to see what your oil pressure or water temperature are, rather than just relying on the dashboard disaster lights, or see what your oxygen sensor or mass air flow sensor are reading, if you're really curious.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95573

Try this... http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90599

Oh, and if you've got a Harbor Freight near you, pick up one of their digital multimeters. Check their flier because they perpetually have one on sale for 3 or 4 bucks. (Tip: test the multimeter before you leave the parking lot to avoid a trip back to exchange it.)

Oh, and if you've got a Harbor Freight near you, pick up one of their digital multimeters. Check their flier because they perpetually have one on sale for 3 or 4 bucks. (Tip: test the multimeter before you leave the parking lot to avoid a trip back to exchange it.)

You say in one breath you want to do the hobbiest Solar/wind power generation and in the next breath you jump into Intertie syncing inverters.

That's like a guy wanting to go fishing part time going out and buying the Queen Mary.

If you want to "hobby" or get into solar at home then start here.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90599

This kit coupled with the right battery is an AWESOME start. I added power to my Shed with it for lighting and it works fantastic. so well I bought 2 more for the garage and it give me ALL the light I need in both. That is a great way to get started in it. not by going to the top of the line full boat alternative power I'm gonna intertie to the main power system stage.

I used to be very solar at my last home. I had a huge Dome that had over 6500 watts of solar and I inter-tied to eliminate the battery cost and maintenance, I hated dealing with the batteries weekly. Honestly the inter-tie lost me money in the power I generated because the locality refused to install a reversible meter. you do not NEED to do it that way, you can get an inverter and tie in specific circuits to their own system.

Well, a large chain store I enjoy going to is harbor fright tools. Large selection with very reasonable prices and decent quality for the price. I mean, alot of tools I buy are only used once or twice (Security torx bits?).

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/retail_stores.taf

Why bother? Harbor Freight says you will get
11.6% average highway fuel savings (whatever that is) with their
fuel line gadget. Maybe you could put on 4 and get 46.4%
average highway fuel savings. Put on 8 and you'd practically
be driving free.

See:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem. taf?Itemnumber=36098

quote:
Save Fuel and Money. Simply strap to your fuel line to save gas and increase engine efficiency. FuelMaster's magnetic field breaks up clusters of hydrocarbon for more complete burning. Prevents build-up of dirt in engine injectors. Gives you 11.6% average highway fuel savings as tested by an EPA accepted laboratory. Use it on four cylinder cars and trucks.

You know that you can get pipe bending tools for under $5, right? Most hardware stores have both the springs that go around the outside of tubing to be bent, and the lever-based things - and both methods are easier to use + quicker + just about as cheap.

ok: $1.99 (rent at Auto Zone for $0)
even useful: $3.99
springie: $4.95

I use the harbor freight one all the time on steel, aluminum, and copper. It does a much prettier job than bending by hand. The kind with a roller works well, too, but I still prefer the Harbor freight unit's angle gauge for repeatability.

I think something like this would do the trick: 2.5hp Chipper Shredder.

I'll do you one better... How about new hardware, that can plug into any TV, and costs $30?

It's pretty nice. It comes with a very long cord, and you can make it longer just by connecting it to another long telephone cord, and connector (no 3m USB cable length limit).

If you re-read my comment, I was requesting a non-cellular walkie-talkie. Take this thing and add support for the device to communicate over a WiFi network. No cellular contract needed or even relevant.

Granted, the ones owned by the public here are mostly semi-auto versions (those few that are full-auto are owned by Class-3 weapons permit holders or, more commonly, criminals - but they're still rare). But anyone with a $1200 milling machine can fix that if it came down to it.

IIRC, the Belgian FN-FAL was the standard-issue assault rifle of the IDF and the SAS up until the mid-1970's. Everybody knows what the AK-47 and AR-15 are.

As was demonstrated with catastrophic effect in Oklahoma City, any yokel with some fertilizer, diesel fuel, and a rented truck can build a very effective "improvised explosive device."

Then there's the question of the US military itself, on which more money is spent than the next 27 highest funded military forces on planet Earth combined. In a nutshell, any nation(s) attempting to conquer the US by force would be committing seppuku.

OBL's approach, however, might conceivably work if Bush continues his trend of sending $500 billion (number pulled from orifice, probably much higher in reality) in military hardware and hundreds of thousands of troops to counter a few thousand guys in the desert with AK-47's and RPG's.

Nearly 2 years ago I said that invading Iraq, while probably a good thing in principle (removing evil dictator and all that) would have very little positive effect for the US and would probably have severe negative consequences - and now it looks like I'm right. It's not the removal of Saddam that was wrong IMHO - it was the United States doing it that was wrong.

I was wrong, however, in November of 2000 when I said that no matter who won the disputes over the election that year, he'd be a one-term president. While I was (sort of, half-heartedly, just barely) pulling for Bush, I couldn't feel good about either major-party candidate, and I'm still not really sure how I feel about Bush winning this time around.

The gamecube IIRC uses 3 inch discs. These are roughly the same cost per unit as 5 inch disks, so I propose the following solution

Step 1. Pleace cd-r(w)/DVD+/-r(w) in 1/4 inch angle grinder

Step 2. Grind away until your DVD is 3 inches. Start with a good flat bastard file ending with some 220 grit sand paper to make it smooth

Step 3. Clean up this mess of plastic that flew everywhere.

As for a welded-shut hood, good luck trying to weld plastic,

Here ya go.
It's a sort of strongly focused heat gun.

Okay, I am not one to usually reply to my own comment, but I went searching for small-scale projects and found a design involving using parts from a $10-40 TOMYTEC mini-RC car (or clone) and a $13 electric airplane.

It involves a decent amount of hardware hacking, but looks like a fun design for not much money. Mind you, you can probably buy a pre-built toy with similar capabilities for about the same money.

The project is located here.

For drives, I scout around cheap hardware stores like Harbor Freight for the generic tool cases with uncut foam in the middle and stack those into two more drawers. Cables take up another two drawers. Finally, CPUs and RAM go into anti-stat bags, which in turn into some small acrylic cases from Tap Plastics with some foam for cushoning. These, with motherboards in whatever box/foam I can find take up another drawer.

The cabinets are great because, my dog can't tip them, my cat can't get into them, they have locks on the drawers and the drawers are usually on some kind of roller mechanism. I keep both in an unused bedroom closet. They even fit perfectly with the sliding closet doors on, but my guitars and music stuff is closet too, so the doors live in the garage.

Now if only there were an easy and compact way to store surplus cases and monitors.

Will this do? [bestbuy.com]

No, but this one will do nicely.

You can't weld plastic.

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