SVG creation using GIMP & Inkscape

Posted on February 10, 2025 by Marisa

Bill purchased some clear acrylic light kits to do laser engraving on.  Often the biggest hold up, for us, is the “need to do make something really spectacular and special” syndrome.  Because these kits are cool the search was on for the perfect thing to engrave on one, Bill’s idea was to engrave the USS Saipan LGA 2 logo on one.  Then the search became how to vector it to create the SVG.  He did find a site that said that at one time they might have had one but it is no longer available and it takes a month to get a response from the creator, he didn’t want to wait a month.  Especially when you know you should be able to do this yourself.

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Laser Engraved Pens

Posted on January 6, 2025 by Bill
Laser Engraved Pen

Laser Engraved Pen

I got an order for a dozen laser engraved pens, meant to be Christmas gifts.  OK, not a problem.  I have played with engraving pen blanks by just setting them on the laser bed and engraving them as if they were flat.  For something with a larger diameter, this isn’t really a problem. Continue reading →

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Change Your Water Heater Anode

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Bill

This is also a review of the DeWalt DCF900 Brushless 3-Speed Impact Wrench.

Shop Heat Water Heater

Shop Heat Water Heater

We put in in-floor radiant heat in the shop when we built it.  This works pretty well, but a couple of years ago, I noticed that the heating elements were corroding away rather rapidly.  I realized that with our hard water, the anode likely needed to be changed.  I tried to replace it last year, but could not get it to budge.  I tried an air impact wrench, a normal Ridgid impact driver, a breaker bar, I even tried a 6 foot pipe on the breaker bar.  All that did was spin the water heater.  Not good.  I tried propping it in place while using the breaker, but still could not get it to budge.

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DEWALT 20V MAX Cordless Battery Powered Pruner

Posted on November 22, 2024 by Marisa

The problem and the solution

large oak tree after tree service cut two large branches off

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Into Each Life a Little Rain Must Fall

Posted on August 12, 2024 by Marisa

When it’s too little you have to step up your watering game.  We have been adding automatic watering solutions into our gardens and it’s been wonderful.  A problem that we have is getting water to areas that have no access to water.  I’ve been filling up empty cat litter containers and hauling them around and it’s worked.  Until we planted around 80 mums in areas without access to water last fall.  This fall we will probably plant more mums and we have about 1k spring bulbs on order.

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Happy Mother’s Day

Posted on May 9, 2024 by Marisa

Happy Mother’s Day.  At our house we say that with flowers but not cut flowers with flats of flowers.  I bought, delivered, and then planted flowers for my mom, whose birthday fell very close to Mother’s Day, so she got double the flowers.  My family has bought, delivered and helped with planting for me as well. Continue reading →

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3D Printed M12 Drill Slatwall Holder

Posted on May 2, 2024 by Bill

Continuing on the SlatWall custom tool holders, I have designed one (or two) to hold Milwaukee M12 drills and drivers.  My first attempt used a lot of filament and took a long time to print.

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3D Printed Milwaukee M12 Charger Slatwall Mount + Free Plans

Posted on April 25, 2024 by Bill

I have some slatwall in the garage and in my office for hanging tools and things.  For a long time, we only had it in the garage, and only had straight hooks for hanging things. The specialty hooks for hanging things were very expensive, so we didn’t have very many things hanging on it.  I found some additional straight hooks of various sizes on Amazon for a decent price.

Office Slatwall

Office Slatwall

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Changing Motor Brushes on Milwaukee 12 Inch Miter Saw

Posted on April 11, 2024 by Bill

The motor brake on Marisa’s miter saw stopped working, so in doing some research I found that the most likely way to repair it is to change out the motor brushes.

Disassembling the Miter Saw

Disassembling the Miter Saw

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Ryobi Cordless Power Scrubber

Posted on April 4, 2024 by Marisa

We live in the country and have well water and a septic system. A long time ago I learned, the hard way, that bleach is not my friend because it bonds with certain molecules and creates a brand new molecule which leaves your whites a crinkly, rough feeling material in a lovely shade of orange, and it will also damage your septic system. For laundry I now use a product called Iron Out. This stuff also works to clean showers, sinks and toilets. My other goto is Bar Keepers Friend, preferably the powder but I also have the spray. The stage has been set to let the story unfold.

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