• Vacuum brewer danger: superheating

    A couple years ago, I read about a coffee brewing method called “vacuum brewing” or “siphon brewing”.  It uses two linked glass vessels, and a small heat source (an alcohol burner, for example).  Water is placed in the bottom vessel and heated.  When the water boils, the top vessel is connected and steam pressure pushes…

  • Tool tray for Roland MDX-40A milling machine

    A friend of mine bought himself a Roland MDX-40A desktop milling machine, with the optional ZCL-40A rotary axis.  It was from an E-bay seller.  It comes with a large assortment of tools and accessories.  But they all came in a bag.  Hard to find small items, and not very well protected. As one of our…

  • More LED bulbs

    Today I tried out two new LED lights.  The first was a Philips AmbientLED in the MR16 form-factor, to work in my low-voltage tracklights.  The second was a Cree EcoSmart CR6 pot-light.

  • Low-power light-bulbs

    I’ve been experimenting with different low-power light options around the house.  CFLs, dimmable CFLs, and most recently some Philips LED bulbs. Since so many of my switches have been replaced with X-10 or Insteon dimmer switches, I need bulbs that can support dimming, or at least not be damaged by it.  The dream bulb would…

  • KeypadLinc button label template

    For the KeypadLinc with clear buttons, SmartHome provides an MS Word template for creating your labels.  I found it lacking in many ways.  So, I made my own.