Binocular Mirror Mount

I decided to try my hand (once again) at a binocular mirror mount in the style of Rob Nabholz or the more commercial, and more robust Oberwerk mirror mount. I decided to use some finished board which I'd bought at MC Home Depot some months ago.

To begin: cut two pieces of board, each about 8" long. One of these is the cross-piece, which will hold the first-surface mirror, and the other one is the binocular holder.


The mirror crosspiece remains almost as-is, but I cut some wood out of the binocular holder portion:


Notched the cross-piece a small bit for better fit. I didn't have a chisel so I used the "al-Qaeda 9/11 Special" (box cutter) to notch the wood appropriately.

Two mock-up views of how the completed mount should look like. I attached the cross-piece to the main piece with two cheap nails and some Henkel Liquid Nails (TM) that I had lying around from my previous telescope boondoggles. Incidentally, "Ver-Nel" fabric softener is made by the same company that makes Liquid Nails.


I attached the first-surface mirror (a $7 item from Surplus Shed) to the cross-piece with some silicone gasket I had left from some misbegotten car repair attempt. Other similar adhesives would work, too. But not "Vulca-Seal" and its ilk. The Vulca-Seal-alikes are far too tough and almost impossible to remove if you want to reuse your glass somewhere else.

After painting and finishing, I attached a T-nut to the underside of the mount with epoxy putty (outlined in yellow). This shall be where the tripod 1/4" - 20tpi screw will be affixed, as seen in the succeeding image.


And the final product:



In actual use, the binocular mirror mount works (mostly) as advertised. However, I immediately ran into a complaint which users of the more-expensive mounts have noted: the "microscope viewing angle" is only applicable over a very narrow range of altitude angles. Beyond that, you have to adjust the height of the tripod in order to keep the viewing height convenient. And you still have to crane your neck.

It seems that the Trico Machine Sky Window (also here) which incidentally was invented by a Jesuit - is the best over-all solution because you tilt the mirror (much like the mirror underneath a microscope stage). So the viewing angle of the binocular is fixed.

The reason I didn't do the Sky Window style binocular mount is because the first-surface mirror I had on hand (which I bought about three years ago from Surplus Shed) is only about 3" x 6" in size, in fact I believe in my current mount it already vignettes the 10x50 binocular. And to do a "tilting mirror" type of mount, you need an oversized mirror, which I don't have.

But I think I'll try to go for that, I saw some fellow on e-Bay selling first-surface mirrors relatively inexpensively. Or I could call the local scientific houses and see if they have some.

Turn-of-the-century Technology

I bought 1GB of turn-of-the-century PC133 SDRAM from a fellow off TipidPC last night for 3000 pesos (roughly $60). It wasn't such a bad deal considering that the cheapest SDRAM nowadays is about $60 for 512MB, so I got some (used) memory at 50% off.

Now why would I be mucking around with ancient single-data-rate RAM? well, I need a computer with sufficient memory to run Oracle 10g RAC. And if I were to buy some DDR SDRAM, I'd have to buy a new processor and main board for it. Total damage $300. I'm loathe to spend $300, so I elected to just up the memory on my 800MHz Pentium-III at home. That computer is almost seven years old, it's positively antique. But it still works well enough for browsing and stuff.

My Condescending Chevrolet Aveo Review

Or, car-shopping with no money is fun!

Lalai and I have been wondering out loud if we can somehow afford to replace "Olde Clunker," the soon-to-be-fourteen year old Mazda 626 which we depend on for our daily livelihood, I mean, transportation.

Anyway, a couple Sundays ago we went to GM Makati and had a look at the much-hyped Chevrolet Aveo 1.4L sedan, which holds the supposedly-illustrious distinction of being the cheapest car you can buy with two airbags and ABS.

Incidentally, this ostensibly-safe car failed the Euro NCAP crash ratings, due to its passenger cell collapsing. Oops, so much for two airbags and ABS..

I posted a rather long-ish "review" on the Tsikot.COM forums, which I'm pasting here:

I had a look at the Chevy Aveo 1.4 sedan today.

It really is 640,000 for the manual transmission and 680,000 for the automatic. Both variants come with ABS, EBD, and two airbags.

The bad news (insofar as I could find) is that: it is cramped. Granted I'm coming from a Mazda 626 which was a midsized car ten years ago. The front space and legroom is acceptable. It is about 2" narrower across (from driver door handle to passenger door handle) than the 626. It is a whopping 6" shorter from the tip of the dash to the back of the rear seat.

Entry into the rear of the vehicle is cramped. The rear door is too small. I actually would snag my foot on the door scuff plate on the back door because the gap between the door and the rear seat cushion is too small. And I'm not exactly a large person (5'6"). The trunk is small, although it does have 60/40 split seats in the back.

The seats are not the most comfortable. They're covered with some nylon-like fabric which probably repels stains well but doesn't feel too cushy (actually the fabric reminds me of those water-repellent backpacks you can buy at SM.. and not the Samsonite ones, the cheesy Chinese ones). The cushions are hard!, there's no sensation of "sinking into the seat." It's more like you're perched uneasily on them. Even the front seats. The rear seats.. feel very much like the 2nd row bench seats in an AUV (although not as bad), they're that hard and unsupportive, and are barely contoured.

There are acres of really hard plastic. It's soooo non-tactile. The silver trim on the door pulls manage to look cheesy, not classy. The 626 is almost fifteen years old and has better materials inside.

Now, lest I seem too negative. The car is fully loaded. In addition to the aforementioned ABS and two airbags, it has a fully-integrated MP3-capable sound system (which I didn't get to test); front fog lights, and, get this, Conti tires. No cheap Hankooks here! The doors close with a surprisingly authoritative thud. The City/Jazz doors are tin cans by comparison. The metal work is much better than the City (it was pretty disappointing to see the raw welded joints in the City's door and engine mounts; they didn't even bother to grind them down with a bench grinder! just weld and paint..) it has the nifty Euro-style shifter on the manual (reverse is at the 1st gear position).

The suspension feels really tight. It's definitely tighter than an Altis J or G. But it absorbs pavement ruts without too much fuss. Not too bad. Engine hum is muted even at higher RPM's. The sales guy claimed 18 km/L fuel economy around the Batangas/Talisay/Sta. Rosa area for the MT. That's good compared to the 11-12 km/L I'm getting with the ancient 626 on provincial drives, but a complete yawn compared to what the City i-DSI gets.

You might be thinking it's pretty unfair to compare the interior room and appointments of the Aveo 1.4 sedan to the Mazda 626, which cost more, ten years ago than the Aveo costs today.

I also had a look at the midrange and top-end Honda City today. The City is much larger inside than the Aveo. In fact the size alone (let's not even get into the ULT seats) is a show stopper for the Chevy. The front dash to rear seat back distance of the City is only 2" less than the 626. So the guy who told me that the City has more interior space than the 626 was not quite correct. But in short the City has 4" of additional legroom for the back-seat passengers. And that is quite substantial. Your rear-seat passengers will feel much, much better in the more spacious and more-comfy-cushioned City than they would in the Aveo.

And the City's boot is absolutely immense.

Plus, the interior fabrics and plastics of the City (even the midrange 1.3L model) are much better than the Aveo. And the seats are much nicer too, plusher and soft.

What the Aveo 1.4 has going for it is the built-in safety features (but then there's the 1-star strike against it in the Euro NCAP due to the failed collision cell) and it looks normal and actually pretty good, like a nicer Vios. Not at all like the "busy roach" City. But in all other aspects the City is teh win!

I will admit -- the safety features are a really good selling point. The Chevy Aveo sedan is the cheapest car you can buy with dual airbags and ABS. So if you "only" have 640k or 680k to spend, and you absolutely must have airbags and ABS, then the Aveo is the only game in town.

But compared to the top-end Vios 1.5G (723k) or the top-end City 1.5V CVT (725k with discount), the Chevy gets a comprehensive drubbing. It's smaller, less tactile, and less flexible than the City inside (and has a lower-tech engine). And, while it probably would give the Vios a run for the money (since the Vios is small too.. I've never looked inside a Vios though) the Vios has the glittering Toyota brand image and resale value.

Would I pay 725k for a top-end City 1.5V CVT with dual airbags and ABS/EBD, compared to 680k for an Aveo 1.4 AT with the same safety features? that's a 45,000 advantage. Most likely, yes, the City is superior in every respect except looks. That is unless I was that hard up for 45,000 pesos. The Chevy is nice, but the 3-year old City still beats the crap out of it in my unqualified opinion.

Would I pay 723k for a top-end Vios 1.5G AT with a single airbag and ABS/EBD compared to 680k for the Aveo? now that's an interesting proposition. I would not buy a Vios because it's too small. But someone who can live with the interior room of the Vios would be faced with an interesting dilemma: get a bit more car (+passenger airbag!) for 43k less (that's your insurance already!) but from a dodgy brand, or go with the safe choice and marquee brand?

Quote:

Actually, some dealer claims are believable... 18 km/l in that area, considering Orly gets 12 km/l on an engine that struggles to get more than 7 km/l in the city, means that the Aveo 1.4 can get 10 km/l + in the city.

Actually yes, the 18km mixed-but-mostly-highway figure is believable, I didn't question the sales guy in that regard. I would expect it could get 12 km/L in the city *cough cough* (well the 18km/L figure is for the manual, since it's a conventional slushbox the AT would fare worse).

Quote:

@orly: nice review... kinda OA on the space, c'mon, we both know that nothing beats the 626 in pimp-style comfort...

Sorry for all the bellyaching about the space.

Actually I haven't had the opportunity to crawl around too many cars measuring interior space with a tape measure, so I didn't have a whole lot of points of comparison.

The FD Civic has roughly the same interior width, same front-to-back space, but more front legroom than Ye Olde Warhorse, BTW thanks to that "grand piano" dash which is even bigger than the Warhorse's dash.

I must say I was a bit shell-shocked by the measly rear legroom of the Aveo, hence my complaints.

Quote:

But yeah, even compared to compacts, these cars leave something to be desired in elbow room, though you're right, the City's legroom and trunk space are both very impressive. Have you ridden the Getz or the Rio yet? How would you say the back seat compares? I'm of the opinion that the Rio back seat is only second to the City in terms of legroom, and actually equals it in useable headroom.

Actually, neither. I was wanting to have a look at the much-hyped Rio. But Signet EDSA (who claim to be the pre-eminent Kia dealer) didn't have a unit. And the surly guy on the phone claimed they're not bringing in the hatch. Duh?

Quote:

Continental tires? How did they sound on the road? (bwehehe: reference to cheap Hankooks!) And how was the sound insulation overall, considering the nice, heavy doors? No issues with the shifter and clutch?

These are things I can't measure with a tape measure. So I can't make a quantitative judgement. The Conti tires are 14" 185 series I believe. They are OK, better than the dreaded S306! but I don't know how they'd sound at 80kph, since can't get that speed on a test drive.

Sound insulation is acceptable. I haven't had the chance to try out a Camry or Accord so I don't know how it stacks up. Probably better than an Altis J (again..) but definitely quite a ways from an Altis G, which should surprise no one..

The shifter is pretty light, has short throws, and doesn't have much slop. The Honda shifter is better though but what's new.. the steering wheel has two small horn buttons rather than the big "masher pad" in the middle, probably due to the airbag inside. I'm used to the "masher pad" and found it annoying.

Orly Going Thirty-One

November 2 was my first year anniversary at Information Gateway. October 29 was the first year anniversary of me and Lalai moving into our new home (on the fourth floor of the white-roofed building at 5 o'clock in this Google Earth image):


And of course, I turned thirty-one last October 28. Bill Gates and Julia Roberts also celebrated their birthdays on that date, incidentally.

The Great Flood

Last Thursday night, Lalai and I came home at 9:00 p.m. to an appalling situation: the whole house was inch-deep in water.


Turns out, one of the plumbing connectors under the sink (circled in yellow) had come loose during the day, and was pouring water out continuously. In addition to an inflated water bill (God knows by how much) and spending half the night with rags and buckets, our Smart broadband surge suppressor got submerged in the inch-deep water, and was rendered inoperative.

After opening it up, I noticed that two wires on each RJ-45 connector were corroded. Obviously, these were the PoE (Power over Ethernet) wires, since it was apparent that electrolysis had taken place and destroyed the wires.

I tried "repairing" the damaged connectors by bridging them with gauge-22 solid hookup wire and some solder (remnants of which can be seen in the photo) but this half-assed repair did not work.

I was worried that the actual Motorola Canopy CPE might have gotten damaged, and Smart would probably be not too happy (it's a $200 CPE, and we've only had the service for a year, so Smart has only grossed about $240 from us). Not to mention they have notoriously pathetic technical support. It would take days or weeks to get their people to have a look at our installation, and they'd probably be suspicious of the corroded RJ-45 connectors (and the sloppy attempts at soldering them).

Fortuitiously, Lalai and I had to drive to EDSA Shangri-La Hotel Friday night to pick up my mom from a conference. Since the conference finished a bit late, we had some time to waste in SM Megamall. I got to have a look at the Toyota Avanza, J-model, otherwise known as the Daihatsu Xenia. It's a fine economy-class vehicle (albeit a really entry-level one), a blog entry for another day.

Anyhow, I passed by Alexan and bought three RJ-45 sockets, one as a spare in case I mucked up the soldering.


For the princely price of 25 pesos ($0.50) for the lot. I figured I might as well give replacing the sockets on the surge suppressor a shot, before waiting ages for Smart tech support and potentially paying for the busted equipment.


With my trusty tools (the solder splashes are a feature, not a bug!), I painfully removed the corroded sockets, and soldered the Alexan specials in their place. The suppressor used a double-sided PCB, and I had some trouble with the through-plated holes. Anyway, I did the best soldering job I could (which isn't saying much..)

And for the piece de resistance:


Plugged everything back in, and et voila -- things are back to normal! The proof of the pudding is that I'm typing this blog entry minutes after the repair.


And Smart is none the wiser. Not to mention, Lalai "I can't live without internet!" is placated. And I don't have to leave the house this weekend.

Now all I need is a more decent threaded plug to block that damnable leaking fixture. Can't use the sink, had to turn off the water supply to the faucet so that the Great Flood doesn't happen again.

World War I on Wheels

I'm sure a lot of kids (myself included) watched Bugs Bunny going up against Yosemite Sam as the Red Baron in Looney Tunes.

The funny part of that was where the Red Baron's underling would use a large wooden mallet to whack the propeller of the Baron's Fokker biplane in order to start the engine, along with Sam's immortal words:

Stupid plane! when I say Contact, I mean Contact! (then the hapless plane gets a good whacking)

Actually the ground crew would spin the propeller by hand (in lieu of a starter motor, since the magnetos of the day didn't provide enough electricity and batteries were too heavy). They didn't use a mallet.

Immediately after the jeepney-technology starter motor "repair" of the car, another problem cropped up again. The old persistent overheating came back. It's really unnerving to see that temp gauge inexorably climbing. Then I have to turn on the heater full blast to dump some of the waste heat. Causing the car's cabin to turn into an oven.

I think one of the greatest inconveniences one can experience when driving is loss of airconditioning. And heating up the cabin, when you're not driving down from Baguio is even worse.

Anyway, the radiator fan was no longer starting up. I discovered that by powering up the engine and turning on the A/C (thus tripping the fan relays), if I would spin up the radiator fan with my fingers, it would start spinning.

Just like a World War I biplane!

But this "fix" only worked for a couple of days. Besides sticking my fingers into the engine compartment with that bulky 2.0L DOHC head a few scant inches away is not that exciting. So yesterday I went to a shop and had them hunt for a surplus fan motor to replace the balky one. Which they performed in due course. I also had them replace the leaking coolant bypass hose.

And so I thought my troubles were solved.

Not. This morning while stuck in traffic the temperature gauge started climbing again, and oddly, the A/C was blowing hot instead of cold. And when I had to go to Ortigas in the afternoon, the same thing happened. I verified that both fans were rotating normally and there was enough water in the radiator. So what was wrong? radiator blockage?

The answer was annoyingly simple. Those "geniuses" at that shop connected the radiator fan in reverse. So it was spinning the wrong way. When the radiator fan is spinning the wrong way, instead of pulling cool air in through the engine cowling, over the radiator and A/C condenser, and then cooling the exhaust manifold, the fan actually pulls hot air from the exhaust manifold area and blows it over the radiator and A/C, actually heating up the radiator.

So it's really pretty important to ensure that the radiator fan is spinning the right way. As it's a permanent magnet DC motor, it can operate on either polarity, and since it spins so fast, you don't really know in what direction it's turning.

I specifically told the repair shop mechanics to make sure they didn't reverse the polarity. Fat bit of good that did me.

It's funny that car repair is not my knowledge domain but it seems that I really do know more than the usual mechanics. I dread remembering the time when I knew nothing about car repair and all the BS emitted by the mechanics was taken as gospel. A lot of car owners are like that, still.

Anyway, I did a "field repair" in the parking garage on Delarosa Street (I just swapped the polarity on the wires of the fan motor). Seems to be fine now. But not before I went through two nerve-wracking drives, drenched in sweat.

Yet again. Till next time.

Balky Starter Again!

The car's starter gave out again a couple of days ago. So Lalai and I had to commute for a couple days again. However, I noticed that a car electrical shop had opened near our house some weeks ago. So this afternoon, I removed the air box and MAF, tried to jumper the starter motor directly to the battery (still no cranking), then summoned the guy from the electrical shop.

Apparently, two of the brushes on the starter are completely worn down (not an amazing fact). What's annoying is that I didn't notice these the last time the starter was fixed a month ago. Also, the brush sizes are non-standard, so they bought some "jeepney technology" brushes, then ground them down on a bench grinder until they were approximately the right size.

About four hours (!) and 800 pesos ($16) later, the motor is OK again. For how long this time, I don't know..