Author Topic: You know this hobby has got you if or when (Read 1975 times)

ghurd · « **Reply #33 on:** December 05, 2005, 10:50:56 AM »

And the shop wall are made of wood!

ghurd · « **Reply #34 on:** December 05, 2005, 10:53:28 AM »

the local machineist slaps the CLOSED sign up when he sees your truck

ghurd · « **Reply #35 on:** December 05, 2005, 10:55:38 AM »

You buy expensive stuff that will work.

Even if you do not have a use for it.

DBGenerator · « **Reply #36 on:** December 05, 2005, 11:49:58 AM »

"Your neighbor asks you what his old picture window is doin on you roof. The local scrap yard sends you a sales flyer in the mail."

That and the one about being glad to be stuck in traffic just so you can see how the light up sign works are the best.

......

"When you have trash day marked on your calendar and you and your kid have the neighborhood split up into sections for locating reuseable appliances!"

"You needed a bigger wagon to put appliances in from trash night!!"

Dave

deloiter · « **Reply #37 on:** December 05, 2005, 12:02:56 PM »

You know it's gone too far when:

When you walk the dog and he knows to head for the tower first.

You check several wind-power related discussion boards before you check the company's servers when you get to work.

laskey · « **Reply #38 on:** December 05, 2005, 01:28:47 PM »

When your dump load does a better job of heating the house than your funace (don't I wish).

Cya,

Chris

asheets · « **Reply #39 on:** December 05, 2005, 02:43:15 PM »

You see, I always think -- oooh, free air compressor. Now where did I put that spare motor and regulator?

asheets · « **Reply #40 on:** December 05, 2005, 02:46:49 PM »

when you have more dead hard drives on your desk waiting for dissasembly that your sons have matchbox cars on the carpet.

motorhead2 · « **Reply #41 on:** December 05, 2005, 03:25:16 PM »

You tell your wife that she needs a smaller airgap.

willib · « **Reply #42 on:** December 05, 2005, 05:46:36 PM »

Like when you see a tree stump ( a real tall one , but with no branches )and think wouldnt that make a nice tower!!

jmk · « **Reply #43 on:** December 05, 2005, 06:07:04 PM »

When you buy two extra magnets just to play with.

When your drivers door has dents in it from getting to close with the two magnets in your front pocket.

When the soup cans fly of the shelf when you shop.

When you have riped your front pocket becouse you didn't know there was a magnet strip at the U-Scan at the grocery store.

Old F · « **Reply #44 on:** December 05, 2005, 06:11:13 PM »

All I have to do is look in the mirror Oh you said local not loco machineist

Never mind : )

Old F

dinges · « **Reply #45 on:** December 05, 2005, 08:36:08 PM »

When you feel like taking up the competition with the grid power companies, thinking you can beat their prices & reliability.

When having a grid power outage, all the neighbours lay out extension cords that end in your house; with you being the central spider in the web. Do this once, and they'll never again file a complaint on those 'ridiculous, bird-killing' windmills :-)

Peter,

The Netherlands.

hiker · « **Reply #46 on:** December 05, 2005, 11:16:47 PM »

and she replies-NO you need a bigger rotor shaft...............lol.

pyrocasto · « **Reply #47 on:** December 05, 2005, 11:21:39 PM »

HA! My bookmarks can teach you alot about almost anything RE. I need to start selling the links! ;-)

pyrocasto · « **Reply #48 on:** December 05, 2005, 11:34:22 PM »

When you look around and see almost $1000 worth of ebay cells laying around because you havent found the best way to mount them yet.

When you have to step over parts from printers and microwaves to get into the room.

When you realize that all your lights are cfls.

When you have multiple drawers dedicated to the storage of electronic parts from things you've scrapped over the years.

When you have a tub of dried coffee grinds for burning.

When you have a 5000 watt inverter sitting next to you that you bought because it was a "good buy", when a 500 watt inverter is all you truely needed at the time.

When you put all your electronics on strips that you turn off at night.

When you have spools of used magnet wire laying around for the projects that you know you will do wrong the first time.

When you're shopping and you find stuff that would work great for an RE application, but wasnt intended for that use.

When you spend an hour taking something apart for a switch and a LED that would have cost you $1.

When you see a gallon jug of mash every time you open the fridge because you havent found a free heater for a distiller yet.

When you spend that much time thinking of stuff to write on fieldlines.com at 1:32AM.

willib · « **Reply #49 on:** December 06, 2005, 07:41:39 AM »

coffee grounds make a nice sterno , when mixed with bacon fat. lol i've tried it..

strangely enough it gives off a pleasnt oder , with no smoke !!

willib · « **Reply #50 on:** December 06, 2005, 08:49:53 AM »

this has been going for about ten min.

http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/2965/Picture_207.jpg

this is 5 min. later

http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/2965/Picture_209.jpg

once it gets going it really puts out a lot of heat.

BrianK · « **Reply #51 on:** December 06, 2005, 02:06:07 PM »

when u become an expert welder that is after your wind gen came crashing through the garage roof but still not a carpenter hole in roof still there dont ask me how i know but i do like that new skylight

.

cyplesma · « **Reply #52 on:** December 06, 2005, 02:16:47 PM »

/Like NOT being able to drive by stuff , people have thrown out, without thinking Hmmm i wonder if there is anything in there i could use.../

I do this all the time not just for re.

motorhead2 · « **Reply #53 on:** December 06, 2005, 03:34:13 PM »

Then I say my tsr is too high for your permability.

pyrocasto · « **Reply #54 on:** December 06, 2005, 05:30:34 PM »

That I didnt know. I think I may try that now for whatever reasons I could think of using it. Maybe good to heat a still or someting.

Propwash · « **Reply #55 on:** December 06, 2005, 06:34:52 PM »

its midnight, twenty degrees, you hear wind gusts,jump out of bed, run for mill tower, your in your slippers, holding a flashlight, checking voltage readings cause you can't afford a Trace c40 and didn't think you needed one anyhow. Been there, done that.

Kevin

ghurd · « **Reply #56 on:** December 07, 2005, 06:50:21 AM »

When you have it so bad, the neighbors start catching it.

When the 85 year old guy next door goes out at 2:00AM, with his cane, in 9'F, 4" of snow, and whacks the ruler blades to see if they are frozen. They were not.

And you were watching out the window.

G-

Gary D · « **Reply #57 on:** December 07, 2005, 11:03:04 AM »

Love that one G.... :-)

Jon Miller · « **Reply #58 on:** December 07, 2005, 01:06:13 PM »

You know this hobby has got you if or when:

You have 55 hard drive magnets which one day will be useful

When you spend three hours taking apart 2 ink jets, 1 lazzer and a dot matrix just for the stepper motors that then go into a latge box allong with 100's of other small motors just incase u find a way to make power from them

when you stop to pick up old dumped microwaves of the side of the road just for the magnets

When you relise that you have two modles of wind turbines sitting on you computer desk that you didnt know where there

When you (like Chris) take apart video players just for some free LED's and a small motor

When you find your self recycling about 10 old computers a month for the hard drive magnets and the motos out of the CD drives

when every bearing you pick up is keeped for use on 'my next turbine'

when you find your self at the age of 17 telling 5000+ people across the world on a website found by chanse all your strange collection habits. This post is making me lol

Drives · « **Reply #59 on:** December 07, 2005, 07:44:37 PM »

You know this hobby has got you when during a late night thunder storm you hear your Art Randolf blades making a loud noise every time the wind blows above 20 mph.

Even though it is dark, raining, and lightning you run out to your tower to examine it with a flash light. Due to it being 30 feet in the air you can't make out anything wrong except that the turbine is not producing any voltage but spinning so fast the blades are invisible.

So, to save the turbine you go get 100' rope, and try your best cowboy imitation to lasso the blades and tie rotor down. Mind you, your soaked, holding a soaking wet rope, and swinging it into the air with lightning striking all around the valley and hilltops. After the umpteenth time (I'm a yankee, not a cowboy!) you get the blades to wind up the rope, and tie it off. When the wife asks what the heck you were doing....you mention something about needing to check something in the barn, and "man is it raining outside!" as you wring your shirt out in the sink. Ha Ha.

FYI my engineering to calculate the proper size industrial, flat, toothed, timing belt between the motor shaft and turbine shaft was quite sound for up to a 40 mph wind....however we saw a 68mph gust, that probably ripped the teeth right off the belt. Ha Ha.

To this day it still amazes me the stupid things I do for this hobby.

Art's blades still look new, but they must have been going supersonic!

nanotech · « **Reply #60 on:** December 07, 2005, 08:55:17 PM »

[QUOTE Jon Miller] You have 55 hard drive magnets which one day will be useful [/QUOTE]

Can I e-mail you my address?

I've got PLENTY of uses for those, just a very limited supply around this neck of the woods!!

Gagster · « **Reply #61 on:** December 08, 2005, 10:44:42 AM »

"When you have trash day marked on your calendar and you and your kid have the neighborhood split up into sections for locating reuseable appliances!"

Darn you guys! You've infected me. I found myself looking at a TV in someone's trash pile today as I drove to work and a washing machine across the street. Unfortunately, I don't have a shop yet and I'm not quite ready for a divorce so I had to leave them be.

Jon Miller · « **Reply #62 on:** December 08, 2005, 12:20:43 PM »

Of course you can, fldec@otherpower.co.uk

tecker · « **Reply #63 on:** December 10, 2005, 09:00:58 AM »

When your note pad has grown into your black book and for all intents and purposes are now the same with a tiewrap holding it together.

phil b · « **Reply #64 on:** December 10, 2005, 06:02:16 PM »

When your neighbors and your wife ask why you want their old treadmills that don't work because the bearings are bad, the belt won't stay on and why you already have two in your pickup...and you reply to make a wind generator???

Wolvenar · « **Reply #65 on:** December 11, 2005, 05:41:18 PM »

You add a second posting for this, somewhat mirroring an older you created almost two years ago.

See here

You actualy read this long thread

You spend all this time to read all this and find you mirror most of this,

After years of this hobby your wife started getting interested in just why this intriques you so much, then got hooked herself.

You have been on this board so long ppl from your past find you because of it.

(even when you dont want them to)

News:

Author Topic: You know this hobby has got you if or when (Read 1975 times)