Author Topic: Fritzing around  (Read 1940 times)

PonoBill

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Fritzing around
« on: June 13, 2018, 10:24:17 PM »
Put the refrigerator into Fritz today. It's a Norcold DC mini-compressor fridge--cuts down the likelihood for the whole fiery death thing. I insulated it with 2" of foam and aluminum tape to help with efficiency. The little white dots are from the foam. The fridge can run on 110/220 VAC or 12/24VDC. I'll probably run it on DC most of the time, though the inverter I'm using is about 94% efficient and I'd guess the AC to DC power supply is about the same, the compressor is DC, so might as well just feed it what it eats, though the motor is brushless, which means it's actually powered by three-phase AC. That's how the world works these days. True DC motors are obsolete. DC for motor power is generally converted to three-phase AC in a motor controller to drive a brushless motor. Regular household AC gets converted to DC, and then to three-phase AC. It's a good thing all these conversions are efficient.

I also built the shelves that will go next to it. Kind of exotic--aluminum honeycomb plate covered with "shagreen" which is a kind of faux sharkskin, trimmed with angle aluminum to keep stuff on the shelf. If that doesn't scream "wife" I don't know what would.

« Last Edit: June 13, 2018, 10:30:53 PM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

PonoBill

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Re: Fritzing around
« Reply #1 on: June 16, 2018, 04:37:17 PM »
More Fritzing around. I ripped out the toaster oven rack I had so laboriously made and salvaged it to fireproof the much more rational installation over the refrigerator. I added a warming shelf over the oven bay, and I'll add aluminum sides and roof There are two exhaust fans above the refrigerator that were originally there to vent the adsorption refrigerator. Unnecessary with the new Novacool compressor fridge, but I'm going to set them up with an automatic thermostat control to keep the area around the oven less than 120F.





« Last Edit: June 16, 2018, 04:46:25 PM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

TallDude

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Re: Fritzing around
« Reply #2 on: June 16, 2018, 05:32:54 PM »
Looking good Bill. My neighbor is building a camping trailer from the ground up. He's got welding skills. He completely built the trailer frame from scratch. Bought the cargo box from an old 15' cab-over u-haul truck and mounted it to the frame. Kind of a toy hauler / camper. The rounded aluminum corners of the box actually look pretty good. He's been building cabinets and bunks for it now.
It's not overhead to me!
8'8" L-41 ST and a whole pile of boards I rarely use.

PonoBill

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Re: Fritzing around
« Reply #3 on: June 16, 2018, 10:59:51 PM »
I spent part of the day making a very complicated tray with welded corners just for fun and practice. It's .050 aluminum, so not too tricky to weld, though I had a few moments. The big trick with TIG is when it starts to go bad, stop and fix it. You can't just push through. I tend to contaminate the weld with a touch of the electrode. It looks ok if it's just a quick touch, but it's deadly. I need to break off the contaminated end, regrind the electrode, grind out the crap, and start over.

I think that's a life lesson but I don't want to learn it.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

SlatchJim

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Re: Fritzing around
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2018, 10:33:46 AM »
Pono,
If I could be so bold as to ask for a quick photographic overview of the project in its current state?  This is a project (among others on this forum) that I've followed with great interest.

The other area of interest is covered in the many threads on e-bikes.  I just stumbled across this web blog and have been reading up from a perspective not associated with the Zone.
https://electricbike-blog.com/2016/03/05/how-to-buy-your-first-ebike-or-ebike-kit-and-not-get-punked/

 


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