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The Water Cooler, Scuttlebutt, Chit Chat Thread

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The Water Cooler, Scuttlebutt, Chit Chat Thread

Old 07-25-20, 02:26 PM
  #5026  
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He's referring to a turbomolecular pump. These are common on many scientific instruments that require a deep vacuum to operate.
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Old 07-25-20, 05:57 PM
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Originally Posted by TMonk
. Mazdaspeed 3, Focus ST, Civic Si, something like that. big john do you have an recommendations for models like that???

.
All of my actual experience since 1995 has been GM only. I can say people love all of those cars and Mazda does things other makers don't do. A friend had a Mazda based on the 323 but it was all wheel drive with center differential lock and turbocharged 1.5 and 5 speed. I drove it in the snow and it was a blast. As my friend said, they are "proud of their parts" so the parts are expensive. The GTI gets good reviews and Honda is well known for reliability. Like all cars, if you beat them up and neglect them they will turn to crap, so beware the used car market. Turbocharged engines demand clean oil with their little turbos spinning 1000s of rpm on a small bearing. A friend had a used Subaru and the turbo grenaded, metal traveled through the engine so the engine blew up soon after the turbo was replaced. A money pit.
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Old 07-25-20, 08:55 PM
  #5028  
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Originally Posted by ridethecliche
Get a miata.

Tbh im semi looking for a new to me car as well. I have an 06 Acura TL that just hit 150k but is starting to develop some electrical and/or trans issues.

Kinda thinking a 2012 v6 rav4 or a newer cx5 to cover bike and snowboard duty.



I guess you've never seen a subaru or European car then huh?
My 05 TL just turned 180k! Still on its first clutch :O
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Old 07-26-20, 07:02 AM
  #5029  
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TMonk, drive the Corolla til it dies. With 130k on it, you're just breaking it in.

If you want a fun car, look for an old Miata and keep it as a third/weekender. They don't have much power, but they are small, light, RWD, easy to find in manual, and cheap - to buy and maintain. Plus, where you live, the convertible would be a bonus.
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Old 07-26-20, 08:15 PM
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Originally Posted by TMonk
Yeah it was a valve - slide valve the opens the door to the deep vacuum analyzer chamber. Every time the turbo is off I worry about it b/c it's a $20,000 part and it's been running almost constantly for 10 years.

But yeah they're pretty tough.
I've that door fail, zero counts per second... odd; after that I always listened for the opening noise right after torch ignition.

Your ICP-MS is 10 years old? Time to start working on a procurement plan for a new one. Working on old ones is a PITA as the tubes etc. get brittle and break if you touch them.
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Old 07-26-20, 10:01 PM
  #5031  
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Originally Posted by TMonk
He's referring to a turbomolecular pump. These are common on many scientific instruments that require a deep vacuum to operate.
I know you weren't talking about cars ya nerds!

Originally Posted by TheKillerPenguin
My 05 TL just turned 180k! Still on its first clutch :O
I'm hoping mine starts afloat. I'd like it to see me through training... At least the next year if that's not possible.
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Old 07-26-20, 10:32 PM
  #5032  
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Originally Posted by Enthalpic
I've that door fail, zero counts per second... odd; after that I always listened for the opening noise right after torch ignition.

Your ICP-MS is 10 years old? Time to start working on a procurement plan for a new one. Working on old ones is a PITA as the tubes etc. get brittle and break if you touch them.
Yeah for sure it's loud. It wasn't opening freely when we did manual control in the engineering mode, you could see it like buck out to the side a little bit and not full open. I vented the system by opening the analyzer chamber so I could physically pull it out, and there is a few mm of resistance at the end of the stroke, I think like a worn gasket or O-ring or something. For this reason the gas pressure is not enough to open/close it at the moment. Gas lines and fittings are fine. I've never taken apart a slide valve and I guess I could/should sincei t's old, but we're getting a FSE to come out and replace it anywho.

I tried to at least keep the system under vacuum by jamming it in there past that resistance and turning the pumps on. and it did stay on for a lot longer than we were used to. few hours vs a few minutes, but I guess it wasn't the best seal as the turbo eventuality shut itself off.
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Old 07-26-20, 10:47 PM
  #5033  
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Originally Posted by TMonk
Yeah for sure it's loud. It wasn't opening freely when we did manual control in the engineering mode, you could see it like buck out to the side a little bit and not full open. I vented the system by opening the analyzer chamber so I could physically pull it out, and there is a few mm of resistance at the end of the stroke, I think like a worn gasket or O-ring or something. For this reason the gas pressure is not enough to open/close it at the moment. Gas lines and fittings are fine. I've never taken apart a slide valve and I guess I could/should sincei t's old, but we're getting a FSE to come out and replace it anywho.

I tried to at least keep the system under vacuum by jamming it in there past that resistance and turning the pumps on. and it did stay on for a lot longer than we were used to. few hours vs a few minutes, but I guess it wasn't the best seal as the turbo eventuality shut itself off.
If you have access to Eng mode you could change that shutdown limit...

Less than ideal vacuum won't fry your EMT detector unless you run high voltages. A tiny bit of leak is a free collision cell against polyatomic interference. Kidding... sorta.

Last edited by Enthalpic; 07-26-20 at 10:50 PM.
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Old 07-27-20, 07:39 AM
  #5034  
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or also maybe free O2 reaction mode

the detector is already probably a it pissed from being at atmosphere this whole time, I expect to have to crank voltages higher once it gets back up. Sucks cause its new. I've never tried to mess with the pressure cutoff/setting in the chamber, could be worth a try if it means saving some wear on the detector while we get a new valve.
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Old 07-27-20, 07:59 AM
  #5035  
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I thought the turbomolecular pump was referring to a new smart trainer design that enables enhanced Zwifting capability.
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Old 07-27-20, 11:18 AM
  #5036  
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I asked the wife if I could go do Johnson City omnium, I was denied. If ever there was a race made for my physique. The road race and the TT both being a ton of uphill. A bit disappointed. I wish my teammates the best. A couple of guys definitely over 90kg's will be going up the mountain. God bless, have fun.

People have different opinions on racing right now and states reopening with bad health numbers rising. I guess I just forgot for a minute the current world we live in. Our household isn't really doing anything like that yet. Just our choice. Hence how I mention I just got excited seeing that and forgot.

I'll do the local hobby TT going on. That bike is almost back together.
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Old 07-31-20, 01:12 PM
  #5037  
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The electrical wiring in this house never ceases to amaze. Almost always to code, but just really creative. We're updating the office so I can actually use it since I'm working from home full time for the foreseeable future, probably until we move at any rate.

They have two lights and a fan in the ceiling, which we're replacing with 2 lights and then one light, on separate switches. The two lights are on a 3 way switch, with the lights after both switches. But that's the normal part. They used 3 wire cable from the box with the fan and light switch, and used the red to run straight through all the lights and feed the fan, so they only had to run one cable. It makes sense and might be super common, I dunno, but it looks confusing as hell when you pull all the lights down and try to figure out what's going on.
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Old 08-01-20, 03:54 PM
  #5038  
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Originally Posted by topflightpro
...If you want a fun car, look for an old Miata and keep it as a third/weekender. They don't have much power, but they are small, light, RWD, easy to find in manual, and cheap - to buy and maintain. Plus, where you live, the convertible would be a bonus.
@TMonk San Diego Miata Club - Home They do a lot of runs on Highland Valley Road, Old Julian Road etc. And the SoCal weather. I don't have one, but buddy does and we'd do some canyon carving back in the day when I was more stupid.
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Old 08-04-20, 06:26 PM
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Something I hadn't considered about working from home. If the power is out I'm not making money. Already down 3.5 hours earlier today, no estimated restoration. Gonna borrow a very small generator hopefully big enough to get internet and my laptop and monitors going. Probably still gonna lose all the food in fridge and both freezers.

Next on the house list after we finish my office is gonna be a transfer switch and generator big enough to run the majority of the house at least.
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Old 08-04-20, 08:08 PM
  #5040  
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Solar panels? I mean, that doesn't help at night, obviously, unless you've got some great batteries.
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Old 08-04-20, 08:46 PM
  #5041  
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Originally Posted by himespau
Solar panels? I mean, that doesn't help at night, obviously, unless you've got some great batteries.
On the forever house, for sure. Solar panels and a battery system along with some sort of fuel backup will be done. Especially since the short list is currently Maine, and semi-rural, we need to be somewhat self reliant.

On this 2-4 year timeframe house? A decent sized portable generator we can take with us, plus a service rated transfer switch to pick up whatever loads we want. The transfer switch will be a small selling point, especially to the right people. I'll make it somewhat pretty (and to code, I might even open my book to check, who knows).
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Old 08-05-20, 06:23 AM
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Now it has an estimated restoration time at least.

August 7th, at 11 PM. It'll be my late in the day birthday present I guess. Yay... I hope they're underpromising so they can overdeliver.

I know other people in the world have worse issues, but man, it still sucks. It's gonna be 85 today too. Little kids don't love the heat, and houses aren't built to not have AC.
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Old 08-09-20, 06:09 PM
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After a non cycling related incident today I think I'm going to be riding indoors a fair amount for the next couple of weeks...

What fans are you folks using to keep cool indoors? I was thinking of getting one of the industrial floor fans...

I think it's time I start doing a little bit more structured stuff indoors especially on nights I'd be out riding past dark with a light setup.
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Old 08-09-20, 07:21 PM
  #5044  
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Originally Posted by ridethecliche
After a non cycling related incident today I think I'm going to be riding indoors a fair amount for the next couple of weeks...

What fans are you folks using to keep cool indoors? I was thinking of getting one of the industrial floor fans...

I think it's time I start doing a little bit more structured stuff indoors especially on nights I'd be out riding past dark with a light setup.
I use two lasko pro performance fans, which are the gold standard among many, and I have a third fan, lasko cyclone, which I also use but isn’t as good. I don’t have AC in my basement and lately I train in upper 70s and humid conditions and while not totally pleasant it works. I’d be so happy if I could keep the space 70 and below
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Old 08-09-20, 08:51 PM
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Originally Posted by ridethecliche
What fans are you folks using to keep cool indoors? I was thinking of getting one of the industrial floor fans...
Originally Posted by hubcyclist
I use two lasko pro performance fans, which are the gold standard among many, and I have a third fan, lasko cyclone, which I also use but isn’t as good. I don’t have AC in my basement and lately I train in upper 70s and humid conditions and while not totally pleasant it works. I’d be so happy if I could keep the space 70 and below
Has anyone figured out a way to run those with a remote yet? Like, is it possible to plug one into a smart plug and then have your phone (or smart speaker or whatever) control how much power it gets?

Right now my cooling "solution" is a cheap lasko 20" box fan strapped to some stacked wire crates and I reach over to turn the dial roughly halfway (and again 3/4ths of the way) into my race/workout (and distract myself from the pain by calculating when those points are and how far away they are). I'd love an additional fan like one of those blowers, but would like to be able to regulate the speed. I mean I could just replace the box fan with one and reach over to control that, but I'd like an additional fan, not just a single, more powerful one where the one is now and it'd be awesome to control the strength so it's not blowing me away when I first start.
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Old 08-09-20, 08:59 PM
  #5046  
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Originally Posted by himespau
Has anyone figured out a way to run those with a remote yet? Like, is it possible to plug one into a smart plug and then have your phone (or smart speaker or whatever) control how much power it gets?

Right now my cooling "solution" is a cheap lasko 20" box fan strapped to some stacked wire crates and I reach over to turn the dial roughly halfway (and again 3/4ths of the way) into my race/workout (and distract myself from the pain by calculating when those points are and how far away they are). I'd love an additional fan like one of those blowers, but would like to be able to regulate the speed. I mean I could just replace the box fan with one and reach over to control that, but I'd like an additional fan, not just a single, more powerful one where the one is now and it'd be awesome to control the strength so it's not blowing me away when I first start.
I have a baseball bat to turn on my fans, plus it helps compensate since I'm short and weigh marginally more than an iPhone....

Originally Posted by ridethecliche
After a non cycling related incident today I think I'm going to be riding indoors a fair amount for the next couple of weeks...

What fans are you folks using to keep cool indoors? I was thinking of getting one of the industrial floor fans...

I think it's time I start doing a little bit more structured stuff indoors especially on nights I'd be out riding past dark with a light setup.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lasko-20...-308487099-_-N

Works pretty well, though I can't say its the best because I haven't tried many...

Last edited by furiousferret; 08-10-20 at 08:22 AM.
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Old 08-10-20, 04:31 AM
  #5047  
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I use a lasko tower fan directly in front of me. Seems to do the job.
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Old 08-10-20, 07:43 AM
  #5048  
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Unfortunately no way to control speed of fan, since that's a manual control. I have wifi sockets I keep the fans plugged into and turn on as needed (I keep the fans at high). In the summer I'll just turn them all on at the start. In the winter I'll start my warmup with all fans off, then turn on one then the others as I progress to the main sets
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Old 08-10-20, 10:07 AM
  #5049  
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We had a really bad month in our house. My wife manages COVID for her company (which has locations nationwide) and when it hit it was bad. She felt really guilty about some things that happened (when in reality she was mocked by other managers for being to harsh about safety measures) and resigned. I wasn't happy because her quitting meant I would retire 10 years later. She didn't want to work at all. So her work gave her a month off and she accepted.

So I've changed my perspective; I'm going to use my 30 years of experience to make every penny I can outside of work. Realizing that my retirement is no guarantee was really upsetting. I'll still ride my bike and hopefully race, I need the bike for stress relief. All my spare time is going into my current project now. In the past, I've always thought making a company to produce something is 'scamming people' but I'm trying to change my outlook on that.

Last edited by furiousferret; 08-10-20 at 10:14 AM.
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Old 08-11-20, 09:52 AM
  #5050  
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My car is back in the shop. It needs another expensive repair. I really like driving my BMW, but I'm getting to that point where repairs are coming frequently and are expensive.

I try to keep cars for 10 years or 200k miles, but I think when we pay of my wife's car early next year, I'll be getting something new. I'll only be at 8 years on the BMW, but I don't want to keep paying to keep it going.
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