Another Unnecessary, but Kinda Cool Project

My dad had all kinds of supervision duties when he was an elementary principal. We were always going back to school. We'd go back on Tuesday nights for JV basketball games. We'd go back on Friday nights for varsity football games. On Saturdays we'd go back for volleyball games.

I swear Dad would yell that it was time to go anytime I was watching a favorite TV show. I hated that; whatever I was watching would become an eternal mystery. VCRs were not available yet, and so I would never know how the show ended. I remember wishing for an endless power cord so we could take the TV with us in the car. 

I think that's what drew me to this Casio portable TV at Goodwill. This would have been a game changer for nine-year-old me.

Since it was manufactored in 1998, I knew that the Casio TV-770 couldn't receive modern digital TV signals. As is, it was useless as a TV. I didn't care. I thought it was cool, and I had a suspicion that I could do something with it.

A Google search turned up YouTube videos of people wirelessly playing movies on their tiny, portable TVs. How were they doing that?

They were using an antenna signal booster. 

An antenna booster takes the signal that an antenna receives, strengthens it, and sends the stronger signal on to your TV. In theory, you should receive a cleaner (less pixelated) image. 

Apparently, if you connect an antenna signal booster in reverse from a VCR and send the signal to a passive "rabbit ear" antenna, the rabbit ears become a VHF signal transmitter, like a very weak TV station. You can pick up whatever is playing on the VCR (or a DVD/ VCR combo player) with the portable TV's antenna.

Here's a very scientific diagram: 

This is exactly the kind of unnecessary thing that I wanted to try! 

I use to have a DVD/VCR combo player that I kept at school. That player was mistakenly barcoded as UHS property by the I.T. team and then later discarded because they deeemed it obsolete. I didn't care back then, but now I wished I had it. I'd need a combo player with a cable out connection to play a DVD on my little TV.

A GE antenna and a Philco player followed me home from Goodwill. 

I bought an antenna booster from Amazon, and used a female to female F-Type connector to join the antenna to the booster. 

A VHS copy of Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island was the test movie. Are you kidding me? This works? (The picture looks better in person.) 

So, I'm in my basement with a large screen TV across from me, but instead of using it, I'm watching a DVD of Freejack on a 2.3 inch screen. 

Does that make any sense? No.

Is it fun? Yes.

I'm going to count this as a win.

Faces From the Weekend

Daphne and I had our first date night since last October. Instead of going out for an "adult" dinner, we  drove five miles to Grimes to check out the Old School Pinball and Arcade. It just opened.

(picture taken from arcadeheros.com)

I counted almost 30 classic video games, but apparently they have about 20 more games they can rotate into the room. I was in junior high during the height of the arcade's popularity (1980-81), so I revisited a few old friends like Galaga, Millipede, and Turbo. But really we were there to play pinball.

Luckily, we didn't have to bring a bag of quarters. All the machines are set for free play. You just pay a flat fee for a wristband, and you can come and go as you please all day long and play whatever you want. The only exception is a few premium pinball machines in a back room require money - their earnings go towards buying more premium machines. The Wizard of Oz premium game was quite the stunner to see and play.

Since it was the weekend, the cost of a wristband was $13.50 per adult. When you consider the average cost of playing a modern pinball machine is 50 or 75 cents per play, the cost is quite reasonable. Daphne estimated she played about 60 games of pinball.

We ate dinner in the neighboring Mustang Grill. I ordered a Mustang Burger that was topped with bacon, a fried egg, and peanut butter. I was about to take a picture of my meal when I checked my "new" Casio watch, and my heart sank.

It was broken!

The top part of it's frame had broken off. Dang it! I looked around the floor of the restaurant, but I knew it was no use. I wouldn't know where to begin to look, and I'd never find it now. My watch was ruined, and I was crushed.

And I was right; I never did find the piece that had broken off.

Instead, Daphne found it for me. It was on the bedspread back home. Yea! Thanks, Daph!

I tried using the super glue that we had in our kitchen's junk drawer, but after curing overnight, the piece popped right off again. I wasn't sure how to securely attach it, but then I remembered Tim Arnold's list of things not to do to a pinball machine. 

Here's tip #15: Cheap Super Glue is no bargain!

I use Super Glue a lot! The only one worth anything is Borden's Krazy Glue in the tube! The pen is worthless! Cyanide glue will hurt your eyes... Same goes for tape! Scotch # 33 or 35 is the only kind to use! 

I bought Krazy Glue at Office Depot, and it seems to be doing a much better job. When you research a new hobby, you just never know what you'll learn or where it will come in handy

On Sunday we headed down to the Wells Fargo Arena for Disney Jr. Live on Tour! The Pirate and Princess Adventure. A good friend of the family gave us tickets. 

Char was really excited to see Sophia the First, but I believe she secretly enjoyed the pirate adventure more. But above all, what she talked about most was wanting to buy cotton candy.

If you invented wet wipes, I'd like to offer you my thanks.

If you invented the 25 minute intermission, I'd like to offer you something else.

I'm Done With You, PAL

Except for a little oil and a few minutes with a whetstone, my work on the PAL pocketknife is complete. Considering what it looked like when I found it, I'm pretty happy with the results.

The only problem with cleaning an open knife in the brass tumbler was that the can opener tool vibrated a tiny hole in the side of the tumbler's housing, but a strip of duct tape fixed that.

I understand that cleaning up rusty junk isn't everybody's idea of a good time, but I sure get a kick out of it. Time to find something else to work on.

Rusty PAL

Helping Out a PAL: One Week Later

Using the brass tumbler is so easy. I've never cleaned anything with such a "hands off" technique. I turn on the tumbler when I get home from work, and I turn it off when I leave with Char in the morning. Here's some before and after shots of the pocket knife I bought at the thrift store.

Before

After

To be honest, I did use the grinder's wire brush to remove some of the heavy rust on the bottom.  The walnut shells weren't putting much of a dent in those areas.

Before

After

Before

After

The rust on the blades is going to require some extra work. I'm going to use some steel wool. I'll begin with grade 0 and some oil, and work my through grades 00 and 000.  Then the tumbler will polish what's left.

I don't know what I'll do with my PAL when he's done, but life is about the journey, not the destination.

Helping Out a PAL

I found this pocket knife at the thrift store last night. It's in pretty sad shape, but I enjoy cleaning up old stuff like this. Besides, a guy can't have enough pals.

I usually attack rusted metal with my grinder's wire wheel, but sometimes that hand is too heavy. The rust is removed, but it leaves the surface in a brushed, grey tone. I was wondering how good of a job my brass shell tumbler could do. 

The bolster was so crusty I would have broken off my fingernails if I tried to force the blades open.

Instead of self-injury, I turned to Kroil. The stuff is pretty awesome.

After a 15 minute soak, the blades opened up. You can see how rusted they are.

I filled my tumbler with the crushed walnut shells I bought at Petco, tossed in the knife, and squirted in a bit of Flitz metal polish. 

Now all I have to do is turn it on.

I ran the tumbler all night, and this morning I checked to see how the knife was doing.

We're not there, yet, but you can see some progress. My plan is to run the tumbler for a few more nights, and I'll check what it looks like each morning.

The tumbler did a great job on my pinball parts, so I'm curious how much help it will give my pal.