General Stuff(tm)

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stephen_usher
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Re: General Stuff(tm)

Post by stephen_usher »

And this afternoon, utter failure to put up some shelves.

The plasterboard fixings I bought are pants and just rip up the board and don't fix and every screw I have is either slightly too short or slightly too long to fix the brackets to the shelves.

Total fail.
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: General Stuff(tm)

Post by rubber_jonnie »

stephen_usher wrote: 31 Jul 2023 16:38 And this afternoon, utter failure to put up some shelves.

The plasterboard fixings I bought are pants and just rip up the board and don't fix and every screw I have is either slightly too short or slightly too long to fix the brackets to the shelves.

Total fail.
That's rubbish, I do hate plasterboard for installing things like shelves. I just had to reinstall our Dyson charger as it pulled off the (Plasterboard) wall of our cupboard.

I use the things that look like a giant screw and screw into the plasterboard, but they have their limitations.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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stephen_usher
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Re: General Stuff(tm)

Post by stephen_usher »

Yeah. This plasterboard seems particularly soft. I think I'm going to have to get some butterfly wall thingies and hope the gap behind the board is deep enough as they just used blobs of goo to stick the board to the wall rather than wooden battens.

The big screw things I used just tunnelled straight through and spun as soon as the screw went into them.
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
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stephen_usher
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Re: General Stuff(tm)

Post by stephen_usher »

And I'm getting nowhere.

Bought new fixings but the space behind the board is too shallow to allow it in properly. Managed to bodge that with a hammer and now the machine screw is too short to get to the thread when trying to fix the shelf rail! I don't have any M5 machine screws, especially not that length so I'm back to square one.
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
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stephen_usher
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Re: General Stuff(tm)

Post by stephen_usher »

Finally got the shelves up. The 50mm M5 machine screws were just long enough and drilling into the block behind the plasterboard to give clearance for the fixing worked too.

IMG_3247.JPG

Now to start populating it properly with the bench power supply, oscilloscope, etc. I can also put the soldering/rework station onto the bench permanently.

The cork for the railway baseboard tops will be arriving today and hopefully the framing timer and first lot of track will arrive tomorrow.
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Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: General Stuff(tm)

Post by rubber_jonnie »

stephen_usher wrote: 01 Aug 2023 12:08 Finally got the shelves up. The 50mm M5 machine screws were just long enough and drilling into the block behind the plasterboard to give clearance for the fixing worked too.


IMG_3247.JPG


Now to start populating it properly with the bench power supply, oscilloscope, etc. I can also put the soldering/rework station onto the bench permanently.

The cork for the railway baseboard tops will be arriving today and hopefully the framing timer and first lot of track will arrive tomorrow.
:girldance: :girldance: :girldance:
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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stephen_usher
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Re: General Stuff(tm)

Post by stephen_usher »

Starting to get the workshop area set up...

IMG_3249.jpeg
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Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
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stephen_usher
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Posts: 7376
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Re: General Stuff(tm)

Post by stephen_usher »

Decided to swap the Hantek 'scope with the Tektronix and see how I get on with it.

Also "had" to test my Dad's PS3 to see if Gran Tourismo 5 still worked. ;-)

IMG_3250.jpeg
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Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
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JezC
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Re: General Stuff(tm)

Post by JezC »

@stephen_usher That looks like quite a nice Tektronix scope!
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stephen_usher
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Re: General Stuff(tm)

Post by stephen_usher »

Yeah it’s an MS0 4054. It was given to me dead. A grounding spring had found its way into the power supply. Managed to replace the PSU with a Meanwell equivalent and just about get the case shut.
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.

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