Day One: Purchased via CL ($60  + 3 beers)  Schwinn World Sport 63cm circa 1980

-Removed Harley low rider bars (bent)
-Removed rear brakes (no room on new bars)

+1 new inner tube (rear).
+Added upside down Bianchi road bars

Rode down Telgraph Ave. Great success!

The finished product

I set out to build a simple, cheap workbench for my audio project.   I found some simple workbench plans, which I modified for length, height and width.  I sketch everything out quickly and tabulated the sizes I would need and set off to Home Depot.  The best bargain of the day is that Home Depot will cut all of your lumber to size – a huge timesaver for me, especially since I don’t own a powersaw.

In total, build time was about 1-2 hours.  I really took my time – I think if you’re experienced and focus you could do it in about 30 minutes.  Alternatively, you could paint it as well to finish it off, but I think I’ll keep the ‘natural’ look.

Materials:

(7) 2″ x 4″ @ $2.30 each = ~$16
(1) 8′x6′ OSB Board = $9
(1) Box of 2.5″ screws = $5
(1) Ikea ‘Franklin’ 29″ Stool = $29

Total cost:  $59

Build progress pictures after the break.

DIY Workbench Supplies

The back of the Workbench

Using a clamp to hold the corner in place temporarily.

Just missing the top and sides

Almost done

Complete with OSB top

Canon SD300 Bicycle Mount

Much later than originally planned, but I got the Canon SD300 mounted to the bike.  It wasn’t actually the mounting that held me up, but rather the time lapse software.  I’m using 3rd party software called CHKD for the Canon, which allows custom scripts to be uploaded.  The script that I’m interested in is a time lapse script.  Basically, I can set it to take a picture every second (or 2, 3, 4 seconds) for the duration of my ride.  Then, using software, I can stitch all the images back together into a sort of a movie.

But, back to the mount.  It’s a simple as it gets.  A cheap reflector mount (free actually, from the local bike shop) secured to the handle bars with a bolt sticking up through it into the camera’s tripod mount.  There’s a few more pics of it after the break.

Bike Movie from chad cheverier on Vimeo.

The free trunk after a little work.

Ever since I scored some great vintage camera gear the other week, I’ve been keeping my eye on the Craigsist free section in Marin for any potential finds, and today I came up lucky.  It was advertised just as ‘Old Steamer Trunk’.  No picture, no further description.  Just a phone number, which I called within 8 minutes of the ad being posted.  I was already the 2nd person to call, but they weren’t able to pick up the trunk right away.  Just my luck – so off to San Rafael (just 5 miles up the road).

The trunk was definately cool looking, huge and dusty.  A bonus though – it included the key to the lock.  I was able to fit it in the Saab without problems, thanks to the fact that is has the roofless option.  The ulitity of this car (1993 Saab 900 Convertible) is suprising.

So, I got the trunk home, cleaned it off with a wet rag, rubbed some furniture polish on it, then some wax and put it in the living room.  Above is the ‘after’ pic, here’s the ‘before’.

Trunk in the Saab

The offending capacitors on the B&W 600 speaker.

I bought some great (I thought) speakers at a thrift shop on Valencia in San Francisco the other day.  Amidst all the usual crap Sanyo and Matsui plastic junk, I spotted some all black speakers on the bottom shelf with the B&W badge.  Knowing that they make a quality speakers, I overlooked the holes in the speaker grill and the bruised corners and took them the checkout to pay my $25 finders fee.

They felt nice and heavy, and when I plugged them into my Beomaster 1900 amp, they sounded pretty good.  Until I moved the balance control over to the left speaker.  All mids and lows, but no highs.  I removed the grill and confirmed my suspicion – the tweeter wasn’t working.  I opened up the speaker and, woah, just a loose wire.  The red wire wasn’t connected at all, so I connected it and waited for victory.  But it didn’t come, still nothing out of the tweeter.

All the blue caps will be replaced.

So I opened up the speaker again and took out all the soundproofing.  I looked at the connection box, and spotted the problem.  The capacitor had a white ooze all over it, and the plastic underneath it was melted.  It seemed to me that, in audio nerd speak, ‘the caps were blown’.

After a little consulting at AudioKarma.com a friendly audio expert reccmmended some new caps for me.

Since the 2.2 ohm 5W resistor was in the trouble zone, I would just replace it. The issue looks like it was caused by the resistor getting too hot.
If you want to, you can replace the 2.2 ohm resistor with a single Mills 2 ohm resistor, rather than 2 resistors to get an exact value, I didn’t know how anal you are about getting things perfect (I am)

Okay, so order two of these http://www.parts-express.com/pe/psho…Number=027-242
two of these
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/psho…Number=027-238
and two of these
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/psho…Number=027-244
and two of these
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show…rtnumber=005-2

So, there you have it, my next project.  Stay tuned.

The wonderful Bang and Olufsen RL60 Speakers

I just bought some Bang and Olufsen Redline 60 speakers from someone in Oakland using Craiglist to replace the tinny, hollow sounding Sony computer speakers next to my PC monitor.  They came with a Beomaster 5000 amplifier and a non-working B&O remote control the size and weight of a longer Tom Clancy paperback.  It seemed like a pretty good deal for $150 and an hour and half of driving.  Not to mention that I had spent all week bargaining him down from his $275 asking price.

I tried them out at his loft in a bad part of Oakland and they sounded good.  Just a weird clunking sound when I moved the speaker, which the owner explained was a metal plate.  I wasnt’ sure what he meant, but they sounded good and it was a good price.  I got the system down the stairs and into the Saab amid some shifty characters lurking in this industrial part of Oakland.

A 50 minute drive home, and I’m still feeling pretty good about the purchase.  Naturally, the first thing I do when I get them inside is to take them apart to find the source of the clunk.  I discover a loose oval shaped metal place, and a lot of very old brown foam floating around in the speaker’s chassis.

A quick Google and I discover the Beoword.org forums.  It turns out the engineers at Bang and Olufsen employed an ABR (Auxillary Base Radiator) when they designed this first version of the speaker.  Over time (20+ years now) the foam holding the ABR together disintegrates and prevents the ABR from working.

The project: Find some replacement foam, stick it on to the metal pieces of the ABR and put the speaker back together.

The conclusion: A huge improvement.  I’ve replaced the ABR foam on 1 of the 2 speakers and the difference is very noticeable.   I think I have the process down to about 45 minutes for the next one, exlcuding the time it take the glue to dry.

Here’s a picture of the new ABR in place, read on for  the full process.

Replacement foam in place on the RL60, ready for reasembly.

Here’s the finished result, ready for reassembly.  Click below to see the entire process in detail and photos.

Step One:

Take the speaker apart.  There are 3 screws on each side, 2 for the straps and 3 further screws within the connections assembly.  Be careful with the straps, they may be brittle but should come off easily enough with a little care.

The Bang and Olufsen Redline 60 with ABR

Step Two:

Remove the screws and straps holding the two halves together.  Below, the screw holding the wedge which secures 1 of the 2 straps.

The screws behind the B & O Redline 60 speaker

Step Three:

Don’t forget the screw just behind the connections!

Close up of the connections

Step Four:

The inside of the RL60 speaker.  On the right you can see the Auxiliary Base Radiator (ABR) which is in rough shape.  The foam holding the inside (oval) metal piece to the outer loop had disintegrated.  This is the part we’re going to remove, and refoam.  The large oval metal piece was clunking around in the speaker and would have eventually come through the outer fabric, not to mention the huge hole hindering the speaker’s acoustic design.

Inside the RL60 speaker. What's left of the ABR on the right.

Step Five:

Remove the ABR by unscrewing the screw on the outer metal loop.  The inner piece is loose and can be carefully removed.

A close up of the Auxillary Base Radiator on the RL60

Step Six: Close up of the foam material used.  You’ll need to find a replacement as close as possible to this material.

The foam material used by B&O for the RL60

Step Seven: Disintegrating foam after 20+ years of use.  I used carpet underlay as a replacement found at Home Depot.

The foam has completely disintegrated and is very brittle after 20+ years.

Step Eight: Remove and clean the foam and glue from the two pieces of the ABR.  I used a washing up brush and a knife for the glue.

The two metal pieces of the ABR removed and cleaned up.

Step Nine: Use the outer ABR piece as a template on your replacement foam and cut.

The replacement foam read to be cut

Step Ten: Cut and ready to go.  I doubled up on the underlay material to gain thickness.

Replacement foam, ready to go.

Step Eleven: Glue the replacement foam to both metal ABR pieces being careful to space the inside piece equidistant from the outer ring on both sides, top and bottom.  I used Liquid Nails to glue the foam underlay material to the metal.

Replacement foam glued to the metal ABR pieces with Liquid Nails

Step Twelve:

Close up of the ABR with replacement foam.

Step Thirteen: Admiring the speaker, and my work.

A view of the speaker half of the RL60 by B&O

Step Fourteen: Replace the insulting foam of the RL60 speaker and screw the back half back on.  You’re done!

Replace the insulating foam, and screw the back half back on.