Author: doug

Re-purposing gutters

Long ago, somebody gave me a couple of pieces of plastic gutter. Then at a job I supervised, a delivery included excess downspout. So I bought a few more pieces and put a gutter on our barbacoa.

The problem is, I didn’t do a very good job and the fascia board was not in good shape.

As you can see.

I had another long, narrow board left over from a remodel, so I installed it. I have enough of the originals to rip a piece to fit the gap. The fascia boards should cover the rafter ends, but hey: not perfect, but not bad.

One of today’s projects was reinstalling the cutter as a planter. The 2% grade is probably overkill, but the way I’ve installed it with wire, that is easily adjustable. Note how the downspout is cut perfectly to rest on the tile zócalo. I did not cut any pipe. That just happened.

A visit from the neighbors’cat

The four month old Siamese from the minimercado next door (other side of wall) has become insoportable, according to Guillermina, the neighbor who runs it.

But we were delighted when it visited the other evening. The dogs were inside (needless to say), and the cat put its front paws on the low bay window sill to be nose to nose with Mocha the dog, who was puzzled, to say the least.

Nice to have cat energy around again. It’s been a few years.

Walking…

I took my bike to get a tuneup, and as I walked by wa amazed by seeing so many things that I would miss, especially driving, but even on a bicycle. Like this homemade two-story ladder.

And this monstrosity in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Would you want that next door?

Or this, ten metes from your front door?

I’ve seen this an another house, near the defunct town zoo. Imagine a contractor putting a plaque with his name on your house!

Or naming your house “Kanguro.” Misspelling of Kangoru?

Can’t imagine how many times I’ve past this abandoned basketball backboard without ever seeing it.

And there, that contractor again….

Big snake in the road

This critter appeared today, crossing our sometimes-very-busy street. When I stomped my foot behind him to encourage him to move, he instead raised his head like a cobra. But then he resumed his way across the street and into the ditch. I stood guard in case yet another delivery truck came along for the mini-market next door.

It’s called Culebra de Peñarol, because that futbol team’s colors are black and yellow.

Its scientific name is Liophis poecilogyrus sublineatus. It grows to about 70 cm in length, and this one was about that. It lives in every departamento in Uruguay, and is not endangered in any way, though this individual was for a couple of minutes.

Is it poisonous? you ask. I don´t know. Maybe we should eat one to find out? Oh, you mean venemous? It is not listed as one of the four dangerous species of snakes in Uruguay. However, I did run across an account of someone who got bitten by one.

You can read about the incident here if you care.

TL;DR: you probably don’t want to get bitten by one.

Armature balancing and worm gear

I got back to the circular saw tear down which left off with a worm gear assembly that I couldn’t get apart. A couple weeks later I remember it, try again and it slides out like it’s greased. Because it is.

It turns out the worm gear reduces the rotation speed by a factor of six, meaning the motor itself was spinning at 27,000 RPM. Yikes!

That solved, another question remains: what are all the little indents in the armature for?

UPDATE: I posted this question on ElectricalEngineering on Reddit, speculating they had to do with balancing. Yes, I learned, they are balancing cuts. The post has been viewed over 1,300 time in 24 hours.