Got something cool? Non-shaving Acquisitions Thread

Well just after Christmas I order stuff for a whole range of projects. This one arrived today -

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What is it? Well it replaces this old thing -

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with this (blade for scale) -

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The manufacturer is called Konnected and they have replacement boards like this or interface ones to act in parallel with the existing system. Mine is WiFi but you can also get PoE.

My system was an old Ness D8x from when we had the house built in 2009. Frankly, we never turned it on, who wants cranky neighbours with a siren blaring.

Now I get alerts on my phone when the motion detectors are tripped. I can manually activate the siren or have it automated. At least now I will know if there are issues!

I think it is pretty cool!

EDIT: Decided to make a thread on Home Automation as a result.
 
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Multiple acquisitions here.

First off is the acquisition of space... this nook in my basement guest room was perfect for mounting the guitars and placing the amplifiers out of the way. Room instantly felt bigger. Angling the guitars however meant only 5 could be put up comfortably. The slat wall was purchased locally made and pre-cut to size, with guitar slatwall holders from a school supplies website at 1/4 the price of actual music shops.

Took me ages to ponder how to put the slatwall up, eventually I settled on a Hangman cabinet french cleat as there were only a couple of metal studs behind the plasterboard. The wall cleat was mounted with included Wall Dogs (also known as Wall Katts) which I were weary of at first; being just aggressively threaded screws, but thought what the heck and went at it. They definitely look like they hold up and were so much easier to install versus wall plugs or hollow wall anchors. And it’s a clean look with no drilling into the slat wall piece.

And as with most things tube-driven, louder is better; but with the guest room being quite small with lower ceiling; it meant playing loud wasn’t practical as I’d destroy my hearing eventually with all the bouncing sound. Also not helped with my recent predilection for 80s glam rock and hair metal.

And so next is the smaller Bugera V5 5w amplifier which was I read was muddy out of the box but bought anyway as it was at a good price. A new Celestion Eight 15 speaker, Genalex Gold Lion preamp tube and Mullard CV404 power tube later and it sounds amazing; warm, clear and 3 dimensional at lower volumes.

Lastly, a Sonos Play:5 to replace an older hifi tube amp and bookshelf speakers. Being in that corner nook meant the listening experience would be somewhat compromised (yes I’m one of those people lol). The clarity of this little thing is really amazing. The biggest reason I went Sonos was the Trueplay tuning, where with the Sonos app on your phone you walk around the room while the unit plays sounds and your phone microphone listens, really made a difference.
 
neongas said:
322775045-1650278505403032-432732566669105150-n.jpg

Multiple acquisitions here.

First off is the acquisition of space... this nook in my basement guest room was perfect for mounting the guitars and placing the amplifiers out of the way. Room instantly felt bigger. Angling the guitars however meant only 5 could be put up comfortably. The slat wall was purchased locally made and pre-cut to size, with guitar slatwall holders from a school supplies website at 1/4 the price of actual music shops.

Took me ages to ponder how to put the slatwall up, eventually I settled on a Hangman cabinet french cleat as there were only a couple of metal studs behind the plasterboard. The wall cleat was mounted with included Wall Dogs (also known as Wall Katts) which I were weary of at first; being just aggressively threaded screws, but thought what the heck and went at it. They definitely look like they hold up and were so much easier to install versus wall plugs or hollow wall anchors. And it’s a clean look with no drilling into the slat wall piece.

And as with most things tube-driven, louder is better; but with the guest room being quite small with lower ceiling; it meant playing loud wasn’t practical as I’d destroy my hearing eventually with all the bouncing sound. Also not helped with my recent predilection for 80s glam rock and hair metal.

And so next is the smaller Bugera V5 5w amplifier which was I read was muddy out of the box but bought anyway as it was at a good price. A new Celestion Eight 15 speaker, Genalex Gold Lion preamp tube and Mullard CV404 power tube later and it sounds amazing; warm, clear and 3 dimensional at lower volumes.

Lastly, a Sonos Play:5 to replace an older hifi tube amp and bookshelf speakers. Being in that corner nook meant the listening experience would be somewhat compromised (yes I’m one of those people lol). The clarity of this little thing is really amazing. The biggest reason I went Sonos was the Trueplay tuning, where with the Sonos app on your phone you walk around the room while the unit plays sounds and your phone microphone listens, really made a difference.
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Where’s your guard dog? Who loves to howl and watching you playing the guitar
 
I finally bought myself an Irvin jacket that I've been wanting for years. These were used by the RAF flight crews during WWII.

Years ago, my father in law was going to give me a real one that was used by his brother who flew Lancaster bombers over Germany. Unfortunately one of his sons threw it out because his had a little mould on the leather.

This ones a replica but is still extremely warm.

https://imgur.com/a/OO267lL
 
Nanook said:
...
Years ago, my father in law was going to give me a real one that was used by his brother who flew Lancaster bombers over Germany. Unfortunately one of his sons threw it out because his had a little mould on the leather.
...
Click to expand...

Couldn't you just scream sometimes ...
 
Today I found the need to shell out for one of these...
LS30JTTBD_3_a2c0e0ff-c487-4c29-a51b-b3370825a668_540x.jpg

A 30-ton log splitter from Miller's Falls. My last one (a bit smaller) broke, but I got a good trade-in nonetheless. Beats hell out of trying to split our firewood by hand. Living on the side of a mountain, trees grow up with a choppy corkscrew grain that requires serious work with sledgehammers and wedges to split.
 
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Gargravarr said:
Today I found the need to shell out for one of these...
LS30JTTBD_3_a2c0e0ff-c487-4c29-a51b-b3370825a668_540x.jpg

A 30-ton log splitter from Miller's Falls. My last one (a bit smaller) broke, but I got a good trade-in nonetheless. Beats hell out of trying to split our firewood by hand. Living on the side of a mountain, trees grow up with a choppy corkscrew grain that requires serious work with sledgehammers and wedges to split.
Click to expand...
Getting too old to be a lumberjack log splitter at home... shall I say old fart Tassie Lumberjack
 
Gargravarr said:
Today I found the need to shell out for one of these...
LS30JTTBD_3_a2c0e0ff-c487-4c29-a51b-b3370825a668_540x.jpg

A 30-ton log splitter from Miller's Falls. My last one (a bit smaller) broke, but I got a good trade-in nonetheless. Beats hell out of trying to split our firewood by hand. Living on the side of a mountain, trees grow up with a choppy corkscrew grain that requires serious work with sledgehammers and wedges to split.
Click to expand...
They're a good unit, I've got the 40 ton one had it for 4 years with zero issues. I get some ugly wood if it doesn't split it just explodes.
 
Gargravarr said:
Today I found the need to shell out for one of these...
LS30JTTBD_3_a2c0e0ff-c487-4c29-a51b-b3370825a668_540x.jpg

A 30-ton log splitter from Miller's Falls. My last one (a bit smaller) broke, but I got a good trade-in nonetheless. Beats hell out of trying to split our firewood by hand. Living on the side of a mountain, trees grow up with a choppy corkscrew grain that requires serious work with sledgehammers and wedges to split.
Click to expand...
I've got an 8 ton one. Bloody brilliant (y)

It's nearly that time of year to break it out.
 
The last one I had was the 25 ton model with a Honda donk, and there was NOTHING it would not split, and a gnarly old whitegum is a challenge for any machine. We have those up to 48" across, and the machine is in heavy use all year round. This machine has a B&S motor (the poor man's Honda) so I hope it lasts...
 
Gargravarr said:
The last one I had was the 25 ton model with a Honda donk, and there was NOTHING it would not split, and a gnarly old whitegum is a challenge for any machine. We have those up to 48" across, and the machine is in heavy use all year round. This machine has a B&S motor (the poor man's Honda) so I hope it lasts...
Click to expand...
I've only had a couple of logs that mine's had trouble with. I don't mind since it was a cheapy and I don't need anything bigger.

I'll get a 1 square meter of hardwood delivered then split them in half again to double it. That will get me though the winter as my fire heats up my living room pretty quickly.
 
Don't move to Canberra guys - Ban all new wood heater installations and replace the rest to improve Canberra air quality: report

An independent report into the ACT’s wood heater policy has recommended the removal of old heaters and banning the installation of new ones.

Sustainability and Environments Commissioner Sophie Lewis said her recommendations reflected an “urgent need” to build on the Bushfire Smoke and Air Quality Strategy to protect Canberrans from poor air quality caused by wood heater smoke.

“While some estimates suggest that less than 5 per cent of Canberra households rely on wood as their primary source of heating, wood heaters account for a large fraction of Canberra’s fine particle air pollution in winter months,” she wrote in the report’s foreword.

Commissioner Lewis noted wood heater smoke was associated with adverse respiratory and cardiovascular outcomes, with Canberrans largely unable to protect themselves from the impacts.
 
Mark1966 said:
Don't move to Canberra guys - Ban all new wood heater installations and replace the rest to improve Canberra air quality: report

An independent report into the ACT’s wood heater policy has recommended the removal of old heaters and banning the installation of new ones.

Sustainability and Environments Commissioner Sophie Lewis said her recommendations reflected an “urgent need” to build on the Bushfire Smoke and Air Quality Strategy to protect Canberrans from poor air quality caused by wood heater smoke.

“While some estimates suggest that less than 5 per cent of Canberra households rely on wood as their primary source of heating, wood heaters account for a large fraction of Canberra’s fine particle air pollution in winter months,” she wrote in the report’s foreword.

Commissioner Lewis noted wood heater smoke was associated with adverse respiratory and cardiovascular outcomes, with Canberrans largely unable to protect themselves from the impacts.
Click to expand...
I think this is going to happen everywhere as a lot more councils are looking at banning new wood fired heaters.

They will be able to ban new installations but I think they'd be pushing s*&t uphill to have existing ones removed.
 
Mark1966 said:
Don't move to Canberra guys - Ban all new wood heater installations and replace the rest to improve Canberra air quality: report

An independent report into the ACT’s wood heater policy has recommended the removal of old heaters and banning the installation of new ones.

Sustainability and Environments Commissioner Sophie Lewis said her recommendations reflected an “urgent need” to build on the Bushfire Smoke and Air Quality Strategy to protect Canberrans from poor air quality caused by wood heater smoke.

“While some estimates suggest that less than 5 per cent of Canberra households rely on wood as their primary source of heating, wood heaters account for a large fraction of Canberra’s fine particle air pollution in winter months,” she wrote in the report’s foreword.

Commissioner Lewis noted wood heater smoke was associated with adverse respiratory and cardiovascular outcomes, with Canberrans largely unable to protect themselves from the impacts.
Click to expand...
Down here, the issue is different. Any particulates get blasted away by our gales, and on a property this size it's easy to be carbon neutral, since if I leave a log lying on the forest floor, it oxidises to CO2 anyway, so I might as well burn it. If we were to electrify all of our heating needs, we would need a vastly larger off-grid power supply than we can currently afford.
 
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