Jekyll2020-10-18T12:55:53+02:00http://localhost:4000/feed.xmlveni. vidi. verificavi.Got curious about something I mentioned or something you always wanted to know? Feel free to contact me so that we can have a chat.Moritz PflanzerFirst woodturning experience2020-10-17T20:10:00+02:002020-10-17T20:10:00+02:00http://localhost:4000/diy/2020/10/17/first-woodturning-experience<p>Despite quite some years of wood working experience I so far never had the chance to try woodturning. But this August the time finally had come and I attended a 2 day beginners course. The course covered spindle as well as bowl turning and handling the most common tools and techniques. For someone living in the Zurich area I can highly recommend the courses of <a href="https://www.drechselwerk.ch/kurse/">Andreas Gerig at his Drechselwerk</a> shop.</p>
<p>I didn’t start the course with any expectations and did put much thought into what objects I wanted to turn. So when it was time to pick something I thought a candle holder might be nice. Even though I have no real use for it it would have been a nice gift for someone else. During the lunch break, after having collected some first experience in the morning, I was wondering what I could make instead of a candle holder. The next best idea that came to my mind where egg pots. But then again: I don’t have any use for them either. But how about big egg pots…I mean really big. Goblet size big! Yes, now I knew what I wanted to be my project. I asked Andres if that would be a feasible project and after clarifiyng a few details it was decided. Not exactly an beginner project but I was confident I could handle it. In the morning I already noticed that woodturning turned out to be easier than I expected. ;-)</p>
<p>I have to say the biggest challenge then was to figure out and draw the shape of the goblet. Luckily the rest of the day was spent with preparation of the wood and I had the whole evening to work on the shape. True to my background as software guy I ended up refining the design on the computer and printed it in the desired size. The next day I started working on the goblet and everything was going acording to plan without any bigger issues. Until hooked up with the tool during just a little moment where the concetration slipped. That took out a big chunk of wood. However, nothing that cannot be fixed when working with wood and in the end I think noone is now able to where it happend. Nevertheless I was really glad when the goblet was finally ready for finishing. As there was still a bit of time left in the afternoon I also made a small bowl for snacks or similar. After the previous work that was a rather relaxing task and no further slipups happend.</p>
<p>The goblet is made out of mapple and the bowl is walnut.</p>
<p>A wood lathe is still not the first tool I’m missing in my own work shop. But since having done the course I already had a couple of situations where it could have been handy to have one. Maybe on day when I have more space I’ll get one too.</p>Moritz PflanzerDespite quite some years of wood working experience I so far never had the chance to try woodturning. But this August the time finally had come and I attended a 2 day beginners course. The course covered spindle as well as bowl turning and handling the most common tools and techniques. For someone living in the Zurich area I can highly recommend the courses of Andreas Gerig at his Drechselwerk shop.Star Frame Visualizer2020-10-08T16:48:00+02:002020-10-08T16:48:00+02:00http://localhost:4000/software/2020/10/08/star-frame-visualizer<p>Now that the days are getting shorter and colder Christmas preparations are
becoming more pressing. Well kind of…</p>
<p>Anyway, since I recently had to calculate the dimensions for a star shaped
wooden frame I quickly wrote a small HTML+JS tool to visualize how the
proportions would look like. There are probably another zillion of websites
doing the exact same. But nevertheless I uploaded it to Github in case <em>my</em>
script is exactly <em>the one</em> someone is looking for:
<a href="https://github.com/mpflanzer/Star-Frame-Visualizer">https://github.com/mpflanzer/Star-Frame-Visualizer</a>.
And via Github Pages the HTML can directly be used from the repository which is
great for a <strong><a href="https://mpflanzer.github.io/Star-Frame-Visualizer">live demo</a></strong>.
Even better, for all the lazy people out there I also create a new subdomain
which forwards to the Github demo:
<a href="http://sfv.pflanzer.eu">http://sfv.pflanzer.eu</a></p>
<p><img src="https://github.com/mpflanzer/Star-Frame-Visualizer/raw/master/full.png" alt="Full view" /></p>Moritz PflanzerNow that the days are getting shorter and colder Christmas preparations are becoming more pressing. Well kind of…Blue Phoenix2020-08-01T16:48:00+02:002020-08-01T16:48:00+02:00http://localhost:4000/rc-models/2020/08/01/blue-phoenix<p>First, let me get the obvious out of the way: Despite its name mine is not
blue. But trust me that doesn’t affect the flight performance at all. ;-)</p>
<p>The model was originally produced and sold by a Swedish company called
“<a href="http://www.hobbytra.se/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=120&category_id=26&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1&vmcchk=1&Itemid=1">Hobbyträ</a>”.
The company apparently went bankrupt a couple of years ago. It was sold as a
pure glider with no motor. Later “Der himmlische Höllein” offered the kit and
included instructions how to electrify the model. This is most likely the
version I now have. Unfortunately Höllein is also stopped selling it by now.</p>
<p>The Blue Phoenix might be the most boring plane you can imagine. Its gliding
angle is phenomenal and you can make it super slow without stalling it. It’s
simply the perfect companion for an relaxed evening. But be sure to bring a
chair. On a good day with my current setup flight times around one hour are a
given. It is actually so good at picking up thermals that it can get difficult
to bring it back down and not let it rise beyond visibility. Here its one
drawback becomes important. It is not designed to be flown fast.</p>
<p>The last point is also the reason why I will add in spoilers to allow for easy and
safe descent even in strong thermals. Otherwise no further modifications are
planned. Because of its age (just slightly younger than myself) the model has
been through many cycles of flying, crashing and repair. Still the flight
performance didn’t degrade. And being made out of balsa wood repairs are easy
to do and missing or broken parts can be re-cut by hand. The only visible
artefact of the many years of service is the glass fiber re-enforced nose. Just
gives a better feeling if something more then epoxy is holding all the bits and
pieces together. :D</p>
<p>After the first few flights I noticed the motor brake of the ESC is to weak to
stop the propeller. I might need to swap the ESC for a different one.</p>
<p><strong>If you still have the original plan for the “Blue Phoenix” I’m very much interested in getting access to it. The one I have has worn out over time and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get accurate measurement from it. So please get in touch</strong></p>
<h2 id="characteristics">Characteristics</h2>
<table class="data_sheet">
<tr>
<th>Material</th>
<td>Wood</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Wingspan</th>
<td>1990mm</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Length</th>
<td>1040mm</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Take-off weight</th>
<td>900g</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Channels</th>
<td>Elevator, rudder, throttle</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Motor and propeller</th>
<td>D-Power AL 3530-10* with 50mm aluminium middle section and Aeronaut 13.0x6.5 CAM Carbon<br /><em><small>*According to the manufacturer the motor is only rated for 20A continous and 25A burst current. With the above setup the maximum current is ~28A in static conditions.</small></em></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>ESC</th>
<td>Microzone MC 2-3S 30A</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Receiver</th>
<td>Grauper GR-24 (2.4GHz)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Battery</th>
<td>LiPo 2S with 2800mAh (150g)</td>
</tr>
</table>Moritz PflanzerFirst, let me get the obvious out of the way: Despite its name mine is not blue. But trust me that doesn’t affect the flight performance at all. ;-)Bielefeld conspiracy2019-09-22T11:27:00+02:002019-09-22T11:27:00+02:00http://localhost:4000/humor/2019/09/22/bielefeld-conspiracy<p>Maybe you already heard about the so called “Bielefeld conspiracy”. In short,
it says that Bielefeld doesn’t really exists and is just a fabrication of
“THEM” to hide their doings. It all started in 1994 with a Usenet post<sup id="fnref:1" role="doc-noteref"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote">1</a></sup> of
Achim Held. If you never heard of it, bear with me. At the end of this post
you’ll get the gist.</p>
<p>To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the conspiracy this year, the Bielefeld
Marketing group organized the
<a href="http://www.bielefeldmillion.de">#Bielefeldmillion</a> competition.<sup id="fnref:2" role="doc-noteref"><a href="#fn:2" class="footnote">2</a></sup> They
challenged everyone to send them a proof that Bielefeld indeed does not
exist and promised one million Euros for the first to send a correct proof.
Proofing something that is (obviously) wrong (or not?) is in fact hard so they
felt pretty safe about their promise. And it seems like they were proved right.
According to them, none of the more than 2000 submissions included a successful proof that
Bielefeld doesn’t exist. Or do they belong to “THEM” and would have never
admitted that there was a correct proof? I guess we will never know but it’s
definitely adding more questions to the conspiracy.</p>
<p>With that many submissions they couldn’t publish all of them. But since I had
quite some fun in writing my “proof” I’d like to share it anyway. Maybe it will
also entertain someone else for a couple of minutes. And better I share my
gained knowledge about “THEM” before they find a way to let me disappear,
right? ;-) So following is my submission and at the end of the post there is a
PDF version for download.</p>
<h3 id="urgent-new-findings-about-bielefeld-complete-proof-will-follow-asap"><strong>URGENT: New findings about Bielefeld. Complete proof will follow ASAP.</strong></h3>
<p>While working on a formal “ad absurdum” proof that Bielefeld doesn’t exist I stumbled over some shocking information I feel I need to share before it’s too late. I’m absolutely sure that “SIE” already know about my findings and will do everything to prevent me from finishing my proof and publishing my results. Thus I’ll quickly send these preliminary results before I finish the complete proof. Please find below a summary of the latest and most important revelations about the city of Bielefeld.</p>
<p>I was pondering over the true meaning of the name “Bielefeld” when I made an astonishing discovery. By translating the city’s name into various languages, using different alphabets and numeric encodings I hoped to reveal new information about “SIE” which would finally lead to the definite proof of Bielefeld’s non-existence. Unfortunately, all of my attempts turned out to be dead ends. So when I finally looked at the name’s morse code representation my hopes of success reached rock bottom and I didn’t expect to find anything relevant anymore.
<img src="/images/bielefeld-conspiracy/Bielefeld.svg" alt="Bielefeld" width="65%" />
But wait, after removing all letter boundaries and regrouping the dits and dahs differently the code suddenly takes on a completely new meaning.
<img src="/images/bielefeld-conspiracy/Best have AI.svg" alt="BEST HAVE AI" width="65%" />
Funny, that’s a weird coincidence. But what if it’s actually no coincidence after all? Is it rather a bad joke that “SIE” fabricated into the myth around Bielefeld? After all, in the field of software development you hear about hidden easter eggs from time to time. Like the one in the Android OS where you have to tap the version number several times in a row to reveal a small animation or a mini game. So are “SIE” actually a computer program like Skynet and Bielefeld is just a modification in the Matrix which doesn’t exist in reality?</p>
<p>Before jumping to any conclusions I again went over the history of Bielefeld to see if I could find more puzzles or hidden information. Starting backward from the modern times, I finally arrived in 1214. The year Count Hermann supposedly founded the city. At that time, according to written records, the city’s name was “Biliuelde” rather than the modern “Bielefeld”. This time I directly started with writing it down in it’s morse code representation.
<img src="/images/bielefeld-conspiracy/Biliuelde.svg" alt="Biliuelde" width="65%" />
I quickly removed all inter-letter spacing and tried some different regroupings, until
<img src="/images/bielefeld-conspiracy/The AI set free.svg" alt="THE AI SET FREE" width="65%" />
Er…what?! I couldn’t believe it! After all this time of searching for information about the conspiracy apparently the name itself turned out to be the key to everything. It can’t be just another coincidence, right? But no, that’s impossible. The first mentioning of the term “AI” is dated back to 1956, so a long time after Bielefeld or rather “Biliuelde” had been founded. And not to forget that morse code itself was not invented before 1837.</p>
<p>To me it’s clear now. In 1214 when Biliuelde was founded “SIE” actually created a mighty artificial intelligence and hid their existence and doings behind what became later known as the Bielefeld conspiracy. But that’s not all: On top of their secret intrigues they felt save enough and mocked everyone by including hints first in the founding name and then later again when the city was renamed.</p>
<p>Achim Held already knew it 25 years ago. And now it’s my turn to spread the truth about the non-existence of Bielefeld in the real world and its sole purpose of keeping the people away from “SIE”. After I’ve sent out this message I’ll continue my work on the final proof. This new evidence adds valuable information to my already collected facts. I hope “SIE” haven’t noticed how close I’ve come to unveil their secret. I will send further updates as soon a…oh, not good. Not good at all! Need to leave. will hide more information at a safe place pleas elet everuvidy knwo abuot fniding beore its to ltae</p>
<h2 id="attachments">Attachments</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="/attachments/bielefeld-conspiracy/Bielefeld conspiracy.pdf">Bielefeld conspiracy</a></li>
</ul>
<div class="footnotes" role="doc-endnotes">
<ol>
<li id="fn:1" role="doc-endnote">
<p><a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/de.talk.bizarre/0mkmuJPW_2w/PIxNjg2BKyoJ">https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/de.talk.bizarre/0mkmuJPW_2w/PIxNjg2BKyoJ</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="reversefootnote" role="doc-backlink">↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:2" role="doc-endnote">
<p>In my opinion one of the best marketing campaigns I’ve seen so far <a href="#fnref:2" class="reversefootnote" role="doc-backlink">↩</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>Moritz PflanzerMaybe you already heard about the so called “Bielefeld conspiracy”. In short, it says that Bielefeld doesn’t really exists and is just a fabrication of “THEM” to hide their doings. It all started in 1994 with a Usenet post1 of Achim Held. If you never heard of it, bear with me. At the end of this post you’ll get the gist. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/de.talk.bizarre/0mkmuJPW_2w/PIxNjg2BKyoJ ↩Balcony flower box2019-08-11T12:57:00+02:002019-08-11T12:57:00+02:00http://localhost:4000/diy/2019/08/11/balcony-flower-box<p>Time to add some color to my balcony and support the local wildlife (I guess
that’s pretty much bees)! Though I already missed the nice weather in June I now
finally have to to build two flower boxes for my balcony.</p>
<p>As they will be exposed to the weather all year and I don’t plan to bring them
in over the winter I decided to make the plant pots out of some rather cheap T&G
cladding boards. Not the best quality and most of the time slightly bend. But
still if you glue seem well enough, plan and sand them you can get a nice enough
finish for some outdoor plant plots.</p>
<p>The bottom is slightly tilted and has a small gap towards one side of the pot.
That allows surplus water to run off easily. Other than that there not much
special about the boxes. I went for a corse and simple finger joint to connect
the sides. It makes a nice design and keeps the whole frame stable. To protect
the wood from the weather I coated it with an oil finish. That also gave the
pots some color. They turned out a bit too orange for my taste but I think over
time this will fade away some more. I’m not sure how long the wood will last but
for the price I paid in the end every thibg beyond a year is worth it.</p>
<h2 id="attachments">Attachments</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="/attachments/balcony-flower-box/Balcony flower box.stl">3D model (STL)</a></li>
<li><a href="/attachments/balcony-flower-box/Balcony flower box.pdf">2D drawing (PDF)</a></li>
</ul>Moritz PflanzerTime to add some color to my balcony and support the local wildlife (I guess that’s pretty much bees)! Though I already missed the nice weather in June I now finally have to to build two flower boxes for my balcony.Wing Wing Z-842019-06-10T12:57:00+02:002019-06-10T12:57:00+02:00http://localhost:4000/rc-models/2019/06/10/wing-wing-z84<h3 id="introduction">Introduction</h3>
<p>To accommodate for the fact that I don’t have a car I was looking for an easy
to transport plane. Additionally the plane should be Plug’n’Play<sup id="fnref:1" role="doc-noteref"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote">1</a></sup> so that it
wouldn’t be an issue to just fly a few batteries after work. As a bonus I was
looking for something which beginners could fly as well since some colleagues
were interested to come along the next time I was going to the field.</p>
<p>My plan A was to get the “Toro 900” since I had a good experience with it in
the past. Further, it would have been fairly compact, glides reasonably well,
but can also be flown in more of racing fashion. And of course, it is nearly
indestructible!<sup id="fnref:2" role="doc-noteref"><a href="#fn:2" class="footnote">2</a></sup> Unfortunately, the “Toro 900” is no longer being produced
and pretty much out of stock everywhere. Next option on my mental list was the
“<a href="https://www.multiplex-rc.de/produkte/214241-bk-xeno-uni">Multiplex Xeno
Uni</a>”. It’s big plus
was the foldable wing design which makes it perfect for being transported in a
backpack. My main concern was the price. The kit alone was about as much as I
had planned to spend on something that would be ready to fly.</p>
<p>Luckily, when I talked to a friend of mine about my plans he asked whether I
had checked on the “<a href="https://hobbyking.com/en_us/wing-wing-z-84-epo-845mm-kit.html">Wing Wing
Z-84</a>”. After
doing so I came to the conclusion that it was basically the Xeno Uni just in
cheap except that it didn’t offer the wing folding. But I quickly concluded
that it wouldn’t be to difficult to come up with a modification to make the
wings detachable.</p>
<h3 id="build-report">Build report</h3>
<p>As mentioned, to make the wings detachable I planned to make some modifications
to the assembly. So when I received the kit, instead of glueing in the supplied
CFK rod I used three pieces of CFK tube with an inner diameter matching that of
the rod. To prevent the wings from sliding off the rod I added some plywood
reinforcements under the wing that will hold two screws to secure the wings to
the body. Finally, I extend the winglets with some thin plywood so they would
slide onto the rod as well.</p>
<p>If build strictly according to instruction it should take more than half a day
to get the kit ready-to-fly. With my modifications it took slightly longer as I
had to cut a few pieces and when I started I didn’t have a clear picture of how
everything would work out in the end. Even so, after a day in the workshop the
only thing missing was the electronic. In general, the kit is dead simple to
build. The pictures in the manual show what to glue, the CoG is clearly
indicated and even some instructions on how to adjust the servos are provided.</p>
<h3 id="flight-report">Flight report</h3>
<p>Instead of the recommended 5x3” propeller I decided to go with a 7x4” as the motor I used was slightly lower in KV. 7” is really the maximum you can fit between the winglets. With the bigger propeller the motor is drawing more current. So instead of the recommend 10A ESC I stepped up to a 30A one. 20A might have been enough but I wanted to have some margin and a 30A ESC was anyway still lying around. Even with the stock setup a 10A seems to be slightly underrated.</p>
<p>With the battery I had some trouble to get the CoG right. The manufacturer recommends a 2S 1500mAh but I couldn’t get them in the right form factor. The longer the battery the heavier it has to be to balance the model. In the end I decided to go for 2S 2200mAh. With my bigger propeller the extra weight was not to critical and I might even get some extra flight time out of larger capacity.</p>
<p>At zero wind the model shows excellent gliding capabilities. It even catches some thermals. With stronger winds it is less stable but still well controllable. I even flew it with wind speeds around 3-4bft. I noticed that the ESC has trouble to brake the propeller when the wind is too strong are the model is getting a bit faster. But so far I didn’t run into any problem due to that. If it gets to annoying I might change to a 6” propeller. That should have less drag and will still be enough for decent flight performance. Currently, about 50% thrust is enough to gain altitude and at full throttle the plane is going vertical. After a few seconds it reaches the limit of visibility. With the current setup I get about 5 minutes of motor runtime which usually enough for about 30 minutes of flight time.</p>
<p>In general, I can recommend the kit even for beginners. At close to zero wind it can be made fairly slow and it’s easy to control. I think the “Toro 900” was still slightly more forgiving but I definitely don’t regret having bought the Wing Wing Z-84. My detachable wings fulfill their purpose of being easy to transport. The only issue I had so far was with the mount of the canopy. The standard plastic lock didn’t fit onto my carbon tube as it’s diameter is of course larger than the 4mm of the original rod. Instead I glued in a magnet and a piece of metal to hold the canopy. Unfortunately that didn’t turn out to well. During one flight the canopy came off and got slightly shredded by the motor. Now it looks well used and has a new locking mechanism based on a pin that slides into the main body an holds everything place. Except for this small accident nothing else happened so far.</p>
<h2 id="characteristics">Characteristics</h2>
<table class="data_sheet">
<tr>
<th>Wingspan</th>
<td>845mm</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Length</th>
<td>405mm</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Weight (without battery)</th>
<td>???g</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Channels</th>
<td>Elevon, throttle</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Motor and propeller</th>
<td>Racestar BR2208 2600KV with 7x4 APC</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>ESC</th>
<td>Mystery Pentium-30A</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Receiver</th>
<td>??? (35MHz)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Battery</th>
<td>LiPo 2S 2200mAh/LiHV 2S 2800mAh</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Modifications</th>
<td>Detachable wings</td>
</tr>
</table>
<div class="footnotes" role="doc-endnotes">
<ol>
<li id="fn:1" role="doc-endnote">
<p>Just grab the model, put a battery in, and throw it into the air. No long set up should be required to get it ready for takeoff. <a href="#fnref:1" class="reversefootnote" role="doc-backlink">↩</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:2" role="doc-endnote">
<p>You never now with those beginners. ;-) And I hadn’t flown in the past five years either. But apparently it like riding a bicycle. Once learned you won’t forget how it works. <a href="#fnref:2" class="reversefootnote" role="doc-backlink">↩</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>Moritz PflanzerIntroduction To accommodate for the fact that I don’t have a car I was looking for an easy to transport plane. Additionally the plane should be Plug’n’Play1 so that it wouldn’t be an issue to just fly a few batteries after work. As a bonus I was looking for something which beginners could fly as well since some colleagues were interested to come along the next time I was going to the field. Just grab the model, put a battery in, and throw it into the air. No long set up should be required to get it ready for takeoff. ↩How to build a storage rack in 60 seconds2018-11-18T18:00:00+01:002018-11-18T18:00:00+01:00http://localhost:4000/diy/2018/11/18/storage-rack<p>Not one of the most interesting projects, for sure, but the shelf was badly
needed to organise those things that you just need once in a while. It also
helped a lot to optimise the space usage under the pitched roof area. The low
but fairly deep shelf is a good place to store my RC model planes.</p>
<p>The storage rack is made out of 44x44mm construction timber and cheap roof
battens for the cross connections. Since the is no plan to put heavy stuff in
the main part of the rack I decided to go for rather inexpensive 3mm HDF panels
as shelves. The smaller side part uses standard 18mm edge-glued panels to give
more strength for heavier objects.</p>
<div class="video-standalone">
<video preload="metadata" controls="controls" poster="/videos/storage-rack/storage-rack.png" width="794">
<source src="/videos/storage-rack/storage-rack.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
Sorry, unsupported video type.
</video>
</div>
<h2 id="attachments">Attachments</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="/attachments/storage-rack/Storage rack.skp">SketchUp model</a></li>
</ul>Moritz PflanzerNot one of the most interesting projects, for sure, but the shelf was badly needed to organise those things that you just need once in a while. It also helped a lot to optimise the space usage under the pitched roof area. The low but fairly deep shelf is a good place to store my RC model planes.From Dombas to Pax2018-08-13T20:01:00+02:002018-08-13T20:01:00+02:00http://localhost:4000/diy/2018/08/13/pax<p>When we were looking for a new wardrobe we quickly figured out that selling
them is the way more lucrative idea. ;-) The size and functionality of Ikea’s
<a href="https://youtu.be/lXD0SL6Zu1I">Pax model</a> would have been a nice fit for the
bedroom. However, on the other end of the price spectrum Ikea offers with the
<a href="https://www.ikea.com/ch/en/catalog/products/50270136/">Dombas model</a> a cheap
and really basic alternative. Even two are nowhere near the price of a Pax,
though, unfortunately the 2.8m width of two Dombas’ was too much for the 2.6m
our bedroom had to spare. But true to the motto “better too long than to short”
that it wouldn’t be to difficult to cut of the boards of one wardrobe before
assembly to make it fit. And to get even more storage space we further planned
to build some drawers under the Dombas. Effectively buying the cheapest option
from Ikea and getting the functionality of the best (well, kind of).</p>
<p>To build the add-on construction below the wardrobes I decided for some
inexpensive tongued and grooved boards (“Rauspund”) as it wouldn’t be visible
after all. Unfortunately, some of the boards where quite twisted which made it
a bit harder to get them to size accurately. Though, I’m still not sure the
bedroom floor isn’t even in a worse shape. :D The backside and the flooring
parts of the construction are made out of 3mm hardboard sheets which fit nicely
into the tongues of the frame.</p>
<p>For the invisible parts of the drawers I used plywood as it is lightweight and
for the fronts the same white chipboard as Ikea uses them help to match the
look of the add-on construction to the Dombas “design”. The same boards also
make the drop flaps look similar to the doors. We replaced the Ikea plastic
handles anyway as they were looking pretty ugly.</p>
<h2 id="attachments">Attachments</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="/attachments/dombas-pax/Wardrobe.skp">SketchUp model</a></li>
</ul>Moritz PflanzerWhen we were looking for a new wardrobe we quickly figured out that selling them is the way more lucrative idea. ;-) The size and functionality of Ikea’s Pax model would have been a nice fit for the bedroom. However, on the other end of the price spectrum Ikea offers with the Dombas model a cheap and really basic alternative. Even two are nowhere near the price of a Pax, though, unfortunately the 2.8m width of two Dombas’ was too much for the 2.6m our bedroom had to spare. But true to the motto “better too long than to short” that it wouldn’t be to difficult to cut of the boards of one wardrobe before assembly to make it fit. And to get even more storage space we further planned to build some drawers under the Dombas. Effectively buying the cheapest option from Ikea and getting the functionality of the best (well, kind of).Video projector ceiling mount2018-07-04T18:19:00+02:002018-07-04T18:19:00+02:00http://localhost:4000/diy/2018/07/04/projector<p>Can there be anything better than having your own private public screening experience during the football World Cup? Well, probably yes. But still, having a video projector sounds like a nice idea to watch movies from time to time and of course to have an immersive feeling while playing with a RC flight simulator like <a href="https://www.ikarus.net/aeroflyrc-7/rc7-features/">aerofly RC7</a>.</p>
<p>The biggest problem was the short distance between wall and the place at the ceiling where I wanted to mount the projector. So in the end I had to spent a bit more money to get of the Short-Throw projectors instead of a normal one. After reading many reviews and data sheets I finally decided to buy the <a href="https://www.benq.com/en/projector/home-entertainment/th671st.html">BenQ TH671ST</a>. From a price point of view it was ok-ish but more importantly the projection ratio was a very good fit for the distance I had in mind and it also comes with an optical zoom on top. After having watched a few football games and some TV series I’m still happy with the projector. Even the integrated speaker is definitely decent enough for football games and might also work for the occasional movie if you’re like me not a sound fanatic. So far the only negative point is the remote control. It has separate buttons for turning the projector on and off. And worse, the off button actually bears the symbol for a combined on-off button. ;-) <img src="/images/projector-mount/remote.png" alt="Remote control" /></p>
<p>For the ceiling mount itself the most important feature was to be able to adapt the tilt angle dynamically. Otherwise I would have had to measure the angle of our ceiling with accuracy to not have a skewed projection. In the end I decided to go for two small turnbuckles (“Gewindespanner”). The rest is just two pieces of plywood where I rounded off the edges, screw nuts to attach the turnbuckles and two medium size hinges. You can find the schematics in this <a href="/attachments/projector-mount/Beamer mount.skp">Sketchup model</a>. Just be sure to double-check all dimensions. I might have made some small adaptions to the original design while working on the wood.</p>
<p>To drive the screw nuts as straight as possible into the plywood I prepared some left-over piece of wood with a hole just large enough for the nut to fit through. The piece was then centered around the actual hole for the screw nut and tightly clamped onto the plywood. It helps to keep the nut straight and prevents the plywood from splintering.</p>
<h2 id="attachments">Attachments</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="/attachments/projector-mount/Beamer mount.skp">SketchUp model</a></li>
</ul>Moritz PflanzerCan there be anything better than having your own private public screening experience during the football World Cup? Well, probably yes. But still, having a video projector sounds like a nice idea to watch movies from time to time and of course to have an immersive feeling while playing with a RC flight simulator like aerofly RC7.Prepare Windows for using the Apple Mac UK International Keyboard2018-05-20T12:57:00+02:002018-05-20T12:57:00+02:00http://localhost:4000/software/2018/05/20/apple-keyboard<blockquote>
<p>Mac UK International Keyboard Layout for Windows</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Please have a look a the <a href="https://github.com/mpflanzer/mac_ukint_kbd_layout_win">GitHub repository</a> for more information.</p>Moritz PflanzerMac UK International Keyboard Layout for Windows