JacobCoffinWrites
@JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net
I write science fiction, draw, paint, photobash, do woodworking, and dabble in 2d videogames design. Big fan of reducing waste, and of building community
https://jacobcoffinwrites.wordpress.com
@jacobcoffin@writing.exchange
- Comment on How Fossil Fuel Disruptions Lead to Booms in Solar and Batteries 3 days ago:
Sorry, I suspect my sarcasm may have passed you by. They already make electric mining/construction equipment, solar powered factories and recycling facilities. Steel smelting can be done with grid-connected electric arc furnaces or solar furnaces. The production of solar panels and wind turbines may not be fully detached from oil for some time, but then horses played an important role in heavy industry for decades alongside gasoline and diesel trucks and steel hulled sail ships were still hauling grain well into the 1950s. These transitions are always uneven and the tipping point can be hard to spot even with hindsight, let alone while it’s happening.
- Comment on How Fossil Fuel Disruptions Lead to Booms in Solar and Batteries 3 days ago:
Much like how when automobiles were new, you could prove they weren’t actually viable because you still needed horse carts to haul the iron ore, and the coal to smelt it from the mines. The idea that someday the entire fleet of mining and transportation equipment would use internal combustion engines seemed quite impossible.
Probably there’s no way to transition to electric mining equipment, electric smelters, electric battery recycling facilities, and electric transport fleets.
Some would call it a bootstrap problem but it’s possible you’re right and there’s no way to transition from one suite of existing technologies to a new, cheaper one.
- Comment on Boston announces historic, city-wide energy upgrade that could become an American standard: 'Turn the Charles River into a renewable energy resource' 4 weeks ago:
This is very cool and I like that it uses a lot of existing infrastructure (maintaining the existing steam tunnels etc, just changing out the heat source).
I’m curious if this will have any effect on the river good or bad - I’ve read articles about how outflows from human communities can warm nearby water bodies. Curious if this will have a similar impact or could reduce the harm or if it won’t make any real difference
- Comment on I've colored jenga pieces to play uno stacko. House rules for extra blocks? 4 weeks ago:
Not sure if Aniline wood dyes are all that different but they also work really well!
- Comment on My recent modifications to an old industrial(?) air filter (and a brief rant about appliance design) 2 months ago:
Security bits are a whole other level of irritating - especially on something like this. Thats just them being dicks. I probably have a set (more or less) put together from previous projects but I’d lose an hour easy just trying to find one that’ll work. Very glad they didn’t include that bright idea on this model.
I remember one project we didn’t have a security bit but found we could use something, maybe a small standard screwdriver? to chip the security pin out well enough for a regular bit. We definitely replaced those screws with regular philips ones from some other electronics.
- My recent modifications to an old industrial(?) air filter (and a brief rant about appliance design)Submitted 2 months ago to fixing@slrpnk.net | 3 comments
- Comment on Tesla faces class action over Powerwall recall that leaves people with bricked batteries 2 months ago:
I think Holmes exclusively cheated investor-class rich people
- Comment on Success removing flaking enamel with needle scaler 4 months ago:
That’s a huge improvement!
- Comment on What fuel will ships burn as they move toward net zero? 4 months ago:
There’s a bunch of them!
I gathered up all the examples I could find awhile back:
…wordpress.com/…/nautical-solarpunk-a-resource-fo…
The IRL and proposed examples are about halfway down the page.
- Comment on Selfhosting Sunday - slrpnk edition 5 months ago:
This sounds rad, which protocol/meshnet system are you using?
- Comment on Selfhosting Sunday - slrpnk edition 5 months ago:
I’ve got two-ish projects that might count: I’ve been reading up on Reticulum mesh networking, particularly with LoRa nodes. I like the idea of that kind of network, but have no idea what amount of activity I’ll find nearby despite living in a pretty big city. I’m still at the stage of figuring out what to get and how I’d like to use it.
I’m also looking at setting up a Gemini server (the gopher-based web alternative protocol thing, not google’s dumb LLM) but I’m a bit skittish about anything that puts a hole into my home network, especially a service made by such a small group because I don’t know what kind of security holes might have been missed (I’m certainly not likely to spot them). Ideally I could set it up through Reticulum, so it’d be air gapped from my regular network, and it appears that someone has made that work, but I think it’d only be accessible to other folks on Reticulum and I’m not sure if that’d be worth it at first. We’ll see!
My active project at the moment probably barely counts because I’m going full analog. I’ve got two antique Leich 901 crank telephones (like an actual crank, not a dial. Turning it generates AC and rings all the phones on the network).
I plan to use them to rig an intercom between the kitchen and workshop. This’ll involve some woodworking as I’m making a nice box for the talk battery for one, and a display board with a voltmeter and two plexiglass-covered cutouts for displaying the wiring and batteries for the workshop end.
I got them all wired up with some really ugly splices and was impressed - they can ring each other and the sound quality is quite good when talking, no repairs needed! Attaching them together is rock simple, just a few wires, plug and play. But my plan is to wire in some old rj11 phone jacks to the display board and battery box so they can (mis)use standard phone cables to talk to each other. In fact I’m hoping to use some of the old wiring already in place in my apartment.
- Comment on Question about analog voltmeters and antique telephones 6 months ago:
That’s a really clever answer to the ringer light! I should definitely be able to piece something together from there.
It also hadn’t occurred to me to just tap the phone itself for the voltmeter (though it feels a little less authentic than doing the line between them, somehow). It’s very good to know about the voltage tolerance - I’ll see what I can find!
Thank you very much for your help, I really appreciate it!
- Submitted 6 months ago to diy@slrpnk.net | 3 comments
- Comment on Yes, in my back yard: people who live near large-scale solar projects are happy to have more built nearby 8 months ago:
The reasons I’ve seen mostly have to do with upfront cost and convenience for maintenance. Support structures for solar panels can be pretty crude and basic if they’re just sitting low on a field. For a parking lot you need a much taller structure which will likely deal with more wind, but which is also designed to minimize the number of support posts so it’s not in the way, and to survive idiots running into it with their Ford fteen thousand.
If something goes wrong in a field the crew can just drive there and start working. If there’s a problem with the panels over a parking lot they may need to clear part of the lot, bring in bucket lifts, etc.
It can definitely be done and I think it’s a great idea all around but they’re usually looking with an eye towards how quickly the project pays for itself.
- Comment on Cat door in window 8 months ago:
That seems like it would work quite well! Especially if the patio screen guarantees other critters won’t try to come in.
Not sure what tools you have access to but If you have a table saw you can cut a notch into the wood for the plexi before you assemble the frame.
- Comment on Cat door in window 8 months ago:
I just helped my folks turn a porch into a catio - we used a layer of chicken wire on the inside with a layer of fabric bug screen on the outside. Years ago one of our cats got startled and ran right through a screen on our screen porch (fell one story into deep snow and kept right on going. He was fine, my dad was pissed). For this one we built wooden frames and stapled the screen and chicken wire on and attached those to the porch with wood screws. You could run slats from house to fence for support.
- Comment on Quick fix for cracked plastic clip: thread wrap and superglue 9 months ago:
This is cool, kind of a small scale version of resin and fiberglass! Thanks!
- Comment on Looking for advice on separating layers from a rear projector TV screen 10 months ago:
If it works, I’ll share any designs and lessons learned here!
- Comment on Looking for advice on separating layers from a rear projector TV screen 10 months ago:
I was wondering if it was something like this, thanks! I’ll see if I can get enough of it off to see if the main sheet is a fresnel lens
- Comment on Looking for advice on separating layers from a rear projector TV screen 10 months ago:
I’m clear on the other side of the continent but I really appreciate it, thank you! I hope you can find someone who’ll use it!
- Comment on Looking for advice on separating layers from a rear projector TV screen 10 months ago:
Thanks! I’m hoping to build a solar forge - I used to do some blacksmithing using coal, but some videos of these things show them burning through steel - if they can get that hot, I could even forge weld again. I’ve still got most of my tools, minus the forge.
- Submitted 10 months ago to diy@slrpnk.net | 8 comments
- Comment on We’ve unlocked a holy grail in clean energy. It’s only the beginning. 10 months ago:
Boss makes a dollar…
- Comment on Countries across the world use more land for golf courses than wind or solar energy 1 year ago:
Windmills are a staple feature in mini golf so really it was just a matter of time
- Comment on Trump Says He Wants No Wind Turbines Built During Administration 1 year ago:
For a long while Savonius wind turbines were popular with the DIY self-sufficiency crowd. Solar panels blew them away in terms of home power generation and lack of maintenance but they were easy to DIY and they work well in the kinds of locations where the big prop windmills don’t make sense, like bolted to roofs and to the sides of building.
They do sell premade wind turbines ranging from ones intended for yachts to full size ones but the permies forums have a lot of neat discussions on home small wind and small hydro.
- Comment on Looking for some (re-)use cases for older Android smartphones 1 year ago:
If the device doesn’t need to be portable removing the battery could improve safety a bit (and bypass some issues from the damaged USB port).
It looks like it’s possible to connect an external power source where the battery normally links up www.reddit.com/r/…/run_pixel_3_without_battery/
Not sure if that’s helpful but it might make turning the phone into a reliable embedded device easier?
- Comment on Turning automotive engines into modular chemical plants to make green fuels (discussion: is this a useful tech?) 1 year ago:
Thanks for bringing me in! Both these articles are great, and both are good additions to resource lists I’ve put together for solarpunk writers/artists - I’ve added the auto engine one to my list of alternative uses for car parts, and the battery ship info to my nautical solarpunk piece. Thanks again!
- Comment on Breezeway Greenhouse Help? 1 year ago:
This is a really good point! Thanks for the dates that’s quite useful
- Comment on Breezeway Greenhouse Help? 1 year ago:
Sounds like a great location! I’m in a very different climate zone so most of my advice would have been around keeping the temperature warm enough through winter, while it sounds like you won’t have to deal with a lot of that.
I’ve seen some cool designs that made glass houses out of secondhand windows or slider doors - if that appeals I can share some links but it’s a certain kind of look, and Povoq’s suggestion of clear corrugated sheets is probably easier and more uniform. Rain collection from the house roof and greenhouse roof would be very useful.
I’ll see if I have any good links for you
- Comment on Breezeway Greenhouse Help? 1 year ago:
Very cool project! I have a couple questions:
Do you get snow in your area? If it sheds from the house roof that could be an issue.
What is the siding on the house? Greenhouses can get pretty humid/damp so you’ll probably want to ensure it doesn’t/can’t rot the house. It can still be done but it’s good to plan for. If your house is concrete that would be much less of an issue.
