Tektronix Oscilloscope, Model 2465A - *Updated*

Bit by bit, I'm slowly getting there.

Summer Soltsice at 48 degrees North Latitude

Dawn begins early.  This was taken at 3:45 AM.  There was noticeable faint light on the horizon at 3:00 AM.  However it wasn't until 45 minutes later that I was sure that it wasn't sky-glow from a nearby town.

Black and Decker Drill Model 100

I came into a large quantity of tools recently, when a family member with Alzheimer's ended up being placed in a care facility.   I'd much prefer that he had all his tools and mental faculties instead.  However, since I have this enormous stash of stuff that's been neglected and abused, I thought it would be wise to sort through it and determine if any of it was usable.

Zenith K526W - Purchase and Initial Inspection

I recently purchased my first repair project from a local Craigslist ad.

Gathering the gear for the new hobby

I'll need to buy some test equipment if I'm going to attempt repairs on electronic devices. So I've begun working on that.

New Hobby

I recently mentioned in a post that I might be picking up a new hobby that should have good synergy with my woodworking hobby.

A quick springtime ride

Below are a few pictures I took of the bike while on a ride yesterday. 

Supplemental Shop Lighting

The roll-up door in the shop is opened by an industrial type chain-drive opener.  Although it's industrial, it still has a standard socket for a light bulb.  Unfortunately, like most modern fixtures, the light bulb socket is only rated for 60 Watts.

Synchronous Generators - an overview of construction and operation

I've posted quite a bit about other aspects of power plants - posts about gas turbines, steam turbines, the steam cycle, nuclear reactors, and done a few posts about different or interesting places where I've worked in the past.

Oddly enough, I've never posted about electrical generators before, except for historical electrical progress and small household emergency generators.  It seems a bit odd that I've overlooked this for so many years, because the entire reason power plants are built is to spin the generator!  The machines we will be discussing are actually an alternators, because the output is alternating current.  In the business, we tend to use the term "generator" more often than "alternator", so please bear that in mind while reading.

Annual fire extinguisher training

This is actually pretty fun, even though I lost part of a day off to attend.