A co-worker found a radio console from a wrecked vehicle in a dumpster and offered it to me. After straightening out the dents and making mounting plates for my radios, I installed it in my car.

The console is mounted on the hump on the floor between the driver's and passenger's leg areas. I screwed it down by drilling small holes through the carpet and rubber backing and screwing in large, short screws. I used this method with the previous radio bracket and it seems to work quite well.

The console:

From the side

This seems like a good time to go over the various equipment in the car. Looking at the dash you can see quite a bit of it:

Everything

On the left side of the steering wheel is an indoor/outdoor thermometer and a set of accessory switches. Currently only two of the switches are in use, connected to a pair of lighter/accessory jacks in the trunk. I use those jacks for things like charging power tools on the go. The switch panel is made from the lid of a project box and mounted over a recess in the dash that I can only assume was for sunglasses.

Thermometer and accessory switches

On the right side of the steering wheel, I have quite a bit of stuff. From top to bottom, left to right:

• Voltage meter (on top of dash)
• Sirius satellite receiver
• JVC AM/FM/CD/MP3 head unit (plays MP3s from CDs)
• GPS power cord (hanging up to the right of the head unit) – has an ID badge retractor to keep the excess cable under control
• CB radio (first device in the console)
• Digital trunking scanner – set up to receive general and public safety traffic from Fairfax and Prince William Counties
• Trunking scanner – used for built-in highway patrol presets for all 50 states, I'll set it for whatever state I'm driving through
• Not shown: on the left side of the console (see the above side picture) is a holster for my blackberry and a mic holder for the CB

The equipment

Of course all those radios need antennas. From left to right: AM/FM, Digital trunking scanner, CB.

Antennas

I currently don't have another antenna and mount for the other scanner, so I use the suction-cup antenna that came with the scanner.

Inside scanner antenna

The CB antenna is mounted behind the left tail-light. This was the only place I could find a piece of metal to mount the bracket to that wasn't a nicely painted section of the body.

CB antenna mount

The scanner antenna is mounted with a trunk mount. It clamps to the lip of the trunk lid.

Scanner antenna base

The Sirius antenna is magnetic, and mounted just above the passenger doors. I was planning to move it to a more centered location once I tested it, but it works just fine where it is. If I had a newer car I would consider mounting it on the front dash where it can't scuff the paint.

Sirius antenna

And that's everything except for the accessory jacks in the trunk.

The faucets in my shower don't shut off all the way, so they drip constantly. Currently the money is not there to get them replaced. Simple fixes have been tried before, but the entire faucet simply needs to be replaced.

I'm not in the bathroom enough for the dripping to bother me, however as the droplets reach the bottom, they splash all over the floor and sides of the tub. Because the tub is constantly damp, it is prone to growing things. I don't like things growing in my shower :). It is time for a solution!

Initially I tried streching a balloon over the faucet, thinking it would fill up and I could empty it daily. The force of the balloon was stronger than the weight of the water in it, and it just ran out around the faucet after only a few minutes. So if I can't capture the water, what can I do? I can direct it.

The plan was to purchase some small tubing and a plastic funnel. The funnel would hang from the faucet to collect the water, and the tubing would run down through a hole in the drain to reduce the amount of water in the tub.

The location

Supplies required:

• A small plastic funnel. It should be just slightly larger than the faucet head. Mine had a very handy tab that I used to mount it
• Some tubing, I chose clear plastic. It needs to fit snugly over the end of the funnel. It also needs to be long enough to reach from the faucet to the drain
• A hose clamp. Just large enough to slip over the faucet
• Some rubber sheeting. I used crafting foam-rubber sheets that I had lying around

Tools required

• Nutdriver or screwdriver for the hose clamp
• Scissors to cut the tubing and rubber sheeting

My funnels came in a set, so I laid them out and choose one that fit the tubing the best. In this case it was the smallest one. I then carefully attached the hose to the funnel by pushing it over the end. Sadly I cracked my funnel, but it hasn't affected its performance.

Next I created the mount for the funnel. Because my funnel had a nice plastic tab on one side I knew I could use a hose clamp to attach it to the faucet. Even better, the faucet shrinks as it reaches the end. This means that when tight, the hose clamp still will leave some room towards the opening that I can just slip the funnel into. This makes it easy to remove when I take my monthly shower. The hose clamp would not grip the faucet on its own, so I used a piece of foam rubber to keep it from slipping.

Here you can see the underside of it, where the tab on the funnel will go:

Once the clamp was in place, I slid the funnel tab between it and the bottom of the faucet. It worked beautifully.

I then cut the end of the tubing to be slightly longer than required to reach the drain, and pushed the end through one of the drain holes.

Once I was complete, it worked exactly as expected. As John "Hannibal" Smith says, I love it when a plan comes together.

A co-worker found a radio console from a wrecked vehicle in a dumpster and offered it to me. After straightening out the dents and making mounting plates for my radios, I installed it in my car.

The faucets in my shower don't shut off all the way, so they drip constantly. Currently the money is not there to get them replaced. Simple fixes have been tried before, but the entire faucet simply needs to be replaced.

I'm not in the bathroom enough for the dripping to bother me, however as the droplets reach the bottom, they splash all over the floor and sides of the tub. Because the tub is constantly damp, it is prone to growing things. I don't like things growing in my shower :). It is time for a solution!

I don't remember how I got here, but I started playing around with Yahoo Widgets, formerly known as Konfabulator. Judging by the number of widgets available, they didn't look like they were too hard to write, so I downloaded the SDK. Today, I announce my first widget.

JasonHill replies on " TWiki takeover ":

Just trying out the comments. I really should add an Anonymous user or something, TWikiGuest is not allowed to post because of spam.

replies on " ":

A co-worker found a radio console from a wrecked vehicle in a dumpster and offered it to me. After straightening out the dents and making mounting plates for my radios, I installed it in my car.

The console is mounted on the hump on the floor between the driver's and passenger's leg areas. I screwed it down by drilling small holes through the carpet and rubber backing and screwing in large, short screws. I used this method with the previous radio bracket and it seems to work quite well.

The console:

From the side

This seems like a good time to go over the various equipment in the car. Looking at the dash you can see quite a bit of it:

Everything

On the left side of the steering wheel is an indoor/outdoor thermometer and a set of accessory switches. Currently only two of the switches are in use, connected to a pair of lighter/accessory jacks in the trunk. I use those jacks for things like charging power tools on the go. The switch panel is made from the lid of a project box and mounted over a recess in the dash that I can only assume was for sunglasses.

Thermometer and accessory switches

On the right side of the steering wheel, I have quite a bit of stuff. From top to bottom, left to right:

• Voltage meter (on top of dash)
• Sirius satellite receiver
• JVC AM/FM/CD/MP3 head unit (plays MP3s from CDs)
• GPS power cord (hanging up to the right of the head unit) – has an ID badge retractor to keep the excess cable under control
• CB radio (first device in the console)
• Digital trunking scanner – set up to receive general and public safety traffic from Fairfax and Prince William Counties
• Trunking scanner – used for built-in highway patrol presets for all 50 states, I'll set it for whatever state I'm driving through
• Not shown: on the left side of the console (see the above side picture) is a holster for my blackberry and a mic holder for the CB

The equipment

Of course all those radios need antennas. From left to right: AM/FM, Digital trunking scanner, CB.

Antennas

I currently don't have another antenna and mount for the other scanner, so I use the suction-cup antenna that came with the scanner.

Inside scanner antenna

The CB antenna is mounted behind the left tail-light. This was the only place I could find a piece of metal to mount the bracket to that wasn't a nicely painted section of the body.

CB antenna mount

The scanner antenna is mounted with a trunk mount. It clamps to the lip of the trunk lid.

Scanner antenna base

The Sirius antenna is magnetic, and mounted just above the passenger doors. I was planning to move it to a more centered location once I tested it, but it works just fine where it is. If I had a newer car I would consider mounting it on the front dash where it can't scuff the paint.

Sirius antenna

And that's everything except for the accessory jacks in the trunk.

The faucets in my shower don't shut off all the way, so they drip constantly. Currently the money is not there to get them replaced. Simple fixes have been tried before, but the entire faucet simply needs to be replaced.

I'm not in the bathroom enough for the dripping to bother me, however as the droplets reach the bottom, they splash all over the floor and sides of the tub. Because the tub is constantly damp, it is prone to growing things. I don't like things growing in my shower :). It is time for a solution!

Initially I tried streching a balloon over the faucet, thinking it would fill up and I could empty it daily. The force of the balloon was stronger than the weight of the water in it, and it just ran out around the faucet after only a few minutes. So if I can't capture the water, what can I do? I can direct it.

The plan was to purchase some small tubing and a plastic funnel. The funnel would hang from the faucet to collect the water, and the tubing would run down through a hole in the drain to reduce the amount of water in the tub.

The location

Supplies required:

• A small plastic funnel. It should be just slightly larger than the faucet head. Mine had a very handy tab that I used to mount it
• Some tubing, I chose clear plastic. It needs to fit snugly over the end of the funnel. It also needs to be long enough to reach from the faucet to the drain
• A hose clamp. Just large enough to slip over the faucet
• Some rubber sheeting. I used crafting foam-rubber sheets that I had lying around

Tools required

• Nutdriver or screwdriver for the hose clamp
• Scissors to cut the tubing and rubber sheeting

My funnels came in a set, so I laid them out and choose one that fit the tubing the best. In this case it was the smallest one. I then carefully attached the hose to the funnel by pushing it over the end. Sadly I cracked my funnel, but it hasn't affected its performance.

Next I created the mount for the funnel. Because my funnel had a nice plastic tab on one side I knew I could use a hose clamp to attach it to the faucet. Even better, the faucet shrinks as it reaches the end. This means that when tight, the hose clamp still will leave some room towards the opening that I can just slip the funnel into. This makes it easy to remove when I take my monthly shower. The hose clamp would not grip the faucet on its own, so I used a piece of foam rubber to keep it from slipping.

Here you can see the underside of it, where the tab on the funnel will go:

Once the clamp was in place, I slid the funnel tab between it and the bottom of the faucet. It worked beautifully.

I then cut the end of the tubing to be slightly longer than required to reach the drain, and pushed the end through one of the drain holes.

Once I was complete, it worked exactly as expected. As John "Hannibal" Smith says, I love it when a plan comes together.