Dishwasher Buyer's Guide

Here are the features I look for in a dishwasher.

Food grinder. A dishwasher without a food grinder has filters that need to be periodically cleaned fairly frequently (YUK!). Most people never clean these filters, and therefore their dishwasher stops cleaning well. A dishwasher with a grinder eliminates the filters and associated required maintenance.

Quiet Operation. All dishwashers get noisier over time as their insulation and bearings age with time and use. Buying a quiet dishwasher out of the gate means that it will be noisier in the future, but not as noisy as a non-quiet model.

No Stainless Steel Tub. A stainless steel tub does not muffle noise, and lasts no longer than a plastic tub. All things being equal, I'll always go for the plastic tub.

Energy Star rated. I run my dishwasher at least 3 times a week. I never hand wash, except for the few things that demand it (greasy fry pans and aluminum items). An energy efficient washer will save me money over time.

Fixing a SodaStream Jet, part 1: Disassembly Guide

I've had my SodaStream Jet for years, and once in a while something has gone wrong. Disassembly is the first step to repair. Start with this article to see how to disassemble the SodaStream, and then once you have that down, scroll through my other articles to see how I repaired specfic SodaStream problems. SodaStream Jet Disassembly Guide Tools Required Flat head screwdriver Phillips head screwdriver 1. Remove the Carbonator. Duh. 2. Remove the black panel lever The front big black tilt lever needs to be removed first. Removing this panel is tricky, but it isn't impossible. Looking up at the bottom of the black panel, there are two tabs, one on the left and one on the right. These tabs fully secure the panel in place. The trick is to use a flat-head screwdriver under the plastic to gently lever the tabs out of the way. Note in the pictures how I approach these tabs with my screwdriver. I usually release the left side first, and then I release ...

Keep That Old Printer, or, New Printers Stink

Old laser printers have some notable advantages over many newer printers. An old laser can be found for little money. You can easily find great working printers on Craig's List for under $40. My old-school HP LaserJet 5L - still works like a champ! The inexpensive toner cartridges for these printers can often be found on Amazon for under $20 each. And each cartridge, typically rated for several thousand pages, can last five times longer than many more expensive inkjet cartridges. And these old printers are solid. Many were designed last for years in high volume situations. And they were designed to be maintained, instead of thrown away. My laser is nearly 15 years old and it keeps on ticking. Keeping it Modern Buying a good old fashion laser jet for under $40 is easy. But it likely has an old-fashion Parallel interface on it - meaning that your computer can't even use it. What to do? My answer was to buy an Epson Net C823781 Print Server . It isn't the latest device...

Repairing a Crate TX15 Taxi amplifier battery

A friend gave me a Crate battery guitar amp that he used for busking. It is a nice 15 watt amp with an internal battery. Sadly it died, and its custom power adapter was misplaced. After several years the battery will fail, and it requires a functioning battery to work at all. Happily, new batteries are inexpensive, readily available, and easy to install. Obtaining a replacement battery for the TX15 The original battery was a 4+ pound, sealed lead battery. Any replacement battery should closely follow the specs of the original. I bought this MightyMax Battery on Amazon , which is a perfect replacement. There are many batteries that conform to the needs of the TX15, and they can be found at local hardware stores as they are commonly used in lots of equipment. It pays to look locally if you need something faster than Amazon. The battery specs are as follows: 12 Volt, 7.2 Ah lead battery (mine was marked 1272). Length: 5.94" (151 mm) Width: 2.56" (65 mm) Height: 3.94" (100...

Installing the Eve Smart MotionBlind Upgrade with my Large Roller Shade

I have a large window in the front of my house and a roller shade was just the right window treatment for it. But I also wanted to automate it. My MotionBlind Upgrade kit and my new roller shade I looked around to buy something that I was comfortable with, but simple non-automated roller blinds can be expensive, especially when they're larger than 6 ft x 6 ft. This is disappointing, as a roller blind is just a tube with a small amount of synthetic cloth but can easily cost hundreds of dollars. Plus, since I wanted a smarthome blind, we're talking $500 or more from the "service oriented shops". I'm a tech guy. I think can do better. After thinking about DIY and creative solutions, I decided to try out the Eve MotionBlinds Upgrade (MBU) kit. This kit transforms an ordinary roller blind into a smart blind. The MotionBlinds mechanism is basically consists of a small motor and battery in a long metal tube. This motor tube slides into a roller blind ...

Macintosh: Upgrading an eMac

It's been a long time since I wrote this article, but the fact remains: The good old eMac can still be useful if you take the simple steps to keep it as good as it can be. All can run Tiger, and most can run Leopard - great operating systems for their day with a bit of useful life. This article describes the procedure I used to upgrade my old eMac, including: Replacing the internal hard disk with a large capacity drive. Increasing the memory for performance Upgrading the operating system Here I'm upgrading a 700 MHz eMac, but the procedure and tasks for upgrading other eMac models should be almost identical. Upgrading versus Replacing My sister's eMac is of the 700 mhz variety, with 256 MB of memory. The machine seemed to be getting "slower", and the original 40 GB disk was becoming jammed packed with photos and iTunes, and within a few months she'd be out of disk space. There were two options to address the problems: upgrade the eMac, or go o...

Fixing my Wahl 9918 Groomsman Beard and Mustache Trimmer

Not everyone would bother repairing a $25 beard trimmer, but why not fix something for under $5 instead of spending another $25? My Wahl 9918 Groomsman Beard and Mustache Trimmer has admirably performed its beauty duty for many years, but the time came when the battery just wasn't holding a charge any more. Most people would just put the trimmer in the trash and buy a new one, but I figured I could repair my otherwise excellent Wahl and save some money. In fact, even high priced trimmer and rotary shaver brands, like Norelco and Remington, can be easily repaired using a process similar to the one I used to fix my Wahl. Read on to find out how. I opened up the Wahl by popping off the black plastic faceplate with a tiny flathead screwdriver, which revealed two screws. By removing the two screws I was able to easily open up the unit, revealing the guts of the device. Backplate off, Revealing the screws The internals are rather simple: a motor, a...

The Lance J. Technoweb

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