I've been slowly dismantling what was the beginning of a model railroad empire. Some of the last steps are to remove the masonite backdrops I had installed along the walls and turning the corners into curves. One of the coolest and most useful piece of layout has been packed away. For years now I have had a 1' x 8' five track staging yard under the steps to the basement. It is now packed away in a 1.5' x 2 x 8' crate along with other model railroad stuff.
Also, I've been building shelving units out of salvaged packing crates. In general it is pretty nice plywood, but it doesn't come in very big pieces. I think 2' x 4' is the largest I brought home. I threw a bunch of it out when put our house up for sale, wishing I had kept some of it. I built a top shelving unit to add to an existing unit for storage of small stuff all the way to the ceiling. I also added another shelf to my power tool cart, it's getting heavy and I am considering some larger wheels.
Lastly, I did some work on my electric HLT. Displayed below is the HLT on top of the brewery tower. This side view shows the PVC electric box where the 240V connects to the hot water heater element. I had to modify the tower from the original build. The mash tun now fits where it should fit, and overall the stand is just tall enough for the mash tun to drain into the kettle on its burner.
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| From Random Samplings |
This side view shows the power distribution panel with a few components missing. Notice all the high voltage connections are covered by a clear plastic box (removable). The mash tun is a 5 gallon Igloo water thermos. The item hanging from the HLT is a fill spigot (upside-down j-shaped). Still to to be added is a PC power supply, control card, relay board and few sensors. |
Here's the front view, now with some working room between the HLT and MT. Still in the works is to set up the circulation loop to temperature control the mash. I ran a test on my pump this weekend too. Although not as powerful as I thought it would be, I think it will work.
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From Random Samplings Here's a closer up view of the power distribution / control block. From left to right is the SSR and heatsink, 6-node power distribution block, 2-pole contactor. The black cable heads to the appliance outlet. The orange cable is the controlled voltage heading to the heating element. As noted above, I still need to add the brains and power for the brains. |
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