The Server Shuffle Pt. 1

Well I guess it's been a long time since I last posted, though a lot of planning (though not as much doing as I would like) has happened since then. So let's get started with one of my current dilemmas; my server situation...
Owing to the recent heat wave and my unwillingness to air condition an uninsulated house my file server has been experiancing severe reliability issues. This is mainly due to the extreme tight clearances on it's motherboard, and thusly the inability to install better heat sinks on it's CPUs. After some deliberating I decided that it was time to mix it up...
First of all I finally moved my massive IBM Netfinity server over to my house (it honestly weighs over 100 lbs fully assembled!). I made the decision that this huge yet design-constrained system will be my PBX, the current PBX will become my file server, and the existing server will be retired from active use.
The IBM Netfinity 6000R is a corperate-class server (albeit one that's 10 years old). It is a high-reliability, high-stability, highly-overbuilt system featuring 4-way SMP (that's QUAD CPU!), interleaved Error-Correction memory and hardware RAID capabilities. However owing to it's design it is essentially limited to a single consumer-grade hard drive. And seeing as I can't afford to upgrade my storage disks I decided not to relegate this system to that role again. I primarialy purchased it to use as a game server, a role it filled eagerly, however I have a strong feeling that any LAN gaming requiring this robust of a server is probaly long since past... The way I figure I have the thing, I may as well put it to use. Even though it is extremely overpowered for my telephony needs the additional power this system has may be of use if I ever get ambitious...
The existing PBX system is a workstation-grade dual Pentium-III motherboard that I happened upon. This will become the file server, and after some memory shuffling (to maximize it's available memory) it should fill this role happily. And hopefully it will be less suseptible to the thermal issues of my current server...
Which is an ICP Electronics Single Board Computer with an expansion/multiplexing backplane. The entire dual Pentium-III motherboard featuring onboard video, sound, USB and dual Ethernet is crammed onto a single full-length PCI card (about a quarter of the size of a standard motherboard). The Expansion Backplane allows this single-board computer to function as a standard motherboard (and accept both PCI and long since defunct 16-bit ISA expansion cards). For a long time this server proved very satisfactory, however owing to the extremely cramped conditions on the system board, and a design flaw on Intel's part (the CPUs that this board accepts have an extremely small heatsink contact area). Because of this in order to improve CPU heat dissipation I'd either have to upgrade to copper-core heatsinks (and hope that they fit) or place gold (!) wafers between the CPU and the heat sink... Both of these options simply aren't worth the money!
As of the moment I have moved all of the telephony hardware from the old PBX into the IBM machine, but haven't done much else. Currently I am suffering from either a cold or mild smoke inhalation (from cooking over an open fire for over 15 hours over the course of the weekend) and only got two hours of sleep last night. I hope to accomplish more on this project later this week... Until then...

(P.S. I have more planned to post, I simply want to wait between posts to make sure none of it gets overlooked)

Electric Fencing Pt. 2

Over the course of the last two weeks since I purchased the A50LIL fence controller I had it and two others fail on me due to a design flaw... Disgruntled with that model I returned the third defective unit for cash and purchased a second B10LI, identical to my original controller. For me this is a proven, dependable unit that more than satisfies all of my fencing needs, except for the possability of adding a Storm Guard module to the fence controller... However I have a feeling that I will probaly be safe without one...
I installed the new B10 on the fence earlier today, and put the old, "proven," unit back in the blister pack as a backup/secondary controller. I add the secondary because if I decide to use an electric fence around my garden the B10 is capable of running up to a month and a half on four "D" cell flashlight batteries, and requires no shelter from the elements. For common pest control a 6' ground rod driven only 4 feet into the ground is more than sufficient (as I learned when I purchased the first B10). This makes using electric fencing around my future garden easier, as I don't have to string insulated wires across my lawn (which would need to be reeled up every time I mowed).
Anyways, aside from my fence energizer fiasco I have made a few additional upgrades to my fence since the last post. First and foremost I added a lightning arrestor to the control post. Second I added a second 8' ground rod to the grounding system which, especially in dry months, will substantially improve the performance of the fence. Both of these are "invisible" upgrades (the ground rods and their wiring are completely buried, mostly so I don't have to mow around them, and until I finish the control post I'm not going to bother taking pictures of the lightning arrestor).
Third I finally re-strung the lower wire and added the second wire I had talked about in the previous post. The lowest wire is a mere 4" off the ground to exclude vermin, and as you can see already needs weed-wacking. The second wire is about 16" above the ground, and is the main predator control wire. It is between the average nose height of cats (or raccoons) and cyotes, the main predators that I am worried about. Any animal brave enough to climb the chicken wire will still have to deal with the tightly strung top wire, and with over 150 feet of it touching the ground an animal touching both this wire and the chicken wire is in for a nasty surprise!
As you can see both the Mighty Rooster and two of the pullets made a cameo in this picture. I think they have already grown significantly since the last post... With any luck my next post will be about the Henhouse.

Home Farming: Electric Fencing Pt. 1

As stated in my previous post I have opted to use electric fencing both to help contain my birds and to exclude other animals (rodents, feral cats, and true predators such as foxes and cyotes). The principle of electric fencing is simple: An energizer produces a very high voltage (generally between 3,000 and 12,000 volts) in controlled pulses of 1/10,000 of a second once every second. Seperate wires lead to both the fence and a ground rod system. When an animal touches both the fence and the ground simoultaneously, when the fence is energized, it completes the circuit and recieves an electrical shock.
To some electric fencing may seem cruel, however it is far more humane than the alternatives. When properly installed electric fencing is infinately safer than any other fencing system. When an animal is "hit" by an electric fence it recieves a high-voltage, high-current pulse of electricity, however this pulse of electricity lasts only a tiny fraction of a second. This pulse is rather painful (as I personally found out last week), however it contains so little energy that it is physically incapable of injuring an animal or person. Thusly electric fencing is more of a "psycological barrier" than a "physical" one. Conventional fencing, such as barbed wire, relies on either sharp edges or physical restraint of animals, either of which can kill either a person or an animal.
The picture above is of my upgraded electric fence controller setup. After both doing the math and considering the options I opted to purchase an AC-powered electric fence energizer, on the grounds that it would cost about the same as purchasing two batteries, a dedicated charger and a (decidedly substandard) backup fence energizer. The unit I purchased is the Zareba Systems A50LIL (if you ask me the name is rather ironic, since the second "L" means "Large Cabinet"). It is a 2-joule low-impedance energizer which, (unlike my B10LI self-contained unit) can accept Zareba's "Storm Guard" module, a purpose-built surge arrestor intended to mitigate the effects of lightning strikes to the fence. Since my fence controller is located inside my house I plan on installing both this and a true "lightning arrestor" on the fence line itself. Considering the extreme power of lightning I feel that it's worthwile taking every practical measure to mitigate it's effects on my property... As before, the two new danger signs (the two 10KV signs and the Authorized Personnel Only sign) I printed off myself.


After the heavily-insulated leadout wire leaves my house it first stops here: the "Fence Control Post." The post itself is temporary as I plan on replacing it with a pressure-treated 4x4. In addition I plan on adding seperate cut-outs for the top and bottom wires, as well as a third cutout for temporary garden fencing (for when I plant a garden next year).
Though it is not visable in this picture the leadout wire is bent several times to serve as a lightning choke. The short-radius bends discurage the high direct-current lightning stroke from continuing along the fence wire, and finding an easier ground...









Which leads to this: My temporary, "Home-Brew" lightning arrestor setup. Here I pushed a short ground rod into the earth and placed a solidly-bonded grounding wire just outside of the 10KV arcing range from the fence wire, right next to the leadout wire. This was an "emergency measure" I took last night, due to the predictions of severe weather over the next three days. After today's rather absurd lightning storm I felt that this system was well worth my time... Thankfully I don't think I got to find out if it worked or not...
I plan on replacing this system with a true lightning arrestor with a fully-buried 8-foot ground rod as soon as is practical. Here you can also see a new fiberglass rod with two insulators for the new permanant exclusion fence. Hopefully I will get to post about that tommorow...

Chickens Update

Finally, through only partial fault of my own, the chickens are outdoors... Now, the explination:

Yesterday I erected what was intended to be a temporary enclosure for the chickens. I didn't have nearly as much wire as I had thought, and had to improvise a coop for them... After several near escapes I thought I had the birds contained, and left for game night...
I was wrong...

When I came home at 1:00 the first thing I saw when I pulled in was what looked like a dead chicken. Fortunately it was still alive, but very VERY far from where it belonged. It turns out that it and one more bird had ran right under the electrified chicken wire. About an hour later, just as I was getting to bed, I heard a lot of commotion outside, and when I went out with my flashlight... NO CHICKENS!!!

The next morning after I got up I looked around and, sure enough in the pine trees on the north edge of my property I found five of the birds in short order. Soon thereafter I found the rooster in another pine tree by himself. After reuniting him with the hens I left for Tractor Supply to get supplies to make a much larger run for the birds. Here are the results:
The run is about 50 feet long and 15 wide. The chicken wire is topped with an electrified security wire, and the base is surrounded by a second electrified wire. Both wires are energized with a 6,000 volt pulse once every second, which (according to the fencer manufacturer) is enough to control all predators and livestock as large as bison! This fencer is rather overkill for my purposes, but it is a "weed clipper" unit, which means that it has enough power to literally "burn through" weeds. This is both good and bad: Good in the respect that out-of-control spring weeds won't negate the fence, but bad in the respect that the unit is more than capable of starting brush fires in dry weather... I plan on adding a seperate cut-out for the bottom wire, so I can turn it off during drought and red-flag warnings.
This fence was not as cheap as I had thought: All told it cost about $250-300 (mind you I had bought most of the electric fence parts three years ago, which accounts for just less than half of the total). This is the main reason for my advocacy of electric fencing: For what I spent on a 200-foot chicken fence I could've built a 5 mile cattle fence using a purely electric fence. The other reason is that electric fencing is very humane compared to the alternatives (such as barbed wire). The shock is rather painful (as I found out while testing the fence), but causes no actual harm to the animal. Barbed wire, on the other hand...

Now for some pictures...

My custom indoor electric fence energizer setup. It features a Zareba Systems 1/4 joule battery-powered controller currently running off of the battery from my big truck (which is currently out of commision). I printed off the "High Voltage" signs myself.













Four pullets enjoying the evening beside on of my pine trees.












And the Mighty (in his own opinion) Rooster... When the birds escaped last night he had picked his own tree to hide out in, and unlike the hens had actually climbed up into the tree to roost. His wings were the first to be clipped, so I doubt if his tree climbing prowess will be a problem...

The Blue Bird returns to Waterville!

Sorry for the delay, but I have still been busy as of late...
After a long and arduous struggle taking almost six months of time and the countless efforts of over a dozen people, the TLEW's Blue Bird passenger train arrived at the Waterville station for the first time in years a mere 45 minutes behind schedule!
My previous post gave details of the work needed on 5109. In addition to this close to a mile of track needed repairs. Though most of this work was accomplished in the last two months of our maintenance seasonwe still made opening day!
Below is a (hopefully) once in a lifetime photograph of 5109's prime mover (engine), with any luck the scale of repairs requiring all of the doors to be removed won't be nessasary again!

5109

I think it's high time to post about the project that has been consuming the vast majority of my free time for the last several months: Toledo Lake Erie and Western locomotive 5109...
Over the course of the winter I have been involved in several nessasary repairs including replacing fan and drive belts, a severely belated oil change on the locomotive's air compressor, general maintenance and, most importantly, replacing the number 5 cylinder head and sleeve...
By now I have spent more time in the so-called "dog house" then I care to think about... But at this point I am not going to be satisfied until I watch this locomotive hitch up all three coaches and board the final coach for the trip to Waterville...

Unit 5109 is an S4, built by the American Locomotive Company (Alco) in 1953 for the Chessapeke and Ohio railroad (later known as the Chessie System). It is powered by a Seymour and McIntosh (Alco) 539 6-cylinder, turbocharged prime mover rated at 1,000 horsepower. It is a switcher-type locomotive, and thusly it's gearing and traction wiring are tailored for low-speed, high-torque operations.
This locomotive is over 50 years old, and is showing signs of it's age. Over the last three years the compression seal on cylinder 5 failed, resulting in a catastrophic compression leak. Uopn removing that cylinder's head it rapidly became obvious that both the head and the cylinder sleeve would need replaced; both showed a very obvious gap in excess of .020 inches (though this may not seem like much this is a compression seal that during the power stroke is subjected to tens of thousands of pounds per square inch pressure). Work ensued removing the damaged components from 5109 and scavanging replacement parts from one of TLEW's "dead" locomotives, engine 112.
This last weekend we seated the replacement cylinder sleeve, piston and cylinder head, and are striving to finish repairs and test the locomotive, and remove the "dog house" from the locomotive, hopefully before this weekend...
Here are some pictures of the parts involved, just to give an idea of the scale of the work involved...


The head of a single cylinder of the Alco 539 prime mover. Each cylinder displaces 1,595 cubic inches, for a total displacement of 9,572 cubic inches across all six cylinders. The two men in the background should give an idea of the size of this part.









The cylinder sleeve. This massive steel tube is pressed into the cylinder block, and is sealed by four O-rings. I had initially thought it would take two minutes to install the sleeve... In fact it took almost eight hours of excrutiating work. Installing the equally impressive piston (which I do not have pictures of) took a a mere two hours total...













The cylinder sleeve, installed into the cylinder block. The socket and extension at the edge of the picture are a 1-inch drive...

Chickens Pt. 2

Well after owning chickens for two weeks I have realized two things. 1: I in no way regret my decision to get them and 2: they are very messy birds! As of right now I am having to clean out my waterer at least twice if not three times daily because they keep fouling the water with depleted bedding... However the birds are progressing nicely, and have already doubled in size, with the exception of my rooster (pictured) who has almost tripled in size!
These are "Straight-run" chickens, meaning that there is no way of knowing what breed they are. However judging from their current plumage I have at least three if not four breeds. Most of the pullets (hens) are showing dark brown plumage, and are most likely Rhode Island Reds, or a descendant of that breed. The cockerel (rooster) has so far maintained his overall yellowish color and is most likely a white breed. And two of the pullets have noticeably different plumage than the other three, however it is still too early to be sure...
I will keep you posted on the birds' development, and will have pictures as soon as I move them to larger quarters (right now they are borderline overcrowded by the box I am keeping them in, making their care burdensome and any photography options poor at best). This week I hope to move them to larger quarters out in the old bar, I will take and post more pictures then.