Mill training

Wayne is pointing out features on the mill while the shop employees look on.

Solar defrosted sewer vent.

When it gets real cold in the dead of winter, it is not uncommon to for rooftop vents to frost over, causing gurgley pipes and sewer smells. We are trying out a trick we just learned...

First cut the top of the vent pipe at a 45 degree angle, with the open part facing south.

Then paint it black.

The frost will have a hard time trying to bridge that longer gap...

...and the sun (that tends to be bright on the coldest days) will heat up the pipe and melt any frost away.

New Blank Controller Board

The new bare controller board. These boards are currently being built so we should have working boards soon.
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Sent from my Android phone with K-9. Please excuse my brevity.

Plugged solar panel.

Wayne is attempting to unclog a solar panel that got some silicone into the wrong spot.  We had another panel spring a leak.  The two part glue should prevent this.

Mess of tubes.

This percolating mess of tubes is the result of a day's experimenting on the solar panels.  We have characterized the fill up time, flow rates, and drainback times.  We have also identified a panel that is almost entirely clogged.

Water flow test

To see how much resistance a 60' 0.170 id tube has at 5 psi head.

Wayne's solar barrel

We are testing the solar panels on the ARC with this setup first to answer some basic performance questions.