I recognize that Miata owners, on the whole, tend to be cheapskates who prefer to spend $99 on shitty manifolds that crack rather than paying a bit more to get something nice.

The dispenser gun is optional. I've only used a few tubes of DP420, and been successful using an unsharpened wooden pencil to dispense one tube at a time. The trick is simply to put a mark on the pencil indicating the depth to which you dispensed Tube A, and then dispense tube B by an equal amount. (for those not familiar, the two tubes are of unequal diameter. Unlike JB Weld / most common epoxies, this one does not mix at 1:1.)

 

Which formulation of CA did you use?

I build planes, so I hear what you're saying about the cost of consumables. No way I'm spending big monies on this though. I'm a cheap *** when it comes to my own projects.

 

Just to be clear, my CA was for thermocouples, not strain gauges. I needed them to simply stay put.

I used Starbond medium with a small dab of accelerator. We typically use Loctite surface insensitive for production but I got this stuff because it's cheaper and only really used for dicking around with 3D prints and what not. I don't need certs or specific levels of performance other than "holds good".

The problem I had with epoxy was that it took so long to cure I'd mess up positioning things 10 times before it was hard. And I mounted 8 TCs, which would have taken 3 days with epoxy. For the CA, I just put down a small blob, sprayed accelerator on a q-tip, and pushed the thermocouple down with the qtip for just a split second so it would cure a little but not stick the cotton to it.

Here's an example:

The black 6 leg device is the on-board temp sensor. I put mine next to it to use with my datalogger. The component immediately to its right is 0402 size I think.

 

Loctite 401 for regular applications, M-Bond 610 for high strain (like axle shafts). Not sure on the cheap way to prep, we use the Vishay M-Prep conditioner and neutralizer. It looks like acetone is an acceptable cleaner, but then you'd want a neutralizer.

 

Yeah, ok. I think i can source a decent CA and some good solvent. Do you actually know what the conditioner and neutralizer are? I hate boutique proprietary blends of herbs and spices. Maybe I can find the SDS...

 

Vishay M-prep is ~5% phosphoric acid.
Vishay Neutralizer 5A is 0.01% sodium tetraborate pentahydrate (AKA 20 mule team borax).

Now I need a cheap source of phosphoric acid. Don't need much.

 

Grainger has phosphoric acid for relatively cheap.

https://www.grainger.com/search/lab-...&sortOrder=asc

500ml of 25% is $15: https://www.grainger.com/product/RIC...ic-Acid-45E741



Actually, if you only need 5%, Amazon has 8oz of 10% for $10:




EDIT: man, you can buy a lot of different acids online, and in fairly high strength. When I was a kid, 15% muriatic acid was about the only "serious" acid you could easily obtain in large quantities. (Sold at pool supply stores.) Teenagers these days can order all sorts of different acids right off of Amazon.

 

All Boeing employees get a pretty solid discount at Grainger. If you ever need an expensive thing, LMK.

 

Helium leak tester with mass spectrum analyzer?

 

 

Yeah. Looks like it. We use CTS in multiple locations. I am not the expert, however. They are generally helpful to us. We use chambers and vacuum. Some systems use collection wands.

DNM

 

I will probalby call them at some point and request an electronic version.

I feel I'm pretty smart and can figure things out on my own, but this thing has some very non-intuitive submenus and I haven't had much experience with leak testing to help me decipher it.

 

They also have to warm up for ~1/2 hour before you can take good readings if they're anything like ours

 

I just use soapy water as a pretty reliable leak tester.
No submenus, no warm up delays.

 

Yes, that is another option. Need a regulated source I guess.

 

Scenario:

y8s family determines that, oops, oh, we own 2.5 acres of land in the middle of nowhere california and nobody's been paying taxes for a few years. the land is Very Far from any kind of services (water, gas, donut), though it apparently has great verizon wireless coverage.

the land is apparently property of my generation of the family (four of us) but like, none of us will use it for anything. there are a few bucks in back taxes owed and the assessed value is 4 digits. zip code is 93453.

if it had SOME useful resource, i'd consider keeping it and just ... i dunno, farming alpacas from a yurt.

it might also be useable as a half-megawatt solar farm, but who has time or money to make that happen is beyond me. There's already 3/4 of a terawatt of solar in that valley.

WWMTD?

approximate location: 35.293212, -119.970169
reference image:

 

Looking at the aerial photography, I'm trying to figure out what it is your neighbors are raising in their backyards. Chickens, dogs, hogs, chinchillas? There is regular spacing of some little structures in most backyards.

Personally, I would see what sort of lumber trees might grow there and plant rows of them and have a harvest in 20 or 30 years that would cover the taxes.

I'm guessing you would be hard pressed to sell it for any kind of money judging from the aerials.

 

The "build a yurt there and retire on your Alpaca farm" idea is appealing. Two questions:

1: Does the relevant governing body realize that you owe taxes on the land, and if so, have they made any effort to collect?

2: Hypothetically speaking, how much time & money would you be willing to invest in an elaborate practical joke which would likely be seen / appreciated by very few?

 

There are no native trees in the valley. like none. I suspect the high soil alkalinity (see: nearby Soda Lake) and lack of rainfall (8 inches per year) would be barriers to large crops.

I did see some articles about groing marijuana crops there, but I don't need that kind of hassle.

For comps, it's hard to draw a true value on the sale price potential. There are plots listed and that have sold from $2000 to $82000 in the last few years.

 

1. Are you seriously asking if the government wants it's money? Yes, they have assessed penalties on the back taxes. If we pay now it's like $400. If we pay in five years, it's like $430. No rush. We have not been served with papers. Who would they even send it to? We aren't sure where the title/deed is.

2. almost zero. is that enough?