Inventioneering
Jun. 4th, 2008 10:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisnewdayBeen working at home on one of those projects I use to love getting at the hotel. It's one of those situations where there's no ready-made or standard solution. So you do a combination of inventing and re-engineering. At my skill level, it's pretty basic stuff: common materials, simple techniques, integrated into a slightly unorthodox but ultimately efficient and effective solution.
In this case, it was adapting a dual 8" window fan, 11.75" overall height, to an overhead-pocketted window which is wider than standard but with a max vertical opening of only 9.25." My solution allows the window to be raised and fully lowered with the fan in place and for the fan to be installed or removed seasonally by simply sliding the side baffles behind unobtrusive wood blocks fastened to either side of the window frame.
At first I was bemoaning the fact that the whole housing is such cheap plastic crap compared to the much sturdier metal construction of the past. But, if you're gonna import all this stuff from China, it's gotta be light enough for economical shipping. Which also makes it a cinch to cut for purposes of alteration.
What made it such a cool project is that over the years I've collected tools and design concepts and methods of fabrication that made it more of a fun challenge than an arduous chore. And it's gonna look SO COOL...
In this case, it was adapting a dual 8" window fan, 11.75" overall height, to an overhead-pocketted window which is wider than standard but with a max vertical opening of only 9.25." My solution allows the window to be raised and fully lowered with the fan in place and for the fan to be installed or removed seasonally by simply sliding the side baffles behind unobtrusive wood blocks fastened to either side of the window frame.
At first I was bemoaning the fact that the whole housing is such cheap plastic crap compared to the much sturdier metal construction of the past. But, if you're gonna import all this stuff from China, it's gotta be light enough for economical shipping. Which also makes it a cinch to cut for purposes of alteration.
What made it such a cool project is that over the years I've collected tools and design concepts and methods of fabrication that made it more of a fun challenge than an arduous chore. And it's gonna look SO COOL...
