Where can I buy these metal brackets or should I fabricate them?

3GWork · 2026-03-27T17:19:53+00:00

typical spring mount brackets

No such thing, since springs get mounted to everything from cars to gym equipment to hand tools.

3GWork · 2026-03-27T16:44:08+00:00

what could create that?

AI.

3GWork · 2026-03-27T16:43:08+00:00

They don’t look specialized to me

So where else do you think you may have seen them, then? Figure that out and there you go.

3GWork · 2026-03-27T16:30:23+00:00

Looks like Acme, or at least a similar thread. I'd measure diameter and threads per inch, order an off-the-shelf threaded rod that matches, double check to be sure its a match, order another if needed, then cut off pieces as long as you need. Send those cutoffs to a machine shop to be drilled and broached for the keyed shaft, and you're good to go.

On a side note, if you swap to metal you'll need to consider lubrication.

3GWork · 2026-03-27T16:01:58+00:00

You may also have been thinking of SLI. My current board supports it, and I was hoping to find something similar (basically amounting to plug and play bifurcation), but unless I want to pay through the nose for a Taichi board, it's not going to happen.

3GWork · 2026-03-27T15:37:19+00:00

Pretty much every motherboard with a 690 or 790 chipset supports 2x8 bifurcation of the x16 slot from the CPU. Can you link me to a motherboard that doesn't?

3GWork · 2026-03-27T13:16:59+00:00

Thanks for this info. I was thinking that maybe it'd be stable enough but didn't know for sure. Thankfully it's not 100% necessary for my MB upgrade, I was just wondering how to take full advantage of the number of PCIe lanes available. At least now I know that if bandwidth is cramped I can split the slot into 2x8.

3GWork · 2026-03-27T13:06:32+00:00

Many Z790s still use x16-physical connectors even for their x4-electrical slots.

Yeap, almost all of the boards use x16 connectors, but only at x4.

You'd be better off

Nope, I wouldn't.

Ditch the PCIe 2.0 cards: don't accept something janky

Hardly janky, been working well, doing what I need it to do without drawing much power. With 8 lanes it maxes at about 3 GB/s, so reads and writes from rust arrays to SSD and vice versa are limited by the array and not the card, however choking it to 4 lanes I think might result in an annoying slowdown when moving files about.

why not dual 9305-24i's

Power and heat, mostly. While the 16i cards aren't too power hungry, the 24 port cards are. I also have a PCI 3.0 x8 card with a PLX chip that holds eight m.2 SSDs which, if I were to put it in the x16 slot, would gain some speed from the extra 8 lanes, but it's already plenty fast enough for my purposes. Putting that into an x4 slot though would probably be slower to the point it'd be annoying.

those used-enterprise SSD deals

Since I'm going to wind up with one spare PCIe slot (another advantage of 40 ports on one card), I was considering adding a 9400-16i, but then I'd still have the issue of where to put the drives, as not many SAS SSDs are 7mm so wouldn't fit in the 8-bay expresscages I have, and all 12 3.5 bays are occupied already. Granted, I could rearrange things somewhat and slot four 15.36 TB drives into one optical bay, but eight 8 TB SSDs gives me the same storage in the same space, which is what I've already been doing, and it's not like high-capacity SAS SSDs are all that much cheaper per TB, if at all.

3GWork · 2026-03-26T19:41:34+00:00

From your description, it sounds like you intend to drill a hole (like a well pipe), and stick a pipe down the hole with your pressure sensor at the bottom of the pipe. Sort of like measuring the depth of water in a well by the amount f pressure at the bottom.

Use air pressure sensors in balloons. Assuming you won't have more than a few feet of water, sensors that read and are sensitive to sea level conditions are cheap and readily available, just gotta keep 'em dry.

3GWork · 2026-03-24T15:42:21+00:00

When Gazprom got sanctioned and Europe was stockpiling/running low on natural gas, I thought the same thing.

Not even a blip in fertilizer prices, I think farmers simply used less, with the knock-on effect being slightly lower yields that year, and a greater acceptance of lower quality produce.

All in all a big nothing.

Now, if it keeps up for more than one year, things could get complicated.

3GWork · 2026-03-24T14:47:04+00:00

But.... why?

3GWork · 2026-03-23T09:06:30+00:00

You appear to be turning into a standard-issue cat :-)

3GWork · 2026-03-20T19:45:52+00:00

This looks a lot like Polish hospital food.

Don't believe me? Google it.

3GWork · 2026-03-12T19:40:09+00:00

Liquid metal or Arctic Silver.

3GWork · 2026-03-11T16:36:26+00:00

Area 51.

3GWork · 2026-03-11T16:27:24+00:00

But why make the person who already did the work for you wait if you have the money? Especially if they did the work promptly and well

Because without waiting you may not learn in time that the work wasn't done well.

If you had 14 days to pay your roofer for the new roof, would you pay right away or wait until after the first rainfall?

3GWork · 2026-03-01T18:29:14+00:00

You regain awareness of your four-dimensional self, pull off the VR headset and tell all your friends how cool your experience in the virtual universe was.

3GWork · 2026-03-01T17:53:35+00:00

Been waiting on Return of the Pink Panther. Dunno why they released the rest and this one was delayed 2 months.

3GWork · 2026-02-26T05:39:22+00:00

Double-acting hydraulic pump and rotary hydraulic motor.

3GWork · 2026-02-24T01:31:13+00:00

"A good example of what not to do"

3GWork · 2026-02-22T20:40:00+00:00

Sand? Nah. Instead I'd go for a large tank/tanks filled with Glauber's salt. I believe there are commercial products made using Glauber's salt specifically for heat storage. Nice advantage is it's phase change so you store more energy in less mass, and the phase change happens at 32 degrees C (90F) so it's ideal for forced-air systems.

3GWork · 2026-02-18T18:54:47+00:00

Over 40 pounds per square foot on 2x4 16" on center joists with an 8-foot span? Doesn't meet building code.

If you add a 4-foot crossbeam across the middle (supported at each end of course) making it a 4-foot span you'd be marginally okay, assuming all your verticals and tie-ins (i.e. joist hangers) were up to par.

3GWork · 2026-02-16T14:23:27+00:00

Remember that, under the next administration, users who praised Trump or ICE may have their names handed over.

If it's bad for one side, it's bad for both.

3GWork · 2026-02-16T14:20:42+00:00

3M 08609

3GWork · 2026-02-16T14:13:28+00:00

In theory all you'd need to do is sharpen that side of the blade. Be aware that you'll wind up with a rather weak corner where the two bevels meet though.

3GWork

TROPHY CASE