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  • Showing only topics in ~hobbies with the tag "ask.help". Back to normal view / Search all groups
    1. Looking for help with a DIY / household engineering project - hanging a water reservoir from my bed frame

      I have a Platypus Hoser water reservoir. And I have a metal canopy bed. Awhile back, I realized that I can hang the water reservoir from one of the top rails of the bed, and it gives me a way of...

      I have a Platypus Hoser water reservoir. And I have a metal canopy bed. Awhile back, I realized that I can hang the water reservoir from one of the top rails of the bed, and it gives me a way of drinking water in bed, with no risk of spilling it on myself or my bed, and without even needing to sit up.

      The only problem is, it leaks. It's a very slow leak, but it's dripping onto my bed or the carpet next to it, which obviously I'd like to avoid. And occasionally a droplet will fall on my outstretched hand or arm as I'm falling asleep, which tends to jerk me awake.

      You can see from the picture of the water reservoir above, the hole for hanging it is at the top, and the outlet for the hose is at the bottom. The way I'm hanging it now is just by threading a short length of "velcro tape" (tape without adhesive, but with velcro on each side so that it can stick to itself) through the hole and then around the top rail.

      So the way I have it now, all the water pressure concentrates on the spot where the hose screws on to the reservoir, and no matter how hard I tighten it, it still finds a way to leak.

      What I'd like to do is find an alternate way of hanging it, so that it's laying flat and there's much less water pressure on the outlet. Ideally I could also wrap the reservoir in a hand towel or something to absorb any leaks rather than letting them drip onto my bed.

      What I vaguely have in mind is that I'd like to build a "sling" of sorts that I could hang from the rail, and then lay the reservoir inside that sling. If I could find a very small plastic tarp (say 18 inches square) with metal grommets on each corner, that would more or less do what I want. But for understandable reasons, no one seems to make tarps that small.

      I'm sure there's something along those lines that I can assemble from inexpensive / easy-to-find parts. But...I can't think of what it might be.

      6 votes
    2. Feeling totally stuck trying to work out music production

      For about a year I have been trying to work out how to make music. I want to make stuff like the OP-1 videos on Red means recording. I have a midi keyboard and LMMS on my desktop but I just can't...

      For about a year I have been trying to work out how to make music. I want to make stuff like the OP-1 videos on Red means recording. I have a midi keyboard and LMMS on my desktop but I just can't work out how to do anything.

      Does anyone have any tips or resources? Everything I have found has been so specific to a certain tool that I can't use it or so theoretical I don't understand what to do with it.

      13 votes
    3. Dying PBT Keycaps

      I just got my /dev/tty blanks in from Massdrop and I an thinking of dying them to match my current ABS colorway. I have looked at the guide and I think I am able to do all that, but I am wondering...

      I just got my /dev/tty blanks in from Massdrop and I an thinking of dying them to match my current ABS colorway.

      I have looked at the guide and I think I am able to do all that, but I am wondering what kind of look I am going to/can get by dying the gray and red caps?

      I assume the gray caps would just yield a slightly darker color, but I am curious if I can get an interesting shade of brown by dying the red keycaps with some other color (or just more brown?)

      Any hints on dying the colored caps or dying PBT in general are appreciated.

      6 votes