Finally.
Many years ago Monty Python did a ‘Good news News’ sketch where the announcer listed non-tragedies masquearading as news. “No wombats killed on freeway”, “No gerbils killed on freeway” and so on.
Well, here’s a joyous addition to that list:
And only $3,499!
Now male devotees of the rainbow flag can enter the women’s changing room and not even be recognized.
Some kaizen called for.
Like Toyota I am a huge believer in kaizen:
Whether with the opposite sex (costly) or with machines (less so) there are few things in life which cannot be improved upon. With my Home Theater, which runs a movie every evening, the focus of kaizen has been on less obvious areas.
You can read about the construction process as follows:
Hardware has been the least of the issues. The LG CineBeam HU715QW has been a winner. While the extremely acute angle at which it projects the image means that alignment of projector and screen is ultra critical, once done with the help of the software tools in the projector, some garage language and an invocation of grievous bodily harm to anyone moving the assembly thereafter, it has been perfection. We are talking Lexus LS400 quality here (the vehicle which defines kaizen) and with a projector-to-seat distance of some 12 feet, the bulb fan is inaudible.
One of the less remarked aspects of this exceptional piece of hardware has been its seamless and unobtrusive upsampling of regular definition content on DVD so that the quality is very close to that of a BluRay disk with its eight times larger file size – 32gB against 4gB. All those old pre-BluRay DVDs on the file server now look better than ever.
Equally, the Sonos sound system has been trouble free and if the maker is applying over-the-air updates while I am in the land of nod, I have not noticed and it continues to work seamlessly. I mention this as these updates has been have been the cause of some controversy, but I remain a happy camper.
And as regards data sources, the old Mac Mini with attached HDD boxes works well using a Bluetooth mouse and the Apple TV 4K puck for streamed content is an absolute knockout with its much improved controller. It also uses Bluetooth, meaning no line-of-sight nonsense with remote controls, with all hardware hidden away in the credenza on which the projector sits.
So the hardware side is robust, high quality and troublefree.
But the same cannot be said for the room. While the size is perfect at 20’9″ long, 13’11” wide and 9’2″ high and the reclining seating is a delight for the bottom and back if not for the pocketbook, getting rid of light leaks has been a truly kaizen project. With the theater first installed in the depth of winter, outside light was not an issue. It was pitch dark by the movie hour. But as Daylight Savings Time kicked in (what jerk thought of that concept?) light leaks became abundant. So first it was drapes for the rear facing triple windows:
Next, the slatted blinds for the west facing side windows proved totally inadequate. I replaced them with silvered/black blackout blinds which proceeded to leak light at the edges, so L-shaped plastic channels were fitted:
Then, as the sun got brighter and shone more on the north-east side behind the screen, light shafts proceeded to show through the screen. Nowhere did the Elite Screens specs mention that their screens are partially translucent so the monster 123″ display had to come off the wall, with much help from my son, and black-out material was fitted over those three windows to seal them off for once and for all. A high risk project:
Now things were getting properly dark, a hand extended no longer visible with the lights out. And speaking of lights, all the bland ceiling floods were replaced with spotlights to add drama to the illumination of the old movie posters:
So yes, kaizen absolutely works, but don’t let anyone tell you it’s easy. It’s the same reason that Toyota makes the best cars in the world.
A blast from the past.
The HP DesignJet 30/90/130 printers (10″/18″/24″ maximum paper width, respectively) were as good as pro-amateur color printers were ever made. The three models, which date from 2006, use the same ink cartridges and print heads, six of each. The Vivera ink dyes used require special swellable HP paper which absorbs the dyes and is good for over 80 years of permanence.
I wrote extensively about the maintenance and care of these printers in a series of articles which you can find here. Suffice it to say that you will not find better blacks from any printer and even with glossy paper there is not so much as a hint of metamerism (bronzing). I have displayed prints for almost two decades in bright sun without a hint of fading.
When HP discontinued these printers I stocked up on the special paper at ten cents on the dollar and also bought a remaindered set of OEM print heads and ink cartridges. While I had all the prints I needed for home and exhibition display I knew that one day I would revisit making large prints so it made sense to lay in those supplies.
Well, the other day I decided that I wanted to make some new prints for framing, having become bored with what I had and knowing that some gems awaited printing in my catalog. But my HP DJ90 had seen no use in seven years and though I had kept it plugged in (and switched off) all those years, to enable the head warmers and the occasional automatic ink flush which HP’s engineers had cleverly built in, the display panel showed all sorts of weird symbols and no ink levels were to be seen. So I pulled all six print heads, cleaning the mating surface in the printer with a rag soaked in distilled water, and replaced them with the new OEM ones which I had kept in their sealed, foil wrapping. At the same time I replaced all the ink cartridges. After an extended period during which the printer primed the cartridges and supply lines (meaning they were filled with ink and air was purged) the printer fired up and worked perfectly! Joy.
Now the snag with these DesignJet models is that paper is no longer available, and ink and print heads, if found through web search can be very costly indeed. And as for spare parts they are largely unavailable so one day my printer will be so much landfill. Welcome to the disposable society. I had made a half-hearted attempt at cleaning clogged printheads in this piece which turned out to be so much time wasted. This time, rather than throwing the old heads away, I determined to do the job properly.
The print head comprises four parts:
In the above image these are:
The design of the #84 (black) and the #85 (colors) heads is identical.
The print head is easily dismantled using a small, flat bladed screwdriver. First, put on some rubber gloves. Those dyes, once on your skin, are absorbed and hard to remove.
Then remove the needle unit, insert the blade of the screwdriver at the location shown in this image:
Carefully twist the screwdriver and the needle unit pops off.
Now it remains to remove the cap with its attached bellows.
No tools are needed. Place your thumb at the location of the green arrow, the side of your forefinger at the location of the red arrow (on the underside of the protruding plastic, not at the side) and apply force in the direction shown by the curved blue arrow. The two will separate easily.
Being careful not to lose or damage the rectangular gasket which is between the bladder unit and the reservoir, flush all the parts with hot water from the tap, then soak them overnight to remove the last vestiges of ink. There is no need to use volatile solvents. Flush once more, air dry, then reassemble in the reverse order, being sure to place that rectangular gasket over the bellow assembly before snapping on the reservoir. The gasket nestles in a rectangular groove around the base of the bellows assembly. Be sure it is securely lodged in that groove, helping it along with a jeweler’s screwdriver if necessary, before snapping the reservoir and bellows assembly together. The needle unit is replaced last, snapping into place.
Your HP DJ print head is now ready to be put back in service. There is no need to pre-fill it with ink. The HP DesignJet will do that for you when first turned on with the new print head(s) installed. Give it 30 minutes or so to complete this process.
The Steve Jobs Archive.
Rather than go on about a man I miss greatly, I will simply repeat an email I sent to my son:
Winnie –
There is no finer guide to life. The theme which runs through every page is : TAKE RISKS.
You have started well on a life of risk taking, striking out courageously on your own for New England. Soon you will take another risk and spend a semester in France. What could be finer?
The time to take risks is when you are young because you have time to recover from the inevitable failures you will encounter on the way. But if you fail to take risks the only destination which awaits you is mediocrity. Better to be dead than to arrive there.
Love,
Dad.
