All pictures taken with my Sony SLT-a77 with a Sony DT 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 SAM objective.
Cleaning a Thales MEZ
So I got this Thales MEZ a while back which was in a super bad shape:
In particular after a general outside clean I redid the paint on the front-panel, as the majority was rusted off:
However, I did not clean it on the inside at the time and just put it into my shelf to sit there. Now I decided to finish what I started and repair the rest of it.
Landsweiler Reden
View from Eschberg
Zoo Neunkirchen
Fixing the RRD IO Hell
So I’m using collectd to monitor my systems. For a couple of machines it was fine, but as soon as it got more collectd caused a constant load on my disks due to all the RRD files that need to be written.
In order to reduce this I decided to use rrdcached, which comes with the default RRD install on FreeBSD. It can be configured for collectd on FreeBSD as follows:
Website Improvements
I did the monthly configuration revision on my systems and decided to do some changes to my web server and this website.
Don’t load JavaScript when not needed (Hugo) Originally I had KaTeX included on every page on here, but decided to limit it only to pages where I actually need LaTeX support. The majority of pages on here does not use LaTeX after all.
I did this by adjusting the Hugo template to only include it when the page parameter needLaTeX is set.
Quick fix: New Paint for the Jakob Maul Bilateral Scale
I had this sitting on my shelf for a while the paint on the base stated to come off, I happen to have some black glossy spray paint at home so I figured let’s give it a new paint job.
I removed the paint with a brass brush on my Proxxon tool (like a Dremel), then used 1000 sand paper to clean it up a little. After that I cleaned the surface with Isopropyl alcohol and covered the sections I didn’t want to paint.
Repairing a FACIT TK Mechanical Calculator
I have this old FACIT TK mechanical calculator, the reset lever for the cycle counter became stuck so I figured I give it some maintenance.
It is in a bad shape in general, I haven’t bothered to clean it either and the previous owner evidently had it in a dilapidated attic or barn.
Stuck lever Turns out the lever was stuck because this gear could not freely slide on the axle.
Microscopy Insights #3: Vostok Komandirskie
Some close-up stereomicroscope shots of my mechanical Vostok Kommandirskie wristwatch. I disassembled it quite far in order to repair it a while ago but didn’t take any pictures, I didn’t wanted to disassemble it now as it’s working so here is only what is visible if you open the back cover.
Pictures taken with a Sony SLT-a37 on my MBS-10 (МБС-10) with the МФУ tube.