To the moon, Alice! To the moon!

Here at the Garage Of Mayhem (and it's subdivisions, annexes and ad-hoc entities) lots of things get worked on, tinkered with, repaired, or just plain torn down and reassembled for fun. These might be cars, appliances, computers, machinery, gadgets, what have you. And in more times than not, with no help from any sort of shop manual, parts list, guides or web info. Manuals are always welcome, especially for more involved stuff, and the manuals themselves are often entertaining (at least for me) reading material. Just ask Jeff about all the manuals often left in the bathrooms. Most gearheads who read my ramblings here are probably familiar with the Haynes series of shop manuals available for most cars, trucks, vans, most any vehicle. While not nearly as in-depth as an actual factory manual and sometimes derided for lacking in some pertinent information, these cheap manuals usually do the job and provide enough in the way of specifications such as torque values and tightening sequences to get a job done properly. Today I discovered a Haynes manual for a vehicle I never will work on (most likely), yet I still feel the need for:



Yes, it's real. And for some reason, it's only available on the Haynes UK site for the time being. This manual is being published to coincide with the upcoming 4th anniversary date of the Apollo 11 moon landing, which remains one of mankind's greatest achievements in exploration, science and good old-fashioned awesome. While not exactly a typical shop repair manual like one would expect from Haynes, it's more of an in-depth view of the various sections and modules of the entire Apollo 11 space vehicle, the space suits and other tidbits presented in a way familiar to those who have used shop manuals before.

I love it when history can come down to nuts and bolts. And I will most likely pick up a copy once it's available in the U.S. (Amazon.com has it available for pre-order for 11-1-09 availability.)

/geekgasm

Sounds of the past

The other day, while I was fixing up the basement workshop and tossing out junk, I ran across one of my geeky gadgets I would build on a whim. This one was from about 1980, it was my version of a portable FM stereo receiver. Not exactly portable by today's standards, it measures about 2x3x6 inches, built in a blue plastic project box. Tonight I decided to dust it off to see if it still works. It does, and I am reminded of just how I would engineer my audio gadgets. The thing has very high fidelity, and it's loud. This thing is but a small link in a high-decibel chain of audio gear that has left me with tinnitus these days. Oh well. Just crank it up over the background racket and enjoy.

As with most of my throw-together, experimental pursuits of the day, it lacks finish, with no labeling or dial scales, it is meant to simply function and not look like much. Like me:



Appropriately, when I first powered it on and began listening, the local JackFM station was playing music I would have heard on the radio when I had originally built it. I closed my eyes and listened to the Supertramp and Steve Miller Band coming through the cans and thought of better days. I then tuned it to the frequency of my FM transmitter connected to the studio PC and listened to my own choice of music, bereft of the insane compression and processing plaguing broadcast FM these days. It's such a treat.

I unwittingly took part in "Wifebeater Wednesday" with the photo too.