These were warranty returns. The tie clips are all broken. The two I tested worked well. They are a bit quiet, because there’s no seal between the earphone and ear canal. However, it’s loud enough.
The button on the mic might be broken. The cover is a flexible plastic, but some had broken or loose covers. A bit of tape fixes it.
Overall, this is a recommend. I purchased these on Ebay.
$3 at Ross, and it already broke after a week. The connections between the cable and the mic are weak, and break.
They sound OK, a little quiet, but overall, pretty good, but their fragility makes this a pretty weak product.
After using Sun’s Madras curry powder in a big tin from the restaurant store, I was ready to use larger quantities. I got this other product, Frontier Co-Op’s 1 pound sack of curry powder. This is a comparison and review.
Continue reading Frontier Co-Op Organic Curry Powder 1lb BagReview of an inexpensive case for a low cost Android phone.
I got this on Ebay for around $15 shipped. It fit the phone perfectly, and has all the holes for all the ports. The plastic or rubber is coated with rubber paint, so it feels good in the hand.
The main feature is the rotating ring on the back, which helps you hold the phone (and gives your pinky a rest). It works, so far.
When it’s used with the heater vent, and the air conditioner is on, the glue will harden, and the metal plate will fall off the case.
To fix this problem, I scraped all the glue off (it’s sticky “booger glue” on paper tape), and then used epoxy to re-attach the metal plate.
To do this, use a small amount of epoxy, just enough to cover the entire surface without dripping, and then stick it back into position. Do not use too much glue, because it’ll stick up the ring’s swivel mechanism.
Set the case down on a piece of paper, with the back-side facing down, so the epoxy cement doesn’t drip into the swivel mechanism.
Y’all missed out on the “learning opportunity” of the crypto crash. When the market for crypto crashes, you can still go into Coinbase and study up about some of the failed products, and get free money.
Then, you can hold onto the money until it increases in value, then turn around and spend some of that money here.
I’ve never done this, but found a lot of information online. This is about my first attempt at repairing a microwave oven.
The microwave oven turns on, and the fan spins, and it makes the microwave oven sound, but the food doesn’t heat up.
The parts that drive the cooking are:
Here are some photos of the parts:
A quick search for the magnetron found replacements priced from $9 to $22, depending on location and newness. I was surprised that they’re available 30+ years later — but it appears that this part hasn’t changed that much in this long.
The capacitor was cheap in China, at around $2. The price in the US is around $8 used, shipped, and $15 new, shipped.
Diodes should cost a couple dollars, maybe less.
I learned that the main cause of failures was the switches. The switches on mine were fine; it powered up and seemed to run the fans, but it never got hot. Checking the switches with a multimeter verified that they worked.
So, I started to work through testing the parts. First, the diode:
https://academy.fredsappliance.com/video/how-to-test-a-high-voltage-diode-from-a-microwave/
Video: https://youtu.be/F1mTElvwcBg
Video: https://youtu.be/PdwbjNCK-xw
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6lrKf2PdVA
Well, I didn’t have a 9v battery, so I need to get that first.
I got a battery, tested the diode, and it seemed fine.
Then I tested the capacitor, using these videos, I did all the tests, and they indicated a good cap. However, one of the tests was to use the cap tester – and mine showed 000 or 1. The one in the video showed some numbers.
Video: How to test capacitor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFFzS1a6k5g
I had to check the tester, so I found an old capacitor and verified that the meter was working. However, the capacitor was a 25uF motor run capacitor that ran at a relative low voltage around 120 volts. The microwave used a 0.81uF that could go up to 1700 volts.
So my meter showing 1 or 0 wasn’t “wrong” – my capacitor was slow low that it might not be showing with my meter. The manual confirmed that for caps from 1 to 100 uF, the resolution is 1uF. In short, it’s not a great capacitance meter on this multimeter. (The brand is “Neoteck”, a $15 meter I got on eBay. It’s a basic DMM that’s a little nicer than the $8 generic meters from AliExpress. To do this diagnosis, I needed something that’s more sensitive.)
Then, I did some measurements on the magnetron. It seemed OK according to this video.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Oriae3-N8c
I’m suspecting that it’s the capacitor. I am going to dig around and find a motor capacitor, and measure that.
This book explains everything! It’s amazing.
Book: http://repairfaq.cis.upenn.edu/sam/micfaq.htm
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laoJyL4Zt-Y – How to troubleshoot your microwave.
This entertaining video is making me wonder about the switches some more. I’ll also go look for a second fuse.
This is the best video. It goes step by step into testing, in sequence.
This ad is from the mid 1950s. I could find no information at all about Chen Yu. Here’s a photo I found on Pinterest. Continue reading Chen Yu, Jewel of the Orient, at the Lake Club Burlesque in Bellflower, CA
My father was born in Union City, NJ, and lived his first few years in Newark, so that might be a reason why he kept this ad, in addition to the fact Barbara Yung-Ying must have been one of the few Asian burlesque dancers in the 50s. Read more info about Minsky’s.
Continue reading Barbara Yung Ying at Minsky’s Burlesque in Newark at the Adams Theater
This is an old rice pot. Estimated to be from the 1950s.
This was not part of a rice cooker. To use it, it was put over heat. The rim and lid were designed so that starchy, boiling water would not overflow down the sides. The lid is shaped like a cymbal, so that the handle wouldn’t be submerged by the boiling water.
This was verified for me by my mother, who immediately identified it as a rice pot and explained its use.
The logo on the lid is the kanji for “ooki” meaning “large”. The animal appears to be a tiger. The handle is made of wood. This does not appear to be the Tiger brand company.
The only indication of its COA is the word “Japan” stamped on the handle. It does not say “occupied Japan”, so I would assume that it’s post-occupation (after 1953). Also, because it’s stamped, I would assume it was intended for export.
See The Status of the Aluminum Industry in Japan by Eiki Usui to learn about the history of the aluminum business in Japan. According to aluminum.or.jp, the first Japanese aluminum industry associations formed in 1947, so that industry was a postwar phenomenon. This isn’t entirely correct. There was a previous aluminum industry, starting in the late 1800s, before WW2, and it collapsed. Smelting aluminum was started only in 1930. Presumably, pre-1930 aluminum products were rarer.
I have found only one product similar: an aluminum pot from 北陸アルミ (Hokua Alumi) in the Hokuriku district in western Japan. (The district my mother was from.) The product is being sold as Showa retro, though it’s new. (The price is around $30, so this item sold at a premium, but not a significant premium if one wanted to import a new pot from Japan.)
The automatic rice cooker, which we now consider the main “rice pot” people use, was invented in 1955 by Toshiba. So the period in which this was produced was probably relatively short.
Also, the market for this item in the US was small. In 1950, the Asian American population was 321K people.
So, it’s been basically impossible for me to find an equivalent rice pot online. The current retro rice pot trend in Japan is to go back to ceramic pots and wooden containers, and is reflective of a trend toward artisinal foods.
昭和レトロ, Showa retro, means vintage goods from the Showa era 1926 to 1989, but mainly focuses on postwar era objects made in Japan, as well as US objects that were common in the postwar era. It’s not the same as vintage Asian or vintage Japan, in that it’s not “chinoiserie” or “japanoiserie” of Japan-themed goods, designed to evoke the East, made for non-Japanese markets. Rather it’s about the continued modernization of Japan in the postwar era.
PS – after reading about the aluminum industry, I had to wonder if this was cast rather than spun. Spun means that a block of aluminum, or a molded aluminum piece, is rolled and stretched into shape.
