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Archive for the ‘Fav Things’ Category

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Getting the wheels all the way in to the Rubbermaid Triple Trolley Model FG4401

In Fav Things on September 8, 2012 at 9:16 pm

So I bought this flat-bed “trolley” cart as an impulse buy at Home Depot the other day thinking it would come in handy for off-loading the car after an outing at BJ’s or Costco, not to mention other moving projects I haven’t yet thought of or was faced with.  At $70 it looked to be a good buy and easy to put together … and there was only 1 left!!!

I get it home and start to put it together via the non-verbal Lego-like instructions, and everything seems pretty easy, but it seemed weird to me that the wheels (casters on stems) didn’t push all the way in and the tops of the casters weren’t flush with the bottom base of the cart.  The wheel casters were pushed in as hard as I could and seemed secure, but didn’t seem right.

I used it twice like this and it worked fine, but after the second load I looked more closely at the instructions and sure enough it seemed to indicate the wheels should be pushed in all the way, no stem from the caster showing (and photos online confirmed this).  And I could tell by the molding on the bottom that the rear wheels were suppose to lock in place if pushed all the way in.  So I tried pushing and pushing to no avail.  Tried to pound down on the wheels with a rubber mallet and with nail set and a hammer pounding on the caster base … and in all only worked up a nice sweat.

So I decided to cool off mentally and physically use the handy interwebs and see if anyone else had a similar issue and a trick to make this work.  I tried You Tube, Google, the Rubbermaid site, and out of desperation, Bing!, but all to no avail.  Eventually I went back to Home Depot site and sure enough, there was one review complaining of the same problem and how he used a 1×1 piece of wood angled on the caster base and a hammer to pound those stubborn wheels in place.  So back I headed to the basement to try and find something similar to use on my casters and when I happened upon my can of WD-40 … “why not?”

Sure enough, one squirt of WD-40 in each wheel’s hole, used my thumb to hold caster in place after an initial push down, a few knocks with my rubber mallet and they all slid in perfectly flush. Be aware that the two rear wheels lock in place, so line up before you start hammering.  I posted my WD-40 solution to the Home Depot site too hoping it helps someone too.  I love this kind of serendipity.

Kudos to the always handy WD-4o 😉

Find Rubbermaid Triple Trolley Model FG4401 at Home Depot ($69.97 – Sept. 2012)

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Canon Vixia HV-40 has Firewire and works with Ustream

In Fav Things on November 21, 2011 at 7:22 pm

Been meaning to post this tidbit for quite a while as I found this particular information hard to find when I was looking for it some months back. 😉

This past Spring I was researching and searching for a video camera that had a Firewire (IEEE 1394) connection and would work with Ustream for streaming workshops and meetings for my workplace.

Along the way,  a friend who works for A/V services at UMass-Lowell, told about their beloved Canon Vixia HV-30’s that have a Firewire port.  Unfortunately that model is no longer made by Canon and the used ones were going for a premium at the time.   But on the Canon website I discovered that the Canon ZR960 does sport a Firewire connection, listed as IEEE1394 in the specs.  And I noticed that Canon’s successor to the HV-30, the HV-40 had a ton of inputs so maybe a Firewire too???

A thorough review and great photos of all the features of the HV-40 are at Camcorderinfo.com.  This was the one place that actually talked about and showed a picture of the HV-40’s Firewire port (next to it’s HDMI port).   For some strange reason Canon does NOT mention the  HV-40 FireWire/IEEE1394 port in it’s own specs online … I guess HDMI and USB are the selling points, although neither helps you stream with a service like Ustream.

I have successfully used the HV-40 on Ustream with two different models of MacBook Pro and a Lenovo ThinkPad.  All three of which took a different pin-sized Firewire cable of course!  But, essentially the HV-40 works fine with computers that have either Firewire 400 or 800 (or on older MacBook Pros, both!).  You do not need to be recording with tape when you are streaming, the Ustream Producers software sees the HV-4o immediately and you are good to go.

Hope this post helps folks, like me, trying to figure out what camcorders will work with Ustream.

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Lenape Re-Place-A-Bar

In Fav Things on October 31, 2011 at 8:16 am

A plastic towel bar replacement for those of us with tile towel bar posts.  This does exactly what it says it does, easy to install after cutting to size.  I found it online after an extensive Google search at Eclectic-ware:

http://www.eclectic-ware.com/Eclectic-ware/Lenape/Re-Place-A-Bar/re-place-a-bar.html