Noise Cancelling Headphones compared While the pandemic isn't over, it seems to have become somewhat manageable for now thanks to vaccines. And that means that occasional office commutes become more common again. And commutes need headphones. My old Philips Bluetooth headphones are dissolving, so I need a new pair. And why not go a little fancier and have Active Noise Cancelling (ANC), too?… ▶

Casa Hedgehog A while ago I took part in a study that observed wild animals in the city. We got a automatic camera for a couple of months and could see what animals are walking through our garden at night. I thought I had downloaded the best photos but I cannot find them anymore. I also don't really remember when that happened. Sometime in the blur of the pandemic… ▶

Humidity Control with Home Assistant Our basement tends to be humid. Too much humidity is bad. So regularly airing it is important. But when is the best time to open a window? Answering this question is surprisingly complicated. Generally speaking you want to exchange humid air inside with less humid air from outside. Now all you need to know is the humidity inside and outside - question answered. Right? Well… ▶

Home Assistant again Ever since we moved into the house, my old Home Assistant setup lay dormant. My old port forwardings in the router were missing, so it was unreachable, many of the set up devices did not exist anymore and it was in a really bad state overall.… ▶

Adam Savage Worklight Alternative Ever since I saw Adam Savage's custom workbench LED lamps, I wanted something similar. See the video below for Adam's version. Basically he mounted a camera flat panel LED on top of an armature wire reinforced 3/4“… ▶

Digital Calipers Modded Like many, I own some cheapish digital calipers. And like anyone else, I am super annoyed by the little LR44 button cell that powers them. Or rather does not, because it seems to be always dead. So for the last years I mostly used my old analog calipers. And once you learn how to read their sub-millimeter measurement, they are pretty awesome.… ▶

Vaccinated Today I got my first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine. This of course makes me incredibly happy. So much that I was giggling to myself on my drive home. However, that I got this shot today is also another symptom of how totally fucked up Germany's handling of the pandemic is.… ▶

Workbench Upgrades I built my main workbench nearly a year ago. It remains the most important part of my workshop and I keep improving it. I already blogged about adding a router table and a disk sander. This blog post is about a few more upgrades I did in the last months. Table Saw Fence Update… ▶

Workbench Storage A workshop needs storage. For tools, materials, accessories and doodads. I'm still very happy with my IKEA Trofast system, but it has only three sizes of containers. Sometimes you need something smaller. Or something much smaller. And sometimes something bigger.… ▶

Tool Time: Earmuff Bluetooth Hearing Protection One on my most favorite tools in the workshop is an unexpected one because it isn't really a tool. It's my hearing protection. Hearing protection is essential when operating machines like my table and miter saws, the nail gun or similar. And since I make use of all these machines a lot when working on projects, I tend to wear my hearing protection permanently instead of taking it on and off all the time.… ▶