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Station Reports: January 2008

New workshop January 2008Eventually, the new workshop is finished - thanks to the hard work of last year's ISV group, Dwyght and a number of other volunteers. The roof is on (thanks to Bruce of Wren Timbers who supplied the steps and the main roof rafters).
New workshop January 2008Wonderful view of the forest. The workshop is built of the same material that the laboratories are - polystyrene foam/colorbond panels - and hopefully in the next year, we'll be able to de-humidify it. This construction -while not as 'ideologically sound' as we'd like it -is robust, easy to keep clean and can be hermetically sealed if we decide to dehumidify it..
New workshop January 2008Now all the stuff that filled up the tiny workshop has some room to breathe - but knowing this place it won't be clear for long! But the lathe and mill - and the new bench saw have somewhere, where they can be used in comfort.
New workshop January 2008 Bats through the windowSo when we are bored - we can look through the workshop window at the bats! (who also can look at us!)
New workshop January 2008 Awning windowsMaking those windows (which hinge from the top) was a real trial - with the new saw bench - which, as always - the blades etc supplied - are cheap and nasty - and the saw really is not delivered properly 'tuned-up' - with the effect that initially it wouldn't cut the wood properly - preferring to burn it - as the saw blade oscillated - and the guide was at an angle to the bench..Hint...you get what you pay for...I had a spare blade - and that fixed the oscillation - and a certain amount of judicious packing of the rip guide, fixed the burning... I call it the 95% solution - the manufacturers get 95% right - but the 5% they get wrong - completely defeats the whole design.. I could (and probably will) go on...
New workshop January 2008 Will and power systemWill (from UK) was an enthusiastic volunteer who came in December to learn about solar installation . He was instantly involved in the shift of the new batteries and inverter to the old workshop room - and learned firsthand the joys of AC and DC wiring codes for Australia. Here he is grinning - as we had just switched on the new inverter - and the place was humming. Beauty of all this - is that we don't have to worry about alien invasions in this room - by geckoes and cockroaches (which often spell the end of inverters in the Daintree!).
New workshop January 2008 Trimetric monitorThis is our saviour - this little box mounted on the outside of the battery room (Trimetic Monitor) - tells us at a glance the state of our system - without having to go indoors to monitor it. It shows the state of charge of the batteries - displayed as amp-hours. If the figure is in excess of -150 AH - we have to start the generator (no, not automatic yet!).
New workshop January 2008 Our pineappleAnd on another tack entirely, we planted pineapples (actually the tops of pineapples.) One and a half years later had our 'first born' - delicious! We replant the tops and in a year - more pineapples!