Day 64 7/25/13 PART 1 (Clinical work, throwing a power breaker, translating a manual, putting 5 more holes in the hospital wall, being shut down by ‘da man, back on the job and NASAing into a position to drill)

Today was the last day of work. LAST DAY OF WORK. That’s a pretty big deal. Basically to break it down, it means that everything has to be done today and everything has to be wrapped up today. Not tomorrow morning (because we are catching the 8 AM bus to Managua (BAM! On the trip home!)). So let’s start this shiznit and get ready for the ride. Cold shower. Breakfast. Filling water bottles. Splitting up to head to the bike shop (Dan) to get the wheelchair put together and the clinic (me) where I was to work on testing those autoclaves. I arrived at the clinic at like 8:30 AM and immediately got the two autoclaves prepped for their cycles. I started both of the cycles and with 5 minutes or so the power cut off to the hallway lights and to the outlet I was using. This time I knew immediately that the autoclaves were drawing too much current and tripped the breaker (sorry about that SILAIS). Anyways I wanted to make a run back to the hostel to grab my Spanish to English dictionary to translate part of the manual for the Tuttnauer autoclave into Spanish (the screen at minimum) so they could understand what they were doing on the unit. I trekked back to the hostel to find two other Nicaraguan travelers standing outside the locked hostel (as Sol and Luis had headed out somewhere in town for something). I thought of climbing up the balcony, but it would have looked quite strange to them, so I headed the long distance back to the centro de salud and walked back upstairs. I then started working on translating the manual for the screen and buttons. This started out as just the screen and I added several arrows indicating what the lights on the bottom meant as well. I translated the whole page for the other displays and buttons too (on the front). After that I started translating the error messages that would pop up on the screen and made it pretty far through the translation when the power to the entire of San Carlos went out (I know I tripped the breaker 3 times in the past two days, but I sure as heck did not cause that one). Also during this time I consulted with Guillermo about the translation and he actually said most of it was good (with only a minor correction about butón vs. botón (botón is correct)). Anyways it was like 9:45 and I decided that my work would be better served at the hospital so I packed up and left. I was supposed to teach the guy driving the equipment to Los Chiles how to use the autoclaves and tell him about the working technology at 9:30, but he wasn’t there when I left. When I arrived at the hospital Dan was out getting ready to start working on the drilling project in the back section (the second of 3 areas to put chains up). Anyways he was ready to start drilling the holes for the second set of four bolts when I arrived and he started drilling after updating me on what had happened at the hospital (basically just arrived with the wheelchair and had prepped for drilling). Anyways he had also worked on the chair in the OR (and had replaced the foam and duct taped the chair). We then measured the holes to drill and concrete drilled them suckers. The first couple of holes were good although we were still using the old drill bit, but shifted to this longer one. Popo also was helping us a bit tightening the drill and switching it over to “concrete” mode to bust through that hospital wall. Also Popo had used his force to bust open the door into the unused office room on the other side of the wall we started drilling. After doing that we finally were able to get inside and finish the holes. Dan drilled the majority of those holes and I cleaned them out with screwdrivers and bolts. I also had the task of filing down the end of the bolts to make sure we could get the nuts on the one end. This involved straight filing the end flat and then carving a notch in the end to have the nut catch. I managed to get these done with minimal effort. After that we would bang the bolt through the wall to ensure the good connection and then add a metal plate and a washer and then tighten the whole setup. We did this for the four bolts on the one wall and finished that without issue. After that is was around 11 AM and we decided to start on the next section before lunch. Our original plan was to drill across this nice broad area and then connect it with chains, but the problem was this section spanned two different rooms. I headed inside to get permission to enter these two rooms from the boss lady and it seemed like forever until someone would finally come talk to me. In the interim time I screwed the height measuring post to the scale (which had fallen off because the screws were so loose). After all of the waiting no one even came to talk to me but rather the boss came inside and told me to go outside to Dan (this was not a good sign). Anyways during this time the boss of the maternity ward apparently talked to “Flacco” the head of maintenance and got our little drilling excursion shut down (because we were causing a ton of noise pollution and “making babies cry” and mothers were leaving the ward rooms. Sorry about that folks. Trying to make sure one of these bottled tanks doesn’t come rocketing through the wall if the cap breaks off. Anyways we thought that was pretty inconvenient so we had a chat with Popo about the situation and then we busted into the maternity and “talked” to the boss again with Popo there. He then laid out the situation and she allowed us to resume drilling that shiznit. BAM! Affirmative action FTW! After this Popo and I checked out the rooms to drill into. It turned out that one of the rooms was a bathroom with tiled walls off of one of the maternity ward rooms and the other was just an unused room off the maternity ward. I checked out the bathroom with Popo and decided it was not worth drilling through the tile or removing one (as the moisture from the open bucket of water and other water residues would probably ruin the bolts and metal pretty soon). I quickly told Dan through the wall to not drill where we initially had thought and then went outside to recalculate where to drill. We then decided to limit is just to the unused observation room (which would have no issue with the bolts). Anyways after that I busted into the unused observation room (with two old tables for a mother to lie on (and one with the leg spreader mechanism (for gynecology?). These were caked in dust and there was a scale in the corner of the room. So clearly this room was like command central and would not be able to house the other side of our bolt project. Dan had already drilled both of the holes on the outside of the wall and it was my duty to drill the two from the inside out and connect the holes to make the passageway for the bolt. This sounded easier than it ended up being (initially I had to be like a NASA astronaut sliding over the tables on my back and contorting to fit in the spot for drilling). Anyways after lugging all the gear inside (drill, knife, pliers, hammer and tape), I measured and got prepped for drilling. Now to start this off I should describe the noise level of our drill: basically it sounded like we were drilling through wood with a megaphone on the drilling part. So I don’t blame the moms for putting cotton in their eyes and leaving. Anyways it was nice that the empty room that I was in created the extra amplifier for the sound. Anyways I drilled the first hole and it wasn’t anywhere near the hole form the outside. Basically we then tried banging this long hex wrench through the wall to find the other end and connect the holes. After quite a bit of time like this I eventually drilled a hole about a cm to the right and 1 cm down and hit quite close to the original hole tunnel! BAM! It was just a matter of a bit more cleaning of the hole and then banging the wrench through to make the full bridge connection! After that we went to lunch as it was 1 and we wanted to meet the two Holland chicks for lunch at the pizza place. 

Day 63 7/24/13 (Working those autoclaves, checking bus times, respect worthy wrenches, working autoclaves!, pizza, AutoCAD 2007 in Spanish, putting a hole in a bike rim and putting holes in the walls of the hospital)

Late breakfast. Early cold shower. Normal morning. Coffee smoothie! After that is was heading off to the clinic to jump that connection for the JP selecta autoclave (as per the tech support guy’s instructions. This morning I actually had the proper tools to accomplish this (the jewelers screwdrivers) and set on doing this. Dan meanwhile worked on getting the filter off of the other Tuttnauer autoclave. I eventually got the connection bridged and tried to start the JP model. The cycle pressured up and started running the program, but it failed about 17 minutes through the 20 minute cycle; this time with a different error message (Error 7). Also during this time I put back together the nebulizer whose fan had melted and it runs fine (but will overheat if run for long periods of time). This was annoying to get back together at first due to the tubing being a pain, but it worked and is now functioning again (so check that one off the list of final projects). BAM! Thanks to the tech support dude I also now am in possession of the manual for this model and was able to look up the error (which was a loss of pressure alarm (probably caused by a leak in the drainage valve)). Additionally we could physically see the autoclave leaking around the drainage valve and we were waiting for the unit to cool down to open the unit.

Two tiny red wires (eventually cut down to 1) for the bridged connection to get the JP selectra unit running!

That melted fan nebulizer back together and working (without a fan)

Look at that 'clave just doing it's thing!

 Dan was going to head to the hospital, open the filter and clean it and then return to work on the autoclaves after checking on bus times for Managua on Friday and checking at the bike shop. I was going to stay and wait for Dan to get back, but since I found out the error was from a leak I decided to head out and catch Dan and grab the wrenches to tighten the drainage plug. I headed out directly to the bus station and started asking around and found out there are buses at 6 AM, 12 PM, 2:30, 4, 6 and 8 (keep in mind the ride is a 6.5 hour trip minimum). The bike shop seemed to be open and then I continued to the hospital; not seeing Dan at all on the way there or at the hospital. I then decided to start heading back and saw him approaching the hospital. He had found the bus times to be around 8 AM additionally. After that we opened the filter and looked at it and it was quite clean. We then sealed the filter and I grabbed the wrenches to head back to the centro de salud. The wrenches included the adjustable wrench and this Bioshock or Prey worth orange pipe wrench which I walked to the centro de salud with (unfortunately I only had to use the adjustable, but the thought was there to use the other). Dan decided he was best suited staying at the hospital and working on the foam chair project (reinforcing the seat cushion with more foam) and talking to Marlon more about our chain project, so he stayed there while I trekked again back to the clinic to work on the autoclaves. When I got there I put the filter back in the Tuttnauer and got that ready for the cycle. I also tightened the drainage plug on the JP selecta model and tried running the cycle that had initially incited the “Error 8” code and waited for the cycle to run. After that I put back together the printer for the lady downstairs. The printer had an interesting feature to it when I put it back together (it would turn on, but would only really stay on if the power button was held or sometimes not even stay on at all O.o). It was quite strange, so I left it to sit for a bit.

Printer and nebulizer in various states of needing parts (printer needs a drop out the second story window and replaced it seems)

Dan clearly enjoying waiting for autoclaves to finish their cycles

"Gato" (one of the techs at the hospital he looks more serious here than he ever is in real life)

Respectable wrenches to tighten that small grey hex nut to the right of the chair (in front of the bronze box)

 After that Dan eventually showed up (he had finished at the hospital and come to see how progress on the autoclaves was coming. I had also gotten the printer to finally turn on and stay on by this point (by using the good ‘ole let it sit for 10 minutes trick), but now it would turn on and display a red error message LED. I tried connecting it to my computer, but I have to get the driver for the printer (so maybe later I can see what the issue is). After that Dan and I chilled for the rest of the autoclave cycle and it completed without issue! Fantastic! BAM! FIXED! I also moved the Tuttnauer autoclave and plugged it in and held the manual water fill button for a while and got the unit to fill with water (and the cycle would actually run too!). So it looks like that filter just needed the ‘ole Mad Eye Moody eyeball to scare it back into working (and maybe the manual pumping too), but now the cycles run on the Tuttnauer (the one where I had to short the reset switch on the back). BAM! Potentially two autoclaves that are working! Anyways both autoclaves seem to be running, but the Tuttnauer one seems to require some minimal manual filling of the chamber, but that is easy to do with a button. After both cycles completed and I was waiting for the autoclaves to cool a bit, I decided to go grab lunch at the pizza place (Dan had already headed over there). By the time I got there around 1, the pizza was already out and was the good chicken with cheese in the crust variety. I had my laptop and searched for the Xerox printer driver (which was now working but not installing on my computer). I was able to find something that didn’t help as it turns out because the program merely seems to be a way to add another printer (that is not USB) -.-// not just drivers. Anyways I got the wifi at the Pizza place and it was some of the fastest wifi I’ve experienced here in Nicaragua. After about 30 minutes or so Dan and I headed out (him to go work at the hospital on the drilling project and I to go to the centro de salud and run another cycle on the autoclaves before sending them back. I also was tasked with figuring out how to print this map from AutoCAD 2007 for Guillermo. He had this cool map of San Carlos and wanted to print sections of it. After some searching and reading the Spanish help (the program was in Spanish) I found the “window” printing tool (which allows the user to select a window region to put on a piece of paper. I then showed him how to do this and he happily started printing out the parts of the map he wanted. I also started the cycles and they both were running when the power cut out to half of the room (including the outlet for the autoclaves). I figured this was a sign to stop and go help Dan (so I turned them off and headed back downstairs and was able to just catch a truck going from the centro to the SILAIS place on the hospital grounds, so I rode back with them to the hospital and hopped out. Back at the hospital Dan was still waiting outside the hospital repair shop as it was like 2:30 and the gate was still locked. About when I got there though a guy came and unlocked it (convenient). Anyways we grabbed the tools to start our drilling project (bolts, nuts, washers, painted metal squares and drill and headed over to the wall to start). We started off kind of rocky as we drilled about 1” and then hit this metal thing that we never figured out what it was. We shifted our hole back on the wall a few inches and made it through after some frustrating times from the drill loosening the drill bit holder and not spinning the bit. We also had to deal with another seemingly metal thing in the path of the bolt and the bit not being long enough to pass through the hole. We used the good hammer and bolt technique to help the bolt through the center part of the drilling and drilled the other end as well (expertly measures with a hotplate and using eye approximations). After that the bolt fit in well and we put the metal plate on the wall and it looks legit now! After some more finicky work with the other hole, we managed to get the bolt through (much easier) and proceeded to drill the holes on the other part of the hospital wall (through the wall into the inside of the hospital (we were already getting power through the window with an extension cord so…). This proved to be slightly more time intensive as we would have to wait between patients and doctors in the room conversing (as they use this room as a minor checkup room). So after waiting between patients and actually finding a longer drill bit that works better, we were able to get the other two bolts in. During this time I also drilled the tube hole in the bike rim (which somehow we used yesterday and still got the other 3 holes for the handgrip on the rim perfect). I then took the wheel to the bike shop and he says it’ll cost $260 (about $11) and take about an hour, so we’ll do that tomorrow morning. After I got back and we finished putting the bolts in, we called it a day at 4:30 PM. All we really have left is to drill 8 more holes and put in the chain and we’ll be done. I returned to the clinic to try running the autoclaves again, but partway into the cycle just half of the room lost power (conveniently the side with the autoclave outlet) so I called it a day and returned to the hostel. Tomorrow is the last day of working (as we’ll be leaving on Friday hopefully on the 7 or 8 AM bus.

Clearly progress on our secondary chains(z) project is slow at first

Dan working on tightening the drill bit before putting a hole in the hospital wall

Working on drilling (1 metal square done in the top left along with the rim and hand grip in the left)

Waiting for patients to clear out of the room so I can drill)

Finished work for the ER ramp (just need to add chains)

Day 62 7/23/13 (Tech support says jump a connection, drilling holes in bike rims, salad, Constrúmas (like a Home Depot with less supplies and more Spanish) and sanding and painting metal squares)

Shower. Tired. Breakfast. Working at clinic at 8. I was planning on jumping two terminals in the control board of the autoclave (as the company tech support dude sent me the manual and a solution for the problem too! Best support ever (all within 12 hours too! O.o)). Anyways I arrived at the clinic with Dan and we moved the autoclave into position and then we were going to put the jumper in, but I didn’t have any of the jeweler screwdrivers capable of opening the screw block terminals, so I had to put that project on hold and we headed to the hospital (after stopping by the hostel to grab the two wheelchair wheels). At the hospital we worked on drilling the four holes to get the inner hand rim on the wheels (the part attached to the wheel to allow a person to roll themselves around in the chair). We had to drill through the steel or maybe aluminum rim which was one of the hardest drilling jobs as the tip would drift so much until we scored the area and then dented the area to drill (after that it was smooth drilling (not like that oil drilling disastrous method)). I also had to try and paint one of these hand rails with a can of spray paint without a top on it which ended up with the thing painted where it needed a touch up, but also made quite the impression on my arm and fingers. We eventually got all the 8 holes drilled and then got the hand rails on (despite minor issues with mounting even-ness). 

Dan working on the hand roll rims

After that we went to the bike shop to have the wheels put back on the chair (as the chair was there) and I changed some money (so we could actually pay for the work on the chair and buy some other parts). The bike shop turned out to be closed because the main guy was sick (or had a toothache or something O.o why is everyone sick down here (I heard a rumor at the centro de salud that one of the chicks from the Netherlands also had Dengue and was in the hospital O.o)). Anyways we went to our favorite hardware store (Constrúmas) and asked about bolts and plate for our chain project (to tie up the O₂ tanks against the wall (and prevent GMOD esque disaster with thrusters)). Anyways we found some good parts there and decided to go measure the parts of the hospital for the different bolts etc before we bought them. Smart decision. Back at the hospital we found ourselves presented with an ECG that was not printing properly. We tested the device and the best solution we found was to try and move the needle closer to the paper, which changed nothing really so we think the needle needs to be replaced as it doesn’t seem to heat properly or display right (seeing the sticker on the back about being checked for maintenance back in 1994, I think it’s safe to say that probably won’t happen). I think this ECG should just be replaced by a newer model. Anyways after that we went to the pizza place for lunch and ordered the chicken pizza with cheesy crust, but the waiter told us the oven wasn’t working (not getting hot) (and this is the first issue we’ve had with them in like 5 meals, so it’s alright (unlike the place on Ometepe that burned a pizza and ran out of gas (one incident per trip (2 total))). Anyways after that we just ordered a chicken salad (hunks of chicken, not the mashed up chicken salad from the States). It was decent and we chilled a bit before heading back to the Constrúmas store to buy our plate, bolts, nuts and spray paint. We ended up spending like an hour at the store (until like 2:30 PM) buying 24 nuts, 24 washers, 1 half roll of steel metal sheet, 2 cans of dark blue spray paint and 3 long bolts to cut down. The fun part of this whole experience was that we actually did the cutting and whatnot in the hardware store and in the front of it. We cut the bolts with a hack saw into 25 cm segments (four per bolt) (with one store dude, Dan and I each cutting one bolt). We then had to cut the metal sheet. Another dude took out the metal sheet and put it on the street out front and then we markered the 6 foot by 1 foot strips and then he cut them out with metal shears on the sidewalk. Pretty danged legit. Dan and I also got to cut out the metal squares (about 1 ft by 1 ft) which was fun.

Bolt and metal sheet roll (also spray paint speckled hand)

Dan working on cutting those bolts in the store

Out front doing work on that sheet metal

After all of that we had a brief scare thinking the purchase was more expensive that it was, but the roll only cost 220 Cord (~ $9) instead of 440 cord (close to ~$18). After all of that we headed back to the hospital and dinked around more on that stupid ECG which was still not working properly and thus our conclusion. We also cleaned one side of all the plates with alco-gel and then I tried painting two of them, but the paint came right off as the metal had too much sheen to it, so we then proceeded to rough up all of the remaining ones and the one that had the paint come off with 60 grit sand paper and the paint looks much better on there. After that it was like 4:20 and we called it a day as tomorrow we have to work on that and I have to go to the clinic to work on the autoclave that I still don’t know what’s wrong with it (for the shorted connection model) and to jumper the other connection (which is safe according to the tech support dude (he said that issue was common with a lot of those models)). Anyways it’s been a decent day save for me being extra tired from being over excited last night about life and whatnot. Today we also did 1 more item of inventory and finished the gynecology room off our inventory list (only having a radiant warmer for tech). Also it turns out I may be joining the smart phone revolution (mainstream?) now with an upgraded phone from Credo (more charity and positive societal action oriented than other carriers). Anyways that’s the day in a wrap! BAM!

Talk about leaving your mark on the hospital! (Allowed by the hospital techs and we put our names up there)

Day 61 7/22/13 (Shop cleaning, interviewing Jose, fixing a centrifuge (soldering brushes), pizza, going into to OR(s), more bulbs, autoclave annoyances)

Breakfast good. Shower cold. Work at 8. Upon arrival at the hospital we started cleaning the shop of all the pieces of equipment that are broken and we are not fixing (and put these in the trailer of bad parts and equipment). After that I made the necessary splicing connector for the autoclave (by cutting a sliding terminal end from an AC control board to be a rectangle). It was good. After that we interviewed Jose (the head of the laboratory in the hospital) about equipment he uses and what he needs for equipment (and EWH requirement) in donations (to better understand needs of hospital staff). Anyways he told us not that much but he said he would not accept a microscope without a 100X objective lens. We talked about photospectrometers a bit as well. Anyways after that Jose gave us two new centrifuges to work on (not sure why those popped up now and not like weeks ago, but whatever. We got two more electronic ones (one large just like the large one from Los Chiles and a smaller one). Dan took the small one and I took the larger one. We both opened up the cases (Dan had to work on the power supply of the small centrifuge). This large centrifuge I had was just as annoying to open as the one from Los Chiles. Anyways after opening it and figuring out how to check the brushes (team effort on that one), I realized that the brushes were wildly short (5 mm each) and needed to be replaced. Luckily, Barney had gifted us a pack of 2 brushes so I took those out and started sanding down the side of them to fix into the brush holding chamber and after much sanding and 1 piece of 500 grit later, the brush was the right size. After that I only had to desolder the old brush from the end clip and solder the new one in with the spring and fit the mechanism back in the chamber. After more aggravation putting the centrifuge back together (although I figured out a much easier way to get everything together this time by removing the rotor). Anyways it took us into lunch to get the centrifuge back together, but it is working now! BAM! Fixed!

All ready to be put together

Old and new brushes

Finished brush

 We tried the centrifuge up to 3900 RPM (rotor rated up to 4K), and it worked albeit it seemed to have some resonance issues at odd speeds like 500 RPM and 1300 RPM, but they need it at 2000 RPM which works fine. After that we grabbed some lunch at the pizza place (pepperoni and onion pizza with cheese filled crust). After lunch Dan and I returned to the hospital to go into surgery again (to do inventory and replace bulbs on another surgical lamp). We got the scrubs and scrubbed up and entered the OR in the afternoon (when no surgeries are taking place (although one of the rooms we entered was being cleaned from surgery and looked quite grody/sketch in some areas)). Anyways we started doing the inventory and replaced the 3 bulbs by unscrewing the lens on the front and changing out the small bulbs (which had blown out). That was easy and then we had to take down the annoying details about the machines for our inventory (model, serial number, manufacturer and working condition). We did this for both ORs and then inventoried a few other machines in another room and then headed out soon after. 

Changing bulbs

Doing inventory in the OR

One OR setup

The same setup in widescreen

The other OR room

Dog was picking through the trash O.o

This was pretty decent, but it was pouring pretty bad outside, so we tried to get the other ultrasound machine that we've been missing for a week on inventory, but we couldn't as the room was locked, so I taped up the bad Oxygen concentrator with a 'Malo' made out of electrical tape. After that we headed back to the shop to grab the wheel chair and then head to the bike shop. We also changed the position of the oxygen tanks and put caps on several of them (there was a large tank leaning on a small one = extra danger, so we changed the positions).

Can't spell it out any better

This is sketchy

 Marlon gave us a ride to the bike shop in the rain (we sat in the truck cab) and Dan stayed at the bike shop as I went to the centro de salud to get a truck to the hostel to grab the autoclave and bring it there. I did this again in the rain (riding in the back with the machine, but it was only really lightly raining and I felt like a BA riding the in back for like 25 seconds with autoclave). The guy that helped me carry the unit up to the second floor was like dying after getting it in the room and I felt bad for him and thanked him for helping. After that I tried the autoclave and it doesn't work -.- // (basically the unit will not pump water into the chamber for some reason, maybe a blocked pump?). Anyways have to look at that tomorrow. I put together the woman's printer and found out I still had like 6 screws, so I had to "find" a place for them in the housing somewhere (but I only could put like 3 in the case, so I was left with like 3...). Oh well it still doesn't work, so I'm not supremely worried. Before when I entered the clinic the woman who brought me the printer had grilled me on whether the printer was working and was disappointed to hear the power supply is dead (she was asking me if I had another to give her (probably joking) and I was like da futz?! are you serious?). Anyways she was a bit sad I couldn't fix the printer (that one actually hurt a bit there cause I wish I could do more, but there's nothing more I can do as I don't know enough about the power supply to test it more). Anyways it was 6 PM and the SILAIS folks were literally kicking me out of the clinic so I went home and chilled. Long day and it was aggravating after leaving the hospital. Hopefully will be better.

Check out this uber cool board I found in the junk trailer! (think it's for a pump or something, but the hoses look like a MC Escher print)

Dog just chilling on the emergency room ramp

Day 60 7/21/13 (A relaxing day, 3ds Maxing and chillaxing)

Today was another slow morning as I had been up until 2 AM form dancing and thus I spent quite a bit of time sleeping in the morning. After I woke up and showered and had nacatamal, I had the morning/day to just chill. I basically alternated between going on the internet, playing KF and uploading photos. I haven’t heard back from Ron or from the company about the capillary thermostat, so that was pretty fun. Also I decided that I had had enough games and 3ds Max-ed the first floor of the hostel I’m staying in. It’s not the most detailed model, but it gives the rough idea of what’s there. After that it was a nap and then dinner (which included this pretty good potato ham salad thing). It’s also Esmeralda’s (host sister) birthday. Going to relax the rest of the night (as I’ve also given some thought to our presentation on Friday). Peace!

Dinner!

The ground floor

Hostel Santa Lucia

Detailed map of the rooms

How can there be more photos?

The autoclave with an error (the reservoir is in the back)

Girl look at that error

The power supply to the printer I was testing

Quite possibly the coolest PCB I've even seen! It shows where the components should be on the back!

That is taking pictures further...

Making the connection to get the lab incubator working again

Dinner from Friday

The razorblade trick to get the other autoclave functioning again

Look at that dead reset switch (the red peg)

Sunday breakfast

Day 59 7/20/13 (A slow morning, Gizmondo’s director, KF, autoclavin’ it, razor blades are handy, modeling a camera in 3ds Max and going dancing at the Champra)

The day started somewhat later than a normal day with the occasion being that it was a Saturday and I stayed up until 12 talking to our host cousin. Anyways when I eventually did get up I had breakfast and grabbed a shower. Kevin left wicked early at like 7:50 AM because he was heading to the bus stop to grab an 8 AM bus and ride all day up north someplace. Breakfast was fairly normal. Now Dan and I had decided to stay home this weekend on account of him recovering from sickness and it being our last weekend here in San Carlos, so this being the case, it has been a slow weekend. Not to fear! I did bring some work home with me (in that autoclave). Before I got started working on the autoclave I decided to spend some time chillaxing on KF and reading up on some interesting videogame and game related articles online (one particularly interesting one was from Wired and talked about the story behind the Gizmondo and here’s a link to it: Wired 14.10: Gizmondo's Spectacular Crack-up. It talks about one of the directors named Eriksson who has a sketchy past and questionable dealings with the company (Enron?). Anyways it was interesting to read about because I remember the Gizmondo was wicked hyped but never really showed up after launch. Anyways after that I played some KF and just vegged for an hour or two (I don’t really have anything to do down here in San Carlos so…). Anyways after that I motivated myself to figure out what was wrong with the autoclave and why it was not turning on. So the first thing I did was remove the exterior case and look at the inside for obvious wire breaks etc. This didn’t seem plausible as the unit looked mint inside (save for some cobwebs in the front) near the boards for the display. Anyways I also noticed back when I got the unit that the reset switch on the back seemed kind of funky as it would slide in and out when it should have resistance to doing that. I plugged the unit in and started checking voltages across the unit. Everything checked out fine (nice 110V across the switches etc) (and I managed to NOT get a shock with this unit, so win!). Anyways I checked all of those and it still did not seem to be working. So then I had the idea to try jumping the two contacts on the back of the reset switch to see if that was the issue. Keep in mind that I was working on this unit in the living room of the hostel and by this point it was sitting with the case off on two green milk crates (that my host dad had brought me) and I was tinkering with it. Anyways the connection I needed would have been an easy task at the workshop, but I had just tools and no wire or other connectors. So I used my tools the best I could and broke off a razorblade segment from the knife and stuck the two connectors on that (because this is supposed to pass 110V and probably high currents so I couldn’t just use 20 AWG. Anyways after getting the connections on the blade, I plugged the unit in and BAM! I heard the clicking of relays and the screen came on! So it appears this reset switch is broken, but otherwise I think the unit is functional! I looked up the switch on the internet and it turns out to be a Campini capillary thermostat (which is a way of saying a thermometer against the drum of the autoclave used to break a circuit in case of excessive temperatures). What this means is that basically the reset button on this is broken and also means that I can’t really just replace the switch, but have to take the temp probe from the outside of the ‘clave drum (-.-// very difficult). I also found the piece online, but the company is in Italy and doesn’t even list prices online, so that looks incredibly promising for finding another one of those. I think I can just short the connection in that manner, but this removes a level of safety for the autoclave. This could be made up for by greater care by the operators and checking the temperature, but it’s not a great solution. I will talk to them on Monday to see what they want. After getting that working I was quite happy to look up additional information about the machine as I had a good start on the work. I continued my research of trying to find the elusive “error 8” message produced by the other machine, but I had no luck after checking several websites and trying to find a manual. I emailed Ron about the temp probe and the manual and the company about the probe to, so I’m waiting on that. After that I was pretty much done with my work and it was raining outside, so I figured while GMOD continued downloading the 2 GBs it had started working on during Friday I could work on a 3ds Max model (something that I haven’t done in too long). Normally I model objects that I can feel/touch/see so I chose to do my camera for this trip. 2 hours later I had a nice 3d model complete with minor materials and rendered that sucker with 2000 polys (an alternate version with some text knocked the poly count to around 2700). It was fun and relaxing at the same time. 

Back rendering of my camera

Front render (manufactured by FrickCo of course (adding another 700 polys for flair))

An earlier render of the front

After that I waited for dinner which was good. After that I took a nap (times are riveting down here). Later I left with our host sister and host cousin to go to the Champra and go dancing to celebrate the host sister’s birthday (on Sunday). Anyways it didn’t start until like 10 PM, but we arrived at like 9:05 and had to just chill inside until it started. Dancing was a ton of fun, with the music being electro and some Salsa songs (so got the best of both worlds there). Eventually at 1:30 AM we headed back and actually could make it in the hostel (with Sol unlocking the door) instead of cat burglaring inside. It was a good day (probably one of the better ones in San Carlos).