The Owad Laboratory

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My MakerGear M2 doesn't have a power switch, and it isn't convenient to turn off its power strip, so I connected it to an Iris Smart Plug with a little power switch on it. That solved the problem, and also let me turn the printer on and off with Alfred, but tempted me to intergrate with Octoprint. Octoprint has a plugin, System Command Editor, that lets you execute shell commands from Octoprint's Power menu. That makes the Octoprint part easy - now it's just a matter of controlling a SmartThings device from Linux.

Fishpaper is an insulative paper that used to be common in antique radios. It's often used to insulate transformers.

The history of the name is pretty interesting. According to Alvin G. Sydor:

In 1729 Stephen Gray made the discovery of the conducting and non-conducting power of different substances. Gray found that by using woven silk served as an excellent insulator. Some years later it was found that the paper industry could provide what was equivalent to woven silk. Later it was discovered that if the paper was saturated with fish oil its ability as an insulator was much improved particularly when used in harsh environments and high voltages.

Recently, I've been using it for fast and cheap electronics cases. This is one of my backup servers:

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I’ve given up on the Milone eTape entirely. I just couldn’t get it to work reliably. Instead, I decided to go with a RadioShack Ultrasonic Range Sensor as my backup method for detecting water. It’s mounted on the basement ceiling and will alarm when it detects an inch of water on the floor. The floor is sloped, so an inch isn’t nearly as bad as it sounds. It’s been working well. I’m leaning towards a pressure transducer for the main sensor.

Most mechanical relays and switches are rated for 1 million cycles or less. That sounds like a lot at first, but if you have a sump pump that runs every 30 seconds, that's less than a year. Lowes used to sell a sump pump with a lifetime warranty. Every year, the manufacturer would mail me a new switch, and about every three years, a new pump, until they finally insisted on refunding my money.