Google Earth

Discovered that Google have finally made Google Earth available for easy downloads.

It uses Landsat, Earthsat, and aerial photographs to put together overhead images all over the world.

Currently the Australian coverage map looks like this:



Unfortunately my house, is just out of the currently photographed area :-(

Triton Upgrades

I spent a good couple of hours, fitting my GMC router to the Triton Router table, I purchased through eBay, back in May, to find that it crapped itself on the first pass on the redgum I am making some bedside tables out of.

Enter Mr Two Year Warranty, and Bunnings Gift Cards. I packed the router back into it's nice wooden case, and headed down to Bunnings at Frankston, and explained my predicament, with fingers crossed that without a receipt, the warranty would be honoured. It was, and after handing over my Gift Cards, I now have the Triton 1/2" Precision Router, which fits the table without heaps of stuffing around, and routed the redgum beautifully.

Shorter Shifts....

Was talking to Alex the other night, about short shifter replacement levers for the WRX and the Forester XT, and thought that one could be a good birthday present for him, and a "just for the hell of it" purchase for me...

I did some research on the GTRydaz forums, and after talking to one of the guys, decided to purchase a needle bearing short shifter, from a lady called Elaine, who sells on yep, you guessed it, eBay.

I managed to win two levers, for the grand sum of $49.95 each (starting price), and $11 later for shipping, and a phone call from reception at work, I had them in my hot little hands.

Here is a comparison photo between the WRX and the replacement shifter.


The actual throw is shortened by the length between the pivot and the ball at the end of the shifter.

The shortened throw on the Foz is awesome, much more accurate for the shift.

More Triton Gear

Since buying the Triton Router table on eBay, I figured having something to cut timber with would also be helpful, so again, I headed back to eBay, to check out what was available in the Triton Workcentre 2000 department.

I've been watching the auctions for Triton gear for quite some time, and knowing what you can buy stuff for at retail pricing, from places like Bunnings and Mitre 10 sell this gear for helps immensely. I guess if you had to make one rule for buying anything on eBay it would be to research what you are buying before you start bidding!!!

So, that rule being made, I knew that a Workcentre 2000, from Bunnings is worth around $450, and the Triton 235mm Circular Saw is in the vicinity of $350...

As luck would have it, there was a guy in Melbourne, with a Workcentre 2000 AND a Triton 235mm Circular Saw, with a starting price of $400, with a huge benefit of him being located in Melbourne, and the gear being brand new, still in the boxes...

I sent him a couple of messages about the gear, and then spoke to him. Turns out, he had some cash come his way, and went out to buy the Triton gear, the same day his wife bought him the same gear... Apparently she lost the receipts, and he already had his lot assembled when she gave it to him. Enter eBay :-)

He only had the Workcentre 2000 advertised, and when I spoke to him, mentioned he had the saw as well, so we agreed upon a price for both, and I agreed to bid the auction until I won it...

Needless to say, I won the auction, and for $740 I became the proud owner of the Workcentre 2000 and the 235mm Circular Saw, with local pickup... When I rocked up, I only had $730 on me, so he said that was cool... All round good deal for me... :-)

To make it even better, Mum had made me an IOU for my birthday last year, for exactly this gear.

17 inches of rubbery goodness... :-)

Before:



And After:



Not sure about the wheel alignment at the moment, as the car feels like it is floating a bit, but I suspect that is due to the alignment being accurate, rather than how it was out of factory...

All the noise of the Geo 900's is totally gone, and the cost was significantly less for the Toyo Transpath MP3....

Fitting was done by Beaurepaires Franksston, who did a very careful, and clean job... Need to work out how the alignment should be though... I suspect there is not enough negative camber, or the car is just a lot more responsive due to the reduced tyre profile....

FeedMap

This is a very cool little website... FeedMap tries to map out other registered bloggers in your vicinity...

I found it to be quite scary how accurate it is... I put in the street name, suburb, and the maps nearly has the street itself in it!!!

It gives you some code to add to the side bar of your blog, which is over to the left... Pretty cool really... At this time, there are 50 registered bloggers in the area, which seems to have about a 50 km radius...

Let The Routing Begin

Last year, I got given a GMC 1250 Router for my birthday,

and although I've used it a couple of times, I've been a little hesitant about using it as a plunge router... Somehow it seems a little bit cumbersome (or is it that I'm un-coordinated) ? So, I resorted to Ebay to try and find a resonably priced Triton Router table, and Router Stand...

After patiently watching and waiting for a couple of months, I have finally found a Melbourne seller, selling the Triton RTA300, and RSA300 Router Table and Stand...



I picked it up from Rod, the seller, who, like most people I've bought from on Ebay seemed like a very nice bloke...

Now all I need is the WorkCentre 2000 and a saw, and I'm in business... :-)