After spending a good hour today at Home Depot, trying to figure out the best way to concoct a mounting mechanism for my Sirius tuner for pristine bus listening, I finally came up with this ingenious plan:
Take one PVC pipe cap, one PVC hex/threaded pipe piece, two large magnets, garden hose washers, a 3/8" drill bit, and an electrical mounting plate and you've got the perfect magnetic mounting mechanism. I really had no idea where to start. First I needed magnets, so I found the best that Home Depot had. I was hoping for a wide, flat magnet, say 3 inches by 4 inches, or something like that - very high power, impossible to knock over once affixed to the metal bus dashboard. Unfortunately, all I was able to get were two 1/2" by 1" magnets, but they seem to be plenty strong and will do the trick. The next thing I needed was a metal plate. I also needed said metal plate to have a hole in it. I really had no idea how I was going to do this, but it dawned on me that an electrical box would work because they are a) metal and b) have mutliple holes in them. When I reached the electricity crap aisle, I found exactly what I was looking for - a round metal cover for electrical boxes with exactly one hole in the middle. The next step was to figure out how to mount the receiver on top of the plate.
I took a quick trip to the other end of the electrical crap aisle and found some nice copper fittings - a pipe with a hexnut on the bottom that went through the hole, but the hexnut kept it from going all the way through - then, all I had to do was cap it, but I had to get a 3/8" hole in the cap for the screw that is attached to the actual receiver. After taking my brass cap to the tools department and asking them if they could drill a hole in it, I was surprised to get an affirmative answer. However, when I asked for such a large hole - 3/8", I was denied in my quest. So...back to trying to figure out how to attach a receiver to the metal plate. Earlier in my questing about Home Depot, I had considered using PVC, but brass just looked so much nicer. When I found out I couldn't use brass, I went back to the plumbing aisle and got the same parts I had in brass, but this time in plastic. I headed back to the tools department, purchased a 3/8" drill bit and the guy there generously let me drill a hole (he actually did it, but it was nice of him to accomdate me as such).
Once I had all the pieces, I needed to make them all fit snugly as the magnets were wider than the hex nut thingie on the PVC pipe, so it would slide when weight was placed atop it. After learning that they don't make washers with 1/2" holes in them, I asked another friendly associate and he pointed me back to the plumbing aisle where they had some plastic washers that I was thinking about using. Conferring with yet another friendly worker, he told me that in the gardening section, I could get washers that would do the same thing for much cheaper (it was about $0.80 for two in the plumbing section and $0.98 for 12 in the gardening section). So...now that I've got all I needed, I headed home and put it all together and...success!! It all came together much better than I could have expected. I might make some minor tweaks over the extended weekend, but we'll see...
Take one PVC pipe cap, one PVC hex/threaded pipe piece, two large magnets, garden hose washers, a 3/8" drill bit, and an electrical mounting plate and you've got the perfect magnetic mounting mechanism. I really had no idea where to start. First I needed magnets, so I found the best that Home Depot had. I was hoping for a wide, flat magnet, say 3 inches by 4 inches, or something like that - very high power, impossible to knock over once affixed to the metal bus dashboard. Unfortunately, all I was able to get were two 1/2" by 1" magnets, but they seem to be plenty strong and will do the trick. The next thing I needed was a metal plate. I also needed said metal plate to have a hole in it. I really had no idea how I was going to do this, but it dawned on me that an electrical box would work because they are a) metal and b) have mutliple holes in them. When I reached the electricity crap aisle, I found exactly what I was looking for - a round metal cover for electrical boxes with exactly one hole in the middle. The next step was to figure out how to mount the receiver on top of the plate.
I took a quick trip to the other end of the electrical crap aisle and found some nice copper fittings - a pipe with a hexnut on the bottom that went through the hole, but the hexnut kept it from going all the way through - then, all I had to do was cap it, but I had to get a 3/8" hole in the cap for the screw that is attached to the actual receiver. After taking my brass cap to the tools department and asking them if they could drill a hole in it, I was surprised to get an affirmative answer. However, when I asked for such a large hole - 3/8", I was denied in my quest. So...back to trying to figure out how to attach a receiver to the metal plate. Earlier in my questing about Home Depot, I had considered using PVC, but brass just looked so much nicer. When I found out I couldn't use brass, I went back to the plumbing aisle and got the same parts I had in brass, but this time in plastic. I headed back to the tools department, purchased a 3/8" drill bit and the guy there generously let me drill a hole (he actually did it, but it was nice of him to accomdate me as such).
Once I had all the pieces, I needed to make them all fit snugly as the magnets were wider than the hex nut thingie on the PVC pipe, so it would slide when weight was placed atop it. After learning that they don't make washers with 1/2" holes in them, I asked another friendly associate and he pointed me back to the plumbing aisle where they had some plastic washers that I was thinking about using. Conferring with yet another friendly worker, he told me that in the gardening section, I could get washers that would do the same thing for much cheaper (it was about $0.80 for two in the plumbing section and $0.98 for 12 in the gardening section). So...now that I've got all I needed, I headed home and put it all together and...success!! It all came together much better than I could have expected. I might make some minor tweaks over the extended weekend, but we'll see...
posted by Blake | 22:22
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