A Leslie Wong Blog

I re-coated the two-piece cast iron exhaust headers on my Alfa Romeo with Eastwood Silver High Temp Manifold Coating. When I first painted them two years ago, the surface preparation consisted of running a wire wheel on the rusty cast iron. The Eastwood coating lasted well, though small rust spots eventually appeared through the coating. Last week, I cleaned the headers with lacquer thinner and applied another coat.

To keep the headers attached to the head, I used brass M8x1.0 hex nuts, new lock washers and new copper gaskets.

I saw him at Bradley’s many times.

NY Times Obituary

Listen to Hank Jones on Marian McPartland ‘s Piano Jazz with guest host Bill Charlap:

Someone stuck a Sony DSC-WX1 10.2 MP digital camera inside a Russian Zorki rangefinder (a Leica II copy) – a melding of a 1950′s classic film camera with a modern digital camera.

The original site is in Japanese. (English Google translation) There are detailed build photos; the body was re-covered and even the rangefinder’s shutter release works the digital camera’s shutter. It is a beautiful hack. I wish I had the patience to do something like this.

via Hack a Day

I received my Malkoff Devices M61 drop-in last week. The drop-in uses a Cree XP-G LED and it’s designed to replace the lamp assembly in Surefire 6P style flashlights. Malkoff Devices says, “the output is approximately 260 measured out the front lumens.” It is a single mode drop-in.

I bought the M61 with the intention of modding it with the Shiningbeam three-mode regulated circuit board (SKU 1218). The Cree XP-G datasheet (PDF) had recently noted an “increase of maximum forward current to 1500 mA for XLamp XP-G Cool White is retroactive and applies to all XLamp XP-G Cool White LEDs produced by Cree. The increase is the result of more extensive qualification testing that was performed after the initial product launch.” The Shiningbeam board output current is 60 mA on low, 440 mA on medium and 1.4 A on high.

First, I removed the potting and contact spring. In the process, I destroyed the Malkoff driver board. I used a Dremel to reduce the diameter of the Shiningbeam board so it would fit inside the drop-in.

The Shiningbeam board works as advertised – I measured 1.4 A on high, 450 mA on medium and 65 mA on low. I’m not enamored with the yellow-green tint of the LED; maybe I’ll replace it down the line.

I have also used the Shiningbeam board in a DealExtreme XP-G R5 drop-in (SKU 32954). The result, compared to the Malkoff, is a little more throw and a lot less spill. The tint of the DealExtreme LED is also cooler – more blue.

After disassembling the M61, it’s clear that this is a most robust, superbly constructed drop-in. I can see why a professional would be able to rely on this drop-in in a life or death situation. But flashlights for me are a hobby, which is why I wanted to mod this drop-in to have (a more useful for me) three modes.

The NSR 24 Hour World Endurance (Slot Car) Race was held in Soragna, Italy, April 17, 2010 on Ninco tracks.

I used to like racing on a King track under USRA (United Slot Racers Association) wing car rules, but these slot cars are great looking scale cars. The drivers couldn’t be more dedicated to their sport to race for 24 hours.