My First VLAN

Lonnie on August 30, 2016

I have decided to learn more about computer networking.  I have always had a small network in my home.  I first started to learn networking when I set up a Linux and BSD server back in the last century.  I got a phone modem and connected to the Internet and set up my first web server.  When I upgraded to an always on DSL connection I started to learn more about networking.

Today I setup my first VLAN on my home network using Meraki gear.  I have a MX64 security appliance and a MS220-80 switch along with some wireless access points on my network.  I am setting up some virtual servers so I decided to put them on a separate VLAN.  The nice thing about the MX64 is that it allows me to set up VLANs and have a DHCP server for each VLAN.

I am going to set up a Microsoft server environment to keep up with the latest server technology.  I will be setting up a SharePoint development environment and some ASP.net web servers.  I will post more of my experiments here later.

Yubikey

Lonnie on August 21, 2016

Yubikey Nano

I bought my second Yubikey as a backup.  It came in the mail yesterday.  I wanted to start securing my data and every reference document for Yubikey advised getting a backup key to use incase you lost the first one.  I lose a lot of stuff so I decided to follow this sound advice and I got another one.  now I am ready to dive in.

I am going down the rabbit hole of making sure all of my passwords to the hundreds of websites and computers that I access have unique and strong passwords.  I am using LastPass to help me manage my passwords and I am using several multi-factor methods to access the resources online and in my office and home to perform computer related tasks.

It has taken me a long time and a lot of research to get to this point of actually committing to a method in the madness of managing passwords.  I have also been using full disk encryption on a few of my laptops and computers and I will use this Yubikey to authenticate access to the data at boot time.

This is the first of several Blog postings that I will write as I document my path into this new world of hardened security.  Now that I have a smart phone that is not owned by my employer, I can take advantage of the Near Field Communication (NFC) in Yubikey as well.  I have been avoiding engaging with learning and figuring all of this stuff out in the past because, well “it is just too complicated”.  I know that going forward more companies are going to move in this direction and individual users of the Internet will also need to set up the environment to secure their authentication to resources that then need to gain access.  I guess I am going to learn this so that I can help my friends who want to dive in and harden their data just like me.

Workshop Milestone: Sylvia's Car is in the Garage

Lonnie Wormley on August 15, 2016

Today’s goal was to get Sylvia’s Car into the garage.  That meant that I had to finish up a few work bench projects and then move my stuff back into the workshop.

I replaced the wooden peg board and and permanently mounted my Access Point and tool bar.

At first I had the Access point here.  Then I moved it.

I added my tool bar and moved the WiFi access point closer to the power panel.
Yeah I know all about ethernet being too close to electrical power.  I will move it later.

I got the drawer mounted and I built a rolling box for my power tools.  I got the inspiration for the rolling box from April Wilkerson.  I used a plastic tray that a mold contractor left at our house a few years ago.  I mad the plastic crate fit on to a lolling platform.  I can remove the crate and use the wooden dolly to move other items.

These 2x2s allow the crate to remain stationary on the wooden dolly.

Thsi is the wooden dolly.  I painted one end of the crate and the dolly so that I know which end matches.

Dolly with crate.

The rolling drawer in place under my work bench.

I built a lumber rack to store long pieces of wood.  I am following the design ideas that I got from watching several woodworkers on YouTube.  I have a small shop, but I am adding several elements that all shops have and a place to store wood material is one of them.

Here are some final shots.

Right side of the garage.  Two new toilets are blocking the yard equipment and yard tool bar.
The toilets are going into the bathroom projects.

The complete view of the garage.  I built some shelves on the back wall to store stuff.
The metal work bench that was in my shop is on the left near the freezer.
It took a long time to get an organized garage, it almost took all summer.

Door view of my workshop.  Lumber storage is on the right.  I put py long lumber on some shelf brackets.

End view of my narrow work shop

My workshop corner with sink at the left.

My wife’s birthday wish was to have her car in the garage today.
I made it happen.

All in all I am happy with the garage and the workshop.  I still have a lot of tweaking and organizing to do.  One thing that I like about my workshop is that I still have places to store stuff.  the larger work surfaces of the work benches and the drawers will allow me to categorize my tools in the future.

Workshop Milestone: Sylvia’s Car is in the Garage

Lonnie on August 15, 2016

Today’s goal was to get Sylvia’s Car into the garage.  That meant that I had to finish up a few work bench projects and then move my stuff back into the workshop.

I replaced the wooden peg board and and permanently mounted my Access Point and tool bar.

At first I had the Access point here.  Then I moved it.

I added my tool bar and moved the WiFi access point closer to the power panel.
Yeah I know all about ethernet being too close to electrical power.  I will move it later.

I got the drawer mounted and I built a rolling box for my power tools.  I got the inspiration for the rolling box from April Wilkerson.  I used a plastic tray that a mold contractor left at our house a few years ago.  I mad the plastic crate fit on to a lolling platform.  I can remove the crate and use the wooden dolly to move other items.

These 2x2s allow the crate to remain stationary on the wooden dolly.

Thsi is the wooden dolly.  I painted one end of the crate and the dolly so that I know which end matches.

Dolly with crate.

The rolling drawer in place under my work bench.

I built a lumber rack to store long pieces of wood.  I am following the design ideas that I got from watching several woodworkers on YouTube.  I have a small shop, but I am adding several elements that all shops have and a place to store wood material is one of them.

Here are some final shots.

Right side of the garage.  Two new toilets are blocking the yard equipment and yard tool bar.
The toilets are going into the bathroom projects.

The complete view of the garage.  I built some shelves on the back wall to store stuff.
The metal work bench that was in my shop is on the left near the freezer.
It took a long time to get an organized garage, it almost took all summer.

Door view of my workshop.  Lumber storage is on the right.  I put py long lumber on some shelf brackets.

End view of my narrow work shop

My workshop corner with sink at the left.

My wife’s birthday wish was to have her car in the garage today.
I made it happen.

All in all I am happy with the garage and the workshop.  I still have a lot of tweaking and organizing to do.  One thing that I like about my workshop is that I still have places to store stuff.  the larger work surfaces of the work benches and the drawers will allow me to categorize my tools in the future.

Workshop Bench Drawer Construction

Lonnie on August 8, 2016

I have never constructed a drawer from with a bottom that is glued into slots on the sides created using a router.  The last workshop bench that I built was in Portland, and I just nailed a box together and put in on a shelf below the bench.  It did not have slides and when it was full of tools it was hard to open.

This work bench is going to have drawers with metal ball bearing slides rated for 100 pounds.  I will also construct some boxes with caster wheels to slide under the bench.  I got the inspiration for this workbench from April Wilkerson.

I have always wanted to have a good set of woodworking tools.  I am gradually buying the tools that I need as I build this work bench.  The skills and the tools that I acquire from building the drawers for my workbench will be used to build drawers in the kitchen pantry.  The kitchen pantry has a bunch of shelves with do not allow for efficient organization of items.  There is also a lot of wasted space, so by adding drawers more items can be put in the pantry.

Here are the pictures of the drawer build.  I am using wood salvaged from the house to build these drawers.

Two sides of the drawer with wood glue
Side with slot and plywood bottom ready to assemble
I bought 4 corner clamps to hold the sides during assembly.  I will be making picture frames
 and other square objects so these clamps will get a lot of use.

I bought 4 36 inch bar clamps.  I use to have a set of 48 inch pipe clams, but they got left in Portland, OR.
These are the first of many clamps that I will acquire for my projects.

 I just got my first nail gun, but I decided to just use deck screws to attach the sides.  The entire bench is assembled using deck screws.  This is the first use of wood glue on this project.

Dog Days Of Summer Work Shop Bench

Lonnie on August 1, 2016

I got a big fan to help out with the hot humid weather.  Having a little breeze while working in a garage or out on the driveway really helps.

This past Friday, Saturday and Sunday I worked to finish the frames for the two six foot work benches for my shop.  I had an office desk that was purchased used at a garage sale in Austin, Texas that was too big for the house so it was used as a work bench in my garage.  I wanted to repurpose the four drawers in my new work bench.  I will use the other parts on future projects.  All of the 2 x 4 framing was built from wood taken out of the master bathroom.

I also fixed the shop vacuum so that it fit snuggly on my tables saw.  I got some pipe fittings and cut one of the vacuum extension tubes and it works great.  I still have a lot to do to get the saw set up the way that I want, but for now I can make consistent cuts for multiple pieces of wood quickly and accurately.

One of the things that I will make improvements in is my methods of measurement.  currently I am doing rough carpentry and I use a sharpie felt pen to mark my cuts.  I use my 8 inch Skil Saw made in 1952 to cut long pieces of 2 x 4 or to rip sheets of plywood.  I can cut with my Skil Saw to within 1/8 of an inch.  This is OK for building a work bench, but sometimes the tolerances stack up and I have to make adjustments.

I ran into a few issues with the used wood which caused me to take apart the frame and fix toe misaligned joints.  This is what happens when you are using old word that has bowed and is not fresh cut select grade lumber.

Not sure how this happened.  It was easy to fix since I was using deck screws to make all of the joints.
Not the corner is flush and square.

 Here is the frame of the first work bench with the office desk drawers installed.

Here is the second work bench

I watch a lot of Youtube wood working videos.  I have picked up a lot of ideas from April Wilkerson.  One ogf her ideas was to add a clamping area on the front of the work bench so I did.

I added a 2 x 2 so that each work bench can have a clamping area

I ran out of weekend and did not get started on the two large drawers tat will go in the work bench frames.  I cut the plywood tops, but I did not screw them down.  I will attach the tops after I get the drawers built and installed.