Studio711.com – Ben Martens

Center Channel Speaker Mount

My center channel speaker doesn’t have a place to accept a wall mount on the back of it. I originally tried using a couple 6” shelf brackets to support the speaker, but it didn’t look great, especially when compared to the other speaker mounts.

After some thought I ended up building a small half box out of 1/4” MDF. The construction was pretty simple and then I finished it off with flat black spray paint to match the speaker. The end result is that don’t really notice the box around the speaker and it looks great!

In the photo below you can see the undried fill holes from the old shelf brackets. They stuck down pretty far below the speaker.

benmartens March 20, 2012 Home Improvement, Projects, Woodworking

Dimmer Switch

We like to eat dinner while we watch movies in the theater room. For some movies the light bouncing off the screen is enough to illuminate our food, but for darker movies, it can be a challenge to scoop up those tricky peas.

Since it’s pretty difficult to do anything with the vaulted ceiling, I added 12 feet of rope lighting behind the couch. It’s mounted to the wall but in such a way that you just see a glow emanating instead of direct light.

To top it off, I added a dimmer switch. We started with a Leviton dimmer switch extension cord. That worked ok but I thought I could do better so I picked up a Lutron MIR-600THW dimmer switch. It took a little more work because the outlet I wanted to use wasn’t on an outlet yet.

I cut into the wall yet again (this was the 9th time I’ve used the drywall saw in this room) and made a hole for the switch in the same stud bay as the outlet at the standard switch height. After flipping the circuit breaker off, I removed the outlet, removed the connection between the top and bottom outlet so only half would be switched, fed some Romex up to the new hole and then wired in the switch. Perfecto!

Now we have a dimmer switch that we can use to give us just the right amount of ambient lighting. But it doesn’t end there. This switch has an infrared remote control! It was a piece of cake to set up our fancy Harmony One to control the light switch.

The dimmer switch worked out so well that I’m thinking about adding one in the bedroom too. No more getting out of bed when we finish reading and have to decide who gets out of bed to turn off the lights.

benmartens March 19, 2012 Gadgets, Home Improvement, Projects

Green Chili

Jay sent me a recipe and said it was so awesome that I had to make it. Since he rarely sends me recipes, I figured I’d give it a shot.

Part way through the cooking process, my noise started to burn. Then I looked over at Tyla and her eyes were watering and her whole face was red. The chili ended up being spicier than I normal make it but still delicious.

When I mentioned it to Jay he said, “Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that I didn’t use the jalapenos.” Thanks.

The side dish you see in the photo is something Tyla made that she calls “zucchizzas.” It’s sliced zucchini with pizza sauce and mozzarella baked under the broiler for about 5 minutes. Pretty good!

Ingredients

  • 8 Cups fat free, reduced sodium chicken broth
  • 1 Onion, finely chopped
  • 8 Portions chicken breast (about 2 pounds)
  • 2 Packages Knorr Roasted Chicken Gravy Mix
  • 3 Cans (7 ounces each) mild diced green chilies
  • 6 Cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 Cup fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 1/2 Teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 Jalapeños, seeded and chopped
  • 1 Can (28 ounces) white hominy, drained
  • 8 (6-inch) flour tortillas
  • 1 Tomato, diced
  • 1/2 Cup fat free sour cream

Directions

  1. In a large pot, combine chicken broth, onion and chicken breasts. Heat to boiling over high heat. Then reduce heat to low and simmer until the chicken is no longer pink in the center, about 20 minutes. Remove chicken from the broth and set aside to cool.
  2. Use whisk to blend and gravy mix into the broth. Then add chilies, garlic, cilantro, cumin, jalapeños and hominy. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; then reduce heat to low. Shred the cooked chicken by pulling it apart with two forks, and add it back into the broth. Cover and simmer for 40 minutes.
  3. Warm flour tortillas by placing them between two damp paper towels and microwaving on high for 45 seconds.
  4. Spoon a portion of the green chili (about 1 1/2cups) into each bowl, top with a spoonful of diced tomato and a tablespoon of sour cream.
  5. Fold a warm tortilla, and place it beside the bowl of chili for dipping. Serve and enjoy!
benmartens March 7, 2012 Food

Motorcycle Camera Mount

One of the gizmos that I added last week was a little extra handlebar space to mount gadgets. I decided to try hooking on a camera mount to see how it worked with our little video camera. I like the height of it because it can be above the windshield if I have the windshield down or completely below the windshield when I raise the windshield.

I gave it a quick trial run but the video was extremely bumpy to the point that it was unusable. I uploaded it to YouTube so you can check it out, but it will probably give you a headache.

There’s a potential that adding some padding in to the mount at strategic locations could decrease a lot of the bumpiness. And if that doesn’t work, I could still mount our little point and shoot camera up there and take some stills every once in a while.

benmartens March 6, 2012 Motorcycle

Speaker Mounts

The theater room previously had speaker stands for the four corner speakers and a box holding up the center channel. I decided to go with a wall mount since it would look a little nicer and free up some floor space. The only problem was getting the wires down the wall cleanly.

I ended up running them inside the walls. The rear speakers were fairly simple because there’s no insulation in that wall. I drilled a small hole at the top and a little bigger hole at the bottom. It took some work with the fish tape but I got those pretty easily. I was able to modify the speaker mounts from MonoPrice so that the wire appears to come directly out of the mount and right into the speaker, and I used the mounts upside down so they’d fit my speakers.

For the front speakers, I had to make a three sided cut at the bottom of the wall and fold the drywall back to reach in and grab the fish tape. That meant more spackling and texturing to patch the hole, but there was no other way to find the fish tape in the wall.

The speaker wire was a 100ft spool of wire from MonoPrice rated for in-wall use. I suppose I could have switched to something else once I got out of the wall, but I just stuck with it for the whole run.

I had initially intended to pull the baseboards off and hide the wire behind/under them, but there’s too much cable and too little space with my mini-half-height baseboards. Instead I picked up some Baseboard Cablemate strips from Home Depot. It should just look like I have thick baseboards when I’m done running the wires inside there.

And finally, the last piece to the puzzle was mounting the center channel. It doesn’t have a place to screw in a speaker mount like the other speakers. I picked up some 6” shelf brackets from Home Depot, but I’m not happy with how they look. My new plan is to build a small box with an open front, mount that on the wall and then place the speaker inside it. The wires would run out through a hole in the back and in to the wall.

This project is coming together nicely! I have a pile of paint swatches on my desk. Picking the color will be the next step. Right now I’m leaning toward a dark gray but I’m not sure if I’ll throw in a blue tint.

PS. In case you haven’t noticed by now, I love MonoPrice. If you ever need any kind of cable, go there first. Why pay $40 for an HDMI cable from Best Buy when the same thing is $3 from MonoPrice?

benmartens March 2, 2012 Projects

Three Ski Days

We’ve had an interesting winter. It started off with a bang, dried out for quite a while, and now we’re getting alternating snow dumps and rain. I skipped the pass again this year and again I wonder if that was the right idea. My plan was to pick out the best days, take vacation, and go skiing, but that hasn’t happened yet.

I have been up three times this year though. I’ve already written about the first trip to Crystal with Tyla and my friend AndyM from work. I’m amazed at how much Tyla has improved from last year without any skiing. What’s her secret? Every day we go out she progresses dramatically. Maybe we should have both gotten passes and set ourselves up to ski once a week.

The second trip was also to Crystal with Tyla but this time it was with AndyD and StephanieW. Aside from an unadvised attempt to lead them down Green Valley bowl, we had a great time.

Then last week I headed up for night skiing at Alpental with AndyM. We started off in a bit of misty rain, but that ended and the slightly warm snow was soft and very nice. It started to turn into frozen lumps by the end of the night but we were done anyway.

I don’t know that I’ll ever get another 29 day ski season (at least until I retire), but these trips up with friends are a lot of fun!

benmartens March 1, 2012 Skiing

Stevens Pass Photos

Every October, Microsoft has a big auction for charity. Employees can put things up for other employees to bid on. Four years ago, I won a day of semi-professional ski photography. Jay and Andy came out and the three of us had a great skiing day with some amazing photos. I’ve continued to enjoy those pictures, and Bernard, the photographer, has continued to offer that auction item every year. So this past fall, I bid on it again and won.

We’ve had a hard time picking the “perfect” day. I wanted to combine a midweek date so there’s less traffic, some partial clearing so there is good light, and of course, fresh snow! Those three things aligned last Thursday so we took the day off and headed up to Stevens Pass since they had the most snow that day.

One of the main reasons I wanted to do this again was that I felt like I skied extremely poorly the last time we did this. Bernard was able to get some good shots every once in a while, but I pretty much fumbled through the whole thing. While I’m still FAR from an expert skier I felt much more in control this time. Maybe I’ll do it again in four more years after I have even more practice.

Lest I get too much of an ego about these pictures, I’ve included one in the upper right of this post that is fairly indicative of how I normally ski. The photos below are a few of my favorites but there are more in the photo gallery.

I definitely had my share of dumb moments throughout the day. The most obvious one was the time we spent about 20 minutes carefully traversing through some very tight trees to a secret untracked stash. Over the radio, Bernard described the route to me. Drop out of the trees, make a hard right, traverse under the cliff about 50 feet and then ski down the tree line. Got it. I dropped in out of the trees, turned right a bit late, tried to correct and ended up face first in the snow. By then I had lost too much speed and the rest of the run was wasted.

But all in all, I got a ton of pictures that I love. Thanks to Bernard for putting up with me and for giving me these wonderful photos!

benmartens February 28, 2012 Skiing

Handlebar Mount And Helmet Locks

Along with the air deflectors and radiator guard, I picked up a handlebar mount and helmet locks from ProjektD. As with the previous install, these were quick and easy.

The handlebar mount is an extension to the handlebar that gives you a place to mount your GPS, cell phone, camera, etc. You can see it in the picture sticking out towards the center from the right handlebar. The install for this one requires you to remove the bolt holding the right handlebar on and replace it with a longer one. Monkeying with the handlebars always makes me a little nervous, but I used the torque wrench and applied some non-permanent locktite so I should be all set.

The helmet locks easily installed under the luggage rack in the rear. Usually when Tyla and I stop somewhere, her helmet can fit in one of the bags but then I end up carrying my helmet around. This should be much more convenient.

All in all I’m very happy with my ProjektD accessories. It’s nice having things that are made specifically for your bike because the installation instructions can be very specific and everything fits. Now I need to stay off their website for a while or I’ll find more things that I want to order!

benmartens February 24, 2012 Motorcycle

Projector Screen

The next step in the home theater project was getting some sort of projector screen in place. I’ve been using a blank wall since we moved in, but this really isn’t a wonderful solution. There are a couple nail holes that screw up the picture, there is texture on the walls, and the paint isn’t pure white.

There are a number of articles online that describe various ways to create you own screen. After doing a lot of research, I decided to opt for a cheap pre-made screen instead. I purchased a 120” Elite Screens Sable Fixed Frame screen. One of the reasons this screen is less than one third of the cost of most screens is that it packs down into a reasonable size box for shipping. That translates to “some assembly required.”

It took me about 1.5 hours to get the screen put together, but I could probably cut that in half now that I know what I’m doing. You basically assemble the frame with a few screws and then methodically stretch the material with clips to provide a smooth flat surface. Tim and Chelsea came over to help mount it on to the wall and it took all four of us to get it on there.

I’m fairly pleased with the end result The black velvet border really sucks up any light from the projector that flows over the edge of the screen. That is important because it allows you to easily fill the whole screen with the picture. The screen does have some imperfections and a noticeable hot spot when the picture is a solid color. I’m playing around with a few ideas to minimize the appearance of the flaws, but for the price, this is still good deal.

Next up: mounting speakers on the wall and running speaker wire inside the walls.

benmartens February 23, 2012 Home Improvement, Projects

Air Deflector and Radiator Guard

The motorcycle has seen more action now that it means a faster trip to work. I take the interstate a lot and motorcycles get to use the carpool lane. That can shave 10-15 minutes off my 25-30 minute commute. When the temps are down around 40, even a quick blast on the interstate will eat through my winter riding gloves and freeze my fingers.

I finally caved and purchased some air deflectors from ProjektD. They’re a French company that makes aftermarket parts specifically for Concours14 bikes. Just the air deflectors ended up being $45 in international shipping so I decided to pile a few more goodies into the box. There were a few other items but I haven’t installed them yet so I’ll just mention the radiator guard. The front tire can kick up rocks and damage the radiator so this shield take the brunt of the assault. I opted for the black powder coated version with the Concours14 logo cut into the bottom.

Both accessories were quick to install. The radiator guard looks good and the air deflectors function quite well. I was worried that they wouldn’t be tall enough since I have risers installed in my handlebars. The air just skims the top of my gloves. I could attempt to bend the deflector brackets a little or cut a different piece of plexiglass, but I think it will work as is.

benmartens February 22, 2012 Motorcycle