Monday, 7 September 2009

Camera shenanigans, RJ45s and penny washers

An aside, really. I have discovered something about my Fuji FinePix camera; when the batteries are getting low (which happens ridiculously quickly), the autofocus doesn't always - it takes about 6 goes to get it to activate even when it is set to come on. That explains a lot of my blurry photographs. Also, I accidentally found a setting to increase the brightness, which makes it much easier to see on the LCD screen whether or not I have a decent photo'.

eBay delight! After yet more advice from the forum folk, I ordered some straight (not crossover) patch (ie not solid cable) RJ45 cables. I have guessed that I will need about 1m lengths for Faith.
Now I could have got these at 99p each, but that would have been boring grey, so I ordered 1 red, 1 yellow and 1 green for £1.25 each from Conquest-Computers, and 1 purple for £1.49 from Bluecharge Direct, all inclusive of P&P.
Because these eBay items are listed separately, the Conquest Computers' order went through as 3 separate transactions. Handily, they worked this out and shipped them all together in a Jiffy-style bag. I am still awaiting the purple one from the other company.
I have also ordered some penny washers from eBay, size M5 with outer diameter 25 mm. I am hoping these will be the right size for the swivel arms of the x/y/z stages.

eBay sub-total = £8.89

  • RJ45 cables from Conquest Computers, £1.25 each, x3 inc. P&P
  • RJ45 cable from Bluecharge Direct, £1.49 inc. P&P
  • M5 x 25 mm penny washers from Astley Components, £3.65 inc. P&P
So recounting costs,
running total (excluding last set of washers and screws from B&Q) = £384.66

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