Home DIY

Pet Door Opening in a Security Mesh Door

Nov 19th

Now for something completely different….after shelling out for one of these awesome microchip cat doors to be installed I thought I’d DIY the opening in my security mesh door. – As the weather warms up hopefully I’ll get more DIY stuff up here.

Mark the bars you'll need to cut to get make a square just a little bigger than the cat door opening

Cut where you marked using some hefty bolt cutters - a good excuse to buy tools, it would cost more to get a guy out to do the job, right? For now only cut the bars not the screen.

Make up 2 "picture frames" using mitre saw. The inner dimension should be about the same size as the cat door opening or just slightly bigger. I glued and tacked mine together with small nails.

After assembling the frames prime and paint to make them weather proof

On one of the frames check and mark where you can put 4 screws through without hitting bars.

In one of the frames drill screw holes

Line up the 2 frames and screw the screws through into the frame you didn't drill

Put the screws into the drilled frame and push trough the mesh screen to hold it in place. Cut out the mesh, and put some dabs of glue to hold the mesh

Put the screws into the drilled frame and push through the mesh screen to hold it in place. Cut out the mesh, and put some dabs of glue to hold the mesh

Screw on the other frame to clamp it on to the bars

Perform testing

Done!

cat door, microchip, pet door, pet flap, secuirty door

Structured Cable at Home (‘F’ Patch Panel)

Jul 11th

Posted by RhysGoodwin in Home DIY

4 comments

Here’s a quick update on my structured cable at home. Hopefully it will give you some ideas if you’re looking to do something similar. The main goal here was to run all 4 LNB outputs from my dish and my UFH antenna back to a single point.

RG6 quad-shield run up from the floor through the existing data cable channel.

I used a piece of powder coated aluminum which I cut from a 2U server rack blanking panel and ran the RG6 cables through the wall and terminated them with ‘F’ joiners.

I came across a great free 2D CAD application called DraftSight which I used to create a template for drilling the plate and the wall.

Completed and all back together – featuring the aptly named ‘Patch’. The cables connected to the completed patch plate all go back up the channel to the TV Server PC in the cupboard above. I haven’t cabled any of the rooms (except the lounge) because everything is delivered over IP, however I have pre-drilled at the back of the plate and half drilled the plate for future expansion.

I’d like to thank Godfey who supplied all the RG6, F connectors, and tools. And also took the time to show me how to do PPC compression fittings. Kiwi’s – if you’re in need to any of the gear to do this stuff Godfrey trades through TradeMe and gives the best service and prices around!

coax, f connector, patch panel, rg6

Structured Cable at Home

Jan 15th

Posted by RhysGoodwin in Home DIY

4 comments

I’ve been a bit slack with my blog lately, partly because in October we bought our first house so that’s been taking up a lot of my time. It’s a good solid 1950′s house but VERY original so it needs a LOT of work.

Me plastering the back room getting it ready for painting.

From network engineer to home handyman / plasterer / carpenter! Don’t worry though I’ve got my priorities straight! Structured cabling and network cupboard is almost complete. I’m quite pleased with how it’s turned out so decided to put up some photos.

Cables come up from under the floor into the wall cavity

Fortunately there was a little wee open-cupboard off the hall. It’s a good central point to run all the cables back to. I’ve installed a total of 16 network ports. 6 in the lounge, 2 the dining room and 2 in each of the four bedrooms. The cable is CAT6 and is all run under the floor. I’ve created 3 channels by running 30mm thick strips of pre-dressed pine from top to bottom of the cupboard.

Left channel with bottom capping section installed

The left channel carries the CAT6 up from the floor to the patch panel. It is also used to carry alarm wires down from the ceiling. It has notches which accommodate 3.5mm plywood capping. The right channel is also capped and will be used for carrying power cables. The centre channel is left open and used for running cables between the shelves.