Removing MS Word editing password

How to remove a password from MS Word that limits you editing the document.

Save your protected file as an XML file.

Open this XML file on Notepad.

Search for “password”.

In the bit of code to the left of your found “password”, your will see:

…w:enforcement="on"…

Change the “on” to “off”.

Save this file.

Open MS Word, and open the XML file. Your password protection has been removed!

Save this file as the MS Word document.

Noma Oil Heater Review

I recently purchased a Noma oil heater to heat a room approximately 16 feet x 20 feet with a small en suite.  The model has three power settings of 700, 800 or 1500 watts and was purchased at Canadian Tire for $59.99 CDN.  The room I needed to heat had usual morning temperatures of between 12 – 15 degrees Celsius and would only warm up on its own marginally through the day (there is no other heating source).  This unit heats through a radiator style that heats oil that is in a completely sealed system and doesn’t need any addition of oil and plugs into the wall on a regular 120 volt outlet.  It is about 6 inches wide, 24 inches tall by 8 inches.

I was initially sceptical that the heater would be able to heat this room due to the usual cooler room temperature – however I have been impressed by the unit and am very happy with it so far (I’ve had it for 2 weeks).  I followed the instructions by turning the heater on high till it reached a comfortable temperature, then adjusting the thermostat to the room temperature I desired.  This took a bit of trialing because there is no temperature reading.  The power setting is adjusted through two switches that either turn on/off the 700 watt or 800 watt power (both switches ‘on’ is the 1500 watt setting) in combination with the dial thermostat.  A button for the “Comfortemp” is supposed to adjust the temperature to a ‘comfortable’ setting.  I am not clear on how it works, but it seems to do the job (I think it regulates the power on/off cycling better than the thermostat).  I currently have it set to the 700 watt setting and thermostat to the middle setting and the room is at a perfect comfortable temperature.  It is good to know that I still have plenty of power left in the heater if I wanted to increase the temperature.

I highly suggest this space heater for medium sized rooms.

Stroll in Quebec City

I stopped over in Quebec City overnight as a break on my way to New Brunswick.  Got a great deal at a hotel in Old QC.  Some photographs of the city I took:

Wooden Kayak

I'll be posting my process making a marine plywood 16 foot kayak.

Round Wooden Mirror Frames

I have now made several round wooden mirror frames, for which I used wood such as cherry, purpleheart, lacewood and maple.  The main jig used for the frames is a router trammel arm and the use of accurate cuts.  I designed the frames using AutoCAD, which allowed me to determine the exact angles and number of cuts (and therefore number of pieces) needed.  The diameter and  width of the mirror determines how many pieces of wood are needed to make up the polygon.  The polygon is glued together and then cut into a circle with the trammel arm.  The CAD drawing for one of my frames is shown to the right.

The CAD drawing is also useful to calibrate your saw, as you can print it to scale, then cut it out with a sharp knife, lay it beside your saw blade and adjust it until you have the correct angle.  The correct angle is critical, because a number of cuts are made, and even 0.5 of a degree will make a big difference, and you will end up with a gap when you line-up your final pieces.  Its also important to ensure you know what side of the wood you want to show - as you need to make sure your saw doesn't chip that side.  A straight, perpendicular cut is very important if you don't want small gaps and openings between the pieces.

Once all the pieces are cut, layout the polygon and find which pieces fit together the best.  If you find that you do have gaps between pieces at the joints, you may have to add small longitudinal inlays.  These inlays can add a nice touch to the mirror and different colored wood should be used as accent.   The mirror to the right is made of cherry (with varnish oil and beeswax finish), with rosewood longitudinal inlays.  If you find that only a few joints need inlays, you can only apply inlays at some of those joints and other joints such that there is balance to the overall frame.  You may have to place inlays on perfectly good joints just to achieve this balance (see photograph to right -- lacewood with several coats of shellac and beeswax buffed to a high shine; inlays are poplar)

The polygon pieces can be glued together with biscuits and biscuit jointer or pocket screws.  If the mirror is small (less than 28-25 inches in diameter) you could probably get away with pocket screws only.  Anything larger I would use both fastening methods.  You could also employ more complicated end grain fastening such as dovetail keys or finger joints.  Just remember that these joints will be seen along the edge of the mirror once you cut the circle out.

Once the polygon frame has been glued together and dried, you can start to cut the circlular frame out.  If you have used pocket screws, make sure your router clears them.   I won't cover how the trammel arm is made now, as I would consider that another topic which is common in woodworking.  If you do want details on the trammel arm and routing the frame, let me know in the comment section and I'll do so.

Use a rabbeting router bit to cut a rabbet on the inside of the frame to receive the mirror.  Some wood chips easily, so several shallow depth passes with the router should do it.

Once you have cut out the frame, sand and finish the mirror with your choice of products.  I prefer an oil and shellac.  You need to find a mirror supply company that will custom cut mirrors for you that can be placed in your frame.  For a 35" 5mm mirror I recently paid $77 CDN.

If you have any questions or would like certain details, you can post them in the comments and I can address them.

Ninja 250 Motorcycle Winterization

The time has come to winterize my first motorcycle -- a 2001 Kawasaki Ninja 250 (with 51,000 km). I am by no means a gear head and the following motorcycle winterization is based on some research I have done and what I found to work in this instance.  The basic narrative follows below.  I should note that the bike is being stored in an unheated garage in the Greater Toronto Area, and will not be used until the 2011 riding season.

First I made a plywood platform for the bike on a few casters so it can be moved easily if needed.  The wooden surface for the bike to rest on is also better than the bare concrete.

I decided to completely drain the gas tank because of the long storage time, and I felt gasoline stabilizer would be insufficient for the extended duration.  I did however run some stabilizer through the system to stabilize any residual gasoline that may be in the system.  I drained the tank by siphoning it with a 1/4" hose.  I tried sucking the gas through with my mouth which didn't work well on the first attempt.  For it to work I had to kink the hose the suck the gas slowly and regulate the gas coming into the pipe by slowly releasing the kink.  It had to be released slowly while maintaining suction.  Once the gas started flowing I directed the hose into a container.  I left just a little gas at the reserve tank level so I could run the engine to spray fogging oil into the carburetors.

I ran the engine and sprayed fogging oil into the carburetors until the engine stalled and stopped.  See photo to the right.

Once the engine was fogged, I removed the gasoline tank, which I will store inside the house (basement) so it doesn't rust.  Incidentally, I will also store the motorcycle seat and battery inside the house. The hoses that connected to the gas tank were plugged with a few screws so foreign material doesn't get into the system. 

Next I removed the spark plugs and sprayed fogging oil into the cylinders and a little on the plugs themselves.  I turned over the engine a few times with the electric starter to ensure maximum contact with the entire cylinder.  I also know of being able to place about a teaspoon of new motor oil in the cylinders. 

The next part of winterization was to drain the carburetors of residual gasoline.  Unfortunately the drain screws on each carb was stripped, so I had to remove the entire carb assembly to use vice grips to loosen the drain screws.  I placed the 1/4" tubing on the carb drain nipple and loosened the drain screw, which drained a surprising amount of gas.  

I did this for both carbs.  In order to remove the carb assembly, I did have to loosen the air intake housing box so I could jimmy out the carbs.  This was more difficult than I thought, but just needed some finessing.

As I was concerned with the extended storage period, I also checked the radiator coolant with a hygrometer (sp?) to ensure it had the proper proportion of antifreeze to water and that it would withstand the freezing temperatures expected -- it was fine.

I also changed the oil in the engine, putting in a new oil filter and 20W50 oil.  I put in about 1.5L in, which according to the manual is the volume with the filter in.  I noticed on the oil indicator window that the depth of oil was well above half and I thought possibly too much.  To ensure I got full saturation of oil in the system, I turned over then engine with the electric starter (but removed the leads to the spark plugs first).  I turned the engine over for at least 30 seconds, and the oil window started to show the oil level half way at the window -- which is where it should be. 

I sprayed some WD40 into the tail pipes and lubricated various parts.  I had cleaned and lubed the chain a few days ago so I didn't do it again.

I placed my cloth motorcycle cover over the machine and tucked it away in the back of the garage in preparation for 2011.  Unfortunately a spark plug lead broke during the winterization process, so I will have to fix that before I ride.