MOTHER'S FLUORESCENT TUBE SOLAR COLLECTOR

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Now take your handsaw and cut a 1/8"deep lengthwise groove down the center of each half-dowel's flat side. Then use a wood chisel, carefully, to open one end of each of these grooves into a wider and deeper (5/16"-wide, 3/8"-deep, and 1-1/4"-long) slot.

Next drill four 3/16" holes through the dowel halves (one hole 1/2" in from each end of each half). And use a 3/8" bit to bore two holes (each about 1/4" deep but not all the way through the wood) into the flat faces of the half-dowels about three inches from their "unslotted" ends and to one side of the center grooves.

Now drill two 5/32" holes-one 3/16" from the end and the other 3/8" from the opposite end-through each of the two 1-1/4" X 5/16" X 5/16" square steel rods. Cut threads into each of these four holes with a 10-32 tap. Then put the square rods-one at a time-into the vise "short-end" (the end with the hole drilled through it 3/16" back) out and bore a 1/16" hole lengthwise into each block 3/32" from the edge, until the drill bit pierces through into the first tapped hole.

Next, stick a length of .032" of .034" stainless steel wire into the 1/16" hole and thread a 10-32 machine screw into the end of the tapped hole closest to the wire until the screw touches the wire's edge. Cut the rest of the screw off flush with the side of the square rod, then lock the sawed-off "stop" that is left in the hole firmly in place by nicking the cutoff stub with a center punch where it meets the face of the square rod.

Line the two wooden handle halves up with each other, tape them together, mark and drill the four 3/32" hinge-mounting holes in the handle's butt, screw the hinge firmly in place, and remove the tape.

Then take a length of good lamp cord, separate one end of its two insulated strands for about nine inches, and peel a half inch or so of insulation from the end of each strand. One of these separated and peeled wires should then be threaded "in" through the 3/16" hole on the butt end of each half of the tube cutter's wooden handle . . . and run up through the groove sawed into the flat face of the handle half . . . so that its bare end can be seated under—and directly in contact with—the square steel block which mounts into the "business end" of each half of the handle. Slip the two steel blocks into position ("stopped" sides facing each other) and secure each one in place with a 10-32 machine screw.

Note that the steel blocks—and all metal hardware in each assembly—are recessed into the wood so that neither block or any of its components can touch the other—thereby creating a short circuit-at any time. Electrical current can ONLY travel down one strand of the lamp cord to the steel block on its end, through the loop of stainless steel wire connecting the first steel block to the second, and then back through the second strand of the lamp cord.

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