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Using Cubicle TV Mounts as Outdoor Patio Bar Brackets

One Texas customer wrote me and asked “Could you drill a hole into the cubicle wall TV/Monitor mounts“.

I said sure. Of course I asked him “what are you doing?” And he told me he was making his own patio bar and my brackets were perfect except they lacked a hole he needed.

Here are his results which were amazing:

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BonsenKitchen Electric Frother Mini-Review and Does it Fit My Holder?

First, the BonsenKitchen Handheld frother does fit my holder. Here is a picture of the frother in my holder:

Of all the frothers we’ve used so far (Zulay, Elementi, MilkPro) this one is the most powerful. We bought this one because the Elementi wore out. It seems like if you use these every day – which we do – they last about 6 months.

The button presses easy and the frother will “froth yo mamma”. Be prepared to spin the substance out of the cup. I have to keep from holding the button so it never gets too fast.

But so far, we like this frother the best.

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Internal Construction View of Elementi Handheld Battery Powered Milk Frother

Our Elementi Milk Frother gave up the ghost. So I thought I would take it apart and show you the internal construction.

Here are some key “noticings” (my new word) about the Elementi:

  • Frother whisk is connected direct drive to the motor
  • The top mounted button simply depresses some spring steel to make the electrical contact
  • Only two screws hold it together
  • It is an amazingly simple design, which is good – Occam’s razor, right?
  • Not shown here is the table top stand which always has this handy unit in the way taking up counterspace.
  • Consider instead, the amazing handheld frother mounting holder for cabinets from this site.
elementi milk frother that fits on the really cool milk frother stand only replacement.
Internal Assembly Photo of the Elementi Battery Operated Hand Held Milk Frother
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I just cannot see how the secure 2×4 bar holder works! Help!

A reader wrote “I just can’t figure out how this things works. I’m pretty bad mechanically and need all the help I can get. If you can point me in the right direction I’d greatly appreciate it”.

Same with me fellow reader! I’m an electrical engineer not a mechanical!

I’m assuming you are talking about my locking kit more than anything. I think if I pass along a couple of really high level ideas in this post, you’ll have that aha-moment.

First, to really simplify the discussion, forget about locking at all.

If you put a CLOSED 2×4 bar holder on EACH side of your doors on the frame of the shed, you can slide a 2×4 into those bar holders and your doors will both stay shut nicely.

The only problem is that it is WAY TOO EASY to slide out the bar by bad actors.

So… all you have to do is keep the bar from sliding.

This is the trick…

Take ONE of the bar holders with the locking tab and from the back, fasten it to the BAR. You should do this so that you can slide the bar into the loops and the locking tab on the BAR matches up to the locking tab closed bar holder you put on the door frame.

Then on the OPEN bar holder included in the kit, you can decide if you want to use it or not. I use it to simply prop up the 2×4 bar so it doesn’t fall down when I open the shed door.

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Couldn’t the bad guys just cut the 2×4?

This question came in from the securebarholder mail bag.

The reader wrote “couldn’t the thieves just cut the 2 x 4, and they’re in?”.


Absolutely they could. Security is a funny thing. It is best thought of in terms of margin costs and marginal benefits.


https://overheadwatch.com/marginal-benefits-and-marginal-cost/


So, before I invented my bar holder kit for my own shed, all a bad person would have to do is to bring a crow-bar.


So for the cost of a crow-bar and maybe 10 seconds, they could get into my shed.


After my bar holder kit, they have to up their game and bring a saw. I use a hard cedar 2×4 so unless they bring an electric it is going to be hard going.


I’ve had some people say “use a steel 2×4”.


But my shed is made of wood. Bad guys can can bring a saws-all and go through my wall or door anyway. So no point in protecting the shed with a kit that goes beyond the shed’s capability anyway.


I would say the MAIN uses of the 2×4 secure bar holder kit – or the plan 2×4 bar holders are:

  • Secure a shed from CASUAL thieves.
  • Protect children from getting into chemicals or other dangerous things
  • At least demonstrate to the neighbors that they should at least ask before grabbing tools
  • BETTER way to close the shed than many 2 door shed latch systems – and simpler too.

  • Forgetting about the locking tabs, people use the open, closed, end caps, etc for:
  • Bar Holder inside their houses for front door or bedroom. Many people call these door security bar brackets
  • Trailer keepers – you use these to put 2×4 in to make your flatbed trailer have sides
  • Removable stair hand rail holders
  • I had one guy tell me his use was “secret”. 

Anyway, hope this helps. Great question!
Cheers,Marlan

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Powerlix Frother Mounted with Gray Frother Holder in a Boat

gray handheld milk frother holder mounted in boat to save space - showing PowerLix

One of my favorite things in the entire world is having customers send me pictures of how they have used my crazy inventions in their life.

One customer used a Gray Frother Holder to save space in his boat. If you think about it, a BOAT is a very, very confined space. You simply DON’T have counter space for the traditional wire milk frother stand. So you can’t store the frother on the counter. Also, in a boat you MUST have everything securely fastened – because of this you cannot use a wire milk frother stand. We personally hate throwing the frother in the drawer, which is why we made this mountable milk frother holder.

So I couldn’t be more pleased than punch when I received this picture! Look how pretty the wall mounted coffee milk frother looks on the handheld frother mount!

NOTE: This is a much older design that looks… well… older. I have a newer milk frother stand only replacement which is strong and substantially more attractive. And yes, the new design would hold this Powerlix frother just fine!

gray handheld frother holder mounted in boat to save space - showing PowerLix
gray handheld frother holder mounted in boat to save space – showing PowerLix
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Customer Install: Use the 2×4 End Caps as a French Door Door Barricade

2x4 End Caps White Showing 2x4 Painted Bar Side

One pesky (but very nice) customer INSISTED I prime coated my RAW or Galvanized 2×4 End Caps. But that was only after this customer had me drill a hole in a “Left” End Cap and a “Right” End Cap.

This customer wanted to put a pin in the left and right end caps and the pin would go through the 2×4 bar.

Why?

Because if someone broke the glass in the French Door, the idea would be to make it one step harder to lift the bar.

I can just hear the idiots now “But gee they will still get in.”

True. But those 15 extra seconds will be handy in sighting them in.

It isn’t always about perfectly securing things – it is balancing the aesthetics of your house while having ENOUGH security. In this case, enough is defined as buying some time.

I can’t and won’t divulge anything about the customer, but I can tell you that those french doors are no easy mark. Break that glass and you have lead in your bum (I wanted to make this rhyme, but I’m too proper).

Here are the pics from this wonderful little install. I love how the customer painted the bar.

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Key Feature – EASY TO INSTALL

2x4 secure bar holder galvanized steel kit showing installation with padlock on shed

One of the key features of the secure 2×4 bar holder is that it is easy to install.

My original idea was to just make 2×4 bar holders that were BETTER than than the usual 2×4 bar holders from Lowes or Home Depot – mostly due to fitting on a 2×4 instead of requiring a 2×8.

I also didn’t like the fact that 2 door sheds required TWO sets of hardware – one to hold one door fixed/closed and the other hardware set to latch to the fixed door. Too complex.

It is so refreshing to find customers that get it: Simplicity!

Check out this great 4-star review.

great rating for 2x4 secure bar holders
 closeup of secure 2x4 bar holder used to secure a garden shed