[Dak]

Playing with plug and play in my new apartment


[Pillar] [Pillar]

Since January 1 1997 I have moved to the nice village of Zeist.

Moving into my new apartment challenged me to try to apply some of my plug and play ideas. I decided to do two experiments. The first has to do with plug and play lighting, the second with a plug and play cornice.


[Pillar] ____My apartment____ [Pillar]

My new apartment is part of a pretty standard apartment building in the south of Zeist.

This is where I live now!

The apartment has 4 rooms, which is a lot of space for one person.

This is before painting started.

[Pillar] ____Light experiment____ [Pillar]

In this section I report about my experiment with a plug and play lighting fixture.

In the kitchen I want some lights to shine at the counter.

In the building market I bought this set of halogen spots and cables, which have the most plug and play potential. (brand: Daks)

The elements are easily connected with ST-18 plugs.

I first lay them out at the sink to see how they will fit.

The elements are mounted to the cupboards with screws.

Mounting the screws is not plug and play. You need two people, one to hold the fixture and one to screw. Putting in the screws needs some force. Positioning is difficult.

Connecting is plug and play though.

The lights work fine! Still I am not satisfied with the screw-mounting, so the experiment continues.

I still have an other outlet (brand: Massive) which I will fit with a connection tape.

In this prototype I used Dual Lock from 3M. This strip contains many little mushroom-shaped extrusions. The mushrooms click together and form a firm connection.

You can see how it works in this picture.

It fit two 25 mm wide strips on the body of the outlet. This is done very easily by removing a protective tape and sticking the strips on the surface.

On the cupboard surface (here simulated) I fit the matching strips.

The outlet is now very easily mounted. You can do it with one person, the strips allow you to correct the position of the outlet within 10 mm.

Pulling out the switch can be done, without pulling off the outlet! By applying greater force on the outlet, it is easily removed.

I am now satisfied with the experiment!

Conclusion: When the interface to the cupboard is changed from screws to Dual lock, this is a very plug an play lighting fixture.


[Pillar] ____The cornice experiment____ [Pillar]

I like a to have the rooms fitted with a little cornice around the perimeter.

This is what I have in mind. The strip has to be painted later.

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I cut the strips on , derived form the system A dimension table.

The back side of the strips I fitted with Velcro.

My reason for moving is now painting the wall in two colors.

At intervals I put a little patch of Velcro at the wall. The mounting of the cornice is easy. When I move out, removal of the cornice is swiftly done. All elements can be reused.

This is how it looks when finished.

Conclusions of this experiment:

  1. mounting cornice strips this way is very easy, after the strips are made (of course in a plug and play world, you should be able to buy this cornice strip with the velcro fitted)
  2. it is possible to take apart the cornice without damaging it. It is completely reusable.
  3. the only things which will break apart when removed are the little patches of Velcro which are mounted on the wall. They could be reused when fitted with new glue tape.
  4. because the dimensions of the apartment are not standardized, I still have to cut some strips at a non-standard dimension. These pieces can be reused, but in a new situation additional cutting must be done. So, after a couple of times moving, the cornice strips will become shorter and shorter and less standard in dimension.

back home
[Electricity]

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