Amaya Cart Stand Power - Life Hack

[John]

So, after years of owning our machines and reaching around the back to turn on the power, I got tired of it the other day and decided to move the power to the front.

Plus, I wanted to protect the machines with some in line surge protection in addition to that provided by the UPS we plug them into. Yeah, I'm cautious like that... new boards will kill you if they need replacing.

So I went to home depot & purchased 4 Defiant 6-Outlet Surge Protectord with 6 ft. Cord - Black for our 4 machines.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Defiant-6-Outlet-Surge-Protector-with-6-ft-Cord-Black-YLPT-43B-6FT/205607071

Next step was to permanently attach them to the legs of the Amaya cart. You'll need to find screws that fit - I recommend doing that while at home depot so you can test the fit with the back of the surge protector. Flat head Philips head machine screws are what I settled on.

Then when I got home, I traced a template from the back of the protectors so I knew where to drill the holes. Would have been nice if they provided that - but they didn't.

Once the holes were drilled, I put in the screws and test fit. Even though I thought my templates were good, they weren't as good as I thought and I needed adjust the depth I had screwed in the screws - and also had to file away a bit on the holes on the back of the power supply plastic to get things to fit. With some patience, I got it to hang quite sturdily. As you can imagine - I got better with each machine

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Here you can see where I mounted the power strips. I plugged the cord in the top most outlet to try and keep it out of the way of the storage area as much as possible.

I then threaded both the machine cord coming from back to front and the power cord going from front to back thru the side of the machine. I thought about placing wire clips etc to keep it neater but in the end, this worked fine.

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To keep things neat and tidy, and to keep the cords from dangling, I then did a circular wrap of the Amaya power cord and zip tied.

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Below - you can see a close up view of the finished strip mounted to the leg.

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Overall, it turned out well - and I'm not really sure why I waited 10 years to do this!

Just wanted to share my #AmayaHack with all of you.

Would love to hear ways you have made your life easier using our machines!

[Juli in Kona]

John, you must have a slow day! I only have one machine to worry about. Long ago, I, too, got tired of reaching behind to turn on and off the machine. I also have a UPS and have attached everything to a strip. Also on the strip is a strong light aimed right at the needles so I can see what I'm doing. When I turn on the machine at the strip, the light also goes on so I can tell from far away if the machine is on or off. I have a lot of other handy hints that can make life easier. Some day I will make a list and post them. But not today as I have just gotten one big job after another.

I just received a big order of hats and am already out or low on some colors and styles. And my vinyl is getting low. So think I can ship by surface - slow but cheap (relative speaking). Freight charges is the price we pay for living in paradise!

[John]

Hmm - slow day - no. I did this about a month back and just thought others might be interested in seeing what I did to make my life a little easier. Sure I could have just strapped it to a leg or sat it on the floor but I like the idea of something a little more sturdy and permanent.