After many attempts, I have found a relatively easy way of converting technical papers in from PDF to mobi for reading on Kindle. This is the only way for somewhat reliable conversion of multi-column PDF layout into a “reflow” .mobi document. You would need to use Adobe Acrobat and kindlegen program from Amazon.com

Step-by-step instructions

1. Open a the pdf file in Adobe Acrobat

Original file in Adobe Acrobat

2. export document using File->Export->HTML 4.01 with CSS 1.o. If this technical mambo-jambo scares you– do not panic– you do not need to know what it means. All you need to do is to save the produced file in a place that you can find afterwards. Make sure you also copy kindlegen.exe to the same location

3. Open windows command line shell. If you are on Windows 7, just type “cmd” in the  ”Search for programs and files” dialog box. Navigate to the location where you stored the output file from Acrobat

4. type kindlegen.exe -gif name_of_your_html_file.html and press “Enter”

kinglegen input

5. Check the output and verify that the only warning  produced by kindlegen is about the absence of cover page and there is no any error messages

kindlegen output

If there were no errors, the resulting .mobi file should be in the same directory.

6. Transfer the mobi file to the Kindle in a way you usually do that. When you are done, open the document in the Kindle.

The same document in Kindle

But there is at least one  drawback that I have noticed in using this technique. During the conversion the images keep their original size and they come out rather small on the high resolution Kindle screen as you can see on the next picture. There must be a way to fix it, but I did not figure that out yet.

In this case the image came out rather small

I am looking for a place to attach the water shock absorber. I have a couple of ideas now. I can connect the shock absorber right at the high pressure nozzle of the pump. It would give me an opportunity to connect a pressure gauge. That would force me to replace or modify the high pressure tube, which, to my surprise, is made out of heavy plastic. The plastic holds 15 bar pressure. Impressive! Another possibility is to attach it to the input of the OPV valve. It is a less attractive option because of the lack of space around that area.

The second option is an Allen screw that looks like a screw on the E61 head. It might be there for the same reason too. If it it the case, then I should be able to use it either for a water temperature gauge mod, or use it for the pressure gauge and shock absorber.

I also disassembled the shower head and discovered that it is a bit different. I think it is a simpler design than on the Silvia.It might be less efficient as well. I have not way test that. I do not have a SIlvia.

I am posting a few pictures of the Audrey head here.

Three-way Solenoid Valve

Three-way Solenoid Valve Label

Assembled Shower Head

The difference between the Silvia and Audrey is visible on the following picture. On the Silvia, the shower head has a removable disk below the shower screen. On the Audrey, the disk is not removable. The small black dot on the right of the deep part of the head is the water orifice.

Shower Head with the Screen Removed

Finally, a little bonus for phone junkies like me. I used the Audrey water container as a light modifier for taking the pictures above. I am using a Nikon SB 28 with a PocketWizard Plus II, You can see the flash at the top of the picture and the Wizard in the left bottom corner.

Audrey Light Modifier for Off-Camera Flash

JeepinGeo also posted a Youtube video of this setup (I assume it is the same guy and the same setup) in action.

The second way is to add a programmable timer to the pump electrical circuit. It is a bit more difficult because it requires a relay, power source, wiring, etc. It sounds funny too. On the flip side, it is still simpler than this one:

The pictures are self-explanatory perhaps. If you would like a step-by-step DYI instruction, please let me know on this blog on or my twitter feed @veeveed.

View from inside the car

View from the outside

Close-up view

Bayonet detached

Mounting under the suction membrane

Side view

Simple, eh?

I tried this flag myself. It gives interesting light, but, as any other light source, it needs some getting used to. Here is a sample of a flash bounced of the celling with a foam thingy attached.

Example of light produced by the Foam Thingy

Black flag

The flash head was pointing up bouncing light off the celling. The flag was about 2 inch long fastened to the bottom of the flash head. The celling was low (about 9 feet) and the subject is very close (about four feet). As you can see that the majority of light on the face is  ambient room light. There is some directional flash light coming from the top.

Here is another way how it could be done, but if the wall is not completely white, white balance would be very tricky

Source - http://www.nwprophoto.com/tempint/uf.jpg

It is like a large beauty light. There are two drawbacks to this setup IMHO. Fist, it must be loosing a lot of light in reflections between the two umbrellas. Second, as any beauty light it would have a sweet spot where light would look just great and ugly anywhere else.

It It might be interesting to see how it would work with a shoot-through small umbrella. The light pattern would be exactly opposite to a Westcott brolly that has transparent plastic in the senter and white diffuser around it. It creates a hot spot of direct light in the middle surrounded by a soft hallo. This setup would make diffused light spot in the center surrounded by a hot ring of light.  As I picture it in my head, it must be rather ugly, but it is interesting to try anyway.