Cool Desk / Work Bench

I saw this cool desk \ work bench at work on a job site it was made from construction leftovers it was pretty nice for construction waste.

legs were made out of gas pipe.

Flange to affix the top.

Conduit for the bottom and conduit hangers nuts and bolts to assemble it. I may have to make one.

Star Trek comes true again! 3D Printing!

Well Star Trek comes true again! I have my cell phone or communicator and now I have access to a replicator or 3D printer!













So I need a new visor clip for my car because mine broke and Chrysler wanted $10 bucks for it and  EBay wanted $8.99 plus shipping and I got mine for $5 bucks!

How you ask?
Well I was going to 3D model it myself and cast it, but when I went to thingiverse

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:13421  and someone had done it for me. So I down loaded the file for free and sent it to my friend with the replicator or 3D printer and she gave me a price of $5 bucks.

So a day later and $5 bucks and I have my part! She didn't have any gray ABS plastic in stock but I didn't care because now it stands out and its a conversation peace.

Installed and working! I still would like to cast one to see if I can do it.

Thanks Thingiverse and Gene Roddenberry!

Food Safety During an Emergency

I picked up two thermometers one for for the refrigerator and one for the freezer. I think it's a good idea have a thermometer in refrigerator and freezer if the power goes out.

This way you know if the food is safe to eat or not.

Because you don't want to get sick during an emergency!

 I got these from a commercial refrigerator & freezer vendor for free they have there company logo on the back it was a giveaway. I think you can also get them at GFS too, for not much money.

Electronics Parts Scavenging

I like to build things fix them restore them and give them new purpose in life. Most of the time I don't have the money to fund these ventures, So I have become vary good at Scavenging  for what I need. Anything electronic comes across bench that can't be fixed is getting striped for parts. 

First things first you need a good stash of parts to fill your junk box.

First rule take all broken electronics from anyone.

                              

Next thing you will need is some tools. This is de-soldering pump
  pump it is an essential tool to the process!

Next tool you will need is a soldering iron another essential tool to the process!

A good vice to hold the parts it's not necessary buts it helps allot.

Solder fum extractor will keep you healthy too. See my other other blog post for this.

Old cutting board so you don't mess up your table.

Now you have you have every thing you need to get started!

The best part of Electronics Scavenging is you find out how to take stuff apart.

So what do you end up with a lot of future projects! That won't cost you more in shipping then the parts cost!

50'-60' Era Jig Saw Project almost done!

Well after taking apart the saw, I found the saw's drive shaft had some deep groves in it and a bit of a wobble. So I guess it was time to make a new one.

A friend helped me make a new shaft, big thanks to my friend Greg who has a lathe he was lots help on this project. I installed it and pressed in a new brass bushing into the freshly painted saw. By the way he did it all as one part not 3 parts pressed together like the original one. How he did that I will never know?

Now I just need to reassemble it.

Not too bad its ready for another 50 years of use.

Now I just need a new pulley,belt and a saw blade.  

50'-60' Era Jig Saw Project Update!

Now that I have the painting just about done. I think it is starting to look good.

This is the crank case.

This is the base plate. 

This was the top plate and cank plate.

Well now on to the crank shaft.

Metal chips & magnets

I was in need of something to pick up all of the metal chips in my shop so came up with this handy tool.

What I did was I took a board and nine hard drive magnets and came up with a magnetic broom.

I used the magnet mounting holes and some recycled screws to screwed them to a 1"X 2" about 12 inches long. Then cut off a clear cover from a 3 ring binder and screwed on the side of the board. After that I folded it over and stuck a small bit of Velcro on the back and it was done!



Now I can pick up metal chips and pull off the clear cover over the trash and it makes for easy clean up!

50'-60' Era Jig Saw Project

So I picked up this 50'-60' Era Jig Saw from flea market at a steam show I went to. I've always wanted a Jig Saw and for $5 Bucks I couldn't pass it up. Its all steel and American made! I think with a little TLC it will be back in working order in no time.

It is belt driven the pulley is bent I will have to get a new one and a motor to run it too. But some oil paint and a couple of new parts it will run for another 40 years.

These were the only to markings on it. The one on the top is marked DEERE, I was thinking John Deere the number on the side not sure what that's for, I tried googleing it no luck.

Lessons learned!

The warranty and the web payed off one week later! No questions ask a new set showed up in the mail. 

Yet Another reason to Prepare!

I went out to my car this morning and it gave me a another reason to think about backup heat for our house. Most people never think about there heat going out. I know why because there is no easy answer. I've been thinking about it quite a bit, and what I've been coming up with range of answers from solar to wood heat. I think we as a people should put more thought into it, and listen to our cars they might be trying tell us something!

Lesson's Learned Warranty and the Web

I purchased these side cutters for cutting my HO train track about 2 years ago, and  after about a year they broke as you can see. I have been meaning to get around to taking them back to where I bought them from, to see if I could get a replacement for them. They cost around $14.99. I couldn't find the receipt for them and I keep meaning to take them back but another year went by. I was cleaning my shop and on the computer looking at my blog when I came across the cutters and my post about the X-Arcade project and that was it! I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice so sense I was on my computer, I went to the website and emailed customer service a picture and how they broke and now we wait and see!

Update to the Soldering fume extractor project

This is an update to the Soldering fume extractor project. I added some white LED's to see what I'm working on. I salvaged the white LED's from broken led lamp that someone gave me.

I finely figured out what to make the base out of a friend of mine gave me a 4" steel roller from some type of machine I cut off a chunk with my band saw and drilled and taped a hole in the center to mount the arm to. I've found quite a bit use out of that roller never pass up free metal!

I also added a power supply and a on and off switch. Every thing on this project salvaged now I need to find a charcoal fish filter to hang on the back.

DIY coupon organizer's!

So I had allot of coupons laying around and not organized at all. Ya lets get real, I have a lot of stuff just laying around but coupons are a pain. When you go to the store there falling out of the cart your pocket you never know what you have and ya I could pay for a nice one at the checkout lane at the store, but you know me by now if your read this blog, I'm not buying one. I have way too much laying around I can just make one for free.

Step one free folder from some vendor catalog.

Step two some free CD protectors from some old software that has been upgraded. 

Step three cut them down so they fit the folder.

Step four put in folder and label each one section tab by type of coupons.

Step five the ones you cutoff to make it fit into the folder punch a hole through one corner  and take an old key ring with a clip and put it through the hole.

Now you can organize them at home take out the ones you want for your shopping trip and put it in your key ring holder and snap it to your cart and now your organize and doing something with that stuff just laying around your house. Final cost just time.

Movie Review Countdown to Zero

This is a must see for any one that thought the cold war was over. It is still a scary world out there! One of the more interesting comments in the move was if there was an all out nuclear war you would get 15 to 30 minutes warning max and we though people building bunkers in the 60's were crazy.It was also scary how many nuclear bombs the US has lost and how much nuclear material there is on the black market. All in all two thumbs up!   

DIY Emergency Lights

So I've been thinking about building some emergency lights for the basement for a while now. I was just at a conference and scored some jumbo white LED's from a DIY led throwies build and figured it was time to build the lights. A quick trip to the junk box for a few parts like some washers,nuts,screws,threaded rod,some angle iron and a light reflector from an old broken garden solar light.    

I figured I could screw them floor joist's in the basement so if the power goes out during a storm and we had to take shelter we could have light.

Now I need to get power to them a little wire and some screw terminals and little Perf board.

 So there up now for a test run!

We have light! It's just the right amount of light to see in the basement and it will run for a vary long time in a extended power outage. Now I just need a automatic switch to turn them on during a power outage well I guess will have to think about that for a wile and check the junk box. Not bad for 0 dollars!