DIY Junk Box Flashlight

I decided to do this project because I wanted a small but vary bright flashlight, so that I could use to use up all the old smoke detector 9V batterys.  I change them every New year so I have a good supply of half dead batterys. This is what I came up with 3 white LEDs a chunk of pc board and a top to a 9V battery and some hot glue and some solder.

Emergency Chocolate

Emergency Chocolate well there goes another one of my ideas. I guess it has been around for years in c- rations and MRE's but as direct marking what a great idea. I need to get some for my wife!

MISTO the Magnificent

No It's not some hot new magician. But it does preform some magic!
I don't endorse products unless I have used them. I have had a MESTO now for a about a year and I have to say it was one of the best buys I have ever made. It has saved me quite a bit of time and money on PAM. Plus I can fill it with what ever oil I like and who knows what is in PAM?  So if you do a lot of cooking like I do its worth your time.

Movie Review :Alone in the Wilderness the story of Dick Proenneke

I've seen this documentary in bits pieces over the past few years on PBS, but finally after years I broke down and rented it from the library. It's about a man named  Dick Proenneke who move to the Alaskan wilderness and hand built his home and everything else he need. He built every with just a few hand tools. It is a unique look into the life of a truly free individual. So if  you get a chance rent it.

Cheap tent stakes!

I saw these tent stakes at a flea market and thought what a simple yet ingenious design. I just had to share I'm thinking of making a few. 

Brass Oil lamp for 5 Bucks!

 I picked up this oil lamp from a salvage store for five bucks!  It reminded me of an old emergency civil defense lamp. I figured I could shine it up plus it came with a bag of new wicks and heck you never know when you might need emergency light. 

Another reason to Prepare!

This picture was after a heavy rain the other day. The white line in the water in the lower part of the picture is the divider between the right and left lane on the express way I was on my way to work we had to drive through the water water to get to work.

X-Arcade project

OK so I learned a big lesson on this one. I got this for free and it had a bad connector on the control board so I went to the scrap electronics heap and found a donor board that had the part on it. Then proceeded to replace the part and reinforced it so it wouldn't break again and it worked!  Now here is the lesson it was a wast of  time because when I went to look up the user Manuel on line this is what i found. 

Indestructible Design With Lifetime Warranty

Whether you are thinking about forking over some cash for the X-Arcade™ Tankstick or the X-Arcade™ Machine, your X-Arcade™ product is built tough, really tough.

How tough?

Well let’s put it this way, some scientist friends of ours predict that when the world ends there will be two things that will survive; cockroaches and your X-Arcade™.
Now having your X-Arcade™ survive the apocalypse may not be all that useful, as you probably won’t be around to enjoy it, but it does give you an idea of what kind of punishment it can withstand.
So go ahead, let the kids beat way at it, have your rowdy friends over, put it through the paces, this materials are soo tough it is hard to even scratch it.

Cuddle it if you want, but you don’t need to!

Most electronic gaming gear is built with Barbie doll plastic components, but each component of your X-Arcade gear is industrial grade stuff, tough stuff that is then riveted and bolted together with the loving care of drill sergeant.
You’ll probably love your X-Arcade™ so much that you will want to coddle it and wipe it with diapers and we do encourage that, if that is your thing. But you really don’t need to. We mean it when we say X-Arcade™ game room gear is tough and guaranteed to bring you a lifetime of fun.

Built to last: tested for 10,000,000 Uses!

Xgaming Lifetime Warranty covers your X-Arcade™ for LIFE. It’s that simple. No gimmicks.
In the event that your X-Arcade™ can’t take a beating or is defective, Xgaming will either fix it, or send you another one. We’ll even pay the tab for all the shipping charges! (USA ONLY).
No other gaming company on the planet has the huevos to offer such a warranty. See all details here.
Oh yeah!.... you’ll also get Toll Free Support, Online Live Help, and a 30 Day Money Back 

Fast tasty and healthy

This is something that makes a quick lunch or dinner it inexpensive fast tasty and healthy. It's a good way to use up extra production from the garden in the summer too. So here is what you need a cucumber,red pepper, 1 veg burger,some wheat tortilla and some garden blend cream cheese. Spread the cream cheese on the tortilla and peal and cut up the cucumber place on the tortilla cut up the red pepper and put on the tortilla. Now cook the veg burger and crumble on top of the whole thing and rap up and enjoy!

Experiments in money Update!

So here is a clip from a email that I got from a friend that knew I was saving my pennies and nickles.
The Government just keeps closing the loop holes, but that's ok I'm still saving my pennies and nickles can't melt them or sell them out side of the U.S. But you can still sell them in the U.S. and we all know they will keep going up in value.

Have you ever spotted a 1964 quarter in your spare change?

Odds are slim to none.

If you’re a student of history, you know why. These coins were hoarded out of existence... years ago... for their silver content.

And that’s why beat-up quarters - dated 1964 or earlier - sell for $5 or $6 apiece on eBay.

But now, the lowly penny and nickel are following suit.
Most people don’t know this - but it’s ILLEGAL to carry more than $5 in pennies or nickels out of the country.
The U.S. Mint says, “We don’t want to see [these coins] melted down so a few individuals can take advantage of the American taxpayer.”

What’s going on here?
Well thanks to the surging price of nickel... copper... and zinc, the government is terrified. If they allow these coins to freely move about - they could disappear overnight.
In short, anyone with half-a-brain would melt them down - and double their money.
So to put a stop to this, the government has slapped a $10,000 fine or five year jail sentence on anyone caught with more than $5 in coins heading out of the country. (Thanks to David Hall Rare Coins and Van Simmons for passing this story along.)

Did you get that?
The Government will throw you in jail if you so much as try to make a $5 profit melting down pennies and nickels.
If that’s not a sign of desperation... and that the end of the dollar is near... I don’t know what is! It’s literally a financial death-threat from the Treasury.

Black Bean Burgers

Black Bean Burgers

I had to find out how to make Black Bean Burgers after paying $3.98 for 4 burger patties. I mean a buck Pattie get real!

So here is my try at it!

1 Can of Black Beans

1/2 Onion

1/2 Green Pepper

1 Table Spoon of Garlic Powder

1 Table Spoon of Chili Powder
1 Table Spoon of on Cumin Powder
1/2 Sleeve of Wheat Saltines Crackers
Hand full of shredded pepper Jack cheese

First drain the can of beans and rinse the put them in a blow and mash with a fork. Then add all of the spices. Chop the onion and the Green pepper and Crackers into small bits and add to the mix. Now form them into patties.

Now Cook them!

I found that the Gorge Foreman works the best for cooking them. I have heard that freezing them you can cook them on the grill. I'll will try that and let you know you can also pan fry them too.

Experiments in money

So I have been doing a long term experiment with money for about a year or two. I walk everyday at lunch and look for change and other things of value that people have lost. I find quit a bit of each, I like to call it Urban Treasure Hunting. So let me get to the experiment part, all of the pennies I pickup I sort out by date and all the pre 1982 pennies I roll and put on the shelf. Any thing that is 1983 or newer I put in a jar take to the bank and cash in.

 So here is the idea behind it. The pre 1982 penny's are 95% copper and worth 2 cents in copper value. So if I melt them down I just dubble my money. On a side note it's illegal to destroy U.S. currency in the U.S. so I would never do that. But you can sell it to some one out side of the U.S. for it's copper value and what they do with it is there own business.

The other though on this subject is that the goverment is going to get rid of the penny all togather. Basically because it costs the government to much to make a penny. It costs the government about 3 cents to make a penny. If they stop making them it's no longer money, so you could melt it down legaly. Also if pepole start melting them down, those coins will become more rare so they will increase in value because there will be less of them in circulation. I'm also saving nickel's because there basically just a nickel coated copper slug and there worth about 6 cents each. I also live close to the Canadian border so I save there pennies and nickle's too.

Here a few things you should know about Our Money!

Is U.S. currency legal tender for all debts?


According to the "Legal Tender Statute" (section 5103 of title 31 of the U.S. Code), "United States coins and currency (including Federal Reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal Reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues." This means that all U.S. money, as identified above, when tendered to a creditor legally satisfies a debt to the extent of the amount (face value) tendered.

However, no federal law mandates that a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as payment for goods or services not yet provided. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills.

Some movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations as a matter of policy may refuse to accept currency of a large denomination, such as notes above $20, and as long as notice is posted and a transaction giving rise to a debt has not already been completed, these organizations have not violated the legal tender law. (http://www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/faq/faqcur.htm)

What is legal tender?

31 USC 5103. Legal Tender United States coins and currency (including Federal Reserve Notes and circulating notes of Federal Reserve Banks and National banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues. Foreign gold or silver coins are not legal tender for debts.However, there is no Federal statute which mandates that private businesses must accept cash as a form of payment. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a state law which says otherwise.(http://www.moneyfactory.gov/faqlibrary.html)


The following table gives specifications for U.S. Mint legal tender coins presently in circulation.


Quick Circulating Coin Facts:


•Mutilated Coins: United States Coins no longer fit for circulation are classified as "uncurrent" or mutilated.
◦Uncurrent coins are coins that are worn yet recognizable as to genuineness and denomination, and are machine countable. Uncurrent coins are redeemed by the Federal Reserve Banks, then forwarded to the Mint for disposition.
◦Mutilated coins are coins that are chipped, fused and not machine countable. Mutilated coins are only redeemable through the United States Philadelphia Mint facility.
All uncurrent or mutilated coins received by the Mint are melted and reused in the manufacture of coinage strips.
I have some coins that were damaged and the bank will not redeem them. What can I do with them?
The Treasury Department has prescribed regulations regarding uncurrent and mutilated coins. Let us explain the difference. Uncurrent coins are whole, but are worn or reduced in weight by natural abrasion. They are easily recognizable as to genuineness and denomination, and they are such that coin sorting and counting machines will accept them. Merchants and commercial banks will generally accept or refuse these coins at their discretion. However, Federal Reserve Banks and branches handle the redemption of uncurrent coins.

Mutilated coins, on the other hand, are coins that are bent, broken, not whole, or fused or melted together. The United States Mint is the only place that handles redemption of mutilated coins, and they should be sent to the Mint at Post Office Box 400, Philadelphia, PA 19106.
(http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/coins/sales.shtml)

What happens to United States coins that are no longer fit for circulation?

"Those coins are classified either as uncurrent or as mutilated. Coins that are chipped, fused, and not machine-countable are considered mutilated. The Mint redeems mutilated coins at the value of their metal content.
Mutilated coins are only redeemable through the United States Mint at:
United States Mint
P.O. Box 400
Philadelphia, PA 19105
(215) 408-0203

Uncurrent coins are worn, but machine-countable, and their genuineness and denomination are still recognizable. Uncurrent coins are replaced with new coins of the same denomination by the Federal Reserve Banks, then forwarded to the United States Mint. All uncurrent or mutilated coins received by the Mint are melted, and the metal is shipped to a fabricator to be recycled in the manufacture of coinage strips."

Ahhh Bread the staff of life

So I got a bread machine and man it's nice!

No more $3.98 a loaf bread for me. We have 4 people in our house so we go through about two loafs a week. So far we have only made Whole Wheat Bread and we have been doing it for about two months and I will never go back to the store bread again!

It's vary easy but it does take some time so you have to plan ahead. It only takes 5 minutes to mix the ingredients and start the machine. But you should be home for the 4 and a half hours it takes to mix and bake it just in case something goes wrong like a fire. You know Murphy law the first time you leave it by its self it will burn your house down.




Here is the ingredients for the bread:

• 1 Active dry Yeast packet or 2 1/2 teaspoons of instant yeast


• 1 1/3 cups of water


• 1/4 cup of vegetable oil


• 1/4 cup of Molasses or Honey or maple syrup


• 3 1/2 cups of Whole wheat flour


• 1/4 cup nonfat dried milk


• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt


• 3 to 4 teaspoons of vital wheat gluten
  
  
  

Here are the keys to making this bread.

1. You must use 3 to 4 teaspoons of vital wheat gluten (Unless you like short dense loafs of bread)

2. Mix the Wheat flour and the wheat gluten and the dried nonfat milk in a bowl

3. Put the oil in the the bread machine pan first and then molasses and then the water it should be around 80 to 95 degrees

4. Add the dry mix to the pan

5. Now in one of the corners add the salt then cover it with the mix (you want it deep in the corner but not in the water)

6. Now add the yeast to the center of the mix in a hole and cover it up like the salt.

Other tips that will help:

1. use the 1/4 cup for the dried milk first then for the oil and last for the molasses this way the milk won't stick or the molasses.

2. When you measure out the flour stir it up with a spoon to fluff it up first so it doesn't pack and then use the edge of the handle to level it off in the cup you will get better results if you do this.

3. The yeast temp should be 80 degrees but I make it about 10 to 15 degrees higher because once you put it in the pan and get all the other stuff in the it cools off 10 to 12 degrees.

Droid Dock 30 bucks (Ya Right!) DYI

So I now have a new cell phone, this one is a Motorola Droid by the way (way cool!). I guess you can get a car mount and a home docking station for ($29.99) each. When you put the droid in the home docking station it goes into media mode and when you put it in the car mount it goes into nav mode. Now true you can use apps to turn on these modes but you have to push buttons! God forbid we have to do work! Plus $60 bucks come on. Well you know me DYI.








So I guess how it changes modes is with magnets how fun is that!






I wasn't sure how to approach this I wanted to do it in metal because I'm a better metal worker then a wood worker. Since I wanted to test the concept fast I used some scrap trim that I had sitting around. The magnet came out of an old CD drive





You have to kinda play with the position of the magnets because there two magnetic switch's in the phone one for the car nav mode and one for the home media mode. I think should incorporate power and speakers next, that will be (DYI Dock 2.0) coming soon to a blog near you!

What to do with one Old Cool Fork.

More fun with metal but the sad part is no fire for this project. So what can you do with a Old Cool Fork. Well you can make a Cool Business Card holder or a table place card holder.

This is a easy project for a quick present for someone or quick cash if you just sell them to other people. To make them you need a vice a tack hammer or any small hammer will do and a pair of needle nose pliers. The vice and hammer is for the neat 90 degree bends on the front and the needle nose pliers are for the loops on the back. A good place to find forks is the good will store or garage sales.

DYI Engine Generator First Steps

So I decided to take another step towards energy independence and once again it had to be DYI! I found an article in hompower magazine #42 on how to make a 12 volt engine generator. So the basic idea of of this thing is to have a small lawn mower engine a car alternator and some sort of field controller to control the 12 volt output from the alternator. Where to start? well I figure I would start with the controller first.



My long term plan is to build a small solar system you know the type with panels not planets I'll work my way up to planets later. Anyway I'm starting with the controller because I figure that I have one deep cycle battery now for my backup power for my radios, and I use a AC trickle charger to keep it topped off. So if the power ever goes out I only have the small VW solar panel to trickle charge it. So I figure if I build the charge controller first I could use it in an emergency by just hooking it up to my cars alternator. Also doing it this way I able to take my time looking for an engine and an alternator and maybe I can get it for my favorite price free.

One Red Hot Solar Lamp

So the other day I was in the office of our environmental engineer we call her the "Green Lady" and she had the coolest little green desk lamp. when I say green I mean it was the color green and environmentally green too. It was solar powered, in the base of the lamp is a solar panel with a battery box attached to it that has 4 AA rechargeable batteries. I assume it has some type of charge controller but it might not. I asked her where she got it and she said IKEA for 20 bucks. I just had to get one and try it out but you know me MR. DYI I though of some ways to make one and even found some parts to start making one. Well before I could get the design going the "Green Lady" bought me this red one for my Birthday.

It's pretty cool I'm using it right now to light my keyboard. The solar panel/battery box comes out of the base so you can set in a sunny window to charge. The box is beveled so it sits at an angle to the sun to help it receive more sun it's a real good design.

It takes awhile to charge but it does provide a few hours of light as you can seen in the picture it puts out a lot of light. I'll post up dates after I have it awhile, so far it's a winner with me.

Soldering fume extractor project

I've been doing allot of small electronics projects lately that require a fair amount of soldering. So I figured that it was about time I got a fume extractor until i saw the price. They ran any where from $36 to $400 bucks. So once again I'm going down the build it your self road. I started by looking through the junk box and I found a few parts i could use.

I needed a fan since that was basically what the project was all about, I found an old brush less ATX computer fan 12V Dc, and a old early 90's styled bag cell phone hand set car Mount to mount the fan on. I also found a computer power switch with led power on indicator lights I figured I could replace the led's with bright white led's for lights to see what I'm working on and use the switch to turn on the fan.

To mount the fan I needed to design a bracket to attach the fan to the cell phone bracket. I had a friend who is a sheet metal guy make it he soldered small tab on the bottom not sure why he didn't make it from one peace?

A little sheet metal and a few brass crews and we have a mounting bracket!

Next I mounted the power switch and the led lights on the bracket I still need to get another white led.

Now with the fan controls and lights mounted its time to work on the base and power supply.

So stay toon for the next installment of the Soldering fume extractor project!!!

Under the sun so little time (Update!)

Well I thought that my solar creation at first was working well, but it was not charging the phone battery as fast as I was discharging my solar charger. So I tried just charging the VZ 6800 phone every few weeks. This way it would have two weeks between discharges to recharge the battery in the solar charger. It work, but it only made my VZ 6800 energy independent for 6 days out of the month.




Now as for my other phone the samsung, I could charge it and that worked well, but it doesn't get used every day so it would hold a charge for about two weeks anyway. I did stumble across some good news though, when I was testing the output of the battery and the solar panel I disconnected it for two weeks and forgot to hook it back up.

What I had found out was on a vary Sunny day the panel will power the VZ 6800 with no battery attached at all in full sun. I think that in the winter months I will have to go two weeks or get more panels. In the summer or on bright days in February it will charge it with out a battery or with it. So the end result is it works it just works allot better with more sun wow imagine that?

Harvest time!

The final harvest is here! All of the plants have have been killed by the frost and I still have lots of green tomato's! So I pulled all of the plants and cleaned out the beds and picked tomato's that were left over. The Deer earlier in the season munched my plants down so they got a vary late start, so I have allot of Green tomato's. Actually I only got a few red tomato's from my plants but that didn't stop me from preserving my tomato's for winter time stews and chili.

\


Well here's an up date on how the tomato ripening tray is working it works great!



As you can see I'm storing them a way for a cold day, when hot chili will taste good.


Next year I think I will try canning, freezing works good but it takes a lot of room in the freezer.