growdown

Half Bot, All Boat.

2008-07-23T17:15:00.007-05:00

To me, there are few pleasures in the world better than tooling around in any variety of small, quiet boat. Last summer, I threw together version one of this boat. It was a MinnKota Endura 30 Trolling motor crudely mounted to the boat with a couple 2x4s, and connected to a group-27 lead acid battery (weighs about 40 lbs). I really enjoyed the ability to quietly cruise around the lake, lazily sip a beer, and watch the shoreline drift by.

Last winter I decided version one was successful enough that I would dare to improve it. My design constraints were to extend the boats range to about 20 miles and add a second motor to balance the thrust and push the extra battery weight. In my nerdiness, I also figured it would be prudent to drive the boat with some sort of joystick, opening up the option for autopilot in the future. Lastly, I need to walk the boat to the water (0.3 miles) on a portage cart and launch and retrieve it by hand.

In this image, I have a blow-up of one side of the motor mount. A Hitec robot servo is mounted with a sprocket from ServoCity to drive a 1/4 inch chain that turns the motor. I give great thanks to McMaster-Carr for their copious pictures and documentation that help guide me through purchasing many parts without having to send back all that many.

It's all controlled with a servo driving program for the Arduino that listens to a wii nunchuck for steering commands. One of the hardest challenges was sorting out how to cram all the driving control into the minimal tilt sensor, joystick, and two buttons offered by the nunchuck. The motor speed control is via a robowars motor driver originally designed for battle bots.

Here is a close-up of the servo mounted in the slider blocks used to tension the chain.

In July, Hannah and I put the boat to the test with a two day overnight to a nearby camping spot. The total trip was 20 miles, and the boat performed great! We used to live on a boat and took it up and down the east coast of the US. Since then, this was the first time I felt we were able to capture the magic of cruising again. I don't know of a better way to arrive in a new place than by water.

One my favorite aspects of this arrangement is the cart. The winch and heavy duty casters were late additions to the aluminum ladder back bone. The cart setup is fantastic though, allowing me to manage the boat, weighing about 220 lbs (~100 kg) single handed. In designing the power system, my greatest fear would be that the 125 lbs golf cart batteries needed to achieve the range I desired would make it near impossible to handle. The winch is certainly required, but it works well and I hope to use this cart design for pushing more boats in the future.

UPDATE:: If you are not familiar with the wii nunchuck I use to drive the boat, check out this quick entry here with a movie to see it working.

iphone apps that look cool

2008-07-10T07:21:00.002-05:00

Well, the new iphone app store is on-line, and I am browsing it. I don't have an iPhone yet, but the app store is the most exciting part of the new phone. So far, some of the most interesting ones to pop-up are:

- Melodis. search for music. in particular by singing a tune, or holding the iphone up to a speaker playing the song. Shazam does this too.

- Sound Machine. funny and simple sound effects machine. applause, laughter, zoom away. great example of super simple ap

- A bunch of instrument tuners that work from the microphone

- A full drum kit. predictable, but I'm still psyched for that.

- Nearpic. shows you pictures from panaramio that were taken near where you are standing.

- Signal Scope. A realtime oscilloscope to take input from either microphone or accelerometers. nice. very nice. Same company also makes a signal generator. This is the kind of stuff I want to be seeing more of.

Improvements to Arduino Wii Nunchuck connection

2008-05-04T14:20:00.004-05:00

I'm working on an Arduino based controller for an electric canoe. In the process of doing that, I've been looking more closely at the data coming off the wii Nunchuck. Using the avr math libraries, and the atan2 function, you can combine the data from the X and Z accelerometers on the nunchuck to get a nice smooth 360 degrees of roll information. Because this is using an inverse tangent function, it also makes for more accurate angular data than the raw data coming off the device.

Here's a quick demo video, followed by links to the code.

I posted all three files needed for this on the Arduino Playground.

For hardware setup, Todbot's little adapter is the best.

ps. For this same canoe project I wrote up a library for the Wii Classic Controller as well. For anyone interested, that's available here.

UPDATE:
George's asks a good question in the comments. If you try and run the code posted on the arduino playground. It's important to note that the third chunk of code needs to be run from the processing application, available here at processing.org.

PID Tuning Application for Arduino Silvia Mod

2008-04-13T22:52:00.005-05:00

As part of my Silvia modifications, I also wrote a special application to help in tuning the PID. Here is a screenshot of the application with an image of a shot and recovery. This is measure the temperature at the top of the boiler.

The application is written with Processing. It can run on any platform, and it's easy to communicate with the Arduino over the usb-serial interface. The "Bare Bones" code for the Arduino is here and that page has a link to the code for the Processing Ap.

Arduino and Silvia: Two Italians, One Tangled Affair

2008-04-02T19:30:00.019-05:00

Arduino knew the two of them could make sweet coffee drinks together!

In this precisely hot affair, the Italian born microcontroller board, Arduino, has won the heart of a sensuous piece of Italian engineering named Silvia, an espresso machine by Rancilio. Silvia, after an earlier stint with a microcontroller named PIC (those Harvard Architectures are all such squares), felt she could do better. She was looking elsewhere for someone to add brains to her great body. Arduino was a great match. He is easy to talk to, isn't too fancy or expensive, but has the hardware she requires. For his part, Arduino respects Silvia for her sturdy simplicity. She opens up easily, and isn't difficult to get intimate with. Simplicity comes naturally when you are a water heater, pump, and solenoid. Sure, she's got some switches too, but Arduino knew the two of them could make sweet coffee drinks together!

In courtship, Arduino gave many gifts to Silvia. One of the first was a fine real time clock featuring calendar, sleep timer, and wake-up alarm! He also decorated her boiler with a thermometer he vigilantly monitors to help regulate her temperature. When she makes espresso, it's most delicious when her temperature is precise and steady. He also keeps a stop watch so he can time her pushing as she pumps water through the cake of ground coffee. "Egads," he says, "It is simply not espresso if she take not between 25 and 35 seconds!" Arduino holds all of Silvia's switches, even her main power switch. Anyone who wants to talk to Silvia talks to Arduino first. Certainly, it's old fashioned, but it makes Silvia feel safe. With his fine manners and protocol, she prefers that he, not any old stranger with a finger, pass her messages.

Arduino doesn't just manage Silvia's connection to switching fingers. With the end of a wire dipped into her reservoir, Arduino can raise an alarm if she is about to come to a gurgling halt in her endless thirst for water. Perhaps the greatest extravagance Arduino allows is a connection to a nunchuck controller. He relays messages to Silvia from the nunchuck, and she adores it as it makes her feel like the wildly entertaining Wii. No doubt, given all the connections that entwine them, this relationship will continue a good long time to come. Together the two lovers will enjoy many magical mornings making delicious espresso.

update:
Want a closer look under the hood? Ready to build? Check out the CoffeeTronics section on the Arduino wiki.

Rancilio Silvia Top CAD Files

2008-03-14T12:47:00.004-05:00

A few years back a cut some clear acrylic tops for my Rancilio Silvia espresso machine. I have recently switched back to a custom stainless top that I'll be posting more about soon, but I enjoyed the clear top for many years. I am posting the dwg file for it here:

SilviaTop.dwg

To get one made, you just need to find a laser cutter somewhere. I had mine cut at pololu.com, their site is here:
customlasercutting.com I actually just talked with Pololu, and they said they will just keep the file on hand, so if you want, you can just order one directly from them and just specify you want a Rancilio Silvia Top.

There are other places that will laser cut for you too. Pololu has various different colors of acrylic, or you can send your own material in. I've always thought a wooden top or something else would be cool. Lots of options too for modifying this super basic model.

Four years ago I made a silly site for this little mod and it has some copious instructions on installation.

Non contact Voltage Presence Measuring for Appliance Modification

2008-03-05T22:10:00.006-05:00

So I have been wondering about non-contact measurement of voltage in AC wire. I want to know when my espresso machine is brewing so I can turn on a shot timer. I tried and tried looking around on-line, and eventually I realized to would faster to actually try it with my own hands, duh...

I carefully cut a slot between the two wires in an extension cord and wrapped one side with some thin insulted wire (i had some 30 gauge wire-wrap stuff from radio shack around). I wrapped it 8 times and added a resistor in series to make some voltage from any induced current. Low and behold, I can measure voltage between the two ends of the coil! At first, it was better with the AC voltage measure on my multimeter. So I swapped the resistor for a garden variety diode (i wish i had diodes in my garden), and low behold I can see 0.2 V dc!

So this setup essentially detects if my extension cord is plugged in or not.
- One twist that came up is that this extension cord has a dimmer switch in it (an inside resistor between the wall and the sensor). If switch the dimmer switch to the on mode, I am actually see when the light turns on or not. With the light off and the dimming on, I see about 0.015 volts. With the light on, it jumps up to 0.1v. With the dimmer off, it appears flat at .2 volts regardless of the lamp.

Interestingly, the voltage is positive or negative depending on the direction i set the diode. I'm sure there is a good explanation for that.

Now I want to measure this voltage with the analog inputs on my Arduino. From there, all sort of things are possible. For example, it now means that folks modifying appliances can sense current inside the appliance without interrupting the power circuits! I'm talking to you, Rancilio Silvia modders who want to make arduino shot timers or watch the steam switch and change the target temperature on your home-made temperature controllers. Yeah, you. ;)

Update:
A bunch of good comments and feedback coming in here. Thanks all. Tips ranging on better ways to do this, to why this doesn't work. So take this with a grain of salt! One comment on hackaday mentions that that detects current, not voltage. That doesn't add up to me since it detects if an extension cord is plugged in, regardless of whether there is current passing through (anything actually on). Perhaps this is detecting neither current nor voltage, but detecting a magnetic field around the wire (linked to voltage presence...)? I'm trying to dig back in my mind to E&M physics, but alas, all that dribbled out my ears a long time ago.

Narcoa? But I hardly even know'er!

2008-02-28T21:52:00.002-05:00

Fantastic interior 360 shot of a rail car.

So I have just learned about the North American Rail Car Operators Association. Check out their site:
NARCOA

This is the coolest hobby I've come across in a long time. Driving little cars on the railroad. It look absolutely delightful, and there is an impressive list of trips from chapters around the country. Upon surfing more, many clubs have their own sites, and there are other great sources such railspeeders.com.
check out for a surpringly long list of cool rail car links.

I'm sorry, but this is just fantastic.

Magically Vectorious

2007-11-29T23:52:00.000-05:00

My friend Daniel pointed me to this awesome site at stanford that will translate raster images to vector.
http://vectormagic.stanford.edu

PID code for Arduino

2007-11-29T23:14:00.000-05:00

Here is my PID code for Arduino or other microcontroller. It is unfinished and untested in this exact state, but it used to work on a PIC, so it cant be that broken, right? Once I get a chance to get it uploaded to my espresso machine and tested IRL, I'll publish it on the arduino wiki. If you use this and especially if you change it, please drop a quick comment. (license at bottom) thanks!


float iState = 0;
float lastTemp = 0;

#define PGAIN_ADR 0
#define IGAIN_ADR 4
#define DGAIN_ADR 8

#define WINDUP_GUARD_GAIN 10


float loadfloat(int address) {
  // must be written
  // this function return the float from EEPROM storage. 
  // This is used for the P,I, and D_GAIN settings.
  // These are three values that need to be tuned after 
  // the machine up and running to make the PID loop 
  // work right.
}

float UpdatePID(float targetTemp, float curTemp)
{
  // these can be cut out if memory is an issue, 
  // but they make it more readable
  float pTerm, iTerm, dTerm; 

  float error;
  float windupGaurd;

  // determine how badly we are doing
  error = targetTemp - curTemp;

  // the pTerm is the view from now, the pgain judges 
  // how much we care about error we are this instant.
  pTerm = loadfloat(PGAIN_ADR) * error;

  // iState keeps changing over time; it's 
  // overall "performance" over time, or accumulated error
  iState += error;

  // to prevent the iTerm getting huge despite lots of 
  //  error, we use a "windup guard" 
  // (this happens when the machine is first turned on and
  // it cant help be cold despite its best efforts)

  // not necessary. this makes windup guard values 
  // relative to the current iGain
  windupGaurd = WINDUP_GUARD_GAIN / loadfloat(IGAIN_ADR);  

  if (iState > windupGaurd) 
    iState = windupGaurd;
  else if (iState < -windupGaurd) 
    iState = -windupGaurd;
  iTerm = loadfloat(IGAIN_ADR) * iState;

  // the dTerm, the difference between the temperature now
  //  and our last reading, indicated the "speed," 
  // how quickly the temp is changing. (aka. Differential)
  dTerm = (loadfloat(DGAIN_ADR)* (curTemp - lastTemp));

  // now that we've use lastTemp, put the current temp in
  // our pocket until for the next round
  lastTemp = curTemp;

  // here comes the juicy magic feedback bit
  return pTerm + iTerm - dTerm;
}

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License.

Inside Quonset Nation

2007-10-30T07:13:00.001-05:00

Here are some shots inside my new hut of joy. I put in the kerosene heater left over from out sweet days if living aboard. It makes a fantastic four season hang out. It will be interesting to see how warm I can keep it when the temperatures really drop.

I got a solid core door and put it up on saw horses. My Nantucket Ditty Bag works perfectly as a hanging tool organizer. Home depot had some big hooks for a buck that I can just screw into the bracing and add impromptu features to the hut.

Here is the canoe awaiting repairs. I stripped off all the electric parts for a good old fashioned paddle coming up this weekend.

I need a wider angle lens to convey how nice it feels inside, but this long shot gives the idea.

Fort Quonset

2007-10-24T23:39:00.000-05:00

Here are three photos from the construction of my new favorite
place! I found this made in the USA Clearspan brand tent on close
out at farmtek.com. I ended up building a floor from cheap chipboard
subflooring that is unfortunately full of bad chemicals. Under the
chip board I used free scrap wood from Lowe's to level it all out.
Materials for the floor ended up under $100. By the way, I didn't
knock that fence down. Its rotting of its own volition.

The steel frame consists of seven arches. I ordered one extra set over the standard six to decrease the spacing to 40" and beef up the structure to better manage any heavy snows. Though, I frankly don't think it would have been an issue with a structure this size. Though you are specifically warned in the instructions not to climb or hang on the structure, I hung on it anyway. Rebel! Its strong though! I set up little tabs of 2x4s sticking out from under the floor to support the ends of the poles.

Here is it all finished! I have started to move in. My canoe is safely stored inside now, and I am planning to setup a four season outdoor social space and small shop area. I even hung our hammock up inside and gently tested it out. There was a little flex, but it actually holds me up in the hammock quite well. The whole tent weighs 500 lbs and is excellent quality overall. It will be a great place for projects and enjoying the back yard all year round.

I heart Arduino

2007-10-15T20:01:00.000-05:00

I wrote the first version of my espresso machine project in MPLAB for a PIC. I lost many hours just getting a power supply setup and subsequently frying parts and getting confused when I powered them wrong, or had mistakes in wiring. I suppose I don't have to call those hours "lost," but after spending 3 hours debugging code to realize that I've made a wiring mistake is pretty freaking frustrating.

I am starting a new revision of my machine mod. I am planning to add a realtime clock, water level sensor, and improved interface. On a tip from my friend Casey, I checked out Arduino as a base for this second revision. Arduino has been developed particularly to bring electronics to first time users and has been adopted by artists, musicians, and designers all over the world. For me, its just a huge relief, and has brought a much higher fun ratio to my espresso hobby. My three favorite aspects of using arduino are that i can work in OS X, it uses a USB bootloader, and other people might be able to use my software and hardware designs for their own purposes. Its already catching on, but I expect that Arduino (and wiring) will continue to gain in popularity.

Learn lots more about arduino here: http://www.arduino.cc/

Rancilio Silvia "PID PIC NES" mod

2006-11-26T23:10:00.000-05:00

I have long admired the pioneering work of Rancilio Silvia owners in modding their espresso machines. Here, I present my Silvia given a PIC 16F876 microcontroller brain, a 20 character VFD display, nintendo controller, three zero-crossing solid state relays, IC thermometer, laser cut acrylic top, cold cathode ground effects and shot light. This project has stretched out for quite some time, and will likely continue on as I pick away at it some more. But for now, the bulk of the first wave of coolness is complete. First, a silly demo video, followed by a list of features and discussion.

PID
A microchip PIC16F876 gets temperature readings from a boiler-top mounted National LM34 Temperature Sensor. These temperature readings are processed using the PID control loop which I learned about in detail from the excellent article PID with out a PhD. A thrift store modder's favorite NES controller can set the PID gains, espresso and steam setpoints, temperature calibration values, and heater control PWM period. I wrote the NES code by reading a fantastic spec available from the iGamePlay project. The NES gamepad's popularity is well deserved as is a tough little controller with enough buttons to be useful, yet still very simple. For example, the select button switches between the main mode and setup mode, and the arrow buttons allow you to choose and alter variable values. It works out pretty cleanly. The main display currently shows a) the current temperature, b) the heater power setting (0 - 100 percent, which translates to a PWM heat amount), c) a timer showing how long the machine has been heating up, and d) a timer that alternates between a shot timer, and a timer showing how long the machine has been temperature stable and ready (remaining within 0.5 degrees of the set point).

One of the most interesting challenges so far has actually been tuning the PID loop. Currently though, after it settles, the machine appears to be indefinitely stable (I've seen it stable for over 2 hours before shutting off the machine) to about 0.1 degrees of the set point temperature. Interestingly, stability improved substantially after I finally closed the machine back up (after easily a year of being in terminal state of "operational dissassembly") and insulated the boiler from room drafts etc.

Shot Timer
One of the big motivations to go the distance and give the PIC total machine control was to enable a shot timer. When the top switch is thrown, it starts counting the seconds. It was basically a lot of work to make the machine act like it always does, but just so the PIC knows about it. The front panel switches are all "virtual" just pulling pins on the microcontroller which in turn throws the relays. One cool side effect of this is that starting a shot no longer makes a click sound on my stereo speakers. I think this is because the zero-crossing relays remove the spark-gap that occurs with a normal 120 switch (that's just a guess, but something changed because the grinder switch still sends out an electric 'pop' . . . for now).

A closeup of the VFD display showing a slightly outdated version of the interface.

Remote Control
Once I had the PIC sitting between the switches and the relays, and I had a NES controller setup to change PID values, my inner (or is that outer?) nerd forced me to add a useless "remote control" feature that replicates the front panel switches with the A, B, and start buttons on the gamepad. Eventually, I would like to put a solenoid on the steam wand valve so that I can call for water and steam completely with buttons and switches, and get rid of the squeeky knob (btw, does anyone know how to lubricate the steam valve with something more edible than WD-40?).

Bling
A combination 5v/12v power supply left the door open for some code cathode lights to sit on the 12v rail. While there is some utility in adding light under the brew head, this is mostly just silliness-- especially my "ground effects." A laser cut clear acrylic top allows for the VFD display to be viewable without undermining the sleek boxy shape of the Silvia.

While there are still quite a few wires swimming around under the top, the overall number has been reduced, and it makes for a fairly clean appearance from above. I removed both top-mounted thermostats, and the switches have only 2 wires each instead of 4 going to each switch. Sadly, the little switch lights don't work. Though perhaps its possible to get them back?

Plumbing
I also drilled and plumbed a drain from the bottom of the drip tray. The plumbing technique was the great idea of a clever hardware store employee who showed me to the lamp parts section. The key ingredients are a threaded tube and low profile gnurled nut. A tube feeds a growler under the table and greatly reduces the number of spills from an overflowing drip tray. I am the kind of person who forgets to fill the water tank and empty the drip tray., so I really like this mod. I used to have the intake plumbed out to a remote water tank as well. It was great to be able to see the water level (a feature I hope to add for the internal tank), but ultimately it doesn't look as clean and the internal reservoir gives a little preheat to the water as well (Has anyone tried preheating their water out there, perhaps with a fish tank heater?). Heres two pics of the drain plumbing.

A view down into the tray. I've since trimmed the top off the tube coming into the tray.

Underneath the drip tray, taking advantage of a factory access hole in the bottom of the machine.

Some Guts

I had originally planned to make space for the power supply and electronics by remoting the water tank, but everything ended up fitting. The electonics was luckily simple enough that I could just solder it all on a perf-board instead of needing a real circuit board (which would still be cool, especially if one were to make more of these...)

Screw terminals on both ends of the perf-board work great as the interface to the rest of the machine. Plus, it's fun to wire stuff up solder-free with just a crimper and some terminals.

Well, if you made it this far, thanks for reading. I'll keep my eye on the comments section here if there are any questions.

Ipod as Field Guide

2006-01-19T10:35:00.000-05:00

I’ve been playing a lot with an iPod video that I got over chistmas. I am most excited about the ipod’s use as a portable information device. Pod2Go (for macs) is an ap that lets you sync movies, weather, news etc into your ipod Notes. That has been really interesting. I’ve yet to really use that info as I am still waiting for otterbox case to come so I can take my ipod out of its wrapper (i just cut a few holes in the packaging that it came in to make a temporary scratchproof membrane.) But after that, I want to turn it into my dream-come-true digital field guide. I have a DVD on order with videos of 512 birds of North America that I am gonna encode and dump on there as a bird guide. There is also a company that makes BirdPod, where they encoded the Stokes birding by ear CDs and make a bunch of playlists for you. I want to start scanning my paper guides to get images in there. And it should only start with birds. I’d love to have a field guide to aircraft, cars, flowers, dogs, what have you. Even just thinking about audio field guides, imagine one of accents of the world, where you could try and find out what language someone was speaking, or where in the US they were from, by listening to little samples… Folks are already creating their own audio guide and walking tours to their favorite places. One big difference between a field guide and a tour guide is that the field guide requires more attention and interaction to enjoy. A good menu structure and quick navigation is important to keep a person's eyes and ears on the world around them, rather than buried in the podiverse.

Ipod Nano Wristwatch Hack

2006-01-13T21:55:00.000-05:00

In this clearly authentic photograph, I show how I installed iPodLinux on my nano and hacked X windows to turn 90 degrees counter clockwise and make an inexpensive wristwatch with mp3 capabilities, along with all my cached data: weather, theater schedules, and news. You can use iCal to set 1000 different alarms, each with its own song. I also tucked a bluetooth transmitter/receiver in there. Wireless headphones are buried in my ears behind a pair of in-ear microphones for ambient sound. I can choose to mix my ipod audio with ambient sound at whatever level I choose, as well as run filters to counteract cocktail party syndrome and thus have easier conversations in bars and restaurants. When away from bars and restaurants, I have a dictionary of 50 common cocktails and 4000 easy recipes in Timed Audio and Text Instructional Format (TATIF files or TAT for short) on hand to help me towards comfort and good eating. I'll post more information and insructions on how to make one as soon as my neighbor fixes his internet.

Sub Zero Montana

2005-12-08T00:58:00.004-05:00

Tonite I got to ride out to Chico Hot springs, a real treat in this cold weather.

The mist off the water freezes on everything.

Polar Bear Club Seats only.

It's cozy there inside the bar though.

Driving back home through Livingston, MT!

Back home, it looks like this out the bedroom window.

The Christmas Stroll

2005-12-04T02:26:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures of the christmas stroll in Bozeman.

A fun yet a little sad pony merry go round. Cute ponies though.

Main Street Bozeman.

A great chorus of awesome guys.

You've got to have so much respect for a man who wears furry boots.

Must be in the same family as the airport ducks!

Upside Down Hanging Christmas Tree

2005-12-04T01:31:00.000-05:00

Today's adventure to Sack's in Belgrade got me my first faux christmas tree (with the lights built in!) for 5 smackers, and some red bulbs for 75 cents. I'd been wanting a small tree to hang like a lamp for a little while, and it worked out real well i thought. I fun treat for a small apartment.

Turns out you can buy an "inverted" tree at my (least) favorite store Hammacher Schlemmer. Well, they are sold out now, but you used to be able to.

And more searching shows that luxist.com showed an upside down tree just a few weeks ago. Weird! And how about npr calling it the latest rage!

I swear I never heard of doing it before! Which is actually due to a lack of proper historical knowledge... apparently retailers used to do it to save valuable floor space. Which is the same reasoning that brought me to do it. So here here for upside down trees. Finally, about.com has a full report (looks like in response to anyone claiming that this is a new thing...)

I love the internet.

Icicalus Maximus

2005-12-03T16:36:00.000-05:00

Energy Wastum Maximum

Six foot seven and counting. My question is, if the top one, meets up with the bottom one, does it count as one icicle?

A Cold Night In Bozeman

2005-12-02T01:40:00.000-05:00

Halloween Goodness

2005-10-30T16:53:00.000-05:00

This year's costumes were inspired by Hannah's notion of becoming a windsock. I decided to be a runway, which evolved into an airport after I added the control tower hat. These costumes ended up really sweet, and a nice pairing.

Hannah in all her windsock glory. There is a stick that can be used to simulate wind!

Ready to hit the streets.

Here I am with Phil

Us at Plonk.

Close ups of the tower. I like some of these little guys a lot more than others, but this is a pretty crazy control tower, not a very safe airport. At least it has a radar...

"Artificial" Tree

2005-10-30T16:00:00.000-05:00

Last week the neighbors out our bedroom window jerkily cut down the tree that provided both privacy for our window and a staging area for birds coming in to land at the window feeder. This assassination is part of the "renovations" of the house (which they bought and have yet to live in). Not only did they cut down the tree, but they added an addition, so we went from nice tree, with trees behind to no tree with a stark wall. Thanks guys. To recover from this situation, we trolled the neighborhood for fall cuttings, and attached them to the shelf bracket holding up the feeders. Happily, we get a little shielding and the birds are coming back to the feeders again.

I don't have any "before" pictures, but the improvement is substantial. Plus, we got to use this crabapple branch and other good ones, picking out favorites from the piles.

I highly recommend this technique for any dwellers who need to being a little nature to their window. It is especially nice paired with the feeder because the birds clearly prefer a feeder with a staging area where they can land, plus it provides cover which they like. The implementation is just a shelf bracket with a metal piece attached across the end to hand the feeders, and then a bunch of branches bound to the bracket by twisting pieces of 20 gauge wire.

Starlit Shelving

2005-10-18T23:42:00.000-05:00

In our tiny apartment, there is no room next to our bed (squeezed between a wall and a door) for a night stand, so Hannah proposed to build a shelf over the bed, high enough to reach while sitting, but with enough room to fit underneath. I proposed we make it out of peg board and stick a bunch of white Christmas lights in it to gussy it up. It turned out great, and we built it in a fun weekend.

We went to home depot, bought a $12 4x8 sheet of peg board, and three 8 foot 2x2s. We have no shop, so the guy at the D cut two 4x1 foot pieces off one end of the pegboard, then two 6x1 pieces the other way, and finally, the last piece into a pair of 2x3 footers to actually use as peg board behind project tables (not exactly any craftmanship there, but it gets the job done) I also had the 2x2s cut into a pair of 6 footers (should have been 59.5 inches to match the peg board after saw kerf ) and a pair of 4 footers. The 2x2s were just over $2 each. Add four $1 L brackets , a small box of your favorite wood screw size ($5) with optional washers($2), and $4 for 200 Christmas lights. All this makes a 4 foot shelf and a 6 foot shelf which fit really nicely over a queen sized bed in a corner. Lastly, mix in beer and peanutbutter cups and presto, a new shelf for under $40!

They worked out cooler than anticipated. These shelved would really benefit from being cantilevered from above, or from a little extra investment in nicer L brackets. When we move I'll try to reinstall them hung out from stuf mounted cables instead. Also, we used masking tape to hold down the lights until we could finish the whole sandwich, but I think there are better tapes for the job.

They feel a lot like we built a fort, which is good, and generally feel pretty magical.