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disco volante posted:Last summer I built a TV stand by laminating strips of plywood end to end. The pieces were stacked vertically, with a large concrete top on which the television sat. The inside was hollow and virtually unusable (what with having a tv and a block of concrete on top). I brought it home this summer and set about refinishing it and making it better looking a more practical. It is now a much lighter color, the concrete top is gone, the edges have been rounded over, the inside smoothed over and painted flat black (for that 'all consuming black hole' look) and the box sits on its side for a better flowing look. I just finished painting the inside the other day, so here it is: loving great job man, I would totally buy something like that. I have been meaning to make a coffee table for a long time and I think you just convinced me.
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Jun 22, 2008 23:48
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UserNotFound posted:
Do you have the plans for this? My cousin want's something similar, only longer like a tunnel.
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Jun 25, 2008 00:54
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Finally finished our bathroom. Did it all myself, new flooring, (used to be laminate) new mouldings, new lighting, all new cabinets, new mirror and backsplash; actually everything except the bathtub and toilet is new. It took a while since I had to just work on it every night after work, but with a 7-month old there's only so much you can get done. Sadly we're selling the house so we wont get to enjoy it but it sure has generated a lot of comments from potential buyers.
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Jul 8, 2008 00:28
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I have created cat trees!  There is a thread in PI about it.
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Jul 8, 2008 22:16
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I made an aluminium frame for my friend's fishtank lights. He's got some ungodly huge salt water tank and needed to put a whole lot of simulated sunlight energy into it. The final fit is kinda lousy, I had to use some scavenged 20 year old 2" L-brackets because if I had used all the 1" ones I bought for it in a  moment, the bolts would have gone through each other. Unfortunately, it turns out the holes were not symetrical on each leg of the 2 inchers like I thought they were and I drilled them 1/8th off of where they should have been  But those bars are purely to keep you from bumping your head on the reflectors, so hopefully it won't matter. 
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Jul 9, 2008 07:53
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Well, as my name suggests, I am a blacksmith who works in my backyard. I have been working as a blacksmith for about two years, and apprenticed under Jim Gardner. I live in Kennesaw GA. First is my coal-burning forge and anvil:  Click here for the full 1600x1200 image. The bucket underneath is what i transport and hold coal in for the day. The black pan underneathcatches the oil that falls out of the hand cranked bellows. My 90 pound anvil is on the left. My anvil is really rusty because it rained the night before i took the picture. Here is some stuff I have made:  Click here for the full 1600x1200 image. a tomahawk made out of a ball-pean hammer.  Click here for the full 1600x1200 image. A knife made out of a rail road spike. The blade is about 60-62 Rockwell, which is pretty hard. I did a layering of two steels to make it extremely hard without being brittle.  Click here for the full 1600x1200 image. Here is a work in progress of a chainmail gauntlet I have been working on. Sorry for the pic quality, but i have a terrible camera.  I have made a ton of other things, and if you are interested, just say so and I'll post more pics. I also smith while wearing my utilikilt. ninja edit: unlike Third Murderer's stuff, my stuff is not meant to look good, except for a rugged utilitarian sort of beauty. Just to get the job done. Great job, fellow Blacksmiths! I did not know so many goons were into blacksmithing.  edit2: pic resizing. edit3: i am really terrible at using computers. only one click for big. sorry. Edit4:Think i fixed it! blunt for century fucked around with this message at 15:22 on Jul 16, 2008 |
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Jul 16, 2008 01:56
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Begin: Backyard Blacksmith First is my coal-burning forge and anvil: Click here for the full 1600x1200 image. The bucket ... Here is some stuff I have made:  a tomahawk made out of a ball-pean hammer. End: Backyard Blacksmith You're missing brackets in various places. Also before one of the edits the forum software/waffleimages/something wasn't liking your filenames. You had spaces that weren't being processed right (they should have been automatically changed to %20 at some point) and you had a ' that was messing things up. Hit quote to see what it should be. Also nice work, I like the knife.  edit: appropriate smiley
EigenKet fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Jul 16, 2008 |
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Jul 16, 2008 02:41
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Awesome stuff man. Now maybe we have enough people here to do a proper blacksmithing / metalwork megathread to stand on its own and last more than a week. Would anyone be interested?
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Jul 16, 2008 09:06
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Slung Blade posted:Awesome stuff man. I would be very interested, but obviously I should not be the one to start it, unless I can figure out this whole image formatting thing. I'm gonna give it another go today.
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Jul 16, 2008 15:11
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Where did you get your anvil? (nice emblem by the way) It looks fairly old. Also, what's with the yellow paint? What kind of coal do you use, and where can you find it?
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Jul 16, 2008 17:06
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Slung Blade posted:Where did you get your anvil? (nice emblem by the way) It looks fairly old. Also, what's with the yellow paint? The 'yellow paint' is actually rust from it being rained on the previous night. I usually scrape it off with a wire brush before smithing, but this was only a picture. It rusts really fast, as Georgia is really humid. I use bituminous coal, which I convert to coke, for better results. My dad got 200 pounds of it somewhere, for Christmas. I was using hardwood charcoal beforehand. I am the only person I know who is happy to get coal at Christmas.  I got the anvil for my birthday from my dad, who is really into my blacksmithing. The anvil stand is a few 4"x4"s that I nailed together. Wood makes the best stands for anvils; something to do with shock absorption. You can get really good anvils from Centaur Forge, and Anvil Brand Shoe company. Do not buy anvils from Northern Tool, as they are cast-iron crap, do not buy chinese anvils, r indian anvils; the steel is terrible on both. The anvil in my picture is chinese, but I use a russian one primarily. If you cannot afford an anvil, go hiking around your local rail road tracks, as they usually have 1' sections of rail lying around. This is what I used as my first anvil. If you have any more questions, just ask! fake edit: Should I open up an A/T forum about this, or is a smithing smithing megathread availiable?
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Jul 16, 2008 17:41
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I'm thinking we should start a smithing megathread, I'll type up an OP later tonight. I've got a Nimba (http://www.nimbaanvils.com/) anvil myself, I'm pretty happy with it, and I just use charcoal in my homemade forge. Here are some links to my previous posts in this thread detailing some things. I'm still a total amateur, but I'm learning. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2734807&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=4#post343747212 http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2734807&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=4#post344118351 http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2734807&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=4#post344863534 Oh, and I have since replaced the way-too-tiny and uneven stump with one that's 3 feet tall, weighs about 200 pounds, and is a foot and a half across. I dig a shallow hole in the driveway when I'm using it so it lines up properly with my knuckles.
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Jul 16, 2008 20:25
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I just found two other things I've made! #1 Zoidberg fancydress costume for a party that never happened. When I move house I'm having a fancydress housewarming just so I can use this thing.    I got a lab coat and everything and thought I was really clever. Later I googled it and realised I was not the first person to think of this. On the plus side, by the time I get to use it I might have found some green scrubs/trousers and red socks. I also made another wedding present:  Directly inspired by the one a goon made. Fake AK-47, hand axe. I was going to put a prybar in until I realised how much it would weigh. The frame and outer case were painted satin black before it was handed over, but the only pics I have of the handover are lovely cellphone pics I can't move to the laptop. If I know you, and you get married, you will probably get a present made. List my arse.
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Jul 19, 2008 17:13
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I've been working on a new tool shed at the summer house. It will also house a washing machine and so on. It'll have a sliding door in a couple of days, I hope. The extra roof in the back will be used to keep lumber/kayaks/whatnot out of the rain. I'll put in a few shelves/consoles there. 
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Aug 5, 2008 11:03
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I just build a beer pong table with some friends. A friend of mine's annual BBQ/Party is this coming Saturday and we wanted to build a nice beer pong table for it. I drew up some plans for it. I knew that I wanted a folding design. We started with two 36" square pieces of plywood. We mounted folding table legs on them. We used deck railing around the edges, and put the hinges on those so that it would fold closed and the table leg hardware would be hidden inside. We needed the L-brackets to support it so that it wouldn't sag in the middle.  This is what it looks like when it's folded up.   Close-up of the table. You can see we really re-enforced it. Between the two sheets of ply wood I screwed on metal strips. This helps it not sag in the middle when the table is standing (because it's really heavy), and when the table is closed up the metal rests on the ground, not the wood.  We painted on circles, and made wooden circles that we glued on around those. To make the circles I bought 2-3/4" and 3-1/2" hole saws and drilled the circles out of the scrap plywood. The circles are spaced 4" apart, the diameter of the top of a Solo brand cup. We stained the table, and there is one coat of outdoor polyurethane on it at this point.  The circles are raised to prevent the cups from sliding/falling over.  We realized after staining that the plywood had some imperfections, no big deal really, still looks good. For the colors we were originally going to make one side blue, and one side red, with yellow for the water cups. The red paint actually came out looking really pink when we tested it, so we scrapped it.  This is the finished table. We put cups in to test it. We mounted handles on the end for carrying it. We used window locks to keep it closed when it's folded up. The window locks also function as bottle openers.  The project cost us somewhere around $200. Expensive for a beer pong table, but we wanted to make one ourselves though, and this is a lot nicer than just playing on someone's patio table.
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Aug 7, 2008 07:43
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zodwallop posted:Beerpong. Wow, that's a really cool table, I love the way it closes completely with no hardware showing.
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Aug 7, 2008 08:14
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I built an electricity generating windmill from a bike and a car alternator. here's a closeup so that you can see where the alternator is actually mounted.  The only money I spent on this project was $15 for the belt. The rest I scrounged from friends and family. The blades are 5'2" long and the center is about 20' in the air. I'm not sure the exact output of power, but it works when the wind is blowing strong enough, and that's all that I really care about. I plan on building a much better one with a low rpm alternator using rare earth magnets and nice sturdy wood blades next summer when I'm off from college. If you want to check out the build process/more pictures then you can see it at http://randumbint.wordpress.com/
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Aug 8, 2008 03:55
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Cool windmill - thats slick. Do you pump the power into batteries? Or do you use the power somehow?
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Aug 8, 2008 04:43
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TheChipmunk posted:Cool windmill - thats slick. Do you pump the power into batteries? Or do you use the power somehow? The alternator won't work unless its hooked up to a battery. I just have a cheap power inverter hooked up to the battery which makes it into AC power.
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Aug 8, 2008 12:28
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PyrE posted:The alternator won't work unless its hooked up to a battery. Nice windmill by the way!
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Aug 8, 2008 13:24
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PyrE posted:The alternator won't work unless its hooked up to a battery. I just have a cheap power inverter hooked up to the battery which makes it into AC power. How much electricity does it generate? What can you run regularly off it?
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Aug 9, 2008 03:23
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Use a true-rms ammeter to measure the current going to the battery, if you have one. Alternatively, I think you can measure the diameter and rotation rate, find the tip speed from that, and compare those values to the wind speed -- there's a formula somewhere that'll give you an approximate power output. If you know the capacity of your battery, charging time will tell you quite a bit too.
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Aug 9, 2008 04:05
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zodwallop posted:
How sturdy is the center split? While I don't play beer pong i would love to have a folding table that collapses that small but opens that large for art projects. I have one half that size right now that works, but that would be far more useful.
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Aug 9, 2008 05:24
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Juriko posted:How sturdy is the center split? While I don't play beer pong i would love to have a folding table that collapses that small but opens that large for art projects. I have one half that size right now that works, but that would be far more useful. It wasn't sturdy at all at first, because the hinges created a gap in between the two pieces of wood. I added something like this in between the two pieces:  The metal strips and the screws that hold them on make it sturdy enough to put things on, but I wouldn't put anything TOO heavy on there. If you wanted to make it really sturdy, I'd get some 1"x1" deck railing (same as we used on the bottom to hide the legs when folded), cut them to table height, and put those on hinges near the center of the table. That could make for extra support and they'd still be hidden when the table was folded. Also the corners of the bottom pieces need to be re-enforced with L-Brackets to prevent the center hinges from tearing them off from the weight of the table in the middle. The brackets are visible in the first picture I posted originally.
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Aug 9, 2008 07:35
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zodwallop posted:I just build a beer pong table with some friends. A friend of mine's annual BBQ/Party is this coming Saturday and we wanted to build a nice beer pong table for it. Great table, but you put rings for the cups? As an avid beirut player, I have two issues with this. 1) Taking care to throw the ball and not knock over a cup is part of the game. Most rules I know impose a one to two cup penalty for knocking over a cup of beer. To me, this is the equivalent of having those bumper rails when you go bowling. 2) You can only ever have ten cup games. It's nice to have a bigger game, use 15 cups, more beer, and sometimes even teams of three people.
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Aug 11, 2008 06:10
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Juriko posted:How sturdy is the center split? While I don't play beer pong i would love to have a folding table that collapses that small but opens that large for art projects. I have one half that size right now that works, but that would be far more useful. You could make it a lot sturdier by adding a couple of bars that can slide out and bridge the hinge. Like this:  The latches are just to keep the bars from sliding out when you carry it.
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Aug 11, 2008 17:05
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DrBouvenstein posted:Great table, but you put rings for the cups? As an avid beirut player, I have two issues with this. What kind of sissy beirut do you play? Knocking over cups is part of the game. Hell, my friends and I will do full fast-pitch baseball style throws when we get desperate. You have to weigh the value of winning against the chance that you'll look like a total jerkbag and piss off your friends a little bit, but it's damned satisfying to blast a cup all over the opposing team's clothing. The raised rings are silly though - you need to be able to play 10-cup, 6-cup, or 50-million cup. Most places just paint the rings on the tables for easy setup.
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Aug 11, 2008 17:52
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Note to self: When painting a bedroom, lay something over the carpet so if the paint spills, it's no big deal. So... anyone want to help us install some hardwood flooring later this year?
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Aug 11, 2008 19:44
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Spike McAwesome posted:Note to self: When painting a bedroom, lay something over the carpet so if the paint spills, it's no big deal. To be fair, a layer or two of newspaper would've done nothing to stop all that paint.
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Aug 12, 2008 05:54
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Incidentally, I love the color of your painted carpet.
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Aug 12, 2008 16:35
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at least it's a neutral color, it'll go with everything 
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Aug 12, 2008 22:11
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I think that's a perfect spot for an area rug 
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Aug 13, 2008 02:07
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Who knew, plastic drop cloth isn't just a high margin item! Pyre: Are you using the windmill for anything specific or was it just a project for kicks/learning?
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Aug 13, 2008 05:54
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Spike McAwesome posted:Note to self: When painting a bedroom, lay something over the carpet so if the paint spills, it's no big deal. Another handy tip: when painting light colored trim in a dark colored room, put a plastic bag over the paint can and lid before hammering the lid back on. I was pounding the lid back onto the paint can when the paint left on the rim of the can came spraying out and spattered all over two of the walls nearest me. I spent the next half hour trying to sponge off what I could and the rest of the day touching up the remaining spatters with a loving q-tip.
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Aug 13, 2008 19:15
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I think all of the 'I know beer pong rules so there' entrances in this thread are quite funny. Beer pong is a house game - people play however they want to play it. And while it may be cool to 'blast someone's cup over spilling it all over your opposing team's clothes' - not everyone would agree. I think we should avoid these discussions on, 'zomg u put rings? u are the sissy!'. The table is cool in general. The portability makes it fit its purpose wonderfully.
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Aug 13, 2008 19:22
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RealKyleH posted:How much electricity does it generate? What can you run regularly off it? mcsuede posted:Who knew, plastic drop cloth isn't just a high margin item! This started out as a small summer boredom project but now because of the relative ease of construction and success of this windmill I plan on building a much larger one with 8' wooden blades that uses a low rpm alternator like this. Due to the flimsy nature of the coil stock blades I have on it now and a loose connection to the battery, the alternator shut off and in a high wind the blades spun too quickly, flexed, and hit the pole. So now I have to go out and bend some new ones with the metal brake. This time I'll be pop riveting an angled piece on the back to give it more support as well. edit: Also, if you want to start investing in alternate energies, it would probably be easier to just buy solar panels, but you don't get to see them moving and generating power like you do the windmill. PyrE fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Aug 13, 2008 |
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Aug 13, 2008 20:21
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EigenKet posted:You could make it a lot sturdier by adding a couple of bars that can slide out and bridge the hinge. Like this: Yah I realize that. I just loved the simplicity that not having a locking mechanism would bring, and thought there might be a chance that the thickness of the trim at the joints might have added enough stability that it would be fine on its own.
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Aug 14, 2008 06:38
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I've been wanting to build a MAME cabinet for a couple years, and this was the summer to do it, apparently. I feel like I'm far enough now that I have some decent progress to show, and that's pretty exciting (to me, at least). Click for bigger pictures. CABINET CONSTRUCTION Transporting the wood home from Lowe's:  Cutting out the sides:   Dadoed wood for the base:  The sides and front go up:   Test-fitting and securing the monitor:   That monitor is a beast. It's a 32" Mitsubishi video production monitor thing, I found it on Craigslist for $20, and it probably weighs close to 200 pounds. CONTROL PANEL Test assembling the control panel:   THE COMPUTER Under construction:   The computer is a P4 2.4 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 40 GB HDD. Before somebody mentions how dangerous it is to run a power supply without its cover on,  I know. I got careless late at night while getting the PC ready, reached around the back without thinking about it to grab a cable, saw a flash of light and yelled louder than I have in a long time, and walked downstairs to see what my surgeon dad thought I should do. That black isn't dirt, it's burned skin. At least I'll have a cool scar. You'd think that a Computer Engineering student would have a little bit more reverence for electricity, but I definitely do now. As far as artwork goes (Galaga is one of my all-time favorite games): CPO:  Marquee:  Side art to come after I graduate from Clemson in December and have a little more time to play with it. I've got all my buttons and joysticks ordered and sitting in a box in my room. The trackball is in the mail from X-Arcade, and I'm hacking an old mouse into a spinner. Hopefully, the trackball will get here tomorrow and I can put the control panel together. Also, a guy a couple streets over was throwing away an old Prospector pinball machine. He was trying to move it and it fell off the back of his truck. I wanted to salvage it, but it was way, way gone. So, I took the coin door It'll look like this after I clean it up and Brasso the scratches out (not my picture): Is anybody interested in a MAME cabinet megathread? I feel like I know enough about them to start one now. Hopefully, I'll have some updates over the next couple days, since I'm leaving to go back to school on Sunday. My goal is to have it at least functional by then.
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Aug 14, 2008 07:09
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Despite having little skills I'd love to get into stuff like this, especially working with wood. My biggest problem (other than the previously mentioned lack of skill) is space. Our house is pretty small, I don't have any room for any kind of workshop space. Basically if I want to saw or pain I have to do it outside, which would be fine except I live in the UK and it rains a lot of the time. I've redone a few rooms inside, the dining room is the most recent. Nothing amazing, but I'm fairly happy with how it turned out.   Nothing amazing, it was mainly the walls and floor. We've since moved things around a bit to give more room for the table. I'd really like to do something with this (and I should add that I've since painted the fences!). It's this raised brick rectangle that the previous owners had a greenhouse in. It's a bit small for a deck. Possibly a brick BBQ. Since we've recently had a son some kind of play house/fort is tempting, but we're planning on moving in 2-3 years so maybe not anything too elaborate. I might start a thread looking for ideas at some point. 
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Aug 14, 2008 10:54
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The Human Cow posted:MAME cabinet Awesome! My roommate is building one of these, too. He has the cabinet built and the control panel put together but he's still working on the computer and all the wiring.
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Aug 16, 2008 01:03
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