Long time, no write…

I know I have been neglecting my site but I will do my best to post more in the next few days. For now, here are some pics of the city 🙂

Sun Jars version 2.0…

I was able to find some really cheap garden lights during a trip to the fleemarket with Sonia and her sister Sandra last weekend.  With a little more searching, I found some perfect glass jars in assorted sizes.  Pictured above, from top to bottom: the assembled light, the underside of the main piece, and my modded/reassembled version.

 

Here are two of the finished jars.  On the left I used the gardenlight’s existing top to make a nice brushed aluminum cap.  The second uses a solar panel mounted to the underside of a glass cap.  Although I like the look of the glass top, considering the additional work I will most likely make the rest using the aluminum top.

Also, I am working on a better colored glow set up that should give a more even and bright glow.  Pictures and details to come soon.  Besides painting the jars, the entire assembly process takes less than 5 minutes now 😀  With a Dremel tool I bet I could crank out 30 an hour…

Sun jar project…

Finished another project today, the sun jar 😀  This one turned out really well for a first attempt.  I used a solar garden/pathway light and an empty pickle jar (they were delicious btw).

After removing the solar/led assembly from my dollar store light, I cut a hole in the jar lid and hot glued the solar panel to the top, leaving the LED to hang below inside my jar.  At the hardware store, I picked up some colorless matte spray paint that was rated for use with glass and applied three coats to the jar.  As a final touch, I slid a purple plastic drinking straw over the led to give it a colored glow and diffuse the light a bit.

Over the next few weeks, I hope to make a few more in a variety of colors.  Total cost for this one was around 8 dollars, but half the cost was the paint, which should be enough for maybe a dozen jars.

I might add some kind of a diffuser to the bottow of the jar to eliminate the ‘hot spots’ of light on the next jar, but it seems fine without it…

3 years of marriage…

Today marks the end of our 3rd year together…

Me: Hey, today is 3 years 😀

Wife: Yep

Me: If our marriage was a kid, it would be walking and talking by now…

Wife:  And still shitting his pants.

Me: …

Most amazing thing you will see today…

If you have 15 minutes to spare, you won’t regret watching this clip.

DIY handgun…

I had a short day at work and had some energy to burn so I took apart my grill lighter…

 

After some tinkering, a bit of hot glue, and a trip to a dollar store… my masterpiece is complete 😀  I give you GrillGun…

 

 

For this mini-project I used 1 part dissected lighter and 1 part airsoft bb gun.  The key was finding a grill lighter with a big enough reservoir and a cheap bb gun with a solid tube barrel.  Once they were acquired, the assembly phase took no time at all.  The hot glue over the screw heads keeps the igniter from zapping me, and the leads are spaced to create a nice sized spark.  With a little isopropyl alcohol and a bb, you have yourself a hand-held, homemade firearm 😀  Cool eh?

I insert a q-tip soaked in juice into a hole drilled into the back of the housing, which is then plugged by a small densely threaded screw.  The trigger was made by melting down and sanding the lighters original trigger.

With all the ingredients and with what I know from building one, I would say it might take less than 30 minutes to create a second.  Considering it only cost maybe 5 dollars in parts and required a drill, hot glue gun, a bit of glue, and some scissors… I would call this project a massive success  🙂

Bike vid 2.0 …

On Sunday I had a bit of free time so I whipped up a new bike/iphone mount.  It didn’t end up working as planned so I was forced to improvise and use a rear-facing view.  At just over 3 min, this one is a bit long, but I’m too lazy to go back and cut it down 😀

Debate topics…

It looks like alot of people are finding this site, but sadly no one seems too excited to join the dicussion…  I could just sit here and rant all day, but others do that far better than me.

So, is there anything in particular you would like me to write about?  There is enough happening in the world that I’m sure we can find something to fight about 😀  Could be something big and complex like politics or something light and relaxed like music.  I’m open to suggestions.  In the meantime, I will do my best to keep the site fresh and interesting, so stay tuned 🙂

-Daniel

Graffiti pics…

Two shots worth sharing from a bike trip I took earlier today.

I didn’t expect it, but I encounter a surprising amount of people doing drugs while riding through the ‘less traveled’ paths of Duisburg. I always feel embarrassed because I feel like I am intruding. Is that weird?

Good quote… Or too harsh?

“Why do financial engineers make, on average, 4x as much money as ‘real’ engineers when one group builds bridges while the other builds dreams… bridges stay bridges, but dreams can become nightmares.”

I am paraphrasing from the documentary “Inside Job”. Great film on the economic crisis and its causes.