I accidentally broke my favorite marker when it got caught in the desk drawer. But I found a replacement that's even better. I found out that refillable markers exist and aren't that expensive. This type of marker is typically used as a paint pen for art. I filled mine with diluted inkjet printer ink. It has a reversible tip (either rounded or straight). It has a valve that opens by pressing on the tip, just like paint pens. There's also a tiny ball for mixing paint by shaking. I decided not to use the mixing ball because my ink is thin and uniform.
Griffin's Workshop
Saturday, March 30, 2024
Refillable Marker
Monday, March 11, 2024
Lemon Watermelon Rind Pickles
Last summer, we grew a watermelon in the garden. We were so worried that the raccoons would get it that I made a welded cage to protect it. We kept checking to see if it was time to pick. The leaves on the plant turned yellow, so we thought it was ready.
We cut the watermelon open- and it wasn't ripe. It didn't taste bad, just kind of bland and less sweet than a good watermelon. The seeds looked mature, so it must have been very close. But after you open a watermelon it's too late.
The watermelon had a larger white layer near the rind (not the tougher greenish part). It tasted crisp and very similar to cucumber. That gave us the idea of making pickles. We decided to keep it simple and make quick refrigerator lemon pickled watermelon rind. We added just lemon juice, sugar, and salt, and didn't cook it. I don't have an exact recipe, but I read a few online. Enough lemon juice and sugar to make a syrupy solution to cover the chopped watermelon, and a pinch of salt but not enough to affect the flavor. If you add too much sugar, it would be more like candied watermelon rind. It wasn't pickled enough to keep very long in the fridge. Regular pickles with vinegar might last longer.
Railroad Sightseeing
I recently took some trips on Amtrak, with plenty of time for sightseeing. It was a great opportunity to try to spot some of the things I've seen in Youtube videos about trains. I learned about "Fallen Flag" logos that are from train companies that no longer exist or were changed after mergers.
"DO NOT HUMP" |
Thursday, December 28, 2023
Propane Torch Stand
I don't have a good place to store my propane torch. I want it to be outside near the grill but safe from rain. Taking it off and reattaching it every time I use it wastes some fuel. So I decided to build a stand for it that clamps onto the propane tank and includes a cover to protect it from the rain.
Friday, December 15, 2023
Quest 3 Controller Straps
The wrist strap on the Quest 3 is attached with a plastic L-bracket that slides in inside the battery cover. My plan was to make an adapter to use my custom wrist straps. I decided to re-create the L-bracket out of metal and then find a way to attach a loop of tshirt yarn to it. First, I tried using a strip of steel bar stock. It's too hard to easily drill a hole in it. I tried annealing it by heating it with a propane torch and then letting it cool slowly. Even after that it was still difficult to drill and I would have had to grind it down a lot to get it into the correct shape.
I decided to try using a nail instead. I tested how to grind the head of the nail down to match the shape of the L-bracket. Then I attempted to heat the nail and bend it into a loop. The short nail I tried first didn't make a large enough loop, so I switched to a ring-shank fencing nail. It's almost thin and soft enough to bend without heating. My mom tried doing that, but the loop was too large.
I used the propane torch to heat up two ring-shank nails and then I bent them into the right size loop with pliers. This time I ground the nail heads into the right shape after forming the loops. That turned out to be perfect.Thursday, November 23, 2023
Eggnog Extract
Wednesday, August 9, 2023
Propane Torch Cooking and Adapter Hose
Tuesday, August 1, 2023
Highlighter Refilling
My favorite highlighters are clear with liquid ink so you can see how much is left. When they started to run out of ink, I decided to try refilling them. At first, I tried diluted ballpoint pen ink. Next, I tried printer ink because I got a couple of old printers from a neighbor to take apart.
The printer ink had to be diluted. I wanted it to be dark enough to show up but light enough to barely cover like a highlighter. I drilled a hole in the back of each marker just big enough to get the tip of a pipette in. After filling the ink reservoir, I sealed the hole with a teflon tape covered screw. This is slightly risky if they don't seal correctly, but none have ever leaked.The pink highlighter is refilled with orange printer ink. This was from an unopened cartridge someone was recycling. It's probably for a specialized printer that uses more than the standard CMYK set. The yellow highlighter was filled with blue, then cyan, and then magenta printer ink. The green highlighter was refilled with cyan printer ink. The pink and green will gradually change to the new colors the more they are used.
Tuesday, July 25, 2023
Ikea Strainer Repair
We've bought three copies of a strainer from IKEA. Overall , we like the design because the handle stays cool and it fits over one side of the sink perfectly. However, two have broken because the handle isn't strong enough. The handle is spot welded to the mesh side of the strainer instead of to the rim, so after some normal use the mesh rips. And then we go buy a new one.....
New strainer- handle attached to mesh but not rim. |
Torn mesh, handle pulled off. |
After repair- handle welded to rim |
Now that I'm able to weld, I decided to repair the first two broken strainers. For the first one I repaired, I replaced the handle (which has fallen off and gotten lost) with a piece of rebar. For the second one I repaired, I welded the handle to the rim. The strainer is made of stainless steel and I'm using mild steel wire (ER70S-6 .030dia), so this is not the best idea because the weld could rust or crack. However, it seems to be strong enough and it was cheap and quick to repair it.
Barbenheimer Limeade Pair
I'm having fun this summer making interesting flavors of drinks and sodas. I have plenty of supplies to create with- flavor extracts, plastic squeeze bottles and upcycled glass bottles with pour spouts for syrups, soda stream machine, and frozen fruit. I also bought a whole bag of limes because they were a good price at a Mexican grocery store.
For some of the drink flavors, I added frozen dragon fruit mostly for the very bright pink color. That reminded me of the current "Barbenheimer" trend, so I decided to make a pair of limeade soda flavors to match.
Pink Limeade
1/4 cup frozen dragon fruit (can substitute strawberries, cherries, raspberries, or watermelon)
1/8 lime
simple syrup
seltzer or unflavored soda
Atomic Mango Limeade
1/4 cup frozen mango
1/8 lime
pinch hot pepper salt (or cayenne or other dried hot pepper)
simple syrup
seltzer or unflavored soda
Muddle or blend the frozen fruit (along with any powdered flavors). Add the lime wedge and muddle. Add simple syrup and then soda.
Here is the affiliate links for the muddler and pour spouts that I used:
Muddler https://amzn.to/3Kf4n78
Pour spout https://amzn.to/44EdJl3
And a link to my Youtube video of making both drinks:
https://youtube.com/shorts/6GLEudqyUt8