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.

Amtrak engine with Kansas City Southern Fallen Flag in the background.
The Dynamic Tamping Express could only be seen from the train. 

Maintenance of way equipment on a flatcar.

"DO NOT HUMP"



Flange lubricator
Canadian Pacific (Fallen flag)
Old BNSF logo.



I was moving too fast to take a good photo, but if you know the logo it is recognizable.


Blue tanker.


I took some photos of the train museum at the Amtrak station in Temple.




Steam locomotive not a real panoramic photo, just two photos stuck together)



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.
The stand is made of 1/2 inch square tube, and the joints are MIG welded. The cover is a steel can, screwed on so that it can be replaced if it rusts.



Friday, December 15, 2023

Quest 3 Controller Straps

I recently upgraded from the Quest 2 to Quest 3 VR headset. The controllers have wrist straps to prevent the player from flinging them across the room by accident. With the Quest 2 (and Rift CV1) I made custom wrist straps from tshirt yarn. This makes the wrist straps more comfortable and washable. I planned to do the same thing with the Quest 3, but the connection is more complicated.




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

 


Eggnog extract- I added 1tsp nutmeg and 1 tbsp cinnamon to a jar of Everclear. I used the 95% concentrated alcohol as a solvent. Disclaimer- Everclear is very strong and should be diluted in the final drink. It's even illegal in many places (California, Hawaii, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Washington) 

After the extract sat for a few hours, I added 2 tsp vanilla extract. The flavor is good when mixed with milk and simple syrup, but could be improved with a hint of caramel. 

Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Propane Torch Cooking and Adapter Hose

I love making roasted marshmallows. Other than a few cub scout campfires, the only way I could roast marshmallows was over a burner on the gas stove. But my dad complains about the smell. So I kept saying that I should find a way to roast marshmallows outdoors. We do have a propane grill, but it doesn't have a side burner attachment. Our weather is hot and dry, so there's usually a burn ban that prevents us from having bonfires. I used to have a metal bucket "candle" but it wasn't good for food. This summer, I bought a propane torch. It was only $10 from a Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and included a small propane bottle.
This summer, I found a lot of projects for my new torch. Even though it's not specialized for food, it works great for roasting marshmallows, carmelizing sugar, melting cheese, and roasting bell peppers. It can be used to start a wood or charcoal fire, plus the normal industrial uses like soldering.
Unfortunately, the small propane tank that came with the torch is not a cost-effective way to buy propane. These are not designed to be refilled so most people just buy a new tank for convenience. The small tanks cost at least $6 for 14 ounces of propane. Our barbecue grill uses 20 pound tanks, which cost only $12 to refill! I searched for an adapter, and found adapters to use the torch on a larger tank, and adapters for refilling the small tank from a larger tank (disclaimer- once the single-use tank has been refilled it's not legal to transport). My dad found someone online selling both. This reminded me of Hank Hill selling "propane and propane accessories".

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

Saturday, July 22, 2023

New Shielding Gas Tank

The first welder my dad bought for me at a garage sale included a small cylinder already filled with 75% Argon 25% carbon dioxide. This shielding gas is needed to make smooth welds because it prevents porosity from oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen. 

When I tried the welder, my welds just didn't look good. I wasn't sure if the problem was my technique or the equipment.

Eventually, I bought a new welder, but I still had problems. Next, I bought a new regulator. It makes the gas flow at a consistent adjustable rate. That seemed to fix the problem. 

I tried it with the old welder, and it worked ok with it too. But then I ran out of shielding gas and needed to buy more.

Exchanging the cylinder would normally cost around $30 (for comparison, the old welder was $75 including the cylinder). However, there was also an additional $30 charge to recertify the cylinder, which must be done every 5 or 10 years. The old cylinder was about 30 years overdue!, the new one is good for 10 years

After I hooked up the regulator to the tank there was a leak, so I returned that regulator, and got a new one which worked perfectly.

I have it chained to the wall so that it does not fall over and turn into a rocket.