From the archives- Knot Monster

From the archives- A long time ago when Griffin was in elementary school, he learned how to tie knots. He made some "Knot Monsters" that looked like tangles of yarn and string. This one turned out about the size of a baseball. It made a good cat toy. 

Although Griffin spent a lot of time practicing these knots, he never learned how to tie the correct one for shoelaces. While he was in school, he wore mostly Velcro shoes. Today, his creative workaround is to use zip ties to secure his shoelaces.

Re-purposing a Siemens Thermostat Wrench

 

I found this small, 4-inch long piece of plastic and metal when I was in college. I don't remember whether I found it on the ground or in a bin of e-waste, but I picked it up because it looked interesting. I recently rediscovered it in a box of unsorted junk when cleaning out my closet. I picked it up and immediately knew it was a useful tool. 

According to Google Lens, it's a "Siemens 192-632 Calibration and Cover Screw Wrench used for pneumatic thermostats". I don't have that type of thermostat, but I do have a serger-type sewing machine (Huskylock 535D) that I got from my grandmother. The sewing machine needles need to be tightened with a 1.5 mm Allen key, but none of our tool sets have Allen keys that small. So it was a happy coincidence that I picked up this tool a couple of years before I needed it. It even has a "pocket clip" so I can store it attached to the sewing machine.

18650 Conversions

I recently visited my great uncle, who has quite a collection of electronic components. He gave me some 18650 lithium cells to experiment with. I decided to convert some existing battery-powered devices to use them.

 I had a few additional batteries that I saved from a teacher in high school, and one that I salvaged from an old vacuum cleaner. I ordered battery holders and protection boards from Amazon, and used switches that I already had. All of the projects required a protection board, except the power bank.

protection boards:

battery holders:

I converted parts of a small flashlight to use one 18650 instead of three AAAs. 

I created an insert for a large flashlight to replace three D batteries with one 18650, using PVC as a spacer. This insert fits inside the flashlight and doesn't change the look of the outside.

Another project was a power bank for charging cell phones. I used the board from an existing power bank, and added a switch because it kept draining itself. 

The device I use the most so far is a fabric shaver. Having rechargeable batteries that are easy to remove is an advantage, because it gets used a lot, and then stored for a while. This was more complicated because it originally used two AA cells which add up to three volts, but 18650s are around 4.2 volts  when fully charged. I added a diode to drop the voltage by about one volt. I also added a light so I could see the fabric better

Roll for Soda

I have many different flavorings that I like to add to sparkling water. With over 30 options not including combo flavors, it's hard to choose which one I want. I decided to come up with a way to randomize my soda. I could use an app or smart speaker, pick slips out of a hat, plan a rotation, use a spinner, or roll dice. I decided to use dice.

Since I have so many flavors, a standard die (d6) would not work, so I shopped for a d20. I could have gotten a multipack of d20s, but a set was a better value. I got a basic set at a local comic and game store, but they also have other colors and fancier options available.

After visiting my relatives who play D&D and other games, I built a dice tower. I cut the sides on a table saw and cut the slats with a utility knife. I hot glued the slats and used wood glue for the rest.  

Building a dice tower (insides)

This system works great and is a lot of fun. After I started, I used up some flavors and added several more. The d20 isn't quite enough for all the single unsweetened flavors, so I added coin flips which are technically a d2. I also added more coin flips to choose between different brands or similar flavors like apple and green apple. A rather unlikely flavor is Loran strawberry lemonade. First, I would have to roll d20 (18 for sweet), then roll d4 (3 for lemon/limeade), roll d20 again to select the type of lemonade (19 for berry), flip a coin (heads for strawberry), flip a coin (tails for Loran). This works out to a one in 6400 chance of getting that exact flavor. 

I made a spreadsheet to show all the choices and whether an additional dice roll or coin flip is required. It's almost like a decision tree. It's color-coded with cyan for homemade extracts with store-bought ingredients, magenta for homemade extracts with homegrown ingredients, yellow for the coin flip section, green and purple for sweet and combo, and then brown for bourbon-based extracts. There's a few things I need to fix, like strawberry kiwi wasn't supposed to be blue, and the strawberry in the berry section was supposed to have a coin flip. I wrote in some corrections but haven't re-printed it yet.

I had fun choosing emojis to represent as many flavors as I could. I know some fruit emojis have other meanings, but I am using them to literally represent fruit. I made the spreadsheet with google sheets, which means I can edit it from my phone or my laptop. That's very convenient, but I discovered that my laptop doesn't have as many emoji choices as my phone, so it won't look the same if I print it from my laptop. I tried to print directly from my phone to the color printer. It's difficult to set up and has to be set up again the next time. The easiest solution turned out to be print to pdf and then email it to print from my laptop. 

Carbon Steel Griddle Insert

After practicing welding by making a new grill grate with quarter-inch round stainless bar, I decided it would be really simple to make a griddle insert. I started with a large sheet of 1/8 inch steel plate. It was an odd-shaped scrap that I purchased at a discount. I traced the existing grill grates onto it and cut it to size with a circular saw with a metal cutting blade. It was simple to cut, but I had to stop a couple of times to tighten the blade, and then for the rain to stop.

The steel plate was quite rusty from being outside for years, so I used my angle grinder with a flap disk to remove the rust and smooth any sharp edges. Then I did a bit of hand sanding with 80, 100, and 150 grit sandpaper. I had hoped to keep sanding until it was shiny, but that wasn't necessary. That was the end of the construction, unless I later decide to add a lip around the edge to keep food from falling off.

Next, I washed it thoroughly with dish soap. Then I oiled it and heated it to start the seasoning process. I takes up about 2/3 of the grill, but I started with it over the middle burner. The center of the griddle quickly heated to 400F, while the edges weren't as hot. Once the oil spread evenly, I wiped off the excess and made a quesadilla to test it. It worked great!

Barometer on Vacation

 My smartwatch has a barometer built in. It was interesting to see different pressure readings on vacation. I compared readings while on an airplane and going to the top of an observation tower (the Strat).

Flight from Austin to Las Vegas

Going up and down the tower

Flight from Las Vegas to Austin

The airplane was pressurized, but not to the same pressure as ground level.