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.

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.