Patriotic Disco Owl

Components:

Two conduit connectors, not real sure what they WERE

Two red Jagermeister blinky buttons

A clutch plate from a motorcycle

A blue Ikea Star Lampshade

Two b-line unistrut brackets

A white cat litter bucket lid

Scrap Leather Strap

And a piece of a license plate

There are two bits that slide inside the connector. I used that to sandwich a leather strap across the inside of it to give me a place to hook the Jagermeister blinky tag. After that I screwed them back together to hold the strap in.

 

Now to make the body. First, I used the clutch plate to make a template on my cat liter bucket lid.

Next I took the clutch plate and welded the connectors to it. You can see the results of this:

Then I riveted the cat litter bucket disk to the back of the clutch plate to give it a white body. Next I took the blue Star and cut two of the points off. Be careful when cutting this, as it is brittle plastic!  So I put a hole in the back side of where the wing was so I could get it to be 3D. But I only used one rivet to attach the wing so that I can move the wings up and down. The one rivet is tight enough to hold the entire wing in place. I cut a strip out of the license plate, bent it into a c-clamp and then used the part with the license sticker to make it into a triangle-shaped red beak. Then it got riveted to the plastic body too. Finally, I took the brackets, set them on my welding table in what looked good for a final position. Then I held the body over the brackets and tack welded the body to the feet. It melted the plastic a little bit, but not enough to worry about for structure. Instead, it gave it character!

 

And voila! Disco Blinky Eyed Patriotic Owl. Now if I could only get him to whistle Dixie…. :)

Coat hanger top hat

 

 

 

 

 

 

       I sat down one evening with a bag full of old coat hangers with the idea to make an earring tree for the wife.  Something just led me astray.  I can’t really explain it.  Sometimes, I just start building to see what I end up with.

I started by making two circles, one from the largest size hanger, and one from the smallest.  This is not the kind of project for measuring.  Just cut something and see where it fits.  I used a small pair of needle nose vise grips to make loops to attach the ends together.  I just used my hands to form a good enough circle. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took the parts from the hook on the hanger to the turn for the flat for my uprights between the two circles.  I made a loop on each end to attach to the circles.  Next I made rings out of some of the leftovers to hold the uprights like I wanted.  I did this by wrapping it around a piece of tube.  It is easier if you clamp the wire so you only have the one end to worry about holding.  After wrapping I just unclamp the end and cut them apart with a pair of wire cutters.

 

I wasn’t really sure about it once I really started to put it together.  I couldn’t keep it looking right.  I decided to add some more cross braces and clamp down on the attachment points some more.  I used a cross brace on the top to help support and give a hanging point.  I added four braces in the bottom section to hold the uprights equally apart.  Over all I’m happy with how it came out.  The best thing however is it actually fits my head.

Body by rebar

 

With my project list ever growing the wife decided to add yet another one to me.  She has a craft show coming up next month, and needs some display pieces.  The first thing she wants is a body double.  With a quick check of the mental list of free materials, the pile of rebar in the lot beside the house won the vote.  The idea that came to me was a triangular almost Blair Witch style body, just with depth. 

The tool of choice tonight was a Miller, Millermatic 135 mig welder.  I’m using flux core wire in it so it’s more portable.  The trick to these “cricket welders”, as some call them, is to turn the volts wide open and adjust the wire to what works for you.  Mine was a little less then half way up for welding the rebar.  The only bad thing I found was that the tacks with the flux core wire are brittle, so the won’t bend or pull like normal. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With some quick cutting and tacking I had the basic form.  I’m thinking of using wire to act as a filler, and give it the detail it needs.  I still need to make the hips, and as the wife informed me “make it female”.  Metal boobs it is.  I’m think I’ll try a rebar cone with a wire coiling out from the center.  Some things you never imagine having to design. 

Boxes from boxes

Yes, it seems slightly redundant to make a box out of a box, but what else are you going to do with those Chex boxes?  The wife needed a fancy looking box for something she had to ship out.  I figured if I can layout just about any fitting in metal a box would be no problem.  I came across a Chex box, the large Sam’s version, in the recycling and decided to scavenge it for the cardboard.  I started by opening up all of the seams on the box to lay it flat.  I made a center line down the longest way to give me something to start the layout from.  It’s hard to give exact measurements when you’re working with repurposed material.  You never know exactly what size piece you might be working with.  I needed mine to be about an inch and a half deep and ten inches tall.  The width I determined be what I was able to get out of the piece.  For looks I made it taper in on each side. 
I started with laying out the bottom of the box in the center of the cardboard.  Then I measured out the ten inch sides off of each side of the bottom.  At this point I’m just basically making a mirror image on each side of the bottom.  Off the front of the box I made sides that are the same inch and a half with a half inch extra to attach it to the back.  On the top of the back I laid out the lid.  I added a sixteenth of in inch to the inch and a half so it would fit better around the box.  The thing you have to remember is to layout everything from the centerline.  If you keep everything symmetrical you’ll be okay.    
I cut out the box with a pair of scissors.  Being that the Chex box was corrugated cardboard I decided to score the edges where they would be bent.  Doing this gave it much nicer and crisp edges.   When you score the bend marks make sure only to cut through the top layer and about half of the corrugated.  You don’t want to weaken the edge to much.  Once the bend marks are scored it was pretty easy to form up.  I used a masking tape to put the box together and was quite happy with the results.  The wife wanted to wrap it to I left her to that.              
    

Business Card Holder

Today was another day where something had to be built.  I ventured into the basement and came out with a bucket of random metal bits.   It was mostly old cheep tools.  My wife calls me a tool snob.  If it’s made in China, or the like, I won’t use it.  In my job my life regularly depends on my tools, so I use the best.  So, that begs the question, what do you do with all of the gifted or oddly acquired cheep stuff?  Simple, use it as material.  Rummaging through the bucket I came across some old wrenches, a knock off crescent wrench, a spare tire holder for a Z31 Nissan and a skeleton key.

   I used a hammer and a cement block to put a small radius into the wrenches.  The plan was to weld them into the base for the crescent wrench.  The spare holder looked like a piece of channel so I welded it to the crescent wrench to support the cards. 

 

 

I needed a platform for the cards. So, I took two of the other wrenches and crossed them to make the support.  This seemed to work well , but it just needed more.

  

The final touch was the skeleton key to hold down the cards.  I welded a lock washer to the top of the spare holder to hold the key on, yet let is swivel.  Even set up outside in the wind the cards will right where you want them. 

Bicycle returns

After looking everything over on the bike I decided to tear down the wheels to refinish them.  I figured I would start with the back wheel.  The rim was pretty rusty, and the gears were not much better.  The bike was outside for a while before I save it. 

I ran into more problems than I though I would trying to break down the wheel.  Turns out that you need special tool that are only good for taking apart bike wheels.  I have a rule in my house, no unitaskers.  I’m not going to have random tool laying around that I never use but once in a blue moon.  To remove the spokes they say you need a spoke wrench.  I took mine off with a flat tip screw driver from the inside.  Just be careful the brass is soft and easy to mess up.  To remove the gears you need yet another special wrench.  I’m thinking I can remove it with a hammer and screw driver, but the rust has beaten me for this evening.  I gave it a good spray of WD-40, and I’ll hit it with some more tomorrow.  Now I just have to figure out if it is reversed threaded or not.  Learning as you go can be entertaining. 

Different corbel idea

So the wife asked me if I could make her a "bookshelf".  I think I took the meaning a little to literally, no pun intended.  The plan was to make two channels to bolt three books together as corbels for a shelf.  It seemed easy enough, boy was I wrong.  First mistake I made was drilling the hole in the book without it being clamped down. The book went from an inch and a half thick to about four inches.  With a new book and a clamp it went much better, but a drill press would have made assembly later much nicer.  The idea with the channels was to have two bolts in the legs to support the books and one in the center to attach it to the wall.  The only thing I didn't like about the set up was having to assemble it on the wall, but it was doable.

Bolting the books together was more challenging than I thought it would be.   Books aren't solid. They move in ways that can annoy you more than help you.  Like most people, I've seen lots of movies with hollows carved out of books, guns in bibles, and the like. So I assumed it would be a cake walk to notch these for the bolts and channels.  Yes, I was wrong again.  Three razorblades later, it was done. Not pretty, mind you, but no one will see it anyways.  Once I had everything together for the test, it seemed pretty stable. But I think I'm still going to glue the books closed once it's mounted.   

So the support is done, now only to figure out how to make the shelf out of books. Any thoughts?

Score!!! free wood

I'll admit it, I'm an addict. I need a twelve step program for craigslist.  Today I came across about five hundred square feet of old mill oak flooring for free.  The boards are anywhere from ten feet to two feet long three and a half inches wide and three quarters thick.  The only way to get the finish that's on the boards is a hundred years of history.  They aren't tongue and grove except for the ends which was hand done, so they are basically like one by fours. 

It's going to be a lot of work, but it will be worth it in the end.  I'm pulling the nails through to the back side with a pair of ten-r vice grips  It seems the be quicker and it leaves less damage on the finished side of the wood.  The more I work on it the more ideas I have for it.  First will be the work slash cutting table for the wife, but now I must get back to work. 

Shelves part two

I decided I wanted something different that just panted shelves for the work room, so I went the Mod Podge way. It was pretty easy you just paint it on, put what you want as the finish on, then paint it again. I wanted it to blend with the colors of the room so I went with a Reader's Digest for the outside.  Then I took the old handles and sanded them down with 240 grit sand paper so the flat black paint would have something to stick to. Putting the handles back was pretty easy I just used the old holes and pop riveted them back on.

Next came the install.  I wanted a clean almost floating look so I opted to drill holes in the side for drywall anchors.  My current anchor of choice is the Zip it anchor.  It looks like a corkscrew and has around a fifty pound capacity.  All I did to install was hold it up to where I wanted it, marked it, screwed in the anchors, then ran screws through the shelf into the anchor.  They came out stronger that I ever thought they could be I was actually impressed. 

Quick fix 1

So... the first picture is what it's supposed to look like. The second one is the aftermath of taking it off in a hurry and sitting it down on the wrong side. Needless to say I was not a happy camper. Growing up my father always had a saying "As long as you're smart enough to fix what you're stupid enough to do, you're good." Today I think I came out pretty good.

The bed cover is made out of some sort of abs plastic. Being plastic I decided just to try to reshape it with a grinder and an 80 grit flap disk. To my surprise it actually went pretty easy. I rounded up the broke side first then made the good side match. I have to say I like it better this way, it no longer has that pointy thing sticking out to try to grab you as you sneak past it in the garage. It's always nice to have a mistake improve things for you. Now,if I only had the time to wash it.

Shelves from anything

Well I'm needing a set of corner shelves for a work room in the house. With the economy being what it is I decided to hit be basement of holding instead of the local home improvement mega store. Deep in a long forgotten pile I came across these metal drawers. They look like some kind of 1970's library card catalog things.

Demo is first, then planning. The handles were riveted on so I ground the heads off the rivets, and they came right off. A quick once over with a palm sander with 240 grit sand paper prepped them for paint, or what ever else I come up with to finish them. My plan for mounting them is to drill holes in the side and back to run screws through. I'm thinking with about four or six screws they will be quite stable shelves.

Tools can matter

I'll start by saying I am in no way paid, or even noticed by by the manufacturer of this tool. I have one tool I do most of my metal cutting with, a Metabo. It will cut almost anything. I use one at work, and I've used it on anything from stainless steel, to granite. The thing that drove me to use it is not actually it's versatility, it's the safety. No tool with a six inch composite blade spinning at about twelve grand rpm is going to be completely safe. The Metabo six inch cut off tool has a clutch in it. You can tell its in actual one when you first fire it up there is a pause, then it spools up. The clutch comes into play when you're cutting smaller or lighter gauge pieces. It keeps the blade from binding and either slinging the part into you, or dragging you into the spinning blade. I've tried every other brand where I work and none compare to this. Yes, they cost more, but so you your fingers. I never pay full price for anything and this was no different. I repaired mine from scrap ones being thrown out at the shop I work for, but a pawn shop would a great route. There is no reason you can't get quality tool on a budget.