Kiln

Dentists used to do a lot of their own metal casting for crowns and bridges but now we leave most of that up to dental labs. Consequently I was a little disappointed that that was a very small part of our education in dental school. Also, I saw a video on YouTube of someone melting down aluminum and pouring it into an anthill. After excavating it they had an aluminum casting of an anthill that looked so awesome it immediately went on my bucket list. I haven't found any suitable anthills yet but when I do this kiln will be waiting.

I decided to use an old propane tank for the shell. I started by bleeding the tank outside to get it down to 0 psi but I was still scared to cut into this thing with an angle grinder. I decided to remove the top valve first so I could fill the tank with water and guarantee I had evacuated all of the propane.

Turns out these things are glued in place and extremely difficult to remove. I ended up using a 10 foot breaker bar to get it moving.

 The inside is insulated with cement

 I opened a smaller propane tank to form the crucible

 A simple blow dryer works as a blower to pump oxygen in.

The crucible goes down in the middle and I use charcoal as fuel.

It goes well above the aluminum melting point and has a pretty glow to it when it does. Let me know when you find a good anthill for me!

Flight Box

I put this one together a few months ago. Whenever I would go out flying it felt like it would take forever to gather everything I would need. Sometimes I would travel light but then end up coming home early because I couldn't make that one little adjustment or repair. I wanted something simple I could thrown in the car but after looking at some different tackle boxes but none of them could fit my remote. I settled on this design with a locking mechanism on the back that would make it transport/ Parker proof. It was fun to do some wood work again, and it also reminded me why I don't do as much woodwork.

Pinewood Derby Cheater

A couple years back our elders quorum had a pinewood derby.


Perfectly legitimate entry...

just don't flip it over

the rubberband stretches around two pulleys before wrapping around the rear axle allowing it to be wound up. Rubber was added to the rear tires for the needed extra traction.

And the much coveted trophies

The Flying Weedwacker

When I was 13 I briefly attempted to get into RC airplanes. It proved to be too expensive for a 13 year old with no job and ultimately the whole experience ended in splinters. I have always been interested in having another crack at the hobby and was happy to find it now much more accessible. Now all you need is a little imagination, some surprisingly cheap electronic components from China, the ability to read Chinglish instructions, a few sheets of foam from the dollar tree, and you are in the air.
  Over the last several months I have built a few different planes but wanted to first share the flying weedwacker. This project started when I found a weedwacker on the side of the road and then embarrassed Maria by pulling it out of some stranger's garbage can. One man's trash is another man's new desire to see if he can make a weedwacker fly. With a little work I got it running again and then proceeded to cut/ break/ hammer/ saw off every component that didn't look too important.

This is about what I was left with. The body of the plane was made primarily out of a material called coroplast which is typically used for large election signs.

 

 It can be an emotional hobby because you put time into building these planes but there are no guarantees that it will work or that you wont pile drive it into the ground. I did the math the best I could but the whole time I was building it I wasn't sure it would actually get off the ground.

 getting ready for maiden flight

My mechanic checks to make sure everything looks snug

In the video of the first flight you can here audible surprise in the backround as the thing actually gets off the ground. The first flight went perfect until I finally decided to bring it back down. Here are some highlights from the video of it landing:
0.18- mother fearing for her child's life
0.22-me somehow managing to hit the only branch on the entire lake bed
0.23-firewall partially fracturing and severing the throttle control leaving the engine stuck at full throttle
0.28-taking off again like i am doing a cool touch-and-go but actually having no choice but to wait until the thing runs out of gas

you can watch the video here

recumbent

When we moved to Vegas we bought a nice little home and I fell in love with having my own garage. This particular garage had been painted bright orange. We have recently sold that home but I have had more than one person suggest that I paint all my garages the same color. This was one of my first projects in the orange garage. I put this video on facebook sometime ago but I thought I would link it to the blog so here you go  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8e2KhgB5n8&feature=youtu.be

tandem and eliptical

The summer before I was married my buddy Josh told me that now was the time to make any last minute purchases while the money was still "my" money. Shortly after, I found a coupon for a welder and noticed some scrap steel lying around near my house. I took it as a sign and started teaching myself to weld, something I had wanted to do since I was little. Inspired by my cousin Mark, my first bike project was a tandem. Shortly after my wife was in California and saw an Elliptigo which she was excited about. I teased that we would get beat up riding that around Las Vegas, but I was half done building it by the time she got back. In Salt Lake City these bikes brought approving nods from policemen and big smiles from everybody on the sidewalk, in Las Vegas we mostly get weird stares...but were never beat up.  For some reason  these first projects never made the blog so here is a link to the original video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbwa_YOLxwg

Lean Trike

Lean Trike

After putting the larger engine on the frankenbuggy I had the original smaller engine lying around the garage. Engines lying around the garage unused makes me start thinking of new projects. I eventually came up with a lean trike design.

The engine and torq-a-verter drive a live axle for the two wheels in back. The front wheel is connected directly to the seat. One hand has a twist grip throttle from a motorcycle and the other controls a disc break.The entire seat is hinged to the back section and to steer the rider leans his whole body into the turn.  The end result is a pretty bizarre riding experience. The first time Maria saw me ride it she instantly decided that it belonged in a parade...maybe if she drives.

Here is a video of the trike in action  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIqeUj5oxoo&feature=youtu.be