What have you Built Recently

[crazydoc]

your garden is bigger than my garden.. but this is my first year...

JR

It's good to get started. There are few things in life better than picking a ripe tomato off your vine and chomping it down.

 

[JohnRoberts]

It's good to get started. There are few things in life better than picking a ripe tomato off your vine and chomping it down.

I am looking forward to that, and I have a bunch of bell peppers and sundry hot peppers. I had some good luck with a habanero plant last season so am stepping up my game...

I have pecan trees that I mostly ignored until recently, now I actively hunt squirrels trying to poach my nuts, and this morning I sprayed some horticultural/orchard treatment. I had to DIY an effective sprayer to reach up to top of my mature pecan trees. After multiple failed attempts this is my state-of-johnny-art bug juice sprayer.

It is basically a hose end sprayer, clamped to the end of a 15+ foot long extension pole. Even that simple approach is harder than it seems. I won't bore you with all the things that didn't work, but pointing the sprayer straight-up reduces the moment arm working against the 15' lever. The coiled 3/8" diameter hose scrubs off a bunch of dead weight that makes the pole hard to point and move around. A subtle observation from this morning is that stretching out the coiled up 3/8" hose, reduces the lift weight.

Besides my decades old pecan trees over the last several years I have planted two apple trees (3 one died), 1 peach tree (2 one died). After that I stopped naming my trees.  : A second fig tree (again the first one died after a frost. ) Finally two plum trees. So far only the fig tree has been productive, no apples (yet), last year one peach tried but it dropped off. This year 3 peaches coming, so fingers crossed. Two plum trees but only 1 small green plum... so far.

I hope I live long enough to enjoy some home made pies. I feel lucky about maters and peppas this year.

My two apple trees survived despite being named.

JR     

 

[iturnknobs]

Very nice, JR. I will post garden pics soon. Sorry, Analag.  I'm not sure this was really your question upon starting the thread. Weird times. You asked. Just bought 5 fertilized eggs from this group. Exact parents unknown. Picking up incubator tomorrow. 130 bucks for everything, extra fencing and shelter included.  Gonna be momma goose for the next 27 days. I've got the time. If I get a noisy male, goose dinner. Re-sell incubator. Pets, eggs, X-mas dinner. Net profit overall. Seems crazy and too good to be true. I can't contain my inner hillbilly... just literally 60 feet outside of city boundaries. Cornfields to the west.

 

[fazer]

Found a potential build.  It’s a optical density meter with a 6J7 and 2- 6SN7 .  It has the makings of a classic tube preamp .  Power transformer lams are rusted but everything else underneath is clean.  A rewire and some input/output transformers should do the trick.  The meter needs sorted out.  It has to remain.

 

[fazer]

Picture attached

 

[JohnRoberts]

Very nice, JR. I will post garden pics soon. Sorry, Analag.  I'm not sure this was really your question upon starting the thread. Weird times. You asked. Just bought 5 fertilized eggs from this group. Exact parents unknown. Picking up incubator tomorrow. 130 bucks for everything, extra fencing and shelter included.  Gonna be momma goose for the next 27 days. I've got the time. If I get a noisy male, goose dinner. Re-sell incubator. Pets, eggs, X-mas dinner. Net profit overall. Seems crazy and too good to be true. I can't contain my inner hillbilly... just literally 60 feet outside of city boundaries. Cornfields to the west.

I grew up miles from NYC in northern NJ, but mama RIP was an old farm girl (you can take the girl out of the farm, but not the farm out of the girl). So despite living in a suburb of NYC we raised chickens in the back yard. Of course we kept them in proper chicken house/coop.  My mother sold excess eggs to neighbors and was known around town for her farm ways.  I remember one year when some local family had bought some cute ducklings one easter for their children to play with, but soon realized they didn't want to deal with adult ducks. We ended up with them in our menagerie.  The ducks did not cohabitate with the chickens so had free run of the yard.

I do not recall the duck's actual demise, the chickens usually ended up on the dinner table. I do recall that the ducks would eat berries and leave purple crap all over the yard, that we kids would inadvertently step in. .

JR

 

[volker]

That is a beautiful build.  I have wanted to build a single ended amp for some time now.  Is the design from the web or your own?  What is the output transformer input impedance?  I have some mallards and valvo 34s that have no mate and so would like to build an octal SE to use and enjoy them.

Thank you! Yes the design is my own. It's still work in progress to get the sound where I want it, but I'm happy to send you a schematic once I'm done. The transformer is wound for 5k, if you can find 4-6k with at least 50-60mA of current it should do fine.

 

[fazer]

Thank you! Yes the design is my own. It's still work in progress to get the sound where I want it, but I'm happy to send you a schematic once I'm done. The transformer is wound for 5k, if you can find 4-6k with at least 50-60mA of current it should do fine.

Yes Volker,  I would love to see your finished schematic and also hear some mp3s. Of the amp character.  I’ll look for a SE output transformer

 

[crazydoc]

I grew up miles from NYC in northern NJ, but mama RIP was an old farm girl (you can take the girl out of the farm, but not the farm out of the girl). So despite living in a suburb of NYC we raised chickens in the back yard. Of course we kept them in proper chicken house/coop.  My mother sold excess eggs to neighbors and was known around town for her farm ways.  I remember one year when some local family had bought some cute ducklings one easter for their children to play with, but soon realized they didn't want to deal with adult ducks. We ended up with them in our menagerie.  The ducks did not cohabitate with the chickens so had free run of the yard.

That brings back memories. My first duck, that I found when I was in Jr High, had no feet - they'd been frozen off, and just stumps were left. I brought "him" home and named him Pete, which was changed to "Petunia" after she started laying eggs. Of course they were infertile, but she was such a good nester that after several years I robbed some eggs for her out of a mallard nest. One hatched and she brought him up, and he learned to fly (she was a Muscovy and couldn't fly), and he flew off in the fall, never to be seen again - I always hoped he found some friends. Petunia was killed a few years later by a neighbor's dog named Dooley, whose owner (a PhD geologist) had made him a member of the AAAS as a joke.

When I had kids we had chickens and ducks. The first two ducks were Donald and Daisy and three of their eggs hatched into Huey, Dewey and Louie. More generations were named by the kids after other cartoon characters but I can't remember their names.

I do not recall the duck's actual demise, the chickens usually ended up on the dinner table.

I remember one day I was out in the yard, and one of the large male  ducks flopped over on his back, twitched for a few seconds and lay there dead. I figured he must have had a stoke.

I do recall that the ducks would eat berries and leave purple crap all over the yard, that we kids would inadvertently step in. .

The fowl taught me one of life's important lessons, and that is if you're weed eating in duck crap, be sure to keep your mouth closed.

 

[crazydoc]

Sorry about the thread drift. To get it back on track I'll post something I actually built. This one finished a few months ago, and another one almost done. Adjustable neck to be able to adjust the action (with it strung up and turning the single screw through the fret board.) Player can adjust to playing aggressiveness, and should preclude the need for a future neck reset.

 

[Squeaky]

Great to see the guitar building pictures. I have been toying with giving away audio electronics to immerse myself in guitar building. I have started making jigs.

Looks like quite a symmetrical bracing with extra steel bracing as well? Haven't seen that before (not saying much), but I've been mainly looking at the old classic dreadnought patterns. For me, the thing about building an acoustic is that I could build myself a steel string with a nice wide and deep rounded neck - a bit more like a classical guitar feel.

Alas, still throwing money down the audio electronic hole. My current project is a recap of a Studer B67 Mk-II that I had lying sitting. Everything I read on the internet screamed don't bother doing it. It was actually operational a few years ago so I'm giving it a go. I am changing out all of the tantalum capacitors. One of the big blue ones exploded on the oscillator board a few years ago. Nasty.

All the comments about ducks take me back. My older brothers thought it would be fun to raise three mallard ducklings that they caught. They lived in the pool and it got to the point where they were no longer welcome (at least their deposits weren't). They were taken to creek and released. Would you believe they came back? I used to catch Mallard and Shelduck ducklings when I was young, I killed a couple with my actions, which still makes me a bit sad. The neighbour gave me a Muscovy duck as a pet (called him Percy), after he grew up he went back to his flock.

 

[crazydoc]

Glad you like the guitar pics. That's a double X bracing pattern which I think (hope) gives more support to the lower bout, where the top tends to dome over time, raising the bridge and therefore the action (though with adjustable neck maybe not needed). I'm using thinner braces to maybe help with volume, though could be deleterious for the timbre.
Those are carbon fiber (not steel) flying buttresses to transfer some of the stress (that wants to fold the neck into the top) onto the back for added support to the head block that has a neck pocket (like most solid body electrics).

You should start building - I've found that most mistakes can be corrected or hidden or just lived with.

 

[Gold]

Besides working on my console I made this wall sconce a while ago. It was my first attempt at “Adirondack” style furniture. Next up is a table. It will have a birch center post with an aluminum base and glass table top supported with aluminum bar stock.

 

[fazer]

Besides working on my console I made this wall sconce a while ago. It was my first attempt at “Adirondack” style furniture. Next up is a table. It will have a birch center post with an aluminum base and glass table top supported with aluminum bar stock.

This for your getaway cabin in the woods I take it?

 

[Gold]

This for your getaway cabin in the woods I take it?

Yes, It's off grid. There is no electrical service. I started by charging solar batteries and using LED lights. I'm now moving to these propane lanterns. Propane is easy to get there and lugging 20lb BBQ propane tanks up the hill in deep snow is much easier than solar batteries.

Most Adirondack style furniture is made only from wood and is pretty much the definition of rustic. I think there may be a market for a mixture of a modernist and rustic aesthetic. The table I will make is for us but I'll bring it by a couple of places to see if they want me to make another one for consignment. The best stuff is at https://www.dartbrookrustic.com  I'd love a part time furniture design and build gig.

 

[Ricardus]

Found a potential build.  It’s a optical density meter with a 6J7 and 2- 6SN7 .  It has the makings of a classic tube preamp .  Power transformer lams are rusted but everything else underneath is clean.  A rewire and some input/output transformers should do the trick.  The meter needs sorted out.  It has to remain.

THAT'S interesting. Keep us posted on that one.

 

[okgb]

you know the saying , it's the journey not the destination?

I've been working on more kids, but since I got fixed a long time ago, failure in this case is alright!
have to wait and see if there is a covid baby boom, On a more serious side domestic violence is up.

 

[Fuzz Face]

I think there may be a market for a mixture of a modernist and rustic aesthetic.

There certainly is. A common example would be certain live edge tables and reclaimed wood on otherwise contemporary designs.

I worked on a really cool project two years ago that had a lot of that type of furniture in it. I found the house on google but the photos don’t really focus too much on what I’m talking about.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/keithflamer/2018/10/31/45-million-newport-beach-mansion-lists-with-hip-hop-youtube-video/amp/

I see cool rustic/modern stuff all the time but I don’t usually take photos. If you’d like I’ll snap some cool stuff for you in the future

 

[Gold]

I worked on a really cool project two years ago that had a lot of that type of furniture in it. I found the house on google but the photos don’t really focus too much on what I’m talking about.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/keithflamer/2018/10/31/45-million-newport-beach-mansion-lists-with-hip-hop-youtube-video/amp/

I see cool rustic/modern stuff all the time but I don’t usually take photos. If you’d like I’ll snap some cool stuff for you in the future

Damn, that's a swank pad. Were you doing AV type work or something else? I'm glad you see furniture  like I'm describing. I figured that the rustic stuff gets bought for the lake house but doesn't make it back to the city. Rustic with modernist touches has a wider appeal. Also being a bit more practical it may have potential in commercial settings as well as residential. If you have any cool pictures I'd like to take a look at them. I love furniture.

 

[Fuzz Face]

The company I work for did all of the cabinets there, a lot of finish carpentry such as shiplap, ladders, rails, you name it.. we even did the raw steel base under the fish tank. The fish tank is incredible in person the pic really doesn’t do it justice. We were worried that the floor would even support its weight because it is incredibly heavy when fully loaded.

I just looked through a few years of photos and was disappointed by how much I’ve been slacking on work pics. If you wanna see my cats I’ve got you covered. I will keep you in mind and send pics when I see something cool