Author Archives: joel

CRT2017 – Aullwood Garden

Posted on May 14, 2017 by joel
After leaving COSI, we drove out to Dayton, Ohio and took a walk at Aullwood Garden. It was very pretty - it looks like an estate that was donated to the state, just like Maudslay State Park near us. I attached the GoPro to my backpack using a 3D-printed bracket we made before we left. I didn't realize my head was in frame though - I need to make a clip that mounts more on my chest strap, and less on my shoulder.

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CRT2017 – COSI

Posted on May 14, 2017 by joel
On the second day of our trip we went to the COSI science museum in Columbus. That place was really cool. One awesome thing they had a counterweight-balanced unicycle that you could ride across a tightrope above the main lobby of the building (from the mezzanine level). Carter did it twice!

We also messed around with the GoPro some more, and made a time lapse video of our drive from the hotel to COSI. It's surprising neat - downtown Columbus is pretty.

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CRT2017 – Columbus Sunset

Posted on May 14, 2017 by joel
We bought a GoPro camera for this trip, and on our first night in Ohio we tested it out by trying to capture a time lapse video of the sun going down from our hotel room window. It wasn't a colorful sunset, but I think it's cool to see the clouds moving around like that - you don't really notice them moving much in real time.

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CRT2017 – First Plane Ride

Posted on May 14, 2017 by joel
For this year's road trip, Carter and I flew to Columbus, Ohio and drove from there to Kansas City, Missouri. The trip took us through six states: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri - and just a touch of Kentucky and Kansas. We'd been to Ohio before, but this year's trip still netted us five new states. This was Carter's first trip on a plane and she says she really enjoyed it. Her favorite part? The snacks. Not the view, or the excitement of traveling - nope, the little bag of cookies is what made her day!


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Game Chest of Drawers

Posted on February 19, 2017 by joel
I've been calling this thing a "cabinet", but apparently it is more officially called a "chest of drawers" - as to be called a cabinet something has to have doors with shelves inside. Regardless, I built this thing over the last few weeks. Over the Christmas break the kids and I bought an old Nintendo and Super Nintendo off of Ebay, and have been having a lot of fun playing old games on their original hardware. We've slowly been acquiring a decent collection of games since then, and I built this chest of drawers to keep it all organized and "living room acceptable". It's made from local red oak and contains two drawers (the bottom for Nintendo, the top for SNES games), with a shelf for the consoles and a tiled top - which will eventually be topped with a lamp and some plants. I was going to experiment with making a concrete top for it, but it was too cold to get concrete to cure and I didn't want to wait until spring.


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Neopixel Mood Lamp

Posted on January 2, 2017 by joel
I built one of these Neopixel-based mood lamps for my desk at work, and another for my sister for her birthday. The three dials use the HSV (hue, saturation, value) model of light - each dial controls one aspect. It's a much more natural light model for humans to grasp than a standard RGB (red, green, blue) model. The wood is cherry, and the diffuser is just sanded plexiglass.

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Leather Wallet

Posted on January 2, 2017 by joel
I made myself yet one more leather wallet, and I think my skills have finally progressed to the point that I am satisfied with this one. I finally got the hang of stitching, and got the leather dyed consistently, my stamp (Cthulhu) came out clearly, etc., etc. I've been using it for a couple of months now, and it's been holding up well - in fact, it still looks just as nice as the day I finished it.

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Kitchen Floor

Posted on January 2, 2017 by joel
The kitchen floor in our house has always been sort of a mess. It was 20-plus year old linoleum, and has seen a lot of abuse. Even when we first moved in, we wanted to replace it immediately. Every year I talk about replacing it over my Christmas break, but never do. Well this year I finally tackled it. I put down a floating laminate floor that looks like time - actually, it's the same flooring I put in our bathroom last Christmas break. It makes a world of difference in how the kitchen looks.

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Christmas Ornaments

Posted on January 2, 2017 by joel
A few years ago I made a bunch of little bird house xmas ornaments on the lathe, and gave them out at our family Christmas party. Every year since, I've wanted to do something similar again but couldn't find the time to make all of those ornaments. This year I tried something different - all of these were made on either the 3D printer or the CNC machine. Some of the wooden ones still need a little sanding and some lacquer, but overall they came out pretty cool, I think.

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Leather Notebook Covers

Posted on January 2, 2017 by joel
To play around with leatherworking a bit more, I made myself a couple of leather covers for Moleskine notebooks. I haven't done the edge treatment on them yet, but they came out ok. I like the character and texture in the leather in the right-hand one, but fastening strap is a little wimpy and I'm afraid the snap might pull right out of it someday. The one on the left has a better closure, and the color is nice and even.

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