The Do-it-Yourself Thread: A Home for Handymen and Artisans - General

[img]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a345/ajackss/repitition_zpsdc00a5e0.jpg?t=1361239749[/img] Cutting blanks, only 5 more to cut then I cut out the centers, then route. Design is looking nice.

Got around to painting my knife: [t]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/34886768/Pictures/Projects/IMG370.jpg[/t] [t]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/34886768/Pictures/Projects/IMG371.jpg[/t] I'm probably going to do as suggested earlier and give it a light sand with 300 grit sandpaper to remove the shininess. I'm also thinking of making a little cap to go on the end but I'm not sure how it should be: [t]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/34886768/Pictures/Projects/IMG372.jpg[/t] The white line would be ideal but a bit harder to make and the gray line would be easier. I might also get [url=http://www.wellingtonsurplus.com.au/showProduct/COMPASSES+-+GPS/OTHER+COMPASSES/PC0030/Pocket+Compass+30mm+Dia.+-+Model+C-30-2]a little compass[/url] and incorporate it into it instead, like it originally had. [editline]23rd February 2013[/editline] Damn, I just noticed that the compass I linked is out of stock.

The white line looks a lot better, it'll be worth the time it took in the end.

Eh, today I was replacing a faucet in my bathroom, and it turns out we needed to take the sink bowl out to do so, while taking apart the S trap to get the bowl out, something horrifying happens. [t]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/21642737/2013-02-239516.09.00.jpg[/t] The top of the S trap cracks and leaves a nice hole where it corroded (old ass house), and that pipe runs into the basement into the main sewer pipe. I'm freaking out whether or not I'm going to need a plumber or work my ass off to replace the whole thing in the basement. But I had an idea of instead of that, I have a bonesaw and a hardware store nearby. I cut off the broken part of the S trap and bought a PVC S trap and a rubber coupling. Cut off the PVC appropriately and fixed them together. [t]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/21642737/20130223_204915.jpg[/t] [t]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/21642737/20130223_205127.jpg[/t] I feel impressed the rubber coupling does extremely well. No leaks.

My friend loves Zelda, so I created this controller for him when he gave me one that had been mauled by a dog [T]http://i.imgur.com/6hyeK7O.jpg[/T] And the thumbstick had been eaten completely so I made it a PS2 thumbstick and it works really well [editline]24th February 2013[/editline] it's pretty bad but I haven't really done much DIY-ish recently, and he liked it

[QUOTE=tristanguy2;39697230]Eh, today I was replacing a faucet in my bathroom, and it turns out we needed to take the sink bowl out to do so, while taking apart the S trap to get the bowl out, something horrifying happens. [t]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/21642737/2013-02-239516.09.00.jpg[/t] The top of the S trap cracks and leaves a nice hole where it corroded (old ass house), and that pipe runs into the basement into the main sewer pipe. I'm freaking out whether or not I'm going to need a plumber or work my ass off to replace the whole thing in the basement. But I had an idea of instead of that, I have a bonesaw and a hardware store nearby. I cut off the broken part of the S trap and bought a PVC S trap and a rubber coupling. Cut off the PVC appropriately and fixed them together. [t]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/21642737/20130223_204915.jpg[/t] [t]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/21642737/20130223_205127.jpg[/t] I feel impressed the rubber coupling does extremely well. No leaks.[/QUOTE] You'll just have to be careful with pipecleaners, they'll eat your rubber.

[QUOTE=Killuah;39721485]You'll just have to be careful with pipecleaners, they'll eat your rubber.[/QUOTE] Yep. I had this happen to my sink in my bathroom, Drain-O had completely eaten away the gaskets around the thing that moved the stopper (Because, in fancy sinks, the stoppers are built into the pipes.) I took out the old gasket, took out the stick that the stopper mechanism attaches to, took out the stopper and the plastic bits, added a new gasket, sealed it off with a threaded cap, and bought a rubber stopper. No more clogging, no more running slowly. Not bad.

It's the small victories that make life so enjoyable sometimes.

i cant be leave this thread is 2 years old :pwn: any way, im finishing a trebuese iv been working on for about a week for a school project tomarow, ill post pics later :P

[QUOTE=Killuah;39721485]You'll just have to be careful with pipecleaners, they'll eat your rubber.[/QUOTE] Thanks I'll take note of that!

I made a quick mockup of my plan for a new housing for my speakers. Inspired by how much trouble I had getting them to and from a mate's house for a party. [img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/speakers.PNG[/img] [editline]2nd March 2013[/editline] I'd like some criticism on it, tell me if it's a shit, impractical design for some reason I've overlooked, etc.

Visually It looks really nice, I'm no sound expert so I can't talk about practicality :v: I'd stick a metal grill over the speakers that covers the front, but leaves the top and bottom open for ~style~ and to stop somebody dropping something on the speaker you probably had that planned but I just wanted to help

[QUOTE=Flash_Fire;39771086]Visually It looks really nice, I'm no sound expert so I can't talk about practicality :v: I'd stick a metal grill over the speakers that covers the front, but leaves the top and bottom open for ~style~ and to stop somebody dropping something on the speaker you probably had that planned but I just wanted to help[/QUOTE] Thanks, dude! I was considering some sort of protective screen or grate, but I'm not sure what to use. Would you mind perhaps doing a 30 second paint illustration so I can better visualize what you mean? [editline]2nd March 2013[/editline] By the way, guys, what wood would you recommend for the speaker housing? It likely won't be on show; I'm considering lining it with felt, like some guitar amps. Also, I'm 17 and jobless.

[QUOTE=~ZOMG;39771499]Thanks, dude! I was considering some sort of protective screen or grate, but I'm not sure what to use. Would you mind perhaps doing a 30 second paint illustration so I can better visualize what you mean? [editline]2nd March 2013[/editline] By the way, guys, what wood would you recommend for the speaker housing? It likely won't be on show; I'm considering lining it with felt, like some guitar amps. Also, I'm 17 and jobless.[/QUOTE] I'd put two handles on it - one on each side. If you carry it on the top handle you will be smacking your leg with it all the time. All speaker cabs I've seen and used had handles on the side - exception being guitar heads and small amps. Build em out of MDF or MDO and then coat them with Autozone carpet ($10 for 15sq ft) or vinyl.

[QUOTE=Serj22;39780422]I'd put two handles on it - one on each side. If you carry it on the top handle you will be smacking your leg with it all the time. All speaker cabs I've seen and used had handles on the side - exception being guitar heads and small amps. Build em out of MDF or MDO and then coat them with Autozone carpet ($10 for 15sq ft) or vinyl.[/QUOTE] The housing will be actually be relatively small. The speaker itself is 21cm^2, so the whole thing will only be about 27cm wide, max, which equates to about 10⅝ inches, so less than a foot. Just how sturdy is MDF? I do want it to be fairly robust. My local Wickes sells sheets of MDF that's 18mm thick. Would that suffice or is that a tad overkill?

[QUOTE=~ZOMG;39771499]Thanks, dude! I was considering some sort of protective screen or grate, but I'm not sure what to use. Would you mind perhaps doing a 30 second paint illustration so I can better visualize what you mean? [editline]2nd March 2013[/editline] By the way, guys, what wood would you recommend for the speaker housing? It likely won't be on show; I'm considering lining it with felt, like some guitar amps. Also, I'm 17 and jobless.[/QUOTE] I was totally gonna do a 30 second illustration but I thought it wouldn't be wanted :v: Here's what popped into my head after seeing it [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/UfMjujN.png[/IMG] The metal grill is open at the top and bottom because it'd just be easier to stick a feather duster down through it and clean the speaker, and you shouldn't drop anything down there hopefully [editline]3rd March 2013[/editline] Obviously it's just green so you can see it in paint but I'm presuming you'd make it black

[QUOTE=~ZOMG;39781826]The housing will be actually be relatively small. The speaker itself is 21cm^2, so the whole thing will only be about 27cm wide, max, which equates to about 10⅝ inches, so less than a foot. Just how sturdy is MDF? I do want it to be fairly robust. My local Wickes sells sheets of MDF that's 18mm thick. Would that suffice or is that a tad overkill?[/QUOTE] That would not be overkill. MDF is very strong as long as you don't get it wet. Once it's covered it's good to go.MDF is actually the most ideal material for speaker cabinets like that.

Every professional speaker I've ever bought (I run a sound gear rental company, so a fair few) has been made of 18mm Birch Ply. It isn't cheap though. It's a nice middle ground really, durable enough to be tossed into the back of a van and usually isn't as crap as standard ply and takes screws well so getting castors on the heavy stuff is easy. Jewson and BuildCenter usually have some good deals on wood, if they sell to non-companies. Wickes' prices aren't always great. (Toolstation is great for screws)

I made a couple of breakthroughs on my homemade keyboard tonight. The first is that now it's actually typing keystrokes like a keyboard should, with correct repeat delays and not sending multiple character keys per cycle. The second is that I figured out why I was getting some keys that did absolutely nothing. [t]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/62766551/P3070006.jpg[/t] See where I taped the wires onto the flat cable? Well it turns out, as I suspected, that some of the wires there weren't making enough contact with the surface to send a clear signal. So after wiggling one around and realising that was the issue causing it, I felt a huge relief knowing that the matrix itself isn't broken. So now hopefully I can get the modifier keys sorted tomorrow arvo and get the RasPi integration sorted before the weekend like I hoped for.

[QUOTE=MTMod;39149357]H&S folks will recognize these. I had a Portal-y holiday season. [t]http://i.imgur.com/DHrVf.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/xsORI.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/Ggche.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/joTmQh.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/a9XP4h.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/YwfWyh.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/hz0LUh.jpg[/t] The test chamber sign is a 3-bulb florescent light fixture I got on Craigslist, and a $20 print from a Zazzle sale. If you decide to make your own, don't put the Aperture Laboratories logo on it or else Zazzle will deny it for copyright. I have the .psd if you want it. It's absolutely massive, so you can scale it down to any size you want. *better mirror pics added[/QUOTE] You sir, are amazing. You inspired me to make my own portal nightlight. [t]http://i.imgur.com/ES8TJHw.jpg[/t]

I was getting sick of the mess of wires I had taped to the FFCs of the keyboard matrix, so I measured the pitch and discovered that they're the standard 2.54mm. So I popped down to Jaycar and grabbed a connector that had the same pitch and tried rigging up a better system. [t]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/62766551/P3090007.jpg[/t] At first I was trying to bend the pins towards that little plastic backing plate, to make a means for the cable to stay in firm contact. This was barely working, so I started rigging up some hefty taped and even clamped a bobby pin around it and wrapped it in tight with pliers. That sort of worked, but I was still getting dead pins. So I went back to the drawing board for a bit until it hit me. I grabbed a nandos loyalty card (the thick plastic ones, like a bank card) and cut out a piece of that and wedged it on the back side of the cable. Hey presto, it worked perfectly, first time! Now I have this nice, neat setup, that I can easily plug in and out whenever I want. [t]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/62766551/P3090008.jpg[/t] They say that the simplest solution is usually the best and I can't fault the saying.

[QUOTE=psychojake;39850300]You sir, are amazing. You inspired me to make my own portal nightlight. [/QUOTE] Very nice! We actually just got the mirrors hung on the wall. Of course we had to hang them across from each other. [t]http://i.imgur.com/PCd36lv.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/cTfmB50.jpg[/t]

Haven't done it yet, but I have some hidden repairs to do [t]http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj640/drtrott/0bb23155781b596f93cf941b65935783_zpsa8d72991.jpg[/t] [t]http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj640/drtrott/404bd911cd9f73ebf93682e8fc4721eb_zps3ec882db.jpg[/t]

That's a very fist-shaped hole you have in your wall.

I've made some great progress on my keyboard computer this week. Firstly, I got it working completely seamlessly with my Raspberry Pi. I then swapped out the breadboard jumper cables in favour of the ribbon cables here, using the same connectors that I attached the FFC with, which made the whole system much more modular during this prototyping stage. And my latest addition, as of 10 minutes ago, is this joystick module, acting as a mouse control. So the whole thing should be much more portable now, considering the essential computer peripherals are integrated. [t]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/62766551/P3140031.jpg[/t] I ordered a couple of Teensy++ boards as a replacement for the Leostick I am currently using. They have more pins (which I've just run out of), so I should be able to integrate a second joystick, as well as have some switches to toggle between joystick mouse and twin joystick input modes. Now that things are really moving along with this project, I wish my 3d printer would get here sooner so I can start working on an enclosure and begin taking it places like it's designed to do.

Started making some grips for my 1911 handgun: [IMG]http://i869.photobucket.com/albums/ab255/Yournameisinvalid21/photo_zps0e60670a.jpg[/IMG] they are like 40% done

I'm making changes to my airgun because it's way too slow to pump up at the moment, it takes like 4 minutes between shots. I'm gonna add a quick exhaust valve and a ball valve in an attempt to make it semi-auto, but I'm not entirely sure if it'll be strong enough now and if there's a better way. Here's my current design: [IMG]http://i48.tinypic.com/30ufehs.png[/IMG] So you pump up the chamber, open and close the ball valve to fill the secondary chamber, and pull the trigger to fire. Rinse and repeat. I'm kinda worried because I wasn't really planning on expanding the chamber that much, if at all, so I'm not sure how many shots I'll get out of it/if it'll be powerful enough. At the same time, the QEV will dump the pressure much faster than the ball valve I previously used so maybe it'll make up for it. Any ideas on improving this before I put this together? Bonus pic, wip technical drawing (making a mockery of bs8888 standards, whoops!) [img_thumb]http://oi47.tinypic.com/292setz.jpg[/img_thumb]

[QUOTE=Garb;39915969]Started making some grips for my 1911 handgun: [IMG]http://i869.photobucket.com/albums/ab255/Yournameisinvalid21/photo_zps0e60670a.jpg[/IMG] they are like 40% done[/QUOTE] Is that balsa wood?, should use something interesting like rosewood, now that would be cool.

It's walnut, but the picture is terrible :v:

Okay I've got a load of bamboo in my back yard. [thumb]https://photos-4.dropbox.com/t/0/AAC488j0r9RnbKzDTNfuTdTeyq7pEvd2pVXVk076TbAMBA/12/108263985/jpeg/32x32/3/_/1/2/20130316_223214.jpg/_2vhiBypYGXBxyK0Sj3_vjfDcP-QvDSz9hycXl4dj-Y?size=1024x768[/thumb] So, what do I do with it? Give me some ideas.