All posts by mrfitzer

dua

A few great retro finds

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Heres the booty from todays shopping:

First and foremost a timbuk2 large laptop bag! Purchased for $2! It’s brand new! It’s $170 on the timbuk2 site.  I have a timbuk2 messenger bag that I’ve been using for a few years, ultra rugged, waterproof fabric, but missing a divided pockets that are handy in a bag.  My new large laptop messenger is a little bigger and has a few well placed pockets.  I also like it because it will hold my Mr. Bento, thermos, and a water bottle.  I normally lug all of these to work looking a bit like a refuge traveling with all of their worldly belongings.

I hit another sale and found a cache of cool retro vintage bits

Highlights include a wescott bull’s eye pocket watch ($4), its not very accurate, but it loud tick sounds awesome. The gold tone watch is a Seiko S3 ($2) it runs and appears to be fairly accurate.

I also picked up three old pocket knives ($2 lot) a cool flippy wallet and a black leather cigar case that make great pencil holders.

Oddly my biggest purchase of the day was lunch of a braut, bottled water, and a tasty cookie.

analog

Keith Monks Record Cleaner

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This months stereophile (may2009) has a review of a Keith Monks record cleaner, an amazing product but a little out of my price range at $4,000.

I’ve been using a home brew record cleaning solution for a while now and an improvised turntable and shop vac system to clean records. After reading the review of the Keith Monks cleaner I think I want to build an upgrade.

I found a great site http://www.soundfountain.com/amb/rc1.html that breaks down the operation of the Monks cleaner and has some great pictures of the compressor setup of the brushes and vacuum system.

Here’s a cleaner recipe and diagrams from the soundfountian site. It’s very similar to the recipe I blogged here

2 liter distilled water
1 liter alcohol
1/2 liter isopropyl alcohol
20 to 30 drops of liquid detergent

The number of drops depends on the effectiveness of the washing detergent.

Here are the compressor and cleaning fluid containers


Home brew diagram
Monks Diagram
I think I can develop something between the homebrew and monks machine.

raygun
raygun

Atomic Disruptor Raygun

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Here’s the project that led to my 15 minutes of Internet fame….

Atomic Disruptor Raygun HDR

I’m a scifi fan and I’ve had the idea to build a raygun model tumbling around for a while. After a bountiful hamfest I found the key parts to build and across a weekend I fabricated a raygun model out of an old radio, 8mm movie projector, 35mm slide projector, camera parts, brass sheet stock and assorted rivets, screws, nuts, and bolts.

I photographed the camera in studio and posted to flickr and the makezine pool.

It was blogged on make magazine, and was gizmotos image of the day. and a handful of others sites – 28,000 hits on my flicker account over 24 hours.

About a week later Corey Doctrow blogged in on BoingBoing and kabam another 57,000 hits over a 24 hour period. WOW.

Here’s a link to more pics of the project

uke case

Uke Case Mod

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My $5 thrift store uke needs a home. I’m in the process of building a case that will include salvaged sleep machine to provide relaxing surf backgorund while playing. I may also include a amp and piezeo pickup for the uke. I’ve constructed the case from scrap poplar and a masonite like stock salvaged from a particle board computer desk. I’ll use contact cement to apply a fabric cover to the case.

mp3

Retro MP3 player

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Here’s the concept – I found a great speaker enclosure at ham fest, it’s dying to gain new life as a bedside mp3 player. Think old radio with a 2 gig aesthetic play list to lull someone to sleep. Old radio broadcasts intertwined with simple jazz and classical selections segue with radio tuning and static pushed through a 50 year old 3″ speaker to mask the digital to analog converter and solid state amp in the $10 2gig mp3 player purchased from Microcenter. The rub lies in the interface, I’ve already dissected the mp3 player and I want to use old school toggle switches to navigate, no display needed just play, next track, maybe a folder jump switch. Volume via old school potentiometer, Switches no problem, soldering to the tiny contacts in the thumb sized device will be a bit tricky. Stay tuned.
recipe

Congee Recipe

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Congee Recipe
 
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I discovered Congee on a trip to China, Bland in taste, it acts as a base for many toppings, including ginger, scallion, soy sauce, sesame oil, fish, peanuts, shrimp, sliced salted duck eggs, and chopped daikon. I enjoyed trying the different mysterious pickled vegtables at our hotel each morning. The recipe is by Rhonda Parkinson, About.com Congee, served with crullers for dipping, is a classic Chinese breakfast dish. This is basic recipe for congee that you can add to as desired. There are no rules about what to add: meat, fish, vegetables, and healthy herbs, shredded lotus root and gingko nuts are all popular. You can also make a sweet version of congee with Chinese dates (jujubes) and a bit of rock sugar. Add the secondary ingredients after bringing the rice to a boil, before turning down the heat. Serves 6 to 8
Author:
Recipe type: Breakfast
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup long grain rice
  • 9 cups water
  • 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
  1. Preparation:
  2. In a large pot, bring the water and rice to a boil.
  3. When the rice is boiling, turn the heat down to medium low. Place the lid on the pot, tilting it to allow steam to escape (the same as you would do when making cooked rice1.
  4. Cook on medium low to low heat, stirring occasionally, until the rice has the thick, creamy texture of porridge (1 - 1¼ hours). Add the salt, taste and add seasonings if desired. Serve with garnishes such as crushed peanuts if desired.
lapsteel

Another Project Idea…

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Guitar building is a great winter activity, I’m probably going to file this one away until it gets chilly out.

Lapsteel guitars are cool low-fi rockstar stuff, combined with the cool Ouija graphics I think it has the potential to be a great furniture guitar cool item. Here’s an image found online that will serve as inspiration:

I started research, scale refers to the length between the bridge and nut. I’ll be building the standard 22.5″

lots of other info here
http://www.bluestemstrings.com/page5.html

food

Mr. Bento

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I found the best lunchbox ever….Introducing Mr. Bento. 4 individual containers that nest in what looks like a large soup Thermos. The two bottom containers are insulated keeps things toasty or chilly. It also has a very fancy stainless steel spork. I really didn’t get the idea until it arrived. The small compartments keep portions in check. Here’s lunch: chicken salad sandwich with pickles, snap peas with miso dressing, almonds, 2 gram crackers and 2pc chocolate for desert

top10

10 Fantastic Daily Use Products That Just Happen to be Green

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(Draft)

I’ve been trying to put a green focus on my lifestyle and in the process I’ve found that I really like some of the technology.


1. Welshi Safety Razor – I recently switched to a safety razor, 1950’s technology that just works better. A blade replacement costs ten to 40 cents and I’m not throwing away a bunch of plastic, and it’s a much closer shave than the 15 blade Gillette titanium wonder shaver I was using before.


2. French Press – I think this 2 cup press is great. No filter to throw away and it limits my coffee intake by design, If I brew a whole pot I tend to drink most of it.


3. Mr. Bento Lunch Box – Another product that is amazing by design. Four small insulated containers encourage you to pack reasonable servings and I feel obligated to fill all four compartments after packing a main course (usually leftovers) I have to resort to things like fruits and vegetables to fill the rest.


4. Plastic Laundry basket – Find one that fits into a shopping cart and take it to the grocery. Loading and unloading the car is easier, and your not adding to your collection of 5000 plastic bags that you always shove underneath the sink in the kitchen.


5. Shave Soap – this goes hand in hand with the safety razor, a puck of this soap costs about $1.5o. The paper packaging is easily recycled. Getting the lather right takes a bit of practice but it’s chemical free composition really cuts down on skin irritation.
6. Aluminum Water Bottle – Rugged, Green, and pays for itself in about a week if your hydrating correctly.


7. Tea Infuser – Not a coffee fan? Try a cup of tea. I like loose teas over their paper laden brethren primarily because they are usually much higher quality product and you skip throwing away all of the packaging.


8. NiMH rechargeable batteries – If you find that your buying disposable batteries, stop and think for a second. A couple sets of good rechargeable will pay for easily pay for themselves, and keep these little toxic nuggets out of a landfill.


9. Handkerchiefs – This is another gem of forgotten technology. I received a package of these from an elderly relative. I’m still packing Kleenex for blowing my nose, but I’ve found lots of other uses for these squares of fabric. Here’s are a few application I’ve used: Wiping sweat from your brow, wiping up spills at work, cleaning tissue for cell phone and sunglasses, . You get the idea, for Macguyver minded individuals this is a handy technology to have around.


10. Messenger Bag – I use a messenger bag for work and it stays packed with the day to day stuff I need. I keep a second empty bag by my door and I’ve gotten in the habit of grabbing it on my way to the store for a few items. For bigger trips I use a plastic laundry basket. I got my second bag at a garage sale for .25, conference shwag bags are great for this application.