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As of 5/9/05 |
Various Extra-curricular Projects |
| Completed | I built the walking forklift from Aliens as my Halloween 06 costume. |
| Completed | I built a costume for Halloween 05, I was the APU fighting walking-tank from The Matrix movies. |
| Hiatus | I have R/C aircraft (slope gliders, electric, glow powered trainers, and even a rocket powered X-20) that sit unused for the past two years, but I expect to restart working on them RSN (real soon now). Update: 10/07 - Maybe not RSN. Flying real airplanes is more fun right now. |
| Working | I am now a PP-ASEL, Private Pilot,
Aircraft, Single-Engine, Land! I'm flying as often as I can now, and I
hope to buy or build a plane soon. Flying is GREAT! I wish I had
done this years ago. I'm checked out in Piper Cherokees and
Cessna-152s, more to come. As soon as I get checked out in the local
172, I'm going to go for my tailwheel endorsement, then my complex.
After that, time to start working on the instrument rating! Update: 10/07, I now own my own airplane. I'm in the process of upgrading the panel to begin instrument training. |
| Aborted/Hiatus | I also have an interest in electronics and made significant progress
towards building an autopilot to I could convert one of my planes into a UAV,
but once I had solved most of the technical hurdles and had a working inertial
guidance box w/ digital compass & GPS, my interest flickered and I moved on to
something else. 12/31/04 - Status update: I'm
starting to think about this again, this time using the FMA CoPilot training
assistance device to keep the plane level. |
| Completed | I've built a number of potato cannons, both flame powered (The fuel
lifecycle: hair spray -> starter fluid -> propane -> (then logically
acetylene, right? Partially why I stopped at Propane, so I could retain
as many limbs as possible) using a BBQ igniter and also some others that are
pneumatic. The pneumatic ones are by far my favorite because, and this
is important, they fire reliably. I use an electric solenoid
valve built for sprinkler systems, and it's beautiful. I pump the
reservoir up from my electric compressor, pour a little water down the barrel,
and when I press that fire button, I get a nice blast of aerated water, not 20
minutes of clicking the igniter, checking the fuel air mixture, then clicking
some more. Click here to see more. |
| Completed | I converted one of my pneumatic cannons
into a flame cannon. I'll post diagrams and pictures on a separate
page later, the basic idea is that it shoots an aerosol of denatured alcohol
through the flame from a MAP torch (propane works fine too). When
fired straight up, it makes a fireball that goes up 30-40 feet and turns
into a mushroom cloud of flame. Within 5 minutes of firing it, police
showed up, so it seems to be a functioning attention getter. Click here to see more. |
| Hiatus | Building a computerized Stargate model. I really like the show Stargate SG-1, so I thought it might be neat to make a stargate model that turns electronically and 'dials' different sequences. I build two prototypes, one out of foam board, then another out of hardboard. Both were powered by a modified aircraft servo which is in turn being controlled by an OOPIC micro controller. I started to lose interest when I had problems making perfectly round dialing disks. I'm sure that I could have something made by a professional type, but what's the fun? |
| Completed | I actually started a project and stuck with it to completion, much to the surprise of all my friends and family. It was a 'mech-suit' costume for Halloween that I wore and my son 'drove'. To see more info, click here. |
| Aborted | I installed a navigation system in our RV (comprised of an LCD monitor,
half a laptop, a GPS) but neglected to finish the wiring. I've got
something like 20 minutes of work left, but it's sat in its current state for
almost 6 months as of typing this, so... don't hold your breath. 12/31/04 - Changing to aborted for now, I don't know that I'll be finishing this, the RV is a bit of a mess. |
| Working | I've installed a computer in my car and I am continuing to refine it. I've got a touchscreen on my dash, a big hard drive full of music and movies, and it's connected to my onboard engine computer & more. I'll make a separate page for it sometime. |
| Completed | I've mounted a camera on an R/C tank for
exploring the dark mysteries of... the crawlspace of my house. Click here to see more. |
Miscellaneous