Author Archives: shrimphead
20 Minute Gate Project
“If you have time to build it once, build it right. When I first built my garden gate I was reusing old roof strapping and still learning the basics of carpentry as well as everything else. 5 years later I’m still working on the rudiments of wood working. The most interesting part is the the […]
Cryptex
My latest project is almost finished. A simple clasp based on a cryptex (popularized by DaVinci code). Except this version has only one code slider, and instead of unlocking cryptex with a code word this one has a ‘lock’ and ‘unlock’ position. Above: Major component parts of the codex. (L-R) Receptacle housing (in which all […]
Work Music
The Lathe from David Schembri on Vimeo. I was doing this exact same operation on my lathe this morning. Except I wasn’t listening to Edith Piaf. I was playing the soundtrack to Imuhar (another track) one of my all time favourite albums. Now I think I’ll track down some Edith Piaf, sounds very inspirational to work […]
Home made milling machine built into a semi!
Big Wooden Ball Project from Mike Leuis on Vimeo. This guy built a home made tree lathe (with milling) on a semi! Add to that a built in crane to actually lift the massive pieces that he mills. Wow. This thing is huge! I’m amazed at what drives people. In this case he sold a […]
Stainless Steel
My first time working in stainless steel. When I first stated a few months ago all that I could find at the hardware store was steel rod and old rusted out steel piping. Then I ordered some aluminium online and found it turned so easily. It was the difference between spreading butter or cold tar […]
Mechanical Computing
Two recent inspirational posts: the binary clock Most numary systems are base 10, but clocks work on a base 12 system. You count to 12 then start over. This enterprising clock maker took it one step further by using the binary model of computers to display the numbers. 0000 = 0 (or 12) 0001 = […]
Stage one: The Bolt
This is the first part. The retractable bolt that will fit into stage two locking the pieces together.