DIY Camera Copy Stand - Idea developing.

Looking back over the 1000s of photos I have taken pre-digital, it makes me want to get them digitized. Over the years I have traveled around the world to places like Egypt, Kenya, England, Australia, Alaska, Hawaii, France and Japan (And a bunch more places after having a digital camera). But all my photos are now in boxes with the negatives, and collecting dust most likely. I am sure that out of the 1000s of photos there has got to be a few good ones, which lead me down the trail of trying to get them digitized. At first I was looking at getting a scanner for 35mm negatives, but after reading about them, the good ones are expensive, and cheap ones are not worth it. Next step was the copy stand and the light box, both I believe can be DIY built items. I think first I am going to try and tackle the copy stand, and from there I will see if I need to go the route of a true light box, or something DIY. The copy stand I have been looking at is $190, so if I can come in under budget, ie less then 190$ I would consider it a win. The original items I was looking at are: Skier Foldable Copy Stand V2 ($190) Skier Sunray Copy Box 3 SET The camera I currently have is the Canon T5i, still need a macro lens for this also from what I understand, and then there is the possiblity of needing additional software for the negatives.

Thoughts on Aquaponics

Recently I have wanted to try and make a backyard garden with my kids, but I wanted it a little more interesting.  This is where I started to read and learn about Aquaponics.   In case anyone does not know what Aquaponics means:

A food production system that combines conventional aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as snails, fish, crayfish or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. In normal aquaculture, excretions from the animals being raised can accumulate in the water, increasing toxicity. In an aquaponic system, water from an aquaculture system is fed to a hydroponic system where the by-products are broken down by nitrification bacteria into nitrates and nitrites, which are utilized by the plants as nutrients. The water is then recirculated back to the aquaculture system. - From Wikipedia

I think I could use my backyard and build a raised spice garden out of some 2x4's and other material. And then get a tank or something to use as a tank and go from there.  I would love to use Tilapia or Barramundi fish, but might have to start with just gold fish to see how it all works. Besides with Barramundi or Tilapia I will need a much larger "tank".

I thought about buying one of those pre-built from Amazon, but were is the fun in that. Besides those are very small, but I would probably kill those fish anyway.

Any thoughts?  Anybody ever try and make one of these? Or even bought the one off of Amazon or anywhere else?

It would be nice to be able to go in the backyard, grab your vegetables, spices, and even a fish and make a fresh meal.  

Thoughts on a NAS.

Sometime in the near future I maybe back underway, and was already thinking of some of the things that I would like to have with me out to sea.  One of the first things that came to mind was some sort of storage device for movies, tv shows, pictures, and games.  

I currently have a 2TB drive that I have been using for quite some time but that is at max capacity. Thinking of picking up another 2TB or 3TB depending on prices but that would be another external device to have.  I would like something that would be able to store about 3-4 drives and that is not to big.

I was thinking about just purchasing a standard NAS but that would take all the fun out of it.  Plus I have some other requirements that would like to be met.  For one it cannot be very big in size.  I don't want it to be the size of a regular PC, as there are not many places to store something like this.  It also has to be easy to secure. When the sea gets rough I want to make sure its held tight (not to big of an issue).  I am not going to go crazy and get SSD drives for this setup (which would be better, but not cost effective for what I would like it to do).

Another issue is that I would like it to be accessible via wireless N by at least 10 user's at a time.  By any sort of devices (Laptops/Computers/Tablets).  But it only needs to serve about living room size area (dont have actual size just yet)  All depends on were I could store this, and have a place to connect the power).

Would also like to set it up to have different levels of access, so I could see everything on there, but others might only see movies, or TV shows.

This will probably be a home build but need help just getting the idea of the ground.  I still have at least a few months to figure this out but wanted to see if anyone could provide me with a starting point, and maybe a price range to look at.  I would be looking at it without the hard drives for the moment.

I will have to get someone to take some measurements so I have an idea of what sizes I would need but I will be going from something the size of the traditional NAS sizes by NETGEAR, DLINK, ect.

Next Project: Treasure Finder

A few weeks ago I found a cool weekend project over @Make.  It was a metal detector and was considered a weekend build.  I have always loved the idea of treasure hunting, you know panning for gold, metal detectors and all that.  I don't remember ever getting anything worth it while doing these as a kid, but it was the dream that you would find a big nugget of gold, or some lost treasure trove from pirates, or bandits.

I think this would be a fun gadget to play with my daughters after we build it of course.  We can make some initial scans around the block to see what we can find, or I could possibly hid gifts or other items for them to look for.  Maybe I could incorporate it into a bigger picture type thing.  I could possibly use it as a starting point for a scavenger hunt....idea's are endless.

Overall the build states that it a moderate build, so I am not to sure how much I will be able to have my daughters work on it.  I saw that there was some PCB etching with a laser printer, that's beyond anything I have done so that will be interesting.  After that some soldering, which I am horrible at.  One change I think I will try and do is the length of the pole for the detector.

I would like it to have multiple height points, easy enough I think.  I could probably repurpose one of those Swifter/Clorox floor wipes.  Might have to put insulation around it (in case wires touch I would think).  Also probably add the headphone jack, and volume control.  I remember how loud those thing are, don't want to annoy the neighborhood.

Link to Make Article:  Treasure Finder
Picture from Make Article.

Do & Discover Maze Challenge

Remember the game Operation?  This is sort of the same thing.  I made a post about this last week when I picked it up at the store. I found this at ToyRus for 7.99 and thought it would be a great project for the girls to try and put together.  The pieces overall were pretty big and easy to assemble.

I had to help my three year old push in some of the items, but my five year old was able to push them in.  I guided them by explaining where all the pieces go and how to connect them together.

I then connected all the wires for the projects and set out to let them play with it.  We setup this project twice, once for the younger one and then again for my oldest daughter so they each had their own turn building and playing with it.

Unboxing of the project it.

Overall I was very happy with the overall build quality, and ease of use of this project especially for the cost.  And I believe that if we purchase other items from the same company that these can be interlinked to do more.  We will have to wait and see on that one.

This is our end product once we put all the pieces together.  One issue I did have and it was probably more user error then anything else was the on/off switch would slide to off the more you touched the wire.  Or the swing arm would get stuck caught on a wire.  Both are easy fixes though.

Home-made pretzel bites

Another fun project that I did with my girls was to make soft pretzel bites.  I have made pretzels before but they came out not really looking like a pretzel so this time I opted for bite size pieces.  I basically followed Alton Brown's recipe for a soft pretzel, but cut them to bite size pieces before cooking them.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
• Vegetable oil, for pan
• 10 cups water
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
• Pretzel salt

I followed the directions and let the dough proof for about 2 hours, which got it to about double its size.  After that I rolled them into equal dough balls about 4.5 oz.  Not really a requirement just made them easier to deal with.   Each ball I then rolled out to a long rope and used a pizza cutter to make bite size pieces as shown below. 

Now with the oven preheated to 450, I setup a saucepan with the 10 cups of water and the 2/3 cups of baking soda for a the pretzels to have a boiling baking soda wash before the egg wash and salting.  You only need to put them in the wash for about 30 seconds.    After that add the egg wash  and salt and drop them in the oven for about 13 minutes or until they look great.

Just look at them sitting on the cooling rack, they were mighty tasty and I know that some of the neighbors thought they were great.  Sorry for the rest of them who did not get to try them, maybe next time.

I think I found a new project: Nimble Noggin

One of my coworker always brings in those "Skymall" or similar magazines selling the newest gadgets, so today I had a few minutes and decided to take a look through one of them.  I saw an interesting toy that I think I might be able to construct myself.  

It is a toy that reminds me of the game Operation, but you have a wand that you try and move it around a twisted wire without touching the sides.  If it touches it makes beeps, or lights up.  I found the one I saw in the magazine online : Nimble Noggin.

Working on sourcing parts for next project

Starting next week I am going to start sourcing parts for the next project which I think will be the HAB (High Altitude Ballon) photography.  I will have to start searching around and get a good idea of what things might be important to add onto it.

Right now I know I will need a

• weather ballon
• camera
• gps tracking capabilities
• a container

I know over at Make magazine they just had a post about a father/son team who sent one up, and SparkFun has some tutorials over on thier site also on things (though I think they may have gone a little overboard for my needs).

 I also will have to find a good place to launch from, and source some helium (maybe party city), not sure how much it takes to fill a ballon that size.  If anyone has any idea's drop a comment.  Once I start getting the project together I will post some updates.

Second Dark detecting LED built

I started this one at about 9pm tonight right after I finished eating dinner, and finished by 11:30pm.  Not to bad, getting better at this maybe soon I will get them done in a reasonable time frame.  If I had better skills and better accommodations where I was working I could have probably gotten it done a lot quicker.  Who's counting anyway the important thing is that they are done.

I think I did a better job this time with the soldering, not 100% better but better anyway.  I will have to take a class or something.  I also need to pick up so different color wires, everything is black again so it will be a guessing game were what goes to what, but hey it only really needs to work for Halloween right?

Projects for Kids

I have been trying to figure out the next project for my daughters.  I would like to try and keep the costs reasonable but I also want something that will interest two little girls.

I have to confess that I am a gadgets geek, and like to see things explode, love fireworks.  I think my daughters love them to.  But in this day and age its kind of hard to build your own fireworks like when I was younger.  Before I realized that they could be dangerous, but then there is no learning is there?

I want to make some silly putty, and maybe some chalk, but beyond that I have run out of Ideas.  Maybe we could build some walkie talkies out of something, hmm might have to search something on that.

VHS Camcorder Hacking

The other day as I was cleaning out my storage locker I found my old JVC GR-AXM510 VHS camcorder (mini vhs) like that makes it any better.  I searched on Amazon, and then Ebay to see if anyone was selling to see if it might be worth it.  

Well I found I can buy the batteries for this thing.  So lets move onto the next step, what can I do with this.  How can I hack/tinker with this camcorder to do something new.  Maybe make night vision goggles?  Hmmm what else?  

Anyone have any ideas of what I can do with this?  Please post comments.  

DIY Recirculating Water bowl

After hearing the Cat meow for the 100th time it was brought up that he might like water that is flowing, so I decided to see what was available online and also how much that would set me back.  In the back of my head though I was wondering how hard it would be to build something like this myself and the costs of it.  Well something like this from Veterinary Ventures is probally what the wife wants.

Only 45$ I am sure I can make something for a lot cheaper, maybe not as refined but still serving the same purpose.  And why do I have a feeling that we had purchased something like this for our first cat before we got rid of it.  Hmm wonder now if we got rid of that, we still had the "automatic" cat litter cleaner.  Yea that worked great never recommend that to anyone.

Well I will do some searching and see what else I can come up with and start my building just for fun anyway.  
I would like it battery operated so no wires anywhere,  maybe add some charcoal for filtering. I would like to to have a storage of few ounces of water so it does not have to be constantly refilled.

I know I saw a few over on instructables so that will be a good start.

Digital Picture Frame

I have wanted to build a DPF for a long time now, and actually started about a year ago with an old dell laptop.  Since then I had life take over and I had put that on the back burner for other projects or just day to day life.  About 2 months ago I picked up the laptop and tried to start it up with no success.

I did not want to get rid of the laptop so I put it in storage till today, I happened to see it sitting by my desk so I decided to give it another try, and on first try it started up.  So now to go download some software and start working on the project.

Requirements


Wireless
Slideshows
Video's
Music

*I would also love it to be able to pull the pictures off of say Picasa or another service (we currently use Picasa).

I am planning on using Ubuntu as that was what I was originally using.  

Stay tuned for more updates on this project.

Installing Jolicloud on netbook

On my EEEpc 901 I have been running Windows 7, and after that I started to run Android.  Today I am going to try out Jolicloud and report back what I find out about this operating system.  From all accounts this OS is designed specifically for net books so it should be interesting.

New Projects to look at

I spend a lot of time over at Make and Instructables viewing their content to try and find new projects for my daughters.  I think I am going to try these next.

• Lemon powered light
• Tomato power light
• electromagnetic levitation
• Silly Putty
• Lego mold for ice cubes and chalk (thanks to GeekDad).
• DIY Chalk ( thanks to Crayola) going to use the Lego Blocks from above for this.
• DIY crayons.

I have to order the moldrite for the Lego molds which will cost about $45 and wait for that to be shipped for at the chalk, ice cubes, and crayon projects to make them look like Lego's.  I also need to pick up some other silicone designs for putting in the oven for them also (hearts, diamonds, ect).

Marshmallow shooter updated

Yesterday I headed over to the local Home Depot to pick up some parts required for the marshmallow gun.  A quick list of the items that I picked up.

2      1/2" PVC pipes
1      1 1/2" T Pipe
3      1 1/2 to 3/4 Reducers
1      1/2 PVC Ball Joint
1      Tire Valve
1      Mini Bike Pump
1      Pipe Cutter

Marshmallow shooter

I have been interested in building one of these ever since I saw them at Toy R Us.  But I want mine to be pump action, and even have a magazine if possible to that end I have been seraching on line for some sort of starting point. 

I believe that I may have found a starting point for my marshmallow shooter in an article from Instructables.  Or this one also from Instructables (Shooter).

I also want mine a little differant.  I am thinking instead of a  3 liter bottle on the end maybe use a 2" pipe capped on one end, and also maybe changing out the red ball valve to something that might be trigger activated like in my compressed air launcher. 

I have to stop by a sports store to pick up a hand ball pump.  Once I start to get the items I will take pictures of the progress and post them up there.  If anyone has any idea's that would be great.

For a list of options I want this to do:

Compressed Air
Trigger Activated
Auto Refill (or magazine)

Rockets in Flight

Today we had our test flights with the new rockets and well they went pretty high, but they never released the parachute.  I guess its back to the drawing board with these rockets.  One of the good things though is since it had a "payload" section that was the part of the rocket that got the most damage. 

I think I have to lighten up the nose cone a bit, and also make the parachute smaller and have the nose cone release easier, but overall it was still a blast to watch the rockets go off.  I also purchased Estes rocket for about 6 dollars that fit over 1/2 PVC that went about 10 feet in the air and then it dropped and opened the chute.

I think I can modify that rocket to be able to be shot off the my rocket launcher, so  I will also make some changes to that rocket.  Next will be to add the LED light to one of the rockets and have them shot off at night, probally in about a week or so. 

Till next time.

Rocket building in progress!

Rocket Building

I have been searching the web, and designing my next compressed air rockets for the past week.  Currently I have 2 almost built rockets with payloads (parachutes).  Once I have them completed I will post pictures of all the pieces.  Here are some of the current parts to the rockets :

Thats the basic body of the rocket.  

Followed by the payload section

Next up is the is the shock cord

I have almost finished the fins and the nose cones, once they are completed I will post an update.