(2-7-2018) Wow, time flies...

 First, here was the completed Keezer from the previous posts.  I think it turned out very well and it provided cold beer for about a year before the compressor gave up the ghost and a new Keezer needed to be built.

 Here is the new freezer before conversion started.

And the new Keezer once it was completed.  There is more I want to do, but for now it keeps the beer cold - even colder than the old Keezer and costs less to operate.


Also, this past summer we did a rebuild of an old Ford 5000 that we've had on the farm for 25 years.

Parts tractor was pulled along side and best parts of both were put make one really good tractor.

A little paint, some vinyl graphics on the side and viola - a fresh looking Ford 5000

And during that same time period I worked on making R2-D2 look like a finished robot.  He still needs some work, but he's very close to being complete.

There are tons of other projects - lots of vinyl jobs, powder coating, some metal casting (or failed attempts to metal cast), a rat-rod golf cart, 3D printing and various other projects that have been done since my last update.  That's all for now...

(07/14/2016) Busy, but not in the shop...

It's been a busy month with lots of things going on - but not much progress happening in the shop.  I did finish painting the "keezer".

And I built a 2x4 collar for the taps.

And I rebuilt some taps for it as well...  but there is still a lot of work to be done before I can order a keg and enjoy the rewards of my labors.

The past two weekends have been very busy - with 4th of July family visiting and last weekend we had a cookout / LAN party in the shop.  So, it's been lots of fun, but not much work getting done in the shop - well other than the little jobs that don't get on the radar (vinyl for trucks, t-shirt designs, computer repair, etc...) for things that would go on the blog.

(06-12-2016) Keezer build begins

What do you do with a rusty chest freezer from 1973?  You use it to make a Keezer (Keg-Freezer) to keep your beer cold.

I didn't get a lot done on the first day - removed the lid and hinges, cleaned the interior of the freezer, wire brushed any rusty spots and then painted the interior.

(06-04-2016) A Tower of towers and new graphics for the bowling game...

Saturday was spent formatting and installing the OS on this tower of PCs.  Thanks Charles and Reggie for hooking me up!

While these were formatting I also created new graphics for the bowling machine.  I think these colors work much better than the previous graphics.

(05-29-2016) PC Build, Brakes and a PC teardown...

I built a new PC out of old parts - except for the case and power supply.  It has lots of space for being a file server, but most of the hard drives I have for it are bad - oh well.

Then Flash brought down the Porsche 914 and we installed front brakes onto it.  No pics...

Then Goose water-cooled his PC by dumping a bottle of water into the case.  He pulled the plug as fast as he could - but it's toast.  The power supply is good, the RAM is good, but we don't know about the rest.  Hoping the vid card and CPU are still okay - maybe we'll get lucky and just have to buy a motherboard.

(05-28-2016) CNC Mill update

Here is a CNC mill that a buddy saved from the trash and brought to the shop.  I've had it for a few years and never had it really working - I did build a new interface box using an Arduino running grbl and some motor controller, as well as installed new motors - but it always seemed to have a few issues.

Saturday I decided that I was finally going to get it working and focus on making happen.  It took quite a while and lots and lots of testing but it now works!

(05-27-2016) New kart graphics

I think this one turned out fairly well.  It's good to get a shot of it completed before it's hits the track.

(05-26-2016) New arcade project is finished!

It took a week or so to build it, but the new "Back Alley Bowling" machine is ready to play.  I was able to salvage the marquee light and speaker from the original game.  The finishing touch was to add a second monitor on top so that spectators could easily see the game from a distance.

I will probably add more graphics later, but for now it's done.

(05-18-2016) Play testing and new shirts!

Flash and I went through the process of making sure the Ultra-Secret Project is now fully playable and made sure the second monitor and sound are all working.  Everything works - and it's down to cleaning and finishing the cabinet.

Then we created some new shirts.  We used to visit a bar when we were kids called the "Here's Tuit Tavern" that had shirts like this.  It took some time to alter the font to get it working, but it definitely gets the point across...

..normal...

...and the reveal...

(05-16-2016) Ultra-secret project - day 2

The Ultra-Secret Project took another step forward last night.  Jody came over and helped me get the monitor fitted into the machine as well as the trackball and buttons in the control panel.  Almost everything is mocked up, but I'm still waiting on hardware to finalize the control panel.