(09-18-2010) 911 Update

The 911 has been down for a while because of charging issues. This weekend it got a new alternator, a new battery, new battery terminals and a bit of a rewire in the battery compartment. I don't have a voltmeter, so I can't tell how well it's working, but so far it seems to be charging just fine.

(08-28-2010) Signal Light wiring complete

Today I wired up the signal light sequencer board and gave it works great. It has a potentiometer to change the amount of time for the red and green lights, and yellow is always 5 seconds. Now that it's all working properly, I can get to work cleaning and restoring the case.

(08-22-2010) Signal Light

I found an old signal light at the swap meet this weekend. I just did some wiring, cleaned the lenses and tested it. It still needs to be really cleaned and painted, but I think it will be cool hanging in the shop.

(05-29-2010) Blondie update

Poor Blondie, after 221,000 miles she needed some attention. Her water flange had broken and needed replacing. An easy job, once you figure out where the coolant is coming from. Time will tell if I got all of the leaks, but I she's ready for another few miles.

(04-17-2010) Josh wins his first race!

Josh won on his first time out. Congratulations, Josh!

(04-28-2010) Virtua Racing update

Last night I spent a few minutes working on the Viruta Racing machine. I adjusted the brake potentiometer on the player 1 side, and now the machine is fully playable without any problems. Now, I want to clean up and restore the machine - but for now it's great to just be able to play the game.

(04-23-2010) WOOT!!! Virtua Racing DUAL!!!

Tonight I finally got the DUAL part working on the Virtua Racing cabinet - before it had been a strictly solo experience. Lots of tweaking to do to fix a few problems, but it's a lot of fun as it is.

(04-03-2010) Josh's car

Flash, Josh and I put graphics on Josh's stock-car. I think it turned out pretty good. Good luck with the racing, Josh.

(03-26-2010) Goose approved!

Goose finally got to try the kart out for the first time. He had a good time, until he bit his tongue while driving. Oh well, live and learn.

(03-24-2010) The Dragon is Loosed!

Today I finished up the kart and even took it for a couple of quick test laps around the house to make sure everything worked. Then I pulled it back inside and put it to bed until The Goose comes to give it a try this weekend.

On other fronts, I've been working on the Virtua Racing machine, trying to get both sides of the game working. So far no luck.

(03-12-2010) It's not finished!!

Goose was none too happy that the kart wasn't finished, as you can tell by the fine Pakistan steel he wielded against me. I was able to manage a stay of execution by promising to finish the kart soon. :)

(03-10-2010) Seat for the blue dragon

Made a seat bottom for the blue dragon last night. I now know why I don't do upholstery work for a living. It's definitely not a great job, but it will work for this old kart. I have the seat back cut and ready to stuff and cover. Soon it will be down to putting the motor back on and having some fun!

(03-08-2010) The Blue Dragon

I made some graphics to the go-kart using the vinyl cutter.

I also go the stuff for the seat today, but just didn't have the time to make that happen.

(03-06-2010) Ol' Yeller becomes Ol' Blue

Saturday I spent sanding and grinding and painting my son's go-kart. It's still a $25 go-kart, but it looks like it could be worth almost $50 now.

I still need to make some new seats and repaint and install the motor. Hope to have it ready for next weekend when The Goose (my son) arrives.

(01-23-2010) Dad's truck continued

This past week I have been working on the old truck, just giving it a good tune up. Did an oil change, put some stop-leak in the power steering pump, new spark plugs and thermostat. Also did some cleaning of the truck and installed a under the hood for emergencies. The old truck is shaping up. Looking forward to having it on the road.

(01-19-2010) Dad's old truck

My brother Dave and his wife, Audrey, gave me an old truck, but it's not just any old truck to me. It was my dad's truck. It's in dire need of a little TLC to get it road worthy again. I installed a new alternator and have a list of other things that need to be done, but hope to have it on the road again, soon.

Thanks Dave and Aud, you guys are awesome - but you already knew that. :)

(10-01-2009) Home Automation continues...

Edit: I've decided that this really doesn't fit on my "shop" page. So, all future posts about home automation will be posted on this page: Don's Home Automation


Last night, while fighting off a cold, I worked on an X-10 interface for the CM11A, and it finally works. So, now I can use the PC to turn on and off lights and other devices. I have yet to weave it into my main home automation program, but the hard work is now done.

Current interfaces for the Weeder W800RF and the CM11A are working. I think the CM17 (aka The Bottlerocket) will probably be next - but I want to make it part of the CM11A interface, so that both the CM11A and the CM17 are on the same port.

For those who don't know: The CM11A sends/receives commands through the power lines, while the W800RF receives wireless signals and imports them into the PC. The CM17 is the opposite of the W800RF, it takes commands from the computer and creates wireless signals to control X10 devices.

(09-27-2009) Blondie's new treads...

Put new wheels and tires on Blondie today. I think they look fairly good. The pictures are a little blurry because I took them in low light, but you get the idea.

In other news, I tried installing a USB drive on a Wii this weekend and using USB Loader 1.5. I hadn't tried this before, but it works great. Also, the ISO images that store on the USB drive are much smaller than I anticipated, so you can save a bunch of games on even a small USB drive.

(09-14-2009) Slacker...

I've been slacking when it comes to working in the shop lately, but I have been working in the house adding motion and open/close sensors throughout, as well as cameras to monitor everything. I wrote custom software to monitor everything, send tweets / text messages when events happen as well as trigger sounds and speech (via voice synthesis) when these events happen. I have a few more things planned. Adding support for 3 more cameras and monitoring all doors, as well as glass-break sensors are in the plans. Just for fun, I'm planning to add an IR transmitter and setting a timed event for sending the Roomba out to clean the floor every day at a specified time.

Lots more home-automation stuff in the queue, but who knows when I'll have time or money to make it all happen.

(08-21-2009) Swap Meet Time!

Had a great time at the swap meet in Springfield, MO. Here are a few pictures that I took until my hands were too full to take pictures, which didn't take too long. Great time! Everyone who enjoys old cars and memorabilia should attend!

BTW, if you see that Model A for $250, back off, it's mine. :)