(05/15/2016) - Ultra-secret project and other things...

I have been contemplating an "ultra-secret" project for quite a while now and yesterday I finally got busy making it happen.

I first started by doing all of the wiring and testing out all of the controls to make sure it was all working.  This took quite a while, and several different searches on the 'net to find the correct schematics for this particular piece of hardware - but it now works and it's really cool to see it working.

The next step was pulling out an old arcade game from storage and gutting all of the existing hardware from it.  I was able to rip out the old JAMMA harness, CRT, game board (1942) and controls in just a few minutes and vacuumed out all of the old crud that was inside of it.

Next (no picture of this), I installed the new "ultra-secret" system and a couple of boards required to make this system work and started figuring out how to mount the new LCD monitor and what changes are needed for the control panel.

Flash came over and helped me work on Jonathan's car a little bit more.  The front suspension now seems great, and has about a 2 inch drop from factory as well.

*Flash also saw the "ultra-secret" project in action and thought it looks cool.

I need to install the rear springs so that his car will sit level, and install a new temperature sensor because it's leaking coolant.

(04/13/2016) Goose's Car

A couple of weeks ago I bought this little car, it's 2002 VW Golf with 140,000 miles on the clock.  Doesn't look too bad, but it's definitely had a hard life and needs a lot of attention.

It wasn't running, so Flash and I tried to get it running - and eventually we did get it running, for about 20 seconds.  That small amount of time running let us know that the engine sounded good, but it wouldn't throttle up and then it wouldn't start again after that.  Further inspection revealed that the timing belt looked like a long-time meth addict - it was missing a lot of teeth and the few remaining were loose and easy to remove.

The next step was to put in a new timing belt, re-time the car and put in a new water pump.  We did all of this and the car seems to run very nicely now.

The test drive then showed that that the steering needed lots of help.  The lower control arms weren't connected properly and had lots of slack in them.

We were able to pull parts from salvage cars to repair the mounting of the lower control arm, and now it's driving much better.  We also repaired a coolant leak, shift linkage and a few other little things while we were at it.

The front end still needs to be tightened up some more (probably needs new bushings in a few spots) and the car needs a thorough cleaning inside and out - but I believe it's going to be a fairly nice car once we get everything sorted out.

(03-28-2016) An update on what's been happening

It's been a while since I posted an update and thought I would bring things up to date.

First, Jeremy and I built some benches for the office and installed them.

Then Rodney came over and we powder coated his shift levers for his cool 4x4 project.

Flash and I aligned the front end of the GTI and installed the new wheels and tires.

and finally this weekend we installed a new crank position sensor into his truck - so not a lot of updates have been happening, but the shop has been busy.

(03-12-2016) Powder coating some "Fat Five" wheels for the GTI

 

After spending many hours using aircraft stripper to remove the clear coat, it was finally time to powder coat the wheels this weekend.

Prepared for paint

Powder applied and ready for cooking

 and the wheel after it's finished being baked in the oven

here are all of the wheels - now to get some tires and an alignment on the GTI

(01-30-2016) - Powder coating a gun

Jim bought some of this cool Army Green powder to paint his gun, and last night we got down to business making that happen.  I really like the color and satin finish.

(01-10-2016) Work benches completed

Today, we finished the workbenches (except for filling them up with lots of stuff).

Also, we updated two of the racing simulators with better video cards and now we can play some much better racing games.  We did some playing on the sims with "Game Stock Car Extreme" (great name for a game) and it seems really great.

(01-03-2016) Heavy bench framed

Today the "heavy bench" was framed up and now it's on to finishing out the top and the shelf.  It was much quicker and easier to build than the first bench.  Partially because of experience making a bench, but also from having a bench to use for building it as well.

(01-02-2016) Mobile workbench is complete!

Today, Flash and I, finished up the mobile workbench.  It was mostly made with recovered wood that was destined for the scrap heap, and I believe it's going to be very sturdy and useful in the future.  Looking forward to putting it to use building the "heavy" bench in the next few weeks.

(11-15-2015) Bye Bye Beetle

The Beetle now has a new and better home.  I hope you enjoy it Michael!

(11-08-2015) Blacksmithing

Michael, my son's best friend, and I worked on making a knife out of a railroad spike.  It took a long time to shape it, and much of that may have been because the forge was so small  - but Michael kept working at it and I think the results were pretty good.

(10-26-2015) The SCAG Mower arrives...

I saw this on Craigslist and just had to bring it home.  It's an old beast, but seems like it will be a good mower for my small lawn.  Looking forward to refurbishing it a bit over the winter so that it's ready to go next spring.

(10-22-2015) '70 Chevy, Signal Light and more...

I updated the signal light to use an Arduino and a relay board to control the lights.  It just cycles through for now, but I would like to put a push button that allows the operator to select different modes in the future.

I pulled the transmission pan on the 1970 Chevy truck and replaced the filter and the fluid.  It didn't seem to help the shifting problem (stuck in first gear) of the old 2 speed powerglide.  Guess I'll need to think on this one some more.

Also, I worked on the jukebox software some more.  It now has the ability to search using an on-screen keyboard and add specific music to be played.  This helps when you just got to hear your favorite song. 

(10-18-2015) More ceiling work...

The ceiling is finished, and we installed a ladder for access.  Maybe we'll get around to insulating it someday soon.

(10-03-2015) Shop ceiling

Flash and I started putting a ceiling up in the shop.  Hopefully this will help with heating the shop this winter.  Didn't get too far on the first day - but it takes time to take down the lights and put them back up.

(09-19-2015) Touchscreen Jukebox Project

This is a simple touchscreen jukebox project I stared a while back, and just started assembling it this weekend.  It's just a small wooden box with a touchscreen monitor mounted on top, the audio plugs into the audio system in the shop - so the box itself has no speakers (except those built into the laptop computer).

Here is a close up of the software I wrote for this project.  It's super simple, allows you to add a path and create a random playlist based on the votes associated with each track.  The more up votes, the higher the chance to be added, the lower a tracks votes the more chance it won't be played.  Also, this is the debug/maintenance screen - once you turn that mode off the "Empty Database" and "Add Path" buttons are not displayed.

There are a few more features I want to add, but it works for now.  More updates when I get something done worth mentioning.

(09-15-2015 / 09-17-2015) - More powder coating

 

Here are the last three feet for the bathtub, each in various stages of sandblasting.

 

Here is one covered in powder paint and waiting to be cooked at 400 for 20 minutes.

And here are they are finished and ready to go back on the tub.

(09-14-2015) Powder coating cast iron

This is a foot off of an antique bathtub.  We sandblasted it and then powder coated it with semi-gloss black.

(09-13-2015) The 32 gets some new tires

When we drove the 32 a couple days ago, one of the front tires blew, but fortunately we had some other wheels and tires from a 1936 truck that we could swap over - not as classic looking, but at least they're round.

(09-12-2015) Traffic light

Flash and I wired up an old traffic light for display in the shop.  We didn't wire this one up to be remote controlled or cycle like the others we've done - but it's still pretty cool.  We have a couple more that we might wire up as well - they might look good with the racing simulators.

(09-11-2015) 1932 gets some attention

 
Flash and I spent a little while getting the old 1932 Chevy out and got her running again.  We didn't do much other than that, but it sure was fun.

Also, Google pieced together a video from the stuff on my phone