Flickr user gdafm saw my recent rebar bike post and sent us a link to these photos he took in Ampareas, Peru, of a pedal powered grain mill made in large part of welded rebar, including pedals and a rebar bike seat. [Thanks, gdaf!]
Like many makers, I find it easy to get wrapped up in trying to perfect everything that I work on (and consequentially not get anything done).
Matti Kariluoma and a friend picked up a used guitar for a friends birthday, and wanted to add something special to it.
They’ve got to be heavy, and I can’t imagine how they might ride, but there’s no denying the post-apocalyptic awesomeness of sporting a bike you welded up yourself from a pile of rebar. Up top is a shot from the consistently-amusing-but-often-offensive There, I Fixed It, that got me Googling around for more….
A Seattle family exposed to the virulent penny floor meme has contracted a more expensive (and therefore probably less contagious) mutant strain that metabolizes nickels instead of pennies. I do like the different color effect this achieves, but by my math (and depending on how much space you leave between the coins) penny flooring costs between $2.50 and $3.00 per square foot, whereas nickel flooring costs four times as much ($10-$12). I did not bother to compute costs for quarter-, dime- (ouch), or Sacagawea dollar-flooring, on the assumption that no one would ever go there. But if they do, please, nobody tell me about it.
MeeGo running on the Nexus One. As agreeable as Android can be, it’s nice to know that there’s a formidable alternative on the horizon.
I love PVC pipe: It’s weatherproof, cheap, commonly available, easy to work, and easy to join temporarily or permanently. Apart from a slightly icky environmental footprint, the only serious drawback of PVC pipe is that it’s ugly, owing largely to the fact that it’s usually available only in white, off-white, gray, or (sometimes) black. PVC can be painted, sure, but getting a good finish requires careful surface preparation, and even then the paint tends to flake or wear off with time, weather, and/or handling.
But, as you’ll know if you’ve ever tried to remove a purple primer stain, it is possible to indelibly colorize PVC pipe. I got curious about what was in purple primer, and a bit of digging revealed that it’s just clear primer plus purple dye. I reasoned, then, that I ought to be able to make my own “purple primer” in whatever color I wanted by adding solvent dye to clear primer. Long story short: It works, and it works great. You can read all about it here.
