Andy's Truck

Last time I showed you some adaptors I had made for LED back-up lights. Well Andy put them up and sent me a picture so here's what they look like on his machine. I''ve made a nice red arrow that shows where they are. Well, only one but you can figure out where the other one is.

Also on his truck is a little bit I made a long time ago. It's a differential remote breather block. What does that mean, well, he can pretty much roll through 3ft of water without crap finding it's way to the gears in the differential. Not sure us mere mortals need something like that but hey, what the hell.

Bits and Bobs

Some time back one of the guys at the shop had a titanium ring made for himself. He "lost" it at the L.A. airport security (i.e. forgot it in the bin when he left). He asked me if I could make a replacement and, well this is the end product. The inner band is stainless steel and the two outer bands are titanium (type 28 for those who care about that kind of stuff)

Next up. Another guy at the shop bought these led back-up lights for his Hilux (toyota pick-up truck for people in north america) They would've looked kinda dinky mounted the way they where supposed to be so I made him some adaptors that basically allows them to be mounted with just the stainless trim ring showing.

At last here's one for myself. Firmly in the shits and giggles category I've made myself a titanium waterproof match case. Why? Hummm. Because I can and I had the free time... I guess.

One of the boys tried taking a picture of me while I was dicking around with the torch and I guess the light from the flame screwed up the metering inside the camera. I took that as a sign to meddle with it in photoshop. So here I am in my native element!

Des fleurs pour noel

Les Néo-Calédoniens ne se casse pas la tête quand vient le temps de décoré pour noël. Il y a quelque truc metalliser et des rangs de lumières ici et là mais rien comme au Québec ou chaque maison consomme des kilowatts a éclairer la nuit. Non, ici c'est en grande partie la nature qui ajoute les couleurs pour le temps des fêtes.

 Ils disent que tout ce qui pousse en Nouvelle-Calédonie produit des fleurs. Et ben, de ce temps ci c'est les arbres qui vire fou. Le truc jaune en haut j'sais pas c'est quoi mais ca fait tout un tas de grappe de fleur jaune pétante. Il ne fait pas super beau aujourd'hui, c'est pour ca que le ciel est gris et brumeux.

Celui la je devrais savoir c'est quoi parce qu'on m'as déja dit son nom. Malheureusement je ne m'en rappelle pas.

 Celui la je connais. Je connais bien parce qu'il m'as toujours impressionner. C'est le Delonix Regia, ou plutot le "flamboyant". C'est difficile d'imaginer un autre nom pour un arbre qui se couvre de rouge.

Meme les cocotiers sont de la partie. Plein de petit coco tout neuf encore vert.

Ben voila, c'est ce qui se trouve autour de mon hotel. Je n'ai pas pris de photo des haies et des bouquets parce que je ne finirais jamais mon article.

Sur ce, je vous souhaite un joyeux Noel a vous et au votre.

The Motor That Pushes the Speakers

As you've seen I've made fancy speakers. I needed something equally fancy to push those babies to produce really sweet sounds. I've always liked tube electronics ie: hollow state, thermionic valves, etc. I've even built a couple of tube amplifiers with scrounged parts. I found a site where I could order a complete (well mostly) kit to build a copy (or re-imagining) of the legendary Dynaco ST-70. I bought the kit thinking it would provide me with entertainment during my vacation. I haven't been the manufacturer of the kits for a good reason. Their shipping is horrible, when it got here there were parts missing, their customer is next to non existent, I've had to scrounge the internet to find instructions that should have been supplied with the kit. That being said the amplifier is mostly done but I'm still waiting for the actual tubes to get it going.

First picture, just started. I screwed and bolted all the bits to the chassis (the metal box that looks like a cake pan). The wires come out of the three transformers and one choke that are the heart of the amplifier (if the tubes are its soul)

That's me working away on it in what has come to be known as my laboratory (basically a 3' X 3' square of floor between boxes and other sundry storage in my sister's basement). Notice headphones supplying laughs and music while working. I took the picture with my butt. Not a joke, I plugged a bit of wire into my camera and soldered a switch to the other end. The switch is under my bum so I could trigger the camera without the wire being apparent in the finished picture!

And there you are, mostly complete. Well, the circuit is complete anyway. Like I said, I'm still waiting for the tubes so I won't know how it sounds until I come back in late January.

New, old speakers

I made these more than six months ago and they've been out of storage for only a couple of days. At most I've played 5 or 6 albums through them. In short, for the price, they sound absolutely amazing. If you want to build yourself a pair do a search for Dayton III. You'll find plans, parts lists, sources and the crossover schematic. I went and put a can of cider in the picture for scale.

Kite Spoons

In the because I can category I present to you homemade fishing spoons, stainless steel no less.

Vacation Highlight

This is a Challenger

This is me with a Challenger




That'll do