Busy Busy...

Holy cow, how is it Tuesday again already!!!  I know its been a little while since my last post but I've certainly been busy with various projects.  Problem is, I'm in the middle of a half dozen things so I don't have a full post to write about anything!  So, here are a few of the things I'm in the middle of...

1) Thanks to Radioshack's brilliant (and sad) going out of business sale I scooped up the Make:it Robotics Starter Kit as well as a handful of sensors and other add-on's for the arduino board - plus 2 extra Arduino boards.  The first of the two projects in the kit is a line following robot.  I put it all together but am having some trouble with the line following part...  Once I get that all figured out, it will certainly get its own post.

2) The Table.  Progress on this has slowed thanks to the massive recent coldsnap in DC so I am reluctant to do too much sanding since I can't get the windows open.  I have most of the side pieces done but the top is going to be a big deal so I'm saving that.

3) I've been toying with a much larger electronics project for a while and am working on gathering aka scavenging the parts to make a prototype.  I'm hopeful that this one will actually be something some day so I'll keep the details to a minimum until I've got a functional prototype.  Current parts I have scavenged: a broken emergency light fixture and a DC motor...  Let your imaginations run wild!

Phew, okay.  So in the meantime while all of those sort of work their way through the pipeline I thought I would include a few lines about myself here for anyone who might be interested.

Obviously, working on projects such as these are my passion but in my real life I am the manager of a movie theatre here in the DC metro area.  Actually, its the only thing I've ever done or really know how to do in the money making field... I began working at a movie theatre in my home town when I was 16 and have been at it ever since.  

I went to college and got a degree in History and after graduating decided to move to DC where I had some friends thinking to myself "oh, what better place to do history stuff than DC where the smithsonian is!".  Ha, I was so young and foolish...  It quickly became apparent that to actually work in history you need an advanced degree of some sort so, as I was fast running through what little money I had saved up and didn't really want to move back home with my parents, I thought "what else do I know how to do?  I could work at a movie theatre!" and the rest, as they say, is history.

I do love my job, though, because it gives me a lot of opportunities to work on a variety of projects and really expand my own knowledge in a lot of ways.  While I am technically the manager I think it would be a fairer explanation of my job to call myself "head administrator, lead handyman & projectionist".  From installing low voltage lighting to replacing seat parts to troubleshooting projector issues these are the things that fill a lot of my days - and its not bad at all.

So why Soggy Island?  Well, one day I was browsing the internet when I happened upon a website advertising private islands for sale.  Intrigued, I started browsing and quickly found one in Maine for the low low price of just $40,000.  Obviously, that's an impossibility for me at the moment or any time in the near future but something about it just got me thinking.  Sure, its impossible now but wouldn't it be awesome to have my own island?  Then, of course, the question arose "well, if I had my own island, what would I do there?".  That one was easy - tinker.  I know its everyone's dream to retire early and lead the good life of relaxing and doing as they please but my version is a little different...  I want to retire early to my island and get to work; but have the opportunity to work on projects of my choosing that interest me.  And now I have a goal to work towards.  And in the meantime, I'll keep learning what I can about everything I can so that when I get there I can get to work.

I think that's enough of my rambling for one night.  Stay warm everyone and until next time!

Random Arduino Idea

Well, not everything can be a success...  I had an idea the other evening to improve? Expand? Tinker with? The coin counting jar that I received for Christmas.  My thought was that there had to be a way to hook the existing coin counter through the arduino so it would give me a breakdown of the quantity of each type of coin in the jar, as well as the total dollar value.  And, potentially, eventually, send me a daily email with that information.  And I figures out how to do it too!  As you can see in the 2nd image below, there are various metal contacts on either side of the slit in the circuit board. As the change comes through, it pushes a metal piece along these closing the circuit. And recording what type of money went through depending on which contact is hit.  I figured if I could solder a wire to each of these contacts I could hook it up to the arduino and have it record the same information using the same theory.  Sadly, my soldering skills are still somewhat less than they should be and now the whole thing is broken.  I am going to write the code for the arduino and append it to this post anyway because I want to buy a new coin counting jar and try again.  What's the saying?  If at first you don't succeed...

Table - Day 1

Wahoo!  Since I don't work until the evening today and I got my stuff done around the house I had some free time to get to work on this table!  So, first thing first, as promised below is a slightly better photo of the table top so you can get idea what I'm starting with.  Its pretty scratched up but nothing seems too deep which is part of why when I saw it I knew I had to grab it and put in some work.

Now, next thing next, here is a photo of the underside of the table where you can get a better look at the wood itself.  It looks like there is some sort of light stain on the bottom as it is slightly darker than the natural wood which is only visible under where I took off the support pieces.  Any ideas what kind of wood this is?  I sure don't.

I apologize for my poor photography skills... not my strong point.  As you can see, took all the bottom pieces of and labeled them so everything will be able to go back to right where it started.  Mentioned above, there does seem to be some sort of something even on the bottom because you can see the very distinct white lines where everything came together.  I am going to try and sand it down to this level before I begin re-doing the whole thing but I don't know if I'll be able to as it seems to have absorbed pretty deeply in to the wood.  Fingers crossed.

I began some sanding as well today after a quick trip to the hardware store to get some really rough grit paper as well as a medium grit.  Figure I'll pick up the fine grit paper when I go back to pick the stain.  I do need to find something better than a plastic shelf with some cookbooks on top to be my workspace but it worked fairly well for today.  Below, a half finished and a "done for today" photo.

Its still pretty dark when compared to the white white of the wood but I'm hoping that as I work through the medium and fine grit I'll work through this coloration.  I think the grain is very pretty and I'm super excited to keep working on this.  I work in the evening again tomorrow so hoping to get the rough work done on all the support pieces tomorrow afternoon.  So more to come!

The Next Project...

Howdy!

Changing pace a little bit I wanted to add a photo of my next and entirely different project... hoping to add photos as I work through it so consider this a "before" image.

That's right!  Some crazy person put this great table top out at the dumpster!  Sure, its a little the worse for wear...  It looks like the previous owner burned some of the varnish off and it has some scratches and dings but its a solid piece of wood underneath.  Obviously, I needed to save it.  So for the moment it sits in my entryway getting in the way but this week (hopefully) i'm going to begin the restoration.  I'm planning to take it apart and strip it down first before making a decision as to what type of stain I'll use but as of the moment I'm thinking walnut?  I feel like its too dark as-is so you can't really see the grain which is very pretty.  I have no idea what kind of wood it is underneath, I wish I had the ability to identify different types just by looking at the grain (there are people who can do that right?) but I can't so maybe once it is apart someone out there will be able to help me identify it!  

I've never tried anything like this before - not this scope at least.  Last year I stripped and re-finished our coffee table but for that I only did the top top and it is substantially smaller than this.  Hopefully I'm not getting ahead of myself and my abilities but hey, it was free so if I screw it up no harm no foul right?

So, next week I'll head out to the hardware store to stock up on rough grit sandpaper take it apart and begin the process.  I am still contemplating purchasing an orbital sander which would obviously make this whole project less labor intensive but it also kind of feels like cheating for some reason.  We'll see if I change my tune after a few hours of sanding...  More photos to come!