Stuff and Things

DIY car work saturday

Stuff and Things

I finally got around to putting on the new brake rotors for the Forrester. They had been getting really rough recently, I hope it wasn’t because if the new brake calipers I put on a while back. Buuuuuut anyway, this thing is fixed now. NTB quoted me $90 per brake pad and $230 to machine the rotors. I bought 2 new rotors for $70 total. THINK ABOUT THAT.

This process is just one step up from brake pad replacement, just unbolt the calipers and the rotors might just fall off. If they don’t, like they didn’t on the drivers side, then bang on them for a whike. Then get tired of that and break out the PB Blaster and soak the connection between the rotors and hub. Inside those little holes, and around the center.
Then go have lunch. Come back, scrape some rust off, then bang on the back of it again, boom, done.

What is weird about my car is that one side is much more rusty than the other. Don’t understand about that.

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Epoxy clay test round 2

Art, Projects, Stuff and Things

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I’ve decided to test out one of the best aspects of the epoxy clay, the ability to sand it and make thinner shapes than with traditional clay. I sculpted this space helmet over one of the plastic bubble inserts, I did it in two steps this time. First I just made a think dome then sanded that smooth. then I cut the hole for the plastic to show through. Then I went pack and added the outer visor and sides. What is cool about this stuff is that I was able to sand off a LOT of it with a sanding wheel and was able to get it looking very symetrical. Which is something I have trouble with.

I think I’m getting the hang of this. I get that you have to be pretty methodical with the planning to get it just right. and it helps to be patient. I’m not sure what I’m going to do for the body section of this? I might have to do some more planning. The bottom image is from another sculpt that I’m doing currently. I get why Jason Freeny is constantly working on more than one thing at a time.

I ordered some mold making materials that should be here today. I’m really excited to get into epoxy casting and then start with the painting on these guys.

more pictures after the break.

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DIY ring display box

Projects, Stuff and Things

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We needed a ring display box and couldn’t find any locally, we didn’t plan ahead and buy one online. Which is pretty much how every DIY story starts, right?

So here is the plan we came up with.
Supplies.
Pool noodle
Black fabric
Picture frame
String
Hot glue gun
Scissors

1. Cut a section of the pool noodle the width of the frame.
2. Cut the section in half lengthwise, then halfs again, then halfs again. This will leave you with 1/8ths.
3. Lay these out on the backing of the frame. Until you have enough.
4. Hot glue them down to the backing.
5. Cut the fabric into a strip the width of the frame and about 3 times the length.
6. Glue the top edge of the fabric to the top of the noodles, where you glued it down.
7. While keeping the fabric taught, use a piece of cardboard/posterboard to push the fabric between the noodles.
8. Try not to get frustrated.
9. Do this for the remaining noodle sections.
10. String! Spiral string through the cracks in the noodles, this will help keep the fabric in when they pull the rings out. (This isn’t tested!)
11. Insert the backing back into the frame.
12. Done!

more pictures after the break.

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The re-shedening

Projects, Stuff and Things

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I was procrastinating on some other things and I thought, you know why not take that wood that’s been sitting in the yard for like 2 years and cut it up and fix the trim on the shed? Cause that’s a totally normal thing to do on an overcast Saturday afternoon. And because it’s a shed, there’s no building codes, I’m not going to go to Costco and spend $600 on a shiny new plastic shed while this one is still standing under it’s own power. So a couple hours later, I’ve used every part of the buffalo.  I should have probably taken a better before picture, but I remembered after i’d already fixed part of it.

None of this is the ‘right’ way to do it. I used old rusty screws to join everything together and I didn’t really measure anything. But if you’re sick of looking at something, my message is ‘just get out there and do something’!

Now I just need to take up the rotting plywood that’s in front of it and then organize the contents of the shed…

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