Robot Robs Blog

Generators for homeowners and hackers. (how to keep the heat on without burning down the house, or killing a lineman)

2015-01-01T02:23:00.004-05:00

I want to preface this with a warning that I am not an electrical engineer, or an electrician. You should use this information as a guide to get started but do your own due diligence. Only those qualified should do work on your house electrical systems.

This all started thanksgiving this year. Our only snow of the season so far. I was hauling a Megabot suit across the country leaving my wife home alone. When we purchased our house, we had some clear signs of damage from freezing pipes. The previous owner did what could best be described as quarter assed prevention of them freezing again. The garage door was off it's tracks, heat tape had been taped to some pipes, and pink foam panels had been affixed to the ceiling to try and keep the pipes from freezing. All of this depended on having electricity.

The electricity went out. Libby went to stay at her sisters who had power and eat a thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat and didn't get up till the very next morning. I was on the road and could not help so I called up my friend Tyler who was eating dinner at his parents house. He was able to come and drain the water from our pipes and help us make sure we did not have our pipes blow again. My wife strongly urged that we come up with a better solution to power outages.

Step One: identify power needs.

How much power will you need to provide? This is a decision you will need make based on needs and wants as a trade off. Most importantly, how do you heat the house to keep pipes from freezing?

Wood Stove

If you have wood stove you just need some wood and you are good to go. Anything beyond this will become luxury. To power this type of heater, you will need a large breakfast of eggs and bacon. You may have some air circulation fans that should be powered, but this will be very low on the power requirements.

Electric Heat

This will be hard if not impossible to run off a portable generator. An 80,000 btu Electric heater requires approximately 25kw of power. This can be costly to run and is expensive equipment. You will likely save money over all by converting to natural gas. Check with your local utility for available rebates.

Propane/Natural Gas/Wood Pellets

The heating systems use other fuel than electricity for a power source. This means that the electricity required is for circulation, venting of exhaust gas, and air handling. This is just a fraction of the required power and can easily be handled by a small generator.

Calculating power needs.

Power needs are very easy to calculate. We will use watts as our power unit for this. Most pieces of equipment will have a label that explains the power requirements under maximum load. When motors turn on, they draw more energy. For anyone who does not have a moderate understanding of Ohms Law recommend that everyone go out and get Solar power for dummies. The concepts of power and energy are well laid out and will get you started with a self evaluation.

My set up has a natural gas fired hot water heater and hydronic power source for baseboard heaters.

The heat is distributed by circulation pumps to different zones in my house. On the right, the zone controller from Taco takes input from thermostats and circulates water to conduct heat. On the floor is a condensate pump this removes condensate from the system. Negligible at best.

Lets look at what my heater requires for power. It has two 3 amp 120 volt pumps. The manual does not state input amperage or total wattage so I will need to do some more research.

Since the heater did not give me enough information I needed to go to the instruction manual. I did not try and get down on the ground, so the information could have been on a panel that I did not see. I looked over the entire unit but it does not give me information on total draw so I will use an empirical estimate of 15 amps since that is the size of the circuit.

The water heater was sitting next to it so I grabbed that info as well.

I now have two of the three things I really care about. The last is the fridge. Since I don't really care that much, I again am going to assume 15 amps. If I actually care I would put a clamp meter on one of the hot wire to find out what the draw is. This can be deceiving. On start up many of these motors will draw up to twice the operating current of the item. If you are not comfortable splitting out wires, pick up a line splitter for safety. These two items can also be used when reducing power consumption within your house.

When looking at any electrical device, if they don't call out an amperage, then they will likely call out a wattage. For items that just give you a watt rating, the calculation is very simple. WATTS = VOLTS * AMPS. So on a 120 Volt line AMPS= WATTS/VOLTS so my 1200 watt microwave can be calculated 1200W/120V=10A This also shows the benefit of high efficiency items in the house. a 60 watt conventional light bulb is equivalent to an 8 watt LED bulb. Are you starting to see a theme here? Reducing energy consumption saves money every day on the electricity bill. Saving energy also saves money on what the generator system requires.

A load center with no Breakers installed.

Next I need to look at how the load is balanced. Residential electricity is split into two legs. It comes in with two lines that together have a 240 volt potential. The neutral wire has a 0 volt ground reference and will show each leg as 120 volts. What does this mean for you as a future generator operator? It means that if all of your vital where the breakers are installed. If all of the important circuits are on a single leg you will not be able to fully utilize your generator, or need to buy a larger generator than required. If this does not make sense to you, I recommend you contact a qualified electrician. If load balancing will help, this can be done when you install the transfer switch.

A sample power chart.

In the above chart, I have given an example of what this may look like. I am having a new service installed so I am going to have my load balanced then. What you do see in this chart is that my dryer and stove take a lot of electricity. In order to buy a 500 dollar generator instead of a 3,000 dollar generator you will have to make concessions and not use the stove and oven for the duration of the power outage. In the following chart you can see what my plan would be.

Emergency power loading.

You will need to reduce power consumption until full power is restored or purchase a larger generator. The stove does not use full power when only a single burner is running so you can still cook a meal or heat some tea. If you have gas power stove and dryer, this is a non issue. A comparable burner is 1000 watts of power or about 8 amps.

Generators are usually rated by watt output. We will have to get our amp total back to watts with the simple WATTS=AMPS*VOLTS. Important note! Since some generators will be a 240 volt connection, it will draw from both sides at a maximum. 30Ax120V+12A*120V=5040W. This is what the number lead you to believe. In reality, we need to double the highest load side and use that for the power calculation. 30Ax120V+30A*120V=7200W So a 7200 watt generator would be needed to operate this at full capacity.

Step Two: Choose a generator

Many of these units will have two power rating, intermittent and continuous. For all of my reference, assume I am talking about continuous power. When looking at stats talk in continuous power output and make sure any sales people you talk to provide information in this format.

Inverter: 200-400$

My first plan which was possible was to get an inverter. You can get a high duty cycle model that can output 600 watts continuous for reasonable money. This can run off of a car battery with the car running for a period of time. It is a solution that is a compromise on many levels, thee car is not meant to sit and idle for long periods and the electrical system is not designed for constant draw high current like this. However, if the choice is to risk damaging your alternator, or freezing the pipes, it may be worth it. This can also be a stop gap if the supply of generators has dried up in the area and the power is still out. You may damage your car with this method for long periods of use. I recommend borrowing your mother in laws car for this reason. Shut off headlights and AC for best results.

Small quiet portable generator: 500- 1500$

I have two recommendations for small quiet generators. They have a few benefits I would like to go over first. Quiet means they are less likely to annoy your neighbors while running all night in your warm house as they shiver in their fortress of poor preparation. It is also light and easy to move around. A down side is that it is easy to steal. The Ryobi 2200 is a great unit for the money. It is a knock off of the Honda EU2000ia unit that is a favorite of Burning man attendees. It is small quiet and aesthetically pleasing. Honda also makes a Parallel cable that allows two units to be used in concert. This puts the entire kit for a 4000 watt generator to 3250$. It is quiet and a reliable system. It is also a nice take along system for camping or working on the cabin so it may have some non financial benefits. Ryobi makes a similar kit ST-PKIT2000 that has constantly varying stock. If you plan to go this route, purchase one when you see it.

Medium Portable Generator 300-2500$

You can start with the Harbor Freight special for 200 and it goes up from there. If you don't buy a good generator in the first place, you will still pay for an expensive unit in maintinance and still not have it in the end. I would spend a few more dollars and buy something that has some grunt. The more reputable manufacturers will be honest with the numbers. I like Generac as a brand. They have decent support and and a large distribution channel. Do some research before hand and make sure that once you buy the generator, someone local can do warranty work as well as maintenance within a reasonable driving distance. I like a good 7500 watt system. When you buy it, spend the extra few dollars to buy a wheel kit and a cover. this thing will spend most of it's life in a corner doing nothing. these can weigh 100-300 pounds so get a buddy to help you lift it. Portable generators can give you up to 20,000 watts of power available. Once you get to this level, connecting and disconnecting from the household power becomes a problem. 12,000 continuous watts is about the upper limit of what you want to connect and disconnect from your home.

Permanently installed generator 3500$ and up plus instalation

You have PMV11 blades on all of your hand planes you keep in a climate controlled cabinet with back lighting. You don't want an extra step when the power goes out to get seamless transfer to the Independent republic of my house. These and many other reasons exist that you want or need to have power. Built in generators have very few downsides. The biggest one is cost. The initial cost is going to be much higher than the equivalent portable unit. Installation cost will be slightly higher for a manual transfer switch vs a bit more for an automatic. Cost will very by application. For greater power than 12000 watts this is the only reasonable off the shelf option. Fuel will often be Propane or natural gas. If you have a propane tank for heat, this will be a simple choice. If you have natural gas, you can risk loosing pressure which rarely happens but can during extreme winter power loss situations. Propane will give you the best stand alone solution.

Step three: Getting power into the house

Important note! When you connect a generator to your house it needs to be disconnected from the grid. Linemen work on the lines in a power outage with an expectation that they are off. If you turn on your generator after they have checked for power, you can kill them. the power you are putting into the line is only 240 volts, but it comes down a step down transformer. When back fed, this ups the voltage to upwards of 1000 volts. The reason for an interlock is to physically prevent back feeding of the system.

This is how you kill people.

Double make cords are known as widow makers for a reason. They can come out of a socket and leave a live 120 volt source (or 240 if you are using a larger plug) out and in the open for killing children and pets. I am giving a few options of how to get power into your house.

Oh shoot, it is a snow storm and we are not at all ready: 0$ and up

In the middle of the storm, you have somehow gotten a generator. Unfortunately you did not do any preparation and can't figure out how to plug the generator into the heater. Somewhere around your heater is an electrical box. Once you find it, go to Facebook on your phone and beg your friends who may be an electrician or know of one who can come to your house and fix this problem for the low cost of a boat payment. Do not try and do this yourself unless you completely understand how everything is wired and the experience to safely change over the circuit. If you do decide that you know what you are doing, get into that box and separate the connection after you have shut the circuit off at the box. Cap off the unused supply with wire nuts connect an adequate power cord that can then be connected to an extension cord and reach the generator. This is a pretty simple set up and is easy to reverse. Once the storm is over, do it properly. Every step you take think about potentials. Ask yourself will this put anyone at risk? When the power comes back on, what will happen? Just so it is said 7 times, if you don't know what you are doing, don't mess with this. My house burned down last year due to poor existing wiring.

One circuit for the heater: 100$ + Installation

Reliance makes a nice transfer switch that will switch over a single circuit. All in, you are looking at about 300 dollars installed by a licensed electrician. This can be done easily by a competent DIY person. You need some amount of wire to make the junction so you should locate this box near another junction box that exists. If the breaker panel has space, having the shutoff near the breaker panel makes for a simpler operation of the transfer. ProTip have a flashlight near the breaker box that is ready to go during a power outage. I recommend a headlamp style led light. It keeps both of your hands free for trying to start the generator. This is also great for inverter installs that are going to be 1500 watts or less power.

Sister Box: 250-800$ + Installation

Reliance makes another great product that allows you to switch over only a few select circuits. This is for a transfer switch that runs in parallel for 2-10 circuits. You can switch things off individually based on needs. This is a great option if you have a 200 amp modern service installed. If you have limited power and members of your household who can't consciously change behaviors based on power consumption. These will often be rated at 7500 watts. This is due to the limitations of a 30 amp 240 volt connection. It is the most common connector on generators for RV's and has trickled down into backup generators where the two markets cross over.

Load center transfer switch: 500$ + installation

Load centers with mechanical interlocks. This means that you can't physically back feed the line and put linemen at risk. You will find two styles of manual transfers. they will be designated with fractions. The previously linked load center is labelled 40/40 which means that in both standard and generator modes, all circuits get power. Critical load transfer switches have a limited amount of "utility circuits" that function during generator power and "standby circuits" that are only energized while connected to the grid. Many of these boxes come ready to have an automatic transfer switch installed. If you have any thought about doing this in the future, choose a box that can be retrofitted during the initial installation. In order to install this, you will be dealing with the main service coming from the road. This will not have an easily accessible shut off so bringing in a pro is a good investment. During this step, talk to your electrician about load balancing. With the clamp meter and a friend, you can map out what each circuit supplies and how much current is required. Giving this information to your electrician ahead of time will make sure they know what you want.

This is the option I chose for my installation. The number one reason I chose this was fear. Earlier this year, my wife and I lived through a fire. It was started by existing electrical work that shorted.

Additional contributing reasons for the change:

In our new house, we have an old 100 amp service.
Some of the breakers need to be replaced. The breakers are old and hard to find a replacement for.
I want to install a cnc mill and a welder in the garage and this will require more power.
We run a very efficient house so a small amount of power will run the whole house on the generator.
The cost of a service upgrade was 1800 alone. The cost of a 30 amp generator hook up was 800 installed. Together, I get 400 dollars off and everything done in one day.
The new service will also give me smart grid features so I can better monitor our energy uses.

Automatic transfer switch: 500-1000$ + Installation

I have no experience and have done zero research on theses. If this is what the route you are going, you should contact someone local who specializes in the systems. I would also recommend choosing a single source solution. if you buy a generac generator, buy a generac automatic transfer switch. They will integrate better and dealing with service and warranty is simpler. by integrating two different manufacturers, they will both blame each other when a problem does come up. This is also the only reasonable option for 12,000 watt and greater continuous generators.

Step four: Plugin it in

Now that you have a thing wired, you need to connect it to the generator. If you have hardwired it, you can skip this step.

Extension cord: 25-300$

Length and current will determine how large a wire diameter you will need. You have already spent well north of 500$ at this point so don't skimp on the cord. Get a dedicated cord that sits with the generator. It is not an extension cord, it is part of the generator. It should be stored in a pouch attached to the generator coiled neatly. For 15 amps, get 12 gauge up to 100 feet. For 20 amps get 10 gauge up to 100 feet. For 30 amps ,get 10 gauge up to 65 feet. For 50 amps up to 50 feet get 6 gauge. You may need thicker cable for longer distances. This is a jumping off point that will get you a safe cord. Please do research in what cord you plan to link the generator to your house. Get a bright color if possible. This will stick out when you are trying to find it in the snow. It also may help you avoid cutting the cord in half with a snow blower. (ask me how I know)

Standard outlets: Nema 5-15 and 5-20

This is the same outlet you will use almost everywhere in your house and at work. You will need an extension cord of some kind to connect them. This should be a sturdy weather sealed cord ideally with lighted ends at each side. This will help when it comes time to trouble shoot operation. Depending on your amperage this may all that is needed.

30 amp Twist lock 14-30

If you are doing 30 amp 240, this is the only choice in my opinion. The 14-30 twistlock is widely used and available in many different configurations. Twistlocks give a positive engagement and will stay secure in the generator and power inlet on the house. Buy a good brand that is UL listed as a product. When it comes time to enter the house, weather proof assemblies are available.

50 amp Twistlock

I am unsure of what the actual nema code on this is. When you get up to this size, you will likely be building a custom cord. The female plug assemblies have three prongs and the ground is an outside contact of the connector. They have a mechanical lock beyond just the brings for a secure connection.

The power inlet has a male plug version of this. It will transfer a large amount of mechanical force so it should be securely fastened to a stud with heavy lags or deck screws.

On the generator side, often you will find this straight blade plug set.

Minimum rated components

When selecting the components for the cord, keep in mind that you need over current devices. whatever parts you put between the generator and your heater need to be rated for the maximum allowable amperage. For instance, if you know the heater only draws 1 amp, but the main breaker is rated for 50 amps, everything up until the heater needs to be rated for 50 amps.

I have ended up with a 50 amp power inlet twist lock, and then a 10 gauge 30 foot cord to the 30 amp twistlock. This will allow me to upgrade to a higher power generator in the future.

Step five: Kick the tires and light some fires

Here is a list of tips for operation of the generator.

If the generator is heavy, get a wheel kit, or build one. On rough terrain, bigger casters are better.
Use 93 octane fuel. It will make starting easier.
Put in fuel stabilizer whenever fuel is stored in the generator.
Make sure the generator starts up around September. You don't want to find out about needed repair work during the power outage.
Have spare oil. Use synthetic detergent free.
Turn your spare gas. Put a little manila hang tag with purchase date written in pencil or grease pen. Ink pens will bleed from the fuel. Keep about a gallon in the generator, the rest keep in a fuel jug. Once every few months, dump it in your cars tank and refill the 5 gallon container.
Fuel has a shelf life when it has all of the additives that are now required.
The new CARB complaint tanks are a pain to work with. If you have older jugs, hold onto them.
When the power is out, people can get desperate. If they need a generator, they may take yours. The first line of defense is to stash it away in the back yard or side where it is not so easy to see from the street. Once you have planned out where it will be, figure out a way to lock it to your house. Backing your car up and chaining it to a subframe member works great in a pinch until you forget and drive away dragging it with you. A cable lock with an anchor point should be planned.
Think about how you will get the generator from the storage to service. If it is burred in the back of the garage, you will be kicking yourself while digging it out with a flashlight.
Test your setup and practice hooking it up. Teach others in the house to operate it as well. They may need to refuel and restart it.
Have a spare spark plug.
Have a can of starting fluid handy.
When hiring an electrician, get references from friends and family. The reference should not be "Hire my boyfriend, he is a great electrician". It should be "I hired Sue to do this job and she was a good communicator, showed up when she said she would. She completed the job to my satisfaction and I would recommend her to anyone who needs work done."

If you can't get a reference, try and find an electrician who has been at it for a while. Angies List is a good source for this.
Doing business with friends and family can be stressful. Expectations often are not made clear on one or both sides prior to the work that needs to be done.
The electrician pays less than you for materials. He will charge you the same price, or more than you would pay at home depot. He is not screwing you, this is part of the business model. If you buy your own supplies, the electrician likely won't cover them with a guarantee. And may even increase the cost of the job.
An electrician is like a doctor. You pay them for their experience, not so they can recite the nema code book. When you explain your goals, listen to the feedback they give you.
this person is going to be in your house, you should feel comfortable with them to be in your house with you.
They should pull permits for you and show you a license. Go online and verify it is a valid license.

If your neighbors do not have a generator, figure out what it would take to tap off a little bit of power.

Be safe everyone!

Life lesson's from Aubuchon Hardware

2014-09-16T23:41:00.001-05:00

When I was 15, I was hired for my first job. I was a stock boy at Aubuchon hardware store number 019 for minimum wage at the end of ninth grade. I was one of four employees. Myself, Dennis , Tim the assistant manager and John, the guy who got me the job. On my first day as Dennis started training me he showed all the compassion that a former marine would to a know-it-all kid. “just go and front shelves, it should only take 5 minutes for each shelf.” I was then immediately sent downstairs for a can of plaid paint. If you are not familiar with a can of plaid paint, it is similar to a left handed screwdriver and the chrome plated muffler bearing. It does not exist. While I was looking for it, i was told to make a list of the paints that were not plaid and organize them. They had not only played a trick on me, but also gotten me to inventory and organize the basement.

Some might say that I was being taken advantage of, but 17 years later I can tell you that I was being trained to be a good person. If it was a goal of theirs or not, Dennis, Tim and the rest of the crew didn't give me an unearned compliment or conversely an undue criticism. At every job you have to take some abuse. At my current job I take a bunch every day and often think back to some of my first abuse by customers. Some interactions of note. “I was climbing under the caution tape and tripped on a hole in the floor. You have to pay for my medical bills.” “I gave the drain cleaner in a bag to my kid in her car seat and she opened it and ruined my carpet. I expect you to pay for the repair!” “How dare you charge me 8 cents for this screw, It was only 5 cents in 1972.” “I want a refund, My wife doesn't like this paint color.”

I had planned to have my children work at Aubuchon Hardware when it came time to get a job. Now that My wife and I own a house, we find much need for a hardware store. I am guilty of going to homedepot and lowes when I need things at 9 at night for a project. I go to Amazon prime and get parts for my car, the house and work. I could go to local places, but it is so convenient to just click on my phone and have it show up at my house. The 20 minute drive to the store is saved, but the 10 minute conversation with Dennis or his staff is missed. I saw the info on my facebook feed that store number 19 had closed and felt guilty for not spending more of my money at my local hardware store. I had plans to buy all the paint for my house for our interior renovations. I am sure many failures have been attributed to best intentions, but in this case, I wonder if I bought those 10 gallons of paint, would the store have pushed to the other side of the bubble?

The biggest vote of confidence Dennis and the store could have was from my brother in-law Wes. He is a master rock worker and knows what most every tool does and how to use it. When we talked about hardware stores, he said “Dennis knows what he is talking about” If you knew Wes, you would know that is one of the highest forms of respect he can give someone. That's what we lost on Monday.

And now some life lessons everyone should learn That I learned at 217 Main street Nashua, NH.

Everyone’s money spends the same.

Dennis was the first adult I dealt with outside of my church, school and family. All of those situations were basically white middle class college educated individuals. Working on main street was my first experience with other races, religion, and sexual orientation. Denis treated everyone the same. Everyone that came in the door had a problem. We likely had the solution or could recommend where they could find the right solution. The only color he saw was green. The only issue we ever had was with language barriers. This was pre smartphones and pre internet. We used a combination of pointing, drawing and charades to bridge the barrier.

If you don’t know the answer, admit it.

I wanted to know everything. I wanted to answer every question with the correct answer. I watched Dennis and Tim say all the time “I don’t know how to fix that” They may recommend another store, or a professional. I try and mimic how Dennis would answer with no humility or reservation, “I don’t know”

Treat everyone like they own the company.

With the recent Market Basket work stoppage, we can see that shareholders and stakeholders all came together to force a change. A company needs to hold it’s customers in as high an esteem as the company owners if not better. One Saturday A middle aged woman came in and wanted 4 bags of concrete. I was likely getting ready to leave and go to a party and had mentally checked out. I responded to her with “I hope you have a strong back.” It was taken in jest but I likely should have showed her a better customer experience. Turns out the last name of that random customer was AUBUCHON. You can’t go wrong if you look at every customer as someone who signs your paycheck.

We don’t return Plungers or Toilet seats.

Don’t get me wrong, I would give you your money back, but I did not want the item back. This taught me that sometimes I had to take it on the chin. The customer may or may not be right, but if I take the return, I will have to deal with a used plunger. Some days you lose, it happens, get over it and move on.

No two people ever see the same thing.

One Saturday night, we sold a table saw. Nothing spectacular about it, customer paid via check and we loaded it into his truck. We were running the check verification when the guy took off with the saw before we got the now obvious “that check is made of rubber. This evening, Tim was the manager, Phil and I were clerks and we all three screwed this up. Dennis had trained us better than this but we were so eager for the sale we let go of the item BEFORE we verified the check. We called the police and he took our statements. I recalled the guys truck, a 93 F250 super duty with a standard cab, full size bed and west coast style mirrors. Phil saw the woman with him 5”6” brown hair, brown eyes etc, etc. Tim saw the man with a goatee, mid 40’s, about 200 pounds etc, etc. All three of us stood next to each other, one saw a woman, one saw a truck, and one saw a man. I didn't even recall the woman. When you have 3 people in a room having a conversation all three can hear something different and still be right.

Some days we let a shoplifter go because it is the right thing to do.

We had an elderly lady Rita come in about once a week. I am pretty sure she was a crotchety lady, but she just wanted a warm place to wait for her taxi or the bus. She would come in and steal a bag of Circus peanuts. Phil and I would take turns paying for her 50 cent bag of Circus peanuts off the candy rack as she would go in and take one each week. I don’t really know why, she was mean and yelled, but at the time it seemed like what we should do.

Water weighs 8 pounds per gallon.

If you go to purchase a gallon of paint, the paint is not the water, it is the weight that is greater than 8 pounds that is paint. No matter what the MFG says if you want a good paint job, you need to prep the walls, use two coats of primer and two coats of paint. When you have a gallon of paint that weighs 8.5 pounds, it is about the same is putting milk on your wall for coverage.

“The key machine is broken” may actually mean I don’t want to make keys.

If I was working Sundays alone, I would shut down the paint machine, glass cutter, and key cutter. I couldn't make 20 copies of your apt key and keep an eye on the store. When dealing with companies now I suspect white lies and will sometimes call people on it if I need the service done. This was a lesson in not over committing. I won't figure it out until two years from now hopefully, but I can at least identify it now.

Sketchy people do sketchy things.

When the sketchy painter looking guy asks where the spray paint is and then just leaves without buying anything something is up. When you get a gut feeling, 9 times out of 10 it is based on something. About a half hour later, him and his lady (a generous description) came back with osha yellow mouth and nose areas. They could not find the spray paint on the return trip and we asked them to not come back. This was the first time I had an up close interaction with an addict. Before meeting them, I had disgust for addicts. After this interaction, I felt sorry for them. It pulled out the christian in me that just wanted to help them get better. They were not ready to accept help.

People in the store are more important than people that might be in the store.

It was a few years prior to my employment that Aubuchon’s got a phone in nashua. 883-1400 is one of the few numbers I have ever remembered. Dennis always said to pay attention to the customer in the store, then the phone. When talking to someone don’t just ignore your phone, ignore it without checking it. Make a show of it that you are actively listening. It is a sign of respect that you are giving your entire attention to the customer. I fail at this at work often because I am stretched so thin, I don’t recognize how little focus I am giving my current interaction.

Getting fired usually isn't personal

I was trying to work two full time jobs and a Sunday shift at Aubuchon. Turns out you can’t work 96 hours per week and still go drinking with your buddies and not get fired. It was not because Dennis had it out for me, it was because he needed to have an employee show up and work when he needed it. Debbie at Tool Liquidation Center fired me the next day I think. Again, not let go for any other reason than I over committed and did not show up. Both of them called me, said it wasn't working out and let me go. It was professional and polite. Now I have more volunteers than employee’s which is an even harder person to fire since they get no compensation. I try and set clear expectations and check to see if they are doing what they need to by when it needs done. When I have to let someone go, I try and just be straight forward.

Don’t get between a husband and wife argument about paint colors.
“Will my wife like this color of paint?”

“NO!”

At least weekly we would get a wayward husband coming in to buy paint for a remodeling project. They had good intentions and would stare at the paint wall for 2 minutes, hastily choose a color and then ask me if their wife would like the color. Here was Dennis's response. “Sir, I love my wife, but she would kill me if I did not check with her before choosing a paint color. Take this color pallet home with you, decide together and come back.” I imagine a few marital conflicts were avoided by this. When they show up together and put you in the middle of the decision of what color, choose black. No one wants black paint inside a house and they should leave you out.

People will re-frame a question to try to get you to validate their screw up.

We would get customers in and they would give you this hypothetical question to which you would give them the correct answer. They would then re-frame the problem hoping for a different answer. Dennis taught me how to let a man know he screwed up and still hold his head high at the end.

I am sure more will come to me with time. But recalling all of this was tough to think that no one will ever get to have the experience I had working at this hardware store. They won't make bets on identifying screw threads by sight from three feet away with customers. They won’t spend hours looking for a can of plaid paint while co workers laugh upstairs. They won’t get to have florescent light bulb sword fights. They also won’t have a boss who doesn't even ask questions when you ask for material donations for your Eagle Scout project. 15 years later, Denis handed me all of his glass scraps for use at MakeIt Labs. I think as we revitalize main street we may have lost one of the staples of main street. It is a sad day that we as a community can’t support a small business like this. I am part of the problem.

Sorry Aubuchon hardware, we failed you. From Nashua

How to UnMake a Makerspace build thread: Why I make things, Part 2 My Biggest Influence.

2014-06-09T10:49:00.000-05:00

Full disclosure, I work often 7 days a week. I scheduled this post to happen on fathers day so I could let my dad know how important what he did with me when I was younger. Turns out that is next Sunday, but it is still on the schedule for publication. Happy father day Bob Masek, you are a pretty great father!

I have a lot of influences in my early life. I could go on for hours about so many memories from the early morning Saturday morning infomercial tool guy to my excitement at the sears wish book every year.

Let me give you some back ground on the legend that is Bob Masek. He is a stubborn man. I think he may have gotten it from his mom. Grandma would get an idea, and you could either be on board, or be on board. How stubborn you ask? His CB handle was the plow. He got it while working at Boyscout camp in upper Wisconsin. He would plow through tasks with a force that I have not ever seen paralleled. They built things, drank beer and enjoyed the woods. It is not that dissimilar to what happens at most maker spaces. He went to college for mechanical engineering and took a job in Peoria IL at Caterpillar where he met my Mom at a ski club. He worked as a young engineer until they realized that Bob Masek was a talker. He ended up as some type of fleet sales engineer. I never fully understood his job when I was younger. They ended up in NH and made three little kids. My sisters all own drills, and can change a tire so they were not ignored. I however loved turning wrenches.

On Saturday mornings we would go down to his workshop. He had a workbench made of an old hollow core door with a 1/4 inch sheet of Masonite on top of it. It had a few coats of shellac and a Craftsman machinist vice with bend handles from using cheaters on them. It wasn't just a work holding device. It was an anvil. It was a bearing press. It was a sheet metal brake. It was a flattening die. It seamed like every thing we did involved that vice. a 13 inch black and white tv sat on a shelf and it played this old house, the New Yankee Workshop and American Bandstand. Dad would always try and show how cool he was by knowing the hip music. This system would involve messing with the antennas and adjusting v hold, h hold, ans some other knobs that I can't recall.

I don't know if we even owned safety glasses. When things didn't fit, we had a wide assortment of hammers, pry bars, cheaters, brass punches, and other implements of destruction. Under the bench we had boxes of "the good chemicals you can't buy anymore," power cables, extension cords, masonry tools, paint, and other things you might file under hoarding. Then there was his craftsman tool chest. It had a silver frame with red drawers. Every drawer was overloaded. and the slides required constant maintenance. Each tool had been hand engraved with RBM his initials. All of my tools are initialed with RJM, just like my grandfather. 5-piece Offset (45°) Box End was my favorite set of wrenches to use. Anytime we would run into a metric bolt it was a "communist conspiracy".

I vividly recall going to Hammer Hardware and Osgoods Hardware. We would go and look for the one bolt we needed. We would go to all of the specialty shops to get car parts, vacuum parts, springs for the dishwasher at the Maytag place. This was not a time of Amazon Prime. It was a time of a file cabinet with every manual to everything we bought. Parts diagrams were not a searchable document. It required phone calls, filling out hand written order forms with checks and waiting weeks for parts to show up. Many a time we had to give up and fabricate the replacement part or modify something to work. As time has gone on it was no longer affordable to replace the windings on a motor in the Shop Vac, it is cheaper to replace the entire unit than to buy just the part.

I was brought as a Bohemian. I didn't realize it at the time, but the statement was actually a slightly raciest commentary on how cheap the Czechs were. In order to be cheap, we had to be resourceful and efficient. I want to give a few examples of working with my dad and how he came up with creative solutions to complex or non existent problems.

CAD- Cardboard Aided Design

We used to cut up file folders for everything. Before I could manipulate things on a computer in Solidworks, I learned to visualize it. We would build a scale model of each room and all the furniture. If we wanted to rearrange the room, we would take out all of the little scale footprints and move them around by hand. As kids, this taught us spacial reasoning and an understanding of not just the size of things, but how to think about the human factors of floor plans.

Calibrated extension cords.

My dad was stubborn and would not hook into the city sewer. He made a scaled drawing of where the opening was but we did not own a tape measure that was long enough to measure it. He had two extension cords that were marked off with the proper lengths. He could have done it with string, but knew that the value of an extension cord meant it would not disappear anytime soon.

Labeled Light Switches

In my house as a child, we had a bunch of switches. They all did something. Every switch was labeled with an embossed brown plastic strip.

The List

Every Saturday morning we would get a and written list with check boxes on a little yellow notepad. Steps would be detailed, order would be based on scarcity and work center limitations. Each kid would get one and have to complete it by the time we would go get hot dogs from the hot dog lady for lunch. Now we all make lists when we need to get things done.

I don't think he thought about giving me something extra when growing up. I think he firmly believes that being able to fix things was a necessary life skill. This is something that everyone needs, they need exposure to making. My father gave me experience with many different vocations from breaking the cheapest taps available to stripping slotted screws and a dash rounded bolt head for flavor. We didn't just fix the house, we built rockets. We changed oil, rebuilt carburetors, and soldered circuit boards. I never heard my dad say he couldn't do something. I got my willing ignorance of what I can do, and do it anyways from him. He got it from his father.

When he needed to learn something he did it with books, I have Google and YouTube. He let me break his tools, and then was nice enough to let me bring them to sears for a replacement. He let me make mistakes. He let me fail when I needed to. But at the end he helped me finish the project. From all of those many memories I get to have him looking over my shoulder shaking his head with befuddled look on every project from memories. (He isn't dead, he just lives just north of the middle of nowhere IL and can't use Skype) I don't think it had to be my dad, it could have been my mom, a neighbor, or a teacher. It could have been you. If you don't have a kid, find one who needs an adult and show up. They need someone to tell them they can do it. If you do have a kid, teach them to change a tire, wire a lamp, and use basic power tools. It is more important than this weeks Real Housewives of the OC or the big game.

How to UnMake a Makerspace build thread: Why I make things, Part 1 Emotional Needs.

2014-06-08T02:23:00.000-05:00

You know they sell that at Walmart for like 20 dollars right?

I do, but thanks for letting me know. I could for sure buy something close to what I want for a very small amount of money mass manufactured in china that is very similar to what I am making. But I want it to have the USB port able to continuously deliver 2 amps and dissipate the heat. Why would I computer model, 3D print, make a custom PCB for greater cost than the off the shelf solution that takes 16 hours to do?

Because I can!

I may actually have some deeper emotional needs than just "Because I can". In life I can't control much. It gives me anxiety when things are out of my control. I put great effort into understanding the world around me. Issac Newton, the father of modern day science, watched as the entirety of human knowledge became greater than anyone man could understand as he ushered out the age of alchemy. Since I likely won't be able to understand all of recorded human knowledge I need to grab what I can. We all have different learning styles, my strongest tendency is towards kinesthetic learning. Specifically project based learning.

By doing a project, I retain a greater portion of the subject matter. The hands on creates emotional connection to the parts of the project and the lessons learned. For anyone who questions this, take a look at a broken tap or stripped screw and tell me you don't have an emotional response. I know I do, I can still picture exactly the first tap I broke in a fighting robot. I can remember every tap I have broken. Each time I can also go back to the point where I had to reflect on the failure. Did I repeat a dumb mistake, or did I fail in a new and different way?

Making satisfies some of the Human-Givens approach list of ten required emotional nourishment.

1. Sense of competence and achievement

By finishing a project, I get a high. It is similar to the high I get while at the gym pressing atlas stones or dead lifting. A raw guttural response and an explosion of energy. I have a physical manifestation of what I have learned and put into practice.

2. Meaning and purpose — which come from being stretched in what we do and think.

It may for a short period of time, but I have a purpose, make a thing. When I choose a project, I choose it based on pushing limits of what I have done in the past.

3. Privacy — opportunity to reflect and consolidate experience

I reflect on what I do as I step through the learning process. This is an internal process usually focusing mistakes or as Gui calls them "opportunities." The only way to avoid screwing things up is to not do anything. My projects often have a lot of opportunities for learning.

And that about covers it for working in my basement alone. That leaves me with a gaping opening with the rest of the list. For most people they need a third place. After home and work, they go to church, bowling, or a bar. It usually will knock out the most of this list. But I don't fit at most of these places. I got this from Fighting robots and Crossfit. I was working as a 3D printer Application Engineer when a friend and co worker pointed out an article in the Nashua Telegraph. Earlier in 2011 I met my wife and after our first date it was like that was how my life was always supposed to be. To a far less degree but with the same conviction I knew what I had walked into when I entered MakeIt Labs. I could check off some more boxes on the list.

4. Security — safe territory and an environment which allows us to develop fully

The space was accepting of failure. Just like at CrossfitTuff, everyone cheers you on when you are trying. They give you ideas and share experience. They give you the one piece you need or lend you a tool. When you say "hold my beer and watch this," more than one person offers and they film it for "Science."

5. Attention (to give and receive it) — a form of nutrition

Kevin Smith says that one of the basic human needs is to be heard. In order to have someone listen you need to say something. I can tell stories of things I have done in the past, but as time goes by the minds eye's focus starts to become less clear. Did I get pulled over at 107 or 117 MPH? I can very clearly however tell you about the Unified Chart of Accounts for Non Profits and how it is designed to fill out the 990 tax form. My audience may not car so much about the content every time, but they hear my passion. On the flip side, I enjoy hearing about other peoples projects and learning. I have a lot of experience, sometimes people become apologetic as they explain what they assume is a mundane task to me. It never is, I am always excited to see the passion in peoples eyes as they get that eureka moment

6. Sense of autonomy and control — having volition to make responsible choice.

Lets be serious. Doing things is dangerous. Walking down the street you could get hit by a 16 ton anvil falling from the sky. The chance is remote, but it could happen. Walking into a room with power tools is going to increase that danger by an exponential factor. Every tool is designed to deliver energy in some type high discharge function. A trained cyclist can output 400 watts at peak for short amounts of time. The Plasma cutter can output 11,000 watts of power continuously for 45 minutes. 10 milliamps at 100 volts can kill a human. That tool can kill you 110,000 times over in 5 seconds. Ever used a bandsaw? No better tool exists to cut meat and bones in a butcher shop. You know what we are made of? Mostly meat, some bones. The shop is a direct representation a humans need for making good decisions. Every injury I deal with begins with some version of the statement "I didn't think."

On the flip side what you do also effects others. By leaving the shop better than you found it, you are setting up the next user for success. By leaving a mess, broken tools, or an unsafe condition, you are being selfish. You can receive gratification by leaving things better than you found them.

7. Emotional intimacy — to know that at least one other person accepts us totally for who we are, “warts 'n' all”

I don't think I deal with this much at the space, Paul generally grunts and drinks beers. That may be as good as we get.Experiences may vary on this one.

8. Feeling part of a wider community

When I walk in, I say hello to a bunch of people. They all know my name. I can often go for weeks at a time and only see my wife, Dunkin Donuts employees, and Inmates. How many of you can say that everyone at your work, customers and co workers, want for the place to do well and be better? I may not always agree with the path, but we want the place to be better just the same. It gives us a reason to work past our differences. All you have to do is try not to be a jerk. To be fair, we like them to.

9. Sense of status within social groupings

Maker spaces become a Meritocracy. We have co authored a term Do-ocracy as a community. The doers actions become louder than the "experts". How much do I weigh your input? How good does your R4-D5 unit replicate the original?

I am not comfortable with excepting the world around me. I need to make it better. I need to know that when I am gone, what I did will be looked upon as a net positive on the balance sheet of life.

I leave you with Adam Savages talk on Why We Make.

How to UnMake a Makerspace build thread: "What do you make?"

2014-06-06T00:34:00.002-05:00

"What do you make?"

The TARDIS door at MPR2.

This is the first question I get asked by most people when they encounter me incidentally at work. I meet new people on tours, or at Tag's Hardware, or just walking down the street. My answer varies from robots to rally cars at the beginning. I have said all kinds of answers but most of them were a lie at the time and described something I had done in the past. One day a sweet old woman was on a tour I was giving asked me this question. I was doing the tour in between working on some sort of infrastructure improvement. I explained the specific project and she responded with a very succinct "So you Make Makerspaces?"

Now when people ask me that question I have a very specific answer canned and a few sentences. "I make Makerspaces! I work as the facilities manager. I make sure tools work, people are safe and things make sense". That was true. For a while at least.

At the end of last year I put in a bunch of orders and nothing was ordered. It turns out we ran into a cash crunch as an organization. I will go into this deeper in a future post and how we are fixing it. From this with no resources to do my job, I turned my attention to why I did not have the resources to do my job. As time progressed, I used my extra time to understand the business of Making a Makerspace. This system can best be described like my pants and waist since I stopped working out at Crossfit. My waste grew and I lied to myself saying that my pants still fit. Then one day you go to buy a suit and the tailor measuring you says 53 when you are expecting 38. It's not like I didn't have a mirror, I just didn't have enough perspective to see the change and notice the issues.

Let me make one thing very clear. Being a not for profit does not mean running with no surplus. It means that you are tax exempt and can't distribute dividends or profit.

We ran with greater than 90% earned income. If we had an unexpected expense or drop in revenue for even a brief period, we would have issues weathering it. In a December of 2013 we had both a drop in revenue, and an unexpected expense. I didn't know what was going on.

I have developed a system for when I don't know something.

Step one: Buy a book on the subject.
Step two: Read it and become an expert.
Step three: Make stuff.

I then went on a buying spree on amazon since I didn't know why we were where we were. If the money did not make sense, lets look at that Nonprofit Bookkeeping & Accounting For Dummies This started to give me a better picture of the intricacies of Not for Profit accounting. All of my experience was based on Cost accounting, or Throughput accounting as applied in a lean manufacturing environment. In either case, I would use quantifiable data to make decisions to either maximize profits or reduce bottlenecks in a manufacturing process. With a not for profit organization we start to add some additional data points. As a not for profit, profit was not the goal, programs are the deliverable. This was a much more qualitative measurement. But how does this fit onto a balance sheet?

The next book I bought was The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management. I poured over it to understand the differences between a not for profit and a for profit. I started to look deeper at the numbers and we were running with a very low margin of revenue and social capital.

Working for Artisan's Asylum as an organization has been very hard, emotionally and mentally. I ended up taking a position of Operations manager (Transitional Manager) after our Interim executive director stepped down. I figured that I could just find a book that talked about how to do this. How To Do Everything had some great tips but I was in the same position as my predecessors, no one ever did the thing we were doing. Lots of not for profits exist. Lots of shared shop space exist. Lots of Makerspaces exist, some with more people, some with more tools, some with more space. None at the level Artisan's Asylum is. Every time we do something for the first time, it is the first time it has been done to the level that we need to do it. Gui gave three levels of projects he does, awesome, ridiculous and ludicrous. Being that that is how we plan projects, it has been hard to translate this to GAAP.

The first thing we had to do was stop and admit we had problems. Our staff, our board, and members took on our biggest community project to date. We were going to fix OUR Makerspace. One of my favorite parts of Battlebots competitions was the open build threads where people gave detailed build reports as a story. Not much was held back. Our story has just begun. I want to start to chronicle some of our failures and successes for not just the Artisan's Asylum members, but for all other community workshops to learn from. This will be a build thread and a place to document for me what has happened.

Please leave specific questions in the comments for future blog posts on topics you would like to see covered. This is not an Asylum project and only reflects my personal views and experiences.

Winter challenger rally 07

2013-07-12T09:21:00.001-05:00

Pulling up an old blog from myspace.

It all started on January 20th when myself and the Russian went to winter awd driving school. We learned that when you enter a turn on snow you car should be sideways. And that is fun. While we were there at an all Subaru event there were two guys who stood out. One with an evo, and one with a Corrado. Obviously the Russian kids would show up with non Subaru's to a Subaru event. They told us of a magical event of a clandestine nature. Vermont winter challenge TSD. It has been running for like 20 years now.

The premise for the rally is a bunch of caffiened up over tired rally enthusiasts drive through the woods at unsafe speeds with no sleep for 10 hours. To add to the complication it doesn't start till 8pm. Sounds to simple eh? Lets now add in that there is no map, it is a sheet of paper with some writing comprised of miles, times, landmarks, and some more nonsensical writing which means nothing to my novice team. To make it a touch harder it is a "mildly trapped"(see note 1). Yea, didn't sound like fun yet. So they also give a "constant average speed" (see note 2). Now we are talking. to summarize what I thought I was doing before I signed up.

-driving fast at night in Vermont back road on ice and snow.

-the rest I do not know, but am looking forward to the first bulleted item.

So vlad and I sent in our paperwork. Nothing left to do now but let the realization of how unprepared we were for this experience. We figured since this is an Overnight Vermont winter challenge TSD, we should look at what we have going for us. We have both completed winter driving school. Overnight, hmm we both go to bed at 11 so this may not be in our favor. Barre, Vermont I live in Nashua(150 miles away) and vlad in Dover(even further), that doesn't seam to be good either. Winter, vlad thinks he should live in Florida and I don't like the cold. This also may not be to our advantage. TSD, having 20 days of knowledge of what a tsd was or even there existence, we were certifiable experts at this point.

Well, at this point I think I could have given a list of equipment which would be nice to have. So we figured since there was nothing else we knew that is what we should do. here is the list we came up with.

-Pi graphic, I think this shows best of what we will be doing. 2piR = us driving around in circles.

-full size spare- would be nice when out in the woods to not be a tripod with a donut. It wasn't a snow, but re92's are better then donuts.

-aluminum race jack, I hate oem jacks, and wrenches.

-breaker bar and socket, boo oem lug wrenches.

-Tow straps. I had one, and wouldn't realize why we should have two till the rally.

-spotlight, we used it a few times, but for 10 dollars at auto zone, it was worth it.

-shovel, maybe we should bring two next time.

-mittens and hat my gf made me, figured she would be happy knowing I wore her items she made for me.

-sugar free red bull, my family has a history of diabetes.

-trail mix, it makes me feel like I am on a pbs special.

-basic tool kit, so when something does break it will for sure need an obscure replacement and or tool which I did not plan for and will be stuck in the middle of nowhere.

-gas can with extra gas in case someone runs out, or we do away from town.

-jumper cables, for when the tow strap breaks and I need a last ditch effort. Make sure to get 4 gauge or higher for this reason. They also make nice exhaust hangers.

-glass cleaner and rainex, so I could see what I was doing while driving.

-new wipers, bird sap got onto the originals and tore them up.

-snow tires, re92's in the snow are about the same as trying to grip a rounded nut with an adjustable wrench.

-triangles, all the "off" equipment is there to ensure we prepared for nothing. Had we forgotten any equipment we would still be on the side of a hill, or in a cranberry bog.

-Ali G sound track. self explanatory. good way to start the night, ended with Nina Simone in the third section.

-Tire chains, again if we didn't take them, we would have needed them.

Now with an assortment of items bungee corded into the back of the wrx, we are off to the races. Well, in a week. Ruslan gave us advise of drive as fast as you can, and you will likely still be to slow.

Vlad handled the graphics from conception to installation.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robotdeath/379495152/

We wanted more input and experience then that, so we started to seek alternate sources. when we got to Synaptic 3 http://www.synaptic3.com/ on Thursday for free pizza and to check out the shop, we met a guy named Rick who gave us lots of good advise on rally experience. He gave Vlad and I a much better mental position going into the race. I also poked around, looked at Aarons RX7, talked with him and the rest of the boys, and looked at djruslans almost done wrx. My machine shop teacher used to tell me, "look at a machinist hands. If they are intact, he is a good machinist." The guys have all of their fingers and it is where I bring any project I don't think I can handle. They all gave me some good info on driving, and how to approach it mentally. At 1:30 I headed home. I got home, and got stuck on a conference call till 5am with nz so I was thrilled to the max. This would have been a great schedule to move to for the weekend had I been able to skip work Friday and didn't have to help load a robot arena on Saturday at 10am. so Friday I get up do some bs for work, go and grab another 3a 55w driving light bulb (don't do a continuity test on these bulbs with 19. volts) installed, changed oil, and did a traction dance to Mickey Thompson, god of traction. well, at this point, I have nothing to do but hope. I stay in Cambridge on Friday wake up, go help Brian load some arena, and then take off. I have at this point driven 314 miles since Friday morning. I get to Nashua, go over my check list, and start grabbing things I am kind of remembering. some things that come up that I should have done but ran out of time

-Skid plate

-more lights

-mud flaps, I keep selling sets so I never get them put on my car.

-PA system for hailing enemy ships that seam hostile.

-directions to the starting point.

-done any research on what we were actually doing.

eh, screw it, it is now or never, we leave for the rally.

We stop somewhere in Vermont for some drinks and they had no public bathrooms. luckily the tree behind the building had no lines so I utilized that. With a Vermont atlas, little Debbie products and a power bar, we were on our way. as we reached the town of bair, we turned the wrong way off of the highway. this is a great start to an event which relies heavily on navigation skills. so as we went through the center of town, we saw an Audi with some extra lights so as I would normally do in a situation like this, I pulled in front of them and asked "where are we going" they were to say the least confused. I then explained how we were up for a rally and they offered to let us follow them back to the paddock. As we watched the gas fill his car like a gentle stream of urine, we gave up and took verbal directions. We then made it to the walker Mazda, and saw the rest of the rally guys. every single car and driving team looked more prepared then I did. We went and checked in, got our packet and looked at it like a dear in headlights.

Time for tech inspection. I have inspected 100's of robots designed to destroy things so I figured I could pass a car inspection without any trouble.

from there, we had to make an edit, rally safety guys said 86 the spare gas, so I went to the gas station to fill up my tank for stage I and while there, gave the tank to someone. His wife came out of the gas station and he had to smooth things over for some reason. Anyways vlad and I have bladders like thimbles so we used the fine gas stations water closet. On the way out, I spotted this poster by the car parts section. http://www.streetdrugs.org/eShop/products/retailposter.gif

I have on occasion before talked about meth, and it's prominence in northern NH. This stereotype, I also hold for northern Maine, and northern Vermont. well, northern New England and the Midwest as a whole. The counter lady then went onto a dissertation about meth in the south, and how the trailer they rent has meth burn stains on the walls that "don't get cleaned out some with soap" She then explained how I could make meth with items in the store and how to properly distribute it. Would you say this disproves or supports my theorem on meth use in northern New England?

We roll into subway and I ask the guy for a surprise and he was confused at first then got all excited he got to have a creative outlet for all his bottled up artistic ability which he never allows to shine while confined behind a subway apron. I tell you this Italian sub was a work of art.

Some coffee, and time to go back for the drivers meeting. When there, vlad pointed out Travis Pastrana, and I heard his story of his rental outback. Nice guy, wasn't a star, but a competitor. He rembered vlad, but didn't say his name because like everyone else, Russian names are hard to say due to the addition of extra constanants, and some things I wouldn't consider letters at all. We all received our route packet, and start time of 8:24. as we opened our packet we realized the extent of our lack of preparation for this rally so we laid out a few goals that seamed reasonable for our first event. in this order

1. Don't die

2. Don't total car

3. Don't damage car

4. Pull someone out of a snow bank so purchase of tow rope will be justified.

5. Finish a stage.

we go out and sat down to look at stage notes. It has three columns, one with mileage sometimes, one with some obscure directions, and one with times and "CAS". None of these meant a damn at this point to vlad or I. We started asking for info on what stuff meant. Adams wife helped us a bit, and rallyk did as well. Thanks both for your help. as we went through the book we read every line to see if it made sense, and made corrections that were called for. If we were to be rookies again, I would have read this information first, which I recommend to all of you.

http://www.ner.org/rally/rdral/07/07rrregs_final.pdf

So now we are completely screwed, at is almost start time, and we have no idea what is going on. Lets race. 8:23:39 seconds reset trip odometer, and say goodbye to the last time this precision would actually mean anything. we head off through the calibration stage, and are about 1 percent off. so on an 80 mile rally, that is .8 miles wrong by the end. Not to worry on stage one would never make it to the 8 mile mark. as we drive through the stage on the first turn we see a mini in the snow, we couldn't push him out so I hooked up to tow him. Having a firm understanding of my inability to place, let alone win, I didn't mind loosing time. We had him out a few minutes and we were both on our way. we started to get lost driving down the wrong roads a half dozen times or so, it was now after 10pm, and no freaking idea where we were.

luckily we were joined by the corrado of doom and another oil burning jetta. as we tried to get to no where as fast as we could, ruslan somehow took his corrado from on all four wheels going in the intended direction to pointing opposite the direction of travel and on his side. as Aaron and ruslan climbed out through the sunroof, we all pushed the car over and then assessed if it would be ok to move. We needed to tow it so jetta guy was going to hook on and pull him down hill. after some evaluation of the physics involved we decided to pull him up hill in order to no allow slack to form on the tow rope, or for it to break loose and slide into my car.

after we pull him out, synaptic 3 race support fastened his oil cooler back in, and away we go. we scrubbed the stage, and got back to 14. at that point we traveled up to cialis or something, and cut across some nice logging road at what may have been a high speed. as we get to the McDonalds they give us like 6 minutes before section 2, we get some food, and take off again. we did good up until check point two, then vlad started to get sick. the map and directions made him unable to navigate so I was trying to help out, and we see a datsun fly by us at fast mph. so we and the black rs followed at a brisk pace. Luckily it got us through this stage. P and H time for a peanut butter cup, and we are ready for stage 3.

We take off, and everything just starts making sense. vlad is spot on with all of his commands, his calculations are right on, and we are off like a dress on prom night. I am unsure of what our speed or times on this section was, but we had a blast and loved every minute of it.

I think I have convinced Dawn and Heidi to do the next rally day after my birthday. Maybe we can make her cammary the e car.

here is info on that.

http://www.ner.org/rally/rdral/07/07Oldtimerflyer.pdf

Things I would bring for next time

-mores/better stop watches

-bigger button calculator

-more pencils, highlighters

-clipboard

-red headlight for vlad to read directions.

-in car camera

-finish skid plate, mud flaps, in car camera mount.

let me know anything else you have to say.

see you guys next time.

2013 Camp Sitrep

2013-05-20T23:56:00.004-05:00

It's been a while folks. I have been busy with life. I am one class away from finishing a manufacturing degree. I started a new job at Artisan's Asylum as the Facilities Manager. It is pretty much what I was doing at MakeIt Labs just now full time. I enjoyed working with all of my 3D printing customers but this is something new. I spend my days trying to solve problems with people and things to help them be safe and make awesome stuff. Some of the members projects can be seen Here, Here, Here and Here. I have not had a chance to make anything for me yet, but soon hopefully.

On to the show. Libby and I have been busy bees with both of our new jobs. The Wazoo rally team who I crew for also got an unexpected shot of great news. A partnership with Motostar Performance Tires has us going to four national events this year and the full season next year. That means a bunch of testing and learning for the rally team and lots of driving (8,000 miles). I can't wait to see Tim and Marc out on stage putting down some consistent times. This spring, Libby and I went to Motorama, and made some trophies.

Plasma Cut Trophies

At work, we held a competition with Mathworks for self aware robots.

Angrybot was awesome!

More trophies, this time by a member at artisan's Fractal art.

Coolest robot award for sure.

The Iron Lady was pretty darn awesome as well.

Sergio from Mathworks diligently codes to make the computer vision system recognize color blobs.

Show time.

Some days dozens of maple glazed bacon donuts show up at work.

Libby and I went to a concert. Dropkick Murphies, worth it every time

Eventually we make it to last weekend. A friend of ours graduated and had a BBQ some great art on the fence and this is what they came up with.

My parents are going to be in town and my father wanted to come up for a day to work on the cabin. I knew we would need to survey prior to that trip in order to make sure we have a game plan for finishing the roof over memorial day weekend. We made the decision to go camping around 1. We put the chainsaw into the car and grabbed snacks and a few gallons of water. We headed to camp around 8 and got to camp around 11:30 PM. Libby and I rocked out to Girl Talk when we got to the road. Tree number one down. this was about an 8 inch diameter pine. I felt bad starting the chainsaw late at night, but we had no other way to get down the road. We cleaned it up and headed down the road to find the second down tree in front of the parking lot. I love my Husqvarna 445 Chain Saw it always starts right up. I left my tools and flashlights at Artisan's so Libby and I had a single flashlight to share. We first went up to Donna and Gordon's cabin it is a little more leaning and the door is a little harder to close. The heater worked great, and the lights ran fine. We went down to main camp to have a look. We spooked a bird from it's nest in the kitchen for which we all felt guilty. I was very scared when the bird flew at me in the dark and I had no flashlight. Eventually we got the girls to bed and started the fire. We means everyone but me. I checked out our cabin and found zero damage from the winter and that the tarp stayed intact. Hooray! When I saw the lean to in the moonlight, something looked "off". When we got the fire going, I realized "collapsed under snow weight" was more so the case. I was very confident in the assembly even damaged in the unloaded state. Libby and I had much debate over it's ability to fight gravity. My position was if it hasn't come all the way down yet, I don't expect it to this weekend. We finished drinking some apple cider and headed to bed eventually.

Different failures. This side broke apart from the vertical support column

The failure happened right on the joint of the rear composite beam. The two laminated 2x8's were just not enough to handle the snow load distributed. The front beam did not fail, I think due to the additional 2x10 that was added the length of the beam. The rear beam will be getting a doubled up 2x10 on the front and rear to repair this. The gusset supports also failed on this side. I plan to replace them with 2x4's and Lag bolts. With any luck, we will have this guy back up and sturdy in no time next weekend. I recommend that during winter months, we make temporary lolly columns to put in place while no one is around during the winter. Dropping from a 16 foot span to an 8 foot span will improve the chance of not being crushed by snow much higher.

The roof is still broken in this picture. You can see from the broken wood.

This is another view of the broken wood.

We surveyed the cabins and aside from some brush, this is the only disruptive down tree. As tradition would require, it is blocking access to Jim's cabin. We did not get a chance to cut it up for fear of disturbing the baby birds at the nest.

This tree fell and is likely still in the way of the path.

we took a ride into town to try and not disturb the bird to much. Joe and I played frisbee and both realized how old we have become.

One last important note. The Milan Lunchenete has a new chef or something. The potatoes were seasoned great, the eggs were not greasy and they served home made toast.

With any luck my dad and I will get the roof buttoned up next weekend and our cabin can be stay-able before summer.

My awesome new vanity plates.

A CNC plasma cutter at work the guys made.

Dr who for my birthday.

Scrap guy at work rolls in a Unimog.

Parts from Dave Mirra's car. He leaves them everywhere.

Columbus day Cabin Construction

2012-10-16T22:43:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since my last post. I am almost half way through the semester and needed to reward myself for doing psets. So I get to write a blog post every time I finish. This is the photo journal of our Columbus day weekend trip.

Friday evening Libby was not feeling well and I was tired so we decided to hold off on traveling up north till Saturday morning. i went to pick up Libby and she rallied to head up north. We put on some Nerdist Podcasts and headed north. As we pulled into camp, it started to rain. We unloaded the tools and brought everything up to the cabin. The tarp blew off and we had some minor flooding in the corner of the cabin. We first put the tarp back up and started to organize tools. Joe, and Roserin put in the two windows while I put in the door. Libby and I now had a place to set up our tent and be protected from the elements for the night. It was still damp in the cabin and cold. I got a load of wood so we could have a fire for the night. Libby finally got to tell the story of getting sick from last fall to all of the campers around the camp fire. We headed to bed not to late and tried to keep warm.

Sunday morning we got up and headed down to the Milan Luncheonette The best cup of coffee in Milan‽ Libby and I swung down to Berlin to pick up some screws and headed back up to camp. I cut up some logs and loaded stacked some wood with the other campers to get us some wood for the winter. As the sun started to set, I finally got into the mood to work on the cabin. I headed up and got some help from the girls. Libby and Mary hauled plywood on the roof since they are awesome. As we were putting it up, I secured the panel with a rope so it would not fall on Libby and Mary. I used a tree as a brake to keep the rope from flying out of my grip. As I put tension on it, I ripped the tree out of the ground. I flashed fear as I was worried it would drop the panel on the ladies. We eventually got it up and Joe went up on the ladder to screw things in. He was the star in this system. He worked hard as we lost the sun to put up the First and last panel of the roof for the weekend. We then finished up and pulled the tarp back over the roof. I set our tent back up inside and got everything ready for bed. We made dinner and enjoyed the campers until about 8:30 when Libby said she might want to go home tonight. For those that don't know her, you need to physically drag her away from the woods and a campfire when great people are around. So I knew "might want to go home" was code for we are leaving early, but I need you to make the decision for me. So we packed everything up and I asked Joe and Jim to tie down the tarp in the morning. We drove home and just in time as we got to the bottom of the hill, freezing rain started coming down. I knew we had made the right decision to head home and we got home at around 1 AM.

We had a great if brief trip. We need to head up in the next few weeks to finish getting the roof buttoned up for the winter. If anyone wants to come up for a high density trip, we could use a hand.

Moylan's enjoy gluten free cake cooked in a home made oven.

Fire is awesome.

Pulling up panels to the roof.

H kid checks out the door. She approves.

Joe gets conned into helping put up some roof panels

Suspenders. I can't tell you how much I like these suspenders.

Libby sporting her Team Masek Shirt.

Joe and I watch as Libby and Mary do all the hard work.

We have a door!

Joe screws down some roof. iI looks so cool as it starts to take the shape of the rafters..

Building Construction Inspection Department. The proper bribes were paid.

A note on suspenders. Masek men have tragically been plagued with what the Medical Profession call "Lackitus Buttickus" Also known as no butt. For years I have battled gravity and my pants. I decided I am not going to take it anymore. I bought Craftsman Padded Suspenders and It has not only improved my work, but also made me easier to work with. Prior to this, I had four things that would aggravate me while working on projects.

1. Too hot out and I am pouring perspiration (it was 50 degrees out so this was temporarily fixed for me.

2. I made a mistake via poor planning or lack of materials.

3. Someone has misplaced or broken one of my tools.

4. ~~My pants are falling down which limits my leg mobility and frustrates me. It also makes me uneasy when I am on a ladder because my leg mobility is limited.~~ Suspenders = pants at a reasonable Height

Now, I am down two two with one additional seasonal aggravation

More Fire

"You can't unring that bell" The internet is written in Ink.

2012-10-04T10:14:00.003-05:00

My sister posted an article on my FB wall about how stratasys ended a lease and repossessed a machine when the owners wanted to 3d print a gun. It actually has made me think a bit about it. This is all editorial and just my opinions from experience. This in no way reflects employer.

A 15 year old high school girl takes a risque photo of herself on her cell phone and sends it to her boyfriend. He then shows his friends and forwards it on to a friends phone. It ends up on the internet all over the place. Who’s fault is this? Everyone involved.

Tony Hawk and Matt Hoffman were innovators of the sports they were in during the eighties because they came up with new ideas. They tried things they had never done. Once others saw that it was possible, they were copied by future athletes. Now a days, 8 year old kids are able to pull tricks that were considered revolutionary when first pulled. It is not that the physics or equipment have changed that much, but that you begin a challenge knowing you CAN succeed. If you start a challenge knowing you can succeed, you are more likely to. The same is true for most anything if you know someone else has already completed the journey you want to take, it improves your odds.

This is a super tough issue. Currently for about 5k of investment and some skills, you can make a gun using a milling machine and lathe. The difference is the skill required as well as the understanding of how a gun works to make it work.

I have seen 3d printed guns that have had no problem firing off thousands of rounds. The barrel was an off the shelf item to get a true bore. Everything else was 3D printed. The difference is the equipment used was called direct metal laser sintering. It costs a million dollars and also requires skill to operate.

Now we have a disruptive technology of sub $1,000 3d printers. This is cheaper than a tv, laptop, or weekend in vegas. This alone is not an issue. In order to get anything out of them, you need to have 3d data to put into them. With websites like thingaverse, and grabcad, more and more unearned content is available. People without the ability to do any genesis of design can claim "I made this," when in fact, they have done nothing but hit print. It is plagiarism which the physical products industry has not seen until now. We have seen this issue with music, video, and software and the war on this is for the most part loosing. If innovation can't be profitable to the innovators due to theft, they will find something else to do, and new ideas will not be cultivated. To make a 3d part, you have a simple equation. 3Ddata+3D Printer=Object

Most people in the maker community have a day job and understand the value of what they do. They then understand why piracy is unfair as well as why companies need to protect IP. A few, the loudest, most evangelical talk about how all hardware and software should be open. They call EULA criminal and demand free access to information. They then want to take this information and develop a for profit project and make a living off of stealing while preaching that they are robin hood. These are the people that are a problem. They want free use off others investments for nothing.

At work, I deal with people undervaluing what we provide. They expect something I do to only cost 100 dollars to reverse engineer something model it in Solidworks, and recreate it physically. when I give them $1000+ dollar price tags, I have literally been called a criminal. If you don’t understand what is involved for me to do my job, how can you say I am charging too much?

The 3d printers exist now which is not going to change. One thing that fuels innovation is the idea that something can be done better. As non traditional engineers start to have powerful resources for little investment, we start to run into issues that professionals have run into for years. “What if?” That is the question that engineers and scientists are always pondering. I have to think about what happens if someone gets hurt, if something fails, how will it fail? I can go to jail if I do something negligent.

I don’t disagree with stratasys in this situation. Some folks are giving them backlash for the way they took the machine back. Those same people sided with the rental car company that banned Lindsay Lohan from driving her car for fear of her injuring someone. What's the difference?

A technical side note: The Uprint is not the machine to do this, the materials are not as strong and output resolution is poor with bad surface quality. It is not even water tite, putting the explosive force of a bullet is greater than the surface tension of water by a few thousand PSI. The Fortis Line is a much better choice

I am a firm believer in the right of a citizen to arm themselves. Currently the nation is so fragmented on gun laws, it is tough to have a clear way to determine who is fit to own a weapon. More folks are killed by family in a heterosexual marriage, than by home made guns. Lets ban Straight marriage! (this is sarcasm just so you are all aware) The Maker community has been debating this issue for a while now.

None of these guns are new, they are just reverse engineered versions of already manufactured guns.

Is Smith and Wesson at fault if someone copies the design and it fails and or hurts someone?

Is the modeler who designed the gun from drawings, or reverse engineering data at fault?

Is the content sharing site at fault for distributing the information?

Is the home brew 3d Printer designer at fault for an inherent flaw in the design that causes the gun to fail?

Is the guy who built his own printer at fault for making a machine that has non linear travel and inconsistent laminations?

Is the material manufacturer who undercuts Stratasys and makes lesser quality material at fault for shipping inconsistent material?
Finally they guy who we should blame, the guy who pulls the trigger.

As cost goes down, adoption goes up.
As ease of use gets better, adoption goes up.
As reliability increases, adoption increases.
As output quality increases, adoption increases.

This debate will continue by people much smarter than me. The key things to keep in mind about it is in the end it is up to personal responsibility. If you think every single gun manufacturer as well as the government hasn't tested alternative material weapons as well as rapid prototyped models, you're crazy. They just don’t give away the data as well as ignore all personal responsibility. If every person in the nation purchases a 3d printer and learns the skills necessary to engineer a weapon, I am just fine with that. We will see innovation, as well as skills gained. People will earn the safety and judgement needed to operate a weapon. If one guy sends distributes his design and everyone just builds the same thing, what have we really improved? No one has learned anything, and no innovation has happened.

In closing, this is something that can’t be regulated. If people that want to make guns, good for them. Lets just make them earn it. Instead of spending money and attention on this kid, spend it on making more engineers and you will have a better net sum gain for humanity. If you watch the video it is just a cry for attention. Instead of giving him all this attention (which will help him find resources to complete his project) Ignore him and he will get no money. if you plan to rant and publicize about owning things, you may not want to lease your equipment.

A picture is worth a thousand words (SEO fail)

2012-09-14T16:45:00.003-05:00

It has been a while since my last update. Libby and I have been doing work every now and again. We have hit a few mile stones. I finished both of my summer courses with a b and b+. My knee is starting to get some strength back and I am getting confidence back. I have been getting to the gym and was able to get the 95 pound Atlas stone up. I am still struggling with eating well, but Libby has made it her mission for us to eat healthy. Enough of me, on to the construction.

Libby and I laid out a bunch of the larger rafters. After a few false starts, we added a MakeIt Labs approved self pretension device (bungee cord). We got some 4 tooth blades and this system worked pretty good. The saw has a limited duty cycle so it we couldn't hammer through it. A little tension and a lot of breaks made it work. It was plenty hot and humid so the breaks worked out of me. I am not very pleasant in 90 degree, 89% humidity.

More boards, you can see in the back ground some rafters made up of two planks. This was done so we could reduce our impact on the environment. Or I didn't want to spend money on more wood.

Libby kicked some but and made two more stairs for the entry. The stairs may have been a bit ridiculous, but we had all the material so it was essentially free. We continued the stairs with the same design as the previous two. Libby took the dimensions and angles and cut up all of the suport beams.

She laid out the boards on the ground and traced out what the pattern should be.

Everything gets cut up and loaded into the trailer.

Walls! Well, some of them, we started putting up the sheathing. From this experiment, star drive (torx) is better than square drive (Robertson). We spent the day screwing everything together and making sure all the walls are solid. Libby was amazed by how much sturdier the structure became when we added the sheathings. I expected it, but still it is such a gratifying feeling when you push on a structure and can feel the stout lumber push back without yield.

The only wall without a window. Fireplace goes here. You can see the header structure of either 4x6, or laminated 2x6's with a plywood filler in between.

The walls went up on the previous day. Sunday, Libby and I put up some roof parts. We started by building each peak section. I pre-cut the Plywood in Nashua at MakeIt Labs and Libby assembled them up at the camp.

I put them all up. Not because Libby didn't want to help, but she is to short. The two smaller ones were able to be lifted and hoisted into place.

Screwed down from the top these parts were solid.

It was hot that day so Libby and I took less pictures than we should have but we did manage to get a photo of me flipping up the large peak wall section. Libby assembled it (she is pretty much the best) We tried to put it up in the lifted position. Failure. We went with the lever screwed onto the board again to get it into place.

Maine wall peak section up! it is waiting for the main beam.

Way to hot.

Still to hot. Since we did not have the availability of a crane, we made some dead-men that were cut to the exact length of how high the beam needed to be. This process was far tougher than I figured it would have been. We finally got it up but the composite of a 4x6 and 4x4 ten foot long 14 feet in the air was "challenging."

I have some spare wood for Joe's cabin I borrowed to build scaffolding. I screwed a 2x4 into the 2x10 to make a strong platform. This made work up in the air far safer.

Representing Crossfit Tuff with the shirt, not my dough like physique. Always Hydrate either way.

Libby being cute.

That's a lot of rafters. To bad heights make me uncomfortable.

Piles and Piles of tools. Batteries are the limiting factor up at camp.

Every hour or so, I stop working and have to clean up the entire work site and organize tools. Before each stage of construction I like to lay out my tools and find all of the materials needed to complete the next task.

Once I put in the windows, I lose my workbench.

5 and 6 inch deck screws are great. However, they don't have threading throughout the entire fastener so they can unscrew from the second chunk of material, but still be stuck in the first. It just sucks.

~~I found some sucker,~~ Joe volunteered to help put up rafters. I am moving down the scaffolding

Some photos just show a transition. I spent more time prepping and cleaning up than actually working. Libby was a star putting up with me and my limited mental capacity in the heat.

SHe was smart and found a place to rest that was cool.

~~Sucker.~~ Volunteer. Without Joe, I would still be up screwing in rafters.

Just removing the dead men when we got the center beam secured. One of these days I may even figure out what they are called.

Joe without a shirt dominating the Rafters.

The energon is almost charged.

It almost looks like the model. With any luck, this will be stupid sturdy.

Monday we put up the secondary beams as we fought time and an oncoming rain storm.

Libby looking so hot she fogs the camera.

the two side beams up and installed thanks to Joe. We beat the rain.

Libby hauls up little laminated rafters.

H kid with her little caterpillar friend. She is pretty much awesome.

Joe kicking but as we put up the two smaller main beams.

Onto the other side. The carriage bolts I put in to hold the beams together had to be adjusted. They were in the way of the junction at the end of the cabin.

Screwing down the rafters on the smaller section.

Libby helps clean up. A clean work area is a safe work area.

It is starting to take shape. You can start to see why I made the center beam laminated and jog up so I have an open span.

Look at you rafters. You look strong.

Libby's upgraded stairs. It is far easier to use them now. With any luck, it will make snow covered entry easier in the winter.

From the future sleeping position.

From one side of the cabin,

What the center section looks like.

I am proud of this connection. Everything fit for the most part.

Down on the stairs.

Either a wood stove, or a propane heater will go here.

What it looks like from a two year old's perspective.

Bob Masek helping put on some plywood.

Heidi hauls up windows.

Carol and Heidi with some team work.

The wood has curved.

This might actually work.

Now for side two. Heidi and bob have a go at it.

Window one in. Looks good to me.

My dad and I talking about discussing things. This may sound more like arguing.

My dad proud of my work. That is something that really helped make this project worthwhile. Both of my grandfathers built things out of scrap pallets like I tried to for most of this cabin. Without him, I would not have my job, Libby, or any of my skills in making things. Thanks Dad, and I love you!

JB and Betty in the first photo from my 365 Robot photo project. 101101101 days a year.

Rally West Virginia Trophies.

2012-07-30T16:10:00.000-05:00

I have a friend I have met through rally Bill Caswell. He has a polarizing affect on people. He got laid off from the financial industry a few years ago and has been having some adventure since then. He has Rallied all over the US, talked his way into parties of the rich and famous, and put stickers everywhere much to the chagrin of many car owners, hotels, bars, and governments. I may not agree with that portion of what he does, but he puts a lot into promotion. Much of it self promotion, what he does behind the scenes rarely is mentioned as much as a sticker in an authorized place. What he does to improve the Hobby (it's not sustainable, so it isn't an industry) that never gets publicized.

He asked me to help with a project on Wednesday afternoon a week prior to Rally West Virginia. He was tasked with making trophies for RWV and had a short time frame. At my day job we work in a fast paced prototyping environment where we "Quote in hours, Parts in days." He was having issues with extracting cutting data from the graphic of the event. I work with Spaceclaim during the day and knew it would make the design very easy. I was not able to get to it until Friday afternoon after work but took in the data and quickly went into the design. The image was junk as far as extracting data. The edges were not crisp enough for automated tools.

The original Graphic for the rally

I imported the image into Spaceclaim and started to put some geometry to the original graphics. I am used to designing for a CNC Laser Cutter so adjusting design for Waterjet would not be that hard. Bill mentioned they would be for three places with three classes so I tried to do something that would pay homage to classic cars of yesteryear. This is what I came up with for the first iteration

I had everything layered where all the items would be fastened to a black background this would look pretty good, but assembly would be a pain. You could just double stick the letters and layers together, but making sure everything would end up in the correct place. Originally, I was going to do the fabrication at MakeIt Labs on the CNC plasma Cutter and powder coat everything. I did not have the time to do the fabrication, so I spent a little extra time making it easy to manufacture by whoever Bill would have Jet cut it. I inverted the color scheme so instead of twenty five separate parts it could be made with five.

Connecting islands

When doing anything in a 2d single point cutting system (water jet, CNC Plasma, Laser, Router) it cuts along a tool path generated by the DXF. If you have things that float, like the center of an A or R, you can either cut it out as a separate part, or make a bridge. This is a delicate process that is reliant on experience with a specific tool. In the case of Waterjet, it puts a large amount of force on the part if the bridge is to narrow and can blow it out. If they are made separate, your often are fishing for small parts in the water catch.

Assembled trophies. with color.

I then broke out the backing so the outside had a boarder of yellow and the year circle would be broken off. I pulled through holes for assembly so it could all be easily pop riveted together. I used this to make sure everything is in the right place and it has a race feel to it. I sent everything as separate files so all the components could be cut out easily.

Expanded view of the assembly.

I sent it all over to Bill and hoped everything would pan out.

A week later I got this text and was super happy with the result. The delivery constraint made powder coating or anodizing impossible. Polished and assembled, they look fantastic.

The finished product in Aluminum

Steps and a single roof truss.

2012-07-30T11:17:00.001-05:00

It's been a while. Not a whole lot of progress since the last post, I have been busy with school and work. Without Libby I think I would have lived on Rockstar Energy drinks and Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers. I have had to postpone the last two trips up to camp to take care of school work. Libby and I have been working on and off building up more components for the cabin. This post will not have many links due to my time constraints of school and work.

Where we last left off, we had walls up. Cutting the radius onto the rafters has been a tougher task than we had thought it would be. I had planned to laser cut out the two rafter size's into patterns but the machine was just to busy with actual work. I ended up cutting patterns in Masonite using pattern transferring like they did in the old days before computers.

Using geometry and a sketch, I figured out what the thickness would need to be every 12 inches.

I put a screw at every intersection of layout lines.

Using an aluminum piece of stock, I estimated the curvature based on each measurement.

I wanted some steps for the cabin, so I came up with a set of steps that curves with the path.

Frame setup and steps mocked up for height

Libby testing for comfort.

Making steps one at a time in the morning.

Finishing up the frame for the last step.

This is me under attack by bugs.

My little sister thinking about her next Scrabble victory.

I have been working on transportation of tools and planning to improve or time working, and less time organizing.

Building the Composite Beam

One side

Full view.

We may need another step or two.

For putting the beam up I tied the two sides together so it would be stiff for lifting.

Joe and marry helping lift the beam up. Lifting it with the point facing up had already failed at this point. Joe came up with the plan, to lift it up and use a dead man to put it upright.

One end up!

A system that sort of worked, we had no way to keep it stable for fastening.

Adding bracing so we had a lever to keep everything stable while fastening.

Libby looking through the board with handles.

All non essential personnel had to leave for safety while we did the beam raise. No photos of the beam going up, but it magically worked thanks to Joe and Libby's input.

Screwing everything together.

The corner joint. Everything fit like it should. Kind of amazing.

Joe making things happen.

Stabilizing frame in temporarily until we get everything tied down.

Mary looking at how awesome it is.

Our guest Photographer for this build. It was her first time and I think she did a great job. She also put in many of the screws for the stair treads.

The view from inside the cabin.

View of the beam detail.

JB and Betty hanging out on the new steps.

A view of all the work over the weekend. Steps, and headers. We did not get to the front header because we ran out of construction adhesive.

Well, plugging along and I am almost done with my class. We can then kick it up a notch with fabrication and sourcing to get her finished off.

Play 4 Life

2012-07-02T14:49:00.005-05:00

Staying healthy is something I have struggled with for years. I love cheese, fried foods, meat, and snack foods that are easy at the gas station. I enjoy drive through food an energy drinks. At one point I made it up to 350 pounds and would get winded walking up stairs. At that point, I started buying sugar free energy drinks. I lost like 10 pounds. I started going to the gym on and off at work out world. I would finish up and go grab something to eat at taco bell and dropped down to around 325. At this point I saw a friend of mine Tyler who had gotten fat while at college (not as fat as me) and was now in good shape. I asked what he did and he talked about a friend who opened a new gym with something different.

I hit it hard and started going doing boot camps and improving by leaps and bounds. On day one, I could not do a sit up, I could not do an air squat. A plank was not conceivable, let alone a push up. I am still not able to do a pull up, or a dip un assisted but, I am still working on it. I found a new passion and community with John, Tyler, Doug, Greg, and a few others as we walked in together and pushed as hard as we could. I started hitting little goals. One day, I could do a full air squat. Then I was able to do sit ups. Push ups came next, and I noticed things like a shirt had more room in the gut. We have fun. I like flipping tires, hoisting atlas stones, and dead lifting big heavy weights. My girlfriend Libby would come with me and it was our routine. We would go to the gym, and then make some healthy dinner and go for a swim out at Rocky Pond.

I saw the other side of 300 pounds for the first time in years. I was to the point of being able to run a mile before I messed up my knee on my birthday this year. Since then I had some issues with my kitchen at home which made making food a pain in the but and ate out way to much. I gained back about 20 pounds which I doubt was muscle. Since Libby has graduated, she has helped us to eat some better food and prep meals as well as iced tea. The fact I have not had a heart attack in the past year is likely her doing.

While I had time trying to heal my knee, I have been doing some research on calisthenics. It costs nothing to do, and prisoners use it to not die. Nashua doesn't really have anywhere to do this aside from using children's playground equipment. I watched the video's from Barstarzz. These guys are insane and doing these things without fancy gym's, just dedication and a pull up bar for the most part. I started doing push ups, sit ups and air squats at work while I waited for files to load. I can only do so much with my knee, but something is better than nothing.

Then Sunday morning, I saw a post from a Facebook friend Mike linking to an article from the New York times. I read it and new Nashua needs something like this. We need a park with equipment that is meant for working out. Someone should make one. I realized I could be someone. I have plenty of contacts through work and my after work activities at MakeIt Labs to help get things donated. I have skills with design and should be able to figure this out. I looked at some commercial equipment and it all looked great. Strong and would do what it needs to do. It is very easy to fabricate and pretty vandal proof. It is just not pretty. I want to make something that you show up to and you want to do a pull up. It should look like it is meant to be there and integrates into the surrounding landscape.

After very little thought, the site should be Mine Falls park. I lived down the street from it when I was a kid. I rode my bike to My first job at Aubuchon hardware. I walked to High School every day before I could drive. I rode in my first bike race around the loop. It holds lots of memories and I would love to give back. I am just starting this project so many things like actual viability are unknown at this point.

I like the idea of a trail of workout stations. I have seen them before, you go through and hit numbered stations as you move to try and hit all of your muscle groups. Wikipedia has a good article on it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitness_trail

Doing anything for public installation has a few design criteria. I am unsure if a formal list exists, but this is what I would use.

1. Super strong. Something that can withstand large force without deflection. Overbuilt = just strong enough. When you let the public touch anything, they will find a way to brake it that you never came up with.

2. Bolted down. People steel anything so anything that needs to move should be fastened in such a way that removal is very hard without a cutting torch.

3. Resistant to being defaced, easily repaired. It should be hard for someone to damage it with a knife and good looking enough were people would prefer to do a pull up instead of carve a word into it.

4. Low maintenance. I want to make something the parks department has very little work to maintain.

5. Low environmental impact. For the entire project, I want to try and use recycled material when possible. Steel beams I will try and source from local recycling firms. Wood, from local tree service folks. I want to use something with an organic shape. I would like for everything to work with the surrounding woods, not stick out.

I modeled up a traditional outdoors pull up station. Very functional, cheap to manufacture, and easily available.

This is what a normal station Might look like, A few heights and allow you to do a muscle up.

So this would work, would be very easy to make and not to expensive. I want to make something that a Disney Imagineer would be proud of. I was watching the Modern Marvels on the tree of life and the cool things they did.

It will take lots of design work and some artistic input to make all of the stations, but this is what I have an idea for just the pull up station.

So this is what I think a pull up tree should look like.

It has multiple stations and allow for different height folks to work out at the same time. The supports should be high enough to allow for a muscle up. It uses an I beam as the main structure, which will be way above what is needed for strength. This would able to be fabricated off site and trucked in for installation. the majority of it would be welded so no fasteners to be removed and items to be stolen. Now the hard part is coming up with what other equipment is needed and how to make it look awesome.

Stations I want to incorporate:

Dips

Rings

Row

Push up bars

Monkey bars

Please put what else you would like to see in the comments.

2012-06-29T09:58:00.000-05:00

I wrote this during the 2010 state of the union. Without edit, it still apply to the healthcare bill.

Please poke holes where this does not work. Revised recently due to the state of the union. Now I need to find an office to run for.

Politician vs Statesman: an angry essay by Robert Masek

So what’s a Statesman, (as defined by me) A person who is voted into public office in order to work for the public sector and then return to the private sector. A person who is in government to help others, do their civic duty. SOmeone who decides that everyone else who could win is an asshat.

A Politician is a scumbag who spends years working themselves up the ranks so they have the leverage to get what they want. Scumbags who lie, rape, steal, deceive, obfuscate, collude, and most could not even get a credit card.

So how do we fix it?

First step is realizing "we" have to fix it, meaning You and I will be involved. First thing we as a people do is start at home. Pay off our debt, biggest interest rate first. Credit cards > car loan> home loan. Live within our means, and then when it is all paid off, start saving money. Sure it is hard. but, when banks no longer see lending as a huge profit center, the whole system will change. then when issues come, we will have some money to pay for help instead of asking for help from the government. less help from the government = less government jobs. less federal jobs and assistance = less taxes for everyone. I am not against assistance, I just think it should not be through the government and should be handled at the community level. less administration and oversight is easy when the people handling the money have to make eye contact which if my observations of people are correct, it is harder ethically to steal from the needy when you have to see the hand your taking from.

I have a great way to fix government. Super easy with the current infrastructure.

Term limits for everyone. Legislature, judicial, everyone. I think an entire new breed of elected official will show up. People who run business in the real world. Who add value to the country instead of leaches like investment bankers, lawyers, non value succubuses.

No lobbyists. Listen to me, to my parents, to people who pay taxes, not who are paid to look after an interest of some guy with more money which should not equal more pull with the government.

Tax the heck out of imports. So what if a 52 inch plasma costs 8 grand instead of 4. What do we need a giant tv for. How about we go outside and enjoy the diversity of environments this country affords us, read, share books, talk to our neighbors. Live in a community and stop trying to have a house full of technology made in china designed in India. During world war 2 we were known as the sleeping giant. An industrial power house. Now, find a kid who even knows what a lathe is. We couldn’t manufacture our way out of a paper bag.

Public review of all bills. Before anything voted on, it has 7 days unmodified of public review. We can all read it, on the internet at a library, newspaper, somewhere. What, it is wasteful to print a 400 page bill to review; maybe we should limit a bill to 4 pages. Less words are easier to understand. No pork.

Make them show up to work. How many votes does a senator have to miss to be dismissed? A 5 day work week, sounds good to me. How about compensation, everyone gets a choice between a Ford Focus, Chevy Aveo, or Dodge Neon. Government officials should be rewarded enough to serve their follow man.

Live by all the rules they vote for. Yes, they would have to pay into ss and would loose their death benefits like all other citizens. How about retirement benefits, none. No continual pay, no healthcare. And if they commit a felony, forget about getting voted into office. How can someone have a publicly elected position as a felon and not allow a felon to vote?

Can’t run for a new job while you have the first elected one. IE while your the governor, you have to wait till after your out of office to run for senator. In the private sector, your boss usually will not allow you to spend 20 hours a week trying to get a better job on his dime. why do we allow it in government?

Get rid of the irs, flat taxes, no loopholes. You make money in the US, you pay US taxes.

Pay the stupid debt off. How come I can’t just make up money? If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it. Be more efficient, get rid of the rules we don’t enforce, and the stupid ones, like no texting while driving. Common sense will do a lot for this country, your kids are dumb, go do homework with them. Your fat, go work out. Your in debit, stop buying things.

Pay teachers more, and have the pay be performance based. Fire the crap ones.

All government officials’ schedules are public including who they met with, and minutes from the meeting. Open and honest government.

I can follow a budget, put it all online. why do we need a special sub-comitee when we have a 300 million person auditing team who can do the work for free. all we need is the entire budget, and this is the important part, actual accounting of moneys spent available online in real time.

Require a civics test to vote. Require citizenship to vote.

Your an illegal alien and want to be a citizen? No problem, you start paying taxes pass a civics test and the actual cost of administration.

Gay marriage? go for it!

Who pays for college? all that money we spent on the IRS.

Last but not least, everyone in this litigious society takes responsibility for there own actions.

Curved rafters: Plans E through G

2012-06-03T22:47:00.003-05:00

Someone thought throwing buns at the safety fan would be a good time. It was. The photo turned out pretty cool where you can see through the blade from the exposure.

It was a rainy weekend on the forecast which meant a full house at MakeIt Labs Adam was working on the TR6 getting the suspension back together. Riley powder coated a friends trucks on his long board. Paul was getting ready for his glass class. Rob R was working on the wall for the CNC Plasma cutter. Libby and I got to work on making curved beams.

The first setup was to put the second bevel onto the rafters this would allow them to sit flush to the main roof beam. In keeping with the ReUse theme, Libby and I have been making our own Iced tea at home and bringing it with us. I like my stainless bottles, and Bamboo Bottle for a durable (Libby and I drop them, leave them on bumpers as we drive off, etc, all the time.) We have been doing pretty good with making food at home and not going out to eat lately.

Stacks of rafters ready to be cut.

First try Plan E: Portable bad saw. We tried remounting the Portable band saw to the arm and taking small cuts. Well, the iced tea was good at least. The saw bounced and would not track. The blade pulled to the inside and left an angle on the cut. On to the drawing board

Plan F: for fail. I just had no plan F, we took a brake and grilled some food. Plan F has been the best so far.

Using a High precision Layout tool (sharpie) we used the jig as a big compass.

Plan G use the Circle cutting truss to as a giant compass. It worked. We had to remove any screws that might have been in the way of the cut and then used a jig saw and time to cut it out. the blade walked some and gave us a not so straight cut.

Libby cuts segments so we don't have a giant chunk of scrap.

Before we do any cutting we need to remove all screws one screw will (and did ) destroy a jigsaw blade.

Libby follows the line as best she can. The laminated beams were tough to keep cutting correct.

Paul gets his glass class ready for students. It is exciting when folks learn things.

Libby traces an arc to make sure no screws will get cut and damage a blade on the Jig Saw.

This is what a screw in the exact wrong position goes.

It got to a point where Libby and I gave up for the evening beyond cleaning up. We left with 14 of 24 rafters cut and no energy. Back at it in the AM.

In the morning, we started cutting but Libby had the glass class. She was making a birthday gift and learning about glass grinding.

Grinding curves into the glass chunk.

After a few hours of instruction, Libby, Mike and Nate made some very cool projects.

Celestina tests her RGB LED lights for the hamburger trailer. I am ready for her to start serving hamburgers.

Libby cut most of the rafters out after class while I worked on the peak beams and large rafters. They were all made up of 4x4's and 4x6's.

We had to pull some shallow angles that our setup tool would not do anything above 50 degree's. I use a machinist Layout Square to get the complementary angles and make a 22.5 degree angle.

Look at that giant beam waiting for some glue and a big curved cut.

This is what that big beam looks like in profile.

A detail of the main joint. It should work. In theory. it will be made in two parts and assembled with the gusset up at camp with Lag Bolts we recovered from the Pallets.

This is what we made today. Plenty strong.

All of the parts constructed up to this point.

All we have left to cut aside from Roof and wall sheathing. Progress is happening.

Adams truck full of scrap and cut off;s from this weekend. time for a bonfire.

With any luck, the last two pallets will come in this weekend and we can finish these rafters up this weekend. Time for a nap.

Getting the electrons from my drill into my phone.

2012-05-29T01:34:00.000-05:00

I enjoy camping up with My girlfriend and all of our friends. We very much enjoy listening to Music while up at camp. I don't want to steal music, and I can't justify buying music that just isn't that good. I like Podcasts, Matt Paxton of Hoarders is one of my favorite ones to listen to these days. He has a very honest show, but it is adult content that some knee high campers should not listen to. So we always end up with Pandora which is great and we can all enjoy the variety of music and find new things to share and enjoy. For like 4 hours till my phone dies. Droid Razr with a tiny Battery it comes with a 3.8 volt 1750mA battery pack which is 6.7 Watts. That means I am using up about 1.5 watts per hour to listen to the smooth vocal styling of Nina Simone. I Picked up two portable Power Packs on Woot which were great, but with similar power densities I am trying to refill a leaking 1 gallon jug from another one gallon jug. The best I will ever get is two gallons (14.25 watts) of Music.

We set up a 12 volt battery with an inverter last time, but it was heavy and I don't like having open battery terminals with the little campers around. So I started to figure out how to make my 19.2 volt (20 volt) Drill batteries plug into my phone. The phone will work directly off a usb power supply which is nominally about 5 volts and the drill battery is either a 4 or 5 cell lipo pack. Around 16-20 volts depending on the cell count. I am guessing the pack is around 3AH based on weight so I have about 60 watts of power, or 10 times the power in my drill pack if I can get it from efficiently from the Big battery to the little battery. I immediately went back to my Battlebots days 7812 +12V Voltage Regulator and 7805 +5V Voltage Regulator I used to make receiver battery eliminators. They worked fine when I was drawing 50mW for 5 minutes of duty cycle. I checked the input voltage max and it was 35 volts. I started thinking I would just get the 7805 and go from the battery to the 7805 to the usb plug. Paul saw my idea and immediately pointed out it would overheat. Not like I would listen to that gibberish. I went out to find my trusty 7805 regulator so I could charge USB devices and 7812 so I could charge things that run off a 12 volt accessory outlet in a car. We hit Radio Shack and they still had both in stock. They did not have a usb outlet and it would be a minimum of 20 bucks for anything with a female usb connector. We went to target, I was hoping I could find something cheaper or a hub or something. I found a power block for the car that would do 12 volt sockets and two usb sockets for 15 bucks. I thought I may have lucked out and found a setup with a 5 volt regulator I could use. It was, but it had a 15 volt max input. Since I could have up to 22 volts coming in, I would need to regulate down more.

Pulled apart the 12 volt in would need a 12 volt regulator to operate most cell phone chargers and the usb adapter board.

"Use only for original intended use. No user serviceable parts inside. Altering or tampering with the product or any of it's components may result in shock, fire, product damage, and or vehicle damage."

Craftsman C3 light being disassembled. It already has the power connections for the battery and a switch. Why re invent the wheel.

Circuit all built up and being tested on a power supply. works great on the single led USB light.

Beta packaging. I want to test it before I 3d Print a better housing.

And it did not work. I took it up to camp with me and tested both halves of the system. the 12 volt output to a phone charger and the 5 volt output via usb. Both registered as the proper voltage output, but could not dissipate the heat enough to charge my phone. I got home today and took everything to Make It Labs to try and figure out what to fix. As soon as I opened the case, I could see the shrink wrap had failed and torn from over heat. Paul helped me find a to220 heat sink and I cut some components out of the system so it went Battery > fuse > 7812 regulator > on board 5 volt regulator. I got this all put together and hooked it up for a test ride. The battery charged at a rate above 1 amp with a darn warm heat sink. Now I just need to package it better. For longer term use, I will need to find a better way to disiapate heat and possibly got to a more efficient (looking at a buck regulator)

Electrons flowing.

Close up of the scavenged usb board and 12 volt regulator.

I am now looking for a better regulator that will be able to operate cooler with more power throughput. I want 8 amos at 5 volts and 5 amps at 13.8 volts. Please comment if you have any recommendations.

3 ways not to cut curved rafters.

2012-05-26T23:14:00.001-05:00

This week we had grand plans to get a bunch of rafters cut out. I took Wednesday Thursday and Friday off of work to get some work done, then we were going to go camp and do some construction. Well, so far everything has basically gone to plan and schedule up to this point. In this post I will talk about three ways not to make round rafters.

We started out by taking apart a giant pallet. it had about 60 boards worth of 1 x5.5 pine planks. We pulled out all of the nails and ripped a 3rd of them in half so they made gluing up all of the boards.

Test fitting boards to make sure the rafters would all have enough material.

Libby stands with our other test fit stack. We were able to get 20 rafters out of the material we recovered.

Testing out the assembly bench. In theory, we will be able to put a bunch of beams together in an afternoon.

Glue, glue, glue. Screw, screw, screw.

Eric preps for an ariel attack.

Stacks of glued up beams. 20 of them. This was a long Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday, Libby and I went down to Boston to have a picnic in the park with my little sister. We then stopped by and saw Joe, Marry and the girls. We had a good day and I found out no one else was going camping over the weekend. We ditched our plans and decided to go see Libby's folks and the new plot of land they got on the lake. I ended up working on Friday, a customer had an emergency. We went to dinner with Libby's friends and got no work done on the cabin again. The reason for building the cabin is to enjoy time with other people at camp. We will take as long as it takes to enjoy our friends and family. We got to Saturday morning and made our first trip to home depot. We picked up material for the last four small rafters and some Giant circle cutting fixture material.

This is what A giant radius cutting fixture might look like if we had a working band saw.

This is how the band saw would cut a giant radius if the band saw was running. It just did not have the gumption to keep cutting.

It was a neat set up. We used two pivot points and the straps kept it balanced and elevated. it would have worked great in theory. Communism also worked in theory.

Giant radius cutting fixture take two. This time we made a giant triangle and the cutter would move. It is robot approved. We went to home depot to grab a new blade for the porta band and the second hinge to allow our giant triangle to work.

JB and Betty check out the Makita Porta band mounted to the arm. This should work....

It is a pretty level and stiff set up.

And failure. The blade does not have enough clearance to allow us to cut off the radius scraps without banging back into the saw.

JB and Betty work on cord management. No matter what cutting tool we use we will need to have a power cord..

Plan C Sawzall mount is go for failure.

I spaced up so we could have the clearance to cut out the rafters. This looks secure....

So the vibration has enough umph to shift the entire bench. When we swung the assembly back to the beginning of the cut, we saw that the entire work bench had shifted. Our solution was to put a bunch of car batteries and bucket of bolts to try and hold it down.

At the end of the cut, it was still close to cutting the part.

Off to home depot for trip number three. Lets try and get a better sawzall blade.

Time to cut some 38 degree angles for the rafters. We did not have to cut all the way through. The curve should intersect and lop off the corners.

Holey blade deflection Batman! This would not be a finish cut.

The blade was cutting at an angle deluxe. We cleaned up for the night and went to watch the Global Rally cross at Uno's.

So that's three ways not to cut a big circle in beams. Next we will try a ROTO ZIP and see if this will get the arc done in one cut. if anyone has any ideas on how to cut this, I am all ears. Please leave your ideas in the comments.

The wall erection shuffle.

2012-05-20T22:06:00.001-05:00

Hanging out in the lean to, everyone enjoys some afternoon shade. This will become a fire at some point. It will be where we will read a book to the kids, sing songs and retell stories we have told fifty times.

Been a busy week. We had all hands on deck up at camp this weekend. Eric, Kirsten, Joe, Mary, kids and Randyll. We had all the material dropped off for Friday night and everyone started to get in around 10 pm. We had a fire and caught up on life. This is really the reason for building the cabin, the camp fire and the people we choose to surround ourselves with around it. We end our night together and start our mornings around it. We don't have this during our day to day life. I think it is something special to have this good a friendship. We all got to sleep by 2 am and shut off our alarms. All of camp was awake by the crack of 10 am. I put in the last pillar and finished up all of the supports. I moved onto laying out the pre cut plywood and Libby made sure it all went in the right place and was tacked into place. H kid brought up all the Foam insulation for the next layer of our floor. We laid it out and started to trim it to fit. Randal started to put in deck screws while I set up boards and we got a pretty good system going for most of the floor.

Randyll multitasks with a smoke and an impact gun. We got a good pace going.

We started to get to the larger section when we had to change players and H kid plus Libby finished off the floor.

Eric and I talk about working while Randyll works.

We had all of the floor down by 2 in the afternoon. A sandwich of 1/2 inch plywood, 2 inch foam and then 2X boards from pallets. It looked good, but we needed to do some quality checks. We brought in our best inspectors for dynamic load testing.

The girls test to make sure the floor is Dance ready. O kid rocks out like it's her job.

From this point on we started putting up walls .

Just kidding, we have some Party Rocking to not apologize for.

Two window sections up and laying out the third.

Eric tries to drink His Drill and put in a screw with his bourbon. Results were mixed.

Eric figured out which one screws and which one booze. Time for wall three.

Impact guns and Lipo made this cabin possible. Without them, I think I would be a few weekends behind.

Libby helps level the wall and window unit.

Most of these photos are from Joe and Kirstin. I always get busy doing and forget to document what we are doing. without them, you would have no in process photos.

Checking over our work, talking about grilled cheese. We have the three window sections up, and the fourth assembled. We had to assemble it on top of the other wall section before we erected it. otherwise we would not have had the room to use a screw gun to fasten it together. We stored it in the vertical position while we put up more of the pre fabricated sections.

Small wall section being aligned. All of the wall sections were designed to locate via flats on the surface so no measuring would be needed.

Getting the door panel to be in the right place before we lift it up.

Next up door section raising. Libby went beast mode while Eric fastened it into place. Joe and I helped line everything up from the bottom.

The thought bubble over my head "please don't fall".

Almost in position.

And touch down. pretty much all the wall sections went up in a similar manor. This is just the breakout of what they all looked like.

Libby stands in the doorway where she wants it to be. The shape is starting to come together.

one panel connects to the last. I am doing some kind of hand talking, or wiping the sweat from my brow.

Libby does a sprinkler dance while we install a wall section upside down.

putting in the last window section, only one thing to do.

Dance party!

O kid does the Charleston.

Eric does moves that are illegal in 7 states.

Yes this is where I want the door.

Once we had all the wall sections up, we squared them up and screwed them down. everything ended up within .25 inches, good for what we were working with. We were able to have 9 folks dancing and party rocking. I think that meets camp standards.

Cabin camouflage. You can't see it.

Sunday morning did some QC noticed a few things, some of the top plates were cut a bit off. I chose giving up and going to breakfast instead of fixing it and finishing the work this week.

Walls with big windows and a great view of the woods.

Libby stands in front of the section we put in upside down. We will have to flip it over next time. before we tie everything down

Our QC team always have safety glasses on.

Progress was not quick enough for my inspection crew. H kid Built O kid a cabin out of the box from the new bed mattress.

Libby and I will never look this cute sticking our heads out of the window on our cabin.

That's a bunch of photos of the weekend construction. Libby has High hopes for next weekends progress. The Jim's will be up. We will try and get in windows and the door. If we get up wall sheathing, I think we will be in good shape. she thinks we can get the rafters constructed and ready to go up. Time will tell.

Breaking ground (and the handles of all the tools.)

2012-05-14T15:09:00.003-05:00

It has been a bit since my last update. We have done a bit of work on the cabin two weekends ago Libby and I went up with a bunch of other campers to do some work on the cabin. Here is last weekends summery with some photos thrown in.

I started the weekend with my minimum goal of accomplishment "unload the stuff at camp" anything more was gravy.

We got up around 12:30 and everyone grabbed a drink and we walked into the woods to scout a spot. We walked until we found something that looked like a clearing. We laid out the bricks and started to try and build the frame from the high ground to the low ground. We looked for whatever big rocks we could find and tried to put the posts on them. We got one. We went to grab the mattock to and the head broke off on the first hit. We then worked our way out using the level and the frame to constrain construction. I quickly realized "No Pilot required" was not the case for the 8 inch timber-locks I was using. I was using my impact driver with the smallest lipo pack I had. I gave up on the project for the first time of the weekend.

I nice flat site. Well, as flat as I could find.

I retired to the fire were Eric was sitting and he recommended the larger capacity battery pack. I then went and tried again. I got it to go in better, but not with the gumption I wanted. I gave up for the second time of the weekend. I went back to the fire and tried to find a 5/16th hex to 1/2 inch impact socket in Berlin at 5:15pm on a Saturday night. Answer NO. I was going to go read the directions on the box again, but we had already burned it. We thought about using a 1/2 inch to 3/8th adapter to a 3/8th to 1/4 inch to a 5/16th socket might not be the best solution.

Libby helping lay out the first beam. We managed to miss all the big rocks and only set up anchor points above tree stumps.

Covert Drill charging under the table at breakfast.

I got more steam and went to go try my large drill in low speed setting. WINNING! we then started to build out the platform putting down a brick and putting up a 6x6 pillion then going and taking a break. It grew bit by bit with everyone putting in a screw here and a beam there. At the end of the night, we had 6 of the 10 pillars up and Nearing the end of the night Joe got Margarita Fury and put in all possible angular bracing. Eric and I tried to hand him the correct parts to keep him moving before he ran out of tequila drive. the front corner pillar ended up directly over a brand new tree we had just cut down. We gave up and went to the camp fire. I cleaned up for the night and collected the batteries and chargers for the morning. breakfast/ errands/ best cup of coffee in Milan/ buy stuff at tractor supply I forgot.

How things looked when we got to work on Sunday morning.

We went back to work on the floor and try and put up the last 4 piers. We broke the pick ax handle with the first swing but Randal cut out a tree stump with his pocket knife and Rage.

QC From our most valued construction help.

The other 3 were not to bad. H kid was very helpful and put in all the 3/8ths lag bolts with the impact driver. She also learned how to tie her hair back and secure loose clothing while running power tools (before any problems happened) The forth still has chunks of stump after various attempts of removal by a few of us. We left the assembly only missing one 6x6 post and half of the diagonal supports. I figure give it some time to settle before we lock everything down. We packed up and headed home at dark. It was really an awesome weekend with everyone up at camp.

Burning out a broken ax handle.

Now I am getting ready for next weekends building. The biggest hold ups are finding 5 inch decking screws. I would rather purchase them locally, but it looks like amazon is my only option. The second is for the rest of the equipment to come in for work. (our floor)

Stacks of headers ready to be assembled up at camp

We had a limitation with the chop saw of 45 degree angles. A few parts needed 52 degree angles we will need to chop them up at make it labs.

Parts that need a 52 degrees

Libby finished her Masters in Social Work degree at UNH and we all went to the hooding ceremony. She had one Big Fan.

Glitter literally everywhere

Libby and a classmate confused about what to do with no papers due the next week.

Libby's so Hood. Time to go help people.

Sunday, we got up and headed to make it labs to turn one pile of wood into another pile of wood. We started making all the wall sections.

Transferring the layout for all the studs bellow and above the windows.

Libby cutting up a lot of lumber. She cut out all the parts based on the cad model.

Chopping wood and making parts for our walls.

Libby is learning to use Spaceclaim (CAD) during the process. I showed her how to measure parts for length and navigate in 3d.

Libby figuring out what to cut next.

We sorted all of the components on the floor. This allowed us to make all the parts we needed to size and just assemble very easily. Having a flexible work space like MakeIt Labs allows us to have a dry flat clean space and much easier to work with.

Parts in rows.

The window wall sections would be over 220 pounds and 7 foot by 7 to 9 feet assembled. Libby and I decided we can make it as a few smaller parts that will be easier to transport and easier handle for setup.

The look of a window wall section as it will assemble.

The exploded view of a window section broken down into a few parts.

All stacked up and ready to bring up to camp. 4 more and I will be ready to go.

All of the wall sections done and ready to go up to camp. I just need to pick up 5 2x4's and tat should do it.

We might be this done next weekend. We might not.

In theory this will all screw together very easily. We will find out next weekend. With any luck we will have all the walls and header up.

38+52=90

2012-04-29T22:41:00.002-05:00

Libby and I spent the day doing errands and doing a bit of work on the cabin. As usual, I wanted to do a bunch of stuff and only a few things got done.

First I wanted to put up a rendering up of the entire cabin. Here are a few views, no windows are filled in at this time.

Cabin with some wall sheathing and roof sheathing. The large openings will all be windows.

A view of the cabin at the door entrance. The big openings are windows.

The other night we cut and pre drilled all of the 6x6 piers for the cabin at Make it Labs.

All the posts cut and drilled.

Each beam had a notch put in it to marry itself with the beam. We also pre drilled holes for the lag bolts.

Any step we can do in Nashua and not up at camp is one less thing that requires use of a battery. The length of these beams will be adjusted at camp by chainsaw when we have an actual dimension.

For bringing junk to camp we got a trailer from Earl on craigslist. It may need some work.

Slightly used trailer. Some assembly required.

We picked up some safety chains, red paint and rings for tie downs. It needs new tires and a deck still. Anyone know how to register a junky trailer in NH? I imagine this trailer will make a few trips up to camp. when done with that use, it will become a Tear Drop Trailer.

Cutting beams and complementary angles.

2012-04-28T23:28:00.001-05:00

We were going to go up this weekend and do some site prep and delivery of material. I called an audible on Friday and we stayed home to do some more construction work and Libby is finishing some school work before she closes out her last semester for grad school.

Thursday at work I saw a post on craigslist for shingles at 10 dollars a bundle. I called up Earl and swung by on my way home. A quick pit stop turned into a 3 hour lesson on how to roof a house and how to deal with the unique features of the roof. He did not believe 4 square would fit in the Subaru. As usual, the Subaru was up to the task. He had a trailer under a pile of junk he negotiated down the price of. I offered him 50, he countered with 40. By the time he was done negotiating, he got me down from 190 to 140 for 400 sq ft of roofing. We got 5 different colors so Libby is going to make a pattern in the roof. I am thinking of going back to try and get some mismatched shingles to go up on the lean to. We picked up some 6x6 Pressure treated timbers and brought them to Make it labs. At dinner we had a critical desisgn review.

The Composite beam that went across the ceiling obstructed the view. This is the older version of the cabin.

I did not have any 4x6 beams that were 16 so I came up with a way to use the 13 foot beams and plywood in a way similar to the Lean To we constructed last year. I thought it was a good solution that allowed us to not have to buy a long beam. It also makes transport simple. That is something we always have to keep in the back of our minds when making components. We were doing some searching for the wall lamps and found an awesome version that allows a chandelier. In order to do this, we would have to do some re design of the interior 16 foot beam.

The composite Beam assembled. Two 13 foot 2x6's I got from a pallet and some slivers of 1/2 inch plywood. This gives us a 4x6 form factor.

I spent a few hours in Spaceclaim coming up with a new beam that gives us a better sight line and puts the chandelier above my head.

A composite beam to be constructed up north. It won't be as strong as a straight beam, but will make the interior look better.

I went to construct it today and had some issues with cutting angles without a protractor. I couldn't verify anything so I gave up for the night. I spent some time measuring angles and was able to find where my confusion was. I measured 52 degrees for the angle for all of the joints that are not the peak beam in the computer model. When I cut with the chop saw, it only went up to 45 degrees so I figured I would do all the 38 degrees first. Once I did it, nothing looked right. I realized after I went inside and cleaned up, I was cutting the angle backwards. I then took a few minutes to make a construction layout of parts for the beam.

I decided I would make a manufacturing sheet for the 2x6 beams. When I go to construct them it will allow me to cut up all of the components easily.

I had a strip of plywood left from the previous beam design which I used to make the joints stronger.

So now I have some work for tomorrow. I also need to grab a protractor so I can actually measure things. We will do an assembly with a few screws just to test it. When we start construction on the larger beams, I will do the same manufacturing information. Looking at the over all roof construction it should be plenty strong.

The headers are all 4x6. The laminated beams together make up the rest of it. The main beams in the roof on the peaks and suports are laminated from 4x4's to give the peaks a 4x8 (3.5x7) effective beam size

The rafters and other roof structure together.

all of the headers cut up and ready to go up north. The only one left is the funky angled beam that I could not figure out tonight.

Lots of stuff.doors and windows.

All of the walls will get a 5x7 windows I found cheap on craigslist. Double pane 3 section sliders with screens. They were 30 dollars each which ends up costing less than sheathing with plywood and whatever siding we will eventually use. When we picked these up on Friday, I was checking out the pallets at the sheet metal shop. They are 10 foot long and have big long beams they range from 1.5x3 inches to 4 by 4 inches. With the amount of material they go through I should be able to salvage studs from pallets in a few weeks.

The cabin beams layed out in the driveway. all set up, tomorrow Libby and I will test fit flooring. With any luck, we will have enough material to cover all of the floor.

I have Been e-mailing back and forth with Jim about what works and what doesn't at camp. With some input, we have decided to add 2 inches of foam insulation. I found a bunch of sheets cheap on craigslist so this will go in during construction. I will have it on top of a .5 inch sub floor. this construction should make for a very strong floor unit and also keep some elements out.

The base is 1/2 inch sheathing. Then 2 inches of Foam and the top layer is 2x8 and 2x10 recovered lumber.

It is nice to be able to move things around digitally before cutting anything or committing to it. I am pretty close to being done with the design, Libby is still adding ideas and features which may require some more design, but most of the over all design is done. If anyone has any recommendations, Please let me know in the comments.

Animated Gifs

2012-04-25T23:24:00.000-05:00

Back in the hay day of angelfire, and earthlink websites, animated gifts and bad page layout ruled the internet. Until today, I could not figure out a worthwhile use of them aside from kittens doing cute things. Today I made my first animated Gif. It shows the steps for construction to get the floor built.

Animation of the floor assembly.

I didn't get much progress done on actual construction tonight. I did some work on preparation for phase 1 of construction. I put my new chop saw platform together so to some saw chopping of stuff. using the saw on the ground is not great. having it off the ground with work supports makes it a much easier tool to use.

A 50 dollar chop saw on a 90 dollar stand.

I went through all of the fasteners to see what I could reuse from the pallets. I was able to get 36 3.5 by 3/8th lag bolts that are needed for all of the piers. I still have 30 left over to make something else.

Lag Bolts from the used pallets. Yay fender washers.

I then went out to check out what we had left for flooring. The main support I plan to use 2x10's and 2x12's with some sheathing over the top to make it pretty.

Stacks and stacks of wood. With any luck, this will cover the entire floor.

Once the floor goes down, all force is going down and should be a very strong box structure.

The large 2x boards are only 102 inches long. instead of buying longer boards, I came up with a plan that allows joints that are fully supported.

Decisions? Decisions!

2012-04-24T23:10:00.000-05:00

So we are going to make a cabin. We have a limited amount of free material and how will we best utilize it. This boils down to limiting factors. It is the equivalent of a constant in math. In this case, it is what is the most valuable beams? The largest beams are Douglas Fur 4x6. The actual dimensions are 3.5" by 5.5" The long beams have a few large numbers 6 at 156" inches and three at 152". I chose 156" to be the long dimension. I was going to use the 152" as the short dimension. Then I started fleshing out the model It basically came down to my want to not cut plywood. Many of the decisions we made were very Chicken and the egg. I had to use two or more bits of information to make a decision. Everything we make will need to be hand carried to the site and transported up on the back of a truck. We will have battery powered tools and chainsaws up at camp so any prep work we can do at in Nashua will speed up work on site.

This is the pile of pallets we currently have.

The roof on the broad side. is 16 foot, or two plywood units. Up at camp we have some different building codes. Snow load is always less force than falling trees. We use a 12 inch rafter spacing to try and keep things from getting crushed. When we get to the point of manufacturing rafters, the additional work to make more is negligible due to our use of jigs. You can see a 12 inch overhang on each side that makes the major width of the cabin 14 feet.

The front view of the cabin shows what the over all dimensions will be.

We needed to make a longer beam for the wide dimension. With a needed length of 168 inches (14 feet) we made a composite for the beam that joined over a pylon. This will allow all force to go straight down. We cut up sections so we could make the beam without buying any new material.

The floor detail shows the long beams split up.

Now to construct a floor support structure with the materials at hand. We will have to cut a few beams but not to much waste.

Green Beams go in the X direction, Purple go in the Y. I applied a color code and xy coordinate system so Manufacturing will be simplified.

All the joists are cut up and ready to go. This will be part of the first load up.

All of the floor beams ready to go. They still need to be counter bored.

Putting things on the ground = rot. We are going to have a minimum height of 1 foot up hill. Libby also wants 6X6 Pressure treated for the so we have a super sturdy foundation to build upon. The orange are 2x4 PT that will help solidify the base. That will then sit on a cement block (16x8x4). We can pre cut and drill all of the pylons at Make it Labs. All force will be directly transferred to the piers because of the notch. For Phase 1 of construction we won't be able to know the length of all of the pylons so only a few permanent pylons will be installed.

The purple beams will all be counter bored so the screw heads won't interference with the floor boards. this will also make locating the screws much simpler in the field.

All of the purple beams will need to be drilled to allow for the screw heads to not displace the floor boards. I will use Timberlok screws to keep these down.

the detail showing the cross section of how this joint will work with the piers.

The blue pylons will be fastened with reclaimed lag bolts. the three longer beams will be trimmed by a portable saw, or if I get annoyed with it's battery I will use the chainsaw.

Phase 1 construction goal.

We will find an ideal site and start to lay it out. Pink cement bricks get laid out and the back support is constructed. In the next rendering, the stage I hope to get to by the end of the weekend of phase one. We can then take measurements and fill in the rest of the piers on the following trip for Phase 2 of construction. The purple joists will be installed later so it is easy access to put the rest of the pylons in.

I hope this answers why I made the decisions I did for the frame.

Our Cabin.

2012-04-23T22:50:00.000-05:00

Question: Why Build a Tiny House?

Answer: Less

Less cost
Less maintenance
Less space to accumulate stuff
Less to clean
Less impact on our environment.

I was talking with my girlfriend Libby the other day about how we describe what we do. She is finishing her masters in Social work, I am working on my Manufacturing Engineering Technology AA degree. Her one sentence answer was “I solve problems”. I think that is why we get along so well, we solve problems. She doesn’t have the background I do, but is so smart when it comes to figuring out how things work.

When I look at my day job, that is exactly how I would describe my job. I solve problems. When you distill it down, thats what all engineers do, they solve problems. Sometimes it is a math equation, other times it is how to get a solar panel to trickle charge a battery. I have broad general knowledge of things mechanical and electronics. I attribute most of this to my dad. When I was younger, we would go down to his workshop and turn on an old Black and white 13 inch TV that only got in chanel 5 and 9 (abc) and try and fix things. He showed me important things like flat head driven screws are dumb. How to use a pipe to get more leverage out of Craftsman tools. How to get Craftsman tools replaced when you broke them by overloading them with a cheater bar. My first job was at Aubuchon Hardware. I have since learned and grown of my understanding of how to Make things.

As I try and document this process I will be interjecting stories from when I was a kid of formative experiences that made me be the Maker I am today.

I am not an architect. I am not an engineer. I am not a designer. I am not a carpenter. I work with all of them in my day job and respect all of the training they have gone through. I am working with info I have read, observed, asked about and guessed at based on common sense. I have designed and constructed Fighting Robot Arenas.

This is the arena I built in college and is now used for NERC. It has to be transported, assembled, sustain battle, torn down and packed away all in three days. This helped form my concepts of modular and panelized construction. If you watch the video, you can see how it looks in a few minutes. I built 50 arenas in my head and 10 in CAD before I cut a piece of metal.

Two years ago a friend was handed down a cabin at a camp. It was in rough shape, the floor was failing, and it was becoming a flood and damaging the cabin more. I went up took some measurements and designed a replacement floor in CAD. We then headed north with material, a case of beer and a few tools. In a weekend, we were able to jack up the cabin, remove 3 different versions of floor and build a new sturdy floor. We then lowered the cabin onto it and replaced the bottom plate of all the walls. You can read the entire story HERE

I knew someday I was going to build a cabin up north. After I finished my degree, after I bought a house, after I had a truck. Then our sister company bought some new Milling Machines. They came on giant Pallets constructed of Douglas Fir Beams, 4x6, 4x4, and 2x12 all between 8 and 13 feet long. The Rigger said they were getting scrapped anyways so I could take them. I thought back to my Grandfathers. My grandpa on my mom's side would collect old pallet wood and build things with it. My Dads father would also Re Use things to make a new Use. When they were growing up, if they needed something, they had to Make it. I figured it was my turn as an adult to do a project with my Grandfathers together.

I sent Libby a message that sometime was Now and we would be breaking apart some pallets that weekend. We worked together and removed all the boards, took out all the bolts being careful to salvage them.

Waste not want not. We started by cutting some nails off and then started to get down a rhythm in removing them. I taught Libby some tricks I learned from my dad of how to increase leverage using a 2x4. In around 8 hours of teamwork we had broken up the pallets and removed most nails. Our summer just swung from do nothing to Build a cabin. We now had limited physical resources, and Unlimited mental resources. We took inventory of the wood and came up with some design guidelines. I will go over some of the decisions we made and why in the next post.

Next Post, Curved roofs and other silly ideas.

Move Joes Cabin 2: Electric Bugaloo

2010-08-26T01:14:00.000-05:00

Move Joes Cabin 2: Electric Bugaloo

Sitrep Camp Even Dummer Aug 20-21

Joe asked me to write up the trip for lack of computer. He also asked during the trip how I made all of the decisions pertaining to building the cabin.

A few weeks ago joe asked if I would take a look at the Yellow Submarine Cabin. The floor was slightly warped. It was from a rain cycle that would pool the water and make rot the floor. the floor was constructed of 2x6’s that were on the sides going the long way bolted to dead tree’s. across those on fourish foot centers were 2x6’s holding up flat layed 2x6’s that supported the floor. Above that was two layers of 1/2 inch plywood and then another layer of 1/4 inch luan. All was rotted pretty bad. I did not take measurements and only vaguely looked over what needed to be done when we came up to do the work.

Then comes the fun part, figuring out how to lift the cabin, remove the old floor, construct a new one and then lower the cabin onto it. I cadd’d up what I guessed would need to be made for the 8x12 floor to hold up the cabin. I then went through all of the different permutations of lifting the cabin, moving the cabin, sliding the floor underneath. So lets look at all of the choices.

Disassemble the cabin build the floor and put it back together. the cabin had many features that were built on top of the previous which would make this a hard task to accomplish.

Build the cabin floor next to the cabin and slide the cabin over. This would require surring up the cabin, lifting it and making tracks to roll it to the new platform. This would require making an entire track set. and moving the cabin in it’s widest state. The cabin did not have much as far as structural support so this would be a gamble when under motion.

Build the floor and just slide it under the cabin. This would require a flat surface and the ability to lift 1000 pounds and position it. Neither of which exist at Dummer.

So build under the cabin was it. My original plan had me jacking up the cabin and removing the original floor supports, build up the new and drop it down. I was also going to use the original plywood but after conferring with Joe, we opted for new plywood. I had created a cut list so when we got to the camp site, we would not have to cut anything aside from the 6x6 when we got to camp. My confidence was boosted when I handed the cut list to the guy at the lumber yard he said he knew exactly what I was doing. With some lumber all cut up we drove back towards dummer and had some breakfast. Joe had the worst coffee, and I had corned beef and hash(dog food). we then drove back up to camp and let the festivities commence.

Joe and I Both grabbed a miller high life, the champagne of beers, and looked at the banana jama shed to try and come up with a plan. Joe came up with the idea to make the platform six inches lower. This allowed us to work from underneath the cabin and build the entire platform then just lower the cabin onto it. what could be simpler?

joe and I removed chunks of floor and slowly and systematically dismantled the outside floor. we then built up the floor frame and installed the joists. as Joe nailed on the outside sills, I moved through the inside carefully removing the floor by smashing it with a hammer. We ended up replacing all of the bottom plates with 4x4’s since the 2x4’s were all rotted out. We then jacked it up bits at a time to remove the remaining floor. The back end with no support started to “shift”. Joe showed some concern, I could have showed more. I shored up the back wall with some cross braces and bazinga! we then lowered the cabin using a pry bar onto some rollers I had machined and using a tie down strap slide the entire cabin over a foot. From that point, we had nothing left to do but clean up the site and go home.

The things left to do on the hit list are,

Fasten the floor down
seal the roof from bugs
fix the propaine line
put braces on the legs
build a porch
fasten the cabin to the deck
put new trim on the bottom of the t 111

I am now trying to find some material to build my own cabin I think the annex would be a nice place to put it.