tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45296415767128590332026-02-14T06:13:55.052-06:00Useful tips in no particular order for all kinds of tech stuff.Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-81641071078113013632023-01-12T21:35:00.002-06:002023-01-12T21:42:41.942-06:00

The Find I have been an avid thrift store deal hunter for years. I and my wife are always finding amazing things for pennies on the dollar at the Goodwill, Salvation Army and Thrift World stores in the nearby city of Omaha, Nebraska. A very recent foray to a smaller local thrift store in our home town, found me drooling over what appeared to be a commercial espresso machine. I had seen the

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0Shenandoah, IA 51601, USA40.7667389 -95.3761506-37.540864203636851 123.99884939999998 90 45.2488494tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-4913256945484279112016-03-25T11:36:00.002-05:002023-01-06T16:24:30.805-06:00

  For years as a hobbyist that buys all kinds of add-ons and accessories for "mu millions of Hobbies" according to my wife.  I have thought how amazing it would be to have my own CNC mill and lathe equipment to make a lot of these items myself. It would also be really nice to have the ability to personalize them with my own logo and name or whatever

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0PMW3+6C Shenandoah, IA, USA40.7455197 -95.3464918999999940.641493263794274 -95.48382100156249 40.849546136205731 -95.20916279843749tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-32568329690814965262016-03-24T13:22:00.001-05:002016-03-24T13:22:12.360-05:00

Standard 16" Heat Sealer If you have ever used a Heat Sealer with a built in slide cutter to cut the bags, you know two things. One that the slider part will wear out over time, causing the tip of the blade to start scraping on the aluminum plate, prematurely ending the life of your $10 blade and Two even if you can get a replacement part for it , you will pay a fortune for

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-60478341266691890682015-03-31T15:56:00.001-05:002015-03-31T16:00:33.180-05:00

I recently purchased a used Elmo K100SM Film Projector. These are one of the more sought after projectors for the amateur film enthusiast on a budget. I got a good deal on it at under $50 shipped to my door. For that reason I had pretty low expectations on the condition it would arrive in. My concerns were founded upon arrival of the projector as it was less than clean for

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-35957377905157037252015-03-25T11:30:00.002-05:002015-03-25T11:31:55.797-05:00

After buying my Yamaha Roadstar XV1600 motorcycle. I stumbled across a great group of guys at the RoadStarClinic.com. They enlightened me to some great modifications you can make to this bike to make it an even better ride than the already amazing cruiser is right from the factory. The best one in my opinion was the modification referred to as the Roadwing. Which is basically taking the

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-91466943440292223062014-11-02T19:29:00.002-06:002014-11-02T19:29:49.529-06:00

Anyone familiar with Brad Keslowski knows he has a rep as sort of a Bad boy, bad driver and bad whiner. Apparently whoever oversees the Spell Check in Google Chrome is not a real fan of him either. When ever his named is type in Google Chrome it is marked as a misspelled word and when you right click it you get the word slowpoke as a replacement.   If you mess up and leave off the w in

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-82939567477261798782014-10-23T17:49:00.000-05:002017-08-24T14:11:09.647-05:00

I picked up a used bike the other day and decided to share some info about with everyone. It is a 2003 Yamaha Road Star 1600 Silverado, Model # XV16ATR-C. It has 62,000 miles and has been upgraded with a few extras. Cobra Full Slash Cut Exhaust Kuryakyn Hypercharger Cold Air Intake kit Baron Jet Kit Custom paint job I have added a trunk so the wife feels more

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-48474161594061585862014-10-13T15:34:00.001-05:002014-10-13T15:35:10.666-05:00

For years I have followed several authors that I called my favorites. Tom Clancy and Dale Brown are a couple of them. I do read just about everything I can get my hands on, but like everyone else, I have my favorites that I am always looking for. But then I started noticing a trend, and not a good one in my opinion. I started seeing Tom Clancy with some unknown

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-82992650177759102592014-06-09T11:41:00.001-05:002014-06-09T12:01:23.833-05:00

Hausler 450 V2 RC Helicopter No you didn't read that incorrectly, I built a good quality metal head and tail, carbon fiber chassis Trex 450 clone helicopter for under a hundred dollars. This particular kit is a Hausler Version 2 Belt drive metal head and tail kit. I used a few of my own parts from flying remote control airplanes and bought several more using a mixture of Amazon

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-20797678701599656552014-03-06T13:59:00.000-06:002014-03-07T08:31:17.597-06:00

A while back I wrote an article and did a video on binding a WlToys V911 Helicopter to and FlySky FS-T6. Everyone knows that the factory transmitters that come with the Wltoys and equivalent brands will work to fly these heli's but they are not exactly a precision instrument. So when you can bind them with a better more precision radio it is that much better. Which is what we are going to show

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-20298671077388869422014-01-04T17:46:00.001-06:002014-01-04T17:46:43.973-06:00

Flysky FS-T6 If your one of the proud owners of a new FlySky FS-T6 Transmitter and you want to fly the V911 style helicopters, it is your lucky day. This is a procedure on how to bind your FlySky to the V911 style of Helicopter. The factory controller is a decent enough transmitter, but you have so many more options with a more professional model like the FlySky. New & Improved WL

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-34062911518422795862013-12-08T15:35:00.000-06:002013-12-08T15:35:08.503-06:00

Dual Aileron servos I picked up a FlySky Fs-t6 from Amazon a while back to fly the RC-Help Trainer that I built from foam board. I opted for dual Aileron servos for greater control during setup. The problem is I couldn't find any way to set them up on the radio. There isn't a setting for this. Fortunately with a little digging I found a way to do it. Keep reading to find out how.

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-34774238854706018132013-12-04T15:53:00.000-06:002013-12-04T15:53:09.278-06:00

If you have ever tried to figured out the size of the electric motor needed on a homemade or other type of RC airplane and delved into the world of kv and watts and ESC amps then you probably have a few less hairs on your head because of it. I stumbled a cross a few different calculators online and some trains of though from some really smart folks and decided to condense them into this one

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-37211989677141996602013-11-17T10:02:00.000-06:002014-11-27T08:27:48.554-06:00

LCD mounted on Woody Bot The Sainsmart IIC/I2C/TWI 1602 Serial LCD Module Display module allows you to display information directly on your project and also gives you the ability to interact with the Arduino directly by adding a few switches here and there. Having this ability is a great way to troubleshoot your project and have it interact with others. SainSmart IIC/I2C/TWI 1602 Serial LCD

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-31314171184152467152013-11-16T10:30:00.001-06:002013-12-08T15:50:55.096-06:00

Once you build an Arduino based robot you will soon run into a situation where your robot goes nuts in some way or another. This is often caused when the battery voltage has dropped below a level to support both the arduino and the peripherals you have attached to it.  One way to avoid or be made aware of this situation is to include a battery voltage monitor into your project. I have read

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-71188185428680391562013-11-12T21:12:00.001-06:002013-11-22T18:18:11.969-06:00

Adafruit Motorshield Breadboard Area If you have ever added an Adafruit/Sainsmart L293 Motorshield to and Arduino, then you know that it leaves very few options for easy connection of sensors and other devices. There is a small connection area on the board to connect to Analog pins A0 to A5, but you have to solder to the connections if you use them. I decided to make this a

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-9910230017236268702013-11-12T16:06:00.000-06:002013-11-12T16:06:14.325-06:00

Parallax Ping Ultrasonic Distance Sensor The next logical step to any robot build is to figure out a control system of some sort. You could remote control it with a cell phone, I-pad or a radio remote. You could build it as a Line Following robot, or make it completely autonomous. I am eventually going for the latter. You could also use a combination of all these. For now we are going to

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-71337741643987012252013-11-10T14:41:00.000-06:002013-11-10T18:00:31.778-06:00

Start Switch for Woody Bot If you have done anything with an Arduino based sketch you know that when it is done uploading or the second you apply power it starts running whatever it is programmed to do. This is fine except when your dealing with a robot that will run off the desk and crash to the floor. My solution with the help of some great people in the Arduino Forum was to put in a

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-61543176795854159062013-11-10T14:40:00.000-06:002013-11-10T14:40:58.175-06:00

Woody Bot After building the Woody Bot, one problem I encountered was the lack of Traction from my homemade plastic wheels. Mainly on smooth flooring but sometimes on carpets as well. So I investigated a couple ways to fix this and decided on this. Plastic Wheels are Slick The problem with plastic is that it is slick, and even if you made the wheels out of any other material except maybe

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-83314895193170615822013-11-07T11:46:00.000-06:002013-11-07T12:28:15.070-06:00

The Arduino Uno with  Adafruit Motorshield I have had my Arduino for a while now and just couldn't decide on what I wanted to build with it. I've wired some simple electronic circuit to play with. I've messed with servos and all kinds of simple motor designs. But I finally decided I wanted to build a robot. I saw all kinds of chassis that were really cool and you can buy them all over the

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-2791282011642157982013-11-04T13:45:00.003-06:002013-12-08T11:34:33.467-06:00

If you haven't heard of an Arduino, then your in for a treat. All those little projects that you have thought up in that complex brain of yours but have never quite been able to figure out how to control them all. Well the Ardunio R3 will do it for you. Automation should be a huge keyword when dealing with an Arduino. Keep reading for the amazing details. Oh, Did I mention its only $

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-44168247549316139752013-11-04T12:35:00.003-06:002013-11-04T12:35:53.992-06:00

There is always some new gadget or device out there that has piqued my interest, or made me want to play with it. I was on the web searching for an interface for my media server and stumbled across a Micro Computer called the Raspberry Pi. If you haven't heard of it you need to read this article. It is a $25 HDMI capable 1080p Mini Computer that runs on Linux. Yes that says $25. Got your

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-66812810288201616712013-11-04T12:17:00.001-06:002013-11-04T12:21:27.005-06:00

When I decided to get into vinyl cutting, like many people I didn't want to spend $2500+ on a machine to find out if I liked it or not and if I could make money using it. So I started searching and found several companies marketing Sub $1000 machines that all claimed they could do everything the Graphtec's could do. So I finally decided on a Us Cutter Laserpoint 24" With a stand and catch

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-75028942685982717652013-09-19T13:31:00.001-05:002014-03-07T11:43:45.010-06:00

So your going to a  NASCAR race? Whether it is your first race or your 50th race there are times when a checklist will help you remember things your supposed to have with you at the race. Just a simple list of things that make the race day go smoother and be more enjoyable.  This is mainly for the items that you  will carry with you into the actual race event. For tailgating

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4529641576712859033.post-27103396474281988072013-06-27T09:20:00.002-05:002014-03-07T11:44:20.459-06:00

If you have ever had the troublesome computer that won't wake up after setting idle all night and when you move your mouse in the morning nothing happens. The power LED on the monitor stays amber and doesn't change color and no log on screen. Your not going to believe how simple the solution will be for some of you. Keep reading to find out. I discovered this issue when I was setting up a

Sarconastichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005322806829077978noreply@blogger.com0