Category: Other Projects

I promised my Dad in May that I was try and make him a kickstand puck for his motorcycle, but had been stuck on how I would attempt it for a while. Last weekend I finally decided to go for it, using a pewter casting method I had read about online. I used the CNC machine to cut out a mold for the pewter, dusted it with baby powder (as a mold release) and then poured in molten pewter. What you see here is the result. At first I wasn't too keen on the pitted surface finish, but it has definitely grown on me - it brings home the idea that it was hand cast rather than made in a factory.

Since the last time we posted about screenprinting some t-shirts, we've made a bunch more screens and a heap of new shirts. Here's a sampling of screens we've made in the last couple of months. From left to right they are: an Undertale-themed shirt we made for my nephew's birthday party favors, a Cthulu emblem I though was cool, the Team Valor logo for Pokemon Go, a Fallout 4 Vault 111 logo, Makey the Makerbot (the Make Magazine logo), and another Fallout 4 themed logo.

Every time the kids or I get a pin we stick them here. The kids sometimes get them with Pokemon cards, and I always get one in the Loot Crates we're subscribed to. We're slowly amassing quite a collection. It's fun to look back through them and remember where they all come from.

Carter got a kit in the mail to make her own soap. It came out pretty cool. It's real glycerin soap - not like store-bought soap where they skim off the glycerin during the process to use in making liquid soaps and lotions. I've been using it every day, and it lathers up pretty nice.

Carter has been talking all summer long about making a longboard for herself - ever since we found a book on our road trip that had instructions for the process. We finally got around to doing it, and this is the result. It came out pretty good! Carter decorated the underside with a bunch of sugar skulls. We drew and colored them with fine point Sharpies, and we put a coat of spray-on polyurethane on top to protect it. She's been learning to ride it in the driveway. We'll have to take it somewhere soon where there is more open space for her to practice!

I used the CNC machine to make a desk nameplate for a friend I work with. I bet he regrets telling us his nickname! The other side has his real name on it, but I prefer this side. :)

We recently bought a cutting plotter (yay for Black Friday deals online!), and one of the first things we've tried to do with it is cut sticker vinyl to use as screenprinting masks to make some t-shirts. The leftmost one is one that Carter designed for a t-shirt she planned to wear while recording videos for her new youtube channel. The middle one is Sean's, and proclaims his love for Kerbal Space Program. The rightmost one is one I did using the smaller version of my workshop logo, and the bottom one is the same design as the workshop wall sign in an earlier post. We already printed a bunch of shirts using these and they worked really well. I've got several more designs ready to go - I just need to build some more screen frames before we can try them out.

Over the last few weeks I've been using the CNC machine to make a big wall sign for the workshop. I just recently finished and installed it, and I think it looks great. It's about four and a half feet long, so it really draws the eye. The CNC did a great job - I had very little sanding to do before painting. Can't wait to try the next thing with the CNC!

A: This patch is from an old Nickolodeon show the kids and I really got into - Avatar: The Last Airbender. It was an awesome show - it's one of the only cartoons I've ever seen that had really story arcs, and an over-arching story arc that carried across all three seasons. I would recommend it to anyone - kid or adult alike. This patch is the symbol of the Air Nomads, one of the four elemental factions in the show. I have patches for all four kingdoms - I just haven't put the rest on yet.

B: This patch came from Crawford Notch State Park in the White Mountain National Forest. It's one of my favorite places to hike, and it's where my love of hiking first started.

C: Boldt Castle is a spot Carter and I visited on her road trip last year. The castle is situated on Heart Island in the middle of the St. Laurence River. It's in the process of being restored, but you can wander the entire castle - even the sections that have yet to be restored at all. We had to take a boat shuttle out to the castle, which Carter thought was pretty cool.

D: I found these heart patches on Etsy. They are the health bar from the original Zelda game on the NES - one of my favorite games of all time.

E: This one came from the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey. It was one of the stops on Sean's road trip last year. Pretty nice aquarium, actually - I liked it better than Boston's. Sean really dug the shark tunnel.

A: This patch I made myself. It is leather, and stamped with a pattern I designed. It's hard to make out in this picture, but it's the silhouette of a hiker with text that reads "Not all those who wander are lost".

B: I can't remember where I acquired this USA patch. I've had it on the backpack for years, but have no idea where i acquired it. It's starting to fray around the edges now.

C: I made this Batman pin at a Maker Faire that Sean and I went to in Dover, New Hampshire. There was a booth there where you could cut pictures out of comic books, and they had a button press that you could use to make a button. Sean made one too - I think his is also on his backpack.

D: This patch came from Shenandoah National Park, and was acquired on the same trip I mentioned earlier. The Skyline Drive is a national treasure - everyone should make an effort to drive it at least once. I'm definitely up to try it again.

E: Lost Maples State Natural Area was a state park near where we lived in Texas. It was a pretty cool park. Not a whole lot of topography, even though it is in the Texas hill country. We once camped at that park with Paige, and she spent most of the night growling at squirrels that were nosing around the camp once we were in the tent. It was very cute.

F: This patch is a copy of a New Hampshire license plate - just a bit of New Hampshire pride!

G: Mizpah Springs Hut was the first of the AMC High Huts I ever visited. It was a great trip, and left me the desire to eventually see ALL of the huts. A buddy from work wants to try and hit three huts this summer!