Category Archives: DIY

Making Acrylic Domes

Posted on October 31, 2021 by jimhannon

This is part of a project to make and improved enclosure for my all sky meteor camera and domes for other instruments that look at the sky. Looking around on the WEB I found some YouTube videos showing making acrylic … Continue reading →

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Smoke Ring Generator

Posted on August 21, 2021 by jimhannon

A quick project for the Forth of July. I saw a video of someone making smoke rings online. The device shot a burning ball of fuel into the air that turned into a vortex of black smoke. Searching the web … Continue reading →

Posted in DIY, Pyrotechnics | Leave a comment

Paper Tube Rolling Machine

Posted on October 19, 2020 by jimhannon

An important item to build black powder rocket motors is strong parallel rolled paper tubes. Paper tubes have an number of advantages for rocket motors. They are inexpensive especially if you make them yourself. They are biodegradable and if the … Continue reading →

Posted in Crafts, DIY, Machine Shop, Pyrotechnics, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Rain Sensor

Posted on January 1, 2019 by jimhannon

I thought it would be interesting to add a rain sensor to my tipping bucket rain gauge. Because it take time for the bucket to fill and does not always tip right when it stops raining a sensor that detects … Continue reading →

Posted in Amateur Science, Astronomy, DIY, Electronics, environmental monotoring, Imbedded Software, Nature, Software | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Barn Door Star Tracker

Posted on October 21, 2018 by jimhannon

I wanted to take some star pictures with my DSLR and decided a barn door style star tracker would be a fun project to build. Early versions were nothing more than two boards connected by a hinge with a screw … Continue reading →

Posted in Amateur Science, Astronomy, DIY, Electronics, Imbedded Software, Photography, Software | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Building A Sand Muller

Posted on May 28, 2018 by jimhannon

To do sand casting a muller is almost a necessity. It is difficult to mix up foundry sand either green sand or oil bonded sand without a muller. I have been thinking about how to build a muller for some … Continue reading →

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UVA UVB Sensor

Posted on March 1, 2018 by jimhannon

I have a commercial UV Index sensor running but I found an IC sensor chip that would measure UVA and UVB separately and thought it would be interesting to see how the two UV bands varied with respect to each … Continue reading →

Posted in Amateur Science, DIY, Electronics, environmental monotoring, Imbedded Software, Nature | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Laser Cut Gaskets

Posted on January 20, 2018 by jimhannon

Now and then I need gaskets for one of my projects. Of course I could cut a gasket out of a sheet of gasket material with scissors or X-acto knife and use punches for the holes but using a laser … Continue reading →

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CoCoRaHS sign

Posted on December 24, 2017 by jimhannon

I have wanted a sign for my weather station for some time. Signs for CoCoRaHS has just become available so I ordered one. They made the sign with room at the bottom to put your station number. This article is … Continue reading →

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Mill Clamping

Posted on October 6, 2017 by jimhannon

Now that my shop build is finished I can get on with some projects. Some of my upcoming projects will need a way to hold small irregular parts in the mill/drill. Several home shop machinists on the web describe making … Continue reading →

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