http://www.asciimation.co.nz/bb I'd rather live in a world full of eccentric thinkers than one full of unthinking consumers Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:19:33 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This is my vacuum cleaner. Miele S5210. It's a Miele S5210. It's a very, very good vacuum cleaner. Well, it was until the point that it broke! Actually I was somewhat responsible for that. For a little while now I have been restoring a car (OK, almost 6 years but I ... http://www.asciimation.co.nz/bb/2009/12/29/tearing-apart-my-miele-s5210-vacuum-cleaner If you've looked about my sites you'll know I make things. Lots of things. This means spending lots of time in the garage. Often I am dashing about between house and garage as I am busy making stuff. My house actually has two garages, an old on on one side ... http://www.asciimation.co.nz/bb/2009/12/26/a-door-alarm-for-my-house-and-garage Part one of the horse making is here: http://www.asciimation.co.nz/bb/2009/10/18/a-rocking-horse-for-sophie With time moving on I had to really move to get the rocking horse done. After protecting the foam with the tin foil I applied layers of fibreglass and polyester resin. I built up a nice, thick skin of glass all over the ... http://www.asciimation.co.nz/bb/2009/12/25/finishing-sophies-rocking-horse-before-christmas-just Hmmm, almost Christmas again. Being someone who 'makes stuff' my sister asked if I was making something for Sophie for Christmas this year. I suggested a rocking horse. This is my attempt to do so. I don't have much experience with horses. Probably the closest I have been is gluing ... http://www.asciimation.co.nz/bb/2009/10/18/a-rocking-horse-for-sophie Some time ago my sister asked me what I was getting Sophie, my 10 month old niece, for Christmas. I said I didn't know so she suggested I could make Sophie some bookends for her room. And she asked if I could make them like a ladybird that Sophie has ... http://www.asciimation.co.nz/bb/2008/12/25/sophies-ladybird-bookends I was cleaning out my old garage, which was in a total mess after having a new roof put on it, and among all the sawdust and off cuts and dead leaves and so on I found an extremely dead, totally mummified rat! The skin is completely dried and ... http://www.asciimation.co.nz/bb/2008/12/21/an-exteremely-dead-mummified-rat         The finished SV Chronometer. Time. We are all obsessed by it and it catches up with us all in the end. Especially women who don’t moisturise their elbows properly! I have my own little obsession with time. I often have a stop watch in my pocket, just so ... http://www.asciimation.co.nz/bb/2008/11/05/sv-chronometer-%e2%80%93-a-gps-based-interactive-master-clock I finally got around to finishing off the Wimshurst machine the other week and it's about time I updated this page about it. Part one of this project is available here: http://www.asciimation.co.nz/bb/2008/04/19/building-a-wimshurst-machine There were a few changes made to the machine since the last post. The main one was I discovered glass Leyden ... http://www.asciimation.co.nz/bb/2008/10/27/building-a-wimshurst-machine-part-2 A few weeks ago I splashed out on something I have wanted for a long, long time. A lathe! My 7x12 mini lathe. This is one of the cheap, Chinese mini lathes. The 7X12 means it has a 7 inch swing and 12 inch length. These little lathes are quite crudely ... http://www.asciimation.co.nz/bb/2008/08/30/7x12-mini-lathe After the success of my Star Trek fight music box I decided to make a new music box dedicated to one of my all time favourite TV programmes - The A Team! The A Team is a show I remember very fondly from my childhood. I was 10 and on a ... http://www.asciimation.co.nz/bb/2008/08/24/the-a-team-music-box