Time flies when you’re having fun

Again it’s been ages since I wrote an update. A lot has happened and even more to come. I don’t like to write about personal stuff that involves others than myself, so I’ll just say close family has had a very rough last couple of months.

Some problems of my own, but nothing too bad. I have a back that’s been haunting me for over two weeks now, so I’ve finallytaken the step to have it looked at. Hope it’s just a muscle but the doctor warned me about it might being a prolapse.

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Arduino arrived and other stuff

As I wrote earlier, I ordered and Arduino Duemanilove and a Protoshield from eBay. Early this week it arrived and I was thrilled to get my hands on it. I haven’t had much chance to play with it yet, as we’ve had an immense snowstorm here. It’s been snowing for at least 4 days straight now, and that ammounts to over 4 feet of snow during those days alone. My back’s out and more snow is coming down. I don’t have much components lying around, as I forgot to order them and there’s no way I can drive to get some. I have some stuff I want to try but for now they’ll have to wait.

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Not really an idea but…

This isn’t really an idea as I’ve already built one of these, and the other one is not mine.

First: I’ve been into model rocketry almost as long as I’ve been tinkering. Started out with some simple store bought rocket and moved into (of course) making these things myself. Rocket motors are dangerous and when firing you should be a safe distance away. A 9V battery is sufficient to fire the starter but that’s not a decent solution for a maker. I did some searching and thinking and came up with the VERY high voltage circuit from a disposable camera. This thing cranks out about 400V and is VERY DANGEROUS! You should only attempt to

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End of another week

This has been a curious week. I was anxiously waiting for the next episode of The big bang theory, but that was before I had checked to see the next airing :( No new episode this week, had to wait. As I couldn’t watch that, I remembered Legend of the seeker. I watched that show like a hawk during season one, but somehow lost track. Got caught up again now and the show delivers even more than the first season.

It didn’t take all week to catch up in episodes, but I’ve been

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Making and modifying, made fun!

I came across the YouTube user makemagazine a while back, but forgot about it until I found it again yesterday. There is also a website MakeZine where the videos and content is available.

If you, like me, enjoy taking things apart and putting them back together (might not be in the original shape/way/form), this site is a must-read for ideas.

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Three weeks have come and passed

Today it’s three weeks since I first saw the fry from my Dempsey tank. I took them from their parents after a few days, and it seems to have saved quite a few. I expected there to be quite a few that wouldn’t make it, and so it was.

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Finally!!!!!!!!!

Today I got my first successful launch ;)
On a downside, I didn’t bother to film it as I didn’t think it would work.

I built a very small shell, maybe a 1″ canister. I didn’t weigh it to measure the liftcharge, so it didn’t go quite as high as I wanted. The spolette I made was waaay to long and the shell actually fell back down before lighting… Booboo. Still was fun though, but I need some real timefuse!!!!!

I’ve never been more chuffed than when the mortar went of, and I saw it lift. The trail from the spolette was just cool. This was something I made myself. Learning… Here I come!

Not working until evening/night tomorrow, so I’ve got a couple hours left of today ;) . Off to make some “pipes” for some slightly bigger canisters.

WOW!

Success!!
NC lacquer alone didn’t do the trick, but mixing in some good starmix meal with the NC was successful. Homemade fuse, dipped in the NC/Starmix solution and let dry a few minutes = USABLE!

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26.06.08

Just a quick update and a recent effort from my camera.
Early daze

My macro enthusiasm continues to grow with every chance I get outside, camera in hand. I also have started to develop my widlife photography skills, allthough I don’t have the qequipment to get the optics I need.

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29.05.2008

I’ll start the day off by posting my photo for the day. Got this as I was mowing the lawn yesterday. This fella’ popped up and I talked him into posing for me a few minutes.

You're mine
Click the image to go to it’s Flickr page.

This was a particularly difficult shot as there was almost no natural light and I couldn’t use flash because I had no diffuser. The flash was to bright without diffuser. Had to use the extreem settings of ISO1600 and 1/60th second @ f/8. ISO1600 on my Canon EOS 400D is noisy, but I did manage to get rid of some of it.

I’m playing with the idea of maybe upgrading my kit though, to get the most of it all. Time will tell.