dchall8

I found a homeless chow chow in 1990. Brought her home, cleaned her up, and tried to keep her in. She chewed through my wooden fences to get out. I tried a zipline with my best rope. I had this 50-foot rope for years before the dog. I tied it between two trees and hook her up with a chain. She managed to stretch and loosen the rope enough that she could jump up and bite through it. She never ran away, which is to say she roamed the neighborhood and was always on the front porch when I returned, but you can't just have a chow chow roaming a family neighborhood like that.

What happens when this stuff dries out? Can you make an impression in it and have it remain? I don't need a perfect mold, but would like to form to some contours. Does it shrink? Does it crack?

I measured my level and it seems to be exactly 16 inches, so my mileage varied from yours. Maybe they heard your complaint.

I just looked at the Precious Plastic site for the injector. They have plans and a video showing how to make it. There is lots of welding that could be done in wood or PVC if you ask me. Basically it is a large hot glue machine that starts with HDPE chips and ends with a stream of hot goo. This device could revolutionize the small scale recycling of HDPE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMjtmsr3CqA Here is a link to a video showing how plastic injection molding works.

Some printers have a setting for mirror image.Another way to flip an image is to use an image viewer like Irfanview Horizontal Flip (the h key)

Did you use a real laser printer or an ink jet printer? My understanding it it has to be a laser print with carbon dust baked onto the paper. The entire baked "ink" layer is what transfers.

Thanks for reading the 'ible and thanks for the tip about the level. It never occurs to you to double check a scale that looks right. I'll check mine at lunch today.

Good writeup. I used an app called Alfred and caught an intruder cat breaking into our house during the night through our doggie doors and eating my cat's food.

Virtually nobody knows this but nylon seat belts go bad just sitting around. They go bad faster if they get any oil on them. Sources of oil might be suntan lotion, hand lotion, or the occasional drippy taco. If the seat belt looks dirty, it is very likely that the dirt is embedded in some oil. They go bad from wear and rubbing. If it is frayed it should be replaced. If the seat belt is stiff in places, replace it. If the seat belt has ever been stretched by an accident, it needs to be replaced. And in general the useful life of a pristine seat belt is only 10 years. If your car is 15 years old it needs new belts all around. Someone should write an Instructable about remaking seat belts. You can buy rolls of the belt webbing at a car upholstery shop.

Is that the super sticky, tar-like substance I used on my car, ONCE, and then swore I'd pay for the real gasket?? If this works for shoes, then I want to retract my original condemnation of the stuff. Kudos to you for finding a use for it.

We had some extra bread so my wife has been going crazy with the grilled cheese theme. Last night I had grilled cheese with brie and sauteed mushrooms. Tonight we having Oxajacan style string cheese (mozarella is easier to find), mushrooms, and after spreading the butter on the bread, she spreads salsa and then fries it. If if the bread is thick like yours, we mash it down flatter first. That is an improvement because the cheese melts faster. If you have a lot of sandwiches to make, you can bake them on a rimmed cookie sheet with another rimmed cookie sheet mashed down on top. Both sides get cooked at once. I believe she does it at 375. Or you can make an entire Italian loaf with the cheese and mushrooms or tomato slices, mash it with the sheets and bake, then cut it into half sa...

We had some extra bread so my wife has been going crazy with the grilled cheese theme. Last night I had grilled cheese with brie and sauteed mushrooms. Tonight we having Oxajacan style string cheese (mozarella is easier to find), mushrooms, and after spreading the butter on the bread, she spreads salsa and then fries it. If if the bread is thick like yours, we mash it down flatter first. That is an improvement because the cheese melts faster. If you have a lot of sandwiches to make, you can bake them on a rimmed cookie sheet with another rimmed cookie sheet mashed down on top. Both sides get cooked at once. I believe she does it at 375. Or you can make an entire Italian loaf with the cheese and mushrooms or tomato slices, mash it with the sheets and bake, then cut it into half sandwich sized pieces after baking.

How do you do the lettering? I want to do house numbers in a modern font.

If there is an oogoo contest, I vote for this project. The result is beautiful. This might be the best oogoo proj I've ever seen. One comment, though. The reason the silicone sets up with the powder (corn starch in your case) is that the powder holds moisture. Normally silicone sets upon contact with the humidity in the air, so it forms an outer skin which gradually vulcanizes from the outside in. Once the skin forms, it usually will not stick to anything. When you mix it with the powder, the silicone skins everywhere all at once. So if you mix it for too long, or if you wait too long before sticking your socked foot into the mix, it will skin and no longer adhere to the sock. I'm thinking you might end up with a sock and a separate form with your footprint embedded in it as if...

If there is an oogoo contest, I vote for this project. The result is beautiful. This might be the best oogoo proj I've ever seen. One comment, though. The reason the silicone sets up with the powder (corn starch in your case) is that the powder holds moisture. Normally silicone sets upon contact with the humidity in the air, so it forms an outer skin which gradually vulcanizes from the outside in. Once the skin forms, it usually will not stick to anything. When you mix it with the powder, the silicone skins everywhere all at once. So if you mix it for too long, or if you wait too long before sticking your socked foot into the mix, it will skin and no longer adhere to the sock. I'm thinking you might end up with a sock and a separate form with your footprint embedded in it as if you had put a layer of plastic wrap between the sock and oogoo. The result would be a sort of orthotic...which might be a good follow-on to this project.

You never know! And you're welcome. I use a 1:2 soap to water mix now and most of my problems have gone away. I still get the soap filling the cup and making the plunger not work right. Now instead of disassembling the pump, I turn the pump upside down and stick the nozzle into the soap container. Sometimes the soap in the cup will drain out by itself. Sometimes I can give the plunger a minute push and that will start the flow. And sometimes I have to pump the plunger completely several times. That brings out a soggy foam, but it is effective in draining the cup. Put it all back together and it works. Funny that it's been 11 years, and they have not improved the foamy pump plungers.

+1 for beer bread. I don't like the bitter flavor from beer so I use blueberry ale. It makes an amazing blueberry flavored bread.

Stuff like this is why I like Instructables. Great project!

Very nice. With colored silicone you could match your robot colors.

A-MAZING! I haven't voted in one of these in 10 years. You're getting my first vote.

Very clever and resourceful. I happen to live in a 'dark sky' region of Texas, so we would have to put a lamp shade over it, but still, very well done.

I read it through without watching the video. I thought I was misunderstanding what the water was for, but the video makes it clear. The water turns the paper into a sticky template. That's kind of a low budget genius way to do that.

What is filament?

I just got interested in mead, so forgive the extended delay in replying. I made very good paint stirrer out of a wire coat hanger. For this application I would probably make it as straight as possible and then slightly curve it into an S shape to fit through the bottleneck and still give it some shape. You could sterilize it with everclear or 151 rum before using.

This is great, but it took me to the end of the project to understand what this is. So I flipped back to the top and you did explain it in a convoluted way. Basically you plug this temp controller into the wall, drop the themo probe into the water, and plug the crock pot into the temp controller. The temp controller controls whether the crock pot is on or not based on water temp. That is sweet! Very nice build, too. Clean, neat, and professional looking.

You left out the wheel assembly. What do you use for an axle? How is the axle connected to the cart and to the wheels? What kind of wheels are those and where did you find them? What is the front wheel and how did you attach that?

I wasn't sure what the French called these, but this is great. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but gougères is pronounced goo-zher with only a slight emphasis on the second syllable. For New Years I made pão de queijo, the Brazillian rough equivalent of these pastry balls. Pão de queijo is made with tapioca flour, so the result is supposed to have a gummy center, and it did. I will use your recipe with regular flour next time plus with cayenne pepper to spice it up. Minced jalapeno or green chili would be good, too.

Well stone the crows! I thought you were a Brit. Sorry, very sorry, for that confusion. Sewing was not universally women's work in the 1800s; however, in the native cultures, everything about the tipi was. This includes the skinning the bison, tanning, sewing, cutting and shaping poles, setup, take down, and all the customization and decoration was done by the women. Europeans who wanted to make a tipi thought it was some mystical secret, because the native men they asked would not tell them. Turns out they should have been talking to the women. So I wasn't trying to comment on political correctness - only state a historical point of interest. My ultimate point there was that a more authentic tipi is much simpler to build than yours. Once the semicircle is cut, it's ready to asse...

Well stone the crows! I thought you were a Brit. Sorry, very sorry, for that confusion. Sewing was not universally women's work in the 1800s; however, in the native cultures, everything about the tipi was. This includes the skinning the bison, tanning, sewing, cutting and shaping poles, setup, take down, and all the customization and decoration was done by the women. Europeans who wanted to make a tipi thought it was some mystical secret, because the native men they asked would not tell them. Turns out they should have been talking to the women. So I wasn't trying to comment on political correctness - only state a historical point of interest. My ultimate point there was that a more authentic tipi is much simpler to build than yours. Once the semicircle is cut, it's ready to assemble. Having said that the original tipis had another layer of complexity for cold weather survival, but we don't need to get into that. An inner layer was invented in the Americas and has not been seen in other tipi structures around the world. Shop around for a PVC cutter. I can get one for less than a good hacksaw. Most people with bamboo would love for you to remove their entire forest of it. Bamboo is already tapered, too. The American natives would not have used it because the nodes would allow water penetration. As others have said, pictures of the tipi would be a benefit to the Instructable. Cheers!

At $35 a bag it is wildly more expensive, but we're not building a house. Certainly you cannot buy a marble slab for anywhere near what this costs. Table top is an excellent application for GFRC.

Never heard of GFRC. Can you get it at Home Depot or Lowe's? Doesn't your poured concrete get minute bubbles forming against the Melamine? I never figured out how to conquer the bubbles problem.

That looks great!What is a bell hanger and where would I find one? How does it connect the clock to the frame? Would Command Hooks work?

Oh and the sand in the base is a great idea. Kudos.

Wow! That's a lot of hard work. The apparatus you describe will be shaped like a tipi and will fool 95% of people, but the American Indians did not go to the trouble you did. They sewed skins together into a half circle, cut 10-20 poles about 22 feet tall, tied a tripod of poles together near the top, and tied a rope to the skin to raise the skin up the poles. Interestingly this was 100% women's work, so if you ask a Crow or Sioux man how to make a tipi, he won't know. Once the tipi was constructed it could be raised or disassembled in minutes. PVC is a great idea for poles. If you have bamboo growing nearby, you can use those, too. The poles need to be about 1-2 feet longer than the skin radius. For canvas I would want at least 3/4-inch PVC pipe. 1-inch would be preferred. In...

Wow! That's a lot of hard work. The apparatus you describe will be shaped like a tipi and will fool 95% of people, but the American Indians did not go to the trouble you did. They sewed skins together into a half circle, cut 10-20 poles about 22 feet tall, tied a tripod of poles together near the top, and tied a rope to the skin to raise the skin up the poles. Interestingly this was 100% women's work, so if you ask a Crow or Sioux man how to make a tipi, he won't know. Once the tipi was constructed it could be raised or disassembled in minutes. PVC is a great idea for poles. If you have bamboo growing nearby, you can use those, too. The poles need to be about 1-2 feet longer than the skin radius. For canvas I would want at least 3/4-inch PVC pipe. 1-inch would be preferred. Instead of cutting PVC with a saw, which takes forever, use a ratcheting PVC cutter tool ($8.00). You can clip off pieces of PVC in a second with no dust. Instead of drilling holes, a good Boy Scout can tell you how to lash three poles together with rope to make a tripod. Then just lean the other poles up against the tripod. Wrap the skin around the poles and kick the poles outward at the base until the skin is tight.

While this I'ble is very good at guiding the construction (which is genius in the use of hardware store parts), I had no vision of how the thing worked. There is a lot of "do this and do that," but nothing explaining how the parts work together. After reading all the way through I finally got to the end with a link to an external website where the operation was explained in a few paragraphs. Now when I go back to the top I have a context as to what you're doing, why, and how the parts work together to separate the 1st stage from the 2nd stage. Here's a suggestion to describe how this mechanism works.This water rocket stage release mechanism was developed to provide automatic staging of multi-stage water rockets. On the launch pad the mechanism locks the two stages together...

While this I'ble is very good at guiding the construction (which is genius in the use of hardware store parts), I had no vision of how the thing worked. There is a lot of "do this and do that," but nothing explaining how the parts work together. After reading all the way through I finally got to the end with a link to an external website where the operation was explained in a few paragraphs. Now when I go back to the top I have a context as to what you're doing, why, and how the parts work together to separate the 1st stage from the 2nd stage. Here's a suggestion to describe how this mechanism works.This water rocket stage release mechanism was developed to provide automatic staging of multi-stage water rockets. On the launch pad the mechanism locks the two stages together by the weight of the second stage pushing against a quick-release connector for a garden hose. The 2nd stage weight compresses a spring inside the mechanism. There is a flexible air pressure transfer tube which allows the two stages to be pressurized at the same time. Water and pressure leaks are prevented by the arrangement of valve parts inside the mechanism. In flight when the 1st stage booster stops producing thrust, the rocket approaches a weightless state where the spring pushes the stages apart. When the parts separate the interlock releases the stages which releases the pressure in the second stage, thus allowing the 2nd stage to fly higher. After release the staging mechanism remains attached to the 1st stage booster and can be reused after a parachute recovery (not included in this Instructable). As for the parts used, you have the experience and have better insight into the durability of this, but I would think a thin-walled PVC would be more sturdy than the FTC tubing you use. Of course you can't cut PVC to open up the diameter like you do with the FTC, so there is that. Anyway this is a very clever use of simple parts to make an amazingly complex separation system.

As I continue to reply to myself, I found several sources for the Gardenia Launcher. Good stuff.

And now that I think a little more about it, would parts of this system make a much better ground launch pressurization and fly-away nozzle for a 1 stage rocket? Again, not having tried it, it seems like the smaller nozzle you use would work better than the 1/2-inch open bottle neck nozzle.

Pretty genius

I got the glue at Michael's Hobby store. There are several fabric glues made under the same name. I used the one I perceived to be the most permanent. I'm not near my supplies at the moment, but I remember buying more than one bottle just in case the first one didn't work. So I couldn't tell you which one I used even if I found them. But I could narrow it down to those two.

Very nice! I made a tri-fold Tyvek wallet back in 2009. I figured being Tyvek it would be the last wallet I ever needed, but I was wrong. Tyvek will not tear or rip, but it will wear out. I still use it although it looks shredded. I used a FedEX envelope for the Tyvek and I used fabric glue instead of thread to hold it together. The glue worked perfectly.

Beautiful. When I saw the picture I thought, "Great! Another cardboard project!!" But it's plywood. But that doesn't mean it couldn't be made from cardboard. Glue several pieces of corrugated cardboard with the corrugations going across each other and you end up with a very strong, thin structure. I used to work on a team to photograph old documents. We looked into many different devices like this, but technology had not caught up. Lighting was the main problem. With flat LED under-counter lights, you could easily illuminate this without adding bulk or much weight. String lights would work mounted underneath. The light from the phone turned out to be too uneven at the edges, so we were using external desk lamps (2008 - no LEDs yet). Great project. Thanks.

Having gone through the exercise, nice job by the way (!), if you wanted to make the seating height at least 6 inches higher, what would you change? I'm both tall and getting older. Getting up out of an Adirondack Chair ain't what it used to be.

Very nice.My wife makes chicken broth (it jells). She doesn't bake anything more than what is already cooked. She uses skin and bones. Bones are broken with pliers before cooking to let the marrow out.

I just watched Adam Savage do a Nerf gun. He used a product called Rub and Buff to put a highlight on the rubbed edges of the weapon. Rub and Buff is a paste made with mica. Apparently mica powders and pastes are used in other hobbies. A quick substitute for mica powder is women's eye shadow - the metallic ones. So I'm looking for a palette of metallic eye shadows.

You inspired me. I started with a $3.00 dart gun from the grocery store. Painted with Rustoleum Silver Metalic (left side) and Bronze (right side). Aged the left with black and dark brown acrylics. Highlighted the left with silver Sharpie and right with Gold Sharpie. Will be aging the right side with the brown to start and see where that goes. Final will be Rustoleum clear coat. Thanks!

Back in 2007 the MicroPlane brand was the only one that had a zesting quality blade. I believe there are others now. Look for the finest grater you can get at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

If you make another one, pull the concrete out of the bowls right after it sets, and then sand the top flat. Concrete that has not hardened completely is much easier to sand.

I get the idea of hiding a spare key, but I don't get the idea of granting unlimited and forever access to anyone who has a memory or has a camera on their cell phone.

gm280 has the start for stopping leaks. Brass is a funny metal, and all hoses and faucets come with brass parts. When you get a leak in a brass fitting, the water will erode the brass where it is leaking. I wasn't trying to demonstrate that concept, but I ended up eroding an expensive, solid brass, Sears Craftsman female fitting just 30 minutes after using it for the first time. I didn't even need a magnifying glass to see it. I could see it and feel it with my fingernail. So if you are going to use brass, use the hose washer and tighten it. Also make sure the male sides of the fitting are PERFECTLY flat across. This starts with the hose bib and goes to the ends of the hoses. In order to ensure they are flat you can use a file to flatten or do what I do. I cut off the ends and...

gm280 has the start for stopping leaks. Brass is a funny metal, and all hoses and faucets come with brass parts. When you get a leak in a brass fitting, the water will erode the brass where it is leaking. I wasn't trying to demonstrate that concept, but I ended up eroding an expensive, solid brass, Sears Craftsman female fitting just 30 minutes after using it for the first time. I didn't even need a magnifying glass to see it. I could see it and feel it with my fingernail. So if you are going to use brass, use the hose washer and tighten it. Also make sure the male sides of the fitting are PERFECTLY flat across. This starts with the hose bib and goes to the ends of the hoses. In order to ensure they are flat you can use a file to flatten or do what I do. I cut off the ends and replace them with plastic fittings. Plastic fittings are always flat, and plastic does not erode if it isn't tight enough. I also use #15 O-rings instead of flat washers for all my female ends.

Good project. There's probably a (more expensive) way to do that with modeling clay if you don't want to get dusty.

If you leave this out, will it harden?

After many years, how is the Sugru holding up? Have you had to replace it?

I used clear Rustoleum after the fine sanding. That truly is the secret. Well done.