@John: I'll see about that! They need two of them shortly for practice weapons training, but the other two are just going to be used for props, so I might be able to hold onto them a bit longer, as they won't be shooting for a bit. I'm milling the last hand guard (or whatever you want to call it) as I type this, so they are coming along.

While on vacation in April I worked on a contest entry for a Steampunk Angel Poster coloring contest over at DeviantArt. This is what I created. Unfortunately, I forgot to submit it and the deadline has passed .

I made this in GIMP and it is the first significant work I've done in GIMP.

The original file is actually poster-sized.

that's ... wow. outstanding. wow. clearly we need to get the large format color plotter working.

And the Color laser as that does not bleed.

Nice work Whammie

Thanks for the comments. Again, this was a coloring contest, so I didn't draw this thing, just colored the b/w line art.

Aside from playing with some edge lit sign making,

http://www.tcmaker.org/forum/viewtopic. ... 7&start=40

it's been depressingly utilitarian making lately. My garage at my old house is, well old, and the bottom panel of the door was rotten.




After a few trips to Siweks to get replacement materials, I was able to craft a reasonable facsimile.



All success due to tools and learning at the Hack Factory, all deficiencies due to insufficient learning to date.
I've been working on a mount / setup for a little jig that holds a 4-1/2 angle grinder for use as a miter cut-off saw etc, but I ripped it apart to wire wheel some railings at my house, so I'll have to get pictures of that another time.

Pete

I'm very close on a decision to attempt a Midio128 build. This is a midi decoder which can drive or read 128 I/O signals. It is an open source hardware/software project.



The goal is to experiment with electro-mechanical control and possibly work this into a mechanical music/light/display machine.

Has anyone here had experience building this particular project? Any difficulties or warnings? It is definitely going to be an ambitious undertaking, but it seems a perfect project for hardware and software build experience.

This also seems to be a very cost-effective alternative to other commercial offerings, but I'd be willing to listen if someone has a suggestion for an alternative approach to a decoder on the same scale.

I believe the decoder only delivers/reads a logical 1 or 0 on each line, but that would be OK I think for the type of machine I might build around it.

We are working on getting our old house ready to sell, and the medicine cabinet was crusty, but new ones seemed out of place and cheaply made, so I decided to refinish the original. In hindsight, my first thought of getting a bigger compressor to use with the blasting cabinet, or a really small blasting gun to clean it up was likely correct.

I went with stripper and sanding, and it took quite awhile.


But eventually it I got it all off.


I broke the mirror trying to remove it to strip, but it turned out no one liked it anyway, it had a lame frilly thing a the top. The edging rust worried me, as I have no idea how I would re-chrome such a thing



But the rust came off pretty well, and most of the shine remained, which you'll have to see in the next post, as three images is the limit.

Pete

If you got all the rust off the chome and it it still shines. Then make sure you get a coat (or 2) of clear enamel on it. it will rust up 2x as fast. Especially in a bathroom. Speaking from restoration experience.

I've been working for a while on a steampunk portable audio player for my iPod. I'm getting precariously close to the final glue-up stage, possibly this weekend. I've been sort of keeping a log while going through the build, though it currently needs an update because I finished the inlay and some other things. You can visit my project page by clicking here

Below is my concept sketch for those less inclined to visit the site. The piece is primarily made of walnut, rosewood, and brass, with ivory stringer inlay.