Atari Punk Ukelele

I’m building a square wave synthesizer into a ukelele body for a musician friend of mine.  I’ll be documenting the process to write up in Make: and I’ll be presenting on it at Bay Area Maker Faire 2013.

DIY Carboy Handle

DIY carboy handle, a photo by JohnEdgarPark on Flickr.

Four hose clamps, a drawer handle, and some screws and bolts = a sturdy handle for this 6.5 gallon carboy for beer brewing.

iPhone Case Back Project

I’m laser cutting a wood veneer to apply to the back of my slightly cracked iPhone back. The starting point for me is the dimension drawings from Apple. You can get them here.

Rather conveniently, the drawing pdf imports into Rhino (the NURBS modeling/drafting application I use) as curves, so I don’t need to trace and redraw the dimensions.

I’m only using the inner curve from the camera back and the camera keep out guide, which recommends the distance from camera lens and flash hole to avoid vignetting or tinting your photos.

Next step was to apply 3M adhesive to a sheet of wood veneer.

This is the back of my phone — notice the hairline cracks in the glass from dropping it a couple of weeks ago.

Always use a wrench to weigh down your wood veneer sheet in the laser cutter bed.

I decided not to etch an image on this first try, so I only vector cut the veneer and adhesive. On an Epilog Zing 16 this is 80% speed, 40% power.

Once cut out, I peeled off the backing.

I think I’ll adjust the camera/flash cutout in a little bit, this is crazy thin at the edge (due to kerf). This is the adhesive side, not sure what that straight line is all about, it’s not in the wood.

Applied to the phone back.

Very stylish self portrait of my iPhone with its new wooden back.

Cin Tool Co

Cin Tool Co, a photo by JohnEdgarPark on Flickr.

I just cleaned up some surface rust and gunk from this nice little clamp I rescued from a rusted out toolbox I bought, then hit it with some oil to protect the surface.

Here’s a look at the other side:

This being the internet and all, there is a webpage for people interested in the history of clamp companies. From this, the clampguy.info site, I present some history, including the fact that my clamp was designed by the grandfather of the author:

Hargrave brand of Cincinnati Tool Co

The Cincinnati Tool Company was founded in 1877. In 1925, it changed its name to the Hargrave Company, which continued until 1955.
The information below was provided through the kindness of John McCutcheon, of Grand Rapids, Michigan
A “circled H” on tools made by Cincinnati Tool Company signifies that it was designed by my grandfather, John M. Hargrave (1889-1975).
Edward Hollister Hargrave worked for Cincinnati Tool Co. in the late 1800′s. By 1911 or 1912, when he died, I think he was running the company.
John Morris Hargrave (his son) had just graduated from M.I.T., with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He was called home to take over the company. (I don’t know if he owned the company or not at that time, but I am pretty certain that he did eventually. I believe he sold the company and retired sometime in the 1950′s.)
The company made a complete line of hand tools of all kinds, from bar, cee and wooden jaw clamps to cold chisels, star drills, etc.

Here is a drawing from Hargrave’s Patent No. 1,918,469 which I found on the Directory of American Tool and Machinery Patents

Klein Tools Bag

kleinBag, a photo by JohnEdgarPark on Flickr.

Great unexpected gift from a friend a work who knows my style down to a T.
I’ve already used it to transport Bloody Mary fixings and tools to a brunch party. It’ll make a great weekend bag, too. Plus, I’m sure I’ll use it to haul actual tools around when I’m fixing things on the go. Thanks Charlie.

Klein Tools bag

Bea’s MintyBoost

Flush MintyBoost, a photo by JohnEdgarPark on Flickr.

My daughter decided we should build her an iPod charger to use on the go. I had a spare Adafruit Industries MintyBoost 2.0 kit. We soldered it up together, and then she picked an Altoids tin to encase it. She plans to use the extra space to store an iPod cable or perhaps a small toy animal nest.

Massimo Banzi Grande

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Massimo Banzi Grande, a photo by JohnEdgarPark on Flickr.

From the Arduino blog: “I post this for the sheer delight on the face of Massimo.” If you don’t know Massimo, he’s one of the creators of Arduino, and a wonderful guy. He really liked my Arduino GRANDE!

Arduino GRANDE at Maker Faire

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IMG_5056, a photo by JohnEdgarPark on Flickr.

This is my Maker Faire Bay Area 2012 project, the Arduino GRANDE. It is a fully functional Arduino that is about six times larger than real life. Come hear all about it at the Maker Faire this coming weekend, May 19th and 20th. I’ll be doing talks and demos on Saturday. http://makerfaire.com/pub/e/8185