Archive for the ‘Projects’ Category
Guerrilla Solar
Back in the old days of Home Power magazine, before the Sunny Boy and Fronius, when the SW was the staple, and made by Trace, when wiring diagrams weren’t usually just a massive series string of modules…. Well, there was a little inverter called the Micro Sine, made by Trace. A 100w 12v or 24v […]
In: Life and Times, Renewable Energy System
Mini-Solar V.3 – Maybe I Got It Right This Time
I’ve been working on a small battery-based photovoltaic solar-power system for the last, well, 5? 7? years- it’s been a long while. Since I first bought the modules, charge controller and small inverter I’ve been reconfiguring the parts every couple years with hope that it’ll finally “work” and be “done”… but it never has been. […]
Step Down Into a Hudson
My friend Alan is the owner of a lovely 1950 Hudson Commodore 6 Sedan, and is a member of the Northern California Hudson Club. Last weekend the club planned a meetup in Portola Valley on the Peninsula, to visit and tour the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation’s museum there. Alan invited me along- we drove in […]
End The Adapter Blues
When you get bad adapters, make bad adapteraide- Wait, that doesn’t work… Never make what you can buy- Hmm, that doesn’t work either… After getting burned by the thesuperkids adapter I decided to bite the bullet and make a better one in the machine shop with tight fitting bores, a D-shaped bore for good torque […]
Don’t Buy The thesuperkids Shaft Adapter
I’m working on putting together an electric bike using a surplus Kollmorgen “Hi-Kol” BLDC motor- more on that later. I’ve gone back and forth about ways to interface with that stubby short little stepped, D shaped shaft on the Hi-Kol- I had gotten fed up with imagining nasty little systems of bushings and decided it […]
In: Electric Poly-V Bike, Reviews
Look What I’ve Made- Window Screens
Simple as that-
The Insanity of the Economy
Browsing BoingBoing today I saw this article. I clicked through and looked through the photos posted on the auction website. It’s worth a look. Here’s the story: wikipedia Chrysler’s Newark Assembly plant in Newark, Delaware built tanks between 1951 and 1957, and cars between 1957 and 2009, including LeBarons, Town and Countrys, and most recently […]
The fragile fabric
Driving back to Albany from Santa Rosa on Sunday I witnessed a pretty gnarly car crash. Basically- I noticed this aggressive driver in a black Passat with frat letters on the back when they passed me on the right. Drifting around in the lane, uneven acceleration. Decided to give them wide berth. As I followed […]
In: Cars, Life and Times
Rabbit Diesel
Something strikes me as pretty funny about the car in this picture. Probably because I expect the driving experience in a diesel rabbit has got to be pretty wretched. Hey- I’ve got nothing but respect for terrible econoboxes boldly proclaiming their worst attributes!
DIY Autocross Magnetic Car Numbers
What do you need if you are going to an autocross event with a racecar that has one number on the side, but you are going to be running two drivers? Well, you need another detachable number! What about if that racecar has beautiful but easily-lifted purple and yellow house paint on it? Well, you […]
In: Little Fixes, Racing