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Ski Bike |
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...so Jr. comes into my house
today, and says he has a set of skis and a bike, and he's heading for the
shop. I gotta say, I was a bit scared...I should also tell you it snowed 6"
yesterday. |
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| Tim's
partner in crime, Sam, with the skis procured at a local thrift store. |
Sam's dirt
bike. |
Tim welding
up some bracketry. |
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Watch a video of the bike in action... |
| Tim cutting
the skis |
The finished
product. It actually works pretty well! It doesn't do jumps as well as a
regular bike, but it is stable at 40mph on a rope behind a truck. |
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| The
Potato Gun |
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| My home
built potato gun. Tons of fun. All built from schedule 40 PVC. I use Aqua
Net hairspray as the fuel. Safe (?) and effective. Roughly 4' long. Thin
stick is the ram for loading the potato. |
Combustion
chamber assembly detail. |
Close up of
the electronic ignition. Much better firing than the old piezo element I
used to use. |
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Click here for a
drawing and material list. Microsoft Word format.
I made this drawing a few years ago, and it
still shows the old ignition. Too lazy to change it. I bought the electronic
grill starter at Lowes for about $22. Worth every penny.
This will launch a potato a few hundred
yards! |
| Knife edge
on barrel. Cuts potato to exact size. There is also a screw in the base of
the barrel as a stop when ramming a potato in. See drawing. |
Top view of
combustion chamber. Igniter on one side, ground on the other. A couple long
sheet rock screws go into the center. Adjust the gap on these to make the
best spark. |
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| Christmas Tree |
Fireman's pole |
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The
following few pictures are of my fireman's pole in my living room (I was a
firefighter and EMT for many years). It
extends from the living room into the game room in the basement (pardon the unfinished remodel
job). I started with a long piece of 2 1/2" galvanized pipe. A 36" diameter
hole was cut into the floor (I measured the hole at the local fire station),
then the floor was reinforced in this area. From the floor in the basement,
we shot a vertical laser up to mark the cut hole on the ceiling. We then
procured an extendable boom tractor, removed some roof, and dropped the pole
in. It is anchored to the rafters in the attic. Roof was off for just a
couple hours one Saturday morning. We anchored the pole to the floor, then
began finish work. Thanks to Jerry Frank, Mel Kejr and Shawn Stauffer for
the help, and Kejr Farms for the extend-a-boom.
Easy Saturday project. Be the first on
your block with a fireman's pole! |
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| When you are
single, you can stray from the traditional yuletide Christmas Tree. Car guys
get this, most others don't. |
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Here
you can see the upstairs portion of the fire pole. |
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| Downstairs
looking up. The tube is 1/8" aluminum, 12" tall. The ring on top (see
previous picture) is 1/4 x 2" aluminum, all bolted to the floor.. My friend
Gary made the pieces, brought his tig welder into my living room, and welded
it all together. This could have been done off site, but wasn't designed
until after the pole was in. |
Enclosure in
basement. This keeps noise and heat from going through the hole. This is a
basic 2x4 stud wall. I purchased a fake french door setup at the neighbors
garage sale, took it apart, and framed it all in. I also made all the trim.
Tongue and groove pine came from a sawmill in Colorado. The trees used for
this were all forest fire trees. Thanks to Joe Grahm from World Impact
Ministries, Bailey, CO. |
Base of the
pole. Standard pipe flange, then we hammer drilled into the floor, and used
concrete anchor bolts. |
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| Our valve
cover racer...constructed in about a half hour the night before the
Greaserama in KC. |
The
frame...square tube with one side cut off. Fiberglass
pulleys off a piece of switchgear are bolted on for wheels. |
The inside
of the body. |
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Click on the picture to see a video of Tim's
latest project...a motorized bicycle! |
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Tim went
bird hunting last weekend. No birds, but he did
manage to catch this vintage Speed Gems bellhousing. |
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More to come... |
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