The trek across Texas.....

My wife and I flew out to Louisiana to help move the first load of my parents worldly possession to Albuquerque, where they plan on moving to within the year. I don't know what possessed me to say yes to this adventure since it has just about drained every ounce of energy and happiness I had left. Driving a 26' Diesel truck 1,300 miles in two days is just plain rediculous.... having to unload the 1,400 cubic foot payload into a storage unit is plain painful.
Had the weather been more forgiving it might not look so bad... but our first night back in LA it rained 8 inches in a matter of hours..... seriously? That's like the average rainfall of New Mexico for the year. Then there were the 4 thousand lightening strikes across the state and 1" hail... wild I say!
We had planned a short northerly route through Texas but that has been thwarted due to a freakin' blizzard in March! So now we slowly plod through the barren wasteland of southern Texas... halfway between Mexico and hell.... or Junction,TX....
12 hours today... another 12 hours tomorrow.... tonight I sleep and dream of flying.

That 's "Master Jedi Geek" to you....

This was another project that was in flux for years that I finally got around to finishing.
Completely useless but oh-so high in the geekness factor.... ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Lightsaber! Not as clumsy or as random as a blaster. An elegant weapon for a more civilized time. It has full sound effects and a LED on the side that lights up and changes color depending on the sound effects chosen.
Everyone asks why there is no illuminated blade, simple.... that is too damn cheesy!! What is the point of a plastic blade anyways? Beside the fact that it isn't real.... you digitally edit the blade in anyways! Duh!
I've wanted to build one of these for years.... but it wasn't until I found a vintage Heiland flash unit at a thrift store for 3 bucks that I was re-energized into completing it. For years I have been collecting the spindles from dead hard drives thinking that they would make great emitters for a lightsaber. The top portion of the LS is constructed from to HDD spindles and the tape head of an old VCR which have been mounted together. I was hoping to get the HDD spindles to spin up when it was turned on but they are stepper motors and would require a controller to activate and run them... too much trouble.
The guts are a hacked up "StarWars Clone Wars Ultimate LS" kit that had the ability to display either a blue, green, or red blade with different sound effects for each. I kept the orginal sound board and wired a three position switch with a tri-colored LED that allows me to select between the 3 sound banks with the LED lighting up to the corresponding color.
I kept the original flash trigger and internal switch mechanism which required some crafty modifications to run all the wires through and have it still operate. All in all it turned out pretty cool although the crash sensor still needs some more work, will probably custom build a new one that is a bit more sensitive.
I'll post a video soon of it turning on and off and the different sound effect modes to give you an idea of how rad it truely it!
May the Schwartz be with you......

..And the cradle will rock!

I have recently discovered that there might be a use for one of these in my life as of late. If everything continues on plan then I have roughly 7 months to start and complete this project.
I put this together in Sketchup one evening to flush out ideas and design styles. My main concern in the design was the ability to disassemble the unit for easy storage since it isn't an object that is used but for just a brief time in life.
The style is a mixture of southwestern (Spanish colonial), Arts and Craft, with a hint of Japanese, and will be built from Red Oak. The main body will be of panel construction with through mortise and tenon's that will be pegged with walnut keys through the end pieces. This will allow the piece to be broken down into 8 piece for storage or shipping.
I am holding off for another month to finish some other in progress works and to be sure that this news is definite.

Japanese bed, the sketchup years...

This is my original mockup/design for the bed I am constructing using Google Sketchup.
I am finally getting comfortable using the application and it is great for laying out objects in actual size, which helps with visualizing the true proportions without having to build a real prototype first. For a free program it is absolutely a great tool in a Maker's arsenal but it does have a few quirks that can be quite frustrating from time to time.
The bed can be taken apart and assembled without any tools, held together with locking joints for both stability and beauty.
I love the dichotomy between the simplicity of style and the complexity of joinery exhibited by the master carpenters, it's hard to believe that there are still temples standing made of wood, without nails or fasteners, that are over a thousand years old.

The way of the Samuari.....

Putting the final touches on a Japanese style platform bed I have been building recently.
I have always loved Japanese culture and values and became especially taken with Bushido.. or Way of the Samurai. So what better way to be reminded of the 7 virtues (Justice, Courage, Respect, Honesty, Honor, and Loyalty) then to sleep on them every night. My chip carving is a bit rusty and my Japanese calligraphy is non-existent..... but that never stopped me before!