Category: Adventures
Trips or fun experiences will be listed here
Baby Bird in the Car Port
I was cleaning out the carport and this little red bird started screaming at me from three feet away.
I figured with all that commotion, I should check that burlap material before I stowed it away.
Sure glad I did.
Medusa Mirror: PowerSwitch Build and Install Instructions for Customer
The medusa Mirror was built around a 3amp power supply with an inline switch on it.
Problem was, I couldn’t find a beefier unit with an inline switch. After sitting for an hour in a tire place on Amazon, this is what I came up with.
And then design and 3d print a custom frame to hold the switch.
Design the part in tinkercad:
It was here that I realized I had misspelled the name. It was an easy fix at least. While the fix is printing, I’ve got a practice part to play with.
and Practice my inset while I wait.
this is the female the adapter will plug into.
It’s too big to fit and needs to be chopped.
New part is finished.
Inset is done (it looks better in real life, pic is zoomed in) and you can see my finished chop of the female part in the background.
the hardware is in:
Soldering it up was a booger and I forgot to take pics. Here’s a video of it finished:
It’s actually an instructional video for the customer on how to install it but the beginning shows “What it is, why, and how it does it’s supposed to do”.
Stump Grinding with a Harbor Freight Grinder
I recently cut down a tree and the stump has been giving me trouble.
Now I didn’t really know what to expect but I figured I’d throw my harbor freight grinder at it.
Trellis Build and Lift
Trellis build and lift:
The tomatoes in my seeding station are getting bigger every day so while I’m waiting for Medusa to cure, trellis was first priority.
Here’s where my day started
Abandoned and overgrown I had to hit it with the lawnmower and weedwacker before I could start. I’m winging this. No drawn up plans, just a rough sketch on a napkin. Both Julia and Chris had to help me get this up… It took all three of us. I certainly couldn’t do it on my own. 
It’s lifted and in place. Still needs more bracing but I’m happy with this. 
Removed the aquaponics system yesterday 🙁
It is with great sadness, I removed the aquaponics system yesterday.
Build video is here:
And after it was up and running:
The gag at the front of the video is what got me into growing Carolina Reapers.
Afterwards I show off the system in a poorly edited fashion 😛
I got all the problems worked out, but there was a fundamental design flaw.
I shut it down after the first year for a redesign, and, well… “life”.Four years later it was looking like an abandoned roller coaster
About as safe too.
So yesterday it got the chainsaw and I’ll be removing the remains slowly over the next few weeks.
RIP Happy endings though…
Would you believe some of the fish from that first video are still alive four years later!
Yeah! Same fish! So here’s to an awesome experiment, almost a family member.
It got my son Chris into tropical fish from day 1, these goldfish are in his room too!
Chris even got to slum it with this huge bullfrog named “Phillip” over this past winter!
But “phillip the Frog” is a story for another day.
Thanks for reading, enjoy the rest of your day 🙂
Medusa Mirror project
What did you do for the eclipse?
Me, I was outside cleaning a mirror.
Seems only right to be working on Medusa during an eclipse. It was crazy. Some large bird started screeching for like 15 minutes straight. Definitely spooky. And I’ve backlit it with the eclipse for customer approval. i’ve decided to finish the piece regardless.
I can’t easily describe the machines I’ve had to build / upgrade… new techs I’ve had to learn to bring this to life. so this piece is a triumph for me.
If the customer doesn’t like it due to print issues, no worries, I’ll make another for her and finish this one for myself.
Hell, I might even hang it in the shop in place of my AVXpro sign.4/9/2024 apply vinyl
Always good to get Zilla back on the wall. My shop is small so it’s really hard to work around the machine while it’s down. I haven’t seen my workbench for awhile. It’s a good to see it again!
You like my sexy legs? Oh yeahhhh 😛 I’m going to heat the mirror:
so I’ll elevate it off the table with these M5 nuts. (I don’t need it high).
And some cotton over the nuts to prevent scratching.
I ran out of vinyl 🙁 BOO!!! Not really worth turning the iron on if i don’t have enough to complete the job…
So I covered it with plastic, ordered the stuff I need and hopefully it’ll be in tomorrow. 4/10/2024 apply vinyl
New stuff came in ontime.
Fake it till you make it…. This… SHOULD… work…. Mirror cracked from the heat
It was my fault, not the process. I got complacent and stayed in one area too long. Crack runs pretty far out, breaking off two corners. This is less than ideal but not a dealbreaker.
Customer wants the mirror cracked in the end result, so the more cracks the better.
Problem is: I’ll have to figure out a way to flip a large mirror that is no longer structurally sound.
I’ll figure it out later.
vinyl is in place, bonded good.
Now to just remove the clear shiny backer and good to go. Shit. I’ll admit. I was cussing.
It was like the glue between the clear and the vinyl was way tougher than it needed to be. Vinyl stretched and delaminated from the mirror.
Now what???
Can I laminate by touching the iron directly to the vinyl without the clear protection? Yes. Yes I can. But I’ve got to be careful.
Ok. I can do that. I can be careful. And done! Looks good. 4/11/2024 Flip, hit, and repair.
I’m finally on my way with this website.
I’ve been posting to facebook too much.
Problem is, it’s easy to post to facebook but difficult to post here.
BUT I’M HAPPY TO SHARE that…
I think I’ve got most of the problems worked out. (only took 2 years!).
and so I’m very very happy to finally be able to share with everyone…. Just come to avxpro.org and BOOM. It’s all there. Just scroll down and see everything I’ve been up to.
Finally.
so I apologize that the website doesn’t look very good yet…
I’ll get better. It’ll take time but it will. I think the key is being able to share with you in the meantime WHILE it gets better.
You like my potatoes down there, by the way? They will be planted in the garden next week. Much better than throwing them away, wouldn’t you agree? I’m not a professional writer but I can’t wait to share with you things I create in the shop. Or how I’m doing wild stuff like growing plants in upcycled kitty litter boxes filled with water.
or family stuff
Like how I’m teaching the family cat to do her homework. Ok ok! That’s my son’s HW… but really… come on… admit it… you fell for it!
Mason Bee Shelter during the Winter so welcome to everyone
Friends, family, or if you’re new and just happened to stop by; welcome. Thank you for coming and I hope you stay a long time.
