How To (How I Did) Archives | Page 16 of 43

16 Jan 2017

How to Make a Camera Mount Hat

I have been having trouble with my videos. Because I normally shoot the videos my self as I am in the videos sometimes what I think I am

showing is not what gets captured.

This causes all manner of problems.

I recently bought a new tripod and it came with a cell phone mount and being unable to use more than one camera mount on the tripod at a time I wanted to figure out a way to use it.

Since a 1/4 20 bolt has the same threads as a camera mounting screw I figured I could hang the cell phone mount somewhere.

In looking for a good place I realized my head would be perfect. Since my head is always pointing where my eyes are looking at a diy camera mount hat would be perfect

Making the Camera Mount Hat was easy.

First I took a punch and made a hole in the brim of the hat. If you don’t have a punch a hot soldering iron would work.
Next use a washer and run the camera mounting screw through the hole.
Finally screw the camera to the screw and have a good time taking video.

This project could not be any easier. Of course my wife could not stop laughing at how funny she said the contraption looked.

However, looking is a small price to pay for making videos you find useful.

As said in Jerry Maguire “I’m not in it for the money, its all about you babe”.

Seriously, I do have a horrible lack of camera skills, and bad equipment had plagued me.

Every time I save enough for better equipment I look at the reviews and promptly buy the wrong thing.

I hope that this helps me better capture the DIY projects I am working on.

Unfortunately, in a video I am working on now, I used this device when working on putting foam in the ceiling of the conex box and got sick watching it because I kept looking from place to place.

Its not noticeable wearing the hat, but watching the video I was like “Dave, can you ever stay still”.

13 Jan 2017

New Fence as a Thief Deterrent

After having a lot of small stuff stolen from the land, the thieves graduated to taking something of real value.My dad’s commercial grade backpack blower came up missing when he left the land for the day.

Hopefully the new gate will make it harder.

Now they have to either come from the neighbor’s place or through the woods. – I am working on things to prevent those types of threats also.

Besides my new fence working as a Thief Deterrent, I also have a wireless camera on the way to help with catching them.

Also, I soon hope to have my perimeter fence started, we found all the corners, and I have most of the posts. I still need to clear the brush along the perimeter and get some more gates so that I can access areas when I need them.

Right now, everything of value is locked in the shipping containers, but there are some larger items like the sawmill that are chained up. I don’t feel comfortable with chains as any one low enough to steal would have no problem cutting a chain. I want to set the sawmill trailer back up permanently and take the wheels off.

However, I hope a gate and a camera will do a lot to tell the neighborhood crackheads that there are easier sources of pill money than my place. However, that may be wishful thinking as getting caught is not even a good thief deterrent when the scum is a druggie.

22 Dec 2016

How to Make a DIY Wire Basket

This DIY Wire Basket is a neat project, which makes a useful basket – which you can use to organize or meet some

metalworking requirements on a scouting merit badge.

I like them for gardening, as I can easily wash my fruit and vegetables off with the hose before I bring them in the house.

My wife likes it because I use it to wash vegetables before I bring them into the house.

Either way, it is an easy project that is very useful and a fun way to spend an afternoon.

Material:

2’x10’ Hardware cloth
26 Gauge Floral wire
Metal Coat hanger (Optional)
Rubber hose (Optional)

Tools:

Tin Snips
Needle nose pliers

Procedure:

When designing your basket you need to allow for the sides. We are going to make a 5 inch deep 8 by 8 inch basket to carry in our vegetables. Since the sides will fold up we will need to cut out a piece of wire that is 18 inches square.

Using tin snips cut this into a cross shape with 5 inch squares taken out of each corner. This will make eight inch “wings” that stick out on each of the 4 sides.

Make your creases/folds along the “wings”
DIY Wire Baskets
Cut the floral wire 1.5x the size of the side you’re going to connect. This means for a 5 inch seam, cut the wire 7.5 inches (or 8 if you want extra).

Start at one end, and pull the wire almost all the way through leaving about 1″ of slack to wrap around that first corner several times before weaving up the side.
- Hitting every square looks better, and make a stronger basket, but you can save time by only weaving every other square if you desire.
Lastly, trim the ends of your wire, and tidy up the basket.
If you desire you can make handles by cutting up a metal coat hanger and using needle nose pliers to create loops on each end
You can make the handle fit your hand better by sliding a rubber hose (like an aquarium hose) over the coat hanger before attaching it to the basket.

20 Nov 2016

How to Make a DIY Airlift Mud Pump

Experimental DIY Airlift Mud Pump — Buy at Amazon

I decided to make an experimental airlift mud pump to clean out my old pond.

I have a spring fed pond that has been abandoned and allowed to silt over. Brush has grown around it and clogged it with rotting leaves. It has gotten to the point that in sections the silt is so thivk that grass has grown over. You cannot tell how soggy it is. It is not uncommon for me to be weed eating and step wrong and sink to my waist in think mud.

Swampland Breeds Mosquitoes

This causes a danger. Additionally, it is a breeding ground for mosquitoes so I have been looking for options. I can’t afford to hire someone with a dredger. My backhoe can’t get to the area. I was at a loss.

I was playing on youtube and found a guy that uses airlift pumps for outdoor hydroponics. it uses a cheap air pump instead of a more expensive electric pump, and because it is air powered and not electric it is safe around water. Down the internet research hole I went.

In looking at how it worked I learned that gold prospectors use dredges to suck up mud, recovery divers also use similar systems to recover boats that are lost under tons of sand.

Can the process work for thick mud? I see videos of Koi pond owners using similar systems all the time on a smaller scale. The lack of videos means one of two things – no one has thought of it, or it doesn’t work.

Will a Airlift Pump Work?

I cobbled some pipes to make my Experimental DIY Airlift Mud Pump, the most expensive pieces being the fittings. It took me less that 15 minutes to build.

I put my diesel air compressor in the truck and drove down the hill to the pond. Now right now Tennessee is under a state of emergency due to extreme dry conditions and we are under a total burn ban. I did not know until I went out to my pond how dry it was. It has really thickened the mud, and if I was careful I could walk slowly on the thick dried crust that formed.

This made the experiment much more difficult.

An airlift pump will lift waterlogged debris the same distance up and the nozzle is held under the water. the pond was 10 feet deep, so I bought a 10 foot section of pipe to make my airlift. If it was wet enough for me to push the nozzle 10 feet down under the surface, it would shoot mud 10 feet into the air.

It Worked, But the Wetter the Better

The ground was too dry to do that, so it only went down about 3 feet – which made it hard for the mud to make its way out the other end of the pipe.

Instead of a geyser of mud, I got more of an old faithful eruption…

As the pressure build up, the mud would spurt out. It made a neat sound, as I got to where I could estimate the time between spurts.

What was happening is that it sucked the mud from around the nozzle and had to wait until more wet mud oozed down around the pipe end.

I cannot wait until the weather changes and I have lots of wet mud to work with. Once I get some time to experiment with nozzle configurations and get a good working model I will scale up to 4 inch pipe.

Navy divers use 9 inch pipe and have to be careful as the suction is so strong it can pull body parts into the tube.

The Thief Strikes Again

I made a bigger set of pipes, and bought a roll of trash pump hose, and more airline. I also redirected the creek to fill the marsh with a little more water. However, when I went back to try again, the thief had cut into my shipping container and stole my air compressor.

1 Nov 2016

Demolishing a Trailer with a Backhoe

I wanted to tear down the trailer in a way that made good use of the lumber, but after almost two years of messing around, I decided to just do it.

The video above shows my backhoe demolishing a trailer. This was so much easier than knocking boards with a sledgehammer.

Using the backhoe made this a lot more fun. Additionally it was easier and took minutes instead of weeks.

I don’t have much more to do to finish cleaning the trailer up.

The stopping point now is removing the trash. A burn permit helped with much of the wood that was not able to be salvaged, and the Sheetrock is being composted down to help amend my soil.

My dad and I also figured out the easiest way to take the deck off the metal frame.

Once the top is cleared off I will show that process.

I can’t wait until the trailer demolishing is completed, as I need the double wide gone before I can build the range and set up the sawmill in a semi-permanent location.

All in all I think a Backhoe Demolishing a Trailer is the way to go. If I ever have to do this again, this is how I am going to do it.

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