I just spent forty bucks on PVC pipes I need to build the main bulk of my plasma cannon. Good that a new barrel, if I need one, will set me back just $8.
"what the complete, unabridged, 4k ultra HD fuck with bonus features" - Mark Von LewisOK, not sure if this is the right thread, but I'm trying to get my head around the differences in application between a sewing machine and an overlocker / serger.
Some places are saying I need an overlocker to sew stretch fabrics and some places are saying I can get by on a regular machine. And since I only have two(?) projects on the planning table that involve large amounts of stretch fabric and a load that don't, I'm not sure which sort of machine I should be getting hold of.
"Yup. That tasted purple."You can get by with a regular machine, but you may need a ballpoint needle.
Keep Googling. There are tutorials out there.
Eta: Sorry, I'm really tired and clearly I didn't read that carefully enough.
You want a sewing machine. It's your general purpose machine. A serger is the more specialized tool.
edited 7th Dec '15 1:18:11 PM by mona.soyun
If you don't have a standard sewing machine, definitely get that first. As mona said, it's the general-purpose machine, while the serger is the special-purpose machine. You can make do with a normal sewing machine for most/all fabrics, but there's a lot of types of sewing you wouldn't be able to do with a serger.
Serging is a process whereby the edge of a piece of fabric is trimmed and bound with thread at the same time. Most commercially made clothing have serged edges on their interior seams, if you want to see what it looks like: it's the type of stitching that goes over the edges of the fabric, and has a lot of criss-crossed threads. Any stitching that looks like it's a straight line was done on a standard machine, and cannot be done with a serger.
The main advantage of serging is that it helps reduce fraying, particularly with certain types of fabrics. If you're sewing a fray-prone fabric with a standard machine, you'll want to make sure you finish the edges of your seams and do double fold hems. Both will help prevent fraying even without serging.
OK, got all the bits and bobs for the plasma cannon (or at least those not made to order), and indeed I needed extra $8 to spend on the barrel.
Now, on to cutting stuff.
"what the complete, unabridged, 4k ultra HD fuck with bonus features" - Mark Von LewisSure, it's still unfinished, but at least I started... I'll have to bring 50 mm PVC pipe from the basement, as I'm gonna need some for the barrel base.
Here's something if you want to read.
edited 12th Dec '15 6:35:26 AM by NotSoBadassLongcoat
"what the complete, unabridged, 4k ultra HD fuck with bonus features" - Mark Von LewisThis Saturday I finally got a beater piano. "Beater" meaning the same thing for pianos as it does for cars: old, scarred, marginally operational. I'm learning piano tuning and want to learn repair as well, so I need something I can trash. (I already own a Baldwin spinet in decent condition - and, okay, it's a spinet, but it's a Baldwin and it was my grandma's and I'm not doing anything to it until I've made my mistakes elsewhere.)
So I got me a 1936 Whitney upright, for free. Or the cost of moving, anyway.
I don't yet know if I can fix it. There are four components that, if they break down, require way more than ordinary repairs: the frame, the plate, the soundboard, and the pinblock. The frame and plate look fine, but I gotta let the piano acclimate to my house for a month or so before I can test the pinblock and soundboard. If it turns out being beyond my help, I'll break it down for parts. And practice fixing/adjusting the innards. And after that, maybe turn it into shelves. Pianos use really solid (and really pretty) wood. No reason to let it go to waste!
For now I'm just cleaning it. And boy does it need cleaning. People don't bother (or know how) to vacuum out their pianos, and this one had been sitting in a garage. So... much... dirt...
I dug up my old light-up Imperial badge project. And it's not gonna work, because it's too small. I can barely fit the wiring in there, to say nothing of the battery. Oh, and the switch? It's right out.
But, on the other hand, after receiving the PET preforms and eyeing some PVC plumbing, I can see how to make the Wulfenbach Shockstick, all I have to figure out is programming the ATTiny with a discharge animation. The basic idea is to have a 0.1 second ticker for all updates - reading the button and writing LED/motor states. When the button is pressed, the charge count goes up, increasing the blue LED brightness, when it hits 200, vibration motor kicks in to politely hint that you should release the button. Now, when you release the button, charge count immediately starts going down, causing the white LED to flash intermittently and the blue LED to fade. Now, with every update tick, the charge count goes down by 1, but with every white LED flash it should go down by ten or more. And while coding that would be pretty simple, I need the code to fit in 1 kB.
"what the complete, unabridged, 4k ultra HD fuck with bonus features" - Mark Von LewisScratch the above: I realized I have a couple of blue SMD LEDs I can use.
Also, while taking a bath, I figured out I could take the shoulderboards off my Russian navy coat, replace them with fuzzy velcro and mount whatever's visually necessary for the costume on it. EVA foam Shoulders of Doom, commissar's Bling of War, Scribe's collar...
edited 22nd Dec '15 9:49:03 AM by NotSoBadassLongcoat
"what the complete, unabridged, 4k ultra HD fuck with bonus features" - Mark Von LewisMain differences that I can see is that the more expensive one comes with a zipper foot (for sewing zippers and cording) and can do buttonholes in one step instead of four. You might be able to get a zipper foot separately, but I don't know how much it costs. If you're going to be doing zippers or cording, you'll definitely want that foot, though.
Well I know for my projects I'm going to need a plastic foot, an invisible zipper foot and possibly a quilting foot depending on exactly which version of a DS9-pattern Starfleet uniform I decide to make.
"Yup. That tasted purple."Still mostly cleaning my piano. I've vacuumed and cleaned and blown out dust with canned air (so many crevices!), and there's still more. Took out the action (hammers & dampers & levers & stuff) and all the keys, which I cleaned individually. Replaced the wool punchings, which are little cushions under the keys. My cat likes to play with the old punchings, batting them around on the floor.
I will soon be learning the ways of hide glue, which is exactly what it sounds like: glue made from animal trimmings. I thought piano builders were just being old-fashioned, but as it turns out, when you're gluing something that may have to be replaced someday (wool, leather), no other glue comes off so cleanly.
I may have to ask a few neighbors to help me lay the piano on its back. It would help with some of the repairs.
But the other day I noticed to my dismay that the bass bridge is cracked. The bass and treble bridges transfer sound from the strings to the soundboard. If one of 'em cracks, the piano can start to sound funny and might not stay in tune. Short of making a new bridge (for which I have neither the tools, materials, nor expertise), my only option is to use epoxy to shore it up. We'll see if it works.
Gotta keep telling myself, "The point is to make mistakes. If you ruin everything, you still get spare parts out of it, and maybe some nice shelves!"
AFAIR it's an upright, right?
Why not put a computer inside, and hack out a big hole for the monitor? :P
"what the complete, unabridged, 4k ultra HD fuck with bonus features" - Mark Von LewisOK. After three days of planning, I came up with a fairly sound design of a prop guillotine. It's an 8' tall, nonfunctional yet cleverly collapsible monstrosity made out of lumber and plywood. After rough calculations, it turns out that the materials will set me back all of $150, which isn't all that much if you consider that the price covers 45 meters' worth of various wood pieces and almost 2 square meters of plywood.
However, I'm correctly assuming that I will go nuts trying to paint it. To say nothing of bolting it all together.
"what the complete, unabridged, 4k ultra HD fuck with bonus features" - Mark Von Lewis![]()
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Yeah, pianos do make pretty sweet desks. But I have all the desks I need. Though now I think about it, an entertainment center might be just the thing.
Let's see... I could use the key desk as the shelf for the TV, support that on the interior by drilling through to the frame, slice up the toe board and music desk to make cupboard doors and install shelves throughout...
It'd be a lot of work, but would probably turn out pretty cool.
At the moment I've just been running through these
.
edited 7th Jan '16 4:42:38 AM by Deadbeatloser22
"Yup. That tasted purple."

OK, so I ordered a super soaker for the plasma cannon barrel and a roll of thin EVA foam for some armor projects (I'm planning to extend the football pads I got back in August into a full armor vest). Now I'll have to draft up a custom PCB for the plasma cannon and come up with something big and blocky enough for the cannon's receiver (it's gotta be at least four if not five feet long, and if my calculations are correct, the barrel is going to be some 16 inches, 18 tops).
EDIT: Oh, I forgot. I also got my hands on a Soviet navy coat, a black double-breasted jobbie fit for a commissar. I'll have to make epaulettes for it, of course, and maybe some Cadian-styled breastplate to fit under it (good that the thing is slightly oversized, I wear size 42 and it's a 46). For the typical commissarial sash I'll use the MOLLE belt trick that already worked once - I wrap a MOLLE belt in a huge red scarf I bought way back when, then put it on with a loose knot covering the buckle and don a leather belt over that.
edited 19th Nov '15 12:18:46 PM by NotSoBadassLongcoat
"what the complete, unabridged, 4k ultra HD fuck with bonus features" - Mark Von Lewis