needed a table saw today, didnt have one, and im shit at straight cuts with a handsaw, so i made this.

nothing special really, a circular saw screwed to the underside of a table that i knocked together with bits of scrap

Turbine and old fireplace

The turbine is nearing completion. The disks are all chosen, spacers made and checked. ive ended up with 6 disks. the topmost will have some magnets on it, to drive a wheel outside the turbine housing. the outside wheel , having a matching set of magnets on it.



at least im pretty sure thats how its going to happen.

also started sanding down the old fireplace timber for the deskfan base. taking longer than i thought it would. but almost done. Have changed how thats going to be made now too.

i'll put some pics up tomorrow, im tired

The Fan

While waiting for some curing on the bbq, i started some work on a destop fan. The idea has been utilised on various mod and hack type websites, so i wont go into how it works. Its more or less self evident anyway.

All ive managed so far is chosing the timber for its base. That comes from a 90 year old fireplace mantle surroundy thing. there are 2 of the pieces with a heart cut into , they will be at the sides of the base.

I have also wound a copper coil for the fan side heat exchange.

i still need the inside container/resevoir and, well thats all really. i will begin making the base tomorrow.

The BBQ

This is something i spoke to some friends to about, and we all agreed it could be done in theory, but that in reality it would end up blowing up because people drink and forget about things at a bbq. besides who wants to worry about a steam engine while cooking.


So im making one anyway.

The main body of the thing is an old beer keg i had given to me, the boiler is made from an old fire exstinguisher i got from god knows where. was pretty old-ish. it had a service number to call in sydney, that was only 6 digits long. so whenever that was.

The idea is pretty simple.
Use some of the excess heat a bbq produces to generate a little steam. That can either run a turbine to make some electricity or mechanical power that can be used for other things. Or both.



The boiler is pretty simple. the brass cylinder on the outside of the keg is really just a resevoir. it has a pipe that runs into the keg where the fire sits, and back out into the resevoir. The water boils, creates steam.

The steam comes out the top of the resevoir, back into the keg, gets heated again, then onto the turbine.

From the turbine (currently being constructed) i will have a small amount of electricity and mechanical power to have a light, and a rotisserie.

There will be other things of course, but for now they are just ideas and will need a little consideratioin before i commit to them.