It’s ALIVE!!! I finally got my DIY automatic chicken coop door working, and temporarily installed. I used a power antenna motor to drive the door on cabinet drawer slides. The whole unit is solar powered by a 12 volt battery.
I used a DC timer and DPDT relay to trigger the opening and closing of the door. In the video, I put all of the components in a nice plastic enclosure that hides most of the wires.
It worked perfectly, closing at sunset and opening at sunrise!
Here’s a link to the wiring diagram:?https://goo.gl/hGL0GZ
When we stopped drinking soda 5 years ago, we wanted to make seltzer water at home. This was before the SodaStream was popular, so I made my own carbonated water maker that connected a co2 tank to a 2 liter bottle.
When we moved back to florida, we never bought another co2 tank, but we dreamed about having club soda on tap. Today we made that dream a reality. We bought a used soda fountain carbonator and installed it under our sink. Now we have unlimited seltzer water whenever we want!
Part 2 in my experiment building a fully automatic chicken coop door. Although it seems like nothing got accomplished, figuring out the DPDT relay was a big step forward. Now all I need is a working light sensor or timer.
I should have everything working properly and installed next week. If you have any ideas as to why it kept opening and closing intermittently, please let me know in the comments.
A quick video about microwave oven transformers (MOT) and how I plan to salvage one to make a DIY spot welder and electromagnet.
This is the introduction to a new series about the electric bike I’m converting to run on a homemade lithium-ion battery pack made from old laptop batteries (18650 cells).
I recently discovered the P-38 can opener (sometimes called the John Wayne). Issued by the US Military for over 40 years, it was never known to break, rust, or need sharpening. It’s now found in many prepper’s survival kits.
What’s most interesting, is despite it’s sterling reputation, it went from conception to manufacturing in a total of 30 days in 1942. They were intended to be disposable.
In the video I make my own DIY P-38/P-51 can opener and add an oak handle for leverage. Yes, I know they made millions of them and are available for less than a dollar.
Lauren asked me how I learned to build things after our jewelry organizer video. I didn’t have a good answer. I’ve just been slowly acquiring skills in carpentry, mechanics, electronics, and design my whole life.
As best I can remember, these are the 4 stages that every DIYer has to go through before their projects turn out “better than buying.”
Our question to you is: Do you think anyone is capable of turning a wrench or pounding a hammer? Or are some people just not able to take care of things themselves?
I?ve talked before about how I don?t have a lot of clothes, but I do like to accessorize what I have to keep it looking fresh. I ended up collecting a plethora of costume necklaces, and they all just got piled up on my dresser and looked like a huge mess. I started looking for something to hang them on, but anything I found just cost too much to justify buying. So in the meantime I started hanging all the necklaces on a clothes hanger in my closet just to keep them out of the way.
A few months of this went by, and my necklaces were still getting in a jumbled mess that I would have to pull apart every time I wanted to wear one.
Mike of course is very handy, but I am not. I decided I wanted to change that and asked him if he would help to teach me some wood working skills, and he was totally on board. I looked up a few pictures online and found an idea for a cabinet that I really liked on Ana White?s website (https://ana-white.com/2012/06/plans/wall-jewelry-cabinet). Mike liked it too, but made a few adjustments to it to make it our own.
Unfortunately, the day we selected to do this ended up being a bit busy. We had to squeeze the project into a two and a half hour window between teaching in the morning and a bridal shower in the afternoon. Mike was a total trooper and gathered all the supplies and tools needed and was ready to get to work as soon as I got there. The two and a half hours weren?t enough to get everything done, so Mike had to finish up the door to the cabinet after I left. Even though I didn?t get to do a ton of work, I really enjoyed helping Mike and learning the processes needed for a project like this.
And it also doesn?t hurt that I LOVE the finished product!
What does it mean to have your sh*t together? As an 18 year old in 2005, I bought a $200k dollar house with almost no money. Everyone thought I had it figured out. Unfortunately the housing bubble popped, and I was left with a climbing interest rate. I had to walk away.
Looking back it seems you don’t have to do much to get your act together and look successful. I did it the wrong way, but you can use that to your advantage!
All the cool kids are drinking Moscow Mules. But they?re supposed to be served in copper cups, which are expensive. Here?s how to make your own DIY copper cups with nothing more than 3/4 inch copper pipe. You can buy all of the materials for about $3 per cup from the hardware store, or find scrap metal and make them cheap or free.
I?ve never done any sort of copper or sheet metal fabrication so this is about what you can expect if you?re a beginner. Overall I?m happy with the results. The hardest part was learning to solder or ?sweat? the parts together.
Our Moscow Mule recipe is 2oz vodka and 4oz ginger beer. These cups ended up about 7 ounces which are perfect.
Recommended Video – Vintage Knife Blade Light Switch
There’s only a handful of DIY projects I don’t like doing. Drywall finishing, window tint, and carpet installation. But I’ll still do them to save some money. After today, I’m never going to attempt one particular project again. Tire installation.
I ruined my scooter rim this morning because I didn’t want to pay the 20 bucks to have my new tire mounted by the professionals.
From now on I’ll be buying my tires online and taking the rims and tires to a professional to be mounted.
