Projects 1
A Number of the smaller projects that I have built or worked on over the past 10 or so years.
Ejector Seat
The seat is from a Jaguar aircraft bought through ebay about
a couple of years ago as a shell. I was told when I bought it that it had been
in a gate guardian for many years.
I Cleaned it up and laquered it to
preserve the used look rather than going for a full strip down. I welded up a
frame from scrap square tube to hang it on so it can be used as an occasional
seat.This was done without modifying the seat in any way so that it can be
restored in the future.
The seat pad and back are made from canvas out of
an old sofa, scrap ply and a bit of packing foam rescued before it made it to
the skip! No sewing needed as it was stapled and glued. It is suprisingly
comfortable to sit on!
Mirror
I made this bathroom mirror from a scrap stator ring from a
jet engine obtained from an aerojumble.
The ring is un-modified other
than being laquered. The mirror is a standard plain round mirror from homebase
which handily is just the right size. The mirror is mounted by a piece of scrap
aluminium on the back bolted through the original holes using surplus aircraft
bolts.
In all, quite a simple project!
Foam Machine
This foam machine is built from a load of mainly scrap
plumbing parts. It is the mark IV version of the machine- the previous three
working on a different principal. All were built to make large quantities of
foam for Scout 'It's a Knockout' type games.
The unit works semi
automatically. A water feed hose is connected to ball-cock to keep it topped up.
Air is blown from a small compressor through small holes in the copper pipe,
making the foam, which exits through the hole in the front. A wooden lid covers
the top, and sits in a frame so it can be suspended. Just needs a top-up of bubble bath periodically.
There are commercial machines available, however these either have a low output (Antari machine at approx £200 from Maplins) or are very expensive if of the type used in night clubs (£3000 upwards to purchase or £400 upwards to hire). I therefore have built several, working on a couple of principles.
Foam can be defined in terms of expansion ratio (a term adopted from firefighting). A medium expansion foam is one where the air to liquid ratio is around 10:1. This produces a very 'wet' foam that is widely used for firefighting, but is difficult to make, and collapses quickly. Special detergents are also used. Equipment to produce this foam also requires high water pressures. It is for these reasons that I will not cover this in more detail.
High expansion foams are those at which the expansion ratio is between 100:1 and 1000:1. These types are much easier to produce, and will resemble the foam on your bath! There are two ways of producing this type of foam.
One is to bubble air through a detergent solution as described above, the other uses a gauze inflated by the use of an air supply (fan) which is in turn wetted by a detergent solution. The air passing through the gauze therefore produces bubbles at each hole, much like a kids bubble blower, which then conglomerate into one mass. If the mass of foam is discharged by gravity, then the device is known as a foam generator, however if the foam is projected by being picked up by a secondary airflow, or by restricting the foam outlet of the generator, a foam cannon is formed.
The first 2 machines I constructed, were very simple, made from car parts. Indeed the prototype was made from a cardboard box! (unfortunately I have no photos of this). Such machines are capable of producing approximately 1/2 cubic metre (500 litres) of foam a minute. The machines consist of a wooden box, approximately 18" to 2ft long.
At one end of the box is mounted a car radiator fan, set to blow through the box. On both ends of the box are holes, the same diameter as the fan. Both holes are covered with a 1/4" square galvanised mesh. The inside end of the box opposite to the fan, over the hole is covered in a fabric mesh/ gauze. The gauze should have holes no larger than about 1/8", but should be made of thick thread that will hold a reasonable amount of fluid (ie not net curtain material).
A windscreen washer pump is mounted inside the unit, with the input taken out on a tube a couple of metres long, with a foot filter mounted.The pump feeds a number of garden micro irrigation nozzles, mounted approximately 8 inches inside the gauze. A degree of trial and error is required to determine the number of nozzles required, their distance from the gauze, and arrangement, so that maximum, and even wetout is acheived. Power is arranged so that it is switched seperately to both the fan and pump, to give a degree of control. The box is painted, sealed and provided with handles.
Caving Lights
This is one of a pair of Oldham mining/ caving cap lamps given a new lease of life. The lamp unit was bought for a few pounds from ebay, and cleaned of loads of ingrained coal dust. The bezel was replaced with a new spare from Caving Supplies in Buxton.
The original lead acid battery was dead and couldn't be revived so I made a new battery box containing a 4.8V 3.3Ah NiMh battery pack, and a diode to dring the voltage down to closer to the 4V that the lamp should run on. The unit is not completely sealed, but could be if required- the box housing the battery is a diecast one purchased from maplins. Thin foam is used in the lid to stop the battery moving round. The gland is one i had removed from some scrap piece of equipment, and the cable is a rubber covered type to give good flexability. the Bracket is made from a scrap piece of stainless steel rescued from a skip, and held on with some pop-rivets.
A cannon sure-seal connector is used to join the battery pack to the lamp and to allow charging. I chose the sure seal as it is waterproof when used with the right size of cable, is relatively cheap and robust. It is a push fit connector, so will seperate without damage if the cable is badly snagged.
Battery life is about 3hrs, so this light is only used for simple, short dry mine exploring- I still use a club light when caving.
SPEAKERS
I built this pair of speakers about 13 years ago. They still form the main part of the hifi. Drivers are 10" PA ones from Terralec along with Piezo horns and are rated at 150W continuous. They are loud (and heavy)! They weren't cheap to build, but were much better value than what was available at the time. The enclosures are made from MDF completly to my own design.
I was really proud of these when I built them, they sound pretty good, with plenty of Bass.
For years I ran these on an Amp pulled out of a skip, until the volume pot finally died.
Skull and Lights
The two 1" acrylic balls were drilled to about half their
depth so that the LEDs would just fit in. Two LEDs were then wired up with a 470
Ohm resister and covered in heatshrink. The two wires were spliced together and
connected to a length of two core wire.
After testing, the LEDs were
secured with dab of hot melt glue. The balls were then secured to a 'Bucky'
skull from 'The Anatomical Chart Company'
Prototype haunted house light unit. 3 Ultrabright LEDs are mounted to a small piece of strip board, along with 3 470 Ohm dropper resisters to be able to run from 12V. Connection is via a length of 2 core flexible 'bell wire' . The board is secured in a small PVC pipe end cap using hot melt adhesive. I will probably use bottle caps when I make a few more as they will be lighter and smaller. This one is green and acts as small spot.