My ongoing mid-life crisis and agonising over what my students really want has made me realise something: I want to create, or at least to fix things.
I love being able to ‘take control’ and make some change to my world, but I don’t have tools or space and my skills are sorely lacking. But if i could get my shit together, there’s all sorts of stuff I’d like to make:
a solar-powered sterling engine, for one
a crane to go on my as-yet-unfound rooftop apartment
get my moto running sweet and looking good again
If I went back to Canada today I would train to become a top notch metal fabricator/ machinist and invent any darned thing I want. Probably industrial design directionally.
Helped build a 12 meter catamaran, and a few other 10 and 11 meter vessels when I worked for this outfit in the UK. This one went out to Cornwall somewhere. It’s got dual Daewoo diesels, four-bladed low-pitch screws and a reduction box for maximum torque for towing nets and hauling gear. In the picture you can also see the anti-pitch foil installed between the two hulls.
Instead of building new mold tooling, we started with a 10 meter hull, sawed the hull in half lengthwise with a 45 degree cut, separated the fore and aft halves by 2 meters, then scarfed on an extra 2 meters of hull amidships. geminiworkboats.com/[/url] They make a great product, but boy Jeezum what a shithole to work in. It was downright Dickensian.
Make my Taike neighbors contract some incurable affliction. I’ve given them three hours a day of point-blank banjo music, but to no effect. As hard as I try, I can’t make their little flat heads explode. Maybe I need to buy the Sleepy LaBeef box set?
[quote=“tmwc”]My ongoing mid-life crisis and agonising over what my students really want has made me realise something: I want to create, or at least to fix things.
I love being able to ‘take control’ and make some change to my world, but I don’t have tools or space and my skills are sorely lacking. But if i could get my shit together, there’s all sorts of stuff I’d like to make:
a solar-powered sterling engine, for one
a crane to go on my as-yet-unfound rooftop apartment
get my moto running sweet and looking good again
how 'bout you guys?[/quote]Sucks to be you, man. No tools? That’s about as bad as having no balls! Ok, I’m sorry, I’m not being mean in a mean kind of way. I just always thought that a man without tools isn’t a real man. Men have tools, no? It’s indispensable!
Tools are cheap here in Taiwan, and all you need is a spare bedroom. Start fixing things!
Every year in the small, artsy community where I lived they had a 3-day “Kinetic Sculpture Race”, across roads, sand dunes, mud and a bay, in crazy, home-made contraptions that were usually designed for both engineering and comic effect. kineticsculpturerace.org/index.shtml
The whole thing was one crazy party and the whole town came out to see the crazy parade of vehicles. I always wanted to build one and take part in the madness. Here’s just a tiny selection of the contestants.
And this one is by the area’s greatest artist, the guy who started the whole event.
I actually just sold one of these MT. The gentleman who bought it was buying it for some macarbe protest towards international communism… anyway… each to their own.
No home workshop is complete without an electric fly swatter. :p[/quote]
exactly the first thing i noticed too. it’s my very favorite thing. i like sneaking up on a plate full of those fruit flies and laying my racket over the plate. watching those drosophila melonobastards going pop pop pop makes me downright giddy.
i just found my top/floor rooftop apartment. i too have been thinking along those lines. I got me a thirty ping patio to build. i am thinking a deck, with an inflatable pool, big screen bbq, some palm trees, ambient lighting. yes indeed, the mind reels with potential.
that and the 4 bedrooms I have to fill. thanks bobepine for the workroom idea. i have a huge room off my kitchen. a dry storage/toolshed is just the ticket.
No home workshop is complete without an electric fly swatter. :p[/quote]
exactly the first thing i noticed too. it’s my very favorite thing. i like sneaking up on a plate full of those fruit flies and laying my racket over the plate. watching those drosophila melonobastards going pop pop pop makes me downright giddy.[/quote]Have you thought about washing the dishes more often?
[quote]that and the 4 bedrooms I have to fill. thanks bobepine for the workroom idea. i have a huge room off my kitchen. a dry storage/toolshed is just the ticket.[/quote]Mine is an office/shop. One side is a desk with my computer, the other side is the shop part. I call it the shoffice. Harsh for the computer if I do wood work. I cover it with a tarp, but still, it makes my whole office dusty for days. Not perfect… but quite handy for many small fixing jobs.
Ok, I’m sorry, I’m not being mean in a mean kind of way. I just always thought that a man without tools isn’t a real man. Men have tools, no? It’s indispensable! 
