I’ve previously blogged about this simple experimental circulation pump I designed out of a 12″ PVC pipe and a long-tail boat propeller. Well, it took a bit of time to get the motor mounted and everything ready for an in-the-water test. The two slowest parts were machining the coupling between the sprocket and the motor…
Ultra cheap water flow sensor
Here is a picture of our ultra-cheap and easy water flow sensor fully built and ready to use: Fully assembled water flow meter The rotor is nothing more than a cheap propeller purchased from an RC toy shop nearby mounted on the end of a stick. We then attached 3 small magnets between the blades…
Making chicken jerky
I’ve been very busy this last week so I didn’t get the chance to post very much. The pond development is moving forward rapidly, but the rainy season is upon us, and this makes work much more difficult (and muddy). At work, things are crazy with a bunch of new people, and several high level…
Pond update: laying out the pipes in the regeneration zone and rethinking the flow rates
Here are a few pictures of the status of the pond development now: You can see that the 12″ PVC pipes are mostly laid down, and two out of 3 of the regeneration zone walls are done. (These are near and far in the middle picture above. Unfortunately, I now have a fair amount of…
Pond update: building the retaining wall for the planned regeneration zone
We have begun building the retaining wall between the swimming zone and the planted regeneration (natural filter) zone: Building the retaining wall To the right of the wall is the regeneration zone. To the left is the swimming zone. The large PVC pipe is part of the water circulation system. If you imagine gravel and…
Random: Can a monitor lizard climb a tree?
I do admit that I have never actually wondered if a monitor lizard can climb a tree before. But I was spending a bit of quality time with the pack of 6 semi feral dogs that hangs out on our land to see if I could bribe them with some dog treats into accepting that…
How much does a house weigh?
How much does a house weigh? I’ve been asking this question ever since I began pondering the option of a floating house. If it weighs too little, then every time a resident jumps up and down on the balcony, the house will rock noticeably. If it weighs too much then flotation becomes a problem. I’ve…
Successful first light test of prototype water pump
We’ve done our first successful test of the prototype water pump with a 3D printed impeller. Here is a photo of it running: Full disclosure: I’ve been quite busy these last two days, so this successful test was done without me. I’ve just been involved remotely via Google hangouts. 🙂Kudos to the team! We haven’t…
Pilings going in for house #2
We’ve begun work on the 2nd house on our land. I just thought I’d post a quick photo: The pilings have mostly gone in and we dug the soil up a bit to put in the cement footing at the top of each cluster of pilings. This house may be a bit heavier than the…
Designing a crazy floating house
I’ve been pondering the idea of making our house a floating house. We have a big pond. A floating house doesn’t need pilings. And I have this crazy idea that the house could be made disconnected in the sense of an autonomous propeller driven vehicle. So it could rotate to track or avoid the sun….
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