After a few delays sourcing various materials and tools, we have finally begun welding the pieces together for the chassis of the excavator. We are starting with some minimal point welds in order to position the pieces in place and will go back for more strength later. It is actually quite small looking at the…
Window frames
The walls are starting to go up now. You can see the window frames being installed.
Natural swimming ponds and biological filters
I have been reading about natural swimming ponds and biological filters for the past few months. The basic idea is that you don’t need to go the chemical route with chlorine or even ozone filtering to get a clear, clean swimming pool (or pond!). An alternative that is gaining in popularity is to create a…
How fast does bamboo actually grow?
According to Wikipedia, bamboo plants are one of the fastest growing species of plants in the world. The reports of growth rates up to 35 inches (about 1 meter) per day are nothing short of amazing. But as with all “up to” statements, presumably this is a particular species found somewhere else, and grown under…
House construction update: Roof and floor done
The roof of the first house is now complete. Additionally, they have finished the floor sheeting out of “cement board” (I’m translating this from Thai… not sure what it is called in English). We will try to get a good veneer tile to put on top after the walls are built. If you look carefully…
A pile of steel for the excavator
It took a bit longer than I had hoped to order the steel for the DIY excavator project. The shop was a bit slow in getting us the official quotation, so we weren’t able to order until after the Songran festival. But the steel arrived yesterday, mostly cut: So that is what $500 of steel…
Edible wild plants
Praew has spent quite a bit of time recently going around the land and cataloguing the various plants that are growing wild. Since the land was used for agriculture a few decades back, I doubt if any of these plants are truly “wild”. But they clearly aren’t cultivated plants, either. The most interesting part to…
Excavator hydraulics
After having reviewed excavator options and ordered the plans for the CADDigger 628, I decided that the CADDigger 628 was my best option. There were a few other options in the $3000-$5000 range available, but none of them had any reviews available, and I came to believe they were all junk that will likely break…
Installing a roof
The roof is being installed now. We went with “Onduvilla” bitumen roof tiles for their light weight and sound absorbent qualities. (Holding a conversation during a heavy rain with a sheet metal roof is quite difficult.)
SlingBot prototype moving
This is a picture of the motorized SlingBot prototype with battery, microcontroller, and L298 based motor driver circuit installed. It seems to go about 75cm per second which is about 3/4 of my target of 1 meter per second, but this is plenty good enough for this prototype. We might be able to speed it…
-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Archives
Categories