Author Archive
Telegraph Clacks out RSS Feeds
When I was a boy my father brought home from work a telegraph sounder replica kit. He was the director of the library for a local college and the sounder kit was one of several museum quality reproductions of 19th Century technology the library had acquired. The lovely brass
Gallery of Found Objects
On Saturday when I go to the dump I carry with me a long steel hook which allows me to fish interesting things out of the metal re-cycling dumpster. I’ll also stop and look through intersting piles left curbside for collection on trash day. Some find this practice unseemly, but
Philatelic Keyboards – More Model M Goodness
Andy sent me a couple of shots of his beautiful stamp decorated keyboards. He write that he's made about 10 of these beauties. Each of his keyboards are made with the stamps of a single nation and often commemorate a royal coronation or celebrate a particular sport. Andy's friends
How to Make a Cheap Lightbox
For many of my recent projects I have found myself in need of a lightbox so I took a couple of hours from working on my latest project to put together this one. I used a piece of glass from the old Xerox machine that I bought for ten dollars
Thoughts on a DIY Electro-Chemical CNC Machine Tool
There is a class of machine tool know as CNC, or Computer Numerically Controlled. These are computer controlled tools capable of cutting complex shapes with a high degree of accuracy and repeatability. They generally cost tens of thousand of dollars and weigh over a ton. They’re often available used
Thoughts on Building a Steam Car
December 1, 2006 I want to build a steam car or perhaps a steam motorcycle. Why? you ask. Oh, just for fun, I reply. The first step in a big project is research. I ordered the Essential Steam Power Library from International Correspondence Schools, circa 1906. Lindsay Books
Copper Plating and Etching Altoids Tins
UPDATE: There's some great information on this page and it's comments, but I've recently published a far more comprehensive article here: Etching Tins with Salt Water and Electricity With this project I wanted to try a number of new things: Magazine pages as cheap toner transfer media Copper electroplating Etching
Electrolytic Machining of Brass – Part II:
After the perhaps overly optimistic attempt at electrolytic machining in Part I, I decided to try etching parts from thinner sheets of brass. Sheet with thicknesses of .010 and .015" were chosen and I used the advanced image search feature of Google to search for black and white appropriately steampunk images.
Electrolytic Machining of Brass, a Clockwork Trilobite
I have been having great success etching brass plate with a solution of copper sulfate and an electrical current. The depth, quality, and speed of the etchings have been quite controllable and it seemed to me that I might be able to etch completely through a piece of brass. This capability
Electrolytic Etching of Brass
Update: I'm often asked about the thickness, type, and source of brass I used for these journals. I am very lucky to have a local place, Metal Source, were I buy most of my supplies. I used 22 ga. (.025") brass and any alloy will do. In a