Jake von Slatt Archive
How to build, bright, high-quality flickering LED lanterns!
When I was young I went to Disney World and while I enjoyed the park, it was the lighting fixture and effects that really captivated my interest. In particular I loved the flickering lanterns that festooned the tree in the waiting area for Splash Mountain. For years I’ve wanted
The Steampunk Roadster
Update: car has been sold! In a few short months The Steampunk Workshop will celebrate it’s 10th birthday! I can barely believe that it’s been ten whole years since this whole “steampunk” thing blew up on the internets. It’s been a lot of fun for me, but I also
Stroh Violin Repair
I generally do not take commissions, however every once in a while a friend will ask me to make or repair something and it will be an interesting enough project that I will take it on. That was the case with this Stroh violin. The Stroh violin was an
WW-II Vintage Homemade Welder
I found this welder on Craigslist for hundred dollars. It’s made with a World War II surplus aircraft generator and the engine from a 1946 Austin Dorset. It’s a 200 Amp DC welder with a four-cylinder pushrod engine. This is a first look at it and there will be
Cuisinart Top Interlock Repair
We got our first Cuisinart in 1982. It served us well for more than a decade so when it finally gave up the ghost we purchased another one. We were dismayed to find that the new Cuisinart Custom 14 had changed the interlock on the mixing bowl and top. There was
Nightmare Blues – New from Aaron J. Shay
Friend of SPWS Aaron J. Shay has released a new music video for his banjo-rock barnstormer “Nightmare Blues” just in time for Halloween! Described by one participant as what would happen “if Neil Gaiman art directed the ballroom sequence of Labyrinth at Burning Man,” this video follows a band as
Hexayurt for Burning Man
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Update: Well painting the yurt was a bad idea, at least using the paint to shield the tape from the sun was. For the most part it adhered very well to the tape, but after a week in the hot sun it lost flexibility and flaked off. We had
Hexayurt Swamp Cooler for Burning Man!
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My family is going to Burning Man this year! I've been twice in the past and there have been a few things about my experience that were less than comfortable. The biggest problem I had on the playa was sleeping during the hot days in a tent. Once the sun
Quickest Way to Clone Windows (and Windows Server) Disk with GPartEd
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A quick tech note from the day job some of you might find useful. GPartEd is a fantastic free tool for copying and resizing disk partitions, but cloning an entire Windows disk often requires tweaking boot sectors and records after the partitions are copied and this is not always easy or
DIY Vibratory Tumbler
My latest feat of post-apocalyptic engineering. Post-apocalyptic engineering is when you use parts on hand no matter what. There is no going to the hardware store because THERE IS NO HARDWARE STORE!! When I built the Girl Genius Radio Theater Microphone I had some brass plates water-jet cut and I