Out With The Old...... In With The New!

It's been a busy couple of weeks here at the Tinker's Workshop.  I thought it best to finally get a new post out on what has been happening and what is planned for the coming weeks.  I have been busy with a large project here at home that has turned into a chain reaction of projects as most people know can happen.  For some time now I have been wanting to replace the carpet in my bedroom and repaint the room at the same time.  This in turn called for the removal of a well cared for king size water bed which because of its weight had messed up the position of the closet in the bedroom.   The bed weighed close to 2000 pounds and had managed to shift the closet away from the back wall of the bedroom.   This I corrected with some help from a close friend and have now painted the bedroom and am waiting for the new carpet to be installed.  So now on to the fun part of this project.

  The current project I am now working on is to build a new bed to replace the water bed.  I no longer want that much weight on the floor and so I've decided to build a queen sized platform bed instead of the over sized, overweight king sized water bed.  This will be lighter on the floor and make more room in the bedroom too. The headboard of the water bed is solid oak and is to nice to discard and so that is where I started this project.

With this in mind I had to design a new platform bed using the king sized headboard yet still reduce the size of the new platform bed to a queen.  This is what I came up with.

The new platform bed will use a setup very similar to the water bed as it will have a base that the mattress and mattress deck will sit on.  A couple of things had to be addressed here in this project as the headboard is set up for a king sized bed and the mattress is a queen.  Also the headboard could not sit directly on the same platform as the mattress as it would be to low to be usable.  I designed a headboard riser that would straddle the platform so that the width difference from a queen to a king sized bed could be used along with raising up the headboard to a correct height. 

The headboard riser will be made from oak along with the mattress rail  (shown in gray) that will rap the deck and deck frame.  The deck frame base will be made out of 2 x 8's and the deck frame out of 2 x 4's. Both made from pine. The deck is half inch plywood.  All of the parts for the new bed now have been cut  and being as photos of a pile of wood is not that interesting I will hold off with taking more photos of the project until it starts taking shape.
   I was also concerned with the height of the bed mattress once the bed was completed as I thought it might be to low.  This turned out to be no big problem as the mattress is 12 inches thick and the total height will be 24 inches tall.  Very good news for the project.  I will post further photos  in the coming weeks as progress is made on this project.

A Video Camera Mount For Your Car For Less Than $20.00!

Today I completed another small project that has been in the back of my mind for some time now.  I've always wanted to take video in my Mini Cooper while cruising down the road.  That's what today's project is all about.  

These two photos show the wooden parts that were cut out on my CNC machine for the camera mount.  This could also be made using a band saw or scroll saw and a drill press just as easily.  

In these two photos you will see the remaining parts that are needed for the video camera mount.  There are two pieces of 3/4" poplar wood, two 1/4" x 3" bolts, four washers, two lock washers, two wing nuts, a 1/4" x 1" bolt and washer and a quick connect mount for the video camera.  The two small grooves in between the two horizontal arms will located the mount securely when it is put into the car for use.  The three inch bolts and related hardware squeeze the two wooden part together to create a strong simple mount that is as easy to use as it is to create.

Here is a good shot of the video camera mount located on the vertical posts that secure the headrest on the passenger front seat.  The seat needs to be in a near vertical position so the video camera is not pointing upward toward the roof.  I did a trial video using the mount on the passenger seat but found that  I liked the drivers seat video better. As long as the roads are fairly smooth the video turns out very well.  Check out what I shot  today for yourself. 

Click the YouTube button for a bigger view of the video.

The Second Steadicam Is Completed!

This past week I was thrilled to finally find in my mailbox the last piece that I needed for my second Steadicam that I started work on in mid April.  This critical piece was the adjustable mounting plate for the video camera.  Without it I could not complete the build of my new design.  For those of you who do not know what a Steadicam is or what it does for video I will clue you in.  This device takes the roughness out of video being shot while hand holding a video camera.  It was first used and developed for the movie "Rocky".  Since that time you have seen the end result of this device in scores of movies.  Most commonly used where a camera is following or leading an actor down the street and the director wants a smooth flowing shot without the camera bumping up and down from the cameraman's movements.  These professional devices are VERY expensive and just now have started to show up for the amateur videographers like myself.  So with that in mind I decided to build my own Steadicam this being the second design.

With any new design there are always bugs that need to be worked out of it.  This design was no exception to that rule. The picture above shows the upper mounting portion of the acrylic arm as I first designed it.  It looks good but that's about as far as it goes.  It simply did not work when mounted to the adjustable "C" shaped slider video camera rail.  I could not get the arm to balance and so a redesign was called for. The first arm being made out of fiberglass did not have the mounting hardware that you see in this shot.  This in turn caused the arm to be mounted further rearward on the slider rail.  This also caused an interference problem that would not allow me to make proper adjustments to balance the Steadicam.  

  What I did to correct this was redesign the original spacer mount that you see here with a modified spacer that has an extension on it to allow clearance for the balance arm.  Once this was done I cut it out the new part on the CNC machine and with a bit of sanding was ready to mount it. The original fiberglass arm on the first design was narrower and could be mounted on to the slider rail without the use of a spacer. 

Here are a couple of shots of what the new upper mount looks like in place on the Steadicam.  The extension on the new mount allows for an additional clearance both vertically and horizontally as the slider is adjusted to balance the Steadicam with the camera mounted to it.

Here is a good shot of me holding the new design which gives you a good idea of the size of the Steadicam.  This completed arm took around two hours to construct using my CNC machine to cut out the balance arm parts. Then came sanding, polishing, and assemble.  This is a vast improvement over the fiberglass design as it took around eight hours to build over a weeks time. The cost is higher on this arm due to the material used but in the long run will be much easier to fix should something catastrophic happen to it. (I don't even want to think about it!)  

For a larger view press the Youtube button.

Here is a little video that I put together this morning showing you the difference in what the Steadicam can do for your camera work. Keep in mind here that I have only had about a half hour of practice using this new Steadicam so I am no expert when using it yet.  But just with what I have shot here is a vast improvement over the video shot without using it.

  For those interested in the numbers.....  The original fiberglass design cost around $40 to build.  This new design is closer to $80 to build.  Both turned out well and both had their advantages and disadvantages in the building of them.  I for one like the new design simply because of the ease of construction, less build time, and easier repair.  If you had to repair the fiberglass design or replace it due to major damage it would take another week to build a new one.  This design you could salvage all the good parts and only replace what needed to be to make it work once again.  A lot less time to do so.  All in all it will make a nice addition to my video camera equipment.

Free Design Software For Your Projects

  This past week I have been asked by a number of people how do I create the projects that I have posted on my blog and build in the workshop.  The first thing that I do with any project is set down at my computer and design all the components of a particular project in my engineering design software named Pro Engineering or ProE for short. This software is VERY expensive and way out of the reach of Joe Average's budget and so does no good for anyone that wants to eat meals on a regular basis. This software I used and was trained on at John Deere where I worked as a designer for over 20 years of my 33 year career.  I was fortunate enough to be able to get a student version of this software which fits my needs very well but someday I will have to replace with something cheaper when it no longer will run on my computer. This is all well and good for me but does nothing for the rest of my readers that have not had this kind of formal training or luck in getting this software in the first place to build the projects that they dream of making.

  Fear not.  I have some answers for all of you that I hope will get you off of the couch and into your workshop building your dream project.  In a lot of my projects I have also used three other pieces of software that are free to download online which will get you started.  The first program is called Blender 3D.  This is a great free software that you can use to concept your project to see what it will look like before you even start making parts.  Here's the link to their site.

http://www.blender.org/

I have been using Blender 3D now for around 15 years and have taught an introductory class at the QC Co-Lab maker space in Davenport Iowa.  As with any software it will take some time to learn how to use it to get you up to speed.  This really is not a big problem if you put the time into learning it.  There are a number of ways to accomplish this. First big thing is all the tutorials that are online right now for Blender 3D.  There are a number of forums  also that will help beginners with from day one to get you started. One book that I have picked up for my Blender library that I thought was a good tool is named believe it or not...  Blender For Dummies!  Yes this book is for real. I have it on my Ipad and it's just what a beginner needs to get started.  Blender also does animation, and game creation if you want to get into that also.  You can see some of the computer models that I have created by clicking the link at the top of this page.

  The second piece of software that is another good tool for creating your designs is named Google Sketchup.   

http://sketchup.google.com/intl/en/index.html

 Everything from furniture to automobiles have been modeled using this software. One of the good things about this software over Blender 3D is that the learning curve to create anything is much quicker and easier.  It does not have the polish and look of a finished Blender image but for the purpose of designing a project it does very well.  

Click the YouTube button to view this video larger.

Check out this tutorial on how to use Google Sketchup and you'll see how easy it is to use. 

The last piece of software that I am happy to show you which can do almost everything ProE software can do and still is free to download is called Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Express.  This software was created by PTC (the same company that developed ProE).  You can download it at this link.

http://www.ptc.com/products/creo-elements-direct/modeling-express/

The video below is one of many online that will get you started with this real CAD software that can help you with your projects. I like the interface much more than ProE's as it is quite a bit more user friendly to start out with.  With my discussions over the years about using and learning ProE my best description of the learning curve for this software is this.  It took me two weeks of training to just learn what buttons were what in the software, six more months of on the job training with a tutor that had the patience of a saint to put up with all my questions about the software that I had and then another twenty years to know what I was doing with it in the first place.  (After the first six month you only know enough to be dangerous.)  A VERY steep learning curve to say the least.  

  Creo on the other hand looks to be much more user friendly than ProE, this and the fact that it's free is at least worth looking at.  The tutorials that I have found online will go a long way at getting anyone up to speed using this software for your project designs.  The software will create working drawings of the parts that you'll want to make in your shop so that you'll not have to have your computer next to your drill press. Check out the video to see what it's all about then do more searching online for further tutorials on what you can make with this great software.

Click the YouTube button to view this video larger.

I hope this helps anyone out there trying to design and build anything in their workshop. I know I would be lost without my CAD software to guide and inspire my creative en-devours.   Makes life a whole lot easier while dreaming up my next big masterpiece. 

Steadicam # 2 Progress

Another rainy day here in the Midwest so it's a good day to get something done on steadicam #2 in the workshop.  I received the one inch thick plastic in the mail yesterday that I needed for the spacers designed for this project.  So follow along below and you'll see the steps I took to put the new steadicam arm together.

The plastic that I used for this project is a slab of white plastic that is used for a cutting board in your kitchen.  This piece is eight inches square and one inch thick.  A nice piece of material to work with.  I ordered this item from a company called freckleface.com online.  This is one of the smaller pieces which was  perfect for this project at a really cheap price too.  They have this material in sizes all the way up to three by four feet.  They also have a  lot of other products that I will keep in mind  when I work on new projects.

  I always make a test cut of a new part in foam before I cut the real thing.  Saves a lot of time, effort, and disappointment in making new parts.  This is the lower spacer for the arm cut from the plastic slab.

All three spacer parts cut out and cleaned up after the CNC milling. 

Here all of the parts for steadicam #2 are ready for assembly.  The arms themselves are cut out of clear 1/4 inch thick polycarbonate plastic.  This only took around ten minutes for each arm. Also in the photo are the spacers, washers, 1/4 inch threaded rod connectors, and allen head 3/4 inch long bolts.

The threaded rod connectors are slid into the holes in the spacers.  These worked out very well and were a good friction fit.  The connectors were used instead of just a bolt running through the assembly so that both sides of the arm matched when the allen head bolts were installed. This gives the arm a good clean finished look once everything is in place.

Here the spacers are attached to the two arms using the allen bolts on both sides of the assembly.  Everything in the assembly lined up perfectly like it was designed to do.  I breathed a sigh of relief. 

Here are a couple of good views of what the upper and lower mounts for the upper platform and the lower weights look like.  The allen head bolts really look good in the assembly.  The arm at this point is ready for assembly to the video camera platform and it's related hardware.  I would do this if I had the platform.  As usual I am waiting for it and other components to be delivered in the mail. I suspect them any day now.  Once I do receive them I will show off the completed steadicam #2 in another post.  

  Total time to put steadicam #2 together takes around two hours time to machine the parts on the CNC and assemble.  A vast improvement over the first steadicam that took four times longer to make.  

  At this point of the build I am very pleased with the over all look of the new arm.  In an earlier post I said that I was not sure if I would keep the clear polycarbonate arms or if I would go to aluminum.  Aluminum is out simply because of the cost.  Much higher cost just for the look. The polycarbonate arm look to be plenty strong with a good look at a cheaper price.  I also played around with the idea of making the arms out of the same material that the spacers are made out of.  This would be a possibility using 1/4 inch thick material.  Something to keep in mind if I wanted another option for this project if I build another one.  No matter what this project is getting high marks already on my smile meter!