This was a BUSY weekend. Friday evening I burned a huge pile of brush that accumulated from recent yardwork. Saturday morning I pulled the upper intake manifold off our 2001 Honda Odyssey and cleaned out the carbon that had accumulated in the exhaust gas recirculation port. $35 worth of gaskets and I avoided a $500 EGR kit installation at the dealership. Saturday afternoon I traveled to the south of Winston-Salem to meet the President of the Triad Electric Vehicle Association and purchase a used Etek permanent magnet motor for a future project I am planning. While I was there, I got to drive his converted Chevy S10 pickup. It was a HOOT! Other than the brakes (which had a mismatched master cylinder), it was imminently driveable. I will use the Etek to convert my current internal combustion powered lawn mower (not Murr-E) to electric this coming winter. Now I have to find room for 48V worth of batteries!

I spent the better part of Sunday felling and bucking 15 trees in an area of my lot that I wanted to open up. By Sunday evening, I could hardly move! I did work a little more inside, cutting leather from some old jackets purchased at Goodwill to wrap the tubes of my 3D steampunk binoculars. I had made a template in AutoCAD that made it easy once I ripped the seams out of the chosen jacket. I conducted a science experiment with a scrap of leather and a small piece of PVC pipe to investigate the bonding of the two materials using a craft glue called Tacky Glue. The next morning I was pleasantly surprised to find that the bond was substantial. This will work!

While taking breaks this weekend, I documented a design that has been in the back of my mind for over a year. It is a steampunk inspired miniature Gatling gun that is suspended from the forearm with a collar and trigger handle. The 8 barrel assembly will rotate via a 12V cordless drill motor powered from a bank of 3.7VDC lithium ion batteries salvaged from discarded laptop packs. Here is a screen grab of the design. I have the rear section shown as transparent so the drill motor and batteries can be seen.

Enough for now!