It seems that I went to the big swap meet in Denver a couple weeks ago.  You know that it’s going to be really interesting when a story starts like that.  None of my boys could make it.  Something about sorting socks in the sock drawer or something of equal importance.  My wife wanted to go to a sewing and fabric show that was just up the street from the swap meet.  The result was that I was turned loose in the biggest swap meet of the year with no adult supervision.  And I had a pocket full of cash, a really bad combination. Continue Reading »

I’ve been getting asked a lot of questions about the Wind Turbine lately. Friends, neighbors and readers in general are wondering what’s been up with it. Since I’ve formed the blades, next next step will be fiberglassing them before they get mounted to the hub and the hold-up is with that fiberglass work.

My intent was to get the garage insulated, sheetrocked, painted and heated this Winter, but due to my transportation issues, I’ve been unable to finish it.  While I’m not opposed to laying some paint on a firewall in mid-20 degree temps, I’m not about to take any chances with the blades of a rotating wind-driven PMG not curing properly.

I’m still as excited to see it completed as when I started it and after getting the blades on, all that will need to be done is wiring up the rectifier & such and then mounting the machine on a tower.

I appreciate the questions & all the interest and I look forward to posting more progress with it when the appropriate time comes.

Stay tooned.

From Norm on Jan 31 @ 8:04PM:

I actually got a little time to work on the ’51 this weekend.

After setting the upper cowl section on the lower sections I found that there was a misalignment between them.  Although I expected some misalignment the difference was a lot more than I had planned on.
Continue Reading »

The working title of this post was “Tools of the Trade”, but it developed differently along the way.

You may have already guessed from some of these posts, that I’m no stranger to using tools to get a job done. But if you’re a regular reader, you already know that I don’t have a narrow viewpoint of what “tools” really are.

Every trade has its tools and some craftspeople absolutely master their use over time, applying intentional effort to continually get better, ultimately making difficult tasks look easy. Whether you’re a machinist making parts on a mill, a computer programmer, a linebacker playing guard, or a protege of Antonio Stradivari (himself a student of Nicolo Amati) making musical instruments, it is the repetition that builds skill. Continue Reading »

‘ picked David up from a sleep-over this morning, took the family to breakfast and then went to sign the boys up for High Plains Little League since their Basketball season has just come to an end. We were politely greeted by the person behind the first table as we entered the registration area and were directed to progress from table to table where the boys would get fitted for shirts at one stop, meet some vendors at another, and eventually finalize registration and pay at the end. Simple enough, so Mom and I began to make the round with our two eager-to-play boys.

We no sooner get to the second table where a man walks up and asks us what we’ll be volunteering for. I open-mindedly and ready to pitch-in ask him, “Whaddaya Got?” and he starts listing them, “Coach, Asst Coach, Team Mom, etc” and in the course of the conversation informs us that “I’m not asking you to volunteer. I’m telling you. There’s none of that asking stuff.”  Continue Reading »