Book Spotlight:



I got my autographed copy of the 4th edition of Robot Builder's Bonanaza from the author Gordon McComb. I've loved this book since I was kid and would check out the 1st edition every 2 weeks from the local Middletown, OH Library. This 4th edition Gordon is the sole author and he provides a wonderful update to the book filled with updated hands on projects.

This book really is a bible for robot builders. The projects covered walk you through construction, working with materials, how to use tools, what parts you needs, mobile robot drive trains, motor and server control, sensors, communications, microcontrollers and programming. It is a amost have for any robot builders!

http://www.amazon.com/Robot-Builders-Bonanza-Gordon-McComb/dp/0071750363

It's been a while...

Well it's been a while since I posted on my blog, my bad! I've been extra busy at work and working on projects for people. Something neat I worked on for my wife was getting software for her Cricut Expressions die cut, cutting machine that would allow her to cut any design from any picture. Really cool stuff. Normally you are limited to what the cartridges included to cut anything with a Cricut. The software I got really opens up the usefullness of the product. E-mail me if you are interested in the details.

My other project has been for my 11yr old brother-in-law Daniel. Daniel loves the Dukes of Hazzard tv show, especially Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane. He loves to pretend he is Roscoe. So when his mom had a problem with his little tikes Hummer and it needed repaired I figured, why not fix it up like Roscoe's police car while I was fixing it.

That turned out to be a bigger project than I thought. First its hard to take the plastic molding off those types of cars. Second the gas switch had a broken wire and shorted out ground so I had to re-wire that. The stickers were all faded and needed to come off, but those stickers are so hard to take off its not even funny!!! I had to use a power sander and mineral spirits to take them off.

After that several coats of white plastic spray paint in primer, flat and finally gloss, it started to look pretty nice. I took my police siren out of my Mustang and gave it to Daniel along with some of my flashy police lights. He got to pick where to put them. Below are the results. I ended up having to coat the new sheriff stickers I printed out, both side with DIY lamenating sheets then screwing them into the plastic body. It works, its not perfect, but it should last as long as he can drive it and cares to play Dukes of Hazzard. =)

If you ever work on a little car like this, take pictures of the steering wheel, steering column and steering linkage to the front wheels, because getting it back together correctly was quit challenge for me since I did not take pictures when taking it apart. :-)