I built an 18 watt trinity four years ago from scratch.
Gave it to my sons for Christmas last year.
Such intense satisfaction Watching my oldest play blues on it.
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post pix. 
Sure, most of my stuff is at http://fallsastar.com and a few loose tracks at https://soundcloud.com/fallsastar.
The new stuff isnāt online yet.
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I had one precious picture of my son playing Christmas day, but my phone crashed and died and I couldnāt recover the image.
I can still see him like it was yesterday.
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Iāve been tidying up the garage to make some workshop space and now Iām building a pair of quadcopters to fly with my daughter. Having problems getting the flight computer (a Naze32 Acro running Cleanflight) to talk to the receiver (a Turnigy 9x 8 channel) though so the first one is all in bits across the bench at the moment.
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Iām working on weatherproofing an ADS-B receiver. dump1090 and flightaware make getting the basic rPi+RTL-SDR part going quite trivial; but 1090MHz has lousy penetration of roofs and structures; and my house doesnāt have any good options for leaving the computer bits inside and the antenna outside(it doesnāt help that low-cost RF cabling is pretty high loss; and low loss RF cabling is pretty high cost; so I really want the RTL dongle close to the antenna). The un-hardened system has worked fine in tests; but the limits of an indoor antenna are starkly apparent.
Sparkfun has these sweet aluminum enclosures, so Iām using one to house the weather-vulnerable parts. Currently doing thermal tests to see if I need to add fins to keep the system at a safe temperature under summer conditions; and/or include a heater for winter conditions.(The enclosures donāt include, or include provision for, an O-ring/gasket, so Iāve also been doing some experiments on UV-stabilized high temperature sealing waxes for a robust seal that I can(unlike epoxy) break if the SD card decides to give up, or other internal failure occurs. Full epoxy potting is wonderfully Serious; but I donāt want to have to write off the entire project if some $5 microSD card decides that it signed up to store pictures in some cellphone, not serve as a boot volume. It turns out that adding controlled amounts of polyethylene to paraffin substantially improves its durability and increases its melting point; and titanium dioxide does wonders for UV stability. )
Because 5V has nasty sag over cables of any serious length, and to ease integration with my solar panel system(ETA: TBD), Iām including a 12v->5v step-down converter, so the box will externally require 12v, with 5v runs only within the enclosure.
Since they have to go outside the enclosure, for signal reasons, Iām potting the wifi module and GPS receiver, the RTL-SDR is going to stay inside, with just the pigtail connection to the antenna running through the enclosure wall.
Aside from time, where Iām running into trouble is trying to decide whether other possible features are sensible, or scope creep:
Given that rPis are not 100% reliable, Iām attracted to the idea of adding one of the lightweight Ardunio-alikes to serve as a watchdog(have the rPi twiddle a GPIO pin every few seconds, have the microcontroller reset the rPi if it sees inactivity for too long) and do temperature monitoring to shut down the rPi in the event of a thermal excursion.
Iād also like to bring out the rPiās serial header(ideally optically, using holes drilled in the aluminum box and filled with transparent epoxy, for maximum corrosion resistance and reduced chance of moisture infiltration).
However, I know that if I over-complicate the project, Iāll just never finish it, so Iām trying to decide if I should go for it, or admit that the perfect is the enemy of the good and at least get a working system out there.
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Iām working on a book proposal/book chapter for a book on yoga. Iām finally in a situation where I have a lot of support for the business end of it all, and Iām working with friends to put together the marketing piece. Iām toying around with the idea of running a Kickstarter.
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I am working on:
A dog house.
Its made from scraps of reclaimed wood I had laying around so its not pretty. Yet
This one Iāve been working with my son, taught him how to hammer nails in for the first time and heāll definitely get a kick out helping me paint.
An awning for my back patio.
I had to put the project on hold because it rained* out of nowhere as I was applying the second coat of polyurethane to the beams.
[size=10]*Seriously, it hasnāt rained for months and all of a sudden a sunny day just turns cloudy and Iām running to cover my work as fast as possible.[/size]
A desk for my project studio.
This oneās going to take some time, It has to double as a desk for light electronics projects and Iām still figuring out how to best store a midi controller for extended periods of time and yet be able to break it out in a few seconds without much hassle. Right now its basically just a table with stands for my monitors that double as half size racks. 
Writing songs.
I find it easier to work on stuff when Iāve got the house to myself and weāve had a lot of visits these last couple of months so Iāve hardly touched my guitar, but tonight, Mrs. Tachin and Tachin Jr. are away so Iāve been playing all day, right now Iām just taking a break from writing because I was starting to get too self conscious about it.
@crashproof That is awesome, I loveād the way got some new strings twists my brain and the dark mantra like insistence of Elevennn. Iāve tried my hand at electronic music before but it is just beyond me.
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I like the photo thatās up with Elevennn on Soundcloud, is the photo your work too?
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As many have noticed Iāve been trying to tame the beast known as the hurdy gurdy. The tuning is a night mare. Basically you have to tune all those pegs flat, and adjust with horizontal tension when you hit the keys.
Also, this instrument has Gravity keys, so they have to be played vertically or they wonāt disengage.
And the wheel isnt round, so you have to change speed a quarter way through a rotation to make it sound even. And that fucks up the trompettes.
So Iāve been fixing that.
And of course the bridges are all pressure fitted and move. So thatās fun. And the crank is cross screwed, so it comes out while I play (loctite perhaps?)
As a guitar, saxophone, flute, drum, shakuhachi, bagpipe player I gotta sayāthis is a bigger pain in the rear than a Bassoon.
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One of the Naze boards wonāt talk to whatever receiver I connect it to. 
Thatās what you get for buying from dodgy Chinese websites. Every now and then something doesnāt work. Good thing I buy spares.
The other naze worked, so Iāve mostly finished one. Just got some transmitter and Flight Computer programming left to do. First time Iāve built one of these and itās all from parts that were bought separately ānot a kitā and forced to fit. So itās very ugly. 
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Yup, I took that with my phone camera in front of my house on an overcast evening and messed with it a bit in Paint Shop Pro.
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Like !
Thatās an awesome project. I guess I never thought about how mechanically complicated a hurdy-gurdy is. Gives me a new appreciation for the fantastic Wheelharp:
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My plate might currently be a little over-full:
- A pair of shoes for my middle daughter. Itās my second pair, and we call them Timās-not-Tomās because obvious. I have a pair for the wife lined up after this.
- A backpack for my youngest child. Kids backpacks are mostly junk, and the ones that arenāt are much more adult-sized than they should be. So heās getting his very own copy of Dadās bag (though in lessā¦ somber colors).
- Iāve got a KLH speaker Iāve been ārebuildingā for a couple of years. Mostly that means it sits one the shelf being ignored because for whatever reason I can be bothered to order the tweeter off ebay or whatever.
- Iām planning out a new computer station. The youngest computer I have to work on is something like 8 years old, and thatās just not cutting it. So new computer & monitors & stands & storage and and and.
- Working on some moss-based terrariums. I havenāt done something like this in many, many years.
- Analog photography. Which is nearly as much a money sink as the above-mentioned sailboat.
Most of this would be trivial if I wasnāt in the middle of both selling my house and buying the next house. During the holidays. With kids running around. And a wife whoās job doesnāt let her take time off. And. And. And.
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whoah cool idea. I use a couple of bananapis instead of Rpis. I have left them running for months with no difficulties. They are pretty spunky fast, not sluggish like the old rpiās. I havenāt used the latest Rpiās to compare speed, but I think they are similar. Just make sure to run a very lightweight os like arch linux or something. If you go with one of the more traditional distros, these little bugs get sluggish.
As for the moisture issue, Iād suggest using one of those boxes like you are doing, but mount the thing āup inside itā as in have no cable pass throughs above or at the same level as the computers. That way if moisture does make its way in, it would have to splash upward to get at the electronics. For humidity control, and if the thing is tightly sealed, I would suggest using those blue/red desiccant beads that you can buy cheaply.
NEAT PROJECT. Can you post some pics?
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Pics or it didnāt happen!!! 
But for reals, good luck with the house sale and use one of these kick-ass projects for stress-relief. There is nothing quite like something handbuilt.
For new computer, consider buying a chromebookā¦ I use one all the time. It set me back all of $300. Itās lightweight and if it breaks or gets stolenā¦ so what. I didnāt spend an arm and a leg on it.
Then, I also have a water-cooled 12-core tower w/ 1tb ssd & 32Gb ram & a fat video card that I hand-built to do my work onā¦ & just ssh/rdp over from the chromebookā¦ That was fun building that.
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Alright then.
As far as the computer- as much as I like Chromebooks (and I doā¦), this is the proper computer setup to manage all my stuff. And Iām a Mac person, soā¦
Likely an iMac of some flavor or another, with at least a second screen hooked up. Iām looking at doing a USB3 Raid array of some sort for mass storage (likely in the range of 8TB or so, maybe more.). My storage is strewn about on a pile of external hard drives, and I finally need to get that under control.
The question is how many other monitors/machines and how to arrange them in a workstation. Maybe even strapping a ChromeBox to the back of the rig as more of an appliance-pc.
Dunno. The specs in my head are constantly shifting.
I close at the end of next month on both houses, so I wonāt be doing any computer-buying until some time after that.
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Question for the makers who sell some of their workā¦
Generally, whatās the best way youāve found to get people engaged with what you do online, especially Facebook?
When Iām out in public, itās not hard to show people my artwork when weāre engaged in conversation and it inevitably comes around to āwhat do you (or try to do) for a livingā, because I have finished pieces in the picture gallery of my phone. I figure itās even a conversation starter for people who can wear their works, like Monkeyoh.
However, Iām fairly new to Facebook (donāt judge) and I wonder how many others have been met with apathy or resistance when trying to get friends to ārepost or shareā the fact that you have an artistās page on the website? Iām new to Instagram and Pinterest, but Iām still attracting the occasional follower with little more effort than simply posting my work. Why does it seem so hard to do on Facebook?
edit: Call me crass, but it almost feels like the most effective way to go about it is find some cancer-stricken kid in a hospital bed surrounded by a pile of puppies/kittens to hold up my painting for a photo op to post later.
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I donāt have a great answer for you- but I can share a couple of (maybe) helpful bits:
- Facebook is terrible- you are likely getting low conversion/like/repost rates because many of the people that are your friends on there arenāt ever seeing your posts. Itās the nature of how Facebook has decided to make money: you have to pay to have your posts seen. Period, full stop.
- Iād be investing my time elsewhere- Instagram, tumblr, Pinterestā¦ because they havenāt (yet) started charging for exposure like Facebook.
- Itās going to be slow. Going from 100->200 followers is much more difficult than going from 1500->1600 (and so on). Thereās an energy of activation, so to speak, that you need to pay into.
Thatās all Iāve got- but good luck!
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