Epic adventurer Fishing gear theft

Someone stole all my fishing gear from my shed, so the epic adventure has been postponed at least for another year.

Sad.

The only time I really shopped for quality was for my fishing gear. It was the backbone of the trip and had to reliably feed me every day I was away.

I hope whoever stole it cares for it as much as I did over the 6 years it took me to accumulate it.

It was around $500 dollars worth of small, light weight gear (4 lb line) that I had bought over the last 6 years, all based around what I would need to fish all day as I boated along. I bought reasonable quality stuff as I would have limited ability to repair it. Not "real money" quality, because thats way out of my league, but stuff that with a bit of care and maintenance would outlast me.

Now I spend my days wondering if there is any point trying to buy anything else because they will be back.

Even more sad, is the almost certain reality that the person who stole it suffered a desperation for the funds it generated for just that afternoon.

I guess their life probably sucks more than mine.

Read More..

Thinking TV police chases

Its bound to happen sooner or later that a villain being pursued on foot will slowly gain distance on the police officer in pursuit and eventually, gradually, escape.

I think its time Hollywood.

I think its time.

Read More..

Handmade fishing lures Mold making Prototyping plastic

I just discovered my new favourite substance.

Its even better than PVC.

Maybe it is PVC.

I dont know.

I was in my local electronics store checking switches, and was sold some of this stuff.

Its plastic that you can warm up and shape.

You need to get it to around 65 degrees c before it melts into itself.

Once hot, you can shape it into anything you can think of.

Pictured here is a bit I squeezed.

It retains fine detail like fingerprints, and when dry, it sets white like the beads again.

It sets to a strong plastic with a little flex, a lot like a soft drink (soda) bottle cap.




My first use was to make a very specific battery pack that didnt exist as far as I could tell.  Its great to work with, and totally recyclable. You just drop it back into hot water, and it re-melts.

I would guess you have around a minute to work with where you can press two bits together and they form one. And perhaps another minute where you can still shape it, but pressing two bits together wouldnt quite become one.

If you need more time to work it, you just put whatever youve half made back into hot water and it softens again.

Very cool stuff that I think Im going to need to buy in bulk.



120 Things in 20 years is excited about making handmade fishing lures, and just general prototyping  In reality, I have no idea what Ill do with it, but its exciting just knowing about it. Im easily excited.

Read More..

Electronics Heatshrink

This stuff is almost as good as PVC, and that other plastic stuff I recently discovered.

Heatshrink is way cool, because it can hide your personal lack of soldering skill.

And kids, we all know its important to hide socially awkward things like skill deficits.

Heatshrink is a thing like the thing that was on wire before you mutilated it with wire strippers, and a soldering iron.

Its a bit like make-up, and a bit like a seat belt.

Im not sure if I remember how its a bit like make up, but its a bit like a seat belt in so far as it can stop your house from burning down.

It looks something like this.

Its the black bits.

When you buy it, it looks like this.

All wrinkle free and smooth.

When you butcher a bit of soldering, you can hide it (except in profile) from the world with a small cutting of heatshrink.

Just cut off the appropriate length to cover all of your electronic inabilities, and youre one step closer to the prom.

A bit of heat sees the stuff shrink against the underlying wire!

Whod have guessed?

The final product looks like this if you are unlucky.

And unskilled.

But the reality is, its not just a cover up.

Being able to add a layer of insulation to whatever exposed wires you needed to create to make your project, makes for a totally worthwhile product.



It replaces bits of tape, and sometimes hope. And hope rarely does much to put out fires.

A truly wonderful product that I would be happy to gain profit from endorsing.

If only I knew what brand I use.


It really comes into its own when you cram your vision onto a breadboard in any of the malformed ways that have become all to familiar to readers of this blog.

At least, when you use heat shrink, you know the problem is with your design rather than with some crazy bits of wire touching each other inappropriately.

Depicted here, a staged approximation of chaos on a breadboard, rendered happy by heatshrink.







Actually depicted there are some short lengths of wire soldered to even shorter lengths of header pin (stiff wire bits) that serve to make connecting stuff on a breadboard a dream.

But perhaps best of all, if you decide to spring for the $2.33 to buy a few* metres of heat shrink, and make some breadboard wires, you also get to learn some stuff about how solder flows, and get your soldering technique under control in a way that can more perfectly disguise your delinquent soldering misadventures.

Its soldering practice, but it has a purpose, and it will serve you well.

Make some breadboard wires with heatshrink today.


* hang on, isnt 233 a prime number that doesnt really divide well into a "few"?


120 Things in 20 years has some small burns since discovering heat shrink, but less than you might expect if you follow this blog closely.




















m



m



m


m



m

Read More..

Electronics Breadboard multimeter adapter

For some time now Ive been looking for a convenient way to probe around my breadboard with my multimeter. It can be a little tricky, because the probes are too thick to get into the little holes on the breadboard.


I had a bit of an idea today.

I came up with this...

Its a stereo headphone jack with a long length of header pin (sturdy wire used as a plug) soldered to the legs.

I added some insulation in the form of heatshrink, and...

TaDah!

The 120 Things in 20 years multimeter breadboard adapter.

Read More..