Posted: April 19th, 2014 | Author:Marshall Wilson | Filed under:Blog, Links | Comments Off on Links
View from Jobsite – Midtown Manhattan
Video of a carpenter with no hands – he does all the work using only his feet. I love watching him use the grinder to sand the wood.
Volvo’s inflatable child seat concept for cars – the deflated unit folds into its own backpack. Awesome… don’t know if they will actually sell them or if its just a proof of concept thing.
An awesome chandelier with glowing pickles hooked up to high voltage! While you’re at it you should check out the webpage of the folks who did this – Bompas & Parr. They seem to specialize in event planning & installations with food. Think Neon & Jello. Their images are gorgeous – and they have put together some incredible events/projects etc.
Photographers document NYC locations 10 years apart. Fom 2nd Ave Deli to a Chase bank. Alas.
Posted: April 13th, 2014 | Author:Marshall Wilson | Filed under:Blog | Comments Off on Copper Wire Recycling
Found this great page over at Notcot with tons of truly beautiful photographs of a Russian foundry recycling old copper into beautiful, new spools of copper. Fantastic photos with descriptions – my favorite is when the photographer notes that he melted a tripod while photographing the casting of metal blanks! Also its interesting to see the second stage of refinement where all the metal blanks are hung in a giant electrolysis bath which separates the pure copper from impurities. (the page is written in Russian but my links are filtered through Google Translate)
Posted: April 8th, 2014 | Author:Marshall Wilson | Filed under:Blog | Tags:software | Comments Off on Synergy – One Mouse to Rule Them ALL
A LOT of my time these days is spent at the computer. I’ve got 2 computers I use side by side – a Macbook Pro and my new Dell desktop. Up until now had to use 2 different mice/keyboards for them which can get very frustrating. I’ve always wanted a “ONE Mouse (and keyboard)” solution. I tried some of the KVM cables that can connect peripherals from 2 computers together but I’ve found them a little buggy (slow to switch, and sometimes I get problems restarting my PC without the keyboard USB switched the correct way first).
Just the other day I was procrastinating and searching on the internet for a simpler solution – I was actually looking for a simple USB switcher – thinking that since the KVM switchers handle audio & video maybe a USB-only fix might work better.
But I found an even better way to fix the problem. SYNERGY. Its a software solution, and so far (I’ve used it for 3 days now) it is AWESOME. Since the keyboard and mouse are connected to the Dell, my PC is the “server” and the Mac is the “client”. If I’m working on my PC and I want to send off a quick email, all I have to do is move my mouse to the right and it appears on the screen of my Mac. Since the keyboard switches with the mouse, I can use my PC keyboard to type up a quick email, send it, and – with a leftward swipe of my mouse – I’m back in PC land.
So far the only issue I have is the control keys don’t work on the mac (command, option, control) – But I think I can fix that if I put some time into it – it looks like Synergy has some utilities to address that. It probably doesn’t help that I use a mac keyboard on the Dell (I just like the feel of an Apple keyboard) and I’ve had to remap some of the control settings so it works on the PC (using Sharpkeys).
I keep expecting some huge problem to crop up, but so far it is fantastic. Thanks SYNERGY!
Posted: December 21st, 2013 | Author:Marshall Wilson | Filed under:Blog | Comments Off on Happy Mill
It’s been waaaaay too long. After 3 years or so of having my Bridgeport mill, I’ve so far been unable to properly lubricate the ways. Partially this is because I did not have the proper lubricants and partially because the operation requires a rather unique tool – an oil pump that fits onto the “Zerk” fittings on the bridgeport. Luckily I found a Bridgeport Mill Lubrication Kit on Ebay which comes with all the proper oils for the different areas of the mill. Once I had that I did a quick conversion of a grease gun to an old oil gun that had been lying around my shop (I probably bought it years ago at a yard sale when I still had my GMC).
What a great satisfaction I felt watching the black guck ooze from out of the ways as the shiny golden oil was pumped in!
Posted: December 18th, 2013 | Author:Marshall Wilson | Filed under:Blog | Comments Off on Invisible Craftsmanship
Here’s a pic of Andrew Rumpler’s mod to a Dremel collet wrench. He did it because he was frustrated that he could not pick up the wrench while he was wearing gloves. So here’s his beautifully done solution – putting half dowels on the sides, cutting tiny grooves and wrapping them together with string. I think he also epoxied them on and applied some lacquer. This is why I love checking out the Nine Stories shop. It’s filled with the normal detritus of making, but in his case all the jigs, tools, tables etc are beautifully crafted.
Now I get the whole wearing gloves thing – I can imagine I might get frustrated too and want to deal with the problem. But – if it were me I would have just slapped some epoxy putty on the thing and then called it a day. I also would be super embarrassed if anyone happened to see it….
So hats off to all you who make things beautiful even when there’s no need, you’re not getting paid to do it, and when no one will ever see.
Posted: June 13th, 2013 | Author:Marshall Wilson | Filed under:Blog | Comments Off on Apple Intention
Apple’s Design Philosophy.
Boy I wish Solidworks ran on Mac OS……
That said I’ve been running SW for a few years now on my old Macbook Pro running Windows 7 with BootCamp. Haven’t had any problems but the horsepower is just not there for more advanced work.
So here I am planning on getting another computer soon and sadly it will be either a Dell (boring) or a DIY Hackintosh (more fun but no warranty….)