With winter approaching, I was able to complete all the sanding and painting that I need to do to assemble the body and the dome. R2 is really looking awesome! Read More...

Finally! After well over a month of printing and sanding, I have one piece ready for painting! Read More...

That's it! It's finally complete. I am so happy with how it came out. I think this is my most elaborate project yet! I can't wait to see what's next! Read More...

I have had so much fun working on this project. It's been keeping me pretty busy for months. I am so happy with the way that it is turning out. All I need to do is complete the headdress and make a base for it. Read More...

I found a really sweet headdress model that I wanted to print for the Scale Mail Bust. It's huge and will have to be broken into several smaller parts. 12 to be exact. It was a lot of work making it, but it was a lot of fun! Read More...

I did not realize how much work would be involved in making scale mail armor. It does go together surprisingly fast once you get the hang of it. The hard and time consuming part is painting them! Read More...

Time for some sanding and painting on the Scale Mail Bust. This was so much work! Read More...

The last two figurines that I made came out amazing. I've been dying to make another one. I was particularly happy with how the chainmail loincloth came out on the latest one. Ever since then I have wanted to make one with scale mail. I decided to make a bust that I can use to showcase some scale mail armor. Read More...

It's been six months since I finished my last big project. I wanted to put together something that won't take a month to complete, but something that I could sink my teeth into over a week or two. Read More...

I've been wanting a set of the Fifth Element Stones for years. I just never got around to printing them. I figured this would be a great project to get into. I am really happy with how they came out. They look like still stone! Read More...

The Fifth Element is one of my all-time favorite movies. A few years ago, I made a clock that looks just like the Zorg Door bomb. I've been wanting to make some more props from the movie for a long time. I figured the famous temple key would be a great one day build. Read More...

I was really pleased with the pillar box that I made for my sister last Christmas. I wanted to make one for myself, but bigger! Read More...

It's time to make the base for the figurine. After that I just need to paint the figurine and the project will be complete. It's been so long since I started this project that it's great to see a finish line on the horizon. Read More...

The next step in my 23" Victoria 8 figurine is to paint. I want to practice first. I decided to throw together a little sculpture to give me something to practice painting. Read More...

I found a really nice looking Beskar 3D model online and I thought it would be really cool to print a stack of them. Read More...

The figurine clothing and armor is now complete. I just have to paint it and complete the base. Read More...

The stand for a microscope at work broke. Let's see if I can replicate it and 3D print another one. Read More...

The 3D-printed Balgonie Place sign that I made for my Mom for Christmas came out so great that I decided to make something for my sister too. After all, they both have Scottish-themed rooms at home. I think a pillar box would make a nice addition. Read More...

On the street where my Mom grew up in Scotland, there's a concrete sign on the corner of the street. I thought it would be something neat to 3D print for her. Read More...

With the weapons complete, it was time to start designing the armor. Read More...

It's time to make some weapons! Read More...

With all the parts to the new model printed, it was time to glue, sand, and paint. Read More...

I was so impressed with the way that my last 3D-printed figurine turned out that I just had to make another one. This model took a whopping 148 hours and 46 minutes to print. Read More...

I've always wanted to build a clock with custom built 7-segment displays. I've been itching to build a new clock for a while now so I want it to be something really cool. Maybe it'll be the biggest clock I've ever built.

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I can't believe the figurine is complete. It looks awesome. It took me four months and a lot of hard work to complete. Read More...

All the clothes and armor have been made. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun. The model is looking fantastic. Read More...

All the armor pieces have been sanded, primed, filled, painted, and weathered. They turned out amazing. Read More...

I think that's everything that I need. I can now sand and paint all the 3D-printed parts, laser cut the leather parts, and sand and paint the figurine. Read More...

That last 3D model that I printed had clothes as part of the model. It made it really hard to paint. For this model, I decided to print the entire model without clothes and make them separately out of real materials. Read More...

With the weapons out of the way, it was time to finish the base. It came out awesome! Read More...

I'm really happy with the way that the spear and shield turned out. A friend of mine turned me onto the technique of using graphite powder to give objects a metallic finish. It looks awesome.
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I can't believe it's been a month since I started this project. Time flies. This build is really starting to take shape. All the parts have been made and it's time to start painting. Read More...

The Victoria 7 model has been printed and the weapons have been made. The last parts to make are the column and the base. Read More...

With the Victoria 7 model completely printed, it's time to make the spear and the shield. Read More...

It's time for another 3D-printed figurine. This one will be truly epic! It’s going to be bigger than the last, and way more complicated. Read More...

I've been wanting to print the fertility idol from Raiders of the Lost Ark for a while. I've just never found a good enough model. Until now. Read More...

I love fixing things for free. Read More...

My sister-in-law is heading to Comic Con next month and is in need of a Sub-Zero Mask. I got this. Read More...

The guns came out awesome. I just have to glue on the thumbs and clean up all the seams and I can start with the final paint job.
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I'm really happy with the way that the Victoria 8 model came out. I want to make some more large-scale figurines just like it. This time, I want to give it a full paint job instead of just painting it a single color. Read More...

This Black 3.0 paint is amazing. The Victoria 8 figure is all painted and secured to the base that I made. It came out awesome!
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As soon as I caught wind of Black 3.0 paint from Culture Hustle hitting Kickstarter, I had to have a bottle. I want to make something really cool and paint is super black! Read More...

After three weeks of work, the Telephone Box is finally complete. Wow, I can't believe how nice it came out! Read More...

I saw this cool British Telephone Box model on Thingiverse and I thought it would be a really cool thing to make. However, once I got into it, I realized that I'd need to redesign the model from the ground up in order to laser cut one. Read More...

Work continues on the Footlong Fender. As far as the neck goes, I left off with having to make a new one. I over sanded the last one and it ended up being a do-over. Read More...

My Dad recently got into guitar so I picked him up a Fender Strat for Christmas. He's really happy with it. It got me thinking about what it would take to build my own guitar. Not a full-size Fender, but a mini one. A footlong Fender! Read More...

I can't believe it took four months to complete. It came out awesome. It was well worth it to be patient and do everything right. Read More...

I left off six months ago with the completion of all the electronics for the new VFD clock. I was really happy with the way that it came out. All that I needed to do was make a case for it. However, I needed to wait until I had my Glowforge. Read More...

When I made the button boards for my VFD Clock, IN-12 and IN-14 nixies clocks, the plan was to have panels laser cut from Ponoko. They did not have the right material that I wanted. I figured I'd wait until I had a Glowforge and do it myself. Read More...

When I first designed the Word Clock 2, the plan was to laser cut the enclosure for it. However, it was going to cost too much to have it cut. It was too risky just in case the case didn't fit, or the holes in the back for the buttons weren't quite right. I decided to just 3D-print a case for it. Now that I have my own Glowforge, I can cut my own case for it! Read More...

It's been a week and I'm having a blast playing around with the Glowforge. It's so easy to use. Although I haven't done much since it's been a busy week. It's been mostly tests and experiments. The first thing I really wanted to do was to come up with a better solution for the exhaust hose. It's not very practical just hanging the hose out the window. That, and it's a real pain to reach up to the top of the window behind the Glowforge. Read More...

Section one of three for my IN-18 Nixie Clock has been successfully assembled. Everything works! Read More...

I need three nixie colons for the IN-18 clock. They can be found on eBay, but they are a little expensive for what they are. It's basically a glass tube and two little neon bulbs. There's no way I'm paying $12 each for those. They can be made for a fraction of that. Read More...

I was bored while I waited for parts for my IN-18 Nixie Clock to arrive from China. So I threw together a silly little ATtiny thing that could use a 7-segment display to display a random number from 0-9. Nothing fancy, just a silly little one-day project. This will come in very handy when the kids argue over who gets the last donut or whatever. Hey kids….pick a number! Read More...

I took a break from the VFD Clock to make a Portal Weighted Storage Cube. That took about a month, and now that it's finished, it's time to revisit the clock. Read More...

All the parts are painted and assembled. All the electronics are complete and installed. I made some awesome progress this week. The last thing to do it put some finishing touches on the code and paint the Aperture Science logos onto the centers. Read More...

I've made some great progress on the cube. All the sanding and painting is well under way, and all the electronics are pretty much finished. Read More...

I can't believe it took me so long to get around to playing Portal. I guess it all has to do with time. I never have time for video games. Rather than sit in front of the computer playing games for hours a day, I'd rather sit and make PCBs, write code, and design 3D models. Now that I've beaten Portal 1 and 2, I feel like I can finally make myself a Portal Cube and not feel like a poser. Read More...

While waiting for the paint to dry on my IN-14 Nixie Clock, I decided to tinker around with a small board idea to do something with this lonely IN-19 that I have. When I bought the IN-14s for my clock, the eBay seller threw one in as a way to make up for a delay in shipping. It's a cool little tube. But what would I ever use it for? Read More...

My wife and I just finished watching the first season of Westworld. What a great show. I don't want to give away any spoilers for those that have not seen it yet, but there's a cool maze prop in the show. As soon as I saw it, I thought to myself, "I am so 3D-printing one of those!" Read More...

A friend of mine at work cut the cord on his cable TV. Needless to say, the cable box had to be returned. Unfortunately, he relies on that little clock under the TV all the time. He asked if it was possible to basically take my Mini 7-segment Clock V2 and cut it in half. Challenge accepted! Read More...

The electronics have been assembled, so it's time to work on the enclosure. I'm almost finished with this clock. I ran out of black PLA for the base, and I still need to stain the woodfill PLA top, but I'm making excellent progress. Read More...

It's been almost 8 months since I assembled my Mini OLED Clock. It's been sitting unfinished on my desk since then. All I needed to do was 3D print a case for it. Read More...

With all the clock code written and the audio stuff worked out, it was time to pay closer attention to some of the details. Like properly driving the filaments. Read More...

I haven’t picked up my guitar in years. It’s mostly due to the fact that it’s in its case tucked away in my closet. Out of sight. Out of mind. I’d really like to get back into playing, but every time I think about it, I never seem to get to the point that it comes out of the case. I got to thinking that if the guitar was in the computer room where I spend most of my time, I’d be more likely to pick it up and mess around with it. I decided to make a guitar stand for it. Sure, I could hop on Amazon and buy a stand, but what fun is that? Read More...

My son’s really into the game Starbound. The Matter Manipulator is the tool that you start off with in the game. He’s been making paper craft Matter Manipulators for weeks. I figured since he’s really into it, I’d have a go at 3D printing one for him. Read More...

A friend of mine picked up a Robo3D. Right out of the box, he pretty much agreed with me that the stock spool holder could use an upgrade. He took it to the max and built a holder than can hold 4 rolls of filament. He was kind enough to pass along the design files so that I could make one for my pinter too. Read More...

With all the PCBs assembled, it was time to get to work on the 3D model and the laser-cut enclosure. Read More...

After a month and a half of juggling multiple projects, the “Zorg Door Bomb” Clock has finally crossed the finish line. It came out great, and I’m really happy with the results. Read More...

With all the electronics complete, it was time to work on the enclosure. It took 15 hours to print, and a day or two for the stain to dry. I can’t believe this project is almost finished! Read More...

With the prototype working, and the code 99% complete, it was time to put together a PCB and get to work on an enclosure. I really want this clock to look sweet. Read More...

It’s the Zorg Door Bomb! The Fifth Element is one of my all-time favorite movies. I watched it again the other day and as soon as I saw Zorg’s Door bomb, I said to myself, “I’m so building that!” Read More...

It’s only been 3 weeks since I got my hands on some 3” LUMEX LCDs, but already I have made some fantastic progress with this clock. All the PCBs have been designed and ordered. It’s just a matter of waiting for the PCBs to arrive, designing the enclosure, and putting it together. Read More...

Time for some PCBs! This clock is going to look pretty cool once it’s assembled. With a 3D model, I can get a better idea of what it’ll look like. While the PCBs are being manufactured, I can get to work on coming up with some kind of 3D-printed enclosure. Read More...

Wow! It really works! And it looks great! Could the case be better? Yes, but I think it looks pretty good. I am really surprised at how fast I cranked this one out. Granted, all the code (with the exception of the two new set buttons) was already written. It was just a matter of taking what I had already accomplished with version 1, and making it better. Still, I completed this project in only 2 weeks. That has to be a record for me. Read More...

I had to get through the busy holiday season before I could get the ball rolling again. I've taken a long enough break from my hobby stuff. One project I've been meaning to revisit for well over a year is my Word Clock. I think it’s time for a tiny all-SMD version 2! Read More...

Since this is my first nixie clock, I really wanted it to be something special. I've been wanting to build a nixie clock for over 15 years. I started out with a 7-segment clock back in 2001 just to get my feet wet, but I just never got around to it. I'm so glad that I bit the bullet and just went for it. I put a lot of work into this clock, and spared no expense. I learned a lot from this project. I'm sure the next nixie clock will come out even better. Read More...

The clock is built, the case is prototyped, and the code is 90% complete. This project really picked up some steam. I'm almost finished! Read More...

My new GPS button boards arrived in the mail. I hacked them into my new 3D-printed case. It works perfectly. All that's left is to firm up the code and this one's a wrap. Read More...

I love it when everything just comes together at the end and it just works. No hacks, no head scratching, no second spins. It just works. This project involved some serious engineering, and I'm really happy with the way that it's coming out.
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Now that I know I can display my own custom time and date on this camcorder CRT, it's time to get serious about a PCB and a 3D-printed case. Read More...

With the GPS button board designed and ordered, it was time to put together a 3D model and design a new case for the clock. Read More...

My wife's been bugging me to print some kind of remote stand for the bedroom. It's an awesome idea. We have 4 remotes in the bedroom and it seems like we're always loosing them. If we had some kind of caddy to put them in, I think we'd be less likely to lose track of them. I just keep forgetting about it. Although, I am reminded every time I have to hunt high and low for the Apple TV remote to end up finding it under one of the pillows. Read More...

I've been struggling trying to make the PCBs since EAGLE limits the board size on the free version to 100mm x 80mm. I have to make everything modular. That means one board for the power supply, one for the audio stuff, one for all the logic, and 3 each for the nixies and the drivers. 5 PCB designs, 9 boards in all. They'll all have to be clipped together with wires and headers, etc. The whole thing seems less than ideal. I wanted to be able to just make one big board. I know I can’t make the entire clock one giant PCB. It’ll have to be at least 3 "layers" stacked up, but not made out of 9 separate boards. I bit the bullet and paid the $169 upgrade fee to the EAGLE Hobbyist version. It allows 160mm x 100mm PCBs. What a difference! Now I can make PCBs that are 6.29” long! Read More...

I hope the LEGO minifig gives you a good sense of scale. This clock is pretty small. It's amazing how small the Mini Clock has become after just 3 iterations. I'm really happy with the way that it came out.
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I just can't sit still. I always have something in the works. I need to always have something in the works. This is especially true when I'm waiting two weeks for a board. I think most of my projects start during the lull of another. I especially like it when a project goes from concept to a PCB order in about an hour! If only every project was like this. I'd have a room full of gizmos! Read More...

With the display electronics complete, it was time to move beyond the concept phase and begin the actual prototyping of the 3D-printed frame. It came out better than I could have anticipated. I totally nailed it! Read More...

I was extremely satisfied (and proud) of the way that the enclosure turned out for the rework of my 7490 Clock. The electronics on the other hand, is another story. The innards of that clock were from a prototype I built in 2001. It was a proof of concept. It led to the design of what would become an extremely well-polished and accurate clock. It's just a shame to throw it in a closet and forget about it. The case came out so nice and it looks great in the living room. I'm going to gut it, and replace my old 7490 prototype board with something brand new. Read More...

My first "official" 3D print of Mei Lin came out pretty good. However, it could be better. Everything can always be better! Not to mention, I discovered a shortcoming in the ROBO 3D firmware that messes with the z-axis. It's no wonder my last Mei Lin print was only 11" tall! I know I eye-balled the height, but I thought I was pretty darn close to 12 inches. Knowing now that my model was probably "squished", I decided to have another go at printing it. Read More...

Continuing with my experiments in printing DAZ 3D models with my 3D printer, I figured I’d up-the-ante with my next print. Seeing as my last attempt was a total success, I wanted to see if I could print a model with clothes…. and twice as large! Read More...

I found this LEGO Minifig on Thingiverse and I just had to print one. My kids love it, but too bad it's a prop for MY desk! Read More...

It's not the main reason I wanted to get a 3D printer, but a big one. I wanted to get a 3D printer in order to print large models of my 3D art creations. I've seen a few people do it online with mixed results. The how-to isn't widely documented and it's not a feature built into DAZ Studio by default. You'd think that printing a simple cube from one app shouldn't be any less difficult than printing a human-shaped figure from another. Unfortunately, it's easier said than done. Read More...

After waiting a few extra days, my patience was rewarded with the delivery of 3 rolls of filament. I think I've gotten the hang of PLA, but as far as ABS goes, I'm going to quit while I'm ahead. Read More...

If you’re following along, you know that version 1.0 of my GPS clock was a total bust. I somehow managed to screw up the PCB. I had the FTDI RX and TX lines tied to the wrong port on the ATmega2560. There was just no way to rework the board. Besides, I like to keep my final projects looking neat and clean. Rework wires are just a big no-no in my book. That meant that I had to fix the error on the PCB and place another order. I got my boards and most of my parts. I soldered together what I could. So far, it looks like it’s going to work! Read More...

I received the PCBs for the Temperature Shield a week or two ago, but I had to hold off on putting them together. I had a few other things to wrap up first. I also needed to order some more DS18B20 temperature sensors. I finally have all my parts now as well as a little free time, so it’s time to put this one together. Read More...

With version 3 of my Bare Bones Arduino board off being fabbed, as well as the laser-cut acrylic, it was time to go ahead a design my first shield. Read More...

I’d hate to spend a good $40 bucks on the PCB for my GPS clock and find out that I screwed something up, or that I can’t solder an Atmega2560. I figured that I’d spare myself the possibility of wasting $100 bucks worth of hardware and chalk up a mini-board for the Atmega2560. Sort of a “bare bones” MEGA as a test-run. Read More...

I’d like to try my hand and making a Tesseract. I love all the Marvel movies, as well as my kids. So I think they’ll get a kick out of seeing one on my desk. Read More...

I decided to ditch the IR remote in my GPS clock in favor of buttons. Once I had all the IR code implemented, I realized that it just wasn’t the way to go. Instead of the IR remote, I’m basically going to include a keypad on the clock that pretty much mirrors the functionality of the remote. Read More...

I was really pleased with the way that my LCD clock turned out. Being my first Arduino project, I was a little nervous that it wouldn’t work, but I totally nailed it! There were a few trials and errors in making a stand for it before I figured out how to make a laser-cut enclosure for it. In the end, it turned out great and it works like a charm. So, how can I make it better? Read More...

I’ve been wanting to play with the SpeakJet for a while now, but I just couldn’t justify the $25 that it sells for. It’s not SparkFun’s (sometimes marked-up) price, it’s $25 bucks pretty much wherever you can find it. I spent $99 on the SparkFun Hot Air Rework Station, so I figured I’d go for broke and add the SpeakJet to my order. Read More...

I took a trip to Staples to buy an acrylic photo frame or sign holder and was very happy to see that they had 3”x5” acrylic sign holders for only $3 each. Read More...

With the clock code complete, it was time to hop online and order my parts. With the parts in hand, I’ll have an easier time laying them out on the PCB and getting the spacing right. Read More...

The Digital Photo Frame 1.0 is almost a year old. It’s time for a new revision.

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It’s time for a new clock. While the first clock I made was nice, it wasn’t exactly “display in the living room” material.

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I’m tired of the clutter on my desk. None of my peripherals seem to have a home. It’s all just kind of lying under the MacBook and Display. Read More...

I was tired of looking at my $30 remote lying belly up on my desk like a dead Opossum. I needed to build a remote stand.
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I need an iPod dock. I have the Apple Universal Dock for home, but I would like to have one on my desk at work. I can’t see myself shelling out another $40 for one. Sounds like build time... Read More...