Defrosting My Food (Part Three)

Okay, so I realized that using an old power supply unit was a good idea (see Part Two). However, it is also loud because the fan echoes around pretty badly inside this empty metal box.

The second problem I discovered was that not all plastic storage containers are created equal. I tried to defrost some frozen spaghetti on top of this unit, but the bottom of the plastic container does not have a flat surface where the frozen part will not make full contact with the top of this box. The solution was to put another aluminum heat-sink between the inner bottom surface of the container and rest the other half on the top of the PS warmer.

This seemed like too much fuss and making the defroster device was just too dangerous if I was forced to make more (for family or friends). My odds might be really good that I would eventually get hurt gutting the dangerous components out of the inside of the power supply. This also leaves a lot of waste still.

So, I decided to make the whole unit smaller by eliminating the PS box completely.

Why not just use the heat-sink and fan by itself ? Small enough to still fit under a plastic container, even with an indented bottom. And much quieter.

The unit in the photo above was made by a friend of mine from a concept drawing I gave him. We hadn't quite worked all the bugs out of the idea yet but this was much less complicated. He rigged his to work on a 9 volt battery and power switch. We found this design much quieter, more portable and more efficient overall.

Knowing that the look of the above prototype wouldn't win points with my wife (I don't want that thing in my kitchen!), I knew it needed to be refined again. Plus, the battery would probably not last long enough to actually do the job required.

So, one more design refinement and we had a nice looking unit that runs on a power supply through AC.

So, does it work? You bet.

I put two regular ice cubes in a small plastic container and set it on top of the new unit. The ice cubes completely melted in 1 hour and 40 minutes. Then, I took that same container and placed two identical ice cubes in it and set it on my desk. It took 3 hours and 20 minutes to do the same thing. And in case anyone is wondering, the room was at 23 degrees Celsius throughout the experiment.

I think it looks like a NASA Lunar Lander.

Wooden Ring Toss Game

I decided that before Christmas, I wanted to make my two boys something that didn't need batteries and took a little bit of practice to get the hang of. I saw the basic design on another website and set forth to make something similar. I basically made it out of scrap wood that I already had laying about.

I picked up the rings at a local art supplies store. They were originally meant to be part of a bracelet kit that you put beads on. However, they work well as rings for the toss game and are even colour coded to make them easier to keep track of if you are playing teams. There are points written next to the posts for scoring.

Happy Halloween! The Ghostbuster's Pack (Part One).

Well, today's post isn't so much about the usual. As a matter of fact, this project isn't even furniture related (right now). But, since I have nowhere else to post this ongoing project, I'll put it here. However, this project DOES involve making something out of junk, so maybe, it is sort of related then.

My oldest son wants to be a Ghostbuster for Halloween. I wasn't sure at first how I was going to pull that one off. My mom stepped up to plate and offered to make the jumpsuit for him. My wife set to work finishing the details of it, like logos and final adjustments. I set ahead to build the proton pack out of whatever I had lying around in the garage.

So, the first step was to study some pictures of the REAL props and do my best to make something that would be similar in nature so that the average person understood what it was. I would love to get deeply involved in a project like that and try to replicate the real thing. There are lots of amateur prop makers who have built their own units and have done an exceptional job.



I decided to build mine out of empty cookie tins because this had to be light and proportional to my son's size. I attached the cookie tins and painted them black. Then I dug around the garage for various electronic parts to situate around the containers as close to where the real objects are on the prop units.

My wife added straps from an old backpack and I finished it off with some LED lighting and fake decals for final effect. I suspect that his costume is going to get a lot of attention.



Now, I mentioned that this backpack isn't furniture yet? When we are done with this prop, I intend to put the backpack into a custom made shadow box using various supplies I have lying around the garage so he can hang it proudly in his bedroom for years to come.