Downing's Basement

Though not much of an exciting mod, it is a mod nevertheless so I felt like sharing it. Basically all we’ve got here is an electric fireplace we bought at Lowes a few weeks ago just to add a bit of ambiance and supplemental heat for the winter. As we can’t have a real fireplace in the house, we figured why not. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the fact that it sounded just like a forced hot air heater which is essentially what it is.

But my iPod has had an app called Ambiance which is basically just a bunch of looped sounds of all kinds of things, rain, wind, fire, traffic, it goes on and on. So I just decided one night, why not make this fire sound like one too? The results are below. Not perfect sound but better than nothing and now when we have company we can listen to music right though the fire place!

Anyway, I’m getting back on to my desk project now so we’ll see where I end up with that today. More updates soon!

Had a quick weekend project that I completed yesterday. I made up a new case for Neil (Evil Nod) over on the MBB forums. This is for a commission he’s doing for someone over in England and I believe is for a portable Jaguar video game system. Never played one of those before but I hear they were fun back in the day.

Neil sent me over the wooden mold from the UK as he originally was going to try his hand a vacuum forming on his own, however ran into a slight problem that his oven he was using for a heat source was not big enough for the plastic sheet! But the mold he had made before was a bit rough and needed some work anyway. Because the back side of the case was so chewed up, I had to use the same face twice, but when you do that, you must have a 100% symmetrical design as you’re basically using a mirror image and if one side isn’t identical to the other, the case won’t line up correctly.

The pic below is for the unfinished halves. Neil wasn’t sure how thick he was going to need it so each half is about 1″ thick which is quite beefy. Once he figures out the width he can then cut and sand down the edges to make them level and clean.

Though I’m a big fan of working for a living and making your own way, I’m also exceptionally protective of my free time which I value somewhat more than the money I bring in with the job. Recently however, recent events at the real job have started to dangle the $$ promise a bit closer to reach, but it requires of course an extra step up on the work hours side which takes away from the free hours side. But this is a sacrifice that I need to make to feel like I’m pulling my weight around the house as the wife simply scoffs at the idea of a 50 hour work week and says “I Wish!”

Granted she is probably the hardest worker I know, the fruits of this labor are also starting to pay off with her being just one half-step away from have a PhD before she hits 30! It’s actually inspiring and I really do admire her ability to stay to her commitments! However, the free time she has is next to nil and it can sometimes ware on her patients, which is why mine needs to remain at a high level and be ready to increase at a moments notice. Not that I’m saying she’s a raging bitch every night or any night for that matter, no no no, but after a 16 hour day it’s quite difficult to not to be set off by the next thing that unexpectedly pops up.

This is why I think I have to be doing something creative and productive all the time, sometimes in the most challenging of ways. This teaches and consistently reinforces my need to practice patients because I know a reward worth waiting for is at the end if I just stick with it. So what worries me is if these times at work do start to prove very fruitful yet time consuming, my free time patients practices might suffer a bit. Of course though this could be just merely a paranoid prediction to an unrealized reality, but my modding time and personal unwind time is being shortened.

This is why I have not been posting recently because the portable has not been touched. I am working on a project though which is going to be equally as impressive, but it’s taking time, time that I don’t really have.

So with that said, I’ll try and make at least one post a week from now on and more if I can. We still have weekends free though which we spend with our dogs and try to take them up north to the parents place where they can run! I also get quite a bit of work done on the weekends as well, so I at least have those for a couple more weeks, till work takes those from us as well!

Hey Everyone! Made some corrections and edits to the guide to bring it up to par a bit. I know it’s still loaded with text and grammar errors, but I’m working on it as I have the time. Most of the corrections were made in the intro/cover and the Vacuum Forming section (part 6) of the guide. As mentioned before, this is a work in progress and will be updated as time goes on, but it’s still one of the most comprehensive guides out there when it comes to the hobby and I will continually be improving upon it. Please check it out in the Guides section if you are curious or in need of case making guidance!