confessions of a backyard inventor

Category Construction

All building, welding, and other physical projects

Home theatre and network installation

Home theatre and computer network installation.

DIY Home Automation: Coopener – Testing and retrofitting

Building a framework for Home Automation devices, starting with the worlds first IoT chicken coop.

Chicken Enclosure

A coop and enclosure for the newest addition to our family.

Fence Extension for Privacy

Extended existing fence for privacy.

Vege Patch Upgrade

Terracing our vegetable patch in time for Spring.

Shed

Replaced a retaining wall and built a shed.

Banana Planter Box

A new home for my banana tree.

Coolsculptor/FrankenSculptor – PART 4

This is part 4 of a four part project. Click here for Part 1 Click here for Part 2 Click here for Part 3 This part concentrates solely on the controller and cleaning up the prototype wiring to increase the ease of use… Continue Reading →

Coolsculptor/FrankenSculptor – PART 3

This is part 3 of a four part project. Click here for Part 1 Click here for Part 2 Click here for Part 4 (DISCLAIMER: Use the information below at your own risk. I am not a doctor nor do I know… Continue Reading →

Coolsculptor/FrankenSculptor – PART 2

This is part 2 of a four part project. Click here for Part 1 Click here for Part 3 Click here for Part 4 At this point the device is nearly ready for a test run. Temperature sensors were installed in each plate to… Continue Reading →

Coolsculptor (Cryolipolysis) codename: FrankenSculptor – PART 1 [DIY Coolsculpting machine]

This is part 1 of a four part project. Click here for Part 2 Click here for Part 3 Click here for Part 4 I’ve been working on building my own Coolsculpting device as Zeltiq are offering.It is a machine which reduces… Continue Reading →

Building additional shelves for shoe cupboard and installing LED illumination

Space in our house is getting a little tight and my show cupboard is already full. So I decided to make a few additional shelves to hold more shoes. Also, the light in the cupboard is minimal due to the… Continue Reading →

Fire pit

One fine day we decided to go to a junk yard and pick up some odds-n-ends and build a fire pit. We found what looks to be clothes racks. The good thing was the base was made of stainless steel…. Continue Reading →

Repairing rusted balustrade and reinforcing

The existing balustrade had rusted away at 2 of the posts from water pooling over the years. In these pictures you can see after welding a reinforcing place on the bottom of the balustrade and after painting it black. But… Continue Reading →

Cat scratching post reduction/modification

Nothing special here. We had quite a large cat gym which stood around 5′ 5″. This was cut down a few weeks before this project to about 1/3 of its size. Now I am further cutting it down to just… Continue Reading →

Clothes dryer installation in the laundry, including exhaust vent

Too many strings of wet days meant washing couldn’t be done when needed. So, I finally caved and bought a clothes dryer. It’s not used too often, but when it is used it’s saves time and heartache; ultimately a darn good… Continue Reading →

Make and install air-conditioning cover

I had a split-system air-conditioning unit installed in my garage (see previous blog post for installation of the wiring) and during installation my neighbor complained that the external unit is unsightly and will be too noisy for them along with… Continue Reading →

Fix a folding chair

I stood on the chair and broke it…. oops. So here we are fixing it with a spare piece of MDF. Not the greatest fix considering it’s not water proof and it increases the weight of the chair substantially. But… Continue Reading →

Form-working and concreting my brothers garage

We are planning on building my brother a workshop in his garage. The first step is to concrete the footings of the garage to make them look neater and eventually use the footing as raised storage. We built the form-working… Continue Reading →

Making and installing shelf for Linux router/server

This one is fairly straight-forward. Just built a shelf to get the Linux router/server out of the way and off the floor. The cabling is still a mess. I will need to fix that up and install proper conduit one… Continue Reading →

New drill press and drop saw bench for the workshop

I had a friend of mine build me a new bench for a drop saw and drill press. Great use of the space in my opinion. I love it!

Installing mains power cable for air-con in garage

Yes. The garage gets very hot and I like my controlled climate. So I am having air-conditioning installed in my man-cave. The person installing the air-con is a friend of my father-in-law and we offered to run the cable from… Continue Reading →

Cut-off saw sliding and floating shelf

I was given a cut-off saw as a gift. The saw is very, very handy. But I have no where in the garage to put it! Because I dont use it as frequently as my other tools and most of… Continue Reading →

Replacing boat trailer hubs

As part of the preparation for taking my boat down the coast (3 hours drive) I replaced the hubs on the boat trailer. The trailer had a nice overhaul almost a year ago. I made new brackets to stand on… Continue Reading →

Network Rack

My brother had bought a bunch of networking equipment. CISCO gear. We need a rack for all this stuff. So he decided to put one together. Here is the result:

Power Generator – Part 2

Part 2 of my power generator project (part 1 is here). Looks like this is going to be a multi-part project as it is taking longer than I thought. I am currently up to the stage of building the covering/casing… Continue Reading →

Fix caravan/camper trailer door

My parents bought a camper trailer almost 25 years ago. They still use it but it has been falling apart for quite some time now. Dad repairs what he can (which is most things), but the fold-down door he couldnt… Continue Reading →

Fixing my Hakko soldering station

My soldering station stopped working. I love this soldering station, so I opened it up to see whats going on inside. The transformer contacts had come loose, so I tightened them and VIOLA! all good. But not longer after it… Continue Reading →

Power generator – Part 1

Part 2 of this project is available here. DIY Power Generator Input: Fuel, in the form of petroleum Output: 12v DC and 240v AC electricity! While overseas in the Philippines I was very impressed by the way the locals improvised,… Continue Reading →

My first Car PC, from 1999!

Blast from the past! I was going through some old photos and came across a set from back in 1999! Apologies for the sub-par pictures, some of them were taken with my first ever digital camera (an old Kodak camera…. Continue Reading →

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