Hacklab Toronto!

So I’ve been a member of a hackerspace for about a year now, unofficially for near 2 years. The hackerspace in question is hacklab.to, a hackerspace in Toronto, Canada. We decided to film a promotional video to help show people what we are about and that its a cool space to hang out at. I helped with the conception and editing to a degree, so without further delay, here is the video (best viewed in 1080).

If you are interested as to where you can find a hackerspace near you, just visit hackerspaces.org for a listing of cool places like this near you!

Mission: Workbench Resurfacing

So you may have seen my old workbench that I built a few years ago in a variety of videos, blog posts, and other bits of projects documented here. I recently decided that in order to not only resume filming videos, but to increase the production value behind them and make them look better.

Image: before (left) and after (right)

Read on for a detailed, image heavy post about the entire process.

Desert Bus for Hope Craft Along

For those of you unfamiliar with the Canadian sketch comedy group Loading Ready Run, I suggest you get familiar. Their videos document comedic genius on the internet since before Youtube (yes, really) and have been working their way up in the world in the realm of internet media. For the past 3 years they have been hosting an event known as Desert Bus for Hope raising, money for the Childs Play charity by playing the most boring game in existance as a marathon:  a real time driving sim between Tuscon,AZ and Las Vegas,NV.

This coming year I decided to send them some laser cut acrylic, some of which is just because they are awesome, and one item for their DBFH craft along (where people make crafts, send them in, and they get auctioned off for charity). Below are some photos of 2 items I sent the group as gifts, and not shown is a similar DBFH acrylic plaque that will hopefully auction well.

 

Just a few hours ago the countdown officially started to the Desert Bus for Hope charity marathon, so gear up for some fun!

Updates on Projects

Well, its been a while. I’ve become gainfully employed and my free time has decreased. On the bright side I will try to finish some more projects and do more videos for my loyal readers.

Vacation and Goodies Upon Return

So you may have noticed that I’ve been away for 2 weeks on a trip to Hong Kong/China, and a writeup of my travels is pending, but until then enjoy this photo of the goodies I have returned with.

The goodies:

1. KG-UVD1P hand held transceiver and spare battery with charger and car adapter (not battery eliminator)
2. 2x 4 position 2 axis joystick, 2x 2 position 1 axis joystick, 2x 2 position 1 axis joystick (momentary)
3. 2x CM300DY-24H IGBTs
4. Ultrafire C2 flashlight (single mode) with Cree Q5 emitter (200lumen approx), 2x 2400mAh protected batteries and charger
5. 12V 20A SMPS
6. Digital thermometer with K-type thermocouple (real cheap, only about <$8CAD for the whole kit with a case)

I also picked up a little ring of LEDs that approximately fits the lens adapter on my Canon S5IS camera, configured to run off of unregulated 12VDC, I plan to make a little battery pack and extension wire to let me do evenly lit macro photography without the normal lens-tube shadow that you’ve seen before in my photos. I need to laser cut an acrylic ring to get it to fit onto the lens tube as well (plus a diffuser), but more on that later. For now, a rough test shows that this idea works.

Yes, my desk is that dusty, especially after not touching it for 2 weeks.