Random slightly cool stuff you built but not worth its own thread, thread

[chris r]

11 hours ago, Flauski said:

I don't know why but I saw this Green Phosphor CRT (Dick Smith Electronics brand) on Trademe and I just had to have it. Thew up some real nostalgia for me.

Then I had an idea. I have seen people generate their own TV stations / retro CRT playlists.

There is something about the Fallout PC games asthetic - the dystopian future with retro tech (terminals and green phosphor screens) that just made want to do it.

I also love the nuclear fallout theme and whimsical nature of the VAULTEC cartoon learning adverts they use featuring the pipboy character.

Anway, lots of research, some Youtube downloads, a few tools + a Rasberry Pi, which I hooked up to the video input. No sound (single AV input and no speaker) but that could be the next step:

It is a lot chrisper IRL.

Fuck yes 

[mo999]

13 hours ago, Flauski said:

I don't know why but I saw this Green Phosphor CRT (Dick Smith Electronics brand) on Trademe and I just had to have it. Thew up some real nostalgia for me.

Then I had an idea. I have seen people generate their own TV stations / retro CRT playlists.

There is something about the Fallout PC games asthetic - the dystopian future with retro tech (terminals and green phosphor screens) that just made want to do it.

I also love the nuclear fallout theme and whimsical nature of the VAULTEC cartoon learning adverts they use featuring the pipboy character.

Anway, lots of research, some Youtube downloads, a few tools + a Rasberry Pi, which I hooked up to the video input. No sound (single AV input and no speaker) but that could be the next step:

It is a lot chrisper IRL.

Looks great, if you hook into the back of the volume knob you should be able to feed audio straight into its amp from there.

[igor]

As mentioned in June spam our youngest and one of his mates have been playing with scrap metal and hot melty things. Pulse jet prototype number one sort of works.

 

[igor]

Video exists but I'm too primitive to work out how to post it. Will have to get the boy to help with that some time.

[ajg193]

The handle on the $26 knife I bought in 2014 on @h4nd recommendation cracked over the years so I finally got around to repairing it. 

It took way more time than the knife is worth but should last a good long time

[tortron]

Came out good. I did the exact same to a putty knife that i hammered into a seam and split thr plastic handle off, luuuuuuvly 120year old native wood handle on it now lol

[nzstato]

I'll post up a bit of progress as I go on these.  But for the Landrover/Army nerds, these are genuine Series IIA 'Skippy' guards I'll be making repros of. 
 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DajL7OVTr1d/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

[h4nd]

On 07/07/2026 at 18:00, ajg193 said:

The handle on the $26 knife I bought in 2014 on @h4nd recommendation cracked over the years so I finally got around to repairing it. 

It took way more time than the knife is worth but should last a good long time

Ah yes, those. And how is that steel?

[63Ragtop]

I been wanting to build some proper front enclosures for the bug.

You can buy these ugly plastic things but where's the fun in that!?

I spotted this stuff in bunnings today. I noticed the mat is polyester resin and the cloth is epoxy, thoughts??

[ajg193]

10 hours ago, h4nd said:

Ah yes, those. And how is that steel?

The knife itself is good, can't complain.

[rusty360]

13 hours ago, 63Ragtop said:

I been wanting to build some proper front enclosures for the bug.

You can buy these ugly plastic things but where's the fun in that!?

I spotted this stuff in bunnings today. I noticed the mat is polyester resin and the cloth is epoxy, thoughts??

Chopped strand mat goes around corners much easier. Check out nz fiberglass, they will be a 1/3 of the price.

[rusty360]

@63Ragtop

 

[tortron]

Seen lots (in my 2000s sex spec research) being made out of polarfleece

[63Ragtop]

16 hours ago, tortron said:

Seen lots (in my 2000s sex spec research) being made out of polarfleece

Yes, thats the plan, but I think you put resin on the fleece to make it hard, then build it up with fibre glass etc.

[Early jap nuter]

Make sure the fleece not to fuzzy when you resin or sanding is a pain. If you don’t want the crappy speaker cover there’s a place on rosebank rd that sells the old style Marshall’s speaker mesh material 

[sr2]

After more than 30 years as a professional musician I've accumulated rather more guitars than any one person can reasonably justify. I have always hung my acoustics on the wall, partly because I enjoy seeing them, and partly because it helps them acclimatise naturally to the room's humidity.

About a year ago, gravity intervened.

One of the guitars decided to part company with its wall hanger and plummeted onto a polished concrete floor, landing squarely on the rear strap button. The impact split the soundboard and lifted the top. While it wasn't my favourite acoustic, it was an expensive Ovation that had earned its keep over the years through countless rock gigs. As anyone who's played in a rock band knows, there are always one or two songs where the electric guitars get put aside for the obligatory acoustic number.

Ovations are a bit of an oddity in the acoustic world. Their rounded composite backs and heavily lacquered tops make them incredibly stable, they stay in tune remarkably well, and their onboard electronics have long been regarded as among the best in the business. They are superb working instruments—built for the stage rather than the campfire—although perhaps they sacrifice a little of the warmth and soul of a traditional wooden acoustic.

Unfortunately, none of those engineering virtues made the slightest difference when mine hit the floor.

 

With little to lose, I built a custom cradle to support the body and began the painstaking process of gluing, clamping and coaxing the instrument back to life.

 

Over the course of several months, I repaired the damaged soundboard, re-set the neck, dressed the frets and did a full setup. Against the odds, it once again became the solid, dependable guitar it had always been.

There was just one problem.

 

It still looked exactly like a guitar that had been dropped onto something bloody hard from a rather impressive height—which, to be fair, it had.

 

 

My artistic niece, (she was once head-hunted by Wētā Workshop), suggested she paint it. My instructions were simple: "Do whatever you like."

Her interpretation was nothing like I had imagined!

 

 

She transformed the damaged top into a piece of art. The worst of the impact disappeared beneath an intricately painted skull entwined with roses and thorns. Running along the repaired cracks she painted surgical stitches, complete with subtle shadows and highlights that make them appear three-dimensional. Instead of trying to disguise the guitar's scars, she celebrated them.

 

 

 

I'm still not entirely convinced it's my style, but the few times I've taken it on stage it's become an instant conversation piece. People smile, wander over for a closer look, and almost everyone asks the same question: "Where the hell did that come from?"

 

Perhaps, like a few ageing musicians I know, (myself included) it wears its scars proudly. And if a broken guitar can be given a second life with a little patience, glue, and an artist's imagination, there's probably a lesson in that somewhere.