bottle tornado guided tour of the device

Here is a quick video guided tour of the bottle tornado device

Bottle Tornado

Here is a little project im working on. I have always liked to see water vortex and tornado's and decided after looking around and seeing that the ones people mainly make are by tying two bottles together and making water tip from one to the other to get the effect, I wanted to make something a little more interesting and something could switch on and off at will, something a bit more geeky.

After a bit of work i came upon something used in labs to mix liquids using a magnet and  stiring rod.
I decided to make my own magnetic stirrer.

I have rather a large box of computer bits and i retrieved a 12v fan to use as the motor and a Neodymium magnet extracted from an old computer hard.  after mounting this in a quick wooden box i made and wiring up to a switch the following video shows the results.




the  Neodymium magnet is glued to the centre of the motor or fan and when switched on it spins a small iron rod placed inside the bottle of water. this spinning causes the vortex to appear.

Its still a work in progress and as soon as i have it how i want it i will load a tutorial onto my instructables channel.

HOW TO: Party popper match rocket

Here is a short video instructable showing you how to make as quick and easy match launcher out of a party popper and a small aluminum pipe.

The project is same and no more dangerous than pulling a party popper, as usual with  party poppers just make sure they are at arms length and are always pointing away from you and NOT at someone!!!

To make the match launcher you will need:

• an un-burnt match
• paper clip
• party popper
• small aluminum tube with a slightly larger bore than the party popper explosive ,  a pen barrel is too wide.

tools:

• Pliers
• craft knife

Full instructions are in the video

What I did on My Birthday

Its always nice when your birthday falls on a weekend.It not only means you don't have to take a day off so you can get some quality time it also means that you get to spend the whole day doing things with the ones you love

I have never been one to lay in bed, wasting my life on excessive sleep.I woke up brights and early and did take a cuppa back to bed to catchup the forum posts and check my emails on my Android tablet.

I love a good scrambled egg and even though the pan is rather messy I do thing its much better prepared that way than all soggy in the Microwave. I was just about to begin making my breakfast to be told by my wife she was going to take me out for breakfast. We have a really nice garden centre about 10 miles down the road from where I live, attached to this is an awesome cafe that does amazing hot chocolate and bacon sandwiches to die for, nice proper dry cured bacon.
I always try to do atleast 1 thing I have never done. This year I got the urge to try the old mentos and coke thing,  results below.

The rest of the day was filled by visits from family members and friends.

As for presents I'm not a big material person but do love the simple things in life. I have for years wanted to re-live my childhood and my wife bought me a catapult and ammo,  awesome, i got a nice book on robots and some money which topped up my component drawers from Maplins. All in all a perfect day.

What to do with 213 match heads

After cutting the heads off of 213 matches for our siege tower, we decided to do burn them all at once to see how big a flare we got,  not a bad result, watch the video below to see how we got on

What Sundays are for

Sunday mornings mean different things to different people. I think the main point of a Sunday is to do whatever you need to do, or go wherever you need to go to recharge your batteries.

My working weeks are quite hectic, and I cant ever imagine spending the weekend wasting away in bed.I know people who go out on a Saturday night who dont get in to the early hours of the morning who need to lay in. I'm way past doing that now, I cant remember when the last time i was intoxicating myself at 3am.

Take this morning. I awoke at 8 and on the mention of bacon sandwiches myself and my 12 year old hit the kitchen and prepared a couple of bacon and egg baps and two steaming hot mugs of tea.
My eldest teenaged son prepares a more leisurely rise and although he followed us downstairs he prefers to just get his coffee an bowl of cereal and wake up at his own more chilled pace.
On most Sundays my boys are either out at skate parks or playing with friends unless they have any homework. It gives me plenty of time for projects.

Having looked at the weather and the 2 pieces of bacon laid in the packet looking rather sad, like they had missed there purpose in life, I thought it was a good chance to have a go at making a stand for the meths stove i had made the previous afternoon.

I got some used aluminum sheet from the garage and set about it with the Dremel. At the thought of more bacon my 12 yr old sat with me  while i made it. I sent him inside for supplies of teabags and milk and oil and bacon while i set about priming the stove.

We boiled 2 mugs of water (approx 8 minutes) and sat and warmed out hands on them while i set about frying the remaining bacon and producing 2 more bacon butties. I'm a very outdoor person and the stuff i have prepared outdoors always seems to taste so much nicer.

This morning was a extra special. I got to spend some quality time with an enthusiastic son and do creative things that ended up in my two favorite things tea and bacon. Now its inside to research siege towers.
How do you chill ?

A small emergency kit i always carry around

Here is a small emergency kit that I always carry around with me. It wont help you bug out or save you in the event of the 2012 disaster but what it will do is give you a few tools and items to allow you to pretty much get you though minor emergencies.

Here is the kit packed into its tin:

 The tin is 4 inches across and just over an inch deep. Probably not quite pocket size but will fit in my rucksack/laptop bag or in the glove compartment of my car.

Here are the items unpacked.

The kit consists of 15 item types, here is a list and a description of possible uses for items.

Basic first aid kit -  plasters. steri whipe., safety pins, needle for removing splinters,
Paperclips - always good for making wire ties or just for bending to relieve boredom :)
Disposable lighter - cheap and usually quite reliable.
 8 inch cable ties x 4
 Duct tape (so many uses - any problem can be solved with duct tape and cable ties ),
15 feet of nylon fishing line
Small tube of super glue - always good for repairs (dont use on wounds)
Sewing kit with 2 needles, and 20 feet of cotton in black and white, Including  a needle threader.
2 small elastic bands,
Half a hacksaw blade (for small saw jobs),
Cotton wool (good for starting fires),
Sanding board -can be good for shaping things or act as a spare striker board for matches.
Silver foil (for making containers for water to boil on a fire , or for food storage, can also be used for wrapping food to be placed in the fire)
Swiss army knife - mine is a small one but has 8 blades including a working pair of scissors,
Salt and Pepper sachet -to season anything you cook,
A tab of laminated paper with your home address on  and phone number in-case the worst happens and someone finds you,
A Condom for carrying water in. Try to get the condoms without spermicide and it does add a taste to the water. but in a life or death situation i guess you won't care.


Items that will also fit in here are  , water purification tablets , headache and stomach tablets, and a magnesium fire starter or some waterproof matches. these are additions i plan to make.


As a footnote.  NEVER EVER DRINK WATER FROM STREAMS OR RIVERS WITHOUT TREATING THE WATER FIRST BY BOILING OR WATER PURIFICATION TABLETS.