I’ve been working on designing a low cost powder coating oven. At first I was considering building it from scratch but recently came across this flammable materials cabinet on craigslight for $100. Its double walled and has some great tracks on the inside for hanging things it should work perfectly. I’m going to clean it this weekend, Insulate it and then install the internal workings of an electric oven I also bought on craigslist for $40.
Here are some more posts on this project.
Installing the heating elements
Insulating the Flammable materials box
Firing it up!
I realize there are many details that are left out of these posts.
Please email me with any questions.
Its been about 3 weeks now and its really starting to look like a shop.
The end of an era has arrived. The Volvo Shop was sold and will be replaced with an uninspiring apartment building starting in March. As for the highly collaborative mechanic and autobody community… we were told to be out by the end of February. A sad day.
I think I’ve finally found it–the answer to smooth and durable finishes–Powder Coating. Take a look at this headlight. I’ve been using the Harbor Freight powder coating gun and East Wood powder and it’s been working well. The only limitations I have right now are a place to spray and a larger oven. I just did some reading about the hyper smooth gun and I’m thinking about trying it.
Original – Sand Blasted – Coated
Barcelona, Spain
Waste management in Barcelona is far superior to ours. There was a bin for everything. It made you feel really good when throwing things away, almost like you were putting them where they belonged rather then in a one way bag to the land fill. I can’t say much about what they are doing with the trash after its categorized but I’m sure thats better then what we are doing. A friend was telling me that when Barcelona introduced the self closing bins the rat community basically disappeared. Boston take note! Some day you will have to do something about the rat problem.
Barcelona Spain,
Tucked away in the winding alleyways of Barcelona’s gothic district is a studio called V workshop. The design studio and shop is full of incredible embroidery, illustration, laser cut skate decks and other handmade treasures. John and Ova, the couple behind it all, are not only incredibly talented and inspiring but wonderful people. Before visiting the studio I sent an email explaining my intreats in visiting while in town. They emailed back almost immediately, more then happy to help me find the studio. Shortly after I began my journey to find the shop. After getting lost twice in a neighborhood John later called the “Harlem of Barcelona”, I found the shop and it was totally awesome. John was super nice, he showed me some of his recent work in the shop then took me on a short tour of Barcelona. He showed me all the bookshops, skate shops, and clothing stores. I cant say enough nice things about him, he truly went of his way to show me around. John if you ever read this I owe you a tour of Boston or New York just let me know when your in town.
We all like Moleskins, right? Its a full experience, from the store shelf to your book shelf. Writing on the first page, or choosing to not write on the first page, choosing which way you want to orient it to draw your next idea and what to put in that awesome little pocket in the back. It’s great! But I have one complaint. The first choice you have to make in the moleskin process is which book suits you best. Are you a plain, graphed, lined, or story board person? Well Moleskin, I need all those things! I make things, and when you make things you write, draw, plan and sometimes graph things. The ultimate moleskin would have alternating pages with plain, lined and graph paper. Allowing you to sketch, take notes and refine your thoughts. So in the meantime, I made this ruler. It is designed to fit in your notebook and allow you to customize your page layouts. So people enjoy the freedom of the bank paper but sometimes it nice to have a little organization. I’m hoping to make a couple 100 soon so please email me if you would like one. I don’t know how much they will be yet but please let me know if you’re interested. I won’t hold you to it.
What’s a moped rally with out a break down? I road my G3 out to Castle Island and blew a bearing on my way home. So now it’s time for an upgrade. Since I had to tear the motor apart to fix it I figured I would paint the case while I could. First, I should explain its been a life long goal to paint something and have it come out like a factory finish. Durable and clean. So here goes try number 1,234,969,435,443. Never fail when I rattle-can something it comes out looking like I painted it in the wind or the rain. It just never looks as nice as I’d like. So I thought I would try some new techniques. I bought a sand blaster and purchased the paint from the auto body. I don’t have a spray gun so I had the auto body put the paint in a can. I have my doubts about the pressure when applying the clear but I figured I would try it. The urethane paint went on really nicely–much nicer then the typical rattle can. However, the clear from the bottle didn’t go on well at all. I think it was from lack of pressure. Oh well, in the end a case doesn’t need to be perfect. Next, I’m going to try powder coating but I need to get a few more things before I can do that.
