Currently in Adelaide, and just got back from what I think is my most succesful geocaching jog yet. Covered just over 12km on foot, found 14 caches with a fifteenth that was a DNF.
Not too bad for one morning's jog. There are loads more caches in Adelaide with a heap near where we are staying, but only so many that I can reach on foot.
I doubt I'll go out again too much more while we are here, except for targets of opportunity if the situation presents itself.
Nine and a half hours later, the CB and spotties are mounted on the new (fresh) car. Could have done it faster, but get a better result being careful and running cables in neat out-of-sight spots rather than just draping them and letting them hang.
Still on the to-do list; polish up the headlights to get them looking sparkly and clear again. Most everything else has been taken care of. Doesn't look like I'm going to be getting much rest this weekend.
It took a while, but after a pretty long build up, my stockpile of resources was enough to grab some bigger players' attention and they smushed me.
Attacked by nearly two million ships, it wasn't much of a surprise that my few thousand got pushed aside. I don't know what my total resources that I had on hand at the time that I was attacked, but I last recorded over eight hundred million mixed resources sitting there. Normally I get attacked when my resources get over about twenty million sitting there unattended.
The original plan was once the place got smashed, I'd just let it sit and get attacked and just log in once a week or so - leave the planets producing so that others could attack it. After about six years or so it's a bit hard to let it go, though I don't really get anything out of it anyway. We'll see how it goes (though I did log in this morning >.< ).
This last weekend we did a bit of shuffling with our cars. I've stopped driving the small car and I'm now driving the big 4WD. So I thought "wouldn't a motorbike be a cheaper option"?
First, I need to lay down a few assumptions:
Although I had wanted to just let the resources build up, I gave in to the urge to spend some of it. Seeing so much sitting there, I went ahead and did some research and some upgrades.
However:
Currently sitting at just under 800 million resource (combined metal / crystal / deut). It should be a fair bit higher, but I've been spending some. Although a couple of other players have had a peek at what is sitting on this planet, I'm impressed it hasn't been attacked yet. I honestly thought one of the mega-players would smush me and crush the defences long before it got up to this level.
Be interesting to see how high it gets, though I assume that one day I'll just log in and see that it's all gone. But that's the way Ogame works.
I just came across this brilliant site - photopea.com
For those who can't afford Photoshop, or for whatever reason can't put it on their computer (maybe a Linux user?) then this site is essentially a free, online version of Photoshop.
It does have a few limitations (you need a stable, decent internet connection for starters) but it gives you most of the functionality of the best image editing program out there without having to fork over a whole bunch of cash. I wouldn't rely on it as a main editor, or attempt any large or overly complex projects with it - but it might come in handy for quick little things or for opening up a .psd file and saving it in another format.
And as a bonus - no watermarks!
Edit: I've just gone through and deleted a bunch of old comments, specifically a whole bunch of spam comments from this blog - some from 2008! In my defense, I only recently got my proper login working again on this blog, I've been using an alternate account for over a decade which was accidentally created when Google bought Blogger. Over 150 comments deleted, about 48 comments left. For a blog that's been running long enough to be considered a teenager, that's not a lot of engagement...
Woohoo! Took a bit of time (most of that was waiting on my dry film to arrive), but I have a test of salt etching that I'm happy with. :)
I had one limited result test earlier today, my first go with the dry film. I was using a single-layer toner onto tape transfer as a mask, and the toner from my printer prints too thinly to be a decent mask. Plus the image that I was attempting to use was too ambitious for a first go:
My printer gave out reasonably sharp detail, which I was happy with, but the post-exposure results on the aluminium came out too blotchy (as in, the parts covered by the toner should have been a uniform colour, but were not). The result was that when I put it through the soda wash, the solution wasn't strong enough to remove the bits that were supposed to come off, and making it stronger took off the bits that were meant to stay.
Simple solution, get it all off and try again. For my next attempt, I made a much simpler mask with some bold text.
This gave a much cleaner result after the initial exposure. Removing the fill with the soda wash produced a very clean result.
Finally, into the salt water and electricity bath to etch the aluminium. I wasn't too sure how long to leave it in there for (should have timed it!) but I wanted it to be deep enough to be a decent etch, but shallow enough that it didn't start going sideways under the fine details (like the middle bits in the A's and the R's). I kind of winged it (and kept pulling it out to check it) and after it looked about right, it was moment of truth!
With this process, you can put it back into the salt water to keep etching if you think it needs to go deeper, but once you start taking off the resist - you'll never get another layer of resist back on there! So get it right the first time.
I'm pretty happy with how that came out! :D
The process is rather brutal on the metal, so I'm not sure how fine detail will work out, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to have a go tomorrow. I figure one more test with fine detail to see how that goes, then I might have a crack at a real task. Fingers crossed!
For those who don't know, a trackable (or travel bug, usually abbreviated as TB) is a GeoCaching thing, and is essentially a game piece with a unique number (like a license plate). Normally, people use the actual metal TB they buy, but some people will copy the code onto something else and keep the original metal tag at home (to try and reduce the number of TB that go missing).
For whatever reason, I thought I'd make a little Plank model. No idea why, I never really watched the Ed, Edd and Eddy show, maybe saw parts of episodes when I was younger and channel surfing.
Below is my first attempt. It doesn't really show it in the photo, but the varnish I used came out waaaayy darker than I wanted it to. Plus the ink that I used for the eyes and mouth ran into the grain, giving it a slightly creepy look. Good for making a Plank / Joker crossover, but not the look I was after.
So back to the drawing board, I'll have one more crack at it.
In other news, I picked up some Hot Wheels cars with the intention of maybe doing some customization on them or using them as TB, but cars tend to go missing pretty quick and I don't have all the tools needed to properly convert them.
Apart from the options already mentioned in my last post, there is also lost wax casting. This can tie in with either pewter or aluminium casting and works well for complex shapes that won't work with a two part mould. Although the wax can be partially reclaimed and padded out with cheap candle wax (the proper wax comes in various grades, and buying softer stuff can be offset by melting in harder candle wax), it's still too expensive.
So it looks like we're back to the "custom poker chip" idea. Or something similar. I found a supplier of blank, white plastic tokens. I've ordered their smallest quantity, a ten pack, to test how well it works.
I had found a supplier of "blank" poker chips in baches of 120 chips for $12 - which amounts to 12c each. This is in line with buying the poker sets from BigW or KMart - they have 200 and 300 chip sets for $20 and $30 respectively. The ten pack of blanks cost me $3 (including postage) so that's 30c per blank, but they also have 100 packs for $16 (16c each).
That's still higher than the blank poker chips (which aren't blank, they have designs on the borders) but the poker chips have the big disadvantage that they come in sets of four colours. The white ones came out okay, the green ones looked okay, but the blue and black ones were very meh. So being able to buy all white ones makes printing designs much easier.
Okay, I have a bit of a conundrum. As I've mentioned before, I'm getting into this whole Geocaching craze (okay, that's a slight exaggeration since this hobby / game started twenty years ago and there aren't that many active players at the moment). Part of the appeal for me is a chance to flex my creative muscles and make stuff.
The reason for this is that part of the game is "swag" (Stuff We All Get), which is basically little trinkets that people leave in the caches so that other players can swap around (a bit like "take a penny, leave a penny" setups). The idea is players put in things they think are worth something and other players can swap them out for things they think are of roughly equal value. Of course, not everybody is going to put the same value on something as another person - but we'll ignore human psychology for the moment.
For me, I don't plan on taking any swag, and I don't have the funds to go buying a bunch of stuff to drop off and give away (as much as I would like to).
So I'd prefer to custom make little thingies. At the moment the main thing I'm looking at is "coins". Not money, some custom made little things that I can keep updating and changing the design on (such as putting the current month and year on them so if other people find them, they can see how long it's been in play).
At the moment my main priority is cost. And I'm looking at six different options.
So, not quite sure which way to jump. And odds are, whichever technique I try first, I'll need to stick with that system because I won't be able to afford to switch to another. I just need to make sure I focus on my priorities:
Having said that, I did send an email of enquiry to a Taiwanese engineering firm to see how much it would cost for them to produce a steel mould for me. If I wanted to do aluminium casting, then I can't make moulds out of silicone rubber or plaster due to the heat, and sand leaves a grainy texture that needs to be machined to make it look good. A steel mould gives brilliant results - if you can afford to get one made!
Also, I want to build gadget caches, but that's a whole Pandora's box I don't want to open just yet...
Well, I've successfully found more ways that salt etching doesn't work. Or more acurately, the toner transfer.
I tried a few variations on the dry transfer and hot iron method, but the toner wouldn't take. It either won't mount onto the paper, or won't transfer onto the metal.
I'm going to have one more go at doing a transfer with the soak method, but then infill with something (sharpie? nail polish?) to try and compensate for the thin layer of toner.
Which I'm 80% certain is the cause of my issues - the printer not laying down enough toner. I could try printing at work, but even if that proved an instant success, it would be of limited value to me. It would be a pain to have an established method that works great but then have the work printer replaced, or get sent to work at another spot where they don't have one.
If the next attempt is a fail, I might give in and drop a few dollars on proper photosensitive film and do up the transfer that way...
Curses! I thought I might have been getting a decent result. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Current biggest issue is getting a decent resistor onto the aluminium with enough detail that I can get crisp lettering. I think at the moment the issue is that the printer that I have is either low on toner, does not deposit enough toner or is set up to maximise toner and I can't turn it off.
So the first thing I tried was the first method (glossy magazine paper) with a bit of nail polish remover. I also added pressure by using a clamp I picked up from the hardware store. However, I feel that my mistake on this attempt was that I used two bits of metal (the aluminium stock and bit of scrap steel) and it didn't put equal pressure across the toner.
Result: toner didn't stick.
(Also, didn't clean up the metal first either, which can't have helped.)
Second attempt today was using the second method (back of sticker paper - waxy type). This is the one that is supposed to give the best results. The immediate issue was that the toner didn't stick to it going through the printer. Not what I was expecting, I poked around the settings a bit and managed to get a bit of toner onto the paper. The result was … lacklustre.
So I went back to the first method, but this time I put some padding paper between the paper carrying the toner and the steel sheet, and this time I managed to (finally!) get a decent amount of toner onto the aluminium. Yes!
So hooked it all up, got the juice flowing and the result was … about the same as the first time.
It's definitely an issue with the toner. It isn't on there thick enough to stop the salt water from eating away at the aluminium, which leaves it with that chewed out look and rough lettering. I can't think of any other way to get the amount of detail on there that I am after other than printing it. I was looking at the photoresist film, which could work. But that would require buying the film, plus some UV light(s) and who knows how much more equipment. I know we need to buy more toner for our printer, but there should be plenty of black.
I think for the next effort, I'm going to have to try a heat option. Which will either mean investing in a hot air gun or using the oven. Toner should need about 100c to melt the toner, the trick is to not burn it. More experimentation needed!
Yes, this is another Geocaching post. :)
With Geocaching, there are different levels of commitment to people who want to play (read: decide how much money you want to spend), and one of the things which is "a thing" in the game is to drop swag in to caches for other people to find (and possibly move around). From what I've seen, swag can vary between something really nice and expensive like a collectible coin to assorted "junk" (cheap stuff from the dollar store like little plush toys).
As much as I would like go throwing around wads of money and buying toys and keychains and other cool little knick-knacks to give away, I simply don't have the money for it. So I figured I'd try and make (modify?) existing things to hopefully make them a bit more interesting. The level I'm aiming at is interesting enough that someone sees it and goes "that's interesting" but not so interesting that they decide they want to keep it and add it to their collection! It's a fine line to aim for (made a bit harder that one person might look at, say, a hot wheels car and go "meh" while another might go "yes, score!")
So a while back, we found one of those cheap poker sets that someone threw out during verge pickup, so I used this tutorial (YouTube, 2min) to make a couple of little stickers to put on the middle blank part of chips:
So far, the cost for these is:
With these little thingies that I'm making to release out into the wild, I'm trying to keep my costs down to a minimum, due to not having a lot of spare money. However, I'm classing this as both a hobby (having fun) and being creative (making stuff). I've already had a go at etching aluminium (which I need to refine, but the concept is sound) and now I've made these stickers (I was aiming for waterslide decals, but these will do for now) and odds are that I'll want to figure out how to make other stuff on the cheap.
With these, the only thing holding the tape (and toner) onto the plastic chip is the residual glue from the tape after dissolving the paper backing (and on these I wasn't as thorough as I should have been and found there was still a bit of paper on there after it dried). I'd like to add some epoxy resin over the top to really make them pop, but another consideration apart from cost is not getting involved with too many toxic chemicals. That's why I went for salt etching instead of acid etching (which is faster).
I figure that I might need to drop a few more dollars and get a can of spray lacquer or other sealant to make the stickers a little more robust … but that'll be something for another day.
Due to varied reasons (one of the main ones being a desire to create something), I wanted to try my hand at etching aluminium. I've had prior experience with it from one of the places that I used to work at and from College, but I was hoping to avoid having to use Ferric Chloride or other strong chemicals. After a bit of browsing I found that it is possible to do with salt water and a bit of electric current. That seemed like a better idea than to be using toxic chemicals (and then trying to dispose of them).
The first couple of prints failed because I was trying to print an Australian flag, but the detail was too fine. My very first print I rubbed the paper too hard and it ripped, so I scrubbed that one. The second one had many defects of missing toner or details covered by paper pulp. I used magazine paper, and that wasn't blank so some of the toner from that ended up filling in what was meant to be blank spaces.
For my third attempt at a print, I opted for large lettering, but even that was fairly dull and blurry once transferred onto the ali.
The setup … looked dodgy as anything!
Basically running a 5V DC power supply. A bit dodgy to have a stainless steel knife in a salt water bath along with the piece of aluminum being etched. I could see it not taking much fort things to shift around and get a short.
I did tape the knife to the side of the container to try and reduce the risk. Long term, I'd like to maybe get a holder 3D printed or something in order to make it safer and eliminate the chances of a short. But that's a long term thing - right now I'm trying to keep my costs down to a minimum. Current spend: $2. Not counting prior items that I already owned (such as a multimeter to check the polarity of the wires).
The result … is less than what I was hoping for.
I'm 95% certain that the reason for the failure was not enough toner on the print. I needed to use a destructive method (soaking in water) to remove the paper backing, I may need to explore other methods to get a cleaner deposit of the toner onto the aluminium. A pretty decent etch (depthwise, I mean) for only a few minutes of effort.
The end goal is nice crisp writing, and I think I am going to either need better transfer medium to get the toner onto the ali, or a better printer. I think buying toner is going to be my next step, unless I can find another option of paper I can use. Fingers crossed!
Went out today for my first geocache hunt. There aren't too many around where I am, but I was able to find my first two.
Currently planning to see if I can pick up a trackable traveller (they cost about $6 each, give or take depending on the type you get and where you get them from), and see if I can get it all the way out to a friend of mine who live in the USA.
We'll see how far into the hobby I get, money is always an issue and I tend to plan bigger than I can afford.
Today was a good day. Did practically zero paperwork - most of the day was physical work in the yard, working on trucks and changing tyres.
Much better than being stuck behind a computer all day. A bit sore now (and will probably be more sore in the morning) but it's a good sore, from getting things done with your hands.
The last one is gone now. :(
There is a plover family (Masked Lapwings, a type of ground nesting bird) that lives on our street that haven't had much luck with their offspring.
They aren't too bright, and the chicks tend to get run over by cars, washed down storm drains, get eaten or get killed in some other way. They've only had one or two survive to adulthood in the last five years.
They had a brood of four hatchlings recently (the chicks are sooooo cute!) and due to the new veggie patch they were growing up super fast. Probably because they had a good food and water source.
As normal, the chicks got picked off one by one. The last one disappeared, we assume it got grabbed by a cat or a hawk since there was no sign of it except for a few feathers. Poor little chikkies...
Had a weirdo dream that was different enough that I remembered it when I woke up.
It was some dystopian, "after society broke down" type dreas mscape with roving bands plundering for resources, but we still had fish in a bunch of different sized tanks.
The bit I remember was having to do an emergency transfer and submerging a medium sized tank in a giant "could fit a billiard table and a few friends" sized tank, but when we pulled the medium tank out and carried it to the table, it was warping and twisting. Kept thinking it was going to shatter.
Had the chance to do another 10km run today, recorded. Don't always get a chance to have my phone on me when we do these longer runs.
My old personal best was 1 hour and 30 seconds. The long term goal is to crack the one hour mark for 10km but didn't quite make it. Was carrying my camelbak with about 2L of water and drank about half of it, but also had a little Flip 4 bluetooth speaker which added a bit of weight, though not much.
Todays time was 1:01.08 - 38 seconds off from my personal best. Though that time was done in 2018, two years of cream and wear & tear on the knees.
The highlight is that I managed to do it without dropping to a walk. In 2018 I remember I slowed down to a walk a few times, so my running speed must have been higher. Still, not too bad. Finished the run about eight minutes ago and I feel like I could go run some more (I'm not going to).
Got dropped in the deep end a bit at work, ot volunstabbed to be in charge on an assessment. I managed to get through it with a few issues, but was good to have done it.
Should be a bit easier next time.
I'm sorry we couldn't provide a better home for you. I'm sorry the other cats picked on you. Hopefully your next home will be your forever home.
Can't say I'm too happy with my current progress, but I'm doing better than I thought I would. It would be so much better to get actual proper lessons from a human, but it'll be a long time before we can afford that.
By my math, so far I've done 20 sessions across 50 days, though that includes 14 odd days that I was away for work. Making slow progress though still can't play a full song (Twinkle twinkle little star doesn't count).
Fish tank had the filter pump pop a bit off sometime this morning. Net result, about 30L of water pumped out onto the ground.
Took a few hours of moping and cleaning to get everything sorted out. Still have stuff out on the line drying.
Bit of a drive, now home with the family. Pets have gotten bigger, fish have gotten more colourfull and life is good.
Currently on a job, sitting out in a field, wondering why I'm out here doing nothing productive instead of being at home looking after my family. I guess the couple of extra dollars from this will help, and being away provides fewer chances of exposing my family... still sucks being away during this global crisis. Would much rather be at home. I guess somebody needs to be out here. Could be worse,I could be dealing directly with people.
Out here we're outnumbered a few thousand to one by the flies. So glad I have a fly net to keep them off my face, it would drive somebody mad to have these xreepy crawlies all over you. It's bad enough having them on my hands. Eating something is almost impossible without it being instantly covered in flies. Would be nice to be indoors again...
Bugs, bugs, bugs.
Arrived today on the eastern front as part of Operation Plaguebearer (at least that's what I'm calling it) and bugs is my first impression. Bulk flies during the day, grasshoppers and such at night.
A bit cut because the plan was that I'd be driving out here then driving back, which of course changed three times at the last minute and ended up with me sitting out here and someone who wanted to stay out here going back.
*sigh*
Oh well, just think of the overtime. Oh wait...
No, I'm not going to be doing "day X" for years! However, unlike drums and bass guitar I'm happy to report that (so far) I have managed to practice every day (for less than a week, yay me, give me a medal...)
So far, learnt basic C major scales (both hands, but not at the same time), very minimal music theory, how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and almost all of Mary Had A Little Lamb. TTLS isn't too hard, that's a nice simple one. MHALL is kinda tricky because I've found several different versions for the last part and none of them sound right. They feel like they either have a note missing or a note extra.
I found a tutorial on how to play Fur Elise, but it's teaching me a sequence of keys to push. Memorising a series of keystrokes is one thing, but I'd rather develop reading music and playing the notes rather than repeating a known pattern.
Hopefully that will come in time, but I like that bit of music so being able to play that will be a nice feather in my cap. I'll be away with work at times during the year, that'll be a bit frustrating but can't be helped.
I'm pretty sure I'd be doing better if I had a teacher, but can't afford lessons, so here we are.
Only a few days into it, so far I'm working on basic scales and working out where to put my fingers. Also, so far I've managed to practice every day since I started so that's good.
At the moment, my repertoire consists of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I've started trying to play Mary Had A Little Lamb but that's proving a bit tricky.
In exercise news, fitness is down on what it used to be, but that isn't suprising. Arm curls are down to 10kg, but bench press is at 20kg + bar (which I think is 20kg on its own, but not 100% sure).
I've been very frustrated for months due to not being creative. I've tried writing, drawing, bass guitar and a few other minor projects. None have really filled me with passion or had me excited to get stuck into them. For example, each time I try and write something, I just stare at a blank screen for a while or type out something very trite and unreadable, then go do something else. Very meh.
There are lots of things I'd like to try out to try and improve being creative... but my budget is $0 and isn't likely to change anytime soon.
So today I've tried to start teaching myself piano, just from watching YT videos. Am I going to be able to play beautiful music? No. Or at least not yet, it's going to take a while. And lots of practice. That's going to be the key, focussed practice. Not easy when I'm often away for weeks at a time, but it's got to be a better use of my time than staring at my phone.
After bulk time off over the end of last year and the start of this year, it's time to go back to work. Not feeling it...
And more issues with the fish tank.of course it's the one with the goldfish in it. Lost three of the little catfish, last two not sure of. Had to do pretty much a full water replacement to get rid of the bad water.
Early this morning we had a lightning strike pretty close to our place. I happened to be awake at the time (storm in progress), and the flash of light and wall of sound arrived pretty much at the same time.
Two air con units dead, so they'll need to get repaired or replaced. Luckily no damage to the internals or the electrics.
First post for the year, and the decade.
Wow, didn't really think I'd be around this long. I remember watching episodes of Beyond 2000 on tv back in the late 80's / early 90's, talking about "the paperless office" and I remember one bit where they were really amazed at comparing a high-end video camera with the studio cameras and how the quality was "nearly the same".
Now almost everyone has a HD video and still camera in their pocket, along with a personal computer and fingertip access to almost the sum total of all human knowledge.
Starting the year (actually, continuing from the end of last year) by working on improving my push-ups. Started doing sets of 5 up to 40 per day at the end of November, today I've done sets of 15 up to 60 and it isn't 10:30am yet. Working towards doing 100 per day before work starts again.
No real progress on the creative front, but I did get reminded of my old Badly Drawn Cinema project. I only made two of those...
