I have been playing around with Leap motion, it is by far my favorite way to add interaction to VR.
Soda Fountain Restore
So I was looking for a stainless steel workbench for my garage and I found one on Craigslist with a soda machine attached to it. It was originally from a restaurant and so it was a full setup with an Ice hopper. In order for it to work it needed many bags of ice in the Ice tray to be cold enough for the CO2 to absorb into the water to stay carbonated. I didn’t want to have to purchase ice every time I wanted a soda and so I wanted to build it into a freezer to keep everything cold so it would be ready anytime I wanted a soda. It sat in my garage for a couple of years until I finally had enough time to work on it. There are a lot of DIY kegerator setups that are built the same way so I built a keg into it as well and also used a spare soda pump to add wine to it. To keep it stand-alone I didn’t want to route water to it and so I an using 5 gal bottled water as the water source that I keep cold in the freezer itself. The freezer has a temperature regulator that cuts power to it and maintains it just above freezing. I also added some inverted liquor dispensers with everything needed to make a nice long island ice tea.
Hustler 950 6×6 Restoration Project
So after about a year and a half of Hustler parts all over my garage, it has finally come far enough along that I can start posting about it and showing off some of the custom hack jobs and pictures. I had no idea what I was
Some of the steps I’ve taken to get this far:
-All new chains and bearings
-Sandblasted the entire frame and axles, the thing was a rust bucket.
-Repaired multiple large cracks and holes in the tub
-New chain tensioners
-New battery
-all new wiring and cables
-Rebuilt the t-20, bearings, seals and O-rings (still leaks, I need to crack it open again)
-Replaced the Rotax 400cc 2-stroke, It smoked pretty bad and around here lakes have banned 2-strokes anyway.
-Swapped it with a 670cc 22HP Predator Chinese motor. The swap was pretty clean but the exhaust was pointing the wrong direction so I had to cut and re-weld it.
-I had to rebuild the rear engine cover, previous owners hacked it up pretty good.
-I replaced and re upholstered the back seat.
-Made Aluminum diamond plate rear floor and kick panel
-Replaced the front bench seat with Razor bucket seats
-sealed and waterproofed the axels and other holes
-Painted all metal surfaces to keep it from rusting out again
To do still:
-Register the thing.
-Mount the 6 new Argo AT189 tires
-Come up with some sort of latch for the engine cover
-Wire up the winch
-LED Lightbar
-Sump pump
So seating the AT189 tires on the hustler stock rims was a chore. The rims are 11″ wide where the AT189 tires I got are 10″ (24″outer diameter). I figured that 1 inch wouldn’t be a problem and all my searches on this site didn’t say that they wouldn’t fit… after several failed attempts at blowing up my garage with a blow torch and starting fluid, the ratchet strap I had around the center was too puny and actually exploded shooting violently and dangerously 30 feet out into the street. I eventually was able to get 1 tire seated but I ended up going to a shop for the rest of them. Which still took a lot of work blasting them multiple times with the 5 gal air compressor dump valve thing. -nuts. Anyways, I got them all on and I am crazy excited to take it swimming for the first time.
I am also having a rough time registering this thing. There is no VIN so I have had to get a VIN inspection from an OHV dealer and then a VIN assignment inspection from the DMV here in NV and because it is a 4 seater I need liability insurance on it. I now have to send off the packet of all the forms to the state capital to get it approved and get an actual VIN assigned. Ugh we will see how that goes. I was able to get a boat tag for it this morning, after explaining what it is, the lack of VIN thing and no manufacturer capacity plaque, and where I got it, they were nice enough to issue me a Hull Identification Number (HIN) with the appropriate stickers and such. So now it’s a boat, but they were sure to mention that I can’t take it to Lake Mead (the nearest body of water for a long while) because they dont allow OHV’s so I’m ok to be on the water but I can’t unload it to drive it in…
GoPro Hero4 Silver w/ Z1 Rider Gimbal
So I finally got a new GoPro after I had the last 2 stolen, I haven’t had the best luck with these things. GoPro’s are excellent for taking high resolution videos but there is no image stabilization and the resolution means nothing when the video is bouncing around making the watcher motion sick. I have seen many great action videos that are completely unwatchable due to the camera bouncing around so much. The 3 axis gimbal makes the videos look amazingly smooth.
I went with the Z1 rider2 because it was fairly cheap and I plan on mounting it to a helmet so having a remote battery/ controller is the way to go. there are plenty of other gimbals that are rigidly attached to the base but for some reason this gimbal doesn’t give you the option to attach it to the battery/controller. I modelled an adapter using Revit and printed it on my Prusa 3D printer.
I Also do some night shots and having a light is the only way to go so I picked up a light ring off Amazon. It was originally powered by a USB cable but having an additional battery and wire coming off the gimbal was sloppy. The Z1 has a connecter that can be used to charge the GoPro so I modded the cable to power the light ring instead and added a small switch.
I unscrewed the glass lens off a waterproof case and put a small strip of electrical tape in-between the lens and the light to make a snug pressure fit and also put some tape inside the lens in-between the GoPro lens shroud and the glass case lens to make it snug. I originally had too much on there and when I took it off the GoPro lens shroud came off too, so dont make it too tight.
I cut the USB tip off the wire that came with the Gimbal, I will reuse it on another project. I have a spare in case I still want to use the GoPro charging feature.
I soldered the switch pin directly to the back of the light where the original wire attached. Then I sandwiched the pins of the switch in-between the two halves of the light. I had to notch the plastic a little to get it to close. 
Here is one of my first quick vids to show off how smooth the Gimbal makes the video, notice how the bike and the trailer is bouncing around but the horizon stays in the same place.
The 3d model of the adapter can be downloaded here: Thingiverse
Hello Cold and Empty Internet
I was wanting to create a space where I can post my escapades in design, programming, technology and other random interests. This will hopefully be a place that can help and collaborate with like minded people as a resource or inspiration for projects. I have a lot of projects that I work on and I also delve in the realm of Revit, it’s associated API, 3d modeling, Virtual/Augmented Reality and 3d printing. I have several projects just waiting to be documented so look for some updates soon. I have been playing with the idea of putting something like this together for a while, current social media is really lacking and I am hopeful that this will be a rewarding outlet.
Never Ending Design 