Archive for the 'Projects' Category

Mousetrap Car

Published
by
Michael Comfort
on July 9, 2008
in Projects
. 1 Comment

Yesterday Deanne decided to sort a toy storage area that we have, and she pulled out this mousetrap-powered car that Alison and I built years ago. I had forgotten all about it, so it was pretty exciting to see. It needed some minor repairs, but it still works!

Its powered by two mouse traps which lift a wire that pulls a string that is wrapped around the rear axle. The wheels are made from two plastic Pepsi bottles, which have rubber bands around them for traction.

The axles are made from a wooden dowel, and are attached by a folded over piece of the Pepsi bottle, stapled to the bottom of the thin board that gives it its frame.The rear uses two pieces of plastic with a space in the middle where the string comes down to wrap around the axle.

It goes about 10-12 feet!

Big Banner Background

Published
by
Michael Comfort
on June 3, 2008
in My church, Projects and Proud parent
. 7 Comments

As part of our church’s 6-week fast, Gregg asked me to make a banner as a focal point and to help illustrate a theme. Found near the end of the book of Joshua (Joshua 24:14-28), the story tells about the commitment that the people made to follow God, and the marker stone Joshua placed at the base of a large oak tree, to remind the people of their commitment. We at NFC are corporately and personally renewing our commitment to follow and serve the Lord, so these are exciting times!

After thinking about this opportunity, I decided to do something unusual. Something big. (At 17.5 x 3 feet, this is the biggest banner I’ve ever made!)

It was a fun project! The best part being that I got to spend half of Saturday (including a Subway lunch) with my daughter Alison… Together we enlarged it, painted it, waited for it to dry, and hung it. I’m SO glad she helped me. Without her it would have taken twice as long! Plus she’s a great painter and good at mixing colors!

The drawing:

First, I made the simple sketch with the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator at 1/12th size (1 inch = 1 foot). Then I applied a “charcoal” stroke to the lines, colored them, and filled the areas with simple colors.

Trade secret #1 (how we enlarged it):

We used the church’s projector to enlarge the file directly onto butcher paper that was taped to the wall. We traced the outlines in pencil. Then we painted in the colors, sort of like “paint by numbers” with tempera paint. So cool!

Notice the re-purposing of the projector on the left side of the next photo. We used its cooling fan for a while to help dry the paint! It was pretty slow so we eventually took it outside into the sunshine. A gust of wind overturned part of it, and it did smear in a couple of places (if you look REAL close you may see them), but thankfully no major damage was done!

I brought my Dad’s long ladder with the extended arms to get to the top of the arch, and I taped clean rags on to its arms to keep from scuffing the walls.

This domed structural feature is somewhat like an apse in cathedral architecture. Whatever it is called, there was an amazing view from up there!

Trade secret #2 (how it is held up):

Finished!

Snow on spring break!

Published
by
Michael Comfort
on March 27, 2008
in Home and Projects
. 0 Comments

I took the day off yesterday, and spent the whole day in the yard. I mowed, spread bark dust, and pruned—all day. Yes, it rained quite a bit of the time! It was a really full, fun and stress releasing day.

When I woke up today—SNOW! (Even the tin man in the toy firetruck enjoyed it!)

Return of the Jetta!

Published
by
Michael Comfort
on March 18, 2008
in Attempt at humor, Photoshop fun and Projects
. 0 Comments


jettai_return.jpg

Very glad to have this car running again, we are! (Especially Alison!)

Post an update in the future, I will. Fill you in since this and this, I must.

Moons

Published
by
Michael Comfort
on February 23, 2008
in Family, Home and Projects
. 0 Comments

While this was going on outside:

eclipse.jpg

Lucille (my mother-in-law) and I were inside working on this:

moonpuzzle.jpg

Yes. It’s a puzzle of the moon. We started on this a few days ago, and we have worked on it together for a while after dinner each evening this week. She brought it home from the Senior Center, and it’s GOT to be the hardest puzzle I’ve ever done. It’s all shades of bluish gray, as you can see. We have to use the magnifying glass to read the names of the craters, mountains and seas, and then find them on the lid (even smaller!) to find where they go.
Lucy and I like doing it (believe it or not!), and we are determined to finish it, but its S-L-O-W!

Held in suspense!

Published
by
Michael Comfort
on February 22, 2008
in Projects
. 2 Comments

engine.jpg

OK, it’s time for a Jetta update. I know many of you are wondering what in the world has been happening with The Transplant…

Well, the answer is—not much! I got as far as I could go (until I needed special tools and a cherry picker (engine lift), so Deanne and I towed it over to the VW guy’s shop so he could do the parts that I couldn’t (this was exactly a month ago!).

To make a long story short, I’ve been getting bumped. He does work there sometimes, and mostly he’s been working on other stuff, but it’s not a real business. You know, the kind that you can call and talk to someone, or even leave a message? Nope. This is not that. Mostly I just wait, and drive by hoping to catch him there.

So I’m being patient. And thanks to Lucy, my mother in law, Alison does have a car to drive, so it’s not all bad.

Actually, I’m sort of cultivating a friendship with Matt, and some of the other guys that hang out at his shop. These are guys that I just don’t see in my normal “home-work-church” weekly routine, and they really are pretty friendly.

So, the plan is that Matt will swap the motors, and use his special tools, and then I can have it back and hook up all the stuff that I took part. One down side is that putting my part back together is going to be a bit tougher now, as things are not as fresh in my mind as the weeks have gone by! As you saw in the top photo, though, a lot of progress was made today, and both motors are out!

Here’s a bonus photo. It’s the donor vehicle. Kind of reminds me of my root canal last fall!

jettahole.jpg

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