Wooden Chess Board

 Greetings friends,

I try as often as possible to make Christmas gifts for my family rather than buying things, and this year I decided that a great gift for my brother would be a wooden chess board. He has been studying chess more in recent years, and thought he would enjoy having a nice board to play on.

I didn't take any photos of my raw materials, but as you can imagine, I chose the usual maple & walnut combo for the white and black (brown) squares on the board. I cut them to the standard USCF width of 2.25" and glued them all together. When dry, I cut 2.25" strips from the striped board and alternated layers on the next glue-up to achieve the checkered pattern.

   

At this stage, I glued on the first border around the edge of the board, a thin strip of walnut. This was just an aesthetic choice to provide some more contrast on the edges. To add some thickness to the board, I used some spare pieces of maple to create a border around the bottom. I figured in addition to adding some heft to the board, this would also protect against any warping should it be subjected to higher or lower humidity.

Nearing completion, I took the board over to my brother-in-law who has a nice drum sander to flatten the top of the board and remove any irregularities. Seeing everything slowly come together was very encouraging! The final steps were to trim the edges fully flush/square and to add the final trim on the outer edge of the board.

Some years ago, I found a beautiful piece of figured maple in a "pay-per-pound" scrap lumber pile, and never did anything with it until now. I cut it into 1/4" strips and mitered the ends to the right length to line up at the corners of the board. This part was by far the most tricky as far as measuring and aligning, but the final product looks really great with no end-grain exposed.

With the assembly complete, I used my orbital sander to sand progressively to 600 grit which left a very smooth surface on the top. I only sanded the bottom to 220 since it's not visible during use and will likely wear much faster than the top anyway. Two coats of boiled linseed oil (BLO) really made the contrast between the maple and walnut pop, and brought out the figuring in the maple strips around the edges! I'm incredibly happy with the end result, and my brother really loved it too.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year, and stays tuned for whatever I'm up to in 2023!

Thanks for reading,

Juju

Pirate Costume: The Hat

 Greetings friends,

For a number of years I thought it'd be fun to gradually assemble a pirate costume that I can wear every year for Halloween. This eliminates the need for new costumes, and with a small amount of effort I can add little details to the costume every year. Last year (2021) I went very simple, repurposing a "Where's Waldo" striped shirt for my pirate garb and sporting a matching red bandana. This year, I decided I'd have a go at making a nice pirate hat.

I ordered a felted wool hat blank from Cooperstown Trading Post, in a size XL. I forgot to take a photo of the hat when it arrived, but it's a very basic black hat with a round wide brim. The hat was incredibly stiff, but with some persuasion, it became pliable enough to shape.

I wanted to style the hat similar to the classic tricorn, so I started by bending up the brim of the hat on each side and applied some small clamps to establish a crease. I used the steam setting on my clothes iron to gently steam the hat so that the crease would set. This worked incredibly well to soften the wool and make this work much easier. At the same time, I was able to steam the crown of the hat and stretch it over my head to achieve a better fit. With the hat shaped with steam and clamps, I used some thick thread to "pin" the sides up to hold the tricorn shape.

For the trim, I wanted something ornate but not too over the top. I found a wonderful trim from Palladia Passementerie which I think has the perfect level of flair. I sewed this around the brim of the hat after shaping it, using a thumb tack to poke through the thick wool and then sewing the trim into place.

I have some future plans to add to the hat, for example some feathers and maybe decorative pins or buttons, but at this point it was ready for the debut! It fits really comfortably over my bandana and I'm sure will hold up well for quite a long time!

Arrrr!

Thanks for reading,

Juju

BMW R65/R100 Restoration - Part 7 - Brake Caliper Rebuild

Greetings friends,

This is a continuation of my series of posts documenting the restoration of my BMW R65. For the previous post in this series, click here.

I bought a Brembo brake caliper (sort of) sight unseen on Ebay. The "unseen" portion of this purchase was the condition of the inside of the caliper, as well as no part numbers being provided, only that this caliper was the correct vintage for BMW airheads. For $40, I really couldn't pass on the price and took a chance on it...

When it arrived, I was amazed at how nice the caliper was, and after opening it up I found almost no corrosion or other significant signs of wear! I hit the jackpot but decided the rebuild the caliper anyway, primarily due to the fact that I can only assumer all the seals and gaskets are 40+ years old and need replacement anyway.

Brembo provides a huge selection of repair and rebuild kits for their brakes, and I was pleased to find the exact kits I needed for this specific caliper. The caliper didn't come with the retaining pins and spring for the pads, so I had to buy those separately. The seal kit came with piston gaskets and dust covers as well as replacement bolts for holding the halves of the caliper together. I'll go into more detail below.

Cleaning the interior of the caliper was an easy process, like I said there wasn't much corrosion at all, and the surfaces just had old brake fluid on them. A thorough wiping with acetone and paper towels cleaned them right up. Some acetone-soaked Q-tips were able to reach into the small holes and remove any build-up.

The Brembo kits included some assembly lubricant which was much more viscous than brake fluid but it made the re-assembly a breeze. In a matter of about 15 minutes I installed the piston seals, dust covers, and bolted the two halves of the caliper back together. A small O-ring is sandwiched between the halves of the caliper to connect the brake fluid galleys, so both halves of the caliper receive fluid. When torqueing the big bolts holding the caliper together, I mounted the caliper back onto the forks which gave me the leverage I needed, as the torque spec for these bolts is 50 ft-lb. 

The brake pads have alignment pins as well as a retaining spring, which may look a bit clumsy in the photo below, but once around the brake rotor will be aligned well. At this point the reassembly is complete, I just need to reinstall the caliper onto the forks and bleed it with new fluid!

I hope to be able to make more posts soon for this project. Life has been busy and this project has been on the backburner, but I pretty much have most parts in place to at least have the bike moving... just gotta type out a lot more of these updates. Keep an eye out for more posts!

Thanks for reading,

Juju

Moto Guzzi Breva 750 - Head Guards

 Greetings friends,

I have a few upgrades I plan to make for my Breva 750 and in this post I'm sharing one of them: head guards! I purchased these on Ebay from a seller from the UK, the link to his Ebay page can be found here. The head guards are very well made and I find the engraved MG eagles quite snazzy looking! Their function is to protect the spark plugs from breaking in the event of dropping the bike since the spark plug is the first part of the bike that would contact the ground in that scenario. This is unfortunately the nature of Moto Guzzis due to the design and position of the engine & cylinders,  and with a broken plug, you're stuck... The guards are designed such that the spark plugs can still be removed and replaced as needed.

I filmed a short video of me installing the guards, which I've uploaded to Youtube and can be viewed below.

I also took some 'glamour' shots of the head guards using a nicer camera, the best of which you can see below. I'm really pleased that the guards are not only functional but very good-looking as well!

Thanks for reading,

Juju

Moto Guzzi Breva 750 - Oil Change Torques

 Greetings friends,

After my first year as a motorcyclist, I decided it was time to upgrade to a larger and more comfortable bike. I recently sold my 2002 Yamaha Virago 250 and bought a far more appropriately-sized 2004 Moto Guzzi Breva V750ie.

Being a newcomer to the Moto Guzzi community, I've quickly realized that resources (for parts as well as information) for these motorcycles are very limited in the USA. There are several MG-dedicated forums, but often if I'm searching for information on Google, the forum results are hard to navigate. In an effort to add to the limited library of english-language resources for Moto Guzzis, I will be documenting what I learn as I perform routine maintenance or repairs on this bike during my ownership.

Although oil changes are simple matters, a few bits of info I was never able to get a clear answer for were the torque specifications for the two oil drain bolts as well as for the oil filter bolt. Additionally, the gearbox and bevel drive require annual (or 5000mi) oil changes, and the torque values for these bolts are equally unclear. I will share here the torque values I've found to work for all these drain bolts as well as any peculiarities I observe in the oil change procedure.

A Guzzi enthusiast located in Australia, Mike, has many useful videos carrying out maintenance on the Breva 750, so I won't go into any detail about how to perform these oil changes. If you wish to view the relevant videos, they can be found here for the engine oil, and here for the bevel drive and gearbox. Mike's instructions are very thorough, but he unfortunately mentions nothing about torque for any of the fasteners he removes/reinstalls. Here are the torque values I use:

Torque Specifications:

Engine:

    Oil Pan Front Drain Bolt: 20 ft-lb (~27 N-m)

    Oil Pan Rear Drain Bolt: 15 ft-lb (~20 N-m)

    Oil Filter Bolt: 10 ft-lb (~13 N-m)

Gearbox:

    Drain Bolt: 15 ft-lb (~20 N-m)

    Fill/Level Bolt: 20 ft-lb (~27 N-m)

Bevel Drive:

    Drain Bolt: 15 ft-lb (~20 N-m)

    Fill/Level Bolt: 10 ft-lb (~13 N-m)

I figured out another trick after having some trouble with the crush washer for the engine oil drain bolt. The washer supplied with my new filter kit was made of aluminum, and too large for the M10 drain bolt, so it sealed poorly and resulted in a minor oil leak. I'm including pictures of it below, to show how it not only poorly seated, but that also the head of the bolt began digging into the non-sealing side of the washer as well. I had a similar sealing issue with a copper crush washer, so I decided to buy some Dowty-type sealing washers, which have bonded rubber on the inside, which provide an excellent seal that doesn't leak oil at all!

It's pretty obvious in these photos how a small section near the bottom of the washer wasn't sealing, and how the bolt head was digging into the washer, likely not helping the sealing issue. The Dowty washer solves this problem providing a perfect seal.

Thanks for reading,

Juju

Car Air Flow Experiment (Sedan)

 Greetings friends,

As I'm sure many of you who have owned older cars can relate, my E36 no longer has functioning air-conditioning, so I find myself rolling the windows down on warm days to keep cool. I love the breeze on a cool summer evening, and in playing with window combinations to maximize airflow I've noticed that there are a few particular combinations that have unique effects that I wanted to experiment with and share. These results probably only apply to sedans; I'm not sure if they will perfectly translate to coupes or wagons or SUVs, but maybe future posts can address those other body types.

I've printed out diagrams of my car and drawn the airflow that I experience for each window configuration, which will be shown below with each description. I'll start with all windows down, which I feel is the combo most people go for when the car is blazing hot. I've found this configuration to be middle-ground in terms of effectiveness. It does provide a decent breeze along the sides of the car, and everyone in a fully loaded car will benefit from it. It doesn't provide much circulation down the midline of the car, but generally that's not necessary.

The basic setup, can't go wrong with it, but it's not the most efficient.

A configuration I've found to be completely useless is both front or both rear windows open. This doesn't allow any flow down the line of the car, so the result is usually very turbulent air that is more a nuisance than cooling or relaxing. Air needs a reliable path to flow along in order to be smooth.

Front windows open just creates a lot of turbulence in the back.

Next up is one of my favorite combos, rear windows and sunroof open. The best part of this configuration is that the air enters through the sunroof and flows down the back of my neck as it exits the rear windows. This doesn't cause much turbulence in the cabin, and is really comfortable in the evenings. A major drawback during the daytime is depending on your position, the sun may be shining through the sunroof onto your head and neck... not totally ideal.

My fave, perfect for summer evenings!

The most interesting combination I discovered was only having either both left side or both right side windows open. This created an unusual effect of a forwards (from rear to front) draft on the opposite side of the car from the open windows. I've given my best guess at exactly how the air is flowing in the diagram, and I can only assume that it exits the front window and enters the rear window. The benefit of this is that the driver or the passenger can have a breeze without the other having much at all! This doesn't prevent the road noise from disturbing the passenger, so use this method with discretion.

This was surprising, worth looking into further.

I hope these examples will be of interest to some of you, and I'd love feedback on your experiences if you decide to try any of them out. If I gain a meaningful amount of data on the matter, I will likely update with another blog post addressing other vehicle types or window combinations.

Thanks for reading,

Juju

DIY Mechanical Keyboard

 Greetings friends,

Early in 2021, I decided it would be fun to design and build a mechanical keyboard. My goals for this project were primarily to learn more about circuitry and get some practice soldering small components. In the process of building the keyboard, I ended up designing my own circuit board and doing a lot of the work from scratch. Luckily there were a lot of resources available online that I used to make some of these steps easier. I'll link these resources where I can! I will also provide the relevant files for this project at the end of this post in case anyone wants to recreate it.

I started by deciding on the keyboard layout I wanted. I knew I wanted to use the German QWERTZ layout, but still keep it compact and portable. I used an online layout editor to play around with different layouts, and eventually decided on this layout:

With the layout decided, I created CAD files for the switch mounting plates for building the case, and ordered them from Laserboost, opting for stainless steel with a tumbled finish. This style of assembling the keyboard is called a "sandwich", because it consists of several layers stacked together to make the body of the keyboard.

While waiting for the plates to be produced and ship, I got to work designing the circuit board for the keyboard. I familiarized myself with KiCad, a free software suite that allows one to design circuits, and assists in converting schematics to circuit boards. While easy to get the hang of, this software seems to have an enormous amount of features, and I won't be going into great detail on the process of designing the schematics or PCB, but the main resources I followed to do this can be found here and here. To keep the wiring description short, here is the keyboard layout again, this time with lines drawn representing the rows and columns that were wired together in the circuit.

I used a small arduino called Teensyduino as the controller. It allows the keys to be programmed easily using third-party software. This was a great option for me since I'm not big into programming and wanted to finish this without having to learn any. I added some mounting holes into the PCB for the controller, and ordered 5 boards from JLCPCB. The minimum order was 5 boards, but not too bad given that they were only a few dollars each.

With all the design aspects complete and the plated and PCBs ordered, it was time to select switches and keys. I only had a few options as far as keys for the German layout, so I decided on a simple off-white/beige key, mixing with keys from another set in a dark blue. The combo ended up looking very nice. I somewhat arbitrarily ordered Cherry MX White switches, based on reviews for their nice sound and firm feel.

The completed circuit boards looked very nice, and as you see in the picture above, have all the holes for the switches pre-drilled so everything fit right into place. The top plate came out looking amazing too! This the the top piece of the sandwich, and an identical piece without the switch slots is the bottom piece. The switches press-fit into the slots on the top plate, and the PCB slides onto the solder tabs on the back of the switches, which are then soldered into place from the back side of the board. A single diode is soldered to the PCB for each key as well.

Switches in place, but these blue keys are not the ones used in the final product..

Once all the components were soldered into place, the keyboard was essentially finished, just needed to be programmed. I used the software Teensy to flash the HEX file (the file that tells the controller the layout) to the controller, and I was done! At this point the keyboard was functional and ready to use!

I decided to finish a few more details to complete the look of the keyboard, primarily closing the sides of the sandwich so none of the internal components would be exposed. I had some extra scraps of walnut from a woodworking project, so I decided that would be a nice accent around the sides of the keyboard. The keyboard connects to a computer via USB, so I cut a small notch in the walnut to accommodate the connector.

Finished, with walnut trim!

Thanks for reading,

Juju

My files:

DXF files for top plate and bottom plate

PCB Gerber Files

HEX File for Teensy

Do You Believe in the Crazy Train?

Greetings friends,

I tried my hand at a music mash-up between Crazy Train by Ozzy Ozbourne and Do You Believe in Love? by Huey Lewis and the News. I've had this in my mind for a while and always thought the two songs would make a decent mash-up. I'm happy with how it all came together, though my least favorite part is the bridge section from DYBiL, but it's fine enough I think. I hope you enjoy it, and I'd love to hear feedback if anyone has comments!

Thanks,

Juju

Never Make Changes on a Friday: A Houseplant Story

Greetings friends,

This is a lesson I learned the (thankfully not too) hard way this weekend... I think this can be applied to any situation where last minute changes to an existing system are made before being left alone for some time (weekends, holidays, vacation, etc.). At least in this case, the error didn't cause a catastrophe, but it did drive home the point that I shouldn't make changes before leaving home for a few days...

I've collected orchids for nearly 3 years now and my collection has grown to the size where I decided to set up a system that would water my orchids automatically, particularly the ones that require daily watering. My orchids have been living on a steel rack that I'd outfitted with LED grow lights, so it was a relatively simple matter to integrate the water misting system into the rack as well.

I bought a water pump, misting nozzles, and some plastic hose to get the whole system set up. It was a bit tedious but with some time and a lot of zip-ties, I got everything integrated and functional! I used an interval timer to set the watering frequency. I temporarily used a gallon milk jug as my water source which only needed refilling every 2-3 days.

Misting nozzles are strategically placed..

The mistake I made was, just before a long weekend road trip, swapping the gallon jug for a 2-gallon food prep bucket. I hadn't taken time to test it (ideally for at least a day or two) and assumed it would work. Unfortunately, the vibrations from the pump caused the hose to slowly shimmy its way out of the bucket, until the pump was just pumping air... Funny thing is, while on the road to our destination, it crossed my mind that this was a possibility, so I felt really dumb when I came home to find it had happened.. Luckily we were only gone for 4 days, so luckily no plants were damaged. I immediately switched back to my milk jug setup, and ordered a new 5-gallon bucket and some brass fittings to make a much more fool-proof system. I drilled a hole near the bottom of the bucket and hooked up a barbed spigot. Now I have a full 5 gallon reservoir, and no parts are able to wiggle themselves free!

Simple, elegant(?), problem solved!

I'm happy how easy this fix was, and with no trips planned for a while, I'll be able to monitor the bucket and make sure it's functioning properly! Hopefully anyone reading this can learn this lesson from my mistake; never make changes on a Friday!!

Thanks for reading,

Juju

Bicycle Upgrades

 Greetings friends,

This is a quick post and not so much an "I made it" kind of project, but a project nonetheless. I wanted to write it up, if for no other reason than to make a post and to review the items I purchased for upgrading my bicycle.

With summer finally making its appearance here in the PNW, I figured it was time to dust off the old bike, and go for some rides. My bike is an old 1986 Trek 1000 that came with standard drop bars and brakes when I bought it used. I found the brakes on the drop bars to be uncomfortably low, requiring me to move my hands down whenever I wanted to apply them. I decided that a straight bar would be better suited for my riding style (commuting and trail cycling).

I purchased a Nitto B2500 straight bar which although slightly heavier than the aluminum drop bars, is very sturdy and is much shorter in length, giving it an overall agile feel. For the new brake levers, I bought a pair of Shimano Tiagra BL-4700 levers. These brake levers are very simple and compact; a benefit of having my shifters on the down-tube of my bike meant I didn't need to buy brake levers with integrated shifters.

Installing everything was done in a matter of a half-hour, though I was sure to test the angle of the brake levers for comfort before tightening them down fully. Once I had the brake levers hooked up to the calipers, I took the bike for a spin down to our local used-bike store to buy some grip tape. I opted for tape both because I think rubber grips don't match the look of my bike well and because I like the feel of cork tape much better.

With that, the upgrade is done! I'm really happy with the overall look, and the function is even better. The straight bar allows me to sit more upright, and the unobtrusive brake levers are positioned perfectly for quick use. I often switch my grip from the ends of the bars to the center if I'm cruising on long stretches, and having a shorter straight bar means I don't have to move my hands nearly as far to access my brakes.

Thanks for reading,

Juju

Pineapple Hot Sauce

Greetings friends,

Time for another recipe! I've made this hot sauce a few times, and after a few revisions, I think the result is incredibly delicious. We love pineapples in our household, and during the summer months we have access to Honeyglow Pineapples, which I exclusively recommend for this recipe.

Feel free to adjust the number of habaneros you use. I like my hot sauce pretty spicy but not blistering, so 15 peppers is a good number for my taste.

1 Honeyglow pineapple, cut into chunks

3-4 medium carrots, cut into half-rounds

1 sweet onion, diced

8-10 cloves garlic, minced

2 large limes, juiced

1.5 cups white vinegar

0.5 cups Tequila (whatever kind you like, but nothing too expensive please)

2 tsp salt

15 habanero peppers (halved and seeded)

1. In a deep pan or pot with some olive oil, sauté the carrots and onion until they begin to brown. Add the minced garlic and continue to sauté the mixture. This step is important to allow the Maillard reaction to progress to the point where the sugars caramelize and maximum flavor is achieved.

2. Add the pineapple, lime juice, vinegar, tequila, and salt to the pot and bring to a boil. While this mixture heats up, be sure to scrape the sides of the pot to deglaze any burnt/caked-on bits. Once boiling, reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Add habanero peppers and simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

4. Pour mixture into a blender and blend until very smooth. Add back to the pot and bring to a boil once more.

5. Fill into sterilized bottles.

This batch is enough to completely fill 4 standard hot sauce bottles.

Thanks for reading,

Juju

Leather Music Folder

Greetings friends,

Ever struggling with finding a music folder that will accommodate large sheet music, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Having dabbled a bit in leathercrafting previously, I decided this would be a fun project to practice dyeing leather, and to construct a durable folder that will last for years!

I started with a large piece of heavyweight veg-tanned leather, and cut the pieces from it that I needed. I opted for a folder with dimensions of 12" x 15", small enough to not be cumbersome but big enough to protect large sheet music. I wanted 2 simple flaps inside the folder to tuck the music into, as well as a small pocket to hold a pencil.

For the dyeing process, I used Eco-Flo Waterstain in Bordeaux color. This stain was easy to use and wiped on with a sponge. I moistened the leather beforehand which helped the dye dry more slowly, so it was easier to achieve a consistent color. The hardest part of dyeing such large pieces of leather is achieving a consistent color, and I'm pleased with the job I did.

Punching the holes and stitching the pieces together was uneventful and very straightforward. I scored the interior of the folder down the middle, to assist in making the main fold. A little bit of water along the crease helped a bit. After all the stitching was done, I followed the usual progression of sanding the edges, dyeing them dark, sealing them with gum tragacanth, and burnishing them.

I fashioned a pencil holder out of a leftover scrap of leather, and stitched it to the inside of the folder. The pencil fits in a little bit tight, but it's better than falling out too easily.

After an amount of use, I decided that I wanted some way to keep the folder closed when carrying it, so I opted to add a snap to the open corner. This holds everything together really well and opens very easily. The folder has been really awesome to use, and I have yet to run into any large sheet music that won't fit in it!

Thanks for reading,

Juju