User:Mousetad/project scratchpad

Some project ideas I might look into. If anyone has comments on these, please add to this page or the comment page for this page.

Please feel free to add your own ideas. What I'm looking for are things which might be suitable for novice makers like me to get started with. Hopefully at some point someone will be needing an idea and find some inspiration here. Also, I can't remember things, and so a list here is good to augment my rotting mind. -- Mouse

• Laptop stand (in progress)
  • elevate laptop
  • legs which screw off / detach so I can store the stand flat
• Lap counter for counting how many lengths I've done when swimming
  • probably cheaper to buy than make, but that's not the point
  • needs a waterproof, watch-style housing
  • buttons through case will be interesting
    • can get away with a single button - tap to add lap, hold for a few seconds to reset
  • Possible extra functions:
    • time since start
    • mean time per lap
    • min/max time per lap
• Panorama assist mount for camera
  • single plane of rotation with "notches" every so many degrees
  • both horizontal and vertical axis of rotation
  • should rotate around sensor of camera
• Make a spot welder from microwave oven parts
  • [1]
• calagator instance for Midlands
  • Found out about and emailed Nottingham Digital Community. Seems like too much of a cross over to be worth doing.
• Lightweight folding shade structure
• Bike maintenance stand/clamp thing
• Automatic flip-chart counter for accident counter. Need a big red button...  :)
• Painting with a camera doing facial recognition, controlling a pair of animatronic eyes in the painting which follow faces.
• Sew some buttons into some trousers, and extend those braces from the bins so they fit.

Fire stuff. I was a bit of a pyro when I was a kid, but this has been suppressed for years. Seeing a bunch of fire art rekindled (gettit?) my interest. Want to make pretty burning things. See The Flaming Lotus Girls gallery page for some examples of really cool fire art. My wishes are (for now) more modest and more geeky... Some of this stuff will need welding skills, so it's on hold until I learn to do that...

• Cyclone vacuum cleaner fire column. I guess I either need a pyrex chamber, or an open cyclone somehow. Doesn't have to be powered - maybe a crank or spring loaded fan would be better so it's portable. Could also use some sort of simple propane based engine for motive force.
• Close encounters tune played on a flaming pipe organ (need metal fab / welding skills first)