It started as usual: I saw a ready-to-buy piston clock on an internet auction for "silly money" and I thought, why not make it myself? I decided to use a motorbike piston so it would be a gift for my brother who is riding a motorcycle. First I bought a used piston. As far as I remember, it came from Honda CBR 600:
As I'm sure you all well know :-), the piston (the round part) is not connected to the connecting rod (the long part) in a rigid way because it needs to move freely. As a result, when you put the whole thing upside down, it falls over. After having tried different glues and sealants I gave up and asked for help. An apprentice in a local welding workshop (it's amazing but they still exist in XXI century) welded the two parts together for about 2,5 euro.
Than I decided to paint the future clock black as it's quite universal and elegant color. I started with a spray paint but it turned out no good. The paint was easy to scratch with a fingernail which I'sure my brother would promptly point out (he's 6 yrs older, you know what I mean).
Again, I asked for help. There's a lot of paint shops in any suburbs. I got my clock painted in one of them, again for about 2,5 euro, though I don't know why it took whole week.
The most important part of a piston clock is a clock itself. You need a so called insert of appropriate diameter that would fit the hole in your connecting rod. Luckily, I found one on eBay (https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/jen1m).
The last thing I needed to do was to apply some kind of a pad, so that my clock did not scratch my brother's valuable mahogany desk :-). I cut out a piece of felt and fixed it with a black silicone to even some irregularities on the surface of the piston.
And this is the final result:
Not bad, eh? 😃
throw-me-not
In this blog I'd like to share some of ideas what to do with old stuff that you would otherwise throw away, or your neighbours would. I will present my own works, though it's possible I will share some precious web finds. There's a lot of similar web sites and blogs concerning recycling, upcycling etc, but this blog is MINE, mine own, my precious... By the way, sorry for my English, it's not my first language.
środa, 1 listopada 2017
sobota, 28 października 2017
For starters...
Aren't you fed up with all those "oh so cute" tables made from old sewing machines? Well, I am. But when I saw an old Excella portable sewing machine for about 12 euro + pp on a local auction website, I decided to give it a try.
I don't have original picture of what I bought but it looked similar to this:
The wooden base turned out to be great material for a display I always dreamt of.
The 5 mm beveled glass was a costly part. A local glassmaker made it for me and I would always support representatives of a dying proffesion like glassmaking :-)
When put upside down, the wooden top appeared an ideal newspaper holder.
The only problem I have with the machine itself, as for now it waits for the better times in a cellar.
I don't have original picture of what I bought but it looked similar to this:
The wooden base turned out to be great material for a display I always dreamt of.
The 5 mm beveled glass was a costly part. A local glassmaker made it for me and I would always support representatives of a dying proffesion like glassmaking :-)
When put upside down, the wooden top appeared an ideal newspaper holder.
The only problem I have with the machine itself, as for now it waits for the better times in a cellar.
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