Half-Byte » DIY http://half-byte.com Doing more with less. Fri, 23 Sep 2011 17:57:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 Duffle/Laundry bag… aka hobo bag. http://half-byte.com/2011/07/08/dufflelaundry-bag-aka-hobo-bag/ http://half-byte.com/2011/07/08/dufflelaundry-bag-aka-hobo-bag/#comments Fri, 08 Jul 2011 18:58:06 +0000 nibble http://half-byte.com/?p=189 A few years ago I was inspired by a navy laundry bag I saw in Men of Honor with Cuba Gooding Jr.  The bag was a standard drawstring laundry bag, but it sported a nifty circular bottom instead of the simple flat stitch which creates pointed corners.

I decided to give [...]]]> A few years ago I was inspired by a navy laundry bag I saw in Men of Honor with Cuba Gooding Jr.  The bag was a standard drawstring laundry bag, but it sported a nifty circular bottom instead of the simple flat stitch which creates pointed corners.

Hobo Bag

I decided to give it a try and used my wife’s sewing machine to stitch together some canvas and string.  Although it was put together in about an hour and a half, it was surprisingly difficult.  Sewing a round bottom is not easy, even while using pins.  It also didn’t help to run out of white thread midway through the process.  I had to resort to switching to a light yellow thread.

The resulting quality is extremely poor, but I didn’t want it for anything in particular except hobo-ing around.  So, the two toned thread and sewn cloth folds give it character.

It was fun to create and it was a perfect preview for the upcoming Renegade Craft Fair this weekend in San Francisco (July 9-10th).

Note: Don’t forget 2Πr is your friend when sizing the bottom circle.

]]> http://half-byte.com/2011/07/08/dufflelaundry-bag-aka-hobo-bag/feed/ 0 New Charge Station for the New Decade http://half-byte.com/2010/01/07/new-charge-station-for-the-new-decade/ http://half-byte.com/2010/01/07/new-charge-station-for-the-new-decade/#comments Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:54:04 +0000 nibble http://www.half-byte.com/2010/01/07/new-charge-station-for-the-new-decade/ I used the Charge Station I built for a while, but the appearance started to annoy me.  Why would I want to have a plastic tupperware box sitting out in my living room, especially when the duct tape was visible through the frosted top?  The box was too sloppy so I made another attempt [...]]]> Charge StationI used the Charge Station I built for a while, but the appearance started to annoy me.  Why would I want to have a plastic tupperware box sitting out in my living room, especially when the duct tape was visible through the frosted top?  The box was too sloppy so I made another attempt at it.

This time I spent the following (Total $7.50):

  1. Tiny surge protector from Daiso: $1.50
  2. Three wooden trays from Daiso: 3 x $1.50 = $4.50
  3. Hinges from Daiso: $1.50
  4. Elmer’s Glue: practically free…

The power adapter was cheap, so I felt free to disassemble it to fit it through the tray handle; the power plug wouldn’t fit otherwise.  This was straight forward since the power adapter had regular Phillips screws.

Box Cracked  Box Back Box Open

I needed to use a razor to cut out the bottom of one tray to make more space for the power adapters.  This was a little tedious and probably the most difficult part.  But, otherwise this project was simple, fun, and quick.  It only took about an hour to complete.

]]> http://half-byte.com/2010/01/07/new-charge-station-for-the-new-decade/feed/ 0 Repair an Ethernet Prong with Zip-Ties http://half-byte.com/2010/01/07/repair-an-ethernet-prong-with-zip-ties/ http://half-byte.com/2010/01/07/repair-an-ethernet-prong-with-zip-ties/#comments Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:27:13 +0000 nibble http://www.half-byte.com/2010/01/07/repair-an-ethernet-prong-with-zip-ties/ There’s a good tutorial over at Instructables on making custom ethernet prongs out of zip-ties if the original snapped off.  I had a busted cat5 cable causing me trouble and, surprisingly, I had the right size zip ties stowed away in my electronic gear.  So, I gave it a shot.

The result ended up [...]]]> Zip-Tie ProngThere’s a good tutorial over at Instructables on making custom ethernet prongs out of zip-ties if the original snapped off.  I had a busted cat5 cable causing me trouble and, surprisingly, I had the right size zip ties stowed away in my electronic gear.  So, I gave it a shot.

The result ended up better than expected.  The only adjustment I made was to loop some electrical tape around the prong piece to keep everything tidy and secure the prong in place.

plug rightWho knows why the guy that designed ethernet cable heads placed the prong point towards the cable and away from the plug.  They are extremely fragile and frequently snap off when you simply try to pull a cable from behind a desk or out of a nest of wires.  You’d think there would be a ubiquitous design that doesn’t have this flaw.

Plug LeftI’m actually tempted to snap off all the prongs on all my cables and replace them with zip-ties since this hack version correctly points the prong away from the wire making untangling much safer.

]]> http://half-byte.com/2010/01/07/repair-an-ethernet-prong-with-zip-ties/feed/ 1 How to: Laptop battery hack. http://half-byte.com/2008/12/27/how-to-laptop-battery-hack/ http://half-byte.com/2008/12/27/how-to-laptop-battery-hack/#comments Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:11:06 +0000 nibble http://www.half-byte.com/2008/12/27/how-to-laptop-battery-hack/ Somewhat recently I bought an Acer Aspire One netbook and have been very happy with it so far.  However, one of the downsides is the lack of battery power.  This blog post shows you a DIY upgrade of your original battery.  Creating a battery that is 3 times the weight of the laptop seems [...]]]> Somewhat recently I bought an Acer Aspire One netbook and have been very happy with it so far.  However, one of the downsides is the lack of battery power.  This blog post shows you a DIY upgrade of your original battery.  Creating a battery that is 3 times the weight of the laptop seems to defeat the purpose of a netbook.  But, regardless, it looks like a fun upgrade, especially for other old laptops that are dead because you don’t want to spend 50 bucks on a 10 year old computer.

]]> http://half-byte.com/2008/12/27/how-to-laptop-battery-hack/feed/ 0 DIY: Charge Station for your Electronic Devices http://half-byte.com/2008/05/07/diy-charge-station-for-your-electronic-devices/ http://half-byte.com/2008/05/07/diy-charge-station-for-your-electronic-devices/#comments Thu, 08 May 2008 06:06:04 +0000 nibble http://www.half-byte.com/2008/05/07/diy-charge-station-for-your-electronic-devices/ A while ago I saw an article on Lifehacker about building your own charge station to reduce clutter of adapter wires. The idea stuck in my head, because I often collect a nest of wires at the floor of my desk. These wires often find themselves becoming tangled around the wheels of my chair [...]]]> A while ago I saw an article on Lifehacker about building your own charge station to reduce clutter of adapter wires. The idea stuck in my head, because I often collect a nest of wires at the floor of my desk. These wires often find themselves becoming tangled around the wheels of my chair causing more headaches over my already cramped office situation. So, I began a little investigation and found the following:

Power Station Power Station Innards

Total cost: $5.50 (+tax)

  1. Simple surge protector from Fry’s: $3.00
  2. Simple “tupperware” box (20x13x12 cm) from Daiso: $1.50
  3. T shape 3 plug power adapter from a local hardware store: $2.00

To build it, you basically cut a hole in the side of the box and jam the surge protector inside. Then you plug in your adapters and the “T” shaped plug (orange in the picture) and cut a hole where it touches the side. This allows you to attach another adapter to the side of the box without needing to open the top and shift around the plug configuration. Then you cut holes in the top and feed the ends of the cables through them. A little duct tape will keep the wires from slipping back into the box in inadvertently.

If you keep the switch on the outside of the box, this allows you to turn off all the current to the adapter, which will help reduce wasted electricity. Those adapters do use up some juice, even when they aren’t charging anything! The only gotcha about my power station is that I bought a surge protector with a cheap switch. There is no LED in the switch, so you can’t tell if it is on or off. If I were to do this again, I would shell out the extra 2 bucks to get a surge protector with a lighted switch.

Power Station Charging

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