I have decided to venture into the world of Ecommerce and make some plans available for purchase through the website. I have always believed in doing things right, so I will be subscribing to an updated version of my web providers  platform that allows direct downloading of plans for purchase.

To make it worth my time I am busy trying to write up a couple of popularly requested plans for people to choose from. This means more computer time and less shop time for a bit! I sometimes think it takes longer to photograph and write about a project than it does to plan and build it!  Hopefully I can be productive and you will see this soon!

If you have any favourites drop me a line. but for your information my focus has not been larger complex pieces.

Being toying around with a few things the last few days. One  motivated me to come up with a prototype of Buck the tooth. He is named for his obvious dental dilemma. In production his eyes would move and he would likely have arms. I made them to consider his "cuteness" appeal. I certainly would do his mouth differently next time. Anyway for now he sits and waits while I decode whether I will proceed or not.

Had a little distraction this morning. Always nice to be reminded that Mother Nature has awesome power. This morning the ice shifted from one side of the lake to the other after being fairly stationary all week. Fortunately there was not much strength left in the ice when this occurred. For those who live in temperate climates you may have never seen this other than on media. It is very mesmerizing to stand and watch. It's like watching an excavator dig a hole!

Anyway the sheet of ice has stopped moving for the time being although higher winds are called for later today. No damage yet, but we'll keep our fingers crossed!

A new page for "When an MRI goes Badly..." has been added to the website. It has a video, photos and a storyline of the project. Check it out!

The latest Automata project is completed. I hope to post a video to Youtube and my website tomorrow when I get back to a better WiFi network.

This automata  project was born from personal experience. I had an MRI recently. While for me as a engineer it was fascinating to listen to the clicks and whirls and imagine the cool things happening inside the MRI shroud. For many people the thought of a having an MRI is intimidating. They have worries about invisible electronic and magnetic waves pulsing through their body, while you are you are placed in a confined space. If you are claustrophobic it's frightening. 

So what better way to ramp up the whole process than have the MRI malfunction, ironically spinning the patient around inside the tunnel rather than the sensors moving beneath the shroud. Such is the story of "When an MRI Goes Badly"

Betty the MRI Tech tries franticly to bring the machine to a halt by repeatedly pounding on the emergency stop button to no avail. Larry the hospital maintenance man who has a reputation as "old school" is not used to working on such complex machinery and the best he can come up with is repeatedly kicking the machine. It may have been this action that initiated the oil leak!

Larry the Lab Rat, (who else did you expect to find in an MRI lab?) watches intently. Perhaps it was his nibbling on a cable in the bowels of the machine that gave birth to this   medical spin drier! 

Anyway, the poor patient, Herb is getting the ride of his life.

As an added component to the piece the wooden magnet on base plate is magnetic and holds the bolt in place!

More pages added to Shop Talk on the website. Check them out!

Ok little Larry the lab rat has been getting a lot of attention lately. I've been back in the shop and Larry has got his final touches. Now he has a clipboard and pencil, and his articulated tail mechanism has been built inside his bottom. So this will be the last picture of Larry until he appears live in the finished project.

Larry now has a lab coat. He still desires a little pink in his ears to make him a tad more colourful and his tail will be painted after some soldering to attach a linkage to his tail. His right hand will likely get a clipboard - what else would a lab rat carry?  Anyway here's the current Larry.

I have finally got around to adding something to the website that I have promised a few folks for a while. You can now visit Shop Talk! which is a run down of all the equipment and tools I use to make automata. I hope it will be helpful to anymore considering creating their own automata work!

You can access it from the sidebar menu or the home page. Sorry to say all sections are not avail be yet. I have more photos to collect and text to develop. In my mind it is better to release what is available rather than waiting for the whole section to be completed. Have Fun! I would love to hear some feedback!