Camera stabiliser for GoPro Camera

I've just completed a DIY tutorial on how to make a camera stabiliser for a GoPro camera for free, using lego, selotape, elastic bands and a sheet of paper.  The idea was that anyone could make this without the use of any tools.  If you want to watch the video, please click - HERE

product design ideas - pond filter

I have a small pond that is currently the colour of pea soup and i'd like it to be clear.  I have a UV Light on the pump outlet, but it doesn't seem to be reducing the green (yes I've checked the bulb).  So, this weekend, I decided to go all Heath Robinson on it.  I have a load of stainless steel mesh, left over from other projects (originally my kettle design).  I've used it before to filter bits out of wine, so I thought I'd make a set up to try and take some of the sediment out of the water.  The rig I built works really well for a while, tiny bits ofsediment build up as they hit the mesh and are pushed to the sides by the pressure of the water, but aftter about an hour or so, the build up gets too great and rather than go through the mesh, the water spills over the sides.  So, I've been thinking of improving the design to incorporate a water wheel, driven by the fall of the water to brush the sediment that builds up into a collection area.  This is only the first stage, this is the product design process in action.  I have identified the problem, almost have a working solution, but it still needs the design process to make it into a realistic object.

design hack

I don't know if it's because of the bitterly cold weather we've been having (see previous post), but my bandsaw blades keep breaking.  Rather than throw them out, I decided to recycle broken blades into wood rasps. I initially wanted to fix cut lenghths together with nuts and bolts, but the tempered blades whilst easy to saw, proved impossible to drill through.  Instead I taped all the pieces together and cut a 'V' in each end (with a dremel and grinding wheel) to then hold in a frame.

I also positioned the teeth in opposite directions so I cut material when working the rasp in both directions.  The blades are spaced apart because the teeth of the blades are angled, so with coarse toothed blades, this gives a better cut, but with fine toothed blades this isn't necessary as my second experiment proved.  I am very pleased with the results, they work as well as my current wood working rasp and save me throwing the blades away.

As fine toothed blades don't need to be spaced apart, the ends can just as easily be wrapped in strong tape and then covered with filler or Sugru to make them comfortable to hold.

design ideas - chocolate

A while ago I made a series of vac forming moulds to make my own chocolates.  They were going to be unique flavours and shapes, with popping candy in the tips of one idea.  I found the moulds whilst rummaging for some parts over christmas and it seemed relevant as recently I've eaten a lot of chocolate.  Looking at the moulds now, it's surprising how architectural they are, even though that wasn't the original intention.

 

design ideas - door stopped

I never really said why my doorstop was different, so I made a short explanation video.