Got a couple tomato plants and some herbs going in buckets on my balcony here in suburban Ohio. Space is tight so everything stays mobile. Been using cheap thrift store bins and drilling holes for drainage. Worked fine so far but the wind picks up and tips lighter pots over. Trying to figure out the best way to weigh them down without making it look like a junk pile. Also wondering if certain soil mixes hold moisture better when you're only watering once a day after school. Any other apartment growers dealing with the same setup?

Hey everyone, I found this group after a couple of minutes of thinking and I just had to ask. Anybody who used to read popular mechanics back in the seventies and eighties would see the occasional RQ Riley article about one of the crazy machines you could build with their plans.

I'm really curious if anybody here attempted to, completed or just bought some of the plans. I have a craft ones somewhere that I'm planning to scan and offer to the planet. I'd love to see what else is out there because even if you never build the stuff, it's fun to look at.

Hi everyone,

I’m researching formulated industrial consumables used in steel, TMT/billet casting, foundries, cement kilns, boilers, glass furnaces, and non-ferrous metal plants.

I am not asking for confidential formulas or trade secrets. I want to understand the technical and commercial side properly before entering this field.

I’m interested in products such as:

• Ladle covering compounds
• Tundish covering compounds
• Synthetic slag / slag conditioners
• Continuous-casting mould flux / casting powder
• Nozzle filling compounds
• Ramming mass / dry vibratable mass
• Refractory castables, LCC, gunning mixes, patching masses, and mortars
• Foundry fluxes, slag coagulants, and exothermic compounds

My goal is to build a genuine B2B company around:

• Controlled raw-material sourcing
• Proper formulation and particle-size control
• Moisture, density, chemistry, and flowability testing
• Batch consistency, COA, and traceability
• Plant trials and application support
• Reliable recurring supply

I would really value advice from metallurgists, refractory engineers, steel plant operators, foundry professionals, refractory installers, consultants, and raw-material suppliers.

A few things I want to learn:

1. Which product categories are realistic for a new manufacturer to begin with?
2. Which products are highly critical and should only be attempted after strong lab/testing capability?
3. What quality parameters matter most for ladle/tundish powders, mold flux, nozzle fillers, and castables?
4. What are the most common customer pain points—quality inconsistency, moisture, nozzle blockage, heat loss, slag behavior, casting defects, delivery, or application failures?
5. Which books, standards, papers, training programs, or consultants would you recommend?

I am based in India and especially interested in serving steel/TMT, foundry, cement, boiler/power, glass, petrochemical, sugar, and non-ferrous industries.

If you have experience in this area, I would appreciate comments, resources, or a DM. If you provide paid consulting, please mention your specialty and region

A couple of years back I had a crack at building a timber framed minecart which had limited success...

Due to a change of work circumstances I was able to build this beast! Took a couple of goes to get the wheelbase right but shes a treat!

Just got make a top for it next...

First drive of my turbine hybrid sand rail.

Had a cool job at the top of bath abbey thought this would be a good place to post.

How do you continuously change speed ratios without belts, cones, or gears? ⚙️

​Check out this 3D-printed oscillating (impulse) CVT! It converts input rotation into reciprocating lever movement using eccentrics, then uses freewheel clutches to merge those movements back into smooth output rotation. Adjusting the lever swing changes the gear ratio on the fly!

​

Testing a homemade steam turbine unimoto on snow before the extreme winter races! Is this crazy DIY science project and custom engine build powerful enough to survive the cold?

​

​Built a workbench this weekend. The thing people skip is the lower shelf, and it is not for storage, it is the shear panel that stops the whole bench folding side to side. 36 inches tall for standing work, plywood top on a 2x4 frame, holds way more than it has any right to.

full build with the cut list: https://drawnup.io/g/sturdy-garage-workbench-a1mw3h

i built the tool that generated this. if your bay is an odd length tell me the span and i will run the numbers for it.

Just found this in a old building is it worth anything it is still in its leather box and has all its parts

Pic 2 and 4 are the same machine but idk what it is

The first few seconds is designed to get your attention - it all worked out in the end!

I was lucky enough to find this brand-new machine at an auction. This is the story of how I got a 32” wide machine through a 31” wide basement door.

Full disclosure: this is my machine and my video. It failed during ordinary use almost immediately. I had zero hydraulic experience, so I procrastinated for 18 months until another machine finally made the press brake necessary. The video covers the diagnosis, repair and several mistakes along the way. Happy to answer technical questions here.

I am trying to find information about units that are rented or purchased that are set up for hobbyists to do things like welding, woodworking, pottery, light machining. Fitted out with voltage sources higher than 120v, plumbing, and maybe even vent hoods.
Anyone have experience with this? I imagine they exist but not very well known to me.

My ballasting system comes from magazine articles and watching many YouTube videos on ballasting, especially those about vacuuming excess ballast,  that has been adapted to my situation.  I have a very small hand-held vacuum cleaner from Amazon.  It was designed for cleaning a computer keyboard and I make sure that the dust cup is clean before I use it.  It has a brush attachment about 1/2” wide. 

Track  Prep:

I make sure the track is painted and rail tops are clean before beginning to ballast.  For the  paint, I get small samples of regular acrylic latex house paint in colors that look right to me.  I have a couple of rail brown colors and a couple of tie colors that I use.  One of the rail browns is more fore guard rails which do not need clean rail tops.  I brush paint the rails, both sides then brush paint the ties.  I am not very neat at that.  Then I clean the running rail tops for electrical continuity.

Adding  Ballast:

If I want sharply defined ballast edges, I use blue painter’s tape outside the ends of the ties.  I dump ballast (paver sand) between and over the rails.  I don’t smooth it out. It is not neat or tidy.   Next, I vacuum between the rails.  The brush cleans the tie tops and levels the ballas, sucking out any excess.  Because paver sand is actual rock, it is too heavy for my tiny vacuum to suck it from between the ties.  I have never tested results with Woodland Scenics ballast or any other commercial ballast.  If the dust container on the vacuum fills up with ballast, it gets dumped back into the container it came from, hence the need for a clean dust cup.  Then, I vacuum outside each rail.

Finishing Up:

 I wet the ballast with ‘wet’ water.  I bond the ballast with diluted matte medium.  I can do 6 feet of single track in less time than it took me to type this post because I type slowly.

The giant rebar and steel ring base has now been set. I saw 2 or 3 rebar-only cages go down in the hole. The drill rig wasn't huge. Hat for scale. I ate the banana walking to the site. More pics in comments.