ArtWelderAndy

Nice Surprise

2011-10-10T13:01:00.005-04:00

I just found these videos on YouTube! It's the bike I built! After I finished transplanting the Yanmar diesel engine into the Kawasaki motorcycle, I never used it. I don't have a motorcycle license, didn't want to insure another vehicle, or even deal with what the DMV might say about my chopped-up creation. So I put the bike on Craigslist... and these guys got it (http://www.wingnutcycles.com/), check out the videos they put up! I don't think it could have gone to a better home.

Trashiness

2011-10-06T23:10:00.011-04:00

Greenpoint Lodge in Greenpoint, Brooklyn hired me to create a custom trash enclosure. Their three trash bins had been on the loose, distracting from an otherwise smart looking facade. I took this as an opportunity to not only hide the bins, but add to the aesthetic of the yard. The trash enclosure is made primarily of angle-iron steel for the frame and white oak and birch branches to fill in the panels (If you live in the area you might be wondering who pruned your local trees...)

The top opens up for filling the bins and then the front opens out to pull the bins to the curb. I struggled with the design to keep its functionality, but also to maintain a consistent one inch border around each facade. Leaving a gap on the front face was a last minute decision to facilitate quickly disposing of small objects. The swinging doors shown in the sketch got nixed to make it less appealing for pedestrians to use the bins. Also, the final placement was changed to display the unit at a better angle, free up more space in the yard, and move it further away from the sidewalk.

Patrick Dougherty's sculpture clearly influenced the design. I would not have realized the potential that sticks could play in my work without learning how he uses them in his. Weaving organic material into the hard metal frame I was able to soften the harsh nature of the industrialized world.

Washington Heights Table

2011-08-22T13:06:00.012-04:00

I help a lot of people move with my van. Maybe I've helped you move!? During the last move I did, my friend was carrying in a piece of furniture, and her new housemate said, "I have all the same furniture you have! Isn't that funny?" Well, not really... all of their furniture was from Ikea, as is most of New York City's. Not to knock Ikea, though. I actually find myself there often, as well. They have unbeatable prices and innovative designs. However, you can't escape the homogenizing factor. Also, what happens when you need a table of particular dimensions and it's nowhere to be found? Back to the good old days!

Someone needed a table to fit in a corner in her kitchen and could not find one that was the right size. She contacted me after her mother saw the table I built for Ken Steinkamp. I designed a table for her using square steel tubing for the base and a plyboo (bamboo plywood) top. I tried to reclaim the top from an old piece of furniture, but it seems like the vast majority of sideboards, desks, bed headboards, etc. max out at 20". This one needed to be 22". The dimensions are 42"(length) x 22"(width) x 36"(height). I gave the steel a black patina and wax finish. I stained the top and sealed it with a poly finish.

The top photo is the finished table outside my studio. The next is a closeup of the Plyboo top. The third is in its new home. The last image is the Sketchup drawing created before the building process starts.

Diamonds in the Rough

2011-06-13T11:02:00.003-04:00

I spent the first 3 weeks of May in Richmond, VA, living in an old carriage house and working with Patrick Dougherty at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. The whole process of building the sculpture was captured with time lapse cameras and then edited by Richmond Time Lapse. My band, Election Night, is honored to have the instrumental version of our song Pistons Fire chosen as the soundtrack to the video. Randee Humphrey, the garden's director of education, did a fantastic job spearheading the whole project and Patrick produced an awesome sculpture! The cast of volunteers was a group of hearty, dedicated, tireless people who did a tremendous amount of work and deserve many thanks. Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is absolutely breathtaking. If you have a chance stop in, it's right off of I-95.

Juniperphile

2011-05-04T17:06:00.006-04:00

phile/file/phile/file... Greenpoint's bounty of endless scrap metal has led to another creation. Sparrow - salon and body work has been greening their storefront with some choice plants and I had the pleasure of building a reclaimed-steel planter box to sit above their main window. I sliced and diced some discarded filing cabinets, found sitting out on a curb, and welded them back together into this planter to house these three junipers. The surface has a gun-bluing patina and is otherwise left to rust to match the rest of the facade. If you need any extra inspiration to "get your hair did," please refer to Wesley Willis's - Cut the Mullet. Check out Sparrow's glowing reviews for both their salon and body work. Photo credits and photoshop doctoring courtesy of Caroline Bach.

The Bower

2011-03-31T12:02:00.006-04:00

DC Greens has put together an amazing garden and outdoor classroom at the Stoddert Elementary School in Glover Park, DC. Having seen Patrick Dougherty's sculptures, Natural History (Brooklyn Botanic) and Easy Rider (Dumbarton Oaks), they knew they wanted a stick sculpture for the entryway to their Garden. Patrick Dougherty is generally booked for about two years in advance, so offered me the opportunity and honor to stand in and make a sculpture in his place. As with all of these sculptures, it takes a crew, and for every step along the way there was help. From the first day, harvesting material in Maryland, to the last sponsored meal at Whole Foods, there were volunteers eager to lend a hand in every way. Here is a blog for the garden and photos of the construction process of the sculpture. Special thanks to Patrick Dougherty, Sarah Bernardi, Lauren Shweder Biel, and Jim Coleman, for allowing me to take saplings from his woods.

You got a problem, yo I'll solve it....

2011-02-02T23:19:00.020-05:00

I was presented with a problem: a clutter and a TV/DVD setup that was hard to access. I came up with this new design as a solution. This is the first build I have done where the wood and glass are inset into square tubing versus lying on top. The top level of each shelf is totally flush with the metal frame that supports it.

Three's Company...

2011-02-02T22:22:00.014-05:00

In need of a Keyboard case? This one went from trash to treasure. After checking out the store-bought options, this Frankenstein case seemed to be the best route. I found a discarded Peavey bass case and used a Dremel Rotozip to cut away the old foam, form fit for a bass guitar, to now fit the keyboard. I then lined the inside with fabric from Ikea's end-cut bin. Upon first use, the handle broke, so I fixed that too! When I had found it the brass/bolt configuration was already in play, but now it has a glue/tape job on the other side of the handle, and a peg/glue/staple job for the middle of the handle.

I was fortunate to take the course Textiles and Beyond taught by the Icelandic textile-genius, Hildur Bjarnadóttir. We learned all about working in wool and now, 8 years later, I had a relapse. I bought some felting needles and went to town mixing the raw wool fiber into a prefabbed army/navy store black wool scarf.

The patina on the TV stand built last year gave a great rusted finish, but it kept going, and it kept rusting and rusting. I went to its home in Carroll Gardens and CLR'ed it and then put a fresh coat of paste wax on top. The finish looks great, and has not rusted at all in months... fingers crossed.

And nine months later we have a ..... Coffee Table!!

2010-11-12T17:50:00.007-05:00

Just finished building a Coffee Table for an eco/green dream house in Portola Valley. After working with Patrick Dougherty in February on a sculpture on the property, I contacted the homeowners with my website and they contacted me back saying they wanted me to build a coffee table for the house! I was then put in touch with BAMO, their interior designer, and the process started.

In general I use discarded materials as much as possible, but this project really pushed every aspect of the build to be as environmentally friendly as possible. I'm most comfortable working in metal, and after hunting high and low for suitable wood I was referred to Marcus Sims of Treincarnation who ended up doing a top notch job. From the samples he sent to BAMO they selected the Walnut Crotch. Due to the tapering nature of the cut to get at the crotch section of the tree I came up with the angular design of the boards to allow them to strech-out lengthwise, but still fill in the whole top section. I can't stress it enough, Marcus did an amazing job.

The basic design was borrowed from the Axe Bench that I made for Stonington SeamWorks. BAMO asked that it be smaller (46"x22") and for the gaps between the wood to be tighter, so it would be more suitable as a coffee table. Countless emails later we worked out all the details and the building commenced. It was a real education finding out how much petroleum has gotten into all the products we use, but there are a few companies out there that are really making a difference and using more natural ingredients.

It was a pleasure working with everyone involved!

Ingredients:

Top: Rescued Walnut Tree (saved from chipper at new housing development) finished with Tung Oil thinned with Citrus Oil.
Base: Reclaimed Angle Iron (taken from a fish tank stand outside a Chinese restaurant, a junked bedbug-less bed-frame, and scrap from the set of The Good Wife) finshed with Raw Linseed Oil and Beeswax.

Players:

BAMO / Interior Design.
Marcus Sims of Treincarnation / Woodwork.
ArtWelderAndy / Design and Steelwork.

Easy Rider at Dumbarton Oaks by Patrick Dougherty

2010-09-24T22:11:00.005-04:00

Each time working with Patrick gets better than the last. Dumbarton Oaks has jaw-droppingly-beautiful gardens and Patrick's whirlwind design fit their ellipse garden perfectly. The Volunteers were top notch and Patrick ended up with an awesome sculpture.

Natural History at Brooklyn Botanic Garden

2010-08-27T19:11:00.004-04:00

Another great experience working with Patrick Dougherty, this time in my hometown. Struggling for a title we overheard a 5 year old say "This is Natural History" and the name stuck. I just returned from the woods of central Virginia, where we fought ticks, snakes, bees and poison ivy for our precious sticks for the next Sculpture at Dumbarton Oaks. Stay tuned!

Wylde Crown and Scepter

2010-06-10T20:03:00.040-04:00

Over the past few weeks I have had the pleasure of working with photographer Clay Patrick McBride, building props for his recent photo shoot with Zakk Wylde (founder of the band Black Label Society and former guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne). Clay asked me to build a rusted, “king of the underworld,” crown and scepter that Zakk Wylde would wear and hold while sitting on a thrown in a gothic castle. Clay and I met, went over some initial details and then we checked in throughout the process to make sure everything was on target. Everywhere I go my eyes are constantly scanning for unusual pieces of metal, and I had a stockpile of beat-up, rusted goodies that I was excited to incorporate into this project. Clay gave great pointers and was always open to bounce ideas off of. When it was all said and done I met up with everyone after shoot, met Zakk Wylde, and clay took this photo of us.

I built the scepter first. Clay had a handmade ceramic skull from a recent trip to Central America that he wanted suspended at the top. For the main shaft I used an old sign post that I had found in a seashore town which had heavy pits from all the salt. The post didn't have the taper that scepters commonly have in the handle so I had to expand the steel out towards the top and weld in spacers to keep the correct shape. The end of the post was totally disfigured by the rust, it looked great, but it was tricky to find a way to resolve the wild end to then make a place for the skull. I ended up using a twisted metal sphere to pull the rusted mess back together. The knob that originally had been at the top of the sign post I welded to the base and added a fence spike to make it all come to a point. I then biked around for scraps of rusted flat bar and barb wire to surround the skull. I welded bead lines and wrapped barb wire around the post to accent the handle of the shaft. After assembling it all, I topped it off with the Iron Cross from a Black Label Society logo.

The Crown required more fabrication from stock metals than the scepter. I used a cone calculator online to figure out the proper cut to make in a flat sheet of steel to create the base. It's weird holding a rainbow shaped piece of flat metal and hoping that the two ends will meet together and make a cone shape, but I put it in my ring roller and it did it! I cut a 10 degree cut into the square tube posts to make the crown start to become more vertical. Then I added fence spikes, also welded in at an angle, so they pointed straight up. To rust the stock metal I submerged it in a salty bath and gave it 50amps of juice with a car charge. I left it in there Electroetching for a couple hours and it came out with a good amount of red/orange rust as desired. At that point I didn't know exactly how far to take it, so before proceeding I contacted clay and he gave me some pointers and the go ahead for a totally raw, mean looking crown with thick chain and barb wire. When I tried it on the heavy crown had some painful pressure points against my dome so I tied in some rubber supports cut from a blown inner tube. This peeked my interest to do some research and I found one King's crown that weighed 75 lbs!

VW Golf MKII Brake Proportioning Valve fix OR rebuild OR replace OR o-ring OR repair OR diagram OR half-cut OR.......

2010-05-13T19:27:00.004-04:00

Did you type the title of this post into Google only to find no instructions for rebuilding your leaking VW brake proportioning valve? I did! Well, rest assured, you don't have to spend $140+ for a new one. You can just clean it out and put new o-rings in it. Mine was leaking in the middle, where there is an o-ring band around it. I assumed that this is where the whole thing screwed apart, but I found that the o-ring actually just covered a tiny tiny hole. It screws apart from the top and you just yank that brass plunger piece out with some needle-nose pliers. The top of the brass plunger has what looks like a screw driver slot, but trust me, turning it with a screw driver does nothing. Pull it out, clean it up, get new o-rings, put it back together, fixed. My o-rings looked fine at first glance, but after further investigation I saw tiny striations that were letting the brake fluid by.

P.S. If you find yourself replacing a starter on a 3rd generation Jetta (or probably others), support the engine with a jack or some stands... those clever Germans thought it was a hoot to use the bolts from the starter to also hold the engine to the engine mount.

R.I.P. My dearest Vambulance, Vanessa.

2010-05-03T22:40:00.004-04:00

Dear Vanessa,

The last photo I saw of you was taken by a traffic cam on Queens Blvd as we blasted through a red light. Your photo was footed with identifying times and numbers resembling a mug shot! It was unbearable seeing you depicted like that. Where is the humanity. Money never really meant anything to you, and it surely doesn't now, but together, that day, we made the City of New York 50 bucks richer. Although at times things were rough, we really did have a good go of it, and you are missed. On SNL they reported that James Brown's body was not cremated, but rather donated to fix other sex machines... may your soul live on in the drivetrains of other Vambulances.

Your Captain,

Android

May it bring you some peace that Stacey Gottlieb did a wonderful write up of our time at the Scope art scene. This is how I shall remember you, http://www.nyfa.org/nyfa_current_detail.asp?id=17&fid=1&curid=844.

Rebuilding the Summer Palace

2010-04-20T14:23:00.020-04:00

After a rough winter, things are starting to pop out of the ground at The Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia is an amazing city and it hosts this fabulous arboretum, full of energetic, hard-working, welcoming characters whose vast knowledge of plants and driven work ethic keep the place looking breathtakingly beautiful.

This past winter PA had record-breaking snow both in feet and in weight. Patrick Dougherty's sculptures are designed to withstand the local weather, be it wind in San-Fran, a torrential rain up the coast, or northern snow. This year's snow in PA was so far above what could be expected in the area that the one-year-old Summer Palace took a premature slumber.

People remarked that it looked "deflated," "sat on," and "melted," but no longer. For the past three weeks I teamed up with the Morris Arboretum and pumped some life into the Summer Palace. We literally pumped it up using an automotive floor jack and then reinforced the weakened areas. For the most part sticks have a memory of the shape in which they dried, and most of them popped back into place. However, although strong, dry sticks are also brittle and some of the main structural limbs had to be replaced.

Knowing that we couldn't bring it all the way back up to its original splendor, we lifted the sculpture as high as it would spring back without causing further damage. It is now aesthetically approachable and safe to explore. Visitors are able to enjoy walking in an around the Summer Palace once again.

Many thanks to the Morris Arboretum and extra thanks to Patrick Dougherty for his initial creation and his personal recommendation for me to work on the reconstruction, Patrice Sutton for spearheading the rebuild, Imogen Anderson for her tireless work, Drew Hawkes and Dan Church for continually being on the scene with a needed extra hand, materials, and supplies.

The top photo is the rebuilt state, the next was taken half-way through the rebuild, the next is the fallen state, then the destructive snow, and the last photo is its first built state.

Press:

Morris Arboretum Blog

http://morrisarboretum.blogspot.com/2010/04/inside-look-on-repiring-summer-palace.html

and

Chestnut Hill Local

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B4f7ts6i4i21MWU1MGM3YjktOTliYS00YWE1LTkxZjItNTNhOTI4NzhkMjVk&hl=en

PuttPuttPuttPuttPuttPuttPuttPuttPutt....

2010-03-10T13:18:00.004-05:00

It's alivc! No lights, no insurance, no license, no registration, no helmet, no care... I road my bike back and forth on North Henry Street last night powered by diesel! I now rank among the few other nuts who need to put a diesel engine in a motorcycle. After years of lugging the frame and engine around, I finally just bit the bullet and fabricated the few extra parts needed to complete the bike, et voila!

Work with Patrick Dougherty

2010-02-24T02:12:00.008-05:00

I just returned back to NYC from Portola Valley, CA where I was fortunate enough to work on another Sculpture with Patrick Dougherty. We built 7 huts inspired by Dogon huts from Mali, Africa. This was a private commission by a gracious couple on their property where they are constructing a LEED Platinum home. 5 of us worked for 3 weeks to create the sculpture. Here we are Colby Claycomb, Patrick Dougherty, Romie, me, and Dave Lovejoy.

Back in December I worked with Patrick Dougherty and Romie on this interior sculpture for the North Carolina Museum of Art.

It's been a while...

2009-08-18T12:29:00.010-04:00

I have finally gotten into the metal shop and made some architectural and furniture pieces. The first one I made was a tall-slim coffee table / Bench for a brooklyn appartment's balcony. The top is a thick slab of 3' by 10" marble framed by angle iron and held by square legs. The next metal object is an exterior air conditioner mount. The materials for both pieces were all salvaged (the angle iron with holes for the A/C mount was from my childhood loft). I hope to get photos up soon of both pieces in their intended envirvonments, not the hallway to my studio...

So what was the hold up? Music, I've been playing a lot of music. I now play bass for two bands, The Dakota and Iyadede. The only live shows The Dakota have played have been in various NYC parks, but we are gearing up for our first live show in a proper venue. In the photo we are playing in McCarren Park in Williamsburg, BK. Iyadede has played a bunch and we're playing Santo's Party House on 9/2 and MTV Studios on 9/11. In the photo we are playing at Brooklyn Museum, opening for Baja + The Dry Eye Crew at the Rembering Future Africa event.

New York to San Francisco.... and back

2009-03-10T10:37:00.006-04:00

I just recently returned from San Francisco. I stayed for 3 weeks and was the assistant to Patrick Dougherty on his sculpture The Upper Crust. He was hired by the San Francisco Art Commission to build a sculpture outside of City Hall. This is my third time working with Patrick, and each time has been more exciting than the last. These sculptures are amazingly rewarding to work on, you are in constant contact with nature in its rawest state. The sculpture was build using willow woven into the tops of pollarded sycamore trees. When the Sycamores bloom they will shoot through the scupture. San Francisco Mike does an amazing service for the city with his sfciviccenter blogspot. Check out his last entry of the sculpture at http://sfciviccenter.blogspot.com/2009/02/patrick-dougherty-and-upper-crust.html. San Francisco Mike took the photo I used in this blog entry.

Glassed from the Past

2009-03-09T18:27:00.002-04:00

A photo of the finished product. In other news... the ArtWelderAndy.com studio is moving to Greenpoint, Brooklyn. See you at the local flea market! I'm going to cater my work for the NYC area. We're talking furniture, lighting, and small apartment sized art. I hope to add more and more found objects into my work. Think post-apocalyptic mad max with a sleek refined artistic sensitivity.

Also, I started playing bass for the amazing singer/songwriter Iyadede, check out this video from our first show ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMQY-NwXZhY&feature=channel

My new studio is large enough to accomodate a private music rehearsal space complete with gear. If you don't play terrible music come rent it by the hour!

Minus the Glass

2008-12-15T23:47:00.007-05:00

I haven't heard back from anyone about a glass quote... so this is as far as I can get for now. Laying the glass on the top is a no brainer and the sliding doors come ready to screw into place.

The wood is pine and has been stained, waxed, hammered into place, and then tacked tight with wire nails. The G.H. (inappropriate) is for the audio/visual wires from the stereo to the tv, speakers, et al.

One Patina, Two Patina, Three Patina, Four...

2008-12-13T20:46:00.006-05:00

I sanded and brushed the blue/black steel to a shiny surface and then treated the surface to a home brew patina. As I staggered through the A&P, eyes glazed over from welding, loading up on all their acidic substances I was sure they thought I was either making a bomb or meth. To the patriot act gov't nerd out there who's computer just flagged this post... I don't know how to make either, and the patina was luck. In other news, all the metal work is done. Now for the wood and glass...

Metal Cut & Welded in Place

2008-12-12T03:59:00.007-05:00

Enough people asked me if I drew the SketchUp guy to look like me so here I am playing the role. To answer the question, "no," the program loads with its own dimwit standing there.

I picked up some really handy corner vises at Harbor Freight. That place is hit or miss, always cheap, sometimes too cheap, these however work great. I used the standard magnetic corners for some of the other joints.

I used the Dry Cut-Off for the angle cuts and the Abrasive Cut-Off for the straight cuts. The Dry Cut-Off makes outstandingly precise cuts with no burr.

TV Stand Design Process

2008-12-09T23:26:00.017-05:00

I've been living in NYC, away from my CT studio, and have taken advantage of Google's SketchUp to help flush out the design for a TV Stand commission before actually starting the work. It's a great program and really helped with the communication process getting the design to be exactly what is wanted. The images start at the bottom and go up as the design was edited.

The bottom SketchUp drawing was the starting point. It's my own very industrial aesthetic and served as a bare bones base to add ideas to.

I was asked to make the Stereo area be enclosed to protect the equipment from dust and was sent the next image from the Design Within Reach website. The image above the DWR is how I adapted my table to work with the new specs.

The next image up is from the Anthropologie website and was sent to me as an example of the desired color and openness. The image on top was the final and accepted design. I'm now in CT gathering the materials and getting ready to start.

Back with Sticks

2008-09-24T09:55:00.004-04:00

Amazingly, I was able to work with Patrick Dougherty again on his latest installation at Wheaton College in Norton, MA. Another totally positive experience! Nothing like working your tail off, feeling good about it, working with amazing people, and jumping out of bed the next day to do it again! Here is the photo gallery from the project. Photos were taken by the slide library and are property of Wheaton College.

King Jimmy - should not have sold this beast

2008-09-24T09:44:00.011-04:00

Here is what I wrote up for the ad to sell this beautiful beast. I should not have sold it, I miss it the most. It was my first veggie conversion... 2003!

The great: It's an 88 full-size 1/2-ton 2-door GMC Jimmy Half-convertible w/ 160k miles. The engine is the 6.2l diesel, this is important, it's not the 5.7l that is very troublesome and gave diesels a bad name in the US. The 6.2l is much more reliable, and has served me well. It has a live (solid) front axel and it is a very, very capable 4x4 as it was even used by the government in the 80's before they switched to the Hummer. It is a go anywhere, do anything vehicle. It has a complete towing package including an updated rear suspension capable of towing 6000+ lbs. It's also really easy and inexpensive to work on. It has one-month-old 31-inch tires by Dayton that cost $500+ installed, plus a full-size spare (different brand) and a set of brand new tire chains. It also has a new OEM starter. I drive it everywhere, often to CT and NYC, never with a problem. For diesel trucks, it’s a great competitor at a very affordable price.

The Mild: However, since I can walk to work, and other members of the band I'm in have gotten trucks for moving equipment, I have found that I'm using my truck like a car and not for hauling stuff or driving in heavy snow! It gets 15/20 mpg for short trips in the winter and 65mph on the highway respectively. I've used it for 2 years and the only big thing that I had to fix was the injector pump, and it now has a rebuilt pump from a military grade version. The new pump works really well and It has both much more power and better mileage than before.

I use an amp hooked up to 6”x 9” eclipse speakers and a portable DVD player for audio (I don’t use a head unit as I drive it into NYC frequently and don’t want something visible and easy to steal). The AC needs a recharge; in Vermont I never needed it. The right electric door lock doesn't function and you have to reach over to unlock the door.

The rear wheel wells and rockers had rust and they have been cleaned, had the steel replaced, filled with fiber-resin, and painted (slightly different blue), but there is still some surface rust in places. The frame is in great shape and has an oil coat; it even still has a lot of the original undercoat. The front right fender and hood are from a white and red jimmy; the rest of the jimmy is blue. The tail gate has some rust along the bottom edge, but it still fully functional, I jump around on there all the time loading stuff in and the window motor still works.

The less good: Truck needs one of the dual tailpipes welded on, same thing happened to the other side and I just welded it in place and it hasn't been a problem. The glow plug relay has started to be finicky, but people with this problem usually simply fix it by putting in a manual switch. The relay always goes on, but sometimes you have to turn the engine over once before it clicks into play. Just passed inspection.

The really good: It already really reliably runs on used veggie oil. I made most of the parts from scratch using far superior methods than the available kits. For instance, the hose-in-hose fuel heating system uses a copper tube with great heat transfer the entire length of the hose and is brazed to the components that allow coolant in the hose so there is no chance of cross contamination! It uses two motor driven switches for tank and return/loop selection and there are no flimsy solenoid switches. The veggie tank is custom welded to fit under the car and holds 13.5 gallons and uses a transmission cooler radiator for great heat distribution versus copper tubing. It also has a removable 55-gallon drum on a dolly for oil storage. It uses a standard spin-on fuel filter (6 spares with the truck) for the veggie oil that gets held in place by a stationary heated copper coil that promotes efficient fuel filtering. The veggie fuel gauge is built into a blank spot on the dash and the switches are mounted into drilled holes in the dash. There is a 12-volt dc pump with an inline filter that hooks up to the battery for pumping oil directly from the dumpsters into the main or removable tank.

BenzOil

2008-09-24T09:12:00.007-04:00

From the Archives: My 1982 Mercedes 300tdt. For the controls I built everything into the dash. In the first photo, notice the fuel gauge and the temp gauge just above the shifter, I built them into the ashtray. The fuel and electric heater switches are the silver ones above the climate control. I generally try not to "over beautify the neighborhood," but the interior of this car was really nice so I tried to make the new instruments match.

The second photo shows the engine compartment. I initially converted this car with some special clear tubing that cole-parmer said would hold up, I drove a couple miles, opened the hood and literally saw a tube balloon and then explode diesel all over my face. I got a tow back and replaced all the lines with high pressure fuel line. I used a Davco element fuel filter, a wort chiller (from beer brewing) for my stainless steel plate heat exchanger, injector heater lines from fattywagons.com... The scout, earlier in the blog, is my most recent conversion and some of these things are out of date as to what I would use in my next conversion. Wrapping the heater lines with pipe insulation foam made a huge difference. The oil temp would reach as high as 160 degrees f.

I had a 24 gallon tank in the way back area. There isn't any room under a mercedes for a tank, besides the stock fuel tank. However, if I did another Mercedes I would do a single tank with a electrically heated buffer tank up by the engine. It looks like a possible disaster in the back there, but actually it was a really clean setup. I used dry disconnects to separate the clean tubes from the dirty ones, which would be submerged in the grease vat. The dirty ones would then get coiled and put in that little tuperware box. I used a fill-rite pump, a spinner separator, and a diesel fuel pump element filter from Northern Tool. I put a marine deckplate on the tank for filling from other sources and to view the high of the oil as the tank is filled. It took about a minute per gallon and then element would last 70 gallons. I used a length of pex tubing inside the tank for heating. The fuel lines ran with the heater lines in an insulated tube along the side by your feet (see the first photo, that grey snake are the lines). I did it this way, not under the car, so that everything is serviceable without a lift.

Axe Bench

2008-07-24T15:12:00.006-04:00

Stonington Seamworks has opened up a store front, Emerald Lotus, in the Borough of Stonington CT. The store is filled with gorgeous fabrics from Thailand that are hanging and sewn into pillows, pants, drapes, blankets, wall hangings, sarongs, everything. They asked for a custom bench to hold their beautiful Thai Axe Pillows. I tweaked my normal super industrial look to be a more modern streamlined Thai design. I studied Thai bench design on the internet and in the end, the pillow and bench complement each other well. Please visit the store if you are in town.

New to the shop is a Jepson dry cutting metal miter saw, thank you Jack, and it makes super precise cuts to make the bench as true and straight as can be.

I'll Explain Later

2008-07-19T02:23:00.001-04:00

Delivered

2008-07-11T18:25:00.005-04:00

I delivered the table. With the Ultra flat surface of the granite I found that the table was still twisted about an 8th of an inch over its 48 inch length. With angle iron or wood, the heavy granite would even everything out, but with the 2 inch square tube it had an annoying rock. The beautiful old wood floor in the house wasn't perfectly even either, so I'm going to deliver some shims to make everything sit nicely. Right now we are using quarters, but in this case the extra $1.75 doesn't really add to the value of the table and the shims will be nicer.

When we first assembled the table we used little rubber tabs under the granite and felt pads under the legs, but it sprung around like crazy with all this squishy material. Now it is solid material everywhere, making firm contact with the floor and provides a sturdy surface.

Sign Sealed

2008-07-10T20:51:00.006-04:00

Took 6.5 hours to build. I learned that 2" Square tube is nowhere as forgiving as 1" angle iron, which I use more often. Pretty obvious in hindsight, unfortunately I also learned that the floor in my shop, that I build the table on, is not completely level. It's all squared up now.

Ken is going to do the rusting and wax finishing himself. I have to pick up some rubber for the granite to sit on and some felt for the feet.

New Projo

2008-07-10T00:42:00.004-04:00

I'm doing a fun quick job for a fellow Velvet Miller, Ken Steinkamp ... my Studio is in what is called the American Velvet Mill, currently up for sale? Want to buy it? Also, I can never think of the name Ken without Stuttering it, like Otto in a Fish Called Wanda. "It's KaKAKAkakaKAKen, coming to KkakaAKAKkakill me."

Well, this Ken isn't coming to kill me, he's a great guy, and a great artist, but you don't have to take my word for it... Check out http://www.kensteinkamp.com.

In his kitchen he has a Gorgeous piece of Granite that he hired me to weld up a simple table base for. He and his wife talked me through the dimensions and it's on its way. Pictures to follow.

In the meantime, check out KakakaKAKAken's paintings, they are jam packed with energy and are really exciting works that evoke tangible feelings. Each one hits home on an individual nerve like acupuncture for emotions. I'm not just saying this because he hired me, it's good stuff.

VT or Bust; now Home Run.

2008-06-29T11:18:00.007-04:00

It's been hazy at best all weekend... so the water isn't pumping too high, but the fountain is fully assembled and done. When the sun is shinning the water pumps over twice as high as Jeter. This morning I removed a paper towel from one of the flags that said in big letters "Let's GO RED SOX." Next I'll find a Red Sox jersey under the base...

Batter Up

2008-06-20T21:43:00.002-04:00

The Jeter Figurine is mounted and ready to go. The solar cell is at an angle to get the most direct sunlight. The pump sits below, pushes water up inside the black tube along the white metal stand and sprays it out of home plate through the spigot. At the base of the stand is a rubber stopper to hold everything in place, including the water in the dish! Conveniently, in winter, the entire kit and caboodle can come out, draining the water, and it can be stored inside.

ONE CATCH (punny), Jeter is in CT and the fountain is in VT! But another trip up to VT is not the end of the world.

Diva Land

2008-06-08T23:18:00.006-04:00

Apparently you cannot buy Jeter Figurines at any store in Vermont. The little centerpiece in the bowl will have to wait... along with the stopper that both plugs the center hole and holds the platform for the magic. So, for now, it's a sculpture along with my two other works that have been graciously hosted by the DivaMan.

I created a foundation to support the weight of the fountain, ease the grass trimming, and tie the whole work together. I dug a 4'+ diameter circle about 5" deep, ran a ring around the perimeter with circular edging blocks, filled the rest in with stone mulch and 5 thick pavers for each corner of the base.

Play Ball

2008-05-31T04:54:00.010-04:00

The Bats I strung up on a wire and painted metallic cobalt blue, worked well. They add nice color. In addition to the flags, I also added red feet to the pentagon base to tie it together better. I filled the corners with "great stuff" to (try to) prevent rusting. I don't know if I would call it "great stuff" per se, but it's definitely interesting.

I bought a baseball and went to town drawing lines on it and used online circle calculators... I couldn't figure anything out... but in the end, pretty much went with what looked good, versus what the "dead on balls" accurate representation of a that exact section of a sphere would be. I used a Bucky Shwartz technique of drawing a straight line at one perspective, to give a nice curve at another. I made a stamp out of a sponge for the laces and painted the rest in by hand.

Painting Begins

2008-05-29T00:49:00.008-04:00

Today I started painting. The base is done, tomorrow I will do the bats, and hopefully start on the exterior of the dish. I found a metallic cobalt blue for the bats... very happy.

Still not totally set on what arrangement is going to be in the interior of the dish with the solar sprinkler, but I've been given instructions to go in the Jeter direction. Some ideas are; a decoupage of Jeter photos, a Jeter action figure, a stenciled/sprayed in Jeter image...

I'd be curious to hear some suggestions too. I met an Artist, David Black, who has an amazing Yankees painting, it's inspiration if nothing else.

Graph Theory

2008-05-28T01:56:00.004-04:00

The bowl is too heavy for me to lift up high enough to set it on the bats... I know, wimpy wimpy. Also, in this photo, it's hard to see past all the clutter.

Since the last post, I ran rods up the corners of the pentagon, that go through the dish and into the bat, keeping everything in place. I put eye hooks on each inside corner of the base and on each handle of the bats. I hung a tensioner up near the bat handle and threaded a 40' length of steel wire up and down to support each bat. Hopefully tomorrow I can make a friend and get someone to help me lift the bowl so I can adjust the cable to hold things together properly.

In talking with my brother, who thought the bats would be painted silver, I decided to paint them a deep metallic blue. I already purchased a stain and sealer to coat the bats, but was looking for a way to add more color to the whole fountain, and remembered how much metallic paint shines when I heard "silver." Generally my style is to leave things raw and unpainted, "but chil', this is for a Diva."

The Base

2008-05-23T12:30:00.007-04:00

Here is the base of the fountain tack-welded together. In the bottom right of the photo you can faintly see the chalk lines I drew to get the angles right. On my last tack I ran out of welding wire, but got as far as I had planned to that day, so celebrated by seeing the new Indiana Jones movie. I totally enjoyed it, with the gross science/physics flaws and all, in keeping with all the previous movies.

The other photo is of all the "capitals" of the columns before I welded them in place... I didn't remember that term from Art History, I had to look it up. These capitals might be Doric?!? Possibly Ne0-Doric because I assembled them yesterday!?! In any event, the Yankees won a game!

Chug-a-Lug

2008-05-21T19:52:00.004-04:00

Here's a sketch of the latest "final design." I think the sketch is to proportion, I did it from memory of the parts when I couldn't sleep last night, fun fun... and the photo below shows the 5 completed facades leaning against each other in their pentagon formation. If only the Yankees could win a game...

Cutting the Metal for the Base

2008-05-01T14:21:00.009-04:00

From the graph paper sketch I was able to purchase stock metal and machine it into the pieces that make up the 5 Yankee facades. I still need to cut the columns, but here are the other pieces laid out in order.

Cutting the top bar was the easiest, just a chop saw.

The tops of the columns I cut with a hole saw and then straightened the sides with a band saw and grinding wheel.

The circular windows I cut out with a drill bit. I used a mini milling machine when cutting the holes and column tops and stacked the metal together to do all 5 at a time.

The Arches I cut with a little jig saw. Metal was hitting my face so I put on glasses. Then, because the glasses didn't provide 360 degree protection I still got some metal in my eye. I tried flushing it out for days, but then in my sleep it got lodged in my eye and I went to have it removed.

I waited 4 hours in the waiting room, 1 hour in the "operating room," and a doctor came and took it out in 15 minutes. For $1600 I learned to use the $1 googles I got at Ocean State Job Lot...

Solar Powered Yankees Baseball Fountain

2008-04-30T23:35:00.012-04:00

Next up is a Yankees Baseball themed birdbath with a solar powered water pump. This project is a mix of eco/solar design, engineering, found art, birds, and a kick-ass baseball team.

The Yankees stadium facade is being repeated around to form a pentagon for the base. I used Photoshop to make a mockup of the base and then drew it out on graph paper to find the dimensions for buying the metal.

The Baseball bats will stick out of each corner of the pentagon supporting the dish. This is where some serious engineering will come into play to make them secure enough to support the weight of the water filled dish.

The dish I found in a dumpster! Who would throw that out?!? The exterior I plan to paint like a section of a baseball, white with red laces, and I plan to incorporate a baseball theme (like the field/diamond) into the interior.

The little solar panel and pump I got on ebay. If it doesn't have the umph to push water up in the air with the grandness of the rest of the fountain, or the team it represents, I will either add more of them or replace it with a bigger one.

Finito

2008-04-28T14:03:00.005-04:00

76 Hours of Labor and over $1500 in parts and it works great!

Finishing Touches

2008-04-28T13:41:00.003-04:00

The Scout's Nissan SD 33T Engine actually has a trickle of a fuel return and it was impossible to get an accurate reading of the fuel's temperature. The next best spot to put the sensor is on the injector nozzle. The nozzles get hot and heat up the fuel before it is sprayed. To do this I cut a FPT brass tee's straight section in half, screwed the sensor into the tee until it was the lowest part of the open side, and hose clamped it to an injector nozzle.

The wiring guy installed the gauges and switches inside the Scout. There are three Cyberdyne LED gauges (fuel level, temp, and vacuum), a two way pull out switch for the return/loop and switching to veggie, and then an on/off switch for turning on the injector heaters. With the heaters off the nozzles are 180+ degrees and with the heater on they get to 200+ degrees.

Plumbing

2008-04-09T19:43:00.006-04:00

I installed the tank and connected all the hoses. Where you see that brass hex-nut is the hose-in-hose arrangement. Most of the tanks weight is supported by 7/16 bolts, the tabs on the side keep it from shifting and were riveted in with SS pop rivets. I put a slit down the middle of some pex tubing and installed it around the parking brake line so that it wouldn't rub on the tank.

Filler Neck

2008-04-09T19:34:00.006-04:00

I edited the Filler Neck from the last time it was photoed. I abbreviated the metal and added some hose going to a 90 degree elbow because the original configuration bottomed out on the wheel well. With the rubber hose it could make the bend. It's somewhat intimidating cutting a hole into the exterior of a vehicle on a tough-to-repair rounded section of metal with old unmatchable flat paint. Glad that's done!

Tank, Good to Go

2008-04-09T19:15:00.009-04:00

All of the accessories for the tank are attached to one plate of steel that gets screwed into the tank. I got some interior and exterior tank sealing paint from summit to fill in any holes and to give the tank a tough exterior. The exterior paint is "known to cause cancer in the state of California." Now it's known to cause cancer in Connecticut, and whatever state you might be reading this blog, for that matter. The interior paint is kinda gummy stuff and works great.

So that the welding didn't warp the plate like crazy, I tacked the pieces in and then filled in the rest with 5min epoxy. The Yellow line is the heater, it's a stainless steel gas line with a corrosion proof coating.

Anything else of interest from these photos? I would love some feedback.

Sensitive Fuel

2008-03-21T12:48:00.007-04:00

I installed the vacuum sensor right to the output side of the fuel selecting solenoid. Whether you are running diesel or veg this sensor with tell you how hard the lift pump is sucking to pull the fuel through the filter, and if its sucking too hard, you know you need a new filter.

I also installed a fuel temp sensor on the return line. This will tell the temp of both the diesel and veg as well. By having it on the return line I get a sample of fuel that went along the same path as the fuel that was sprayed into the engine, but took a different path in life. I've seen some located where I put the vacuum sensor, but after the oil hits all those metal components of the engine it is bound to have its temp affected. Before you switch to veg, it will be reading the temp of the diesel which will show how warmed up the engine is and if you are ready to switch.

The Injector Line Heaters!

2008-03-21T12:33:00.009-04:00

I first cut 6 5" pieces of the Teflon Tubing and then one-by-one crimped on a butt connector, clipped the 316 SS wire to length, and installed the closing connector.

Then I held the heaters up to the lines to figure out the length of each lead and chained all the heaters together in series and wrapped silicon tape around the exposed metal connectors.

I wrapped some Teflon tape around the injector lines and then, using silicon tape to hold it down, wrapped the heaters on the lines.

Then I put on two layers of silicon tape and the shiny/fiberglass insulating tape.

On top of all that I zip-tied on some pipe insulating foam. IT WORKS! draws around 8 amps, about 100 watts of heating power.

Edits

2008-03-15T17:21:00.008-04:00

http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/159605551/m/3541021232, thanks Reggie, I'm going with your idea here. I'm going to go use SS wire instead of the cupron, I put on the cupron and found that it is so thin that it is hard to work with and easily burns itself out.

Here are the McMaster items for the new line heaters:

89045K34
Type 316 Stainless Steel Wire .032" Diameter, 1/4-lb Coil, 91 ft/Coil

5335K13
HI-Temp Chemical-Resistant PTFE Sleeving .034" ID, for 20 Awg Wire

7971K41
High-Temperature Crimp-on Butt Splice Noninsulated, 22-18 Awg, 900 Degree F Temp Rating, Packs of 100

7304K133
392 Degree F Chemical Resistant Wire 18 Awg, .068" OD, 600 VAC, Red

When these parts come in I'll rewrap the inj lines with teflon 3 mil tape, wrap the ss teflon coated wire around the inj lines, install the high temp wiring componenets, cover the heaters with silicone tape and a final layer of thermal exhaust manifold tape I bought from AutoZone.

So frustrating, I would be done under the hood and finishing up the rest this weekend if the cupron had worked like the guy who sold me it said it would. It took hours and hours of now unbillable time... How much longer now till it's all done? Not much... If I had known how long this part would take I would have just ordered the heater line from FattyWagons like I have before.

Another Edit... by request of the owner and for aesthetic reasons the filler to the veg tank is going to be placed on the same side, and just ahead of the diesel tank filler.

Edit to a Side Note: A Mercedes diesel expert came to look at the conversion and said that the design of the sd 33 is only loosely based on the diesels MB put into the W123 chassis.

Tank Paint Edit: Instead of the Industrial enamel paint that I mentioned for the tank, I ordered special tank liner and exterior sealer paint from Summit.

I've done a conversion in 3 days, starting with nothing, drinking redbull and rush ordering parts. You go into stores, see what they have, and make it work. Decisions are based on what's available more than anything else. It works, but with a rare and cool vehicle like this, I can't just put in the parts that get the job done or it will stick out like a sore thumb...

Prep for Prep

2008-03-10T01:31:00.004-04:00

Here is the engine compartment with everything ready to accept the lines coming from the new veggie tank. An electrical whiz buddy of mine is going to come in a make all the wiring "nicey nicey." The Cyberdyne gauges were back ordered all over the place so after combining 3 vendors, they are now on their way. Notice the greasecar brand solenoid switches and the nest of hoses that are new from the last engine compartment photo. To connect the pex tubing I'm using those new shark bite push on fittings, the guy at Home Cheapo swears by them...

Hose-In-Hose

2008-03-10T01:22:00.006-04:00

The compression fittings have to be drilled out with a 3/8 drill to allow the 3/8 OD aluminum fuel line to pass through. The one with my grubby fingers on it still has its stock brass stop inside and the other one has been drilled out.

A 3/4 inch barb can be threaded with a 1/2 fpt die. I loaded it with Teflon tape and cranked the the compression fitting home.

The whole idea with doing it this way (instead of getting a FPT tee and screwing all the fittings in) is you save a lot of space in the tight spots where these are going and you save a lot of dough.

Injector Line Heater

2008-03-10T01:00:00.009-04:00

Here we have silicone tape sandwiching some welding wire. 8ft of this wire gave me about 1.2 Ohms of resistance which comes out to around 10 amps of heating power. It actually worked pretty well, and the tape didn't melt or misbehave, but when it came time to install the heater on the injection lines it was too stiff. So next I used 30ga heavy thermaleze / cotton cover insulated cupron which wrapped around the injector lines very nicely over a layer of silicone. I will pick up some high heat wire connectors and wrap silicone around the top. This wire is 2.94 Ohms per ft so the wiring will be done in parallel connecting 6, 2 amp, individual heaters creating a 12amp heating system. Thank you Mun and Tyler for helping me pass electromagnetism.

Custom Fit

2008-03-03T01:38:00.004-05:00

The 7/8 14 UNF fittings for the gargantuan Racor Filter were unavailable from the Sprawl Mall from Stonington to New London, and most places barely new what I was talking about. I ended up unscrewing the 1/2" Push-on fittings, cutting of the barbs, and tapping my own holes to screw in the 3/8 barbs needed. I put 2 giant hose clamps around the Pex tubing on the top and bottom of the wrap, screwed the new fittings in, bolted the filter in place, and coated the whole thing with thick shiny foam insulating tape to lock in the heat. I had the same luck in finding a flange to barb fitting locally (for the diesel-out on top of the filter) so I made one out of a piece of copper tubing. It's that long piece sticking out of the diesel filter that will be trimmed the next time I look at it in person.

Fat Cat

2008-02-29T20:22:00.004-05:00

Here is the Racor 1000 series filter with some tightly wound PEX tubing surrounding the housing to transfer heat from the engine coolant to the filter. I will continue to wind more tape around it and then finish it off with some heat insulation. Below the filter are two hose-in-hose fittings. The bigger one, on the left, has a shark bite fitting to connect right to the pex. The smaller one, for the rear end of the hose-in-hose by the Veggie tank, has barb fittings for regular heater hose that will connect to the tank heater. I used a 1/2" thread die to cut threads on the barbed tee to attach the fpt swagelok compression fitting.

Banjo

2008-02-27T00:22:00.010-05:00

The Banjo Bolt connecting the return line to the top of the filter must be sealed shut to stop the fuels from mixing. The Scout uses a Nissan SD 33 which borrows a lot of its design from the old bullet proof Mercedes engines which included this same fuel return setup.

The Nissan version actually had a check valve in the bolt to only let out excess fuel from the filter, but it was not a perfect system and I could pull air the wrong way with my lungs... I sealed it with a welder.

The stock setup of the lift pump feeding the filter gets reversed so the veggie can share the lift pump and luckily the needed prefabbed high pressure hose was long enough to swap and connect the lift pump right to the injection pump.

Studio Space

2008-02-23T23:41:00.004-05:00

The Space is a little tight, but it does the trick. Other things that have been completed are 95% of the parts ordering and prepping the engine comparment for the extra hardware. I've strengthened the walls of the engine compartment and rerouted some hoses. Some parts, that are easy to get locally, I wait to buy until further along in the process when I can direct measurements off of other installed components. Some parts are tricky and require further research. For the electrical side of the project I've teamed up with a master electrical engineer and I'm contemplating using a NMEA 2000 multi-function gauge or Cyberdyne digital gauges. However, the ball truly is rolling and now that the time consuming tank is out of the way, the rest goes much faster. It's exciting and Hopefully it will be completed by this time next week.

Salvage

2008-02-23T23:35:00.006-05:00

Luckily the owner of this scout has a complete parts car where I was able to remove a matching fuel filler setup. The Veggie tank access will be in the same place, but the other side of the vehicle. Other conversions I have done have used marine deckplates for access to the tank, but this one will look much sharper.

Tank for Tank

2008-02-23T23:05:00.008-05:00

After bench pressing the steel tank repeatedly into place, tweaking dimensions, and adding support tabs and bolts, the Scout now has a properly fit fuel tank. Through the process I've found that the vehicle is remarkably well designed and built. Everything is well spaced and nothing is crammed. However, this makes it extremely hard to find a place for a tank. There is no open expanse of space without a muffler, axle, or some crucial piece going right through the middle. The best place I found was between the drive shaft and the frame. After crawling under other cars, asking other car owners, and web research I found that you can put objects relatively close to the drive shaft. In this case it is a couple inches, and I will put in some plates on the extremities of the tank to protect it in case the shaft breaks loose.

I used a technique similar to wrapping a present for the ends of the tank. This technique allowed me to square the tank easily by aligning opposite triangles. It also cut down on the size of the initial footprint needed from the sheet metal and stiffens the tank by adding a structural double layer cross. The dimensions ended up being 8"x8"x36"; roughly 10 gallons.

I'll add a final picture of the tank after its been fully welded, the heater and fittings are installed, and its been sprayed with an industrial tough enamel. For the tank heater I'm installing a stainless steel corrugated hose that stretches to one end and back.

Back in Black

2008-02-18T21:58:00.003-05:00

After about a Month of not being able to get into my studio because of the door being locked by the management (nothing that I had to do with) I have finally been able to get back in. A Diesel Scout WVO conversion project sat there untouched for the entire time, much to my (and the owners!!!) chagrin. Now the fun begins and the photos will start being posted. I've already made some progress and don't foresee the the entire project taking all that long now that the ball is rolling.

In some very exciting news... ME, I made the news! Stonington Times newspaper that is! Russ Morey wrote a Fantastic article about the ArtWelderAndy Studio and Cheryl Albaine took some great photographs. Many thanks to the Stonington Times for the Article! Click HERE to check it out. This Post's photograph is one of the several taken by Cheryl and is of me showing Russ the Kawasaki Enduro Yanmar Diesel Engine Swap I've been working on.

The Iceman Cometh

2007-12-22T15:29:00.001-05:00

The studio is ready to be used, I'll have a photo up soon of the space. This photo is of my artistic release while I was waiting to finish setting up shop. I decided to have fun while shoveling the driveway. The Iceman obviously is not a stunning achievement, but it shows how creativity can break up the monotony of everyday life.

Diesel Engines Powered by Hydrogen

2007-12-17T21:06:00.001-05:00

Green-Benz just sparked my interest. Aside from converting diesel cars to run on Veggie Oil, they are now converting diesel cars to run on Hydrogen. Wow! Where is the hydrogen entering the engine? Through the air intake? Also interesting; a record breaking gas shelby that runs on hydrogen! And the big question... where will all the energy come from for the hydrogen production? Wind? Solar? BioMass? Something better? or Nuclear? Coal? Something worse? It's a whole new world!

Current Projects

2007-12-17T19:08:00.001-05:00

The new studio is nearing completion and in the meantime I would like to introduce the 4 main projects that I am excited about completing. The longest running, and closest to completion is a Diesel swap into a Kawasaki Enduro kx 125 with a 5hp Yanmar Diesel and a CVT transmission. Most likely to be finished soonest, despite the untimely weather, is a solar powered Yankees baseball themed birdbath water fountain. Third project, a Punsun air-cooled 22hp diesel transplant into a 1968 VW Beetle. It goes without saying, the diesel engines will run on biofuel. The last big project is the installation of a custom made Waste Veggie Oil conversion into an International Harvester Scout 4x4. As a way to organize this blog, and my work, I plan on sticking with one project, more or less, until its completion. This will also prevent my studio from becoming a junkyard of half finished projects. A bunch of smaller projects will also be going on including ebaying, building furniture, and hopefully some personal artwork!

Meanwhile, back at the trailer... - Pink Flamingos

2007-12-07T13:31:00.001-05:00

I'm still setting up the shop... In the meantime check out these sites:

http://community.middlebury.edu/~sticks/ -=- I worked for Middlebury College assisting environmental artist Patrick Dougherty (stickwork.net) for the month of Sept. What an amazing experience! The College Museum is a real powerhouse giving unlimited support to the project led by the most gracious, talented, artist/boss you could ever imagine. The result was a community coming together and collaborating on a fanta'stick'ally beautiful work of Art. A special thanks goes out to a special friend, Middlebury's Divaman!!!!, Dr. Francois Clemmons for letting me crash at his pad. His site is https://seguecommunity.middlebury.edu/index.php?action=site&site=clemmons.

http://www.myinitialsare.tk/ -=- Tyler Kremberg is a personality and a half. Check out his site for a humorous take on music, cities, the internet, and anything else you can think of.

http://friendlymixtape.blogspot.com/ -=- Ari continually puts together rock solid mixes. Check out the song Etienne D'Aout by Malajube on the "july '07" mix, it is a dream and a half.

Personal Hero

2007-11-30T12:06:00.000-05:00

Last night Paul Chapman became a personal hero of mine. He stayed late in the Velvet Mill and helped me "stuff" the trailer/office into the way back of the studio. Even with years of NYC parking skills under my belt, when I thought the final zig zags wouldn't get the trailer the rest of the way in, I was wrong, he was right. He said, "You've never stuffed airplanes into a hanger?!?," I haven't! He has!

Another "side-hero" of mine is the cop that was a couple cars behind me while I was pulling the possibly unregistered with possibly non-working lights trailer with my underpowered 60hp diesel Isuzu P'pup. Which, just last night broke 470,000 miles (yes, almost half a million). I thank the cop for understanding the upcoming Holiday spirit and not pulling me over.

Picking Up The Trailer/Office

2007-11-25T00:30:00.000-05:00

After dreaming of owning a classic trailer for 4+ years now, I am finally picking one up tomorrow! It's old and it's made by Decamp, that's about all I will be able to tell the DMV. I found it on Craigslist.org, went to look at it twice, and have had no less than 20 emails with the current owner. I hope to park it in the way back of my new studio space in the Velvet Mill in Stonington, CT. There it will be used as an office (Photoshoping/Video Editing/Electronic Music Production), safe storage, eye candy, and maybe one day I will put it back on the road. It's pretty much totally gutted right now and I am going to finish the job and add the fit and finish to make it a respectable'ish office.