Tag Archives: do it yourself

Art, Graphics, Woodworking, Health, Home, Property, Safety

Laundry folding countertop hinges open to reveal utility sink

December 14, 2012 kleucht 3 Comments

Little by little we are making small home improvements to our new house. Recently my lovely and talented wife came up with this amazing idea. It’s a countertop for our laundry room that is primarily used to fold clothes fresh out of the dryer. The most awesome and amazing part of her idea is that the countertop portion over the utility sink is hinged and folds up out of the way so we can use the sink. I liked the idea so much that I immediately started designing and creating it.

Here is a photo of the final product. The decorating ideas also came from my lovely and talented wife, by the way. Click on any photo to view larger versions of it in my photo gallery.

I bought the countertop from my local home improvement store and cut it down to the correct size using my table saw. This countertop looks like granite, but it is actually a pressboard or an MDF with a hard laminate on top. Here is the final product from another angle.

And here is what it looks like with the sink countertop opened up. I installed a chain and hook to hold the countertop up.

And below is some design detail of the hinged countertop. It’s pretty hard to see since the green paint pretty much blends together and hides detail, but the hinge is actually mounted to a piece of plywood that was mounted directly to the studs in the back wall. I cut out the drywall on the back wall and replaced the drywall with plywood that was about one eighth inch thinner than the drywall. That way the hinge would be set into the wall a bit in order to hide the hinge when looking from above with the countertop down.

Aside from being held up in the back by the hinge, the hinged countertop is held up on the left by another piece of plywood that is mounted on top of the drywall and provides a ledge for the countertop to rest on when closed. And on the right side, I created a bracket out of plywood and 2x4s that sticks out enough for the hinged countertop to rest on when closed.

Here is a better look at the plywood along the left side of the hinged countertop that it rests on when closed. It’s just plywood mounted on top of the drywall.

And here is a better look at the bracket that I created to hold up the countertop next to the sink. I notched the 2x4s so that the plywood would slide into them and hold firmly. I glued and screwed the plywood into the notches from the back side and then mounted the whole thing to the wall.

And here is a reverse angle showing a close up of the bracket plus you can see how I used 2x4s under the other portions of the countertop to hold it up. When installing something like this which is fairly heavy, it’s important to screw into wall studs. Otherwise, the weight could pull the whole thing right off the wall.

That’s about all the detail that I can think of. Add a comment below if you like this design or if you have any questions about details that I have left out.

Kurt

Miscellaneous

Please Invent This: Zero-G Sleeping Device

September 29, 2012 kleucht 7 Comments

I’m a pretty busy guy, so I don’t really have the time nor the energy to implement every single great idea for a new invention that I think of. So I’m going to just release any idea trademarks that I might have enjoyed and put my invention ideas out to the general public for implementation. If you do actually end up getting filthy rich off of any of my invention ideas, I won’t sue you but please feel free to send me a little of your filthy money just to make certain that you are able to sleep soundly at night. 🙂

[image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stacks_of_money.jpg]

Ever since I saw a video back in the early 90’s showing Shuttle astronauts sleeping in zero-G, I’ve been slightly obsessed with the idea of creating a way to sleep in your natural weightless body posture here on the ground. It’s nothing I’ve ever actually done anything about, but had in the back of my mind that I was going to invent some sort of magical zero-G sleeping device and become rich and famous someday.

[image from http://flightwork.blogspot.com/2008/01/when-astronauts-sleep.html]

Weightless Posture

Astronauts (and space tourists) who sleep in zero-G take on a natural body posture like the posture shown in the below sketch. Their muscles all relax and their arms float up in front of their face. They crouch over ever so slightly and their head tilts down just a bit. Their legs are bent at the waist and also at the knees. It’s almost like a recliner position, but with your hands out in front of you.

[image from http://msis.jsc.nasa.gov/sections/section03.htm#Figure%203.3.4.3-1]

Previous Attempts

There appears to be no simple way to reproduce this natural zero-G posture down on the ground. There is a popular massage chair called the “ZeroG Immersion Massage Chair” that is basically a big poofy recliner on steroids. I could probably take a nap in this chair for a couple of hours but I doubt I could sleep soundly for a whole night in it.

[image from http://shop.humantouch.com/zerog-2.html]

There are lots of mattress companies that claim to put your body in the most natural position. Most of the mattress designs I’ve seen advertised try to give you the most properly aligned spine:

[image from http://www.weknowmattresses.com/2012/02/proper-spinal-alignment/]

But can a single mattress really be comfortable for all the different sleeping positions like side, back, stomach? Many people who sleep on their backs will snore on their backs. Many people who sleep on their stomach will have back problems due to the unnatural arching of the back in that position. Many people who sleep on their side will have to flip sides every couple hours during the night which is pretty annoying.

There are some pillow solutions that help separate the legs and align the spine and these can also help you put your arms in a more natural position.

[image from http://www.necksolutions.com/body-pillow.html]

Tossing & Turning

I’m not a doctor, but I’m guessing that the reason we toss and turn during the night is that our bodies tell us that we need to move based on circulation issues and such. I wonder if astronauts toss and turn in zero-G at all. I’m betting they do not because their body is in the natural position and their skin and muscles are not being compressed. So how can we minimize our skin and muscles being compressed down here on the ground?

[image from https://naturessleep.com/Blog/TabId/152/Month/6/Year/2012/Default.aspx]

I used to SCUBA dive quite a bit when I was younger. When neutrally buoyant, you just float in mid-water so to speak. You don’t rise or fall and there is nothing but your wet suit and SCUBA gear pressing on your skin. I’ve wondered many times if it would be possible to sleep while neutrally buoyant under water. That’s not very practical. Not to mention quite dangerous. But it would be an interesting experiment, I think.

[image from http://www.amberwavesdiving.com/scuba-school/advance-your-training]

Possible Solutions

By taking the underwater sleeping idea and making a more practical version of it, is there a way to make a micro-bead (styrofoam balls) sort of device or a gel filled device that would support your whole body and keep it in the natural posture while you sleep? You would want to maximize the support in order to minimize the circulation issues and the tossing and turning problems.

Would it work to cut holes or slots in an existing mattress for the arms and legs to slide into? Would it be too restrictive to try to sleep that way? How could you get the feel and movement of water without actually being in water?

Is it more comfortable and natural to be leaning backwards in a recliner or leaning forwards face down? Those portable massage chairs that are basically like a reverse recliner where you are actually face down in the chair with your face poking through a hole in the headrest seems like it might be close to a solution to the problem … as long as there was a way to maximize and spread out the support so that it would minimize the pressure on your skin and muscles.

[image from http://www.relaxforsuccess.com/55.html]

I believe a laid back solution is a snoring issue, but a face down solution at just the right angle just may be the thing that makes your body feel balanced. If you leaned too far forward you would feel like you are falling and the blood would rush to your head, though. It would have to be just the right angle leaning forward. Would a combination of a modified face-down massage chair with lots of added memory foam or a gel material do the trick if it were tilted forward to just the right angle?

Are there any other ways to essentially hover a person in mid-air? Think outside the box! Come up with a solution! Make millions of bucks! I don’t want to necessarily become rich and famous, but I would like a good night’s sleep so I will definitely buy one if a solution is found!

Please invent this. Thanks,
Kurt

Miscellaneous

Please Invent This: Air Conditioned Barber Chair

May 30, 2011 kleucht Leave a comment

majestic-barber-chair
[image from http://bestbarberchairs.com/]

As I sat in the barber chair recently with that annoying plastic apron tied around my neck with sweat running down my face, I realized there was a simple solution to my discomfort. Just add some air conditioning vents coming out of the armrests of the barber chair. That will pump cool air under that hot plastic apron during the haircut and will keep the patron from overheating.

The chair doesn’t have to create it’s own cold air. The salon employee could simply just hook up a hose to pump in the cold air … or even room temperature air would even help the situation.

Please invent this. Thanks,
Kurt

Art, Graphics, Woodworking, Health, Home, Property, Safety, Nature, Photography, Videos

Our treehouse

June 3, 2010 kleucht 5 Comments

Last weekend was a three day weekend, and I had lots of plans to get all sorts of tasks done around the house. Until my seven year old came up to me on Saturday morning and asked me to build him a treehouse. Little did he know that many months earlier I had scoped out the tree in our back yard for a treehouse and I had even drawn up plans and figured out all the materials I needed.

treehouseplans2

treehouseplans1

Here is a photo of the tree I used.

01-leucht_treehouse

Here is a photo of the treehouse platform under construction:

10-leucht_treehouse

Here is a photo of the completed platform with flooring planks installed and a hole for the trap door:

20-leucht_treehouse

And here is the final product complete with railing:

26-leucht_treehouse

Reverse angle of final product:

28-leucht_treehouse

Here’s a photo of the kids enjoying their new treehouse:

29-leucht_treehouse

The boys got out their play tools and pretended to help me build the treehouse:

30-leucht_treehouse

This took me the whole three day weekend to complete and it was a labor of love. It also took me four trips to Lowe’s for various materials. I’m very pleased with the results and the boys seem to love it. The biggest problem for me was the deer flies that hang out in the backyard. They were all over me all during the construction, and I have welts all over my arms and legs to remember the experience by. 🙂

For anyone who wants more details, I have posted detailed high resolution photos and construction instructions on my website here: http://www.leucht.com/kurt/treehouse/

Computers, User Interfaces, Science, Space, Technology

Warranty, schmoranty (or how to fix a broken DSL modem)

September 10, 2009 kleucht Leave a comment

At home I have DSL Internet service with a very large phone company. Recently my DSL modem has been giving me a little trouble, but I haven’t done anything about it because the problems always corrected themselves simply by power cycling the modem.

But last week the modem started rebooting all by itself and according to the front panel lights it had lots of trouble reconnecting to the Internet. I noticed it would run fine for a while and then start acting up. Once it started acting up, no amount of power cycling would seem to fix the darn thing.

So I finally called the very large phone company to complain and the very polite offshore phone support lady quickly realized that I was an extremely intelligent and technically savvy customer and she immediately said she would overnight me a new modem. Nice. Only one catch, though. It was the beginning of a long holiday weekend and the modem shipped overnight would probably take three days to arrive at my doorstep. Hmmm. Three days without Internet service? This was gonna hurt.

So I did what any self respecting engineer would do … I got a screwdriver and took the thing apart.

No obvious burnt or charred areas were found. But static shock or lightning could have internally messed up some of these components without showing any external damage. Hmmmm. One or two of the capacitors appears to be a little bulged at the top. That might be a problem.

I felt the circuit board components just out of curiosity and holy cow, the DSL system on a chip (TI AR7 7100) was so hot I couldn’t keep my finger on it for more than about one second. That can’t be right. That chip is totally overheating.

I tested my theory by getting a small glass bowl from the kitchen and putting some ice cubes in it and placing it on top of the overheating chip. And it seemed to fix the problem!

All weekend long, my wife and I would put the chip on ice every time we wanted to use the Internet and this solution always kept the DSL modem in operating condition for an hour or two until the ice completely melted and the water started to lose its cool.

Turns out that the replacement modem that was “overnight” shipped actually took four days to arrive at my doorstep! Figures.

At least now we can keep our ice away from our computers and keep it in our sweet tea where it belongs! 🙂

Kurt