Odd model engineering projects - links and personal

[GailInNM]

OK, you have built your steam or other engine, so now what do you do with it? Or you have an odd engine.

Here is a thread where you can show off what you did with it that is unusual or strange in some way. Or you can provide a link to what someone else did. Let's try; to keep it model engineering sized or related if we can.

It can be any model engineering related project, but extra points are awarded if it uses an engine. What are the extra points good for. Nothing but bragging rights, unless YOU come up up with a better idea of what they should be good for.

I will start off with two links.
The best odd steam powered project web site I know of is:
http://www.crabfu.com/
Lots of details about how the projects were done, not just a here it is site.

Not engine related, but lots of fun in model engineering size is the CNC router. A very different router, built mostly just for the fun of it.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quN37YskoaM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quN37YskoaM[/ame]

Gail in NM, USA

 

[mklotz]

Well, I did mix an experimental martini in my model cement mixer driven by a Stirling engine using the waste heat from the hibachi on which the hors d'oeuvre were cooking. The martini had the faintest flavor of JB Weld but the olives covered it pretty well. Note to self: always wash cement mixer before making cocktails.

My best ME escapade was the photoelectric fish feeder. Years ago we kept tropical fish. We were going to be out of town for a week and nobody was available to feed them. I hit on the idea of building a fish feeder. I soldered a miniature hopper with tapering sides from some light sheet metal. Then I made a feed screw from a wooden dowel by marking out a spiral and hand-carving it. This was mounted at the bottom of the hopper and attached to a small motor that would rotate it, thus moving fish food from the hopper into the fish tank.

Now, a simple timer to turn the motor on for a short time twice a day? No, not me - that would be way too simple. At the same time I had been breadboarding a latching relay circuit activated by a beam of light impinging on a phototransistor. I snatched it up, put it on one side of the fish tank with a light on the other. Whenever, I interrupted the beam the relay closed, the motor ran, the screw turned and the fish food was dispensed.

Now, delighted with my use of available resources, I set it all up and we left the house for a week.

You know where this is going, don't you? I was counting on the fish randomly swimming through the light beam and occasionally dispensing a rather tiny bit of food. It never occurred to me that fish could learn!

When we came home, the tank was kelly green with algae and most of the fish were clustered under the point where the food dropped. Occasionally, one would wander off to the corner where the light beam was and swim through it with a ain't-I-the-clever-one gleam in his eye.

Took me the better part of an evening to clean the tank. I threw the ingenious photoelectric fish feeder in the trash and bought a commercial one that operated with a wind-up clockwork.
The whole incident is now nearly forgotten and my wife only reminds about it when she's really mad at me.

 

[GailInNM]

Your martini mixing reminded me of the very serious business of Margarita mixing - with steam power.
At the DiamondHead international steamup of gauge 1 live steam locomotives, a steam power Margarita mixer was improvised in 1999 and proved to be a very popular attraction for many years to come. It worked very well with the batches getting larger every year.

More photos and story at:
http://www.steamup.com/sitgonline/forum/articles/yankmargarita.jpg/yankmargarita.html