Life has caught up to me, between work and other projects......I remain busy. I continue to work on watches, right now I am experimenting with my own method for lume as I am not pleased with the idea of ordering a lume kit Switzerland and having the shipping cost as much as the lume, plus ship time.
I located a company that I have been working with to create a watch lume that is a bit out of the ordinary, stay tuned as I will be posting my experiments soon. The lume project began with an intersecting interest of where else I can apply it to: gun sights. Yes I know, one typically buys Tritium dot sights but I am looking to have the entire front site post glow one color with a contrasting dot color, or a black dot center (no glow). I have not had the chance to experiment with the lume on the sights yet as I am still working out mixing rations as well as application methods.
In the mean time, the prototype watch I built has been ticking away without issue and have restored additional Hamilton 917 movements which are ear marked for wrist watch conversions. As soon as i have the lume situation figured out, will be getting back to watch production. Oh, the other exciting news is a IWC caliber 57!
Yay.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Ken's Burger Conundrum
There is a burger recipe that I have been slowly developing through trial and error and it is at a point where the burger comes out consistently super delicious so I thought that I would share here. My roommate TJC was helping with the BBQ last night and lent a helpful hand to the burgers as well as the name for when he asked what they are called, in my best Dr.Krieger voice pining over his human pig hybrid; 'oh burger conundrum', and that is how that name stuck.
Lets review the ingredients;
Aside from telling you that that was the closest piece of paper that I could find and you not believing me, lets move on. After the title and at the first lion, you see 6lbs of lean ground beef. Yes, 6lbs, you read that right. Next, the first sheep line, 4 medium eggs and the cup of cheese, self explanatory, at first monkey, you will need to mince those onions and fry them along with the 2 table spoons of minced garlic. It is key to cook the garlic and onion now so that it does not alter meat cooking time later. For some reason the most important ingredient was omitted from the list, you will need an entire package of bacon, oven cooked than minced. Once you have all of the ingredients ready, its time to knead all of this together. About the only order to maintain when mixing is add the whiskey second to last and the bacon last.
(hey....you're drooling)
The veggies in a little olive oil over heat
I am cooking after all...
Was this for the burger or me?
The ingredients
Bacon mince! (You're drooling again)
Now to go fire up the grill.
Lets review the ingredients;
Aside from telling you that that was the closest piece of paper that I could find and you not believing me, lets move on. After the title and at the first lion, you see 6lbs of lean ground beef. Yes, 6lbs, you read that right. Next, the first sheep line, 4 medium eggs and the cup of cheese, self explanatory, at first monkey, you will need to mince those onions and fry them along with the 2 table spoons of minced garlic. It is key to cook the garlic and onion now so that it does not alter meat cooking time later. For some reason the most important ingredient was omitted from the list, you will need an entire package of bacon, oven cooked than minced. Once you have all of the ingredients ready, its time to knead all of this together. About the only order to maintain when mixing is add the whiskey second to last and the bacon last.
(hey....you're drooling)
The veggies in a little olive oil over heat
I am cooking after all...
Was this for the burger or me?
The ingredients
Bacon mince! (You're drooling again)
Now to go fire up the grill.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Beware of your own fatigue level when working on small things
I went back to working on a Hampden lever set from 1888 that has a dial size of 34.34mm (beyond that, I haven't identified the model yet) today and the previous night was one of my close friend's birthday which turned in to a night or drinking; complete with tequila shots so waking up this morning was a tad rough.
As I was working on the watch, I felt fatigued faster than usual due to my mild hangover today and I thought to mention something here to those who are getting into generally making things or are advancing in various tinkering to take into consideration your fatigue levels as you continuously work and perhaps avoid a mistake that should have otherwise never occurred.
When you feel a bit tired, a little out of focus, can't seem to get past something that shouldn't be putting up so much trouble.....take a break. Stand up and away from your table/bench/work area and walk around for a moment, taker 15 minutes and go walk around if it nice out and comeback to your work. Often I have solved problems that plagued me for hours and in the brief walk I figure out the solution.
Working on small things, for me it was filing down the pallet bridge on the Hampden today that got to me faster, and somethings will simply tire out faster; no matter how small of a thing it maybe. The key is to take your time, specially with parts that would be difficult to source. It is nearly 8pm as of this writing and I started working on the watch around 3pm today, the filing I did not start until around 4pm and took a break at 5pm, came back to work on it at 7pm to polish up to prep for jeweling, which I means I spent 2 hours filing and polishing something that is 11.46mm ling and 2.53mm wide, the hour spent filing was getting from 1.3mm down to .8mm thickness. Despite the time it has taken, I have not destroyed the pallet bridge out of a watch from the 19th century by taking the necessary time.
Well, back to work for me as typing this was my break.
As I was working on the watch, I felt fatigued faster than usual due to my mild hangover today and I thought to mention something here to those who are getting into generally making things or are advancing in various tinkering to take into consideration your fatigue levels as you continuously work and perhaps avoid a mistake that should have otherwise never occurred.
When you feel a bit tired, a little out of focus, can't seem to get past something that shouldn't be putting up so much trouble.....take a break. Stand up and away from your table/bench/work area and walk around for a moment, taker 15 minutes and go walk around if it nice out and comeback to your work. Often I have solved problems that plagued me for hours and in the brief walk I figure out the solution.
Working on small things, for me it was filing down the pallet bridge on the Hampden today that got to me faster, and somethings will simply tire out faster; no matter how small of a thing it maybe. The key is to take your time, specially with parts that would be difficult to source. It is nearly 8pm as of this writing and I started working on the watch around 3pm today, the filing I did not start until around 4pm and took a break at 5pm, came back to work on it at 7pm to polish up to prep for jeweling, which I means I spent 2 hours filing and polishing something that is 11.46mm ling and 2.53mm wide, the hour spent filing was getting from 1.3mm down to .8mm thickness. Despite the time it has taken, I have not destroyed the pallet bridge out of a watch from the 19th century by taking the necessary time.
Well, back to work for me as typing this was my break.
Friday, February 17, 2012
WSUS 3.0 issue with virtual machine templates
I came across an interesting issue at work where I was building a WSUS server in the hopes of better control over update application through GPO. What changed in how WSUS seeks client computers is significant if you run a highly virtualized environment.
In WSUS 3.0, it stopped looking for machine names and IP as unique identifier, no; the server looks at a GUID generated when a Window's machine contacts Update Services via Automatic Updates. Apparently MS felt that a combination of computer name and IP just wasn't unique enough. This GUID that is generated also does not change from Sysprep either, which means if you like myself launch VMs from templates, this GUID will not longer be unique and the strange signs will occur where VMs made from the same template, only one will be able to report to the WSUS server at any time. Signs of this behavior is simple, force add one client machine from the target computer via command line, wuauclt /detectnow and then another VM that was created from the same template....highlander rules suddenly apply and there can be only one as the GUID is not unique.
To verify the same GUID issue, check the registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate and look at two values, SusClientId and SusClientValidation. If those are the same, you have this issue.
To fix; delete the registry entries, than restart the Automatic Updates service than force report via command line, which will force the registry to create a new fresh GUID from the WSUS server as none exist. If you have a bunch of computers to deal with as I do, I would recommend scripting the fix.
Here is a simple batch file that can resolve the issue for you (copy below, paste in notepad and save as .bat);
net stop wuauserv /y
net stop bits /y
Reg Delete "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate" /v SusClientId /f
Reg Delete "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate" /v SusClientIdValidation /f
net start wuauserv /y
net start bits /y
echo Initiating Windows Updates detection cycle...
wuauclt.exe /resetauthorization
wuauclt.exe /detectnow
wuauclt.exe /reportnow
In WSUS 3.0, it stopped looking for machine names and IP as unique identifier, no; the server looks at a GUID generated when a Window's machine contacts Update Services via Automatic Updates. Apparently MS felt that a combination of computer name and IP just wasn't unique enough. This GUID that is generated also does not change from Sysprep either, which means if you like myself launch VMs from templates, this GUID will not longer be unique and the strange signs will occur where VMs made from the same template, only one will be able to report to the WSUS server at any time. Signs of this behavior is simple, force add one client machine from the target computer via command line, wuauclt /detectnow and then another VM that was created from the same template....highlander rules suddenly apply and there can be only one as the GUID is not unique.
To verify the same GUID issue, check the registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate and look at two values, SusClientId and SusClientValidation. If those are the same, you have this issue.
To fix; delete the registry entries, than restart the Automatic Updates service than force report via command line, which will force the registry to create a new fresh GUID from the WSUS server as none exist. If you have a bunch of computers to deal with as I do, I would recommend scripting the fix.
Here is a simple batch file that can resolve the issue for you (copy below, paste in notepad and save as .bat);
net stop wuauserv /y
net stop bits /y
Reg Delete "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate" /v SusClientId /f
Reg Delete "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate" /v SusClientIdValidation /f
net start wuauserv /y
net start bits /y
echo Initiating Windows Updates detection cycle...
wuauclt.exe /resetauthorization
wuauclt.exe /detectnow
wuauclt.exe /reportnow
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Hamilton 917 Wrist Watch Conversion Completed!
After getting home last night, I got to work on trimming the stem down to fit the wrist watch case. I started out by inserting the uncut stem and marking where it exits the case with white paint, the same after attaching crown to see how far down it threads, measure the distance the crown threads down and add it to the side where the stem sticks out of the case....except that that measurement as suggested on the web does not work. When measuring the stem, trim nearly flush to the case in the down position (winding position, not hand setting) and file down to fit thereafter.
Once you are happy with the stem length, use either locktite or superglue to keep the crown from unscrewing when setting the time and that's it to the process. I was so exited to get the first watch done that I did not take any pictures of the stem fitting process but I plan to on the next watch build. In the mean time, here it is, prototype watch, hope you dig it.
Once you are happy with the stem length, use either locktite or superglue to keep the crown from unscrewing when setting the time and that's it to the process. I was so exited to get the first watch done that I did not take any pictures of the stem fitting process but I plan to on the next watch build. In the mean time, here it is, prototype watch, hope you dig it.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Hamilton 917 wrist watch conversion near complete
I just received the stems for a ETA/Unitas 6497/8 today, it is the final part to complete my first watch build! The Hamilton 917 movement is fitted to the case and all internal case parts are fitted to the movement, strap was an awesome find on ebay....see for your self.
As you can see in the pictures, that is the original stem and crown for the Hamilton 917 which does not fit the case, it is there for fitting purposes only.
I ordered the stems along with a couple of other things from Otto Frei to make the shipping worthwhile, the stems will need to be cut and filed to fit as they are purposefully over sized (too long) for this purpose.
I have been running the watch for the last couple of days and it has been keeping time well, have been wearing it while doing various things ranging from typing this blog to playing XBOX Kinect Adventures, all with successful results. I hope to be getting to fitting the stem and complete my prototype soon.
As you can see in the pictures, that is the original stem and crown for the Hamilton 917 which does not fit the case, it is there for fitting purposes only.
I ordered the stems along with a couple of other things from Otto Frei to make the shipping worthwhile, the stems will need to be cut and filed to fit as they are purposefully over sized (too long) for this purpose.
I have been running the watch for the last couple of days and it has been keeping time well, have been wearing it while doing various things ranging from typing this blog to playing XBOX Kinect Adventures, all with successful results. I hope to be getting to fitting the stem and complete my prototype soon.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Sparrow Rat Rod customized
I often get questions asked on my guitars when I play out so I thought that I would cover one of my guitars here. I typically play a Gibson Les Paul but in the recent years, the kind folks over at Sparrow guitars has endorsed me and have been playing them since 2007 now. The model I play is the Rat Rod which I had them custom paint two of them, one which you will see here is the all white finish and the other is a reverse silver burst.
On nearly all of my guitars, and certainly all of them I have toured with; I remove everything except for the bridge pickup and the a volume knob (and these days, I have been contemplating removing the volume knob as well). The reason for the unconventional wiring is the following;
1) I have less path variables between initial string vibration and amp
2) Typically see an average of 4db gain
3) As close to the pure tone of the guitar it's self.
4) Less things to break on the road
I have been using Duncan JB as my bridge pickup of choice but have switched to pickups made by Mick Manlius of Manlius Guitar, the model I use is the Modern Vintage PAF+ after speaking to Mick and discussing my needs with him. The pickup is simply incredible, you can hear it on an upcoming record that I am finishing up with Force Fed Lies very soon.
I imagine you must have your doubts as to the pickup configuration, is it really louder? does it change the tone that much? etc....well, yes to all. I had a chance to play identical model Les Paul side by side, even lent my Les Paul to my friend Brandon to try since he is the owner of the identical model and see what the difference is and the difference is obvious.
The wiring is straight forward, its one pickup and one volume knob out to the jack, there isn't much to say further on that topic.
I have on the guitar pictured added waterslide decals on the head stock and pick guard, the same type I used for my watch dials and on the guitar, sealed with Krylon satin clear. I also painted a lot of the plastic parts (pickup ring, pick guard) white to match everything as well. The neck pickup hole is covered with a piece of Lexan I cut to shape and paint what will be the inside of the plate white and screwed down using the original screws. The holes from other knobs and pickup selector is covered using flat cap head bolts and washers, also painted white to match all of the parts.
Thanks to Sparrow Guitars for my endorsement and to Mick for making some seriously bad ass pickups.
All of my guitars are cosmetically beat to every loving hell because I play the guitar, not just collect it and watch dust collect on it. As for do I know just how dirty my guitars are? yes, this blog is called iwanttomakeeverything, not iwanttocleaneverything. on the bright side, I did wipe the blood off from the last time I played...
On nearly all of my guitars, and certainly all of them I have toured with; I remove everything except for the bridge pickup and the a volume knob (and these days, I have been contemplating removing the volume knob as well). The reason for the unconventional wiring is the following;
1) I have less path variables between initial string vibration and amp
2) Typically see an average of 4db gain
3) As close to the pure tone of the guitar it's self.
4) Less things to break on the road
I have been using Duncan JB as my bridge pickup of choice but have switched to pickups made by Mick Manlius of Manlius Guitar, the model I use is the Modern Vintage PAF+ after speaking to Mick and discussing my needs with him. The pickup is simply incredible, you can hear it on an upcoming record that I am finishing up with Force Fed Lies very soon.
I imagine you must have your doubts as to the pickup configuration, is it really louder? does it change the tone that much? etc....well, yes to all. I had a chance to play identical model Les Paul side by side, even lent my Les Paul to my friend Brandon to try since he is the owner of the identical model and see what the difference is and the difference is obvious.
The wiring is straight forward, its one pickup and one volume knob out to the jack, there isn't much to say further on that topic.
I have on the guitar pictured added waterslide decals on the head stock and pick guard, the same type I used for my watch dials and on the guitar, sealed with Krylon satin clear. I also painted a lot of the plastic parts (pickup ring, pick guard) white to match everything as well. The neck pickup hole is covered with a piece of Lexan I cut to shape and paint what will be the inside of the plate white and screwed down using the original screws. The holes from other knobs and pickup selector is covered using flat cap head bolts and washers, also painted white to match all of the parts.
Thanks to Sparrow Guitars for my endorsement and to Mick for making some seriously bad ass pickups.
All of my guitars are cosmetically beat to every loving hell because I play the guitar, not just collect it and watch dust collect on it. As for do I know just how dirty my guitars are? yes, this blog is called iwanttomakeeverything, not iwanttocleaneverything. on the bright side, I did wipe the blood off from the last time I played...
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