Halloween in April

I've got exciting news!
A neighbor of mine wants me to build him a Halloween animatronic!!!!!
Crazy right?

Let me introduce my friend the Wolf Spider.

 When you think of freaky-scary spiders is this not the picture that comes to mind?
These things are great. Big, hairy, they don't build webs. They use those long legs to run really fast and jump on their prey to grab em. Now imagine one of these things with a two foot long body running along the ground and leaping up to grab you! Yep, nightmare machines.

The plan is to make a spider that leaps up from the ground and moves forward toward the trick or treaters while making a horrible sound and clacking its 'fangs' together.

The prop has to fit the space which is a bit tight (see below).

Scaled Haunt Map

That's about as big as I can make the spider and have it fit the parameters. The idea is to have it leap up to just above the level of the hand rail on the stairs while not intruding into the six inch safety buffer.

How am I going to do this?
With what's called a 4-bar lifter.
That would be the tower and the two diagonal lines in the below diagram.

 When in the resting position the spider will actually be 6" off the ground so it will look like it is standing on its legs.

Up Position

 Boo! c'mon that's gonna be a pants wetter right?

Spider

 Yes, I can not sketch artfully.....and the 1' should say 6".

Help!
Just about everything in this project I have built before for myself. There are two things that I don't instantly know how to do best.
1. My neighbor would like me to make the legs wiggle when its up in the air. We need to keep the spider itself as light as possible. I thinking of some kind of spring loaded leg assembly as shown horribly below.
2. How to best make the moving jaws effect which is also sketched out horribly below.

 I'd appreciate any helpful suggestions on these last two points.
This is going to be an interesting build as the spider needs to be as light as possible but also stiff enough that it doesn't flop around on the end of the nearly 4' long arm.

Update
Some clever folks suggested some ideas on how to give the legs some movement.
I've distilled the ideas into the following two sketches.

Hope that makes sense to someone.
I'm going to try to build a prototype ASAP.


 

Pipe Boxes

I built these a while ago but I thought I should post about them so that the pipe organ nuts will get off my case about how I was miss-treating the metal pipes ;)

Wow! Do I have a ton of pipes......

Building Boxes
Pipe organ pipes are kept in 'pipe organ pipe' (theres gotta be a better way to say that) boxes. I think I'll call them POP boxes. A nice PON (that's pipe organ nut) sent me plans on how to build them which I completely ignored and did my own thing....

Lumber

The boxes consist of a half sheet of 1/2" plywood and some 1by6"s glued and screwed together to make an open top box.

Finished Box

A finished box! The first one of many....

Then it was sort the pipes fill a box build another box fill it and on and on. I honestly didn't realize how many pipes I had until I organized them....wow more than I can use for sure...

Now, exciting pictures of POP's in boxes! Woo!

Probably should of used 1by8"s so I could of fit bigger pipes in the boxes.
Can you read the sides of the boxes? I've got two sets of Melodia pipes, Dulc, Salc, Fl Har, ST Dia.
What I thought was interesting is that the wood pipes from the Hinners Tracker Organ all had some tiny metal pipes as part of their rank.

Oops

Of course after everything was stacked and layered I found a metal pipe for a set that was completely buried.

After I stacked and boxed all the 'little' sized pipes I was able to organize the 'big' pipes.

These pipes do not have any identifying marks that I could see. These are also the pipes that suffered the most from the leaking roof.

Leaning Tower of POPs

Most of these pipes are so darn huge that I have no idea how I could produce enough wind to make them 'speak'. I'd bet those big ones on the bottom would make house shaking bass.

Here's a cool thing about these unknown POPs.

They've all got these, uh, built-in valves.
With all the POPs sorted I was able to organize the façade pieces a bit.
I wish I was able to save more...did I mention how the monkeys that took this thing apart used crow bars instead of unscrewing ANYTHING? Freaking hate those guys...

Façade Pieces

These façade pieces pictures were supposed to be a single panorama shot but somehow I screwed that up....the camera is smarter than I am......

Next Up
A paying Halloween gig?!?!

KnifeCatching 715 Grand St.

Read This:The following review is just my opinion and only my opinion I am not a professional house appraiser or inspector and I am not a structural engineer. The opinions expressed in this review are based on my own inspection of the property, the publicly available facts from aggregator sites such as Redfin and Zillow and the online permit database for the city of Alameda. I am not responsible for incorrect or missing data that appears in these sources. In fact, its probably best that you just ignore everything you read here as the lunatic ravings of an unbalanced mind.

KnifeCatching 715 Grand St.
Up for review today is 715 Grand St. which has the official specs of being a 4-2.5 of 3,081 sq ft on a 7,500sq ft lot built in 1920 listed for the low low price of $1.22M last sold in '06 for 1.38M. The redfin page can be viewed here.

This house was last on the market about a year ago for the same price and it did not sell. What do you want to bet it sells this time? They might even break even on the 'peak price' they paid.

What The Permit Record Tells Me
New roof in '06!
Some remodeling done with permits! Hurray!
A perimeter drain and sump pump was installed in the basement.
The current owners have not offically made any improvements to the house.


A Small Tour
Sorry, the batteries in my camera died on me half way through but the RedFin page has tons of pics.
Man, I haven't done this in a while, my 'photograph the important features' muscle is a little weak...
So in no particular sensible order....

The Master Bedroom

This is a really good sized room with like a sitting/reading room.

Master Closet

 Its a little cramped in there...

Master Bath

Nice natural light from the sky light.
This is a pretty big room..but there's no tub?

Kids Bath

Love that tile on the floor....not.
But at least you don't have to share a bath with your teenagers.

Kids Bedroom 1

I thought this was a reasonable size with a decent sized closet.

Kids Bedroom 2

 This is also a good sized room.
Around the corner you have this little room.

Sorta two rooms in one?

Little half bath on the main floor.

Sorry, but, fugly tile.

Garage

 Long and skinny, good luck getting a modern car in there

The driveway also seems VERY skinny to me...You are definitely not getting your Cadillac Land Destroyer in there. Does this house only have off street parking?

Okay, here is one problem that I see...They converted part of the garage into a home office.
I don't see this anywhere on the permit record...In Alameda this is a big no no.

Super Cool Outdoor Party Spot

 This is my fav part of the house, the backyard and this party spot. This would be such a great place to have a 4th of July party. Sit on your front lawn with all your friends to watch the parade go by and then retire to the backyard to BBQ.

This is a cool little feature too. Not sure what it was originally. Maybe a summer kitchen? A canning kitchen? Stock those cabinets with party supplies, put in a fridge and natural gas grill and you'd be ready to paaar-tay!

Hmmmmm....

I'd eat my hat if that doesn't test positive for Asbestos.

The Good
Location, location, location! A short walk to Franklin Park-School and a short walk to the beach in the Gold Coast 'hood.
A good sized house for a family with 2 kids (but no more) with generous sized public rooms and reasonable sized bedrooms, especially the master.
Super awesome backyard that could be BBQ party central.
New Roof!
The overall condition of the house looks pretty good.
A good sized basement for storage.

The Bad
Location...its on one of the busiest streets in Alameda.
Some of the house looks a little dated. The tiles in the bathrooms and kitchen look pretty awful to me.
The kitchen is kinda tiny.
The monster forced air unit needs to be replaced and you're going to have to deal with Asbestos covered ducting.
The possible illegal partial conversion of the garage into a home office. The Alameda Building Dept. really does not like the conversion of garages into anything else and they could very well force the new owner to rip out all that stuff and convert it back to all garage.
Some knob and tube.
A mixture of copper and galv water piping.

Conclusion
To bring this house up to the standard of the neighborhood it will need some refreshing.
The kitchen will need to be remodeled and expanded. ~100k for a high end major remodel.
The kids bath needs a remodel ~50k for a high end remodel.
The parents bath too ~50k for a high end remodel.
Replace old furnace with new high efficiency unit and deal with Asbestos. ~20k.
That's over $200k in remodeling costs....for a $1.22M house....
That personally seems nuts to me....I'm not saying, 'Don't buy this house.'
What I am saying is, as you go in with your waaaaaaaay over asking offer, be aware of exactly the size of the hole you are digging for yourself.
Go in with your eyes open.


But Wait, There's MoreThrough the blog I've been approached by several strangers to review houses for them that they were seriously interested in. So, I've done a couple of 'private reviews' on a commission basis. If you think something like that might interest you please contact me through the email link in my profile.
 

Crazy Alameda Real Estate

Let's talk serious about the state of Alameda Real Estate.
I mean, what the hecks going on?

Crazy Micro-Bubble 
I've been talking to several families looking to buy a house in Alameda. They keep getting shut out of the bidding. One recent sale went famously for $100k over asking!
There are just basically no houses on the market. In all of Alameda there are less than 30 houses on the market.
From talking to people here's what I believe is happening, its a bit of a perfect storm for Alameda real estate.
Very low inventory, very low interest rates and wealthy-ish folks coming over from Frisco to buy houses in Alameda.
I spoke with one wealthy-ish family and they were 0-24 in bidding on houses in Frisco! They are fed up with the situation there and came to Alameda where their real estate bucks would go farther.
I believe that they are not the only people in that situation.
Alameda used to be sorta a 'hidden gem' but its been discovered by wealthy-ish folks who would normally want to live in Frisco.

How You Can Get a House in Alameda
From talking to several Realtors here's what I think you have to do to score a house in this micro-bubble.....you're not going to like it.

First, this is not the market for 'first time home buyers'. Sorry guys but you're screwed. FTHB's in my experience just don't have the ability to make a quick decision and that's what you're going to have to do in our current market.

Second, have a VERY clear and FIRM idea of the type of house you want and what areas are acceptable to you.

Third, have all your ducks in a row. Be pre-approved for a loan, have a big fat wad of cash ready to go for a down payment.

Fourth, Have a Realtor that is worth their salt. Your Realtor should know every house on the island that's for sale that fits your requirements. They should have their ear to the ground for houses that will be on the market in the near future. This last one is the most important because I think that there are only two ways to get a house in Alameda.
1. Make a 'pre-emptive' offer on a house that is not yet officially on the market.
2. Your agent should be taking you to the brokers open to any house you're interested in and you should make an offer right then and there.

If you're very lucky the home owner will decide that your offer is better than the hassle of having open houses and waiting. Even in these scenarios you will have to offer over asking.

How Come You Haven't Done A Knife Catching Review In A While
1. Haven't been many interesting houses on the market recently. Or any houses really.
2. Houses are selling too fast! I'd have to go to the brokers open to tour the place and take my pictures. Think I'd be welcome there? Me and a house FULL of Realtors? The phrase 'Tar and Feathered' comes to mind.
3. I've been busy with other stuff. The usual picture filled review takes me at least 3 hours to put together.

But don't worry, I'm getting the sense that the micro-bubble we're in is going to start bringing out the charlatans and hustlers again....

But Wait, There's More
Through the blog I've been approached by several strangers to review houses for them that they were seriously interested in. So, I've done a couple of 'private reviews' on a commission basis. If you think something like that might interest you please contact me through the email link in my profile.

Finally! Some Design Sketches!

I am going to blame the goofines of this post on the fact that I had a 'Please God Shoot Me' migraine and am still under the influence of the migrane meds.

That being said, here we go.

Solyndra Art Project Design Sketches

Idea #1
I remembered this picture of a fossil proto-bird.

Recreate the skeleton using metal and hammer-form the skull, large bones...give it an honest 3-D bone shape. It will be about 6' tall and free standing on a pedastal.
I'm thinking that the solyndra tubes could work as the wings in the bones.

Maybe it could look a little like this.

I really apologize for my horrible photo-shop skills...(wait til you see my sketching by hand skills).
The purple lines are the tubes and the red lines would be red EL wire outlining the statue at night with maybe a couple of red LED spots uplighting the statue.
To catch reasonable light the statue would have to be aligned so the tubes faced south.
At night it would look reasonably demonic all lit in red.

Idea #2
Tubes As Roots

In this idea the 'plant' is made with copper and maybe the tubes could look like the roots.
Inside each flower will be three yellow random flicker LEDs and a small spray of fiber-optics.

Idea #3
Tubes as Stamen..
Baby Madmadscientists favorite flower is the stargazer lily.

A real lily looks like this.

My impossibly horrible sketch looks something like this.

In this idea it would be one HUGE flower with the Solyndra tubes acting as the stamen..or pistles I forget which is which. On the end of the stamen where the large glop of pollen goes I want to remake it with crackle plastic and three flickering LED's.
In this idea only the ends of the stamen light up...do you think it needs more lighting?

I've got four more ideas that I'll save for a later post. We'll see how the reaction to this one turns out.

Need An Idea
I want to do a scultpure that is kinetic. The tubes power a DC motor and the thing moves when the sun is out....cept I have no idea what to do...Anybody got any ideas?

Please be kind, I am baring my soul a bit here...well my heavily medicated soul.

Solyndra Art Project Part 5

The one where I say, 'How many dang parts are there going to be in this series?'

FINALLY bought some more Solyndra tubes! As it turns out, the guy I'm buying them from also bought a ton of spare tubes. He is in fact, not taking apart panels to sell the tubes...Which means I'm going to have to figure out how to safely and weatherproof-ly mechanically and electrically connect to these fragile things....

But first, another exciting shot of my home made Solyndra tube array now with 4 more tubes!

 

Scintillating isn't it? What is exciting is that the battery was so discharged after several overcast days that the SCC would not turn on the load at night. But today, a bright sunny day, by 1pm the SCC was reading the battery as fully charged! Yahoo!!!

Here's what the outputs from the array and Power Supply(PS) were showing.

That 13.71V output from the PS is sure better than the previous best of 12.6V.
Yet the array is still being pulled down to 58V?

Lets check the current

.335A not bad the array is outputting (.335A)(58V)=19.43W that's an increase from the previous reading of 12.6W.

But what's the Power Supply output?

Wow, 1.36A and 14.99V, that's a power of 20.34W!!!
So, apparently I've discovered a 'over-unity' device....Because somehow the output of the PS is more than the output of the array, even though the PS is only ~78% efficient...

Gotta be measurement error. The black DVM is a super cheapo model.

What's It Mean?
I think it means that 14 tubes is the magic number to keep a 12V 7.5AH battery charged even with a ridiculously large load....of course this is in this 'most ideal' setting.....
If these tubes get used in an art piece they will be a part of the sculpture...not sitting off to the side in a rack...that means much less output from the array.

Of course, I will not be having such a ridiculously large night time load on the sculpture....So, maybe I can get away with 14 tubes..but I think I'll up it to 16 and call it good.

Up Next
Sketches of ideas for what I'm going to do with all this stuff.