Because Interrupts Are Hard. The Apple II was (well, still is) a computer devoid of interrupts. I think most modern software engineers probably under-appreciate the
Johnny – CPU Board Repair
The cost of procrastination. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, one thing you know is that I’ve been having chronic problems with
Veronica – F18A Font
Shuffling bits for fun and profit(?) Last time, we got the F18A physically repaired and running off Veronica’s power supply. Things seemed to be
Veronica – F18A Baby Steps
One step back, two steps forward. If you’ve been following this Put-An-F18A-In-Veronica drama, you know that we had some very light early successes, followed
Veronica – Transceiver Strikes Back
THIS IS FINE. After the incredible success of our last bit of work on Veronica’s F18A, I was very excited to get started on
Veronica – Transceiver Repair
Do not go gentle into that good night. Just when things were starting to go really well on the Put An F18A In Veronica
Elliptical – Rear Subframe Replacement
Testing the limits of my desire to repair. What’s this? Is that my elliptical machine on the operating table again? How can this be?
Veronica – F18A Control Signals
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. With our recent success in remembering how to do address decoding, it was
Veronica – F18A Address Decoding
Bridging The Gap As you probably know if you’re the kind of person who follows this blog, the 6502 CPU (the 1970s chip around
Swiveling Tripod Adapter
Making improvements to a tool we built A while back, I built a couple of smartphone mounts for tripods, based on a design that
Veronica – GPU Strikes Back
Time for our girl to learn some new tricks. If you were to ask me what questions I get asked the most in my
Johnny – More Button Repairs
Pinball machines have a lot of switches, and they fail a lot. What’s this? Another Johnny repair article so soon? Well, like many complex
Administrative Note – New Donation Options!
Hey everyone! Sometimes I get requests from folks who would like to support the blog and YouTube channel, but prefer not to use Patreon. I’ve
Administrative Note – Patreon Goal!
Hey everyone! Just a quick note to say that I’ve created my first Patreon Goal. As of this writing, I’m very close to reaching 100
Hydraulic Cart Hinge
Increasing the unexpected usefulness of an odd tool. Patrons! If you’re at the $5 level or above, you’ll be seeing a three-part video series
Johnny – Start Switch Repair
Sometimes a simple repair gets all kinds of weird. A couple of months ago, a good friend was over and wanted to play some
Antique Lock Repair
Bringing a little mechanical buddy back to life. This article has an accompanying four-part video series in the Patreon feed. Sign up at the
Mod Collage Frame
Wherein we party like it’s 1969. A very good friend of mine has been having a rough time lately, and a couple of us
Shower Speaker Repair
Wherein we ensure I never have to hear my own thoughts. I’m a podcast junkie. That might be entirely literal, given that I can’t
Workbench Organizer
Wherein we shave yaks. This post has an exclusive companion video for Patrons. Sign up now to see it! It shows detailed construction steps
Vertical Mill – Power Feed
When a bolt-on kit…. isn’t. Anyone who has messed with cars knows that “bolt-on” kits generally involve almost as much custom fabrication as having
Universal Smartphone Mount
All your smartphone are belong to us. This post has an exclusive companion video, engineering drawings, and 3D model for Patrons. Sign up now
Administrative Note – New Patron Rewards!
Wherein I give out more cool stuff to the people who make this all happen. Have you been on the fence about supporting me
Cardio Rollers
Wherein we may solve this problem once and for all. My elliptical machine has been a regular feature here, starting with upgrading the power
Electric Steam Boiler – Electrical
Wrangling the angry pixies This project has an exclusive Patreon video about the internals of the electrical controller. Sign up now to see it!
Vintage Headset Conversion
Because everything is better with bluetooth. This article has two companion videos! There’s an overview on the Blondihacks YouTube channel, and an insider look at
Vertical Mill – Installation
Finally we can make flat things. The lathe is called the King of Machine Tools for very good reason. There’s arguably nothing you can’t
Electric Steam Boiler – Base
Wherein we are reminded why dead trees suck. This article has a companion video for Patrons! Sign up now to watch it! On the fence
Electric Steam Boiler – First Steam
Hey Readers! This post includes the first-ever companion video on the private Blondihacks YouTube channel. To see it, pledge any amount on Patreon.
Administrative Note – New Patron Rewards!
Hello loyal readers! After seven-or-so years of running this blog, I decided it’s long past time to start giving my Patreon patrons more than
Lathe – Oil Change
Everything needs a little love now and then. We’ve been pushing the lathe pretty hard lately, including turning some things that are definitely pushing
Electric Steam Boiler – Accessories
Wherein we get really good at sanding. Exciting times here in the Blondihacks boiler shop. As you may recall from last time, we got our
Electric Steam Boiler – Hydrotesting
First three rows will get wet. After a marathon of brazing, it’s finally time for the big moment- hydrostatic testing. A boiler’s raison d’être is to make
Electric Steam Boiler – Brazing
The heat is on. After months of making parts, we’ve finally reached the point where we can start assembling this boiler. Now we have some brazing
Electric Steam Boiler – Heads
Empowering the heads to do their jobs Last time we roll-formed some copper stock to form the heads, and that was pretty cool. We
Electric Steam Boiler – Rolling Heads
Getting around to making it round. A boiler head is the “end cap” of the pressure vessel. Real steam locomotive boilers are made by
Electric Steam Boiler – Steam Dome
Gathering steam for the coming work. Last time we made a bunch of straightforward plumbing fittings. We have more fittings to make, however, and
Electric Steam Boiler – Fittings
Bushings and ells and plugs, oh my! I used to think a boiler was a big metal shell that you pressurize. That’s a good
Renovation!
A whole new look and location for this old blog. I know, right? It’s crazy in here all of a sudden. Well, here’s the
Electric Steam Boiler – Legs
Supporting a big cylinder turns out to be pretty hard. With the boiler shell basically ready to work on, it was time to finally
State of the Blog
Big Data for a Little Blog Hello loyal Blondihacks readers! The results from the first ever Reader Survey are in. My apologies if you didn’t
Reader Survey!
Hey loyal Blondihacks readers! It’s hard to believe, but Blondihacks has been operating for almost seven years now. In all that time, I’ve never stopped
Electric Steam Boiler – Shell Preparation
Getting our boiler shell ready to work on. We demonstrated last time that D.E. Johnson’s old design for an automatic electric boiler should indeed work
Housekeeping Note
Hey loyal Blondihacks readers! Just a note that I’ve added a commenting policy to the site. I really appreciate everyone’s comments, and you folks that
Electric Steam Boiler – Proof of Concept
The pressure builds in this strange new endeavor. This new project will be a very interesting one indeed. I’ll be way outside my wheelhouse here,
Door Hatch Restoration
New Love For An Old Door. Well, we had some fun with all the steam shenanigans in the shop recently, but it’s time for
Wobbler Steam Engine – Fittings, Fit-up, and Firing!
Did we make a steam engine or a pretty pile of scrap? Time to find out. In the previous installments in this series, we
Wobbler Steam Engine – Frame and flywheel
Alliterating our way to success. So far our little Wobbler has a crankshaft, main bearing, piston, and cylinder. However, it’s currently a bucket of parts.
Patreon Update
Hello loyal Blondihacks readers! I recently posted my thoughts here about Patreon’s changes to their fee structure. In that, I counseled you to lower your pledges
Wobbler Steam Engine – Piston and Cylinder
Reciprocation and Salivation Last time, we made the crankshaft and main bearing. These are the elements that convert linear motion into rotational motion, so
Wobbler Steam Engine – Crank and Main Bearing
Building something cool that only machine tools can do. If you’ve been following along with my lathe series, then you now have sufficient skills
Elliptical Repair
The cracks are starting to show. My elliptical cardio machine has made so many appearances on this blog so far that it practically deserves
Lathe – PM1022V Review
Thoughts on the first nine months. It’s been nine months since the Precision Matthews PM1022V lathe was brought into my shop, so I’m starting to
Race Car Spoiler Control
When “compromise” just isn’t good enough. Race car aerodynamics are a very complex thing, but there are some easy wins that can be had
Furiosa’s Annex
Wherein the huge workbench is determined to be insufficiently huge. While it’s true that Furiosa’s Workbench is a beastly thing and should be plenty
Johnny – Three Repairs
A glove, a drop target, and a matrix, oh my! Pinball machines operate in a special realm where the normal laws of physics don’t
Fusion 360
The tradeoff of time spent learning tools. This article is ostensibly about a particular piece of software, and its relationship to 3D printing and machining.
Lathe – Brass & Aluminum Pen
New techniques, new tools, new materials, oh my! This project builds on all the previous lathe articles in this series in order to make something
Lathe – Scribing Tool
New materials and new techniques. Now that we’ve learned how to grind HSS tool bits, some really nice new avenues open up to us.
Lathe – Grinding tool bits
An easy method to get started. High Speed Steel is wonderful stuff. With all the talk these days about carbide insert tooling, and online
Lathe – Magic Tube
A second fun project to amaze your friends. We’re going to build on the basic skills from the steel ring project, such as tool setup,
Lathe – Steel Ring
An approachable first project on the lathe. Another post so soon? It’s true, Blondihacks posts never come this quickly in sequence. We average about
Lathe – Getting Started
From a dream to first chips If you’re interested in making things, and particularly metal things, you’re on a road that eventually leads to machine tools.
Furiosa’s Cat Feeder
The trick is to be smarter than the animal with a brain the size of a walnut “This will be great,” I thought to
Furiosa’s Workbench
For when “incredibly strong” just isn’t good enough. A while back, we did a fun little welding project here on on the blog that I have
Whiskey Bar
A simple hack for containing feline enthusiasm A “Whiskey Bar” could be described as a thing that contains whiskey. That applies equally well to
Bike Stool
For all your bicycle-related scooting needs. I was recently asked by a cyclist if it was possible to build a rolling stool that used
Metal Bandsaw
Another project tool followed me home. If you do a lot of metalworking, you very quickly get tired of making cuts. Your choices are,
