Month: January 2025

Dragon Radar UPDATE – FUBARED IT!

About a while back I found a vintage unused Paasche air compressor from the 1990s for $15.00 so I grabbed it. I sat on it and I waited and watched and in the end I got a fantastic deal on a Paasche Talon TG airbrush.

It’s been fantastically fun so far as I love learning from experimenting and just getting in and doing something. The photo is my first attempt at spraying a single coat of paint using an airbrush. I see lots of mistakes but I learned a great deal on how to handle curves and inner surfaces.

Some takeaways:

Make some sort turntable to spin objects as I paint them. Less need to go back and fill in missed spots.

Find a good water-based metal surface primer for airbrushing.

Try and get a full set of nozzles/needles when I can.

Learning is progress.

Learning a hard lesson, I totally fried the controller and likely the LEDS after I bumped the power output switch.

I am having to put this on the back burner until I can afford to get the parts again.

Thanks for your time and please take care of each other.

A Lone Snow Shovel

Recently we picked up a worst for ware snow shovel for a total of 3.00. It was the very last one that no one wanted but It really just needed some TLC.

I drilled out the rusted rivets and replaced them with mostly stainless bolts, screws, and washers. I also a replaced the metal outer bar that was on the back of the shovel with some plywood. Now I can always measure out and replace it when it becomes damaged. So no need to toss it out. I also had to grind down the neck a bit and sanded off a lot of rust on the tip of it. I did a really bad quick paint job to bring it back to life.

My only regret was not getting some before pictures of the shovel.

Please support repair and reuse.

Thank You and please take care of each other.

KW

DIY Pen for the Panasonic RK-P400c

I recently got a Panasonic typewriter (RK-P400C) that uses pens to actually draw the letters. These magical mechanical devices were basically plotters. The only problem was the typewriters use of proprietary ballpoint pens that have become long obsolete. So I accepted the challenge and made a marker for it to use.

To do this I measured the original pen dimensions using some digital calipers and made a cut off of brass tube stock (Src: K&S Metals). The rest was some trimmed to fit maker pen guts from the local reuse store. I suggest soaking out the ink as much as you can with with 2-Propanol or ethanol. Just make sure to take caution as these are very flammable substances and the fumes are an irritant. I am going to see if I can make a cap for the end of the tube but as a temporary fix I just used hot melt glue for testing.

I want to refine this design and maybe develop some more cartridges for various sizes and media types.

I hope that this inspires others to make pens and use these amazing machines of the past.

Please support your local reuse store.

Thank you and take care of each other.