There are times when my daily walks are more rewarding than others. Yesterday, I picked up a discarded knife on the trail. It didn’t look like much. In fact, it looked like a bit of trash. It was covered with sand and the scales were broken. However, it looked as if it could be salvaged. A new one looks like this:
I could have thrown it away or added it to my growing display of found objects, but I decided to see if I could make it useful again even though I really don’t need another knife. Knives are cool, don’t you think?
If I did need a new knife, I could get one from Amazon in a day for a bit less than $18. What’s the fun in that? I have a workshop, tools, and time.
It’s particularly cool looking with its tanto tipped/serrated blade. Functionally, it is defined as “ball bearing assisted.” That means that it unfolds very easily and can be opened with one hand, when it’s not full of sand. Amazon customers (173) gave it 4.8 stars, out of 5. The only complaint I could find is that the blade might deploy “too easily” and cause an accident.
Spoiler alert, as if the picture wasn’t spoiler enough. I was able to fix it up. It now joins my ever-increasing collection.
The first step was to disassemble and clean it. It used the smallest Torx screws I’ve ever seen to hold on the side pieces (the “scales”). They were also worn down as if scraped on the asphalt. Luckily, I was able to remove them. Mostly, the way I got them off was to obliterate the remaining scales and grab the screw heads with needle-nosed pliers. I didn’t worry about ruining them because I wasn’t going to be using them for the reassembly in any case. The pivot hardware was another story. I had to use it later. Luckily, the screw heads were more robust, and I was able to get them off without destroying them.
I collected all the parts that I was going to reuse, dusted off my jewelry ultrasonic cleaner, and gave them a bath in cleaning solution.
There were a couple of small screws that needed to be replaced. Luckily, I used to build and fly model airplanes, so I had small stuff available. Turns out, the screws I needed were metric (sized 2). The ones I had were cap headed and 16mm long, a bit too long. I cut the screws with a Dremel cut-off-disk and I was all set except for the scales.
My first thought was to make the scales out of Plexi-glass. I made a pair, carved them to shape, but when I drilled the holes, they shattered. My second thought was to get material that wouldn’t shatter when drilled. I went to Amazon and found some scale material made of G10 fiberglass. Great! There was only one problem. How am I to justify buying $15 worth of material to repair and $18 knife that I found in the street? So, it was back to the workshop to see if I didn’t have something on hand that would do the job. Of course, I could always use plywood, but I thought about how that would look and wear. Then, I thought about the pile of cutting boards that I have left over from CampQuest projects. The material in a plastic cutting board is HDPE (High Density Polyethylene). It’s tough. Some of its characteristics include good looks, long wearing, easily workable, and most importantly, I have a bunch of it. A short time with my bandsaw, a belt sander, and a drill press, and I had my new scales.
Reassembly when well. It was a good thing too. Before I was finished, I had to take the knife apart 3 different times. The job wasn’t going to be done until it worked like new. That took some tweeking.
The final step was to hit the completed knife with a small blow torch to raise the texture of the HDPE scales and knock off the sharp edges.
Introducing STEM activities at a summer camp is particularly challenging. Especially when there is a wide variety of ages and interests. Particularly difficult is finding projects. The projects must appeal to the wide age range. Also, they must be “doable.” This year, we made “Joust Bots.” I started with a beam following robot and added a “rider” and lance. Development of the kits took some time. Fortunately, I had plenty of time over the past two years during the pandemic. I got a 3D printer, and it was used extensively in the development of the JoustBot.
It’s not enough that the machine works and it’s not enough that it is buildable, but it must be built safely. That is why this robot uses a breadboard instead of soldering the components to a circuit board. Using soldering irons open the possibility of burns. It is also easier to trouble shoot a mis wired bread board. There was only one “wire-to-wire” connection left in the design and I chose to use a “button splice” to accomplish that connection. The button splice only 
required a firm squeeze with a pair of pliers instead of soldering iron. It also made the build go faster.
Unfortunately, if a tinned wire gets bent, it needs to be re-tinned. Anticipating that might be an issue, I packed a soldering iron that I could use to re-tin damaged wires. Unfortunately, I left the solder and flux on my workbench at home. With three hours into the four-hour project and only one day left, I was anticipating that many of the campers wouldn’t have working robots at the end of camp. That thought was depressing.
added a fourth task—fixing things. I fixed a small flag display and repaired the “Rock Tree” at my turn-around point.
I’m back, and I’m beat. I don’t know if it was harder this year, or if it simply the fact that I’m 3 years older than the last time I went to camp. The good news is that I didn’t gain any weight. Also, I didn’t leave too much behind. In addition, every program I ran was a total success. All the campers created Beverage Can robots that worked and most of them took them home. All the campers that took the Joust Robot elective ended up with a working robot and had an opportunity to drive them around on the recreational room’s floor for almost a full 45 minutes. Some campers decorated clock faces that they can take home to remind them of their Camp Quest Arizona experience. Finally, Karaoke was a success once again. What the campers lacked in singing skill, they more than made up with enthusiasm. We conducted it outside this year. BTW, the counselor that teaches wilderness survival skills ran a test to see how far the human voice can be heard. He determined that the distance is 825 meters (0.51 miles). I’m sure that any native creatures within that radius are glad that we’re done for another year. (Sorry about that wildlife.)
It’s time again to head up to camp, collect beads, and build robots. Of course, that’s just how I see it. The last time that we had a Camp Quest sleep away camp was the summer of 2019. I was getting ready for CQAZ 2020 in March of that year. Then came COVID 19, and everything was cancelled, and preparations were put on hold. There was a day camp and some hikes in 2021 but the weeklong sleep over camp didn’t happen that year either. So…after a 2-year hiatus, CQAZ will happen. It begins on the 25th of June and ends on the 2nd of July.
JoustBot started out as a simple beam-following robot. Shine a light on the robot and it will move toward the light. As before, I pulled inspiration from what was available 
“I’m the Ghost Rider…My job is taking souls to hell…Don’t get no vaccinations shots…I need the work!”
will return as “The Devil.” For the Ghost Rider Instead of programming an Arduino microprocessor, I used a prop controller from Frightprops called the PicoBoo MP3. It made the job easier, but I had some limitations on what I could program into the “show.”
Every year it gets a bit harder to set up, but I think I’ll keep doing it as long as I can and as long as people appreciate the effort.
A lot has happened since I last wrote in this blog. The 
Are you feeling it yet? Things are starting to get back to normal after the pandemic. Frequent readers of this blog will know that this means I’ll be getting ready for Halloween six months ahead of time. However, before I can properly prepare for the next Halloween event, I must take care of a few things. The theme for the Lacey’s Haunted Graveyard for 2019 was “
found an abandoned slightly damage motorcycle faring on a dirt path during a Geocaching adventure. I love turning other people’s trash into useful items. Invader Zim is a fine example of upcycling. Before I can start preparing for the new 2021 theme, I decided to take care of him. Perhaps someone else will want him for their display.
Here is the faring I found in the field. I drug it home because I saw something alien in it. I didn’t know what though. I posted a picture on a Halloween DIY FaceBook page, and someone commented, “My tallest.” I didn’t know what the hell she was talking about, but my Google Fu was strong, and I soon found Invader Zim. As a boomer, I was not familiar with the cartoon. I watched a few episodes. There was an “Invader Zim” in there. I just had to bring him out into the world. I’ve told this story 
I started with TinkerCad and designed a new set of boots. These are better than the original pair and should last. Next, I found an upraised fist and manipulated it to fit the size I needed. It was a simple matter to mirror the right fist into a left fist and print them both out. Of course, 3D printing takes a while. It’s best to have the printer work while I sleep. I tend to watch the printer for too long when it’s working. The total time it took to do Zim’s “upgrade” was about a week, but most of it was done while I was sleeping.
I just finished making a cable holder for the edge of my computer desk. This was particularly fun because I made it using some custom design made in 
Today, I received my Savage Industries workshop apron. It was on order for a couple of months and I bought it for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. I’ve never owned a workshop apron so I don’t know if I’ll get much use for it, but I had to make sure that it had a place in the shop that was readily available so I can use it and out of the way in case I don’t want to.
So, it was off to TinkerCad and the 3D printer for the hanger. It was fun to design and didn’t take long to make. I used a short piece of 5/16″ Carbon Fiber rod for the cross bar. It’s times like these, that I wish I would have invested in my 3D printer sooner. I can’t believe how handy it is. Here are the results of today’s efforts:
Someday, this pandemic will be over, and I won’t be able to spend so much time in the workshop. On days like this, I wonder if I’m actually going to miss the pandemic!
AZAtheist's Blog 