You Should be Able to Repair the Products You Buy. How Manufacturers are Trying to Prevent This.

Wall Street Journal article on your right to repair or modify the things you buy.

Help for the Helpful Hardware Man (or Woman)!

Not just for plumbing. You can build darned near ANYTHING
with PVC pipe and conduit!

Hey, I love the nice folks at our local Ace Hardware stores. I'm usually in there a couple times a week to pick up something for my hobbies or home repair, or just to look around and see what's new. But I know I make them crazy when I do, since I just wander aimlessly around the store looking at EVERYTHING. The "Helpful hardware man (or woman)" just becomes "the annoying hardware man (or woman)" most days for me. I have to swat them away like flies.

I feel bad. They WANT to help, but they aren't trained to help people like me, and that's a shame.

Being a maker means "thinking outside the box" in a big way, and most hardware folks just don't speak that language. When they say, "Can I help you find something?" or words to the effect, what they mean is, "what well-defined category of merchandise can I take you to? But that's not how making works.

Today I was just wandering around the north store, though I ended up walking out with a bag of stainless screws and bolts, and some allen wrenches, to help repair and upgrade my Vexplorer robot that broke at the library Family Maker Fair this weekend. I know that store like the back of my hand, and I can find most things I want faster than any salesperson (especially when you factor in explaining what I need).

But I was tempted, as I often am, to give them the REAL answer to what I want, and see what their reaction would be. In this case, "where do you keep your robot parts?" This isn't a trick question, There IS a correct answer: "Everywhere!"

See, hardware guys are used to dividing things into neat categories: Electrical, plumbing, lumber, doors, windows, fasteners, shelving garden and lawn, etc. But ALL of those places potentially have robot parts (or model parts, or automatic cat-feeder parts, or model train parts).

For example, while wandering around today, I started brainstorming the idea of making a large (several feet long) RC vehicle or robot frame. I started looking in the stock metal section, at L shaped steel beams. But those were too heavy, and kind of expensive. Nearby were some L and U-shaped aluminium trim pieces. Much lighter, but also softer metal and easier to bend. Still, probably usable.

So I kept wandering from department to department. In the window department I found "cut to size" window screen frame kits. The plastic corner connectors didn't look that strong, and the aluminum rails were too light for my intentions, but this might be a good way to make a light-weight frame for a small robot.

Better yet, over in shelving I found the metal rails that are attached to walls, and that have slots for adjustable shelf brackets. Steel, but because of their smaller size, not overly heavy for their strength. Also, because they are a common commodity item (everybody needs shelves), they were cheap, and sold in a variety of lengths. Could be a winner!

But I kept looking, and there were other robot frame possiblities elsewhere. For example, I found a sheet metal "wrench" in the plumbing department that was an kind of "double-Y" shape stamped out of fairly heavy metal. With some holes drilled to attach parts, it might make a good frame for a super-strong small robot or RC-car. Even in lawn and garden there were steel fence posts (big but cheap) that might be used to build a heavy-weight robot frame.

And how do you find a power source for a robot or RC car in a hardware store? One idea I've been investigating is using the motor and gearbox from a cordless drill. Turns out lots of people who build large and fast RC cars and trucks use electric drill motors (often from used drills, or ordered as spare parts), which often of high quality and relatively cheap. I want a relatively slow vehicle though that isn't designed for high performance or serious off-roading though, so a smaller cordless screwdriver seems more interesting to me. I'm coming at the idea slowly, and don't want to throw money after a bad idea, but it's clearly doable. But while a hardware guy MIGHT know something useful about the tools they sell, how would I even ask them, and would they then look at me like a nut?

It's the 21st century, and hardware people need to learn to be more flexible. All kinds of people come into their stores looking for unconventional stuff: hobbyists, makers, artists, craftspeople. Hardware folks, need to learn to recognize these people, and either stay out of their way (though nearby in case they DO have a specific question), or learn to actually be useful.

So when somebody asks for a "round plastic thing, about this long and this big around, hopefully cheap," they can lead them to plumbing or electrical or door parts or automotive or anywhere else such a thing might be found. It's hard to train a hardware person to think like a maker, but it's possible, and there's money on the table for those willing to try.

Lincoln City Mills Ace Hardware

Diftwood Library Family Maker Event

Saturday, March 28, 2015, Driftwood Public Library.

Fat Bikes are Built for Riding the Beach

Statesman Journal photo

For years I've wanted a bike suited for riding on the beach, and I've had various ideas on how it might be done. But I'm not really a bike guy, and so it was just a dream. Now some folks have gone and done it, and they're available locally (though not in Lincoln City, business opportunity for someone out there!). They're called Fat Bikes, and they have huge tires made for riding across loose sand without sinking. They also look like great fun.

Unfortunately, they're very expensive. Which is why somebody might just want to take the time and effort to build their own.

 Here's an article about them in the Statesmen Journal.