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Posted by troycoon on 21 Feb 2009 | Tagged as: CNC Projects, Miscellaneous, Resultant Cuts
Just wanted to share a picture on another one of the tongue drum that I built. It turned out pretty good and it sounds pretty good. I am planning on changing the tongue layout next time, whenever I have a chance to sit down and make the CNC code that is.
Posted by troycoon on 21 Feb 2009 | Tagged as: CNC Projects, Miscellaneous, Resultant Cuts
While I don’t blog near as much as I would like, I’m not just sitting around. I have been somewhat busy (obsessed) lately with instrument making, especially dulcimers. I have been doing copious amounts of research and applying it directly in the shop. My first instrument was the strum stick that I wrote about in a previous post, it incidentally is in the process of being reworked and improved. Here are a couple of pictures of my first dulcimer. Well it is really a modified Tennessee Music Box. I found a great set of plans at the Everything Dulcimer Website The sides and fret board are made of maple and the top and bottom are oak. This dulcimer has a 24 inch string length and only three strings, it is ultimately intended for a child. It can be played either on a table or on a lap. It is very heavy and durable, just what a kid will need. I did not use any screws or nails, all the joints are glued. The two tone finish was my wife’s idea and I really like the way it turned out. I have gone on to make two more like this with four strings and slightly different dimensions. I am still experimenting and building up to my masterpiece. As soon as I get the shop band saw up and running I will be build much lighter and more traditional models with bent sides. I would like to mention and give thanks to the Dulciaddict He has been kind enough to share his plans and I have seen that he is very active on different forums helping aspiring dulcimer builders.
Posted by troycoon on 03 Dec 2008 | Tagged as: CNC Projects, Miscellaneous, Resultant Cuts
Here are some pictures of some of my latest projects. I hope to have my stick dulcimer ready for the Oklahoma City Traditional Music Meeting this Saterday.
Stack of Tongue Drums for the school
Making a Cut
Computer controlling the CNC machine.
Stick dulcimer getting a polyurethane coat.
Picture of where I will glue the fret board.
Posted by troycoon on 17 Nov 2008 | Tagged as: Eee PC
It has been some time since I have had a functioning ubuntu laptop. I had an EEE 701 with ubuntu on it but I traded up to the 1000. I duel booted Xandros and WinXp for awhile, but now at last I have ubuntu.
I loaded the latest Ibex release and the array.org kernal, then I installed the eee control center and added CPU frequency scaling to the toolbar. This was a painless install and now I am so freaking happy. The performance is awesome and I have not run into any problems yet, and I’m getting about 6hrs of battery life. Not bad considering the lack of undervolting. If you want the complete step by step just drop me a line, but I think the information you need can be found on the array.org site.
Posted by troycoon on 30 Oct 2008 | Tagged as: Miscellaneous
I know it has been awhile since I last blogged but with the school year going I have been a very busy boy. Besides driving the bus, starting an afterschool program and spoonsoring a robotics team I have been busy building a prototype Tongue Drum and researching Dulcimers. The good news is the robotics team placed 8 out of 18 and took the award for creative design also, my prototype Tongue Drum was an unparrelled success. I will be posting pictures of the drum as well as instructions soon so don’t give up on me yet.