Mecworks » Mecworks R&D

Raw Chocolate Macaroons

marc — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 16:05:35 +0000

My raw chocolate macaroons are healthy and made with all natural ingrediants and with no refined carbohydrates. They’re easy to make and require no baking or dehydrating. Many recipies I’ve found call for dehydrated coconut. The reason for that is that moist coconut is usually sweetened with refined sugars and kept “moist” by adding propylene [...]

Raw Vanilla Macaroons

marc — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 15:54:37 +0000

My raw vanilla macaroons are healthy and made with all natural ingrediants and with no refined carbohydrates. They’re easy to make and require no baking or dehydrating. Many recipies I’ve found call for dehydrated coconut. The reason for that is that moist coconut is usually sweetened with refined sugars and kept “moist” by adding propylene [...]

Bosch comes through – sorta

marc — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 20:20:05 +0000

Well, there’s been a few of my hoards of readers :) who have pinged me about my Bosch 4000-09 Table saw from www.toolking.com arrives, missing parts story. Well, good news – for me anyway. I called Bosch’s service center and after a few minutes confirming that I needed the table insert as well as the [...]

Bookbinding: Codex and Coptic binding

marc — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 21:43:20 +0000

Just finished up one bookbinding project and part way through another. My first project was a Coptic binding. It’s an ornate, exposed spine binding that has detailed chain stitching on displayed on the spine of the book. A very flexible and utilitarian binding which lies flat allowing for easy reading of the material, the Coptic [...]

Bosch 4000-09 Tablesaw from www.toolking.com arrives, missing parts.

marc — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 04:08:32 +0000

I have long searched for a table saw to compliment my shop. I’ve searched high and low to find one that is high quality and will last years. I decided to get the 10″ Worksite Table Saw with Gravity-Rise™ Wheeled Stand Model 4000-09. UPDATE Oct. 21, 2006: Bosch sent me parts. See this story for [...]

4×8 plywood sheet 1″ and 1/2″ graph paper

marc — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 16:53:05 +0000

Every now and then I get anxious to build a project. It may be a home theater, an ambient air filter for the shop, maybe a portable solar charging system to power my electronics when camping or maybe a speaker or two or even built-in bookcases (both works in progress). Woodworking projects like these often [...]

Wall Clock Mod

marc — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 04:53:02 +0000

I have a favorite wall clock I bought at Target a few years ago. It’s kind of eclectic with a stainless steel rim and a black leather ring inside that. The clock takes 1 AA battery but it seems to eat them like crazy. In the last year or so, I have had to replace [...]

Cutlist software for Linux?

marc — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 21:11:37 +0000

Hey, anyone know of cutlist software for Linux? What is cutlist software you ask? It’s software that helps optimize your use of linear board feet when cutting stock for woodworking projects. It does best-fit rectangular nesting with some optimizations for cut paths. Cutlist software allows you to take all the rectangular panels in a project, [...]

Sonic Impact T-Amp Power Supply PCB design and mods

marc — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 15:27:15 +0000

Enlarge image I ordered 4 Sonic Impact T-Amps which arrived a week ago. I will be reboxing them. One for the office…one for home. Maybe some Christmas presents too. Came home last night after spending Thanksgiving with the fam and worked a bit more on learning Eagle which I am using so that I can [...]

The Mecworks “server room”

marc — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 17:33:04 +0000

Here’s a picture of my “server room”. I couldn’t afford a rack at the moment but had an unused storage shelf in the basement. So, here you see the extremely expensive (ha!) Mecworks setup: Enlarge image The top server runs www.mecworks.com and a couple other virtual hosts and DNS. It’s a blazingly fast. 6 year [...]

PL576Ws goes back, WRT54G comes home

marc — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 03:39:34 +0000

Unfortunately the ProView PL576Ws LCD monitor, as nice as it is, had to go back. There was no way that it would do 1280×720 (720p) and the purpose of buying it was to be a second monitor in my home theater. So, I took it back to Staples this afternoon. I did, however, stop by [...]

ProView PL576Ws 15.4″ Widescreen LCD Display

marc — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 05:31:11 +0000

Well, I picked up a ProView PL576Ws 15.4″ widescreen LCD display from Staples tonight. It is probably the cheapest HDTV monitors avaialable at the sub $300 USD level. I brought it home, plagged it in and noticed that while it supports 1280×800 and a few “standard” resolutions, it does not support native 720p (1280×720) HD [...]

make:

marc — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 16:20:25 +0000

I just subscribed to make:, the new ultra-geek-coolness magazine from O’Reilly. From the FAQ: Q: What is MAKE?A: MAKE is a new hybrid magazine/book (“mook”) published quarterly by O’Reilly. MAKE brings the do-it-yourself mindset to all the technology in your life. MAKE is loaded with exciting projects that help you make the most of your technology at [...]

GMRS J-Pole Antenna

marc — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 18:13:40 +0000

A j-pole antenna for GMRS/FRS frequencies (462.550MHz – 467.725MHz) This article will outline how to build a j-pole antenna for the GMRS/FRS radios. These radios are the type you can buy at sporting goods stores such as REI, Cabelas, etc. There are several radio manufacturers who make GMRS/FRS radios with removable antennas. This antenna can [...]

Added new catagory: Mecworks R&D

marc — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 03:58:27 +0000

To handle the ever increasing ammount of projects that are not related directly to computers but are related to mechanical, electrical or similar enginerring dicipline, I have added a new catagory: “Mecworks R&D” which is filed under “Creative Expression” and currently has one sub catagory – “Shop Work”. The intent is to make a catagory [...]