Shed Plan: i

Showing posts with label i. Show all posts

Sunday, February 23, 2014

How I am making money online

In October of 2008 I created my first real (non-free) website, Sailing and Such. My intentions were to help other sailors and information that I had been looking hard for, easier to find. Mainly, this information was about sailboat project, sailboat maintenance and anything to do with sailboat work.

Once I created the website, people started visiting and complimenting the site and saying what a great idea it was to have a lot ofthat kind of information in one place. I really enjoyed the comments and they made me work harder and make the website larger and larger.

Then, I started reading up on making money online and I registered for Google Adsense which was a great decision. I wasnt getting alot of traffic to my website so I really havnt made all that much money in the first three months but its a start. Making any money online is a great thing to me and the website is something I do not have to actually "do" to make money, it just does it on its own.

Now, I am venturing into something called PayPerPost where I plan to post articles on my blogs about certain products and stuff, and get paid for it. We will see how it works!

My dream is create a steady income online so that I can someday live on sailboat and cruise wherever it is warm!

Sunday, January 26, 2014

An Alternative To Tin Can Carts Part I

My wife is a crafter . . . she’s crafty? . . . she makes things and shops at Michael’s.

Before Christmas she pinned a tin can caddy on Pinterest and asked me if I could make some. She planned to decorate some tin cans for her crafting friends to use as storage and organizers. The caddy would allow them to take the cans to scrap booking parties and the like. Of course I accepted the challenge and set about looking at the tin can caddy my wife had pinned.

The original caddy.

The caddy on Pinterest has six (6) cans arranged in two (2) rows. Three (3) on each side of the center plywood handle. Based on the photo, it wasn’t entirely clear how the cans are attached to the center handle. My guess is either short screws near the top or glue.

When I discussed the can attachment issue with my wife, I explained that I didn’t think a single short screw near the top would be good enough (especially as it would allow the cans to twist and the screws would work loose). I broached the idea of embedding magnet in the center so the cans would be removable. This was vetoed, but the idea of removable and swappable cans appeal to my wife. I finally settled on having a bottom to support the cans and a top ring to keep the cans attached to the handle.

My design would be made from ½” Baltic Birch plywood. Each Can Caddy would have a center handle piece, a single bottom which would run under the handle and extend out on both sides and two (2) upper can retaining pieces (1 on each side).

Laying out the height of the can retaining piece.

I began by taking out a can and using it as a reference. By marking it out full scale on my bench, I figured out that ½” would be a good spacer between cans and for the width of the bottom and upper pieced to extend out beyond the cans. I simply held my hand above the can and determined how much higher the handle piece should be and where the handle opening should be.

Layout of the bottom with the curved corners.

Designing the upper can retaining pieces came next. I laid out the centers of each can cut out. I also used a compass to mark the curves at the outside corners, which were centered at the outside can centers.

The bottom would be the same shape as the upper can retaining pieces without the can cutouts.

With the design done, it was time for batch fabrication.