Tag: diy

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DIY Peanut Butter Hack

Remember back when I Made Peanut Butter? Here’s an update!

First, I wasn’t processing it enough. My daughter pointed out we should run the food processor longer. That definitely helped make better and smoother peanut butter.

I had previously said:

I really just need to work out a scheme to get free nuts now and I’ll be all set!

I’ve not yet figured out how to get free peanuts, but I just got a 16 once container of peanuts for $2.09 USD from Aldi. Last time I bought on (a few months ago?) it was $2.19 USD. Still, not bad!

I’ve found 16 ounce containers of peanut butter for around $2 USD but they contain palm oil, or hydrogenated oil, or other additives that are not needed or desired.

To get natural peanut butter, free of additives, you’re probably looking at $6 to $10 (or more!) for a 16 ounce jar…

So yeah, if I can get a container of peanuts for around $2 then I’m getting a jar of all-natural (no additives) peanut butter for around $2, and that’s a good deal.

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Crumpets – First Attempt

Crumpets - First Attempt

I just returned from Scotland where I remembered my love of crumpets. Crumpets are much better than “English” muffins here in the states, but difficult to find in the shops. Trader Joe’s sells them, but most places do not.

Crumpets - First Attempt

I decided to use the Warburtons recipe which seemed a little weird compared to some of the others I’ve read. It also seems like there are a ton of different versions of crumpet recipes so I will need to explore others.

Crumpets - First Attempt

The final results were not amazing though… I think I had the heat too high, and I used olive oil instead of butter so the household vegan could try them as well.

Crumpets - First Attempt

Oh, I used these 3.5″ Wrenbury Crumpet Rings, which seemed to work quite well. Someone suggested not using rings at all, though I don’t know how that would work. If greased properly the rings slide right off the crumpet, which is what you want. I may need to find other uses for the rings in the kitchen.

So how do they taste? Well, I had one immediately and just had it plain (while I was making the second batch) and the consistency seemed right, though without a topping (butter or jam) the flavor was lacking. I made one a bit later by putting it in the toaster and then covering it with some Irish butter and hot damn it was good! I really need to perfect the holes in the future though to improve things.

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High Capacity CPAP Water Tank

Hack to add on an auxillary water tank for a CPAP machine

I ended up making a High Capacity CPAP Water Tank (Or an “Auxiliary Tank”) because the manufacturer doesn’t make one. This post will show what I’ve done and talk about how it works a bit.

I use a CPAP and got a new one in 2024, and while it works much better, there is still one issue with it… If I set the humidity too high it runs out of water in less than six hours, which is how long I usually sleep. For a while I was filling a second tank and then swapping in the middle of the night when I awoke from the dryness. It works, but it’s not ideal…

So I wondered if the manufacturer had a larger capacity tank… they do not, but in the process I found someone who had come up with solutions, and I’m a maker so I had a go at it.

RonKMiller used a collapsible water bottle with some hose fittings…

Hack to add on an auxillary water tank for a CPAP machine

Now, if you’re wondering why there are two tubes, it’s because the bottom one is for water and the upper one is for air. Since the CPAP machine uses pressure you need to have the air flow into both containers otherwise it tries to come to pressure and blows the water in the built-in tank into the secondary tank.

jdm5 took a different approach, and used a large container with a sealable top…

Hack to add on an auxillary water tank for a CPAP machine

Both of these posts were valuable in figuring out what I was going to do. My build is similar to the one from jdm5 though I chose different connectors. Here are the things I used:

Hack to add on an auxillary water tank for a CPAP machine

In total this project cost about $75 USD, but I can subtract the $30 for the Air10 HumidAir Water Chamber because my HRA covers that so it’s not out of pocket for me. In addition I only used one piece of the 40 Piece Food Storage Container Set. If you already have a container or can buy just one that can be a huge savings.

Hack to add on an auxillary water tank for a CPAP machine

For the Rubber O-Rings I had these on-hand for other projects but you can probably just buy what you need from a local hardware store. The PVC tubing is much cheaper than Silicone, so if you do choose Silicone that price will go up… probably triple or more. And again, you can choose different hose connectors but the ones I chose work for me.

Hack to add on an auxillary water tank for a CPAP machine

The piece of wood is under the tank to raise it up to the proper level so the lower hose entry points are the same height on the auxillary tank as they are on the CPAP’s reservoir. This is so water will level out between the tanks.

Hack to add on an auxillary water tank for a CPAP machine

Due to space constraints on my nightstand I need to put my container behind my CPAP machine, not next to it. I just made the hoses longer. I may consider switching to silicone tubing in the future, as it’s much more flexible than the PVC tubing I have now.

Hack to add on an auxillary water tank for a CPAP machine

So to use this I just pop the top off the external tank, fill it with water to the “fill line” (where I’ve added a piece of black gaff tape) and then lift the tank higher than the other tank, slightly tilting it so water can flow into the CPAP’s tank. Once the level on the CPAP’s tank hits the fill line I put down the external tank. If need be I can then top it off, but I usually don’t need to as it will be plenty of water to last the night.

This system isn’t perfect, but it’s a huge improvement over what I used to do. This is the best system I could come up with for the lowest dollar amount, and after four months of using this I am fairly pleased with the results.

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Solar FLAG Lights

When I first launched Gallery 69 (a Free Little Art Gallery) I had this plan to add a light inside and have it solar powered. That never happened, but Dana offered me a set of battery powered holiday lights when winter came and I put it on the outside of the gallery so you could see it after 3:45pm when it started to get dark outside.

I would swap out a set of AA batteries every week or two depending on how long they would last and how often I would remember. I decided to revive the solar idea to power the lights. Here’s where I will add the disclaimer that I am terrible with calculating power requirements. Terrible. Too much maths for me. Anyway…

I had this Solar Panel from Brown Dog Gadgets which I wasn’t sure would work, but I had it so I figured I would start with that. I got these CN3065 Solar Charger Boards for cheap not expecting much. I also had my eye on an Adafruit solar charging board but they were out of stock, which seems to happen a lot with Adafruit. I grabbed a bunch of JST connectors as well.

For the battery I tore apart an old USB power bank. It was probably 10+ years old but it seemed to still work so hey, I’m cheap. (Don’t worry, I still have at least a dozen working power banks.) I did do a bit of testing to see how long it go before the voltage dropped too low. That testing is part of another project still in the works. Anyway…

Remember when I was making Rugged Box Silicone Gasket Seals? Well, I printed a rugged box with a hole in the top, hot glued the solar panel to it, ran the wires through the hole, and then sealed the hole and wires with hot glue. (Somehow I have no photo of that.)

Okay, I needed to power the lights, which worked with 3 AA batteries, so I used these Customizable Dummy Battery(s). Originally I was going to print three, wire them up, and use that… Along the way I only used one to make contact with the negative connector then used alligator clips for the rest of the connections. This is one of those “I’ll test this” sort of things that is now somehow permanent.

Yeah, so somehow I threw all that together and it works. It’s messy, but it works. At first I thought it was not working. I’d turn it on, check it the next day and it would be “dead” but it would turn on again. Then at some point Dana gave me the box the lights came in and I realized it lights up for 8 hours and then turns off for 16 hours. So it was working just fine. After that I left it alone to do its thing. I did make sure I turned it on at 3:30pm in December so it would be running when it got dark out. They should stay lit until 11:30pm.

When I wrote “A solar project that actually works…” above it was mostly a joke. I thought it didn’t work, but it did work. Meanwhile I struggled with another solar project at the same time, which I now also have working. I didn’t want to say “My First Solar Project” because as a kid I connected a solar panel to a small fan I got from American Science and Surplus and was amazed it worked. (That was probably around 1981 or so…)

So yeah, I did this back in December but wanted to wait a bit to make sure it would keep working… and since it’s been two months I think it’s good. The panel gets some really nice direct sunlight in the afternoon and even with a bunch of cloudy gray days it’s kept running quite well.

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Sewing to Repair

I learned to hand sew and how to use a sewing machine in school. I think it was 7th grade in a Home Ec class. The term “Home Ec” is short for Home Economics. Here’s the Wikipedia definition:

Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences (often shortened to FCS or FACS), is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and food preparation, as well as textiles and apparel. Although historically mostly taught in secondary school or high school, dedicated home economics courses are much less common today.

The new term appears to be “Family and Consumer Sciences”, I say “new” because 500 years ago when I was in school it was just called Home Ec. We had a sewing class in middle school and I think I remember a cooking class in high school. Since my kids are adults I honestly don’t know what is happening in schools today, but I’m writing today to talk about sewing.

As I mentioned recently I repaired my old boots, and it felt really good to fix them rather than get a new pair. I was able to save money and opt-out of another consumer transaction. So when my gloves got a small tear in one of the fingertips I said “I should sew that up!” and I did… eventually. I’m not sure why it took me so long to do it, since it was a repair that took less than 10 minutes.

But as much as I call myself a maker and someone dedicated to DIY I really do feel I need to be better about this stuff. About repairing things in a timely manner.

I took a poll asking people the following question: Are you able to repair a small rip in a piece of clothing by hand sewing it?

Nice results! I probably fit into the “Yes – But it would not look very good” category and I’m okay with that. To be honest though I’m glad most people do know how to sew. It’s s great skill to have, even if you use it just for repairs and not for actually making new things.