mercredi, novembre 02, 2011 
Lego is for wussies.
[Real Steel] |
mardi, novembre 01, 2011 
Mix the grout (its like flour!)
Spread the grout on tiles
Use your hands to really get the grout into the holes between tiles
Leave to dry for about 30mins
Wipe away the excess grout
Leave to dry for 48hrs(2 days)
Sigh... stupid tile refused to get its groove back.
Libellés : diy [Toilet Trouble: Grout] |
mardi, avril 05, 2011 I just took another 15 mins to finish this, making it a grand total of approx 2hrs for this project.Tools: screws, screwdriver, random washers  Went all around the house looking for blocks to prop up the MDF board so that the screws would insert firmly/no wobbles  I drew a 3x3cm box on each side, ensuring that I didn't screw up (heh heh) the screwing (ok yes shoot me now.)  the makeshift whatchamacallit  First screw in; not too badly done - balsa is very soft  But I didn't think to have a base block - project would be screwed (heh heh) if the screw just eats through the MDF  The solution? Washers. Not one, but two!  One final short screw to tighten things up, as well correct the slightly listing posture of the cross...  And there you have it - the cross that I'll be using in church this Maundy Thus. What do you think? Would anyone buy this for $50? That's gonna be $10 for material, $20 per hour of my time. I'd get paid less than a tuition teacher! :D Libellés : diy [Cross-Making - Part II] |
vendredi, avril 01, 2011 I'm planning my church's Maundy Thursday service, and I've been thinking of making a cross for the service for the longest time. I did it last night, and here are the pictures.Raw materials: 1. 2x wooden balsa blocks ($2 from Daiso) 2. 1x MDF board ($2 from Daiso) 3. handsaw ($1.90 from chapalang shop in AMK central) 4. electric screwdriver (in toolkit) Time taken: 1.5 hrs  Took out everything and laid it on the table  I was making a 2:3 ratio cross, so had to do the math... with a little help from Nokia calculator  Drew in the lines for the horizontal bar to be cut  Taking action (over the dustbin to catch the sawdust)  Fail lah, cannot match!  The final product - okay lah, not TOOOOO bad, still quite even  This is the machine-cut side  Now for the cross-bar: both the wood blocks need to be cut 50% through so that it'll fit together neatly  After some failed attempts at trying to cut it, I decided to abuse my electric screwdriver's drill function to cut "perforations"  It seemed to work at first...  ...but still cannot.  Time for the big guns - I went searching for my wood carving set which last saw light in 2004...  In the end I decided to use my screwdriver drill...abused it so badly that it broke off in protest.  After a couple more hard saws, success!  The whole chunk of block came off  But it was still kind of not smooth, so had to saw some more  this is how it looks like, one piece 50% sawn through  Not too badly done; a bit uneven, but this is an amateur job. My abused electric screwdriver is in the background.  Here's the attempt on the 2nd piece of wood (the longer vertical part of the cross)  After many "triangles" were cut off, it's always the horizontal edging is the hardest to smoothen  But hey! It fits together pretty well...  A bit of gap here and there, but not bad. Tonight I'll do the other bit with the MDF to secure the cross to the board, so that it can stand.
[Cross-Making] |
mardi, mars 08, 2011 Papering the kitchen cupboards (day 2) Technically day 2, but in reality it's almost 2 wks later. Just thought I'd finish showing how I finished the job. Total time on this project (including buying stuff) was approx. 7hrs.The breakdown: Measuring and re-measuring: 1hr Buying the sticker and plotting the cuts: 1hr Cleaning the cupboards: 2hrs Sticking the paper: 3 hrs TOTAL: 7hrs Huifen, this post is dedicated to you. May your next d.h. be more trustworthy!  Pasting underneath was a HUGE pain - I enlisted my brother's help to hold one end of it while I laid on the kitchen counter... dunking my hair in the oil dishpan in the process unfortunately :P  Thanks to some math magic, I managed to lay out the cut-marks for minimum wastage of the stickers... so this was leftover from the first sticker roll which was used to paper the front of the cupboards.  Nearly done! I overlaid the borders with black photographer tape, just to make it look a little bit more finished. It's less sticky than masking tape, and looks/feels more friendly than duct tape. But as with all things, only time will tell if it can hold up to kitchen wear.  Papering the side and the edges. Libellés : diy [Papering the kitchen cupboards (day 2)] |
mardi, février 08, 2011 Papering the kitchen cupboards Over the last 2 days, we've discovered that my domestic worker has been a bit slack - for the last year or so. There's been a layer of grease that has been forming on every surface in the kitchen... which I realised was semi-permanent.CNY provided the best opportunity (albeit inappropriate) time to clean up. I left Day 1 alone, but Day 2 and Day 4 were cleaning times! The hob was the worst hit, with grease as black as sin sticking to everything. White venegar, baking soda, Mr. Magic Clean and other horribly harsh chemicals wasn't making anything cleaner. A lot of elbow grease finally did the trick. I'm in the middle of cleaning out the cupboards as well (my mother is a hoarder who never clears the kitchen), and here's some pix of what I just did to repaper the cupboards:  In the beginning... there was this retro-looking cupboard, green with envy at the other brown/blue/white furniture and appliances around him. 'Oh how I wish I matched...' thought the cupboard every day as he saw everything else being used.  Mr. Scissors and Ms. Ruler were dating and wanted to complete their CIP hours and help the cupboard out. So they decided to get paper and cut it down to size.  First successful sticking!  Second successful sticking!  Three!  Final one was a little bit harder esp since the wood was still wet from the cleaning I just gave it. Oh well.  The final product - ta-da!  Doing things DIY means you can always fix something up! This is the little lip that I gave the cupboard which is always opened by scrabbling around the base of the cupboard door, damaging the wood. Libellés : diy [Papering the kitchen cupboards] |
samedi, janvier 22, 2011 Earning my keep (or, why I don't have boyfriend) Look at what I did today ma! Today was an everything-about-the-kitchen-sink day. There were a number of problems which I wanted to fix: 1. The left kitchen sink had not been draining - this was a near six-month old problem, which I told my mom to call Uncle Ricky to fix, but he's not been returning her phone calls. 2. The next problem was that the base of that same pipe was leaking, and making our sink cupboard rather musty-smelling. 3. Final problem was that the tap itself was leaky-drippy. So here's my plumber's schedule from 6-10pm:  1. Unscrew the top of the sinkhole and try to fit the plumber's snake (see right pic) into it. Fail. The snake went in and couldn't make the turn. New plan needed. 2. Unscrew the bottom pipes, wash them, replace them, check if the blockage was there. Nope. Still not clear. 3. Unscrew all the white parts, and try to shove in the plumber's snake. Success! After two tries and much jiggling about (and wondering what my liberal arts degree was for), the snake went through to the end of the drain, where we could see the end peeking out happily. PASS! 4. Fixing everything back was impossible - in fact, this took about 5 tries, till I decided that there was an O ring missing or corroded, and that I needed it to be totally replaced. 5. It is 9pm. I decided to head out to AMK to get a replacement. My mother protests, insisting that the shops are closed. I tell her (not for the first time) that people in Singapore don't sleep so early like her. 6. True enough, AMK is bustling with pre-CNY activity. I have four shops to choose my new sink-hole from. $12.90 is a fair price to pay for something which previously lasted us 20+ years! I also buy 8 rolls of plumber's tape - feeling slightly guilty since I think it's a bit of a cheat to get that perfect fit by resorting to plumber's tape. But life is short, and having clean dishes is urgent, so I grab 8 rolls and leave for home. (It's also known as thread seal.) 7. 9.45pm and I'm back at home, fixing the sinkhole drainage - the O ring and the cover fit like a glove. But oops, the new joint is drippy, and the bottom's still leaking. Plumber's tape FTW all the way! And this is the end of our little project for the day.  But there's always a new problem for a new day: the tap's still drippy. I leave you with a photo of the underside I may need to face tomorrow. Oh, I forgot to add: I did all this immediately after getting home from a manicure/pedicure. I'm proud to say that both escaped unscathed from this little DIY escapade. Update on Sunday: My mother bought the new tap, but after about 10 mins of fiddling about under the kitchen tap, I have decided that replacing the tap is beyond my limited capabilities as a DIYer, and this will need more professional help. Uncle Ricky is coming around noon on Wed :D Technical explanation - there's not enough room to maneuver the spanner around under the sink, so while I am fairly certain I can undo the faucet, I am also fairly certain that I will fail to replace the tap tightly (look at all the thread seal used!) So rather than risk decommissioning the entire sink for 2 days, I'll have the pro come look at it. I went to have a nap, dinner and ice-cream after this non-repair job. Ice-cream = perfect end to a Sunday <3 Libellés : diy [Earning my keep (or, why I don't have boyfriend)] |
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