DIY junkie from Lexington, KY

[Matt MacBeth]

What a cool forum!

I'm a DIY junkie and like to make stuff from all sorts of junk. I also like to make good stuff, too, but sometimes that's not as fun.

This forum has so much going for it such as:

- Great inforomation
- Very knowledgable people
- Nelson Pass! (he deserves his own line)
- Reasonable discussions
- An attitude of sharing

I'm and EE and work with a small audio/video manufacturer. I won't say who it is, but it's in Lexington, KY; and it's not the Speaker manufacturer or the Home Automation manufacturer. I also do home theater consulting on the side.

I'm looking forward to sharing and learning from this Forum!

Thanks!

Matt

[Bill F.]

Welcome

Good to have another junk riggin junkie around.

I figure, if it ain't ugly, you probably spent too much time building it!

Alright, so my attitude would probably change if I had any cabinet-making skills...

By the way, word on the street is that Nelson Pass *HAS* his own line...

Bill

[dice45]

Matt,
welcome! sharing and learing is fine!

BTW, do you struggle to make the stuff you built from junk beautiful? to look beautiful? to look reasonably built?

Although beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, i more and more tend to see the iiner beauty of a well-designed and built thing. No matter if ti is built from waste or not, if it is well-designed, it is beautiful. To me atleast.

Bill,

if it ain't ugly, you probably spent too much time building it!

among us mechanical designers, there is a saying "if you deliver with less than 10% flaws, you spent too long designing". I partially agree with that, as one has to care that the 10% flaws are harmless, only non-vital ones
but no excuse for ugliness as
1st
you have to look at it afterwards and
2nd
your spouse, too! And you have to listen to ugly texts from then on.

In professional life it is even worse, the man deciding usually has no technical compassion or understanding at all and draws conclusions from facade onto inner structures.

[Matt MacBeth]

My designs tend to fall into two categories:

1. Research
2. Product

The "research" stuff is usually ugly with clipleads and such. See the postings with pictures on 'bipolar panel speaker' and 'Anyone can make your own speaker driver!'. And see the 'switching amplifier' post for another idea.

The "product" stuff is usually the result of something that has been in research. (No pictures, yet) but my speakers and amplifiers are all DIY. (My DIY DAC, CD player, DVD player and surround pre-amp are coming along, slowly.) These are finished at least as good as stuff you could buy at retail chains.

When I have a new idea, I use tape and clips and whatever is lying around. I don't worry about the looks, until the design is proven.

Matt

[planet10]

matt,

Welcome. Sharing & learning is what makes it a community.

Many of my projects too come from an effort to recycle, with 3 goals, 1/recycle as much as possible, 2/use some BC Wood in the aesthetic design, and 3/ attempt to make each one a unique piece with its own aesthetic (i'm not ready to call any of it art yet, but that is the goal).

dave