Ongoing projects that keep evolving over the course of ten years:
For audio stuff, probably a couple three amps and a couple speakers.
Battery packs, about three or four.
Two LED lighting systems.
One solar panel with maxeon cells.
A couple of U style rack mount systems.
A couple submersible pumps.
Arnon core brushless DC motors.
Custom RC buggy stuff.
For audio stuff, probably a couple three amps and a couple speakers.
Battery packs, about three or four.
Two LED lighting systems.
One solar panel with maxeon cells.
A couple of U style rack mount systems.
A couple submersible pumps.
Arnon core brushless DC motors.
Custom RC buggy stuff.
I have a habit of playing with things, so I've limited myself to two, in this priority order:
1. 13,700 litre koi pond (3,700 US gallons). We inherited a pond close to the house which is blocking the house improvements.. could have sold the fish and filled the pond for a lot less!
2. Headphone valve amp (not your normal amp)
In the wings:
* Direct digital valve amp (DSD512 PDM conversion using RF tubes then switching the power supply for amplification).
* Guitar valve pre-amp section
* Astrophotography - including writing software for control and cameras (including auto focusing servo control and guide star tracking with post-capture deconvolution using the guide stars as the point spread function). Never got to finally take many pictures after developing that - built a 3/4 ton concrete pier too which I now have taken down and need to break up the base.
* Get better at drums (I still have a Roland TD6-KX from years ago)
* Get better at guitar (I have a 1987 Japanese strat from my school days and a Canadian Art & Luthrie accoustic).
I've finished things like fitting a completely new shower into a wall cavity about 5cm wide between the CH pipes and the tiled wall.
The Mrs wants an extension and roof conversion etc.. but I've stated that's not DIY.. so I won't be doing those myself
1. 13,700 litre koi pond (3,700 US gallons). We inherited a pond close to the house which is blocking the house improvements.. could have sold the fish and filled the pond for a lot less!
2. Headphone valve amp (not your normal amp)
In the wings:
* Direct digital valve amp (DSD512 PDM conversion using RF tubes then switching the power supply for amplification).
* Guitar valve pre-amp section
* Astrophotography - including writing software for control and cameras (including auto focusing servo control and guide star tracking with post-capture deconvolution using the guide stars as the point spread function). Never got to finally take many pictures after developing that - built a 3/4 ton concrete pier too which I now have taken down and need to break up the base.
* Get better at drums (I still have a Roland TD6-KX from years ago)
* Get better at guitar (I have a 1987 Japanese strat from my school days and a Canadian Art & Luthrie accoustic).
I've finished things like fitting a completely new shower into a wall cavity about 5cm wide between the CH pipes and the tiled wall.
The Mrs wants an extension and roof conversion etc.. but I've stated that's not DIY.. so I won't be doing those myself
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That is why I've limited myself to two. There's a psychology thing about near and far. Near being concrete and far being abstract. The nearer something is the more issues and problems there are (in reality) compared to attractive far abstract things whose problems have not yet manifested themselves. It's easier to switch and keep things interesting without the problems instead of that last difficult % of problems to completion.
In a previous role I had 90 staff, so you tend to end up looking forward to the abstract far for direction.. but then organising the structure to walk beside that then deals with the details.. only having ensure the drive to completion is done and to step in for the complex blocking issues that are still interesting due to their complexity.
Interesting observation about the near vs abstract and switching. In the last few years I realized something similar and have been evolving strategies based on juggling numerous projects. My current understanding of how to be the most productive is to simply shelve whatever priority project causes burnout and immediately move on to something that is free from pressure and is fun to take on.
At a certain point they all cause burnout, so I just keep them rotating. Another thing about the projects is they are all uniquely different but they all have a sort of 'macro connection.' Even if I have to put a hot priority project down, whatever I move over to will still help it, and any number of other projects, along in some way. Not long ago I was considering a two project strategy but realized that I needed more, as it was easy to get burned out on both, simultaneously. At the moment I'm liking three or four main projects. Personally, once burnout sets in, productivity slows to a standstill, whether I put in the hours or not. The forced vacations are very effective to help get energized and pick the priority back up again; it constantly cycles around as soon as motivation drops down too low. One to two week spurts on a priority and then switch for a week is how it appears to be working at the moment and I'm pleased with that routine.
And one final trick I'm doing lately is speed projects, where there is zero pressure to complete, but the main goal is to simply jam something out, almost as if it were physical exercise and nothing more. It's basically just to accomplish something, as years long projects tend to grind along, often with no gratification.
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Is "too many" a real number?
Mike
The average life expectancy for a male in the USA is now around 75 years or about 27000 days. The males in my family tree have lived into their low 80's, or about 29000 days. I have used up about 25000 of mine, often without much useful output. I probably have 2000 to 4000 days left, so they should be used wisely. Looking around, YES, too many IS a real, but somewhat unquantifiable number. Some days, it looks like infinity.
I came to this realization about a year ago. My physical dexterity is declining, so I'm rushing to solder up the small stuff while I still can, and sell, give away, or trash the stuff that will never be finished, or could be finished, but may never get used. I'm still waffling in the 1 KW vacuum tube audio amp. I have seen bench success in testing individual circuits, but I have no real need for an amp this big, so......
The Mrs wants an extension and roof conversion etc.. but I've stated that's not DIY.. so I won't be doing those myself
During the Covid lockdown Sherri decided she wanted a pool in the back yard, and a deck around it, and a new surface on the deck we had, and a roof over that deck, power outlets, a TV, provisions for connecting our backup generator with something better that 27 miles of extension cords, and......
Well almost a year into the build including working through the winter, the reface and improvements on the existing deck are nearing completion. The pool ordered a year ago was just delivered and set up. I am the only one who has been in it. The new deck around the new pool has not even been started, so I see a lot of my days being spent outside sweating.
I have projects in states of completion ranging from "its still just a dream" to "its done, I just need to build a cabinet." The picture of the guitar amp was taken over 3 years ago. it still doesn't have a cabinet.
Back in 1969 I started building a digital music synthesizer. I had gotten to the point where it started making sound in 1972 when the long standing dispute between myself and my father blew up, and I left home. The synthesizer was destroyed, but I managed to grab some of the hand wired perf boards containing hundreds of primitive RTL logic chips. I still have them and can't bring myself to toss them since they represent about 1000 days of my life. That broken dream keeps recurring, and I have restarted on the build several times only to put it in a box and forget about it.
Technology has changed a bit since 1969, so at the start of the Covid lockdown, I started completely over. Again, this is a bunch of parts soldered together on perf board, and my soldering skills are marginal for the task, but I'm going for it before I run out of days. Like the previous one, there will be several perf boards wired together. Unlike the previous one, I'm trying to keep better notes so I can duplicate any successes on PC board if they happen.
The green and brown boards are the ones I made from 1969 to 1972. Each round 8 pin TO-5 can or plastic chip contains a single logic gate or flip flop, so it takes a lot of them to make a simple digital circuit. All of these were obtained by dumpster diving for scrap boards behind the Coulter Diagnostics plant in Miami. The large board in the lower left is the top octave generator, similar to the Mostek MK50240 which would become popular in the 80's.
The silver board is the first board of about 3 from the latest restart of the neverending project. It's all User Interface, and will not make a sound. It currently contains 18 microprocessors, and will get 4 more before it's done.
The sound module comes next.
Attachments
Crazy.
I can only work on one project at a time – no multi-tasking for me. It gets all my focus and diy budget until completed. Last weekend just the one BOM delivery for my current amp build drove me crazy – my local supplier mixed up some components and picked the wrong values. Can you imagine the confusion if you order parts for more than one project?
OT - but just for the ease of compiling your cart, and labelling each component with your own reference which gets printed on each envelope – I will order all my components from Digikey next time. No more confusion and going back to the supplier website to try and figure out what’s in the bag!
I've clonked my head a couple of times when I was a kid. The dirt bike accident resulted in an concussion and overnight hospital stay. I've read on line that these mild head traumas do effect things and one common effect is abject difficulty in beginning something - and sustaining long term efforts.
An example would be I've struggled with the keyboard mouse arrangement on my shop computer. On the bench surface, it takes up too much space, gets full of dust - etc. I've had the parts to make a rail based under shelf arrangement for years. I finally pushed myself over that activation energy and it took all of 15 minutes to build and install. They say to write down the actual time length to completion, for common tasks you just cant seem to let out the clutch on. Like measuring the speaker's frequency response - again.
Another is I managed to have a 37 year career without ever being responsible for "long term" projects. With the busyness and effervescence in the burgeoning computer industry, this apparently didnt get noticed until late in my career, when a boss noted "He never does anything that takes more than a few weeks..." It's true. I've a profound inability to iterate on something in the years timeframe and be consistent with it - probably why I've played guitar for 40 years and still cant even grab a solid Bm quickly.
An example would be I've struggled with the keyboard mouse arrangement on my shop computer. On the bench surface, it takes up too much space, gets full of dust - etc. I've had the parts to make a rail based under shelf arrangement for years. I finally pushed myself over that activation energy and it took all of 15 minutes to build and install. They say to write down the actual time length to completion, for common tasks you just cant seem to let out the clutch on. Like measuring the speaker's frequency response - again.
Another is I managed to have a 37 year career without ever being responsible for "long term" projects. With the busyness and effervescence in the burgeoning computer industry, this apparently didnt get noticed until late in my career, when a boss noted "He never does anything that takes more than a few weeks..." It's true. I've a profound inability to iterate on something in the years timeframe and be consistent with it - probably why I've played guitar for 40 years and still cant even grab a solid Bm quickly.
Hi ,
too much projects
Kind regards , Alexander .
Don't let my Mom in there. She'd "organize" it and you'd never be able to figure out what happened.
I think the correct answer to this question for most of us is "One too many". I don't think I've had less than 3 projects cooking at one time once over the last 15 yrs (I stepped out of diy audio for about 20 yrs prior to that - career, family etc). Probably half the stuff I start I abandon once reality bites ie 'for all the effort, you wont hear the difference' type of thing.
Hi ,
too much projects
Kind regards , Alexander .
Now that's a decent workshop!