Skate ramps are one of the most awesome expressions of DIY individuality, and I post regularly about them – check out my roundup of online ramp plans among others. Thanks to my pals at diy website Built By Kids, one of the masters of skate ramp building, Jeff King of the TV show Built to Shred, supplies a handful of ramp making tips to help make your next project better than ever.

A key line that destroys my favorite childhood ramp material:

Just for the record I don’t ever think masonite should be used for a ramp. Indoor or outdoor.

Check out the full Built By Kids series of skate posts:
- Ramp tips from Jeff King
- Visiting the Built to Shred set (some awesome pics of truly outrageous ramp builds there)
- And a VBS how-to on building a mini ramp

the BONUS round from cliff kapono on Vimeo.

Hilo surfer/shaper Robert Patterson gives a 80′s relic an extreme makeover, changing the game and breathing new life into an old friend.

7’5 to 5’5

Welcome to the bonus round…

Great concept: take an old surfboard, peel the fiberglass off, reshape it and give it new life. These guys did it with an old 7’5 single-fin (as did the dudes in the fantastic surf film Picaresque — one of my faves). Check out the interview with the surfer who received (and then rides) this board in this video too.

Related: A little over a year ago I inherited a 9′ longboard that looked like it had been used for target practice AND batting practice — possibly on the same day at times. I started removing the raised areas where the fiberglass had separated from the foam underneath, and soon had a board that looked like a zebra. Finally I decided the best bet would be a full restoration. I’m halfway through it, and honestly I don’t have much confidence that it will turn out well, but seeing that it’s a first attempt, I have no expectations that I’ll be able to shape the like pros do. My point is this: You gotta start somewhere, and where better than with a busted up board?

This video gives me inspiration to head down to my workshop and get messy. You know where to find me.

Peeling the fiberglass off. Lots of foam tends to come up with it. Especially on the rails.

Build this DIY workbench for cheap!

Need a workbench for your shop, something solid that will likely last longer than you will? Something you can do serious woodworking on? Mount a vice? Build shelves and cabinets and a crib for the new baby? Well, be prepared to plunk down a ton of cash,  because workbenches like that don’t come cheap.

Or, seeing as you’re the type that wants to build stuff, why not skip buying something pricey and build the very workbench you’ll be using for your future projects? Thanks to the good people at Popular Woodworking, here are the plans to put together your own high-quality, heavy duty bench with laminated top, and the whole thing will set you back just $175 — less than many new powertools cost. And that include the vise.

The free plans are available via PDF, with an accompanying set of notes on the Popular Woodworking website. Enjoy!

Wonderfully shot video piece by The Surfers Journal from a couple years back with iconic board shaper Terry Martin. While not a brand new, it’s always awesome to watch a master at work. Martin has shaped over 75,000 boards, spanning many decades. He’s a true legend.

“Terry Martin and the perfect 40-minute board”

Having started with wood as a lad in ’50s San Diego, on through to shaping sleek Phil Edwards Models, to the now – where he finds himself an in-demand builder of boards of all denominations for Hobie- Terry Martin is the consummate craftsman. In this episode of TSJ/POV Shorts, Terry shapes a perfect traditional noserider, talking us through his philosphy and technique as he works.
 
Terry was featured in a “Soundings” interview in TSJ 14.4.

Terry using the Skil 100 planer -- the "must have" power tool in the board shaping industry; Skil stopped making them years ago.

Block planing the wooden stringer

Checking the tail for square

Check out all of The Surfers Journal videos here.

I’m a huge map nerd and a history buff, so finding this illustrated layout of early Los Angeles (the city I’m currently living in and exploring) is like unearthing an ancient treasure map of fun discoveries. Los Angeles is an interesting place as it didn’t grow to prominence until recent times — things only really started clicking around 80-90 years ago, thanks to the oil and entertainment industries. This map from 1932 is interesting as it shows how many landmarks were already in place then, yet still shows the large tracts of undeveloped areas that remained in this region in those times.

Maybe the most fascinating thing about this map: NO FREEWAYS. No 101 cutting through Hollywood. No 405 crawling past LAX. Heck, no LAX for that matter. Remember, the Model T Ford had only been introduced 18 years prior, and the winding Arroyo Seco Parkway (Interstate 110, otherwise known as the first freeway in the USA) wouldn’t be built for a few more years. It’s no wonder the map maker drew Pasadena, Burbank and Universal City as far-off destinations, approaching and beyond the horizon — it must have taken a full day to drive to any of those spots. Not that it’s much better now.

One other interesting note is that Los Angeles hosted the Olympic games in 1932, and you can see the Olympic Village drawn in just south of USC’s campus.

Click and zoom on the map, explore, pan around. I haven’t seen zoom.it before, but I love the functionality. Make sure to go full screen on this thing.

You can also find this map on bigmapblog.com, which has a number of their map findings available for purchase. I might look into getting this one for my wall.

And next time you need some maps for your project, historic, modern, or otherwise, check out the amazing collection available at University of Texas’ Perry-Castañeda Library. It’s an amazing resource that has just about everything I can imagine online to browse through.

Here’s an image of 1902 Hollywood/Silverlake area Los Angeles

and 1915 San Francisco Bay Area (no bridges back then).

Finally, for you map geeks, make sure to check out David Imus’ award-winning map of the US. He spent 6000 hours over the course of 2 years to make it, working along at home, then won “best of show” against the huge map makers (Rand-Mcnally, National Geographic, CIA, etc) in 2010.

From slate:

The Greatest Paper Map of the United States You’ll Ever See
 
The longer you look at Imus’ map, the more deeply you feel the complexity and the artistry.
 
It is delightful to look at. Edifying to study.
 
- Slate.com

Read the full article about Imus here — this is one of those “ultimate DIY” accomplishments.

About a year and a half ago I helped some producer friends shoot a “punkin chunkin” themed segment of a popular cable TV show. I had initially talked with them about building a catapult for the scene, but they were able to locate a guy who has his own oversized pumpkin-launching “potato gun,” so they asked if I’d just help out by appearing in the bit as one of the good ol’ boys having a laugh and firing off some shots of the cannon.

The launcher we used was a short length of large diameter steel pipe, capped off on one end. The triggering mechanism was a spark plug connected to an ignition coil, which unfortunately had the tendency to foul up quickly and had to be cleaned and replaced often. Word of warning: I strongly advise against using this method of pumpkin launching — it’s far too dangerous to play around with the explosive forces involved, and tends to be somewhat unreliable anyway. I was pretty nervous about the whole thing, actually.

The pumpkins were pretty tender and mostly ripped themselves to shreds upon firing, but the guys finally got the cannon dialed in and we blasted some good shots. In the segment, a pumpkin supposedly hits a guy who is stealing pumpkins far off in the field. Sorry to ruin the illusion, but this scenario didn’t really happen in real life — but we did have a lot of laughs that day. Watch the video at the top of this post and check it out. Also, notice my pal Chris in it as the DIY Technology Expert. I love that we got to appear in the same clip together.

If you like DIY tech stuff, make sure to follow me on twitter — thanks!

My pal Chris Weisbart is a huge inspiration. Creative mind, handy in any workshop, great cook, awesome at craps, loves surfing at 630am, and able to get a room full of people laughing anywhere he goes. The type of guy I love to hang out with.

Chris recently (finally!) posted a few of his past projects online. Some of these are pieces that he’s put together in his day job as an event tech at a local museum in Los Angeles. Others are personal projects he’s done for art shows or just for fun. All of them have that aura of “cool” that Chris cultivates so nicely.

One of his newest creations, and one of my favorites, is his vapor screen display. Based on the concept behind commercial units, but using everyday items (drinking straws, scrap PVC pipe, a kid’s humidifier from the thrift store, some scrap computer fans), he rigged up a device that creates a thin, even sheet of vapor mist. Almost translucent, but able to catch the light projected onto it from a rear-facing projector — which gives an eerie, floating hologram effect with something that almost looks 3D. Remember that scene in the first Star Wars when R2D2 surprises Luke and Ben Kenobi with the projected “Help me Obi-Wan, you’re my only hope” message from Leia? It’s like that. In fact, he found that actual footage and put it through this thing, popping it off the screen and right into your face (footage is from Rob Meyer, who, btw, built is own Aliens-style “Loader”). All he needs now is an R2-D2 casing for the projector and I’ll be pooping Star Wars action figures.

I still need to get him to upload the video of him playing Burger Time on this thing.

Chris has a few other cool projects in his portfolio — I like the full-motion video domed hologram display (looks cool on video, looks GREAT in person) and his hovercraft hologram laser robots (there’s a theme starting here…). Check out all his uploads here.

And set some time aside to watch all four parts of his short film, Muetes Ul Gallaxiante!

a movie i shot waaay back in 2002 with a bunch of friends, a crappy digital 8 camera and about 800 bucks of taqueria money. It’s long, silent and in another language, so prepare yourself. I wrote the script (based on a children’s book i read), shot/edited it, and drew/animated all the backgrounds.

There’s also a great piece about Chris from earlier this Fall in the LA Weekly, discussing projects he was demonstrating at the “Melrose Trading Post.” More info on the fun stuff he does there.

Good work, Chris!

The most used tool on any TV show I’ve done: the tape measure. And yet, it was the tool that our promotional suppliers seemed to send the least of. There were never enough, they were always getting lost or misplaced or borrowed by someone else the moment you put it down.

Specifically because of those experiences, I’ve grown an attachment for tape measures. And seeing a deal like this makes my eyes pop open — 16′ Stanley FatMax tape measure and bonus box cutter for FIVE DOLLARS. Regularly $30. Even Amazon can’t beat this. At this price you could probably buy them and sell them on eBay. Get one for everyone!

Buy it online from Lowes. Pick it up in person to save on shipping, or pay a few bucks more to have it delivered to your house. The offer says it is good until Dec 31.

After a few uses, they'll look like they're covered in goop, but these are the best sports earbuds I've ever owned.

A little bit of rubbery glue (let it dry first!) on the back of your earbuds will keep them seated solid during any sweaty exercise you can throw their way.

———

If you’re anything like me, you know that music greatly enhances any type of exercise, especially running. But you’ve likely also discovered that earbuds never stay in place after a few minutes of sweating. Tired of dealing with this annoyance, I’ve been experimenting with a fast, cheap and dirty way to keep your earbuds where they belong, and the results so far are great.

I have a preference for Apple earbuds — the sound is adequate, they are pretty comfortably in my ears (better than most that I’ve tested), and they’re cheap (a huge advantage for someone like myself who has a propensity for losing, breaking, or washing my earbuds). But while the smooth, white plastic casing looks super stylish, it doesn’t create the friction necessary to keep the buds firmly set into the ear canal. I also noticed over time that the rubber ring around the circumference has a tendency to crack and peel off, revealing an uncomfortably sharp lip that hurts when you try to repeatedly force the earbuds deeper and deeper into your ear (which is how I spend most of my energy when I’m running).

The connection between the ear and the earbud’s lip isn’t where most of the earbud grip comes from, however — it’s actually the back of the ear fold that keeps enough pressure on the plastic to keep the tiny speaker from slipping away from you. That’s the exact area that has most of the smooth, slippery plastic, and the piece we’ll focus on modifying.

Used but unmodified earbuds, ready for updating

Gather your supplies:
-Earbuds
-Small piece of sandpaper or emery board
-Small tube of rubber cement-type glue
(both of the above are easily found in a bike tire patching kit like this one)
-”Third hand” clip/holder

Steps:
1. Sand the exterior of the earbuds to rough them up a bit. I found this was easiest with a small piece of sandpaper folded to give a rough edge that lets you get into any of the tight areas. Make sure to get around the metal screen and the back of the bud.

2. Wipe the buds clean of any dust with a dry cloth or napkin.

3. Lay a smooth bead of rubber cement glue around the outside of the metal screen, and continue it down the back of the plastic, to approximately where the circumference of the bud ends. This should adequately cover the area that your ear is in contact with.

Once the glue is in place, you’ll want to let it dry for a while. I used the vulcanizing glue from my tire patch kit (MSDS info leads me to believe this should be fine for skin contact, but no guarantees if you do the same!). I used my “third hand” to hold the earphones in place as the glue dried.

Remember that often times this type of rubberized glue remains very tacky to itself and other materials. Like I said, it’s a quick and DIRTY hack, and you’ll notice a lot of grime collecting in the glue over a very short time. You probably don’t want to stuff them into your lint-filed pockets or purse.

The results are amazing. I’m totally blown away. I’ve gone for long, sweaty runs using these, even in the rain, and have yet to adjust them or struggle to keep them in place. Not even once. In the past I tried everything from old-fashioned walkman headphones, to expensive in-ear headsets with rubber sleeve tips, to the type with the over-ear loop. And finally, with a simple tweak, I’ve got the best sports headphones I’ve ever used, for next to nothing.

After a while they'll start to look ragged, but they're still more effective than new ones

Helicopter-mounted cameras open up some interesting shot possibilities to DP’s and directors. With a remote control flying camera, you can do bigger moves than with a jib or crane, as well as aerial follow shots that might otherwise require a full-size helicopter — if a helicopter even fits into the space you’re filming.

The big trend with aerial filming is mounting a camera on a quadcopter-type platform (or tricopter, hexcopter, octocopter). The stability this setup gives is much improved over that of the traditional RC helicopter design that mimics a full-size chopper. And as the designs of these platforms improve, we’re seeing many new configurations including this one from Omstudios in Berlin, which connects a Red Epic to an eight-armed copter setup. The results: gorgeous.

The camera itself is mounted to a cradle that can pan, swivel and tilt via a controller on the ground. Although it’s not specifically mentioned in the video post, some of these systems are also designed to automatically stabilize the camera from any helicopter movement, keeping the shot steady. And the operator has a wireless video link to the camera, able to monitor the shot as it flies around overhead.

Due to the lighter weight of these RC rigs, they’re more easily affected by wind and movement, and can have a slightly shakier look than something connected to a full size helicopter — I suspect the slowed-down aerial footage shown here may be done to minimize the evidence of this. But even at that, this is great stuff, an amazing camera on a fantastic aerial platform. Long story short, I want it.

Not the same rig as above, but here’s a great example of some RC heli-mounted vide footage, from Poland I believe, of some recent riots and the organized police response. I’m trying to find information on the camera they used. Scary but incredible–that’s not an angle I’ve ever seen before.