Wednesday, July 1, 2015

The Project Itch List - Green Brain Dreaming


(I sometimes write about the old overactive brain and its need to create and learn and work with the underactive hands. Be warned - this is one of those. The creative itch has turned into a burning need lately. Busy-ness is frustrating, snagit!)

The Practical Hipster Electric Bike

The simply elegant Maxwell ebike
 
The Faraday, the Vela, the Genze, and now the Maxwell (That thing is so snagging cool it hurts!) have been working on me, and the one-wheel and two-wheel trailers gathering dust in the garage along with the direct-drive hub motor mounted to another dust-gathering e-bike have all fermented in my head to make me want to build my own hipster e-bike that I could use for shopping, water gathering, recycling, and commuting with the little brother. And really, I have all the parts...

Compost happens, but it requires a little work or some worms


The backyard box composter is rocking and rolling, but I need to start another compost pile (or two) so that the current one will have a chance to mature. I have been wanting to build a compost tumbler like this instructable or this instructable (Itch itch itch). To tide me over until I get to build that one, I plan to order 500 red wrigglers to get the vermicomposter up and digesting. I will keep you informed about our descent into the wormhole.

Here Comes the Sun

More and more solar-powered vehicles, refrigerators, fans, and projects have presented themselves to me lately. (I love the little solar-powered Zenn that just popped up for sale on evtradingpost.com and Ebay this week.) All of it serves to remind me that I have the components lying around to build a solar-powered charging station that would be sufficient to keep the Vespa and an e-bike charged pretty easily.


And the project I most want to work on: the Electric Pigeon

Yep, I had already been feeling it, but this weekend I rode the electric Vespa and (BOOM!) realized that an electric vintage scooter (for me) is the pinnacle of enjoyable transport. The Vespa is my first-draft version with lots of bumps and hiccups along the way. I am ready to build the second draft scooter now.

Pigeon 1 and the donorcycle

May your overactive brain and your underactive hands find some common ground in your green projects! If mine do, I'll let you know.

Thanks for reading!

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