Simple dc motor with forward/reverse, self starting

This little motor makes a great school science project. Matter of fact the idea developed to what you see in the video from a request by my grandson to help him come up with an idea for his science class. The last clip in the video shows the tools and materials that we used.

Batteries, magnets and wire are the main parts needed

Snow blowing 28 inches snow with my Kubota BX

I've been clearing snow from my neighbours driveway all winter. We had a heavy late season snowfall and I took advantage of the deep snow accumulation in his driveway to set up 2 GoPro camera's (one on my tractor roll over bar - ROPS), and the other on my neighbours car that was parked in the driveway. My wife had the regular camcorder so she did some additional taping. I ended up dividing the footage into three separate video's. This is the first one.

Snow is about 4 inches higher than snow blower frame in this area

DIY motorized bird feeder - Arctic grade

This bird feeder has operated for a couple of years now and is holding up real good. Before I reinstall it this fall I need to repair the plastic housing as a squirrel chewed a good chunk of material out of the auger area last spring. I will post the repair info on a later blog post. Unlike my homemade fish food feeder (link below) the bird feeder auger is free to rotate in either direction when the microwave motor is turned ON. These motors (salvaged from the carousel of the microwave) have the characteristic of reversing direction when turned ON-OFF-ON. The motor in this bird feeder operates directly from regular 120VAC. Make sure you plug the feeder into a GFI outlet for maximum safety.
With the fish food feeder I rigged up a simple ratchet system to keep the motor running in one direction. As I mentioned above I found that the ratchet is not needed for the bird feeder.  Fish food feeder
UPDATE: I now turn the bird feeder ON and OFF with my iPhone. There are a number of "internet of things" power bars and outlets that are controllable with an APP. Please post a question if you need any further info on this. A regular household electromechanical timer may also be used.

The auger cuts through snow and ice and operates unattended in all weather conditions

Home made soil screener/sifter

This is one of my best machines so far as related to tractors. Works better than I anticipated and so far I have screened many tons of soil. I'm getting an average of about 1000 views a month so far on this video with additional views on the related "build" video and "screening action" video (links in the video below).

I load the soil on the "wrong" side

Snow blowing views from GoPro mounted on my head

This main part of this video shows my point of view while snow blowing with my rear mounted snow blower on my Kubota BX. My wife took some of the clips with my regular camcorder. In one scene the blowing snow strikes the roll over protection bar and reflects back to me. Since this video I had the ROPS cut down so that I don't have to fold it back to fit in my garage. A lot safer all around.

GoPro on my head views of snow blowing

Flipit the egg flipper

Inventing is a passion of mine and I've been at it for most of my life. Here's a little idea that I came up with a couple of years ago. Still needs work and modifications (especially a handle and an easy way to connect to the fry pan).

Video shows Flipit in action

Installing snowblower with maintenance tips (2nd of two videos)

This video gives details on a more controlled installation of the rear mounted snowblower on the Kubota BX. Instructions on making the drive line safer are also included in this video. Perhaps the best tip overall is to make sure you have a comfortable seating position (a little stool) when installing the main pin (that's the one with the two D bushings). I also experimented with using anti-seize compound on the chain to see how long it will last when compared with regular chain lube.

Checking for sway after installation