Must be Sunday

Must be Sunday

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Flying robots at TED

I just love this….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2itwFJCgFQ

 

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Fried Gnocco

imgresThis is a sort of Italian bread that is deep fried and usually served with Parma Ham or Coppa di Parma.

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Ingredients : (Enough for about 50 pieces)

500g of white Strong flour

2 Teaspoon of yeast

1 Teaspoon of Sugar for the yeast

2 teaspoon of Salt

70g of LARD.(this is the important part, not butter but LARD). If you buy 3 pots of 190g of Iberico Lard. You get 500g for the frying and 70g for the dough.

180ml of luke warm water.

Plenty of Olive Oil.

 

Make a froth with Yeast, sugar and a bit of water.

Then add all ingredients and make a dough

Knead until you have a nice ball of dough (5 minutes)

Make into a ball, cut a cross on the top, cover with cling film and set to rest for at least an hour

Take out of bowl and roll into a square sheet or 3mm thick max.

cut into diamond shaped rectangles

deep fry in LARD (500g is good) or Olive Oil in a deep side pan.

fry on both sides until nice a golden ,put aside on towel paper.

Eat soon….

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Focaccia Bread

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Simple Recipe :

  • 800g White Strong Flour
  • Olive Oil (30 to 45g)
  • 200g Semolina flour (medium is ok)
  • 1 Tablespoon of Salt / 15g (sea salt is nice)
  • Dry Yeast for 1KG Bread – 10g
  • Fresh rosemary / Thyme / Dried Herbs

How to Make it:

Mix all dry parts first, including herbs.
Then add olive oil, 2 to 3 tablespoons
650ml lukewarm water this is lower than my other loaves of bread (65% versus 75%)
(a bit warmer than blood …about 40degrees)
mix with a fork in the bowl

work the dough manually (for therapy effect), use the machine if you want.
keep the dough fairly moist
put on the work surface and work the dough, about 5 minutes.
“tuck-in” the dough into a ball and put into a large bowl with a bit of flour
let rise for 1 hour

put the dough into a large baking tray (clay or ceramic one) with olive oil in the bottom
poke the dough so that the tray is fully filled
put a bit of olive oil on top
let rise a second time for 20/30 minutes
poke with 1 finger in even spaced holes

pre-heat oven to 250 degrees.
Put Rosemary on top of the dough.
poke the dough with 1 finger until holes evenly spread
add a bit of rock salt on top.
put in the oven for 20/30 minutes or until golden brown and dry inside.

Take out and let cool for 30 minutes

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One more light meal at my mum’s…oh by the way the wine is only 13 years old….

One more light meal at my mum's...how by the way the wine is only 13 years old....

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Still young and strong

Still young and strong

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Beer – Chilis – 3D Printing…

I am on Holiday, suddenly I have a bit more time to update my blog and do things that are creative.
Earlier in the year I started growing some hot chilis…from seeds…I now have a few trees that I am planning to give away to friends and family.

I am still to eat a strong chili but they are starting to grow and soon will turn red !

Also, I made some beer. (See a soon to come post). So I needed a bottle opener. I made a few designs but settled on this one which is simple and effective. I can also attach it to my key ring and have it with me all the time. I printed one in transparent filament and in glow in the dark blue filament. It works, that is the important part.
Can’t wait for the chilis to be ready !

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Staying at my Parents

I am on holiday !!. Spending sometime quality time with my parents in Lyon. Obviously I took a few of my toys to play with, in particular my Replicator 2X from Makerbot. I made a few repairs for my parents. A few plastic parts that were either broken or needed replacement.

In particular the Parasol for the swimming pool to provide some shade, I repaired the cable for the operation of the sun shade and created a small plastic ball to provide the neat ending of the cable. Also, the letterbox needed a new locking mechanism, simple but effective. Finally the “piece de resistance” was the upgrade for the sun shade in the front of the house, I am now down to 6 versions of the model and printing “only” takes 95 minutes…I have printed blue, red and “natural” abs. I think I have reached the final version now….well I hope so….

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Quennelles -exploding in Oven

We made some Quennelles today at my mum’s place in France.
These ones were very special as they almost “exploded” in the oven, this was amazing. They were plain but with a Nantua sauce and I served them with large Gambas cooked with lemon and garlic. The secret is not to cook them too hot so that they rise well.


All together with a Rhone wine – I think it was Saint Joseph from Guigal- very nice. Lyon is a really nice place for good food…not so good for cholestrol...

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BBQ – 240Volts versus 110Volts

It’s only 4 years since we are back from the USA. Time for me to update the power supply of the BBQ, to fit the United Kingdom plugs. Unfortunately it is not possible to source locally a transformer of the same size and power rating. So I had to make a special holder to keep the new (smaller) transformer in place.


I made a simple plate with space for the Zip ties to hold the new IP67 rated transformer.


 

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On my way

On  my way

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Next to Design Museum

Next to Design Museum

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Repairing Stuff

My Dad came for a few days to our house in London.

He had a broken part for a sun shade for his house. A plastic part melted away in the sun and there is no available spare parts. The company making the sun-shade is either bankrupt or cannot provide spares.

I had a go at re-building the parts with a 3D CAD software and trying to print with my new Replicator 2X from Makerbot.

Below the results. I still do not know if the part works because I need to ship the part ot my Dad in France, if only he had a 3D printer in his house I could simply send him the digital file for him to print !! Maybe in the future….

Also below a 3D representation of the actual file. This is version 4, which is complete but not final until actually checking the fit.

I also made the part stronger in the area were the original file failed, by putting a couple of strong pieces of ABS.

 

The part is made of Natural ABS extruded at 230c. Printed a medium resolution. With layer thickness of 0.27mm, 75% infill, 2 shells, 110c heated platform with Blue sticky paper, the model is sliced in 103 layers, weigth is about 22grams, volume is approx 22cc, cost of ABS is approx $1.06 (with $48/kg retail price), time to print is approx 1h 50 minutes for the latest version 4.

 

Main problem encountered was to actually construct the part in 3D.
It required a lot of measurements using a micrometer (Mitutoyo are the only one worth buying…i bought other brands and are simply flimsy in compare)
We need a 3D scanner to be able to capture all the details and then some fancy software to recognise actual primitives in the file to allow for reverse engineering. There is still plenty of things to improve before 3D printing makes it to replace traditional manufacturing methods or goes into everybody’s house !!!

I also spent a “few hours” of my time on this which would make a single repair unaffordable for a business in my opinion. Nobody will pay more than a few $ for the new parts and it will still cost “man hours” even if the machine steps are now very short and accessible.

End of Post.

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Yeppee All done !!

Yeppee All done !!

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Let’s go !

Let's go !

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Today i am a super héro. Start Line in 15 minutes.

Today i am a super héro. Start Line in 15 minutes.

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Building a Bird House

This weekend, I spent some time building a small bird house for the garden.

It is all laser cut and then I added a small 3D printed feeder, which looks like a BBQ next to the chalet….

Enjoy…

Flat Sheet Drawing. ([download id=”2″])

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3D Printing New-York

3D Printing New-York

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Productive Day

Today I had a productive day :

Trip to post office to pick-up package. Stop at coffee shop fro breakfast. Clear-up garage and trip to the dump. More clear-up of garage and sorting out winter things. Stop at the hobby craft place to checkout the “new things”. Bought only a couple of things. Run a washing machine, Dishwasher, clear-up. Eat Chinese left-over for Lunch. Update software on my recent “Barometre”, electronic thing. Clear-up of garden  rubish and weeding of vegetable garden. Painted a door and the suspended garden with “Ronseal”. Check fish pond for PH/GH/Etc…Pond needs water to be less “hard”. (London is a dirty air town…). Did not change the light bulb of the front of the house, :(.

I deserve a beer and playing with my new 3D Printer…

 

 

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First dual print ! On replicator 2X

First dual print ! On replicator 2X

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