DAELANS RIDING HIS BIKE THATS WHAT HES DOING

FINALLY GOT IT WORKING!

Turns out the chain wasn't tight enough! Who woulda thunk it? All that's left is a few tweaks to get it running a little smoother.

Nearly 4 weeks of painful pitfalls, finally completed!

Citronella Wine Bottle

I had attended a cookout a few weeks ago, and hanging along the fence in the backyard were wine bottles that had been rigged up to serve as citronella candles. Now I love cheesy tiki torches as much as anybody else, but for a mere $6 per candle (minus the actual citronella oil), I couldn't resist giving it a go.

The bill of materials for this is pretty straight forward.

1) Empty wine bottle

2) Teflon tape

3) 3/8 to 1/2 copper adaptor

4) 1/2 copper cap

5) Tiki torch wick

Of course, since nothing can ever work the first time around, I found that the threaded adaptor I had bought was just barely too big to fit inside the bottle. A quick once over with the dremel and I was able to sand it down enough that it fit inside perfectly. This is where the teflon tape comes in handy. A few wraps around will bulk up the adaptor a bit, but since the tape gives a little under pressure, it creates a nice seal when inserted into the bottle.

After a little sanding...

A little tape...

You then thread the wick through the adaptor, fill the bottle up with oil, and you're done!

Woohoo!

I let it soak for about 30-45 minutes before I fired it up (the idea is that the oil burns, not so much the wick). I'd say for 10 minutes of work and about $6 per bottle, definitely something I'd recommend trying out.

Mosquito Repelling Molotov Cocktail

FRUSTRATION!

Of course something would go wrong, why I didn't plan on it I don't know. So after getting the engine started twice, I had the chain fall off and bury itself into the spokes, which in turn, taco'd the tire. Apparently the root cause of all this is the POS chain tensioner thats included with the kit.

This piece of crap...

So it seems that I can do without the tensioner, given that my frame has whats called "drop-outs", or the slotted part of the frame where the tire is mounted. This gives me the ability to simply adjust the rear tire back if I need more tension on the chain. So yippee...I guess. Still doesn't change the fact that I've already burnt the $$$ on two tires :(.

I'm gonna hit up the internets some more and try to get as much info as I can, because I'm really tired of buying tires. Ideally this will be the last weekend of construction, ideally.

Sadness D: