Hands on Katie

Forget the gym!!

I can proudly announce all the roof beams are done!! This means all the hard stuff is now complete.

T&G roof boards, insulation, flooring, door fitting and the rest is all easy peasy compared to standing on a ladder/scaffold 3m in the air, balancing beams whilst wielding my trusty Mallet of Encouragement +3 - he's been an absolute hero in this build, no way I could have done it without him. Dead Blow Mallets are awesome - I've decided I'm going to do a quick video on how to make on...

The Big Build Begins!!!

Oooh I've been whacked every day this week, shifting 8 tonnes of materials, lifting, screwing, fixing.....and most importantly razor focused on the assembly, so I don't get something wrong!!! (This sort of build becomes very hard to fix mistakes!!)

Excuse the massive dump of more than usual photos - I'm exhausted by the end of each day, but I thought some of you might like to see the progress.

Weather and mistakes permitting, I should be getting onto the roof by tomorrow..... many...

Let's do Herb Planters!!!!!

Had a bit of a random side-quest this year after realising all my outdoor herbs had died! My herb beds looked like there'd been a nuclear winter, so I figured I'll solve that with a Fallout-proof Herb Vault!!!

Enjoy!!

Members Extra / Behind the Scenes!

Hi all!!

I'm finally getting into a rhythm with all this video production malarkey, so thought I'd start sharing a quick video with extra footage from videos.

This is just to answer any common questions, share some of the silly outtakes and give some sneak peeks of upcoming projects!

I'm keeping it all a bit rough and ready at the moment so I don't hammer myself with even more video production, but I'll look to develop in coming months!!

Enjoy!

Brains needed!!! Hands on Katie HQ design time!!

Hey you awesome folks!

I’m soooooooo excited to share that I’ve finally finished the concrete pour on my new workshop foundation! 🏗️ I didn't want to confirm anything until I'd left it a good few days to cure!! I was dodging the Scottish weather which was flipping between rain and sun every few hours. Plus it's now hovering 'just' above the minimum temperature for concrete pouring - if I'd missed this, then it would have been next April before I could have done it...

Resin Magic or Resin Mess?! Advice and tips needed!

Ok, a lot of you inspired me with your sickeningly cool prints using resin 3d printers, so I gave in and added it to my ever-extending list of crafts I want to learn!!

This is the Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra, which by all reviews appears to be both an excellent printer, but more importantly, the most easy to use one!

I'm setting up a dedicated 'Resin Zone' in the new workshop, so this will allow me to vent any nasties very easily, but looking for any tips and advice on:

1) Safety/M...

I never thought I'd need this....!

I probably haven't done this justice with my constant messing around, but it's like a Switchbot S10 with a handle - it vacuums and mops like a manic!

If you've got pets, kids, muddy walks or you're a gardener, this could well change the game for you!

Narwal S20 Pro - and yes I do...

...need to impersonate Freddie Mercury whenever I'm vacuuming.... ;)

Going to do a quick video on this actually as it's funny how these things evolve - Switchbot solved the autonomous mopping challenge with their S10 Pro, now Narwal have tackled the handheld mopping game with theirs.

It's interesting how the Quadrant of Cleaning Automation is close to its completion.... which is a sentence that has never been said before in human history.... ;)

Playroom: Smart Seating update!!

This little nook seat was dreamt up by my daughter, so build it I shall!!!

It's got a curving top that will hold LED lighting, smart buttons to control the room, secret drawers to store things, a curving seat that allows people to lie down and sit upright.

The challenge is actually building it faster than she can dream up new features to add.

The hard bit is now done, just need to upholster a curved custom cushion, add the top, wire all the electronics, fit the drawers and...

Big week for the new workshop: Well it's a start...!!

Concrete pour is finally this week (weather permitting)! I put my office chair exactly where it's going to be in the new workshop - this will be my smart command centre for all the cool things I've got planned!

Once the concrete is down, I'll leave it a couple of weeks and then see if I can get the building itself up and weathertight before the Scottish winter sets in!

I'm hoping the actual construction of the building will be relatively quick in comparison - nail guns and impac...

I made a smart crafting table!!!

Need YOUR genius ideas!!!

So, a sneak peek of the next video - I decided to modify my craft room table a bit.... and then a lot.... 💡😏

And it's turned into a totally cool smart table! Think dimensionally accurate projections so I can cast a gridfinity grid and line up all the parts I need for that drawer.

Think the ability to actually cast that sewing pattern directly onto the fabric to mark or cut!

I can keep all the common angles, dimensions and diameters instantly availabl...

Ultimate Workshop Build: The most fun all year!?!

I can't believe people get paid to do this every day!!! I decided to go full speed on digging out the ground for the new workshop, so I got a mini digger.... oh boy is this thing fun....

I'll need to post some photos of the ensuing carnage.... I may have got a bit carried away.... to a woman with a mini digger, everything looks like a hole!!

Extra video - Reolink Altus PT Ultra

Hey all!!!

Well I couldn't wait to share this one (not least as several of you have been asking about security camera options whilst I was secretly helping test this!!) - so I thought I'd try and drop an extra video in in-between the usual schedule!

It's now released - it's an awesome device - I love how battery and wired cameras are starting to converge!

I can't say how much better this is than my old cameras!

Reolink site: 2024-09-29 11:07:13 +0000 UTC View Post

The Bear & the Butterfly - Extra Photos

Well I've been extra busy this week attempting to DOUBLE my video output.... fingers crossed a video coming later!!

I thought I'd share some extra photos I spotted of the Bear & the Butterfly - I'm absolutely terrible at getting these photos and videos shared, so I'm working on that - I must share about 10% of the total footage, which seems daft!!

One thing I'm plotting is an 'Extra' version of videos, so I could do a bit more of a casual voiceover style video for the Bear and...

Ultimate Kitchen Organisation time!!

Well this is what happens when you unleash a nerd girl on a kitchen...... 😀

3D prints, lasers and more....!

I've got absolutely masses of extra footage on this, so I'm thinking of pulling together a 'behind the scenes' Patreon extra video if that's of interest to anyone??

Sneak Peek: Kitchen Time!!!

I went a bit berserk in the kitchen this week.... ;)

Let's take techie theory, crafty fun and engineering gadgets and transform the way we organise kitchens!!

This has been the cheapest upgrade I've ever done to a room - I've gained 5-6 whole cupboards of space simply by applying all my home organisation systems to this room!

BlackJackDuck's Parametric OpensCAD generator and David D's awesome solutions from the discord channel have been in use here too!

Now I haven't ...

CAT's out the bag - another project on the go...

I really think any modern home should have CAT6 connections every few metres around the garden... it'd save me having to sneak around drilling holes through the walls at every opportunity!

Upgrading all the wifi, cameras and more - PoE is great!!

That's not a NAS.... this is a NAS....

Oh my goodness, I'm going to need to take a few weeks to describe this monster. After about 15 years of Synology, I've got increasingly fed up with their increasingly cynical moves (eg use only our branded hard drives, removal of features, accelerated EoL support and so on) - so I got fidgetty... then I saw this being reviewed and it is a monster....

I'll cover it in a future video/post, but oh my goodness I've been getting little tingles of excitement as I test it out - to say it demol...

Patreon Update: September - It's a complete coincidence, I swear!!

Ok, I didn't anticipate my 3d printers being out of action with the Bambu Lab issues today (first time since I think they started!) - so I thought I'd use the time to give you an update, I just made the mistake of having a glass of gin....... that kept growing....

Apologies in advance for any incoherence...... 🥴🥴🥴🤣🤣

To anticipate any questions:

The Devilishly Tasty Gin:

2024-09-10 16:36:28 +0000 UTC View Post

Drunk Katie: Where the Welsh get their inspiration.....

I actually got somewhat distracted when filming the Switchbot S10 video as I was sampling some wonderful Welsh gin I bought whilst there on holiday a while back.... ;)

I thought these clips made me chuckle as it did go straight to my head!

It's Bara Brith flavour - this is a wonderful Welsh fruit cake, hard to describe - but there's a word 'hiraeth' in Welsh which doesn't really have an English equivalent, but you'll all recognise the feeling...

If you want some of your own...

More renovations!

I'm building a very cool project as a playroom for the kids - I'll share more sneak peaks in the coming weeks, but for now it starts where every good woodworking project begins.... making boxes.... ;)

Early preview of the latest video!!

I absolutely loved this project, hope you enjoy it too!!

Let's get crafty!!

Latest Project: Sneak Peeks!!!

Now I've had the opportunity to get a bit crafty in my latest video, but I couldn't wait until Friday, so here's a sneak peek for you all.....!!

Full reveal on Friday!!

Is this going to be a thing of the past soon??

Cutting the hedges is quite fun actually, it's collecting all the leaves that's then a pain - literally. It was only after looking at all these photos that I realised why my back was so sore afterwards!

Those of you in the discord forum might have spotted the device I'm thinking of testing that would make all of this a thing of the past...... !

Archive: Garden Shed Yoga???

I was getting laughed at for my yoga antics in fitting the multiboard to the garden shed - so I thought I'd share these photos of me looking like a complete berk!

In my defence, it would have been much easier if I hadn't constantly dropped the screws - must have done it about 20 times!!

I got it done at least and the shed is now super organised!!

Epoxy Coaster test.... number 1!

I had a brainwave involving an RFID tag, some tin foil and some epoxy coasters..... so I thought I'd do a little test of my theory first!

If the foil blocked the RFID signal, it'd allow me to create a controllable connection to different RFID tags in close proximity. If this works, I'll show why in a future post!

And I was laughing my head off when I started mixing the epoxy, but I'm not saying why!!!

Plant Labels!

Been cutting more of these labels from the smart gardening video a few weeks ago, they're super handy and the most robust solution I've seen (it's actually quite a tricky domain for materials - wood rots, pens fade in UV, labels peel, other things crack in the ice) - these are pretty much bulletproof.....!

Early access to latest video!!

Know at least three of you have been looking to buy one of these, so here's my thoughts!!

I've been testing over the last few months, so can say with absolutely confidence.... they're awesome! The S10 is quite extraordinary in how it solves the mopping challenges of all robovacs before it, they just all seem a bit silly now!!

And the K10+ Pro (just out in last few days) is brilliant just in what it's size unlocks....!!

Enjoy!

Think I've got this! Just last few bits to test!

I've lost the K10+ Pro once (he was hiding), I've told off the S10 for not obeying me and I've only managed to break them once!

Late night spot of editing once kids in bed and I should have it out tomorrow!

These really are amazing little innovations - I'm so glad that SOMEBODY has finally shoved the robot vacuum world forward, I mean my robot from 10 years ago basically did the same things as the latest ones - these are very different though!