Yesterday, I used the excellent new welding facilities at TechShop SF to build a projector mount for my new projector. I wanted something that would easily allow me to maneuver the heavy projector while it stood perched atop a C-stand.

Projector mount. Projector mount.

The projector mount will serve as a platform for various machine vision/video feedback experiments. Having an easy way to move around a bunch of projector parts and camera bits while keeping them in alignment is important.

I’ve done a little welding in the past, but I’m not very good at it. (As a friend of mine once quipped, “Every weld ground to perfection!”) Still, I managed to get the stand finished in about 4 hours. Now that it’s painted, it looks almost respectable.

There’s this thing that happens when I learn a new skill. Suddenly, the world reframes itself with new possibilities. Suddenly, everything is a welding problem. I really enjoy this part of the learning process, it’s a big part of my internal motivation to build and design. Next up: mounting kinects and cameras!

…and maybe some stepper motors. Now that could be interesting.