recent projects - sous vide, hydroponic pump, and another table

I’ve been working on a few fun projects recently.

First: I built a temperature controller out of a crock pot and a cheap import temperature controller. It looks like this:



I’ve used it to cook eggs and steak. Both turned out great! Here’s the only shots I got of the steak:

 

Next, I’ve put together another refinement of the hydroponic tomato setup we have in our living room. Also, just realized I haven’t added the backposts about it yet. Allison and I started three tomato plants back in May:


They’ve grown into this:


That is a thirsty plant, so I rigged up a small electric pump to refill the bucket from a larger water container below:


Finally, I’ve been wanting some more desk space at home, but haven’t wanted to get a full size desk replacement. I wanted to make something with the same construction as the coffee table project, but was wary of starting another hand-sawing project. So I got one of the Makita circular saws! It is impossible to overstate how much easier it made the project. The original coffee table took several days of work and hand sawing, while this time I had done most of the cutting in about a half hour! 

Then I assembled the sides:


and put the top on, then put it in place:


I haven’t stained it yet, but wanted to get a feel for fit and usefulness before that. One of the first things I realized was that it was really dark on the shelf. A long while back, Mom had given me some snazzy LED strip lights, so I gave them a try: