The Foosball Table

"15000" yes sir, minimum 15000 rupees. I hung the phone, the cost of the foosball table was not affordable nor the low priced one`s suited our requirements.


We enjoy playing foosball, I saw it first in a sitcom named "Friends" and got my hands on one when it was installed in one of our work office.


The Realization :-

One fine evening when I was chatting with my friends about Foosball, an idea popped up of building the table for ourselves. That day we had only one thing with us a "will", yes a "will" to build a foosball table ourselves . Next morning we started to find a way, we googled for any help available on building Foosball table. We found few links. We realized that this can done, this can build.


The Requirements :-

1 - Playable - You don`d want to build a game which is not playable.
2 - Foldable - When not in use it will take up minimal space.
3 - Affordable.

The Raw Material :-

Wood :
We checked with some timber shops, traveled to timber market in search of good wood.
After searching for few days we finally got what we wanted, we carried it to my friends house, which later on became our workshop.

Metal rods :
We wanted to put steel rods , but it was going out of budget. We decided to use the aluminum rods. These 8 rods were going to hold our wooden players.

Sun mica sheets :
We needed two of them one for the playing surface, other to give good look to the table.
We could not bargain on this one much.

Knobs:
This joined the legs and the main board, this part made it possible to fold the legs.

Clips:
Round metal clips where use to hold the pipes as they move in and out.

Grips:
We brought Hero bicycle grips. They made it comfortable to hold and move the rods while playing.

Foosball men :
We build them out of wood. Drilled a hole just big enough to slide metal rods from it.
We later colored them in blue and red. We fixed them on road using fewiquick.


Ball:
We used 3 types of balls , 1 - a table tennis ball , 2 - actual foosball 3 - a plastic cricket ball
We found the actual foosball is best but we had to shell more money for this one.


The Assembling :

We build the table in two independent units :
Unit 1 :
- Rods + wooden men.
Unit 2 :
Play field wooden box + legs.


Let the games begin :
"Where there is a will there is a way", We not only found a way but explored it.
Foosball table was ready, it was time to play.....


A big thanks :

It was not possible to build it without help of my dear friend Mayur Sakpal.
He not only guided me, but also provided a workshop ( which was his own house :) ) for building the foosball table.


Under Construction snaps :

1.Play field wooden box.



















2. Foosball men assembly.

Bee Hive Remover

"Join me in removing a bee hive" It was my friend , he was on other side of the telephone link. There was huge bee hive to be removed just outside his house, this is how it started....

Our aim was simple remove the hive, get the honey, and yes to do it all ourselves. "Do it ourselves" now that was a problem, we are not professional bee hive removers, and had no idea of how the process works, nor we had the clothing gear required to remove the bee hive.


The Intilization:

This is were we start to appreciate the Internet , the Google etc. We googled for some clues and found out few things which were :-

1. Remove a bee hive in evening, this is because the bee`s are less active at that time.
2. Smoke the bee`s away from the hive, and as they go away remove the hive.



The Preparation:

We picked our thick winter jacket and our bike helmet, these were only things protecting us from bee stings.
We also brought a flower pot , a cow dung cake and few cloth pieces, and some kerosene.
Cow dung cake, some cloth pieces and few drops of kerosene were placed in flower pot and were lit on fire.

The Action:

There was no electricity at my friends place, so all the action took place in focus of a torch light.
After few minutes the burning fire was put off, and we were left with smoke , we put the the pot just below the hive , slowly the bee`s started fleeing the hive. Few refused to leave , those bee`s were removed by a stick. We pulled out the hive just in time either just before the whole hive collapsed on the floor.


Sweet taste of success:

Honey was dripping out of the removed hive. We decided to taste the honey and sucked it straight from the hive, oh ya it tasted as sweetest thing on earth.
Thankfully the bee`s did not sting us. Operation was a big success. We managed to get about 1 KG of honey out of the hive. It was real adventure to do it ourselves.

Caution : It sounds easy but it`s not, a small mistake can put your life in danger.