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Tests and Small Projects

It’s been a busy start to the year and I’ve not had much extended free time for large projects so I’ve been running a few tests and small projects. Milling name plates with the Desktop CNC. By using aluminium clad plastic – formerly pub menus. The desktop cnc cuts easily through the thin lay of aluminium exposing the black plastic layer. With a quick sand and buff they shine up well. Magic Mirror display. I’d purchase 70% reflective car tinting many years ago for this project. I’d also purchased a cheap 22 inch 12v LCD monitor and finally decided to start making one. Portable iBeacons. Originally had a very different purpose, now I’m getting into way points and extending the range further. Originally designed to go 10m indoors, I’ve tested mine up to 100m line… Read More »Tests and Small Projects

Desktop PCB Mill

After many delays and set backs I’ve finally gotten a working, reliable PCB mill. In the first post I did of this, I used V bit’s to get better resolution of the tracks. The height issues remained and I was unable to get the auto bed leveling working on the Marlin firmware. What I did to fix the multiple issues: I found the X and Y couplers were a poor choice, as they were acting like large springs. I added lock nuts to the far ends of the X and Y axis, on the outer edges to pull the couplers tight and prevent X and Y axis from springing back when they moved. I removed some PLA from the Z stepper mount to make way for the extra spindle length. That was not enough so… Read More »Desktop PCB Mill

Cheap Pickups

Some more cheapies from the weekend – although not hugely successful, provided hours of interest. Solidoodle Press Ubiquiti Nanostation HFW5200-IRA camera Solidoodle Press This was a nostalgic purchase, I originally purchased a Solidoodle 2 as my first printer and it was kinda cool to have one of their production models. I purchased it with the intent of buying spare parts and priced accordingly. It didn’t come with a power supply so I soldered a PC PSU to provide the 12v. I have since found that it’s a 24v system, and by using a 20v 4amp laptop charger, I’ve been able great hot end temps and reasonable heated bed temps. Initial tests proved successful and it connected to Repetier Host, homed the axis’s and the heated bed and hot end warmed. I have plenty of spares… Read More »Cheap Pickups

Desktop CNC – Work In Progress

To make my projects smaller and more durable, it would be better to make custom PCB’s rather than jamming a wad of wires into already small cases. To make this possible, I’ve made a desktop CNC. To keep the costs down, it will be made using mostly surplus parts. To cut back on costs further the sides and 3D printed parts where redesigned to fit 8mm smooth rods, rather than 12mm, which are considerably more expensive and harder to find. There are many revisions of the CNC design I chose and I had to piece together parts from 2 or more of them, notably the X-carriage – most of them where designed as a single piece, which would need supports. I increased thickness of most of the CNC parts to 9mm (from 6mm). During the… Read More »Desktop CNC – Work In Progress

MP3DP v2

After rebuilding the center of my MPCNC, buying another router and converting it to dual axis independent motors, I wanted to test it’s alignment by making the MP3DP v2 – another V1 Engineering project. Some of the core components came from my aging Prusa i2, which had significantly less build volume (20x20x7) There was a small issue with the parts being CNC’d using the new firmware. rounded corners seemed to be randomly hit and miss – I found out that the firmware didn’t cut arc’s very well, so they had to be removed from the g-code Core components removed: stepper motors, hot build plate, and some electronics. The build time on this was longer than expected due to long wait times for cheaper parts and properly cabling the wires. The power supply mounts are custom… Read More »MP3DP v2

Arduino CDP Revisited

UPDATE 5/5/21: Please check out the most current version. During some down time I’ve decided to revisit the Arduino CDP sniffer and add extra features. This will be a running post and will be updated periodically. As mentioned in the comments of the other post I will be looking at adding LLDP support and an export feature to a mobile/laptop. The export or “history” addition will allow a log to be saved to an external device as easy as possible. As a prototype, it’s had an ESP8266 added to it with a web server running showing modified serial output. Initial results work, but I’m again getting plagued with power issues from the ESP8266’s. Getting those 3.3v and enough amps into the original container will be problematic. The benefit of this is it’s exported as text… Read More »Arduino CDP Revisited

Amp’d For Profit

I bought a Boss car audio amp (BA-4800) for a staggering $2. There was noticeable physical damage, but it’s worth a gamble for a quick, cheap fix. The damage looked localized to two RCA connectors. The remaining pins from the connector looked undamaged. Without changing anything it was powered with a PC PSU. Volume was good from both the remaining RCA connectors. Desoldered the pins and replaced the RCA connectors with an additional through-hole quad RCA connector. Connected power again: Now all 4 channels were working well. For what started as $2 for 2 working channels is now $6 for 4 working channels. Thats $1.50 per channel. Cheers

Offset Smoker

This was done a few months ago, I just didn’t think to add it till now. I’ve wanted to make an offset smoker since I found out that my hot water system would need replacing. I got a fair way through the project when I couldn’t get accurate information on weather it was safe to leave the enamel lining on the inside. After a quick email to the original manufacturer it was confirmed it needed to be removed. It was too thick to remove with a flappy disk and grinder so it was abandoned. I saw an advert online for someone selling “kits” for $70 (AUD). 2 LPG tanks, 4 legs, and a chimney. The LPG tanks had already been venting for over a year, but I still filled with water for a few weeks… Read More »Offset Smoker

Mini Virtual Pinball Cabinet

While smoking some meat in the drum smoker, I had some time to kill, so I decided to build a smaller desktop virtual pinball cabinet. Hopefully one that would be portable, but still big enough to provide a similar experience to a full size cabinet. The base cabinet was cut and monitors fitted during this time, the rest was done over the following few weekends. Similar to the other one I built, this too would be mainly build from recycled/cheap parts: The laptop inside has a smashed screen and no battery, which would have other wise been thrown out, but fine for this build. The backglass is an old LCD (unknown origin). The playfield monitor was a cheap purchase from a swapmeet (<$10). The arcade buttons are the last left over arcade buttons from several… Read More »Mini Virtual Pinball Cabinet

Ugly Drum Smoker (UDS)

This project started when I was doing a pork leg and it was too big (and tall) to fit in my old charcoal BBQ (18″ Eurochef kindly donated by a good mate). Old bricks  and clamps where to hold the lid down. After some research I found a DIY smoker called a UDS (Ugly Drum Smoker). After much thought and research, I opted for a food safe drum (stupid move) from a chocolate factory, formally it was full of sucrose. So far I’ve invested $5. . Checked the local fire laws – unfortunately our shire does not allow burn off’s,incinerators or fire pits. To be honest our property isn’t big enough and I’m not a huge fan of the toxic fumes. I emailed a few local businesses to get quotes for sandblasting, the best came… Read More »Ugly Drum Smoker (UDS)