smschriefer
Well-known member
Is that an Apple keyboard, or one for a PC? I keep looking for a minimalist style PC based keyboard.
New Post-Modern Garage/Workshop
- Thread starter works4me
- Start date
I used the 3D printer today to make a present for my son. I combined an Arduino with an MP3 shield and accelerometer to make a talking Minion that reacts to motion:
I also set up the printer on the stand. Works pretty well:
I will be making a cover and drawers for the stand after the holidays.
Happy Holidays!
Awesome build!
Quick question, where did you get the scissor light fixture...
tthx
Xander
Well-known member
Can't believe I missed this build, although it was going on at the same time as mine. I really wish I would have done the floors like yours. I thought of it about a week after they sealed the concrete. UGH.
X...
X...
paranoid56
Well-known member
you can use that bluetooth one or they also have a nice USB one for cheap (around 20 bucks i thought) i use it on my PC and it works great.
The light is a frankenstein hybrid of two lights:
Here are the sources:
http://www.westelm.com/products/acc...conces&cm_src=sconces||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_—_-
http://www.restorationhardware.com/...sp?productId=prod691159&categoryId=cat1701019
I've tested each part, but I haven't been able to run it extensively until I build the water pan. I got sidetracked on that by various other tasks. But this weekend I cut the sheet metal with the plasma cutter and bended up the sides with my homemade brake. It fits very snugly (a bit too snug actually).
Because of the corner brackets, I cut the corners at a 45 degree angle. I am going to cut & bend corner brackets and then double weld them to the sheet. That should insure it is water-tight.
BTW I'm trying using attachments for the pictures instead of links. What do you(all) think?
Because of the corner brackets, I cut the corners at a 45 degree angle. I am going to cut & bend corner brackets and then double weld them to the sheet. That should insure it is water-tight.
BTW I'm trying using attachments for the pictures instead of links. What do you(all) think?
Attachments
aggierailroad
Well-known member
Links! My preference because it's hard to view attachments on mobile devices.
What do you mean by double weld? What's the word on the shear?
Ok, makes sense (regarding pictures). I'll use links from now on.
Regarding the double weld, I'm going to overlap the sheets in the corner by about 1", and then weld both the inside seam & outside seam. That'll give it a bit of extra thickness, as well doubling the number of welds to help seal it. I've been practicing low-power welding of thin materials for this (since the sheet is 18 gauge). As part of that practice, today I tried bending & welding together some wire mesh to an armature wire. I'm testing it as a sculpture technique for a yard sculpture I'm working on. It's crude, but shows that the technique will work:
Do you mean bender/brake? That's what I used to bend this up. It works well, but could be even better with a bit more adjustment. I forgot to take pictures with the metal in it. The hardest part was holding down the angle iron on the top once the sides were bent up. I put a 2" square tube on top to help clamp it down.
All the cuts were made with the plasma. Perfect clean cuts the first time!
Dope! My brain just woke up! Now I remember what you mean by the shear.
I think I'm just going to cut the slats to go in the pan myself with the plasma cutter. I'm getting good enough with my speed control that the cuts now are very clean and straight. I'm pretty sure I can cut them well enough myself for what I need.
I think I'm just going to cut the slats to go in the pan myself with the plasma cutter. I'm getting good enough with my speed control that the cuts now are very clean and straight. I'm pretty sure I can cut them well enough myself for what I need.
Big Screen TV Anyone?
Ok my next experiment! I've been thinking about covering the silver insulation on the roll-up door with something. Killing two birds with one stone I bought some self-adhesive whiteboard/projection screen material. It was a risk, since I didn't know how well it would adhere nor how it would look once it rolled/unrolled.
Here is what it looked like when I first installed it:
And this is what it looks like after I rolled up the door once:
You can see lines where the panels bended, but it's still very useable. Since that worked, I'll probably buy a second roll to fill in the area above/below the current area.
Now I just need to get a TV projector and I'm ready for the Superbowl!
Ok my next experiment! I've been thinking about covering the silver insulation on the roll-up door with something. Killing two birds with one stone I bought some self-adhesive whiteboard/projection screen material. It was a risk, since I didn't know how well it would adhere nor how it would look once it rolled/unrolled.
Here is what it looked like when I first installed it:
And this is what it looks like after I rolled up the door once:
You can see lines where the panels bended, but it's still very useable. Since that worked, I'll probably buy a second roll to fill in the area above/below the current area.
Now I just need to get a TV projector and I'm ready for the Superbowl!
Hdtheater
Well-known member
Can you use it as a regular whiteboard for drawing on?
Hdtheater
Well-known member
Cool! Where did you get the roll on whiteboard material? I may have to steal this idea. 
Designing to your tools
Ok, making progress! I cut the supports for the Plasma CNC water table today!
I cut the curved strips out of the remnants of the sheet I used for the pan using the plasma. Then I chopped 1" slots every 4.5" in some angle iron using my chop saw. The width of the cut was just enough to fit the strips in snugly, thus holding everything together very firmly:
It's not the most elegant design, but it was easy to fabricate using the tools I have, and it is easy to take in & out to clean. I'm going to drill holes in the angle iron to help water flow around the table.
Tomorrow I'll do "dry run" with it (literally). Then I can finish sealing the pan and put in the drains next week.
Ok, making progress! I cut the supports for the Plasma CNC water table today!
I cut the curved strips out of the remnants of the sheet I used for the pan using the plasma. Then I chopped 1" slots every 4.5" in some angle iron using my chop saw. The width of the cut was just enough to fit the strips in snugly, thus holding everything together very firmly:
It's not the most elegant design, but it was easy to fabricate using the tools I have, and it is easy to take in & out to clean. I'm going to drill holes in the angle iron to help water flow around the table.
Tomorrow I'll do "dry run" with it (literally). Then I can finish sealing the pan and put in the drains next week.
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Jason Lister
Well-known member
Re: Designing to your tools
Depending on your usage. I would definitely recommend a smaller slat spacing. Mine is 2" and cutting 4" items all the time I am thinking of going to 1.5". Of course, 4.5" will work just fine if you plan to cut things that are larger than 10" always.
Depending on your usage. I would definitely recommend a smaller slat spacing. Mine is 2" and cutting 4" items all the time I am thinking of going to 1.5". Of course, 4.5" will work just fine if you plan to cut things that are larger than 10" always.
Jason Lister
Well-known member
Awesome... the garage is coming along great. I've been subscribed for quite a while. I will warn you; with much usage, that water will get nasty quick and you may not want to get in there modifying too much after that point.
A different view of the garage!
Something a bit different. I finally received a cheap little quadcopter I ordered a while ago. They had a special deal before Christmas & I got it for $50. What's cool about this is that it actually has a little camera attached to it and some decent electronics.
My first impression is that it's pretty easy to fly and *very* rugged. The hardest thing is to keep it at a steady altitude. Here is my first rough video:
Definitely need to work on my control before going "pro"
Something a bit different. I finally received a cheap little quadcopter I ordered a while ago. They had a special deal before Christmas & I got it for $50. What's cool about this is that it actually has a little camera attached to it and some decent electronics.
My first impression is that it's pretty easy to fly and *very* rugged. The hardest thing is to keep it at a steady altitude. Here is my first rough video:
Definitely need to work on my control before going "pro"
Hdtheater
Well-known member
It's a bug's eye view of the shop! Cool!
Take a look at this kids gantry. I mailed him but yet no response.
230mm of Y travel, just what I could work with.
and the feed speed of alu... pffttt!
Hot Chop shop
Well-known member
Just read your thread straight through... Very cool stuff! You got a lot of fun toys in there that I will have to add to my dream tool list... Or maybe I'll just have to move down the street from you and start borrowing some tools.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Hdtheater
Well-known member
Kevin54
MEMBER EMERITUS
Re: A different view of the garage!
Good Lord, that thing needs a muffler on it
My volume was up on the computer. 
Something a bit different. I finally received a cheap little quadcopter I ordered a while ago. They had a special deal before Christmas & I got it for $50. What's cool about this is that it actually has a little camera attached to it and some decent electronics.
My first impression is that it's pretty easy to fly and *very* rugged. The hardest thing is to keep it at a steady altitude. Here is my first rough video:
Definitely need to work on my control before going "pro"
Good Lord, that thing needs a muffler on it
My volume was up on the computer. That looks like a very good design. The gantry itself is higher, but I'm not sure the vertical axis has a larger range of motion than the Grunblau. Hard to tell. One advantage appears that the ends are lower, so you can slide a larger thick piece into it from the end.
FYI the feed rates should be pretty comparable to the Grunblau, since the motors and drivetrain appear to be very similar. I know the Grunblau can do over 300mm/s (if you really wanted to push it).
More thin-wall welding practice today & first rough work on the corners of the water table. It looks ugly, but I'm not burning through anymore, and I have enough control to seal up any leaks:
I've been working on a bracket design for upgrading the 3D printer to dual heads. Being able to print it out quickly has had a big impact on the design process. I'll worry about how I'll CNC mill it after I have the design finalized:
You can print some pretty amazing things with the printer without any supports:
Any thanks to my wife's digging around ebay, I'm starting to collect some cool old gauges for my "functional steampunk" sculpture idea:
I'm going to refinish and then retrofit them to run off of a small electric motor so that they can react to various inputs.
Too many things to do, too little time.
I've been working on a bracket design for upgrading the 3D printer to dual heads. Being able to print it out quickly has had a big impact on the design process. I'll worry about how I'll CNC mill it after I have the design finalized:
You can print some pretty amazing things with the printer without any supports:
Any thanks to my wife's digging around ebay, I'm starting to collect some cool old gauges for my "functional steampunk" sculpture idea:
I'm going to refinish and then retrofit them to run off of a small electric motor so that they can react to various inputs.
Too many things to do, too little time.
aggierailroad
Well-known member
Looks good. Micro stepper for those gauges? Or shape memory alloy? I'm certainly intrigued.
My current idea is to use micro steppers driven by wires in the pipes and a microcontroller hidden somewhere to control it all. One example would be a steam powered desk lamp. The "switch" is an air valve. When you turn it the pressure gauges start increasing to the point a belt drive starts turning running a small "generator" (with a spinning regulator , if I can find/fabricate one) causing the voltmeter gauge to jump up and the light to sputter on. Everything connected via copper pipes, antique gauges, cool gears, etc.
By using a microcontroller I can create complex compound actions. For example, I could add switches to change the brightness that also impact the generator speed & voltage gauge.
Kiwi Tinbender
Active member
Try using less amperage, smaller filler rod and better fit for your welding practice.What settings and material are you using now? How thick is your material?
Very good input! Thanks!!
Fitment was the biggest issue here, since I had to bend the corner brackets with multiple small angles and then fit it to the bent-up sides with the curves at the bottom. So I had some gaps to fill in. In retrospect a simpler design would have made it easier to get good fitment and made the whole process easier.
Currently I'm using 3/32 filler, 3/32 2% thoriated tungsten, and the sheet is 18 gauge mild steel. I'm currently pulsing at 5 pulses/sec.
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Jason Lister
Well-known member
3/32 filler is pretty huge for 18 gauge... I would use 1/16" or smaller. Also, turn the pulse off.
I tried 1/16 gauge. It was difficult to fill the gaps. I'll try it again. More practice! And definitely more work on my initial fitment.
FYI the pulse helped considerably to control the temperature spread. The picture I showed above was before I turned it on. After turning it on the welds are more smooth and I see a nice even color change and a very feint line where the weld is on the backside showing that I'm getting full penetration without any burn-through. I will try a side-by-side comparison turning it off & lowering the power to see if I can produce a similar effect. But my analysis at this stage is that using pulse provides the equivalent functionality as lowering the power but with improved pedal sensitivity/control.
Jason Lister
Well-known member
Ya, it's definitely just a function of hood time and getting used to it. The better your fitup, the better your welding will turn out. It's just like painting.... 90% of it is in the prep work.
Dont let the pulse function become a crutch...
18 gauge with a gap is a pretty steep learning curve for a newer tig welder, but if you can make that turn out nice... more power to you!
Dont let the pulse function become a crutch...
18 gauge with a gap is a pretty steep learning curve for a newer tig welder, but if you can make that turn out nice... more power to you!