secondsuitor

Since I’m thinking of starting to build a CNC machine, based on some of HomoFaciens.de’s (amazing) work, I realized I need to be able to layout parts for cutting. This means that I need to learn some rudimentary stuff in 3d CAD. I’m cheap though, so where to start?

Since it’ll be running on Linux, I started with an incredibly broad Google search, choose names that I liked, did Google searches looking at their comparisons, and I brought the list down to two. I’m looking at FreeCAD and BRL-CAD. So I installed them both and have started to poke around.

FreeCAD has a lot of great tools that I’ve seen (though never used), but that interface isn’t really jelling with me. With time, I’m sure that I’ll be able get used to it, but right out the door, it’s not me. BRL-CAD has all sorts off good things, but the first bit I tried was even more painful. The silly thing is, that at least what I’m starting with, I could totally do in Inkscape as it’s all 2d anyway. So tonight I’ll try to finish the FreeCAD tutorial, and then try to make the same part in BRL-CAD.

Peristaltic pump(s) with only two motors. Have one motor drive a carriage with the other motor. That motor is driving a great that interfaces with whichever other gears to go to each of these pumps.

Now, I’d need a way to verify the gears were going to mesh, so probably multiple photo diodes and a laser? I could dive as many pumps add I want, but only one at a time.

More elegant solution could be a motor turn a wheel, on the wheel is a motor. The motor messages with the pump gear. This one would only be limited by the great ratios (ie how many gears I could get around a gear.

The first idea is better.

All for better gardening.

So I’m worried about the risk of esd versus a Pi if I go with a Pi to grow my garden. I was thinking about this while walking up the hill to meet the Wif when she gets done with class. And this is why beer is the solution to all of life’s problems. I have a Teensy lying around that I never got around to building a keyboard around. Cheap, small, durable.

#blessed

I’m fairly sensitive to high frequencies, whether it’s noise or light flicker. Which is to say that CRTs are the bane of my bleeding headache.

So the lights have an imperceptible flicker, and the regulator has a little hum. I think… after telling a coworker about my project, that I’ll want to change out from just going high, to going almost high via PWM, thereby I’ll new able to adjust the frequency (maybe).

If I make the switch from an Arduino to an SBC, should I go with the Beaglenone or Pi?

The Pi 3 has built in Wi-Fi. The Beaglenone has its dope PRU, though is have to look up how to even touch it.  The Pi has a camera port,  though they both have plenty of USB once they go headless, and I have a couple hubs if not.

I should count up the number of usable GPIO on the Pi and go from there. Chances are the Beaglenone would be better for things with most moving parts due to the GPIO  count and the PRU. So I guess as long as I have  enough  pins, I should call it good with a Pi.

I still need to chop back the basil enough to move it to the Den.

Derp. They didn’t turn off. I had written some ghetto code to turn on the lights (and off again) on a standard schedule. 

The on worked,  but add I’m sure we can all guess from the title, the off again failed. Since it was the world’s largest latest method, I can must assume that it was a basic error that’s achievable in C. What I did originally was a database that had 24 values, one for every hour. A one turned it on, and a zero caused it to do a half second pulse. Since its been on for quite a bit now (four hours longer than it should have), I must assume that is using the Boolean definitionof not zero being false. Tonight, I’ll chuckle the lights by hand. Tomorrow, I’m thinking I might bite the bullet and start moving everything over to running on a Pi. It seems like a bit of overkill.

Then again, for future purposes, it might be the cure to the future ills that I’m already seeing. At a minimum, I need a boatload of analog read and write pins. If I go with a Pi, I’d have more pins, Wi-Fi, and a camera port.

Or I could stay with it being a stupid system.

Rather than working on the things I’ve been working on, I played Stellaris for a while. Then, as coherent thought started to flee the coming of the mad king sleep, I stayed researching things that weren’t on task.

Basically, after bouncing through a dozen or so websites, I found something I liked the idea of, just not the implementation.

So, a vase with a screw driven linear actuator.  The arm of the actuator is a “flower stem”. As it raises out of the vase, the flower opens. Inside the opening flower petals are reflectors and LEDs. Now to draw this out. Prolly do it as an alarm clock.

 .that was my goal tonight, and I slew. Well, I got it done. 

Comedy value, today at work I was joking with someone about having one of those metal brick Netgear hubs lying around, and how I should resurrect it, but I had let the magic smoke out. I now question that. I was going to use this power supply for the extractor, wanted to make sure it was asked up right, plugged it in and touched the wires to the fan the way I thought they’d be. Nothing. Switched which wires were where. Nothing. Slashed the wires together. Nothing.

Stupid power supply.

Found another power supply  that I’d already cut the tail of of, it’s the same voltage, and this one was actually labeled Netgear. Did I really only fry the wrong power supply?

So tomorrow I might take a look inside and see what I have.

Solder up the regulator and LEDs and make some light. But in all seriousness, I need to do that, figure out where in mounting them, mount them, and mount something to keep me from being blinded by light leaking out.

It’s not laser bright, but…

So last night I was throwing some power on them trying to get a solid number on their voltage drop.  Before doing this though, I though I’d do a quick contact connection of 5v while holding the LED on my knee. The light was intense enough that I have myself an instantaneous headache and had to walk away. I guess that’s what they mean by ultra-bright.

I couldn’t get motivated Saturday, so I didn’t. I played some Stellaris. I like me some incredibly slow building games.

Sunday…

• Cleaned enough to find my soldering iron, solder, flux, picks, and stuff.
• Combined all the caches of used beer caps for future mosaic. I’m thinking of how to make an algorithm for it.
• Soldered a janky connector to the range finder, and verified function. It works, but it’s a bit bulky. I should get and use the right tools for the job.
• Soldered leads to two nails for the moisture sensors. Oh. No I didn’t. Those nails don’t more holding solder. I did get them working eventually, but then I realized the hookup wire I used is way too big for a breadboard (and stranded to make out really not work).
• Wrapped two more nails with different hookup wire, though I haven’t soldered yet. I brief I had a reading, I then wasted the fern they were shoved in, and then checked the raging again. These work. I still need to set them up to alternate the current back and forth to reduce corrosion.