I am trying one of those green heath powders this month. Which cost me about £40 which is a bit much to spend every month. But actually, given the flavour, I think a more appropriate price would be if I was paid the £40 to drink it.
I've just discovered I can connect a mouse to my phone and it is surprising how much I like using my phone like this.
Memory on my laptop in May 2025 (DDR5-5600 - 2 x 16GB) was £160. I just looked up today's price for the exact same. £470!
A sock. Blue and black stripes but darned with contrasting red thread.
Patched up 4 socks
That's going to require some coordination to peddle now.
Shelves like that are what I need to build. But first I have to clear out some junk so there is somewhere to put it.
3d print for thread gauge organisers. Test pieces in the background. I hadn't cut the brim off the imperial one yet. I still have trouble with the prints sticking to the print bed without a brim to help hold it down.
Container for imperial sizes also finished printing now
Describe the 3d model in Python code
The model ready for sending to the 3d printer
The final piece
Originally the thread gauges were all strung on a single wire like a neckless. Which was a huge pain if the thread you are checking is attached to something immovable, as all the other gauges get in the way. The markings are also wearing off these. I would definitely opt for a better set probably with more sizes. But I can't justify buying a new set. So a 3d printed test tray makes them a little less annoying.
Python to 3D print. My first go with build123d. This is for storing some thread gauges which originally came attached to an irritating wire. The nice thing about doing this in code is after doing metric, the imperial version just meant updating an array of dimensions and everything resizes.
More electronics learning
3 slices of bread and a sponge that very much looks like another slice of bread.
Almost toasted a sponge
One intact relay and one broken in lots of bits. Getting to the magnetic coil that attracts the switch was not possible without breaking it.
As instructed by the 'Make: Electronics' book I opened up a relay to see how it works. It still worked when I just took the top off, but curiosity eventually killed the relay.
I may be the only one on the planet, but the 13" Macbook Pro with Touchbar! After they brought back the esc key, fixed the keyboard issues and made it generally less fragile. No notch, 4 USB ports, a little lighter than equivalent newer models. (I'm neutral on the Touchbar). Fatal flaw: repairablity
Hopefully I've remembered something of what I learnt about CAD before getting distracted by electronics. Let's see.
Back of Raspberry Pi 5 attached to the back of 7" Touch Screen version 2 with active cooler installed. The case I used to house it in is in the foreground. That case had a fan built in, but the case doesn't fit when the computer is attached to the back of the screen.
Installed active cooler on Raspberry Pi as the old case-with-fan doesn't fit with the touchscreen attached. I have many ideas for a stand and extra hardware buttons, but don't know what I'm doing with designing such a thing. I guess I need to waste material while experimenting.
A simple circuit powering an LED bulb. The battery is made with 3 lemon cells. Consisting of 3 half lemons with a zinc anode and a copper coin acting as the cathode electrode.
I made a 🍋 battery. That marks the end of section 1 of the Make: Electronics book.
Multimeter right of passage... I think I blew the mA fuse by misreading some instructions in the 'Make: Electronics' book (I should have been using the 10A socket). Also after taking apart the meter the option dial was 3 clicks misaligned.
Once again I need more tools.
'Make: Electronics' by Charles Platt
Invested in a book to help me get over the beginner hump in electronics
This month's album purchase is the Minecraft soundtrack. It's excellent calm background music. I like it when I'm working. c418.org/albums/minec...
I've barely played this game myself but I used to have letsplay videos run while I worked for hours on end, so I may have built a Pavlovian association
Simple little notebook on a cutting mat. Thread binded with a red cover.
Time for a new notebook. I made this one without drawing blood!
A blinking light. Next step is to understand how this works.
Why am I worried about frying 50 pence worth of components with my static. I need to take more risks in life.
Ordering electronic components is kinda of exciting because you get such a huge list of products in your order for very little money.
Breadboard with Elegoo Arduino clone microcontroller. 2 buttons switch the light on or off.
I've made an overly complicated LED light switch. There's much more to learn, but I think my biggest challenge in learning microcontrollers is going to be finding some desk space. The floor isn't ideal.
Now linked to 6 Discord servers and yet to figure any of them out. Isn't it just too much conversation?
Just ripped a CD for the first time in who knows how many years. I'm very happy with my move away from streaming music. I'm much more actively discovering and engaged in listening to individual albums.
I've finally finished JE Gordon's 'Structures or Why Things Don't Fall Down'. I really had to wrestle with it as I don't have any background in this subject. But I feel enlightened and I think it will inform designs of future maker projects.
Screenshot of my score from ear training intervals.
100/100 for the first time in my ear training of ascending intervals from Minor 2nd all they way to Major 9th. This took an extremely long time to get good at. I can't recognise so many when descending or harmonically yet.
I was thinking of trying that. I've only got as far as researching the equipment.
After a break I'm back to reading about structural engineering. It's quite tricky to grasp some concepts but it is very illuminating. Well worth the struggle.
