Three identical white discs organized into a triangle with two on top and a third on the bottom, laying on a scratched-up, grey work surface. Each disc is 10cm in diameter, and has two small holes (left and right) that I'll use to attach it to the background of the piece I'm building. Each disc also has 4 mounting posts arranged in a square, about 2cm in from the edge. Each post rises up 6mm from the base, and has a heat-set insert mounted in the center.

I added brass (?) heat-set inserts to all three bases. These are ready for the LED light rings to be mounted (just as soon as I finish soldering all of the wires onto the lights).

#Maker #FreeCad #3DPrinting

On a scratched-up, grey background lays a 2-inch LED light ring, with 6 wires attached. The ring is upside down, showing the wires attached to the underside of the ring. White and red wires span the entire width of the ring, and then some. There are two sets of blue and green wires - one that attaches to the ring on the right and crosses the ring going left. The other set of blue/green attaches on the right and goes off to the right. Below the light ring are two additional sets of wire, cut and bent into the necessary shapes. The exposed copper on these loose wires has not yet been tinned with solder.

I cut and bent the wires for the other two light rings. Before I attach them, though, I need to tin the exposed copper. The light rings will attach to the "center" of this pile of wires while LED strips will connect at the ends, so that the rings and strips are in series.

#Maker

Looking down at a lineup of 3D-printed cowls going left to right, on a light brown workbench. The first two, in grey, are one-piece.. The second two, also in grey, are two-piece and show the "towers" offset from the "bases". The final one, a two-piece version in white, is on the far right. Each one has 4 mounting posts for the LED light that will eventually be mounted to it. The final version is white for to reflect that the better.

And that's why we prototype, kids!

Each version of the cowl has something adjusted from its predecessor. Modeling it in #FreeCAD got me 90+ percent of the way there, but each time in the real world I found something that needed to be tweaked.

#Maker #3DPrinting

Looking straight down into a light grey cylinder that is just under 45mm tall. At the bottom is an LED light ring, with all 40 LEDs lit in magenta. The inside of the cylinder reflects the magenta. The cylinder has matching slits left and right, through which is suspended a piece of diffusion film, which blurs the light ring. This first layer of film spans the entire width of the cylinder, left to right. With this one layer, you can still easily make out the shape of the light below it (a ring). My thumb is just visible on the far left of the picture, holding a second piece of film above the cylinder. This second piece only spans the left half of the cylinder, so you can see the difference between one layer and two. With the second layer, the ring is far more obscured, and the light is much more even spread out. At the very bottom of the picture are two alligator clips (red and white). These attach to wires that are soldered onto the ring, powering it.

Testing out layers of diffusion film.

What I want is a solid color. A single layer of the film suspended about 2cm above the LED ring is not sufficient (right half of this shot). A second layer suspended about 2cm above that (left half of the shot) is promising.

#Maker

Looking straight down into a light grey cylinder that is about 45mm tall. At the bottom is a 2-inch diameter LED light ring, lit in magenta. The inside of the cylinder reflects the magenta. Below the ring, running the full width of the cylinder from upper left to lower right, are two wires (white and red). These are connected to red/white alligator clips outside the cylinder, in the extreme upper left corner. Attached to the lower right corner of the ring are two additional wires (green and blue). These extend out to green and black alligator clips (I didn't have a matching blue, unfortunately).

First successful lighting test!

And as cool as it would be, no I'm not building a Barbie arc reactor.

#Maker

Two pictures, spliced together side by side. In the left one, I'm holding a light grey, 3D printed collar with a conical top to allow the screw to sit down in it (as shown in the picture on the right). In the right picture, the sharp end of the screw protrudes from the base of the collar.

The face plate for the piece I'm building is going to be attached to the wooden frame behind it. The acrylic isn't thick enough to allow for countersunk holes, so I designed "collars" that are conical to allow the screw to sit down in them. This is version 3.

#Maker #FreeCad #3DPrinting

Two grey 3D-printed cylinders are show, one rest on top of the other. The top one has a slit in its side that is nicely rectangular. The slit in the bottom one is partially deformed, and looks like a smile more than a rectangle. A spaghetti-mess of 3D filament can be seen inside the cylinder through the slit.

The "tower" shown at the top here is a nicely 3D-printed piece.

The "tower" shown at the bottom is what happens when you forget to check the box for "Support" in Ultimaker Cura. Printed upside down, the top of the slit was level, while the bottom turned into a smile.
#Maker #FreeCad #3DPrinting

A grey, 3D-printed, disc with four small pylons rests on a workbench. Laying on top of the pylons is an LED ring. There is a red wire, attached to the underside of the ring, sticking up in the foreground. There is a white wire, also attached to the underside of the ring, that extends off the left out of frame and towards the background of the shot.

I decided to split the cowl into two pieces - the base (shown here) and what I'm calling the "tower" (everything else). One of the changes I made to the base was to the pylons the ring lights will attach. I increased the height by 2mm to allow the wires underneath the light to clear.

#Maker

In the foreground is a light brown workbench, with a grey piece of plastic on the top, covering most of it. On top of the grey plastic is an assortment of tools, wire, electronics, and 3D-printed parts. In the background you can see the bottoms of my black and silver tool chests.

Tell me you're in the middle of a project without telling me...

#Maker

A light grey plastic cylinder takes up most of the frame. At the bottom there is an 2-inch diameter LED light ring, with 40 individual LEDs, and 8 white attachment points. The ring is held in place with a single screw going through one of those attachment points. There is a white wire running the full width of the cylinder, passing under the ring going left to right. On the left of the ring are two short lengths of wire attached to the ring - one red and one white - bent so they face up (and out of the way).

I have another interesting wiring challenge with this project. I may have to pre-bend as much wire as I did with Dr. Theopolis by the end.

#Maker

I am mostly off camera to the right, holding a green & black nail gun in my right hand and a piece of wood in my left. The wood is clamped and braced up against a second piece of wood, forming a right angle. The clamps are red and black. I'm on the floor (for additional bracing), which is vinyl but looks like dark brown wood planks. The nail gun is pressed up against the wood, about to inject a nail into the corner.

I subscribe to the Adam Savage school of thought about power tools. Treat them as if they have tasted blood and want more.

#Maker

An LED ring sits inside a 3D-printed, battleship grey, cylinder. The ring has four attachment points on the inside of the ring, and four on the outside. The four outside points are resting on mounts at the bottom of the cowl, and that will be where the screws will hold it in place.

I printed up the first prototype for a cowl for my ring lights. I was very pleased that the alignment of the attachment points came out spot-on in this first attempt.

#Maker

Does anyone know what the half-life of glitter is?

#Glitter #Craft #Crafting #Art #CraftProject #ArtsAndCrafts #Humor #Funny

A yellow DEWALT miter saw, clamped to a workbench, in a garage. A piece of work about to be cut is clamped to the cutting surface. The closed, white, garage door is shown in the background.

It got above 40 degrees F for the first time in weeks. Break out the big saw!

#Maker

Two light-skinned hands on a dark brown wood table with black grain. The left hand has has one finger bandaged, while the right one has three fingers bandaged.

Going to pick up a miter saw today, and I'm wondering if anyone in the store will throw me a concerned look.

For the record, the bandages are covering split fingers, caused by the dry winter air. If you see bandaged fingers on any of my videos, you'll know I shot it between October and late May.

A snow-covered berm showing an animal trail leading down, and then quickly doubling back. There is a chain-link fence behind the berm, separately my backyard from my neighbor's. On the other side of the fence is a grey shed with a snow-capped roof, and beyond that my neighbor's light-grey house, also with a snow-capped roof, and a yellow-brick chimney.

"Honey, can you check to see if spring is here yet?"

"Nope - definitely not!"

How long are your emails that you need AI to summarize them?

Are you quite possibly trying to solve the wrong problem here?

#AI #GenerativeAI

At the bottom of the picture is a light brown wood workbench. On the workbench is stacked a thin piece of plywood, a sheet of clear acrylic, a Lumidrive LED driver in a pink see-through pouch, an LED strip coiled around a black spool, and 3 LED rings in pink see-through pouches. At the top of the picture to the left is stool with a light brown wood seat, and white legs. The rest of the top of the picture shows shelf units with various items on it.

I'm getting the materials together for a new project. Any guesses?

And before you ask - no, the stool isn't part of the project.

#Maker

Tila, a white rabbit with black ears, a black nose, and red eyes, is sitting on floor on the left side of the picture. She's looking at me over her right shoulder. To her right is part of a greenish hay cube. There are four poops in a line with the hay cube at the 10 o'clock position. There is a fifth poop at the 12 o'clock position. The hay cube represents the Sun, and the five poops represent Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Jupiter.

Please enjoy a pic of one of our bunnies, Tila, who is working hard on a model of our solar system.

#Bunnies #Rabbits #Astronomy

Hardware Organization YouTube video by NessoAsks

Mark organizes all of his loose screws... and nuts, bolts, nails - you get the idea.

youtu.be/q4tEyRbCGF0

#Screws #Nuts #Bolts #Fasteners

A table covered in an off-white towel, with dozens of piles of screws, sorted by type.

You say you have *a* screw loose?

Adorable.

#Screws #Fasteners

I'm sitting at a card table, facing towards the left of the picture, sorting through a bit full of bolts. On the table in front of me are several small piles of screws, each sorted by their size and type. Also on the table are a labeler, scissors, and a ruler. In the background to my right is another card table with a couple of Tuanse double-sided toolboxes with black sides, white translucent lids, and blue snaps.

I'm working through bins of hardware, trying to combine what I already had with a trove my Dad gave me.

Interestingly enough, I found that sorting it tickles the same part of my brain that working on a jigsaw puzzle does.

#Nuts #Bolts #Screws #Fasteners

Console Storage YouTube video by NessoAsks

Mark organizes the car things - with the power of CAD and 3D printing.

youtu.be/NJlhO6x8jhE

#Maker #Automotive #FreeCAD