Category Archives: Tinkering

Trump will cause US Tech to suffer?

Posted on December 9, 2016 by robertwilkie

Interesting article, but…I don’t believe it. The author (young) makes some good points. But, if you go back to the 1990s, or 1980s, we didn’t have H1B visas (and outsourcing wasn’t a word). Companies didn’t send large chunks of jobs … Continue reading →

Posted in Software Development | Comments Off

Good write-up on how to convert a picture for laser engraving

Posted on December 8, 2016 by robertwilkie

The video in this is fun to watch. Never worked with lasers myself (yet). But the smoke coming from it is pretty intense. I would be a bit worried about burning the place down. http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Laser-Engraving-Photo/

Posted in Cheap, CNC/3D-printing | Comments Off

Interesting CNC plotter

Posted on December 6, 2016 by robertwilkie

Interesting build. It is belt driven and is a basic plotter concept. The steppers used are pretty cheap kind (which surpised me considering the work that went into this). But whatever works right? http://www.instructables.com/id/Drawing-Plotter/

Posted in Cheap, CNC/3D-printing, Misc-Life | Comments Off

Nice Dust Collector

Posted on December 6, 2016 by robertwilkie

This would be great for small CNC’s with a small shopvac. Downside…my god it would take forever to print out on a home printer…and god forbid it has a hiccup. I think there maybe a way to make this with … Continue reading →

Posted in CNC/3D-printing, Misc-Life, Tools | Comments Off

An updated pipe based CNC build

Posted on November 30, 2016 by robertwilkie

I haven’t seen someone build a CNC with iron pipe in several years. The author tool an old design from …gee 2008? where simple iron pipe, rails, motors and threaded rod. http://www.instructables.com/id/Hobby-cnc/

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How to run an ESP8255 for a long time on a battery

Posted on November 29, 2016 by robertwilkie

Nice write up on how to basically use “sleep” to slow down the ESP8255 so that it doesn’t drain a battery like crazy. This is pretty common with alot of embedded systems where they need to “sleep” between times they … Continue reading →

Posted in Arduino, Misc-Life | Comments Off

A simple solar tracker to build with kids

Posted on November 25, 2016 by robertwilkie

This is a nice simple tracker you can make with a servo and an arduino for kids to get the basics of solar power and tracking. http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Solar-Tracker-Single-or-Dual-Axis/

Posted in Arduino, Cheap, Misc-Life, solar | Comments Off

Another write-up on building a mini CNC with DVD Drives

Posted on November 25, 2016 by robertwilkie

Another nice build. I like the reusing of the CDROM cases for the frame too. http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Arduino-Based-Mini-CNC-Plotter-Using-D/

Posted in Arduino, Cheap, CNC/3D-printing, Misc-Life | Comments Off

A more advanced solar tracker

Posted on November 23, 2016 by robertwilkie

This build uses a RPi to track and position panels for the sun. Its a nice build. Cheap too if you can source the servos yourself. http://www.instructables.com/id/52kW-Solar-Tracker-Controlled-by-Raspberry-Pi/

Posted in Misc-Life, RaspberryPi, solar | Comments Off

Good idea for 2sided CNC projects, use a location hole

Posted on November 23, 2016 by robertwilkie

Good idea, basically make two starting holes on the project to mark the starting point of the project. http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Easily-and-Accurately-CNC-Engrave-on-Both-S/

Posted in CNC/3D-printing | Comments Off