Monthly Archives: June 2013
Christmas Train Controller
My kids have been bugging me for years to get a train set to put under the Christmas tree. They like the thrill of watching train circle the base of the tree, and besides there’s a Christmas train set at … Continue reading
Garage Door Light
My garage door opener has a small light which turns on when the door is activated and turns off after about one minute. It provides enough light and enough time to get out of the car and into the house. … Continue reading
Power Supply
The power supply and coupling have arrived. I will be able to test the laser now.
Ugly Code!
My first job out of Uni was as a programmer for a small company which manufactured network switches. One of the other programmers there challenged me to write a program which output itself without referring to the file containing the … Continue reading
Beautiful Code
In the mid 1990’s I was shown a snippet of C source code which remains what I consider to be the most beautiful code I have ever seen. The code was introduced to me as: It’s a devastatingly deviously unrolled … Continue reading
Unit Pricing for Batteries
Unit pricing in the grocery stores helps consumers to choose value when comparing products on the shelf. This is particularly useful for comparing products on sale. Unfortunately unit pricing does not help when comparing batteries.
It’s a “Laser”
I plan on building an interchangable head for the desktop CNC. One head with a spindle for drilling and milling and another with a laser for laser cutting thin wood, paper, card, and plastics. The laser arrived yesterday from Laserlands. … Continue reading
More Parts…
Received the last of the parts ordered from OpenLab today. They supplied the v-wheels, smooth idlers, eccentric spacers, pulleys, stepper motors, limit switches, and timing belt.
Vehicle Keyless Entry Theft
A new pattern of vehicle theft has appeared in the U.S.A. Thieves are unlocking the car using the no-touch keyless entry system. Thieves walk up to the passenger door of the target vehicle which then unlocks. The thief enters and … Continue reading
Desktop CNC
I have started a project to build a 3-axis desktop CNC machine. It started with grbl on an Arduino UNO to drive a couple of CD-ROM drive stages. The goal was to create a business card sized laser cutter. Then I discovered … Continue reading