The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

Author: Ed

  • Ersatz Library Card

    Ersatz Library Card

    The rather battered library card on the bottom has been rattling around on Mary’s keyring since late in the last millennium:

    Library card tags - front
    Library card tags – front

    I made the one on the top as a replacement, because Mary wanted one, but the library no longer issues keyring cards these days.

    The front surface was laid out in The GIMP, inkjet-printed on good paper, cold laminated, laser-cut with LightBurn’s Print-and-Cut process, then affixed to the acrylic tag with really good double-sided tape:

    Adriance Card - LightBurn PnC layout
    Adriance Card – LightBurn PnC layout

    I cut and applied the tape after cutting the tag, but the next time around I’ll apply the tape to the stock and cut both together to improve the edge alignment.

    The rear surface data is engraved directly into the same Trolase laminated acrylic I used for the plant tags:

    Library card tags - rear
    Library card tags – rear

    The smaller text uses dot mode and the bars & number are engraved:

    Library card tag - detail
    Library card tag – detail

    In retrospect, it’s painfully obvious the engraving passes should run parallel to the bars, rather than perpendicular to them.

    The barcode uses Codabar encoding generated with a Codabar font. I scaled the graphic block slightly larger than the original in the hope of making it more readable.

    I determined the start and stop characters by trial and error; for this card, they’re A and B. Which could, perhaps, stand for Arlington Branch, but might equally well be coincidence.

    It worked perfectly on the first scan at the library counter and apparently went entirely unnoticed. I trust duplicating a library card does not constitute a federal offense.

    For what should be obvious reasons, however, I’m not posting the LightBurn layout.

  • Sears / Kenmore Vacuum: Design Tweakage

    Sears / Kenmore Vacuum: Design Tweakage

    Despite cogent reasons for not buying another Sears vacuum cleaner, the brand currently represents a local maximum of the desirability curve: cheap, readily available, works well enough, and, surprisingly, bags for the defunct Progressive (whatever that meant) vacuum seem to fit just fine.

    But the new one does come with some annoyances, starting with trendy dark gray engraved / molded control markings:

    Sears Vacuum - power and cord controls
    Sears Vacuum – power and cord controls

    Quick: from the other end of the vacuum hose, which one must you stomp to turn it off?

    Well, I can fix that:

    Sears Vacuum - marked power switch
    Sears Vacuum – marked power switch

    After the Progressive’s bizarre and overly complex tool fittings, the new unit has tools that slip-fit onto a classic steel tube, which means I can throw all those adapters into a box of 3D printing examples for use in the unlikely event I ever do another show-n-tell presentation.

    It also has a simple rotating suction control ring at the handle:

    Sears Vacuum - marked suction vent control
    Sears Vacuum – marked suction vent control

    Which, as you can tell from the fluorescent tape, featured the same embossed and unreadably small dark gray markings.

    Because that ring and its glaring tape is invisible from the user’s end of the handle, I eventually duct-taped the ring in position to prevent another inadvertent loss-of-suction accident.

    If we ever need reduced suction on a regular basis, I’ll conjure a better ring from the vasty digital deep:

    Sears Vacuum - suction vent doodle
    Sears Vacuum – suction vent doodle

    I obviously no longer form deep emotional attachments to these things …

  • Blog Summary: 2022

    A blog about GRBL configuration and water heat anode rod wrenches, perhaps with a few pictures, would have killer SEO:

    Home page / Archives21053
    CNC 3018-Pro: GRBL Configuration5341
    Why You Need a 6-Point Socket to Remove a Water Heater Anode Rod5197
    G-Code and M-Code Grand Master List3250
    Toyota Sienna: ABS Trouble Codes2385
    American Standard Elite Kitchen Faucet Disassembly2297
    Homage Tektronix Circuit Computer1898
    Subaru Forester Fuse Boxes1607
    Bed Bugs: Thermal Kill1581
    Broom Handle Screw Thread: Replacement Plug1512
    Kensington Expert Mouse Trackball: Scroll Ring Troubles943
    Whirlpool Water Heater “Lifetime” Warranty: The Good and the Bad922
    Digital Tattoo Power Supply: Polarity Doesn’t Matter868
    Auto-V.I.N Gauge Scam829
    Review Phreesia Authorization827
    Baofeng UV-5R Squelch Settings806
    Raspberry Pi: Forcing VNC Display Resolution777
    Kenmore 158.17032 Handwheel Clutch Disassembly758
    2000 Toyota Sienna: Replacing the Bank 1 Sensor 2 Oxygen Sensor751
    Bafang USB Programming Adapter747
    Removing a Water Heater Anode Rod724
    CNC 3018-Pro: DRV8825 Hack for 1:8 Microstep Mode710
    Low Budget Bench Power Supply691
    Kensington Expert Mouse Scroll Ring Fix648
    Juki JC-001 Foot Control: Resolving Uncommanded Thread Cutting646
    Browning Hi-Power Magazine Dimensions633
    Displaying Variables in Gnuplot622
    Replacing Phil Wood Hub Bearings619
    Makerbot-style Endstop Power Adapter for Protoneer Arduino CNC Shield593
    Schwab / Symantec VIP Access vs. Yubikey581
    Shimano SPD Pedals: Creaking Resolved573
    Raspberry Pi Interrupts vs. Rotary Encoder566
    Kohl’s Guest WiFi Terms & Conditions: The Short Version558
    GRBL Error 33: Arc Coordinates vs. Decimal Places516
    Abusing a Leather Punch for Manhattan-Style Circuit Construction515
    OMTech 60 W Laser: Adjustable Honeycomb Stops511
    LTSpice Diode Models Sorted By Forward Voltage511
    Why You Shouldn’t Use Heat Pumps in the Northeast US509
    HP-48GX Calculator Disassembly: Case Rivets508
    Homage Tektronix Circuit Computer: Laser-Engraved Hairline Tests504
    Homebrew Magnetizer-Demagnetizer488
    Quick-and-easy IR-passing / Visible-blocking Optical Filter475
    Old Kenmore Sewing Machine Foot Control Repair467
    Reversible Belt Buckle: Post Restaking464
    Toyota Sienna: Rear ABS / Speed Sensor Failure461
    Mini-Lathe Tailstock: Alignment455
    Philips Sonicare Essence 5000: Battery Replacement445
    Mysterious Noise in Toyota Sienna Minivan: Fixed!440
    Demolition Card GTA 5-10-9434
    Icecast and Ezstream Configuration424
    OMTech 60 W Laser: Controlling the Air Assist Pump418
    Multimeter Range Switch Contacts: Whoops!417
    Chili Powder Beetles410
    Mini-Lathe Metric Threading: 21 Tooth Gear407
    Water Bottle Spring Cap Repair404
    Baofeng UV-5: Squelch Tail Elimination399

    So much for all the techie stuff.

    Overall readership continues to decline, which would matter a whole lot more were I drumming up business engagement:

    Page Views - monthly 2008-2022
    Page Views – monthly 2008-2022

    My shop notes occasionally come in handy for other folks, so it’s not a dead loss …

  • Kitchen Knife Handle: Epoxy Patch

    Kitchen Knife Handle: Epoxy Patch

    The black plastic-like substance molded around the tang of our daily driver kitchen knife crumbled away near the blade and eventually reached the point my thumb couldn’t stand it any more. Given the good results of the JB Weld coating on the cheese slicer (which is still going strong after four years), I chipped away the loose fragments on all sides, wire-brushed the crater with alcohol, and filled it with epoxy:

    Kitchen knife handle - tape reforming
    Kitchen knife handle – tape reforming

    The Kapton tape bridges the solid part of the handle with the metal just behind the blade, holding the epoxy in more-or-less the right shape while it cured overnight. The other side looks much the same, which is why I couldn’t just let it sit out.

    A few minutes with a file and wire wheel knocked back the high spots and left it looking much better than before, if a bit scuffed:

    Kitchen knife handle - restored
    Kitchen knife handle – restored

    The tang inside the molded shell is kinda-sorta cruciform, with an exposed rib along both sides. I think the plastic shrank around the tang in that gap between the ribs and the blade, where its lack of flexibility caused the cracks.

    Neither a beautiful restoration nor a permanent fix, but it ought to last for a while. Similar cracks at the hilt end of the handle suggest more repairs lie in its future.

  • Seasonal Snowflake Coasters

    Seasonal Snowflake Coasters

    The rattlecan chipboard coasters having passed their Best Used By dates, I figured a more durable seasonal version was in order:

    Snowflake Coasters - overview
    Snowflake Coasters – overview

    I laid out the design with the intent of cutting an acrylic snowflake with a bit of compensation to fit snugly into a plywood background:

    Snowflake Coaster - LB layout
    Snowflake Coaster – LB layout

    At the last moment I realized I could just cut two of the patterns on the left, swap the snowflakes, and get two coasters with very little scrap:

    Snowflake Coasters - detail
    Snowflake Coasters – detail

    Mary thinks the gap between the snowflake and the background looks OK. I’m not convinced, but studying the results suggests applying enough kerf compensation to close the largest gaps would results in the rest of the flake not fitting into its socket. Plus, of course, you’d have more scrap.

    Embiggening the small dagger-shaped pieces around the center would be an improvement. Perhaps cutting those as a separate operation after arranging them in a corner would work.

    Protip: Align the grain in those daggers with the rest of the plywood, because It Will Be Very Obvious if you don’t.

    Applying a nice wood stain / finish to the plywood, perhaps before cutting it out, would certainly improve the result.

    Invisible on the bottom: self-adhesive cork disks eliminating the need to glue the pieces to something else. I had thought of a blank plywood or MDF disk, but came to my senses just in time.

    The original SVG fell with a blizzard from one of the many SVG snowflake generators out there. Because LightBurn uses only the stroke centerlines of SVG images and ignores the stroke width, it required some tweakage before becoming a coaster.

    After saving an SVG flake from the blizzard, fire up Inkscape:

    • Import the SVG file
    • Center it in whatever page you’re using
    • Ungroup the flake from the frame (if it has one)
    • Delete the frame to leave only the flake
    • Select the flake
    • Invoke Path → Stroke to Path
    • Save as an SVG image under a new file name

    Then fire up LightBurn:

    • Import the tweaked SVG file
    • Assign a layer with line (rather than fill) parameters
    • Ungroup to separate the flake’s strokes
    • Weld the strokes together to remove the overlaps
    • Wrap a coaster outline around it
    • Resize the flake as needed
    • Set layer parameters as needed
    • Duplicate the flake
    • Embiggen as needed
    • Unleash the laser!

    The LightBurn SVG layout as a GitHub Gist:

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  • Seasonal Holly Coasters

    Seasonal Holly Coasters

    Starting with a random SVG holly image from the InterTubes:

    Holly Coaster - assortment
    Holly Coaster – assortment

    The rattlecan chipboard versions came out pretty well, because I’ve already explored much of the error space. The two-tone berries and leaves received Sharpie contrast touchup. They’re all in constant use on the kitchen table!

    The wood veneer version over on the right looks surprisingly good (in person, anyway) for being a complete faceplant. The narrow sections suffered severe burning and fell apart where the grain runs perpendicular to the cut. The highlight spots for the berries fell through the honeycomb table and vanished in the chaff. Sanding the whole mess flat scuffed off most of the smudges, although I couldn’t bring myself to slather it with polyurethane.

    The bright holly on the left is mirror-back acrylic pressed into a 3 mm deep (!) recess engraved in more scrap paneling:

    Holly Coaster - mirror
    Holly Coaster – mirror

    I hand-painted the colors by scribbling Sharpie onto areas where the mirror backing was engraved away. A sheet of aluminized Mylar below the acrylic reflects some light back through the colors to make them slightly brighter.

    As I recently learned, applying alcohol to laser-cut acrylic produces almost instantaneous stress-cracking, which accounts for the decorative crackle finish around the perimeter:

    Holly Coaster - mirror flaws
    Holly Coaster – mirror flaws

    The surface flaw beyond the berry over on the right apparently came from an acrylic fume explosion in the honeycomb below it, strong enough to torch the protective plastic film. Given that I was starting with a scrap mirror fragment, I didn’t perch it up on spikes, which is pretty much required to prevent such events.

    The wood coasters have mmmmm excellent upside potential, but it’s obvious I have not yet mastered my craft.

    The LightBurn SVG layout as a GitHub Gist:

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  • Splined Neck Cozy Pattern

    Splined Neck Cozy Pattern

    Mary made a neck cozy based on a Craftsy description using a pattern I’d extracted from the low-res photo and rescaled to the proper size. The perimeter came out grittier than I like, but the laser had no trouble chopping it from a sheet of paper, and she cut smoothly around the lumps:

    Neck Cozy mask - right
    Neck Cozy mask – right

    It looks better on her, but you get the general idea:

    Neck Cozy - rev 1 finished
    Neck Cozy – rev 1 finished

    After some experience, however, she wanted to lengthen the top and bottom seams to improve the way it draped, which meant I had to modify the extracted pattern. The original pattern in the Craftsy photo was hand-drawn (which is perfectly fine) and the two halves were of two different sizes; we decided to work with the left half and produce a symmetric result.

    Rather than fiddle with the bitmap, I drew a rectangle around the outside of the left pattern mask, converted it to a path, moved the nodes to key locations, then fiddled with the control points to lay the splines along the perimeter:

    Neck Cozy pattern - LB splines
    Neck Cozy pattern – LB splines

    Removing the bitmap makes the splines much more obvious and shows the much smoother perimeter:

    Neck Cozy pattern - LB extended splines
    Neck Cozy pattern – LB extended splines

    Adding a few nodes to change the splined shape is much simpler than fiddling with the bitmap, particularly when tweaking their position as directed by someone who knows how the fabric will eventually take shape.

    Add fiducial marks and a label, duplicate the shape, mirror it to get the other half, and fire the laser:

    Neck Cozy pattern - as cut right
    Neck Cozy pattern – as cut right

    Fabric cutting isn’t in my wheelhouse, but I made the offer …

    The LightBurn layout as a GitHub Gist:

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