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.

Category: Machine Shop

Mechanical widgetry

Tek Circuit Computer: Cursor Hairline Scraping

Engraving a PETG sheet with a diamond drag engraver on the Sherline and filling the scratch produces a good-looking hairline, but there’s a tradeoff between having the protective sheet pull the paint out of the scratch and having the crayon scuff the unprotected surface. This time around, I scribbled the crayon through the protective film, let it cure for a few days, then scraped the surface to level the paint and see what happens.

First, an unscraped cursor:

Tek CC – Cursor red lacquer – plain – overview

Peeling the transparent protective film:

Tek CC – Cursor red lacquer – plain – partial peel

The hairline is solidly filled:

Tek CC – Cursor red lacquer – plain – peeled

Scribbling another cursor the same way, then scraping the protective film to flatten the shredded edges:

Tek CC – Cursor red lacquer – scraped – overview

The hairline remains filled, but not as completely:

Tek CC – Cursor red lacquer – scraped – partial peel

A closer look:

Tek CC – Cursor red lacquer – scraped – peeled

Scraping the crayon off the film removes a substantial amount of paint from the hairline, but, on the upside, the protective film does exactly what it says on the box and the PETG surface remains pristine.

Both hairlines are, at least eyeballometrically, Just Fine™ for their intended purpose.

2020-05-06
Fiskars Small Detail Scissors: Pivot Restaking

The pivot on the Fiskars Small Detail Scissors (the name is larger than the hardware!) in the bathroom gradually worked loose to the point where I hauled it to the Basement Shop and whacked the rivet with a concave punch:

Fiskars Small Detail Scissors – pivot restaking

Setting the rim of the rivet down a smidge tightened the joint wonderfully well and two oil dots smoothed the action.

I grew up using these concave punches (I have several sizes) to set finish(ing) nails, but apparently real nail punches have a nubbin in the middle to engage the little recess in the nail head which used to be common, back when finish nails arrived well-finished from the factory.

They’re not roll pin punches, either, because those have a different nubbin to support the inside of the pin.

2020-05-05
End of the Thing-O-Matic

After nine years, it’s come to this:

End of the Thing-O-Matic

The Thing-O-Matic got me started in 3D printing (and blogging!), provided an education in many useful subjects, and has long since outlived its usefulness.

A view from happier times:

Thing-O-Matic Overview

Its components will live on in other projects.

One of those bittersweet moments, fer shure …

2020-05-04
Nut Socket Wrench Improvement

The recesses in cheap 1/4-inch shank nut drivers aren’t much deeper than the nuts, which means a screw sticking out of the nut by more than a few threads defeats the entire purpose.

Well, I can fix that:

Drilling 5.5 mm socket

That’s a 5.5 mm socket for M3×0.5 machine screw nuts, getting a screw clearance hole drilled into it with a #28 drill (0.1405 inch = 3.5 mm). The sockets are allegedly “forged and hardened”, but an ordinary HSS drill bit cuts like they’re butter, so I’m thinking somebody skipped the hardening step.

Turns out I had a lot of nuts to remove from black oxide M3 socket head cap screws, making a brief pause in the action totally worthwhile.

2020-05-03
Magnifying Desk Lamp Pivot Clamp: One More

For reasons not relevant here, I made another clamp for a magnifying desk lamp and mailed it off in a small box. A few measurements suggested all such lamps share a common design and similar parts, so I duplicated my previous attempt, with some improvements.

On the upside, the same scrap of aluminum plate I used for the previous clamp emerged from the stockpile and, after a session with Mr Disk Sander, sported two square & reasonably perpendicular sides:

Magnifying Lamp Clamp – squaring stock

Rather than rely on my original dimension scribble, I transfer-punched the hole location from my as-built clamp to the stock:

Magnifying Lamp Clamp – locating stem hole

That’s a reenactment based on a true story: the actual punching happened on the bench vise’s anvil surface, with too many moving pieces supported & aligned by an insufficient number of hands.

Drilling the 5/16 inch hole required mounting the Greater Chuck on an MT1 taper adapter for the Sherline:

Magnifying Lamp Clamp – drilling stem clamp

It’s normally on an MT2 adapter for the mini-lathe tailstock, where it handles drills up to 3/8 inch. For the record, the Sherline’s Lesser Check tops out at 1/4 inch and the Least Chuck at 5/32 inch.

Punch & drill the 4 mm cross hole for the clamping screw:

Magnifying Lamp Clamp – drill cross hole

Grab the plate in a toolmaker’s vise, set up some casual guidance, and bandsaw right down the middle:

Magnifying Lamp Clamp – sawing clamp halves

Bandsaw the outline to free the two halves from the stock, then clean up their perimeter:

Magnifying Lamp Clamp – rounded

Saw the clamp clearance almost all the way through to leave a protrusion, then file the scarred kerf more-or-less flat:

Magnifying Lamp Clamp – filing interior

Do a trial fit in my lamp, which lacks the fancy brushed-metal finish of the remote one:

Magnifying Lamp Clamp – trial fit

It holds tight and rotates well, so break the edges and shine up the outside to a used-car finish (“high polish over deep scratches”):

Magnifying Lamp Clamp – surface finish

The inside remains gritty to improve traction on the lamp stem:

Magnifying Lamp Clamp – interior

Declare victory, box it up, and away it goes!

2020-04-28

Nissan Fog Lamp: Arduino Firmware

The upcycled Nissan fog lamp now has a desk stand:

Nissan Fog Lamp - table mount — Nissan Fog Lamp – table mount

A knockoff Arduino Pro Mini atop a strip of foam tape drives the WS2812 RGB LEDs:

Nissan Fog Lamp - table mount interior — Nissan Fog Lamp – table mount interior

Next time, I’ll cut the wires another inch longer.

The firmware is a tidied-up version of the vacuum tube code, minus cruft, plus fixes, and generally better at doing what it does. The Pro Mini lacks a USB output, so this came from the same code running on a Nano:

14:44:04.169 -> Algorithmic Art
14:44:04.169 ->  RGB WS2812
14:44:04.169 -> Ed Nisley - KE4ZNU - April 2020
14:44:04.169 -> Lamp test: flash full-on colors
14:44:04.169 ->  color: 00ff0000
14:44:05.165 ->  color: 0000ff00
14:44:06.160 ->  color: 000000ff
14:44:07.155 ->  color: 00ffffff
14:44:08.151 ->  color: 00000000
14:44:09.180 -> Random seed: da98f7f6
14:44:09.180 -> Primes: 7 19 3
14:44:09.180 ->  Super cycle length: 199500 steps
14:44:09.180 -> Inter-pixel phase: 1 deg = 26 steps
14:44:09.180 ->  c: 0 Steps:  3500 Init:  1538 Phase:   2 deg PWM: 255
14:44:09.180 ->  c: 1 Steps:  9500 Init:  7623 Phase:   0 deg PWM: 255
14:44:09.213 ->  c: 2 Steps:  1500 Init:  1299 Phase:   6 deg PWM: 255
14:44:19.265 -> Color 2     steps 1500  at 15101    ms 50       TS 201     
14:45:34.293 -> Color 2     steps 1500  at 90136    ms 50       TS 1701    
14:45:43.085 -> Color 1     steps 9500  at 98940    ms 50       TS 1877    
14:45:47.332 -> Color 0     steps 3500  at 103192   ms 50       TS 1962    
14:46:49.324 -> Color 2     steps 1500  at 165170   ms 50       TS 3201  
… much snippage …
17:26:52.896 -> Color 2     steps 1500  at 9769584  ms 50       TS 195201  
17:28:07.926 -> Color 2     steps 1500  at 9844618  ms 50       TS 196701  
17:29:11.000 -> Color 0     steps 3500  at 9907697  ms 50       TS 197962  
17:29:22.974 -> Color 2     steps 1500  at 9919653  ms 50       TS 198201  
17:30:27.941 -> Supercycle end, setting new color values
17:30:27.941 -> Primes: 17 7 3
17:30:27.941 ->  Super cycle length: 178500 steps
17:30:27.941 -> Inter-pixel phase: 1 deg = 23 steps
17:30:27.941 ->  c: 0 Steps:  8500 Init:  5415 Phase:   0 deg PWM: 255
17:30:27.974 ->  c: 1 Steps:  3500 Init:  3131 Phase:   2 deg PWM: 255
17:30:27.974 ->  c: 2 Steps:  1500 Init:   420 Phase:   5 deg PWM: 255
17:30:46.394 -> Color 1     steps 3500  at 10003091 ms 50       TS 369     
17:31:21.964 -> Color 2     steps 1500  at 10038658 ms 50       TS 1080

The “Super cycle length” is the number of 50 ms steps until the colors start repeating, something over an hour in that sample. When the code reaches the end of the supercycle, it picks another set of three prime numbers, reinitializes the color settings, and away it goes.

The fog light looks pretty in action:

Nissan Fog Lamp - blue phase — Nissan Fog Lamp – blue phase

The four LEDs don’t produce the same light pattern as the halogen filament and they’re distinctly visible when you squint against the glare:

Nissan Fog Lamp - reflector LED detail — Nissan Fog Lamp – reflector LED detail

The shadow on the right comes from the larger hood support strut, the shadow on the left is the narrower strut, and the two other gaps show the beam angle gaps between the LEDs.

You’ll see plenty of residual sandpaper scratches on the lens: my surface (re)finishing hand is weak.

The LED beamwidth is so broad the “bulb” position inside the reflector doesn’t make much difference, particularly as it must, at most, wash a wall and ceiling at close range:

Nissan Fog Lamp - wall wash light — Nissan Fog Lamp – wall wash light

All in all, a much-needed dose of Quality Shop Time.

The Arduino source code as a GitHub Gist:

	// Neopixel Algorithmic Art
	// W2812 RGB Neopixel version
	// Ed Nisley – KE4ZNU

	#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
	#include <Entropy.h>

	//———-
	// Pin assignments

	const byte PIN_NEO = A3; // DO – data out to first Neopixel

	const byte PIN_HEARTBEAT = 13; // DO – Arduino LED

	#define PIN_MORSE 12

	//———-
	// Constants

	// number of pixels

	#define PIXELS 4

	// lag between adjacent pixels in degrees of slowest period

	#define PIXELPHASE 1

	// update LEDs only this many ms apart (minus loop() overhead)

	#define UPDATEINTERVAL 50ul
	#define UPDATEMS (UPDATEINTERVAL – 0ul)

	// number of steps per cycle, before applying prime factors

	#define RESOLUTION 500

	//———-
	// Globals

	Adafruit_NeoPixel strip = Adafruit_NeoPixel(PIXELS, PIN_NEO, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);

	uint32_t FullWhite = strip.Color(255,255,255);
	uint32_t FullOff = strip.Color(0,0,0);
	uint32_t MorseColor;

	struct pixcolor_t {
	unsigned int Prime;
	unsigned int NumSteps;
	unsigned int Step;
	float StepSize;
	float Phase;
	byte MaxPWM;
	};

	unsigned long int TotalSteps;
	unsigned long int SuperCycleSteps;

	byte PrimeList[] = {3,5,7,11,13,17,19,29}; // small primes = faster changes

	// colors in each LED and their count

	enum pixcolors {RED, GREEN, BLUE, PIXELSIZE};

	struct pixcolor_t Pixel[PIXELSIZE]; // all the data for each pixel color intensity

	uint32_t UniColor;

	unsigned long int MillisNow;
	unsigned long int MillisThen;

	//– Select three unique primes for the color generator function
	// Then compute all the step parameters based on those values

	void SetColorGenerators(void) {

	Pixel[RED].Prime = PrimeList[random(sizeof(PrimeList))];

	do {
	Pixel[GREEN].Prime = PrimeList[random(sizeof(PrimeList))];
	} while (Pixel[RED].Prime == Pixel[GREEN].Prime);

	do {
	Pixel[BLUE].Prime = PrimeList[random(sizeof(PrimeList))];
	} while (Pixel[BLUE].Prime == Pixel[RED].Prime \|\|
	Pixel[BLUE].Prime == Pixel[GREEN].Prime);

	if (false) {
	Pixel[RED].Prime = 1;
	Pixel[GREEN].Prime = 3;
	Pixel[BLUE].Prime = 5;
	}

	printf("Primes: %d %d %d\r\n",Pixel[RED].Prime,Pixel[GREEN].Prime,Pixel[BLUE].Prime);
	TotalSteps = 0;
	SuperCycleSteps = RESOLUTION;
	for (byte c = 0; c < PIXELSIZE; c++) {
	SuperCycleSteps *= Pixel[c].Prime;
	}
	printf(" Super cycle length: %lu steps\r\n",SuperCycleSteps);

	Pixel[RED].MaxPWM = 255;
	Pixel[GREEN].MaxPWM = 255;
	Pixel[BLUE].MaxPWM = 255;

	unsigned int PhaseSteps = (unsigned int) ((PIXELPHASE / 360.0) *
	RESOLUTION * (unsigned int) max(max(Pixel[RED].Prime,Pixel[GREEN].Prime),Pixel[BLUE].Prime));
	printf("Inter-pixel phase: %d deg = %d steps\r\n",(int)PIXELPHASE,PhaseSteps);

	for (byte c = 0; c < PIXELSIZE; c++) {
	Pixel[c].NumSteps = RESOLUTION * Pixel[c].Prime; // steps per cycle
	Pixel[c].StepSize = TWO_PI / Pixel[c].NumSteps; // radians per step
	Pixel[c].Step = random(Pixel[c].NumSteps); // current step
	Pixel[c].Phase = PhaseSteps * Pixel[c].StepSize; // phase in radians for this color

	printf(" c: %d Steps: %5d Init: %5d Phase: %3d deg",c,Pixel[c].NumSteps,Pixel[c].Step,(int)(Pixel[c].Phase * 360.0 / TWO_PI));
	printf(" PWM: %d\r\n",Pixel[c].MaxPWM);
	}

	}

	//– Helper routine for printf()

	int s_putc(char c, FILE *t) {
	Serial.write(c);
	}

	//——————
	// Set the mood

	void setup() {

	pinMode(PIN_HEARTBEAT,OUTPUT);
	digitalWrite(PIN_HEARTBEAT,LOW); // show we arrived

	Serial.begin(57600);
	fdevopen(&s_putc,0); // set up serial output for printf()

	printf("Algorithmic Art\r\n RGB WS2812\r\nEd Nisley – KE4ZNU – April 2020\r\n");

	Entropy.initialize(); // start up entropy collector

	// set up pixels

	strip.begin();
	strip.show();

	// lamp test: a brilliant white flash

	printf("Lamp test: flash full-on colors\r\n");

	uint32_t FullRGB = strip.Color(255,255,255);
	uint32_t FullR = strip.Color(255,0,0);
	uint32_t FullG = strip.Color(0,255,0);
	uint32_t FullB = strip.Color(0,0,255);
	uint32_t FullOff = strip.Color(0,0,0);

	uint32_t TestColors[] = {FullR,FullG,FullB,FullRGB,FullOff};

	for (byte i = 0; i < sizeof(TestColors)/sizeof(uint32_t) ; i++) {
	printf(" color: %08lx\r\n",TestColors[i]);
	for (int p=0; p < strip.numPixels(); p++) {
	strip.setPixelColor(p,TestColors[i]);
	}
	strip.show();
	delay(1000);
	}

	// get an actual random number

	uint32_t rn = Entropy.random();

	printf("Random seed: %08lx\r\n",rn);
	randomSeed(rn);

	// set up the color generators

	SetColorGenerators();

	MillisNow = MillisThen = millis();

	}

	//——————
	// Run the mood

	void loop() {

	MillisNow = millis();
	if ((MillisNow – MillisThen) >= UPDATEMS) { // time for another step?

	digitalWrite(PIN_HEARTBEAT,HIGH);
	TotalSteps++;

	strip.show(); // send out precomputed colors

	for (byte c = 0; c < PIXELSIZE; c++) { // compute next increment for each color
	if (++Pixel[c].Step >= Pixel[c].NumSteps) {
	Pixel[c].Step = 0;
	printf("Color %-5d steps %-5d at %-8ld ms %-8ld TS %-8lu\r\n",
	c,Pixel[c].NumSteps,MillisNow,(MillisNow – MillisThen),TotalSteps);
	}
	}

	// If all cycles have completed, reset the color generators

	if (TotalSteps >= SuperCycleSteps) {
	printf("Supercycle end, setting new color values\r\n");
	SetColorGenerators();
	}

	for (int p = 0; p < strip.numPixels(); p++) { // for each pixel
	byte Value[PIXELSIZE];
	for (byte c=0; c < PIXELSIZE; c++) { // compute new colors
	Value[c] = (Pixel[c].MaxPWM / 2.0) * (1.0 + sin(Pixel[c].Step * Pixel[c].StepSize – p*Pixel[c].Phase));
	}
	UniColor = strip.Color(Value[RED],Value[GREEN],Value[BLUE]);
	strip.setPixelColor(p,UniColor);
	}

	MillisThen = MillisNow;
	digitalWrite(PIN_HEARTBEAT,LOW);
	}

	}

view raw AlgoArt-RGB.ino hosted with ❤ by GitHub

2020-04-27

Nissan Fog Lamp: Desk Stand

The Nissan fog lamp looks pretty good pointing at the ceiling:

I briefly considered sandblasting the shell to knock back the corrosion, but came to my senses: this is art!

The shell has a bayonet mount intended for the cable connector, but a bout of solid modeling produced a matching twist-lock desk stand:

Nissan Fog Light Base - Slic3r preview — Nissan Fog Light Base – Slic3r preview

The locking dogs overhang little enough, relative to their diameter, to let the thing build without internal supports. Took about three hours without any intervention at all.

The little hole matches up with the slot on the bottom holding a USB cable bringing power from a wall charger:

It’s a knockoff Arduino Pro Mini without the USB interface found on a Nano, so the USB data wires don’t connect to anything.

The base might look better under a layer of (black?) epoxy, although I’m definitely a fan of those brutalist 3D printed striations.

The OpenSCAD source code as a GitHub Gist:

	// Nissan Fog Light Base
	// Ed Nisley KE4ZNU 2020-04-20

	/* [Hidden] */

	ThreadThick = 0.25;
	ThreadWidth = 0.40;

	HoleWindage = 0.2;

	function IntegerMultiple(Size,Unit) = Unit * ceil(Size / Unit);

	Protrusion = 0.1; // make holes end cleanly

	//———————-
	// Dimensions

	ID = 0;
	OD = 1;
	LENGTH = 2;

	/* [Fog Light] */

	ShellBase = [49.0,55.0,10.0];

	Dog = [55.0,60.0,7.0];
	DogWidth = 21.0;
	DogAngle = atan(DogWidth / ShellBase[ID]);
	echo(str("Dog angle: ",DogAngle));

	ReflectorOD = 90.0;
	LensOD = 110.0;
	LensAngle = -90; // peak relative to dogs

	WallThick = 4.0;
	BaseThick = 2*WallThick;

	CableOD = 3.5;

	$fn = 345;

	//——————-
	// Useful shapes

	module Dogs(h=Dog[LENGTH]) {
	translate([0,0,h/2])
	intersection() {
	cube([Dog[OD],DogWidth,h],center=true);
	cylinder(d=Dog[OD],h=h,center=true);
	}
	}


	//——————-
	// Build it

	difference() {
	union() {
	cylinder(d=(Dog[OD] + 2*WallThick),h=(BaseThick + ShellBase[LENGTH]));

	intersection() {
	resize([0,0,2*BaseThick])
	sphere(d=LensOD);
	translate([0,0,BaseThick/2])
	cube([2LensOD,2ReflectorOD,BaseThick],center=true);
	}
	}

	translate([0,0,BaseThick])
	cylinder(d=ShellBase[OD],h=ShellBase[LENGTH] + Protrusion);

	translate([0,0,BaseThick]) {
	Dogs();
	rotate(1.5*DogAngle)
	Dogs();
	rotate(2*DogAngle)
	Dogs(2*ShellBase[LENGTH]);
	}

	rotate(LensAngle)
	translate([0.75*ShellBase[ID]/2,0,-Protrusion]) {
	cylinder(d=CableOD,h=2*BaseThick,$fn=8);
	translate([LensOD/2,0,CableOD/2])
	cube([LensOD,CableOD,CableOD + Protrusion],center=true);
	}

	translate([31,0,ThreadThick-Protrusion])
	cube([23.0,55.0,2*ThreadThick],center=true);

	}

	linear_extrude(height=2*ThreadWidth + Protrusion) {
	translate([32,0,-Protrusion])
	rotate(-90) mirror([1,0,0])
	text(text="Ed Nisley",size=6,font="Arial:style:Bold",halign="center");
	translate([23,0,-Protrusion])
	rotate(-90) mirror([1,0,0])
	text(text="softsolder.com",size=5,font="Arial:style:Bold",halign="center");
	}

view raw Nissan Fog Light – Desk Base.scad hosted with ❤ by GitHub

2020-04-24

Category: Machine Shop

Tek Circuit Computer: Cursor Hairline Scraping

Fiskars Small Detail Scissors: Pivot Restaking

End of the Thing-O-Matic

Nut Socket Wrench Improvement

Magnifying Desk Lamp Pivot Clamp: One More

Nissan Fog Lamp: Arduino Firmware

Nissan Fog Lamp: Desk Stand