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: Oddities

Who’d’a thunk it?

  • Magazines to the Archive

    Magazines to the Archive

    Thanks to tantris aiming me in the right direction, my techie magazines are on their way to the Internet Archive for scanning:

    Archive boxes - A
    Archive boxes – A

    They’re also accepting our 14th Edition of the Encylopædia Britannica (back when folks realized global war was a thing, but before knowing the recently concluded horror was the first), two dozen Tom Swift Jr books (largely responsible for much of the rest of my life), three years of LIFE magazines from the mid-1940s needing no further description, and a few other goodies:

    Archive boxes - B
    Archive boxes – B

    They want boxes packed as solidly as possible to withstand shipping & warehousing, so I converted nearly all of my scrap cardboard into bracing and padding:

    Archive boxes - cutting gridwork
    Archive boxes – cutting gridwork

    The grids are Tray Inserts generated at festi.info:

    Archive boxes - internal bracing
    Archive boxes – internal bracing

    Here, try one yourself:

    TrayInsert - sample QR code
    TrayInsert – sample QR code

    That will set up a grid filling the gap between two stacks of magazines in the Archive’s standard 12×18×8 inch box. You’ll also want simple rectangles for the sides & tops, but those are easy.

    They preferred the laser cutter’s inevitable campfire smell to smashed boxes full of crumpled magazines. AFAICT, you might be able to crush the box, but if you did the magazines wouldn’t have survived anyway.

    Now, to start packing our books …

  • Leaf Shredding Supervisors

    Leaf Shredding Supervisors

    While I was turning this year’s leaves into mulch for next year’s vegetables, a supervisor landed on my glove:

    Pale Green Assassin Bug - front
    Pale Green Assassin Bug – front

    I thought it was a very small stick insect covered with leaf chaff, but it turned out to be a Pale Green Assassin Bug nymph with built-in armor and spines:

    Pale Green Assassin Bug - rear
    Pale Green Assassin Bug – rear

    Something like that, anyway.

    This katydid supervised while I put the tools away:

    Short-winged Meadow Katydid
    Short-winged Meadow Katydid

    Those scary stern claspers must come in handy for something, but I’d rather not be on the receiving end.

    It was a fine day to be outdoors, although I vastly prefer my shop.

  • Laser Cutter: High Power Vectors vs. CD-Rs

    Laser Cutter: High Power Vectors vs. CD-Rs

    Just to see what happens, I tried cutting a shape from a scrap CD-R:

    Laser cut CD - in progress
    Laser cut CD – in progress

    Cutting polycarbonate is a terrible idea, because that cloud consists primarily of The Big Stink™. AFAICT, the cutting fumes are not much more toxic than what burns off acrylic / wood / whatever, but they definitely smell much worse.

    In any event, the laser produces a clean cut:

    Laser cut CD - on platform
    Laser cut CD – on platform

    Modulo the charred edges and discoloration:

    Laser cut CD - finished
    Laser cut CD – finished

    Some of that buffs right out, but overall it’s not worth the effort unless you really need tiny diffraction gratings.

  • Laser Cutter Camera: USB Mystery

    Laser Cutter Camera: USB Mystery

    The USB camera stuck inside the lid of the laser worked fine:

    OMTech Laser - camera mount
    OMTech Laser – camera mount

    Until a month or two ago, when it began disconnecting randomly.

    The camera cable has a standard USB A connector on one end and what looks like a 1.5 mm JST ZH connector on the other:

    Laser cutter camera cable
    Laser cutter camera cable

    Of course, it’s not quite long enough, so it plugs into a good-quality 1 meter USB 3.0 extender to the PC sitting atop the laser cabinet.

    Some low-effort tweaks were unavailing:

    • Different USB ports
    • Different USB extension cable to the ports
    • Hub vs. direct

    Eventually, some rummaging in the Box o’ USB Cables produced a cable from a different camera and, as you might expect, swapping the two identical cables solved the problem.

    I have no idea what’s going on, but I’d lay significant money that when this cable gets flaky, swapping the original cable back in will solve the problem once again.

  • The Patience of Trees: Root Jug

    The Patience of Trees: Root Jug

    Spotted out back behind some trees while setting up to pressure-wash a wall:

    Root in jug - front
    Root in jug – front

    Walking around to the other side:

    Root in jug - rear
    Root in jug – rear

    It’s been a long time since the tip of that root found the top of that jug!

    Several nearby green glass fragments suggest it shattered before the root crept through; I don’t see enough glass to reassemble the jug.

    I expect the neck will remain intact as the root continues to grow.

  • Magazine Dump: Insuperable Opportunity

    Magazine Dump: Insuperable Opportunity

    For reasons that will become relevant later on, I must clear the magazines from about ten feet of shelf space (and a stack of boxes), including this assortment:

    Magazine Dump
    Magazine Dump

    What you see:

    To the best of my knowledge and belief, each collection is complete within those dates, although I’m equally sure an issue or two went walkabout over the course of four decades.

    Having written columns for Digital Machinist, DDJ, and Circuit Cellar, I (still!) have multiple “author’s copies” of those, although I haven’t dug through the boxes for the specifics.

    Here’s the deal:

    • You must take all of any set
    • Any offer ≥ $0.00 is acceptable
    • Shipping from ZIP 12603 is your problem
    • N.B.: Shipping Is Not My Problem (*)

    Best offer on or before 30 November 2023 takes any or all.

    Whatever remains becomes mulch in December 2023.

    (*) A USPS Medium Flat Rate box (11×8.5×5.5 inch) costs $17 within the continental US and holds two or three dozen issues. Obviously, that’s the wrong way to ship an entire shelf of magazines, but gives you an idea of the scale.

    If you want to pick ’em up in person, I’ll help heave ’em into your trunk.

  • Garter Snake: Garage Door Refuge

    Garter Snake: Garage Door Refuge

    Opening the garage door to start a morning of errands revealed a garter snake previously tucked neatly into the space below the door seal:

    Garter snake under garage door seal - A
    Garter snake under garage door seal – A

    It’s somewhat smaller than the garter snake under the trash can, although I’m sure they’re closely related.

    It was a cool morning and the snake hadn’t yet reached operating temperature, but it eventually flowed off into the garage and we went on our way.

    A few hours later we returned:

    Garter snake under garage door seal - B
    Garter snake under garage door seal – B

    Apparently that was the best place for a snake.

    Mary lined up a four-cell seedling pot ahead of the critter, encouraged it to flow forward, and much to our surprise it tucked neatly into one of the cells:

    Garter snake under garage door seal - C
    Garter snake under garage door seal – C

    We carried it to the herb garden, wished it well, and a few hours later it had uncoiled and gone about its business.

    Unlike the Shoe Frog, it hasn’t been seen since.