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?

  • More WS2812 Failures

    More WS2812 Failures

    Even though I’m using what seem to be good-quality parts, one of the WS2812 RGB LEDs in a Glass Tile frame died:

    Glass Tile - 2x2 - first WS2812B failure
    Glass Tile – 2×2 – first WS2812B failure

    It passed the Josh Sharpie Test:

    Glass Tile - WS2812 failure - PCB unknown
    Glass Tile – WS2812 failure – PCB unknown

    After building the third Glass Tile unit, one of the LEDs didn’t light up due to an easily diagnosed problem:

    Glass Tile - WS2812 failure - PCB cold solder - as found
    Glass Tile – WS2812 failure – PCB cold solder – as found

    A closer look:

    Glass Tile - WS2812 failure - PCB cold solder
    Glass Tile – WS2812 failure – PCB cold solder

    Shortly thereafter, the Nissan Fog Lamp developed an obvious beam problem:

    Nissan Fog Lamp - failed WS2812 effect
    Nissan Fog Lamp – failed WS2812 effect

    The WS2812 had the proper voltages / signals at all its pins and was still firmly stuck to the central “heatsink”:

    Nissan Fog Lamp - failed WS2812 detail
    Nissan Fog Lamp – failed WS2812 detail

    It also passed the Josh Sharpie Test:

    Glass Tile - WS2812 failure - tape - unknown
    Glass Tile – WS2812 failure – tape – unknown

    I’m particularly surprised by this one, because eleven of the twelve flex-PCB WS2812s in the Hard Drive Platter light have been running continuously for years with no additional failures.

    The alert reader will note the common factor: no matter what substrate the LED is (supposed to be) soldered to, no matter when I bought it, no matter what it’s wired into, a WS2812 will fail.

    They’re all back in operation:

    Glowing Algorithmic Art
    Glowing Algorithmic Art

    Although nobody knows for how long …

    Obviously, it’s time to refresh my programmable RGB LED stockpile!

  • Robin Nest: Construction

    Robin Nest: Construction

    A pair of robins picked the best place for their nest:

    Garage Robin Nest
    Garage Robin Nest

    I disabled the remote control for those spotlights, as we won’t be using them for a while.

    Although I’m sure it’s a wonderful nest, robins certainly leave plenty of debris around their construction site:

    Garage Robin Nest - overview
    Garage Robin Nest – overview

    I can’t figure how to mount a camera close enough for a good view and keep it out of their landing pattern.

  • Snakeskin

    Snakeskin

    A shed snakeskin appeared when I opened the garage door:

    Snakeskin - overview
    Snakeskin – overview

    The skin sits atop the retaining wall next to the door, on a stone(-like) background with poor contrast: even an empty snake has good camouflage!

    The exterior looks like genuine snakeskin:

    Snakeskin - exterior
    Snakeskin – exterior

    I didn’t know the interior has an entirely different pattern:

    Snakeskin - interior
    Snakeskin – interior

    As far as I can tell, the snake was going about its business elsewhere in the yard.

    To be fair, there’s some luck involved.

    Update: After Mitch nudged me, I found the (somewhat the worse for wear) snakeskin again. The head end was split, much as I described, but the tail end was intact (the snake having pulled out like a finger from a glove) and what I though was the inside of the top was the outside of the bottom, just pushed inward to form a very thin double layer.

    Today I Learned … to always look closer!

  • Monthly Image: Wappinger Dam Gears

    Monthly Image: Wappinger Dam Gears

    A walk around Wappinger Lake brought me to the old penstock controls:

    Wappinger Dam - old penstock gearing - E view
    Wappinger Dam – old penstock gearing – E view

    Still meshed after all these years:

    Wappinger Dam - old penstock gearing - SE view
    Wappinger Dam – old penstock gearing – SE view

    The “new” penstock intake control, a pair of utterly practical and totally non-photogenic screw drives, sits just to the left of these relics.

    A night view of the penstock from some years ago:

    Wappingers Falls Bridge - Pixel XL HDR - 2017-09-22
    Wappingers Falls Bridge – Pixel XL HDR – 2017-09-22

    It still carries water to the recently refurbished power plant downstream on the right.

    Those gears will remain meshed after everything else rots away …

  • Gosling Time

    Gosling Time

    The Dutchess Rail Trail has gotten far more use in recent months than ever before, with entire families walking along the path:

    Canada Geese Families on the Rail Trail - 2020-05-08
    Canada Geese Families on the Rail Trail – 2020-05-08

    Almost by definition, though, goslings don’t practice social distancing …

  • Fiskars Small Detail Scissors: Pivot Restaking

    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
    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.

  • Halogen H3 Bulb

    Halogen H3 Bulb

    Peering into the bulb salvaged from the Nissan fog light suggests the scuff on the lens corresponds to an impact mighty enough to disarrange the filament:

    Halogen H3 bulb - 1.5 A - light
    Halogen H3 bulb – 1.5 A – light

    No surprise, as the car completely shattered the utility pole.

    The glow draws 1.5 A from a bench supply at 1 V, just to show the filament isn’t lighting up evenly across those gaps. The bulb runs at 55 W from 12 V and would be, I’m sure, blindingly bright, although the heat concentrated in those few coils suggests it’d burn out fairly quickly.

    By LED standards, though, you don’t get much light for your 1.5 W …

    An underexposed version highlights the filament, just for pretty:

    Halogen H3 bulb - 1.5 A - dark
    Halogen H3 bulb – 1.5 A – dark

    Cropped to 9:16, it’s now a desktop background.