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.

The New Hotness

  • Tek Circuit Computer: Cursor Hairline

    Given a machined cursor blank, clamp it into position:

    Tek CC Cursor - cursor hairline fixture
    Tek CC Cursor – cursor hairline fixture

    You don’t want to clamp the cursor directly to the Sherline tooling plate, because the diamond drag bit would pass over two or three of those 10-32 screw holes which would, by the conservation of perversity, leave visible defects. In hindsight, I should have put a recess for an aluminum plate in there.

    After a single pass at Z=-4.0 mm, add two strips of tape to protect the adjoining surface and scribble it with red lacquer crayon:

    Tek CC Cursor - tape color fill
    Tek CC Cursor – tape color fill

    Peel the tape off:

    Tek CC Cursor - tape removed
    Tek CC Cursor – tape removed

    Then wipe off the residue using a soft cloth wetted with denatured alcohol:

    Tek CC Cursor - red cursor detail
    Tek CC Cursor – red cursor detail

    That looks much like the previous efforts. I’d like a more uniform trench, but I don’t know how to get there from here.

    In any event, the hairline looks pretty good against laser-printed scales:

    Tek CC Cursor - red cursor white laser decks - magnified
    Tek CC Cursor – red cursor white laser decks – magnified

    The new cursor is the lower one lying atop a laser-printed Pickett-style Circuit Computer:

    Tek CC Cursor - red cursor yellow laser decks - overview
    Tek CC Cursor – red cursor yellow laser decks – overview

    Looks good enough to eat, as the saying goes …