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

  • Pixel 6a Camera Protector vs. Leaf Shredder Chaff

    Much of my exercise of late has come from blowing leaves into piles and shredding them:

    Leaf Shredding - GPS track
    Leaf Shredding – GPS track

    My GPS drawing hand is weak.

    I wear 30 dB over-the-ear protectors with a pair of Bluetooth earbuds tucked inside for a rhythm track. I had been carrying my Pixel 6a in a side pocket, until I noticed a remarkable amount of crud inside the glass protector over the camera lens:

    Pixel 6a camera protector dirt
    Pixel 6a camera protector dirt

    How crud could get inside (what I thought should be) a sealed compartment inside the phone’s armor case became obvious after peeling the protector off:

    Pixel 6a camera protector dirt - overview
    Pixel 6a camera protector dirt – overview

    Come to find out the protector’s adhesive layer has an opening near the edge of the camera, leaving a slot allowing the howling chaff storm onto the camera glass. Random pocket fuzz certainly contributed some particles, but the entire phone case had a surprising amount of yellow-brown dust tucked inside.

    So I left the protector off, dumped the music files into my old Pixel 3a (which never had a camera protector), and will henceforth leave the 6a indoors during similar adventures.

    The bagged leaves will become next year’s garden veggies, so the whole project isn’t a total waste of time.