Tag: Improvements

Making the world a better place, one piece at a time

Refrigerator Drawer Strut Tab: Now With Inserts

A spate of cleaning put the little tab that fixed the never-sufficiently-to-be-damned strut supporting the lower refrigerator drawers into my hands:

Refrigerator Drawer Strut – new tab in place

I discovered that 4-40 knurled inserts perfectly match the available space, so I drilled the 3D printed holes out to 11/16 inch (the OD of the smaller knurls) and rammed the inserts into place:

Refrigerator Drawer Strut Tab – knurled inserts

No epoxy, no heat, nothing but a friction fit.

Looks much better, ought to work just as well, and will definitely outlive the refrigerator; if I never take that thing apart again, it’ll be fine with me.

2016-04-08
Filament Drive Gear Calculations
Some equations relevant to indentations produced by a filament drive gear:

Filament Drive Gear Indentations

For reference, the smaller indentations are 0.25 mm deep and 1.3 mm across the bottom.

Variables:
- d = filament (a.k.a. circle) diameter
- r = filament radius
- m = chord depth (inward from circle)
- c = chord length
- Θ = angle across chord from circle center, degrees
- A = chord area (a.k.a. indentation face area)
The length of the chord at the bottom of the indentation, perpendicular to the filament axis:

c = 2 sqrt(2mr - m²)

The chord angle:

Θ = 2 arcsin(c/2r)

The chord area, which would be the indentation face if it were perpendicular, which it isn’t:

A = (r² / 2) x ((πΘ / 180) - sin(Θ))

If you measured Θ in radians, the π/180 factor would Go Away.

Some doodles showing that reducing the indentation from 0.25 to 0.15 reduces the chord area by a factor of two:

Filament Drive Gear – indentation doodles

The implication being that you must maintain fairly constant force on the drive bearing against the filament to prevent stripping the indentations.
2016-04-07

Square Chain Mail Armor: Back From The Abyss

After a Slic3r commit fixed the bridging regression, I ran off chain mail patches to celebrate:

Square Chain Mail Armor - 3.3 3.5 4.0 thread bars — Square Chain Mail Armor – 3.3 3.5 4.0 thread bars

Two more Scli3r improvements calculate thin-wall and gap infill based on the available space, then vary the extrusion width to make the answers come out right for a given nozzle diameter. As a result, infill between close-set perimeter walls works much better than before; some of my long-held assumptions became invalid.

The only differences between the sheets: tweaking the BarWidth and SheetSize parameters. The links recalculate themselves around those values.

The OpenSCAD source code as a GitHub gist:

	// Chain Mail Armor Buttons
	// Ed Nisley KE4ZNU – December 2014

	Layout = "Build"; // Link Button LB Joiner Joiners Build PillarMod

	//——-
	//- Extrusion parameters must match reality!
	// Print with 1 shell and 2+2 solid layers

	ThreadThick = 0.25;
	ThreadWidth = 0.40;

	HoleWindage = 0.2;

	Protrusion = 0.1; // make holes end cleanly

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

	//——-
	// Dimensions

	//- Set maximum sheet size

	SheetSizeX = 125; // 170 for full sheet on M2
	SheetSizeY = 125; // 230 …

	//- Diamond or rectangular sheet?

	Diamond = false; // true = rotate 45 degrees, false = 0 degrees for square

	BendAround = "X"; // X or Y = maximum flexibility around designated axis

	Cap = true; // true = build bridge layers over links
	CapThick = 4 * ThreadThick; // flat cap on link: >= 3 layers for solid bridging

	Armor = true && Cap; // true = build armor button atop (required) cap
	ArmorThick = IntegerMultiple(2.0,ThreadThick); // height above cap surface

	ArmorSides = 4;
	ArmorAngle = true ? 180/ArmorSides : 0; // true -> rotate half a side for best alignment

	//- Link bar sizes

	BarThick = 3 * ThreadThick;
	BarWidth = 3.3 * ThreadWidth;

	BarClearance = 3 * ThreadThick; // vertical clearance above & below bars

	VertexHack = false; // true to slightly reduce openings to avoid coincident vertices

	//- Compute link sizes from those values

	//- Absolute minimum base link: bar width + corner angle + build clearance around bars
	// rounded up to multiple of thread width to ensure clean filling
	BaseSide = IntegerMultiple((4BarWidth + 2BarWidth/sqrt(2) + 3(2ThreadWidth)),ThreadWidth);

	BaseHeight = 2*BarThick + BarClearance; // both bars + clearance

	echo(str("BaseSide: ",BaseSide," BaseHeight: ",BaseHeight));
	//echo(str(" Base elements: ",4BarWidth,", ",2BarWidth/sqrt(2),", ",3(2ThreadWidth)));
	//echo(str(" total: ",(4BarWidth + 2BarWidth/sqrt(2) + 3(2ThreadWidth))));

	BaseOutDiagonal = BaseSide*sqrt(2) – BarWidth;
	BaseInDiagonal = BaseSidesqrt(2) – 2(BarWidth/2 + BarWidth*sqrt(2));

	echo(str("Outside diagonal: ",BaseOutDiagonal));

	//- On-center distance measured along coordinate axis
	// the links are interlaced, so this is half of what you think it should be…

	LinkOC = BaseSide/2 + ThreadWidth;

	LinkSpacing = Diamond ? (sqrt(2)*LinkOC) : LinkOC;
	echo(str("Base spacing: ",LinkSpacing));

	//- Compute how many links fit in sheet

	MinLinksX = ceil((SheetSizeX – (Diamond ? BaseOutDiagonal : BaseSide)) / LinkSpacing);
	MinLinksY = ceil((SheetSizeY – (Diamond ? BaseOutDiagonal : BaseSide)) / LinkSpacing);
	echo(str("MinLinks X: ",MinLinksX," Y: ",MinLinksY));

	NumLinksX = ((0 == (MinLinksX % 2)) && !Diamond) ? MinLinksX + 1 : MinLinksX;
	NumLinksY = ((0 == (MinLinksY % 2) && !Diamond)) ? MinLinksY + 1 : MinLinksY;
	echo(str("Links X: ",NumLinksX," Y: ",NumLinksY));

	//- Armor button base

	ButtonHeight = BaseHeight + BarClearance + CapThick;
	echo(str("ButtonHeight: ",ButtonHeight));

	//- Armor ornament size & shape
	// Fine-tune OD & ID to suit the number of sides…

	TotalHeight = ButtonHeight + ArmorThick;
	echo(str("Overall Armor Height: ",TotalHeight));

	ArmorOD = 1.0 * BaseSide; // tune for best base fit
	ArmorID = 10 * ThreadWidth; // make the tip blunt & strong

	//——-

	module ShowPegGrid(Space = 10.0,Size = 1.0) {

	RangeX = floor(95 / Space);
	RangeY = floor(125 / Space);

	for (x=[-RangeX:RangeX])
	for (y=[-RangeY:RangeY])
	translate([xSpace,ySpace,Size/2])
	%cube(Size,center=true);

	}


	//——-
	// Create link with armor button as needed

	module Link(Topping = false) {

	LinkHeight = (Topping && Cap) ? ButtonHeight : BaseHeight;

	render(convexity=3)
	rotate((BendAround == "X") ? 90 : 0)
	rotate(Diamond ? 45 : 0)
	union() {
	difference() {
	translate([0,0,LinkHeight/2]) // outside shape
	intersection() {
	cube([BaseSide,BaseSide,LinkHeight],center=true);
	rotate(45)
	cube([BaseOutDiagonal,BaseOutDiagonal,(LinkHeight + 2*Protrusion)],center=true);
	}

	translate([0,0,(BaseHeight + BarClearance + 0*ThreadThick – Protrusion)/2])
	intersection() { // inside shape
	cube([(BaseSide – 2*BarWidth),
	(BaseSide – 2*BarWidth),
	(BaseHeight + BarClearance + 0*ThreadThick + (VertexHack ? Protrusion/2 : 0))],
	center=true);
	rotate(45)
	cube([BaseInDiagonal,
	BaseInDiagonal,
	(BaseHeight + BarClearance + 0*ThreadThick + (VertexHack ? Protrusion/2 : 0))],
	center=true);
	}

	translate([0,0,((BarThick + 2*BarClearance)/2 + BarThick)]) // openings for bars
	cube([(BaseSide – 2BarWidth – 2BarWidth/sqrt(2) – (VertexHack ? Protrusion/2 : 0)),
	(2*BaseSide),
	BarThick + 2*BarClearance – Protrusion],
	center=true);

	translate([0,0,(BaseHeight/2 – BarThick)])
	cube([(2*BaseSide),
	(BaseSide – 2BarWidth – 2BarWidth/sqrt(2) – (VertexHack ? Protrusion/2 : 0)),
	BaseHeight],
	center=true);

	}

	if (Topping && Armor)
	translate([0,0,(ButtonHeight – Protrusion)]) // sink slightly into the cap
	rotate(ArmorAngle)
	cylinder(d1=ArmorOD,d2=ArmorID,h=(ArmorThick + Protrusion), $fn=ArmorSides);
	}

	}


	//——-
	// Create split buttons to join sheets

	module Joiner() {

	translate([-LinkSpacing,0,0])
	difference() {
	Link(false);
	translate([0,0,BarThick + BarClearance + TotalHeight/2 – Protrusion])
	cube([2LinkSpacing,2LinkSpacing,TotalHeight],center=true);
	}

	translate([LinkSpacing,0,0])
	intersection() {
	translate([0,0,-(BarThick + BarClearance)])
	Link(true);
	translate([0,0,TotalHeight/2])
	cube([2LinkSpacing,2LinkSpacing,TotalHeight],center=true);
	}

	}


	//——-
	// Build it!

	//ShowPegGrid();

	if (Layout == "Link") {
	Link(false);
	}

	if (Layout == "Button") {
	Link(true);
	}

	if (Layout == "LB") {
	color("Brown") Link(true);
	translate([LinkSpacing,LinkSpacing,0])
	color("Orange") Link(false);
	}

	if (Layout == "Build")
	for (ix = [0:(NumLinksX – 1)],
	iy = [0:(NumLinksY – 1)]) {
	x = (ix – (NumLinksX – 1)/2)*LinkSpacing;
	y = (iy – (NumLinksY – 1)/2)*LinkSpacing;
	translate([x,y,0])
	color([(ix/(NumLinksX – 1)),(iy/(NumLinksY – 1)),1.0])
	if (Diamond)
	Link((ix + iy) % 2); // armor at odd,odd & even,even points
	else
	if ((iy % 2) && (ix % 2)) // armor at odd,odd points
	Link(true);
	else if (!(iy % 2) && !(ix % 2)) // connectors at even,even points
	Link(false);
	}

	if (Layout == "Joiner")
	Joiner();

	if (Layout == "Joiners") {
	NumJoiners = max(MinLinksX,MinLinksY)/2;
	for (iy = [0:(NumJoiners – 1)]) {
	y = (iy – (NumJoiners – 1)/2)2LinkSpacing + LinkSpacing/2;
	translate([0,y,0])
	color([0.5,(iy/(NumJoiners – 1)),1.0])
	Joiner();
	}
	}

	if (Layout == "PillarMod") // Slic3r modification volume to eliminate pillar infill
	translate([0,0,(BaseHeight + BarClearance)/2])
	cube([1.5SheetSizeX,1.5SheetSizeY,BaseHeight + BarClearance],center=true);

view raw Chain Mail Square Armor.scad hosted with ❤ by GitHub

2016-03-30

Raspberry Pi Power Heartbeat LED

While looking for something else, I found a reference to the /boot/overlays/README file, wherein it is written:

        act_led_trigger         Choose which activity the LED tracks.
                                Use "heartbeat" for a nice load indicator.
                                (default "mmc")

        act_led_activelow       Set to "on" to invert the sense of the LED
                                (default "off")

        act_led_gpio            Set which GPIO to use for the activity LED
                                (in case you want to connect it to an external
                                device)
                                (default "16" on a non-Plus board, "47" on a
                                Plus or Pi 2)

... snippage ...

        pwr_led_trigger
        pwr_led_activelow
        pwr_led_gpio
                                As for act_led_*, but using the PWR LED.
                                Not available on Model A/B boards.

Although the power LED isn’t (easily) visible through the Canakit cases I’m using (it’s under the barely visible hole in front of the small hole near the hacked RUN connector), turning it into a heartbeat pulse distinguishes the CPU’s “running” and “halted” states; whether it will also distinguish “crashed” is up for grabs.

It’s not at all clear what other choices you have.

To enable heartbeating, add this to /boot/config.txt:

# turn power LED into heartbeat
dtparam=pwr_led_trigger=heartbeat
#

I expected a simple 50% duty cycle heartbeat, but it’s an annoying double blink: long off / on / off / on / long off. Fortunately, it still isn’t (easily) visible …

While you have that file open, reduce the GPU memory to the absolute minimum for headless operation:

# minimal GPU memory for headless operation
gpu_mem=16
#

Some further ideas, including a way to turn off the HDMI interface.

2016-03-29

LED Bulbs: Train Station Chandelier

The three big chandeliers in the Poughkeepsie Train Station now sport LED bulbs:

Poughkeepsie Train Station – LED bulbs

All three had 36 working bulbs and, with a bit of good QC, should continue that way for a long, long time.

LED bulbs don’t have the intense point-source brilliance of clear tungsten bulbs and even the warm-white ones tend toward the cool end of the spectrum, but they’re Good Enough …

2016-03-27
Streaming Player: NFS Program Distribution
With three identical Raspberry Pi streaming players tootling around the house, it finally dawned on me that they should fetch their Python program directly from The Definitive Source, rather than a local copy.

Tweak the auto-startup in /etc/rc.local:
```
mount -o ro mollusk:/mnt/bulkdata/Project\ Files/Streaming\ Media\ Player/Firmware/ /mnt/part
sudo -u pi python /mnt/part/Streamer.py &
```
There’s probably a way to redirect all of the stdout and stderr results to a file for debugging, but the obvious method doesn’t work:
```
sudo -u pi sh -c "python /mnt/part/Streamer.py 2>&1 > /tmp/st.log" &
```
That redirects stdout from the subprocess call to set up the mixer, but doesn’t catch Python’s print output.

Using the Python logging library would get most of the way to the goal, although stdout from things like the mixer would still vanish.

Continuing with the network theme, one could netboot the RPi players, but that requires more sysadmin hackery than I’m willing to do, what with the good being the enemy of the best.
2016-03-22
Panasonic Eneloop Pro NiMH Cells: First Charge

The Sony DSC-H5 expects a much higher voltage from its pair of NiMH AA cells than the tired Sanyo Eneloops from 2010 can provide these days.

Eneloop – 8-cell pack – 2010 – 2016 – merged

The two upper curves show the first two charges for those eight cells back in 2010.

The lower curve(s) started out with the wrong endpoint voltage (purple part of the middle curve), so I restarted the test (green curve) and edited the graph image to splice the two curves together into the purple/red curve.

Although the capacity measured in mA·h isn’t much lower, the voltage depression reduces the available energy and trips the “low battery” alarm much earlier. In round numbers, the old cells were good for a few pictures, even hot off the charger, and didn’t have much energy left without being recharged before use.

A quartet of Panasonic Eneloop Pro cells just arrived from BatterySpace, a nominally reputable supplier, all sporting a 14-05 date code suggesting they’re just shy of two years old. The packaging claims 85% charge retention after a year, so they should have a bit more than half of their rated 2.45 A·h “minimum” (or 2.55 mA·h “typical”, depending on whether you trust the label on the cell or the big print on the package) capacity remaining (although we don’t know the original state of charge, done from “solar power”). The lower curves say they arrived with 1 A·h remaining:

Panasonic Eneloop – First Charge

However, the terminal voltage on those bottom curves would have any reasonable device reporting them as dead flat almost instantly, so you really can’t store Eneloops for two years: no surprise there.

One pass through the 400 mA Sony charger produced the upper curves, with the dotted red curve from Cell A lagging in the middle. After that test, another pass through the charger brought Cell A back (upper solid red line) with the others, so I’ll assume it took a while to wake up.

A pair of these in the camera will produce 2.2 V through 2.2 A·h, far better than the aged-out Sanyo Eneloops.

Charging them at 400 mA = C/6 certainly counts as a slow charge. I’ve been charging the Sanyo cells in slow chargers in the hope that they’ll remain happier over the long term.

The Panasonic Eneloops perform much better than some other cells you’ve seen around here, which may be due to the fact that I paid $5 each for them…

2016-03-20