Improvements – Page 18 – The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

HQ Sixteen: Track Lock Blocks

Mary’s practice quilts on the HQ Sixteen suggest locking the machine’s wheels will simplify sewing a line parallel to the long edge of a quilt parallel to the table, but contemporary “Channel Locks” fit newer machines with larger wheels than on this one.

Duplicating those rings in a smaller size seemed both difficult and not obviously functional, so I built a pair of blocks to capture the wheel on its track:

HQ Sixteen - track lock - engaged — HQ Sixteen – track lock – engaged

The wheel sits in a recess holding it just barely above the track surface, so the (considerable) weight of the machine holds the block in place.

Because lines on quilts have precise placement and Mary has quilting rulers within reach, the block measures exactly two inches from the point where it first touches the wheel to the center of the recess:

HQ Sixteen - track lock - setup — HQ Sixteen – track lock – setup

She can then lay a ruler on the quilt, roll the machine front or back two inches, slide a block against each wheel, then roll the machine up a slight incline until the wheel drops into the recess:

HQ Sixteen - track lock block - solid model — HQ Sixteen – track lock block – solid model

The spacing looks like this:

HQ Sixteen - track lock block - solid model - show view — HQ Sixteen – track lock block – solid model – show view

The usual 3D printing process puts 0.2 mm steps along the ramp, but they’re almost imperceptible while rolling the machine:

HQ Sixteen - track lock block - PrusaSlicer preview — HQ Sixteen – track lock block – PrusaSlicer preview

The ramp slope is all of 1:20 = 2.5°, so pulling / pushing the machine requires very little oomph.

I put thin cloth tape (approximately friction tape, but with real adhesive) on the bottom of the block by the simple expedient of sticking it to the block and scissoring off the excess. A little compliance between the block and the track prevents the hard plastic shapes from sliding more easily than I’d like. If your tape is thicker than mine, knock a little off the WheelZ value.

The OpenSCAD code can produce shapes to laser-cut an adhesive sheet, although stacking a foam sheet will definitely require height adjustment :

HQ Sixteen - track lock block - glue sheet — HQ Sixteen – track lock block – glue sheet

The OpenSCAD source code as a GitHub Gist:

	// HQ Sixteen – wheel track lock block
	// Ed Nisley – KE4ZNU
	// 2025-02-14

	include <BOSL2/std.scad>

	Layout = "Show"; // [Show,Build,Glue,Track,Block,Wheel]

	/* [Hidden] */

	ID = 0;
	OD = 1;
	LENGTH = 2;

	Protrusion = 0.1;
	Windage = 0.1;

	WallThick = 5.0; // minimum wall thickness

	RailOD = 5.5; // rounded top of rail
	RailHeight = RailOD; // … flange to top
	RailBase = [100,2*15.7 + RailOD,3]; // … Y = flange width, arbitrary X & Z

	WheelOD = 38.0; // rail roller
	WheelMinor = 6.2; // … rail recess
	WheelWidth = 8.3 + 2*Windage; // … outer sides
	WheelZ = RailHeight + (WheelOD – WheelMinor)/2; // axle centerline wrt rail flange

	LockOC = 2.0*INCH; // engagement to lock recess

	GripLength = 20.0;

	BlockOA = [GripLength + WheelOD/2 + LockOC,WheelWidth + 2WallThick,2RailHeight];
	BlockRadius = 2.0;

	$fn = 1234; // smooth outer perimeters

	//———-
	// Construct the pieces

	module Track(Len = 2*BlockOA.x) {

	zrot(90) back(Len/2) down(RailBase.z) xrot(90)
	linear_extrude(height=Len,convexity=5)
	rect([RailBase.y,RailBase.z],anchor=FRONT)
	attach(BACK,FRONT) rect([RailOD,RailHeight – RailOD/2])
	attach(BACK) circle(d=RailOD);
	}

	module Wheel(Len = WheelWidth) {

	xrot(90)
	difference() {
	cylinder(d=WheelOD,h=Len,center=true);
	torus(r_maj=WheelOD/2,d_min=WheelMinor);
	}
	}

	module Block() {

	difference() {
	left(GripLength + WheelOD/2)
	cuboid(BlockOA,anchor=LEFT + BOTTOM,rounding=BlockRadius,except=BOTTOM);
	Track();
	up(WheelZ) xrot(90)
	cylinder(d=WheelOD,h=WheelWidth,center=true);
	right(LockOC)
	up(WheelZ – WheelOD/2) yrot(atan((RailHeight – WheelMinor/2)/LockOC))
	cuboid([LockOC,WheelWidth,BlockOA.z],anchor=RIGHT+BOTTOM);
	}
	}


	//———-
	// Show & build the results

	if (Layout == "Block" \|\| Layout == "Build")
	Block();

	if (Layout == "Track")
	Track();

	if (Layout == "Wheel")
	Wheel();

	if (Layout == "Glue")
	projection(cut=true)
	Block();

	if (Layout == "Show") {

	color("SteelBlue")
	Block();
	for (i=[0,1])
	right(i*LockOC)
	color("Silver",0.7)
	up(WheelZ) Wheel();
	color("White",0.5)
	Track();
	}

view raw HQ Sixteen – track lock block.scad hosted with ❤ by GitHub

2025-02-18

Drive Wheelchair Foot Rest Lubrication

After few days in the Drive Blue Streak wheelchair, I finally lubricated the foot rest pivots:

The complex molded rests gripped their metal tubes so tightly as be nearly immovable, but one drop of Kroil at the four obvious spots let them turn much more easily.

The flange overlapping the upright tube along the bottom of the picture hits the short protrusion and holds the rest parallel to the floor. A screw at the plastic cap near the top keeps the rests from working their way too far from the upright tube.

I can make it to the Basement Shop™ and back, paying careful attention to detail.

2025-02-17

HQ Sixteen: Handi Feet Conversion

Mary wanted a Ruler Foot (a.k.a. Handi Feet Sure Foot) on her Handi Quilter HQ Sixteen sewing machine, which required removing the original foot, installing the Handi Feet Conversion Kit, then adjusting the foot height above the needle plate:

The Conversion Kit instructions repeatedly recommend hauling the machine to your local Handi Quilter authorized dealer / repair center, which would be an hour’s drive away. Suffice it to say I’m both authorized by a suitable authority and a dab hand with a hex wrench: I can do this thing.

The original foot is a welded assembly with an M5×0.8 screw thread matching the leftmost (darker) rod on the machine:

HQ Sixteen Handi-feet conversion - original foot — HQ Sixteen Handi-feet conversion – original foot

It’s sitting atop the label of the Sure Foot kit with a picture of the ruler foot.

Although the instructions suggest you can install the conversion kit without removing the machine cover, I wanted to see what was going on in there and verify everything fit properly:

HQ Sixteen Handi-feet conversion - foot rod clamp — HQ Sixteen Handi-feet conversion – foot rod clamp

As above, the foot / adapter screws into the left rod, with the rectangular aluminum clamp attached to the follower riding the cam near the top of the machine. The rod slides on the greasy pin absorbing the torque from the follower.

I had to loosen the clamp, slide the rod upward, unscrew the original foot, install the adapter, adjust the rod position for the proper 0.5 mm spacing between ruler foot and the needle plate at bottom dead center, then tighten the screw. The disturbed grease above the block reveals I moved the rod upward about 8 mm through that block during the process; it now sits lower, just a few millimeters above where the factory tech assembled it for the original foot.

The top photo shows half a dozen threads between the top of the adapter and the bottom of the jam nut. Without adjusting the rod position in the clamp, the adapter screw threads are the only way to adjust the foot-to-plate space: each full turn moves the foot 0.8 mm. I screwed the adapter completely into the rod, then backed it out three turns to leave enough adjustment for other feet and fabrics.

The machine cover has a hole providing access to the clamp screw, so, in principle, you can stick a hex wrench in there to loosen / tighten the clamp while making fine adjustments in the foot position, all without removing the cover. If one full turn of the adapter doesn’t set the right position, I highly recommend removing the machine cover to see what you’re doing.

We then installed the Ruler Base on the machine, which required removing the preinstalled Medium fuzzy spacer strips, and all’s well that ends well.

2025-02-12

Thunar WEBP Thumbnails

For whatever reason, the Thunar file browser in XFCE does not automagically show thumbnails for webp images. Some searching produced a recipe, although the displayed webp.xml file needs the last two lines to close the tags:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<mime-info xmlns="http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/shared-mime-info">
    <mime-type type="image/webp">
        <comment>WebP file</comment>
        <icon name="image"/>
        <glob-deleteall/>
        <glob pattern="*.webp"/>
    </mime-type>
</mime-info>

The magic copy-to-clipboard button includes those tags, so I suppose it’s another case of being careful what you believe on the Intertubes.

Going through the steps displayed images of the Subpixel Zoo:

Thunar - webp previews — Thunar – webp previews

They’ll turn into layered paper patterns:

Subpixel Zoo - Quattron RGBY Shifted - detail — Subpixel Zoo – Quattron RGBY Shifted – detail

2025-02-05

HQ Sixteen: Thread Cone Locating Disk

After installing (if that’s not too fancy a term) the horizontal thread spool adapter on the HQ Sixteen, I laser-cut an acrylic disk to keep thread cones centered on the other vertical spool pin:

HQ Sixteen - thread cone base locator - installed — HQ Sixteen – thread cone base locator – installed

It’s trivial: an 11 mm circle to clear the washer and a 55 mm circle to locate the cone.

However, I cut that disk with a 56 mm OD, because that’s what I measured on half a dozen cones. Come to find out at least some cone bases are juuust slightly oval and they latched onto that disk like they were gonna be best buddies forever.

Rather than cut another acrylic disk, I laser-cut a friction ring from a scrap of stamp-pad rubber and jammed the disk against the chuck with a live center:

HQ Sixteen - thread cone base locator - turning — HQ Sixteen – thread cone base locator – turning

A few minutes of sissy cuts made the disk nicely round and concentric with the inner hole, with a little file work knocking the edges off the rim.

Done!

2025-02-04

HQ Sixteen: Horizontal Thread Spool Adapter

After watching the thread pull off the spool around the vertical spool adapter in an increasingly tight helix, I built a horizontal adapter:

The thread now pulls off perpendicular to the axis, the way we thought it should, and the helix is gone.

The adapter base plate fits snugly over the vertical pin, with the lip over the edge stabilizing the whole thing. The spool fits on a ¼ inch acrylic rod tightly press-fit into the side wall and, although it’s not shown here, the vertical adapter press-fits onto the end of the rod to keep the spool from wandering off.

The solid model shows the arrangement:

HQ Sixteen - horizontal thread spool adapter - solid model — HQ Sixteen – horizontal thread spool adapter – solid model

It builds standing on the wall to prevent any significant overhang:

HQ Sixteen - horizontal thread spool adapter - PrusaSlicer — HQ Sixteen – horizontal thread spool adapter – PrusaSlicer

So we’ve reconfirmed our original knowledge that ordinary thread spools must feed off the side, not over the top. Living in the future with rapid prototyping and simple production is good!

You can buy a Horizontal Spool Pin Clamp, but what’s the fun in that?

Fun fact: although the vertical pins on the machine are ¼ inch in diameter, the thread on the end is neither the obvious ¼-20 nor the second-guess 10-32. Instead, it’s M5×0.8, perilously close to the 10-32 thread used in the handlebar setscrews. Don’t apply brute force when this thing doesn’t screw neatly into that hole.

The OpenSCAD source code as a GitHub Gist:

	// HQ Sixteen – horizontal thread spool adapter
	// Ed Nisley – KE4ZNU
	// 2025-01-26

	include <BOSL2/std.scad>

	Layout = "Show"; // [Show,Build,Base,Wall]

	/* [Hidden] */

	ID = 0;
	OD = 1;
	LENGTH = 2;

	WallThick = 10.0;
	BaseThick = 5.0;

	PinOD = 0.25*INCH; // vertical spool pin
	PinWasher = [PinOD,11.0,2.0]; // pin base washer
	PinOffset = 49.0; // pin center to edge of platform

	Spool = [0.25*INCH,50.0,55.0]; // maximum thread spool
	echo(Spool=Spool);
	SpoolClearance = [5.0,2.0,5.0];

	SpoolOC = [-PinOffset + PinOD/2 + SpoolClearance.x + Spool[OD]/2,
	Spool[LENGTH]/2,
	BaseThick + SpoolClearance.z + Spool[OD]/2];

	BasePlate = [PinWasher[OD] + PinOffset + BaseThick,
	Spool[LENGTH] + SpoolClearance.y + WallThick,
	BaseThick];

	Protrusion = 0.1;

	$fn = 1234; // smooth outer perimeters

	//———-
	// Construct the pieces

	module Base() {
	difference() {
	union() {
	left(BasePlate.x/2 – BaseThick) back((SpoolClearance.y + WallThick)/2)
	cuboid(BasePlate,rounding=BaseThick,edges=[FWD+LEFT,FWD+RIGHT],anchor=BOTTOM);
	back((SpoolClearance.y + WallThick)/2)
	cuboid([BaseThick,BasePlate.y,BaseThick],
	rounding=BaseThick,edges=[FWD+BOTTOM,FWD+RIGHT,BACK+BOTTOM],anchor=LEFT+TOP);
	}
	left(PinOffset) down(Protrusion) {
	cylinder(PinWasher[LENGTH],d=PinWasher[OD]); // washer clearance
	cylinder(2*BaseThick,d=PinOD);
	}
	}

	}


	module Wall() {

	difference() {
	union() {
	hull() {
	right(BaseThick)
	cube([BasePlate.x,BaseThick,WallThick],anchor=FWD+RIGHT+BOTTOM);
	back(SpoolOC.z) right(SpoolOC.x)
	cylinder(d=Spool[OD]/2,h=WallThick);
	}
	back(SpoolOC.z) right(SpoolOC.x)
	cylinder(d=Spool[OD]/2,h=WallThick + SpoolClearance.y);

	}
	back(SpoolOC.z) right(SpoolOC.x) down(Protrusion) zrot(180/8)
	cylinder(d=Spool[ID],h=2*WallThick,$fn=8);
	}


	}

	module Adapter() {

	union() {
	Base();
	back(SpoolOC.y + SpoolClearance.y + WallThick)
	xrot(90)
	Wall();
	}



	}


	//———-
	// Show & build the results

	if (Layout == "Base")
	Base();

	if (Layout == "Wall")
	Wall();

	if (Layout == "Show") {
	Adapter();

	left(PinOffset)
	color("Gray") {
	cylinder(d=PinOD,h=2*SpoolOC.z);
	cylinder(d=PinWasher[OD],h=PinWasher[LENGTH]);
	}

	up(SpoolOC.z) right(SpoolOC.x) back(SpoolOC.y)
	xrot(90)
	color("Green")
	cylinder(d=Spool[ID],h=Spool[LENGTH]);
	}

	if (Layout == "Build")
	up(SpoolOC.y + SpoolClearance.y + WallThick)
	xrot(-90)
	Adapter();

view raw HQ Sixteen – horizontal thread spool adapter.scad hosted with ❤ by GitHub

2025-02-03

Monitor Mount: USB Hub Clamp

Along with the Beelink PC, putting the Anker USB hub on the monitor mount pole helped tidy the cables just a little bit:

Monitor pole clamp - Anker USB hub — Monitor pole clamp – Anker USB hub

It’s still jumbled, but at least the cables aren’t wagging the hub.

This clamp needs only one M6 screw into a square nut:

Monitor Pole box clamp - solid model — Monitor Pole box clamp – solid model

Again better seen in cross-section:

Monitor Pole clamp - PrusaSlicer preview — Monitor Pole clamp – PrusaSlicer preview

The OpenSCAD code extrudes the shape from a 2D arrangement, then punches the screw through the side:

// Monitor Pole box clamp
// Ed Nisley - KE4ZNU
// 2025-01-23

include <BOSL2/std.scad>

/* [Hidden] */

ID = 0;
OD = 1;
LENGTH = 2;

Protrusion = 0.1;

Box = [22.5,45.5,25.0];         // Z is clamp height
BoxGrip = 5.0;                  // on outer side clearing connectors

PoleOD = 30.5;

WallThick = 5.0;

Kerf = 3.0;                     // clamping space
Clearance = 2*0.2;              // space around objects

Washer = [6.0,12.0,1.5];        // M6 washer
Nut = [6.0,10.0,5.0];           // M6 square nut

MidSpace = 35.0;                // pole to box spacing

ClampOAL = Box.x + MidSpace + PoleOD + 2*WallThick;

//----------
// Build it

        difference() {
            linear_extrude(height=Box.z,convexity=5)
                difference() {
                    hull() {
                        right(MidSpace/2 + Box.x/2)
                            rect(Box + 2*[WallThick,WallThick],rounding=WallThick);
                        left(MidSpace/2 + PoleOD/2)
                            circle(d=PoleOD + 2*WallThick);
                    }
                    right(MidSpace/2 + Box.x/2)
                        square(Box + [Clearance,Clearance],center=true);
                    right(MidSpace/2 + Box.x)
                        square([Box.x,Box.y - 2*BoxGrip],center=true);
                    left(MidSpace/2 + PoleOD/2)
                        circle(d=PoleOD + Clearance);
                    square([2*ClampOAL,Kerf],center=true);
                }
            up(Box.z/2) {
                xrot(90)
                    cylinder(d=Washer[ID] + Clearance,h=2*Box.y,center=true,$fn=6);
                fwd(Box.y/2 - Washer[LENGTH])
                    xrot(90) zrot(180/12)
                        cylinder(d=Washer[OD] + Clearance,h=Box.y,center=false,$fn=12);
                back(Box.y/2 + Nut[LENGTH]/2)
                    xrot(90)
                        cube([Nut[OD],Nut[OD],2*Nut[LENGTH]],center=true);
            }
        }

The alert reader will have noticed I didn’t peel the protective film off the hub, which tells you how fresh this whole lashup is.

2025-01-31