Tag: Improvements

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

PiHole with DNS-over-HTTP: Revised

More than a year later, the PiHole continues to work fine, but the process for installing the Cloudflare DoH machinery has evolved.

(And, yes, it’s supposed to be DNS-over-HTTPS. So it goes.)

To forestall link rot, the key points:

cd /tmp ;  wget https://bin.equinox.io/c/VdrWdbjqyF/cloudflared-stable-linux-arm.tgz
tar -xvzf cloudflared-stable-linux-arm.tgz 
sudo cp cloudflared /usr/local/bin
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/cloudflared
sudo cloudflared -v
sudo useradd -s /usr/sbin/nologin -r -M cloudflared
sudo nano /etc/default/cloudflared
----
CLOUDFLARED_OPTS=--port 5053 --upstream https://1.1.1.1/dns-query --upstream https://1.0.0.1/dns-query 
----
sudo chown cloudflared:cloudflared /etc/default/cloudflared
sudo chown cloudflared:cloudflared /usr/local/bin/cloudflared
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/cloudflared.service
----
[Unit]
Description=cloudflared DNS over HTTPS proxy
After=syslog.target network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=cloudflared
EnvironmentFile=/etc/default/cloudflared
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/cloudflared proxy-dns $CLOUDFLARED_OPTS
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10
KillMode=process

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
----
sudo systemctl enable cloudflared
sudo systemctl start cloudflared
sudo systemctl status cloudflared

Then aim PiHole’s DNS at 127.0.0.1#5053. It used to be on port #54, for whatever that’s worth.

Verify it at https://1.1.1.1/help, which should tell you DoH is in full effect.

To update the daemon, which I probably won’t remember:

wget https://bin.equinox.io/c/VdrWdbjqyF/cloudflared-stable-linux-arm.tgz
tar -xvzf cloudflared-stable-linux-arm.tgz
sudo systemctl stop cloudflared
sudo cp ./cloudflared /usr/local/bin
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/cloudflared
sudo systemctl start cloudflared
cloudflared -v
sudo systemctl status cloudflared

And then It Just Works … again!

2020-06-03

Garden Hose Valve Wrench: Reinforced

After five gardening seasons, my simple 3D printed wrench broke:

Hose Valve Knob - fractured — Hose Valve Knob – fractured

Although Jason’s comment suggesting carbon-fiber reinforcing rods didn’t prompt me to lay in a stock, ordinary music wire should serve the same purpose:

Hose Valve Knob - cut pins — Hose Valve Knob – cut pins

The pins are 1.6 mm diameter and 20 mm long, chopped off with hardened diagonal cutters. Next time, I must (remember to) grind the ends flat.

The solid model needs holes in appropriate spots:

Hose Valve Knob - Reinforced - Slic3r — Hose Valve Knob – Reinforced – Slic3r

Yes, I’m going to put round pins in square holes, without drilling the holes to the proper diameter: no epoxy, no adhesive, just 20 mm of pure friction.

The drill press aligns the pins:

Hose Valve Knob - pin ready — Hose Valve Knob – pin ready

And rams them about halfway down:

Hose Valve Knob - pin midway — Hose Valve Knob – pin midway

Close the chuck jaws and shove them flush with the surface:

Hose Valve Knob - pins installed — Hose Valve Knob – pins installed

You can see the pins and their solid plastic shells through the wrench stem:

Hose Valve Knob - assembled — Hose Valve Knob – assembled

Early testing shows the reinforced wrench works just as well as the previous version, even on some new valves sporting different handles, with an equally sloppy fit for all. No surprise: I just poked holes in the existing model and left all the other dimensions alone.

The OpenSCAD source code as a GitHub Gist:

	// Hose connector knob
	// Ed Nisley KE4ZNU – June 2015
	// 2020-05 add reinforcing rods

	Layout = "Build"; // [Knob, Stem, Show, Build]

	RodHoles = true;

	//- Extrusion parameters – must match reality!

	/* [Hidden] */

	ThreadThick = 0.25;
	ThreadWidth = 0.40;

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

	Protrusion = 0.1;

	HoleWindage = 0.2;

	//——
	// Dimensions

	/* [Dimensions] */

	RodOD = 1.6;
	RodAngle = 35;

	/* [Hidden] */

	StemOD = 30.0; // max OD for valve-to-valve clearance

	BossOD = 16.0; // single-ended handle boss

	SlotWidth = 13.0;
	SlotHeight = 10.0;

	StemInset = 10.0;
	StemLength = StemInset + SlotHeight + 25.0;
	StemSides = 2*4;

	Align = 0180/StemSides; // 1 produces thinner jaw ends

	KnobOD1 = 70; // maximum dia without chamfer
	KnobOD2 = 60; // top dia

	KnobSides = 4*4;

	DomeHeight = 12; // dome shape above lobes

	KnobHeight = DomeHeight + 2*SlotHeight;

	DomeOD = KnobOD2 + (KnobOD1 – KnobOD2)*(DomeHeight/KnobHeight);

	DomeArcRad = (pow(KnobHeight,2) + pow(DomeOD,2)/4) / (2*DomeHeight);

	RodBCD = (StemOD + BossOD)/2;

	//- Adjust hole diameter to make the size come out right

	module PolyCyl(Dia,Height,ForceSides=0) { // based on nophead's polyholes

	Sides = (ForceSides != 0) ? ForceSides : (ceil(Dia) + 2);

	FixDia = Dia / cos(180/Sides);

	cylinder(r=(FixDia + HoleWindage)/2,h=Height,$fn=Sides);
	}

	//– Stem for valve handles

	module Stem() {

	difference() {
	rotate(Align)
	cylinder(d=StemOD,h=StemLength,$fn=StemSides);
	translate([0,0,SlotHeight/2 – Protrusion/2])
	cube([2*StemOD,SlotWidth,(SlotHeight + Protrusion)],center=true);
	translate([0,0,-Protrusion])
	cylinder(d=BossOD,h=SlotHeight,$fn=2*StemSides);
	if (RodHoles)
	for (i=[-1:1])
	rotate(i*RodAngle + 90)
	for (j=[-1,1])
	translate([j*RodBCD/2,0,-Protrusion])
	rotate(180/4)
	PolyCyl(RodOD,2*SlotHeight,4);
	}

	}


	//– Hand-friendly knob

	module KnobCap() {
	difference() {
	scale([1.0,0.75,1.0])
	rotate(180/KnobSides)
	intersection() {
	translate([0,0,(KnobHeight-DomeArcRad)])
	sphere(r=DomeArcRad,$fa=180/KnobSides);
	cylinder(r1=KnobOD1/2,r2=KnobOD2/2,h=KnobHeight,$fn=KnobSides);
	cylinder(r1=KnobOD2/2,r2=KnobOD1/2,h=KnobHeight,$fn=KnobSides);
	}
	translate([0,0,-Protrusion])
	rotate(Align)
	cylinder(d=(StemOD + 2*ThreadWidth),h=(StemInset + Protrusion),$fn=StemSides);
	}
	}

	//- Build it


	if (Layout == "Knob")
	KnobCap();

	if (Layout == "Stem")
	Stem();

	if (Layout == "Build") {
	translate([-KnobOD1/2,0,0])
	KnobCap();
	translate([StemOD/2,0,StemLength])
	rotate([180,0,0])
	Stem();
	}

	if (Layout == "Show") {
	translate([0,0,0])
	Stem();
	translate([0,0,StemLength – StemInset])
	KnobCap();
	}

view raw Hose Connector Knob.scad hosted with ❤ by GitHub

2020-06-02

Beaver Dam: More Timber!

Team Beaver continues to add logs, branches, and mud to their dam beside the Dutchess Rail Trail:

Beaver Lodge and Dam – DCRT N of Golds Gym – 2020-05-26

Apparently they’re now busy raising a bunch of little beavers inside the lodge. Next year we expect the water will begin rising in other marshes along the rail trail.

Go, beavers, go!

2020-05-31
Kenmore 158 Sewing Machine: More Deglaring

My first pass at deglaring the shiny metal parts on Mary’s brightly lit Kenmore 158 used translucent mailing labels on the “hand hole cover” in front of the needle:

Kenmore 158 – non-glare cover plate

That worked surprisingly well for surprisingly long, but the edges eventually came loose and, after far too long, I deployed the Tiny Sandblaster™:

Kenmore 158 – matte cover plate – feet

The mottled matte effect isn’t quite what I expected, but it’s better-looking in person and we deemed it Good Enough™ for the purpose.

You saw the foot on the left in the previous effort:

Kenmore 158 – matte cover plate – feet – detail

The rounded plate directly under the needle sits far enough back to not reflect any of the LEDs toward her normal operating position, so we decided it didn’t need sandblasting.

She now has plenty of light where she needs it, with no glare from the metal bits.

2020-05-28
Floor Lamp: Rattle-Can Black

Shooting the modified copper elbow with gloss black atop gray primer definitely improved its disposition:

Floor Lamp – painted elbow – installed

I’d have been more inclined to apply several light coats if the wind weren’t blowing up a storm. As it was, I shot enough black to cover the not-quite-dry primer (“top coat at any time”) and called it a day.

The scuffed tubes aren’t quite that ugly in person, but they have suffered some abuse along the way. Seen from a normal working distance, however, it’s all good:

Floor Lamp – finished

The lamp isn’t quite as tippy as I feared, so I’ll try it without the broken truck spring counterweight until something untoward happens.

I loves me some happy ending …

2020-05-22
Floor Lamp: Threaded Fittings

The reshaped copper elbow on the floor lamp now has the right angle, but lacks threaded connections to the tubes. The OEM tube threads are close to M15×1, thus prompting the change gear exercise persuading Tiny Lathe™ to cut metric threads.

Chuck up a length of 5/8 inch aluminum tube, clean up the end, and poke a thread runout slot into it:

Floor Lamp – tube fitting – thread runout

Turn the soon-to-be-thread OD to 14.7 mm, well under the minimum 14.794 mm major thread diameter. I figure it’s better to match the existing not-quite-standard tube threads than to get all fussy about tolerances:

Floor Lamp – tube fitting – thread OD

Drill out the tube to 27/64 inch = 0.422 inch = 10.7 mm, a bit larger than the OEM fittings, to easily pass the JST-SM connector I added so I could take the lamp apart:

Floor Lamp – tube fitting – drilling bore

Yeah, you’re not supposed to let the swarf build up like that, but it’s hard to stop when you’re getting good chip.

Break the sharp edges:

Floor Lamp – tube fitting – ready for threading

Set up for threading:

Floor Lamp – tube fitting – external threading setup

That’s a really nice Warner laydown threader I won as a Cabin Fever door prize quite some years ago.

A comprehensive discussion of threading may be handy.

The compound is at 90° to the cross slide, because the DRO housing doesn’t let the compound swivel to the proper angle for thread cutting. I’m just ramming the threader straight into the tube, taking sissy cuts, and hoping for the best.

Kiss the OD with the cutter, set the cross slide DRO to zero, position the cutter just off the end of the tube, close the split nuts around the leadscrew, engage the threading dial at a conspicuous mark:

Mini-Lathe Threading Dial – aligned

The first real pass looked good:

Floor Lamp – tube fitting – first thread pass

The runout slot is 1/16 inch = 1.6 mm wide and I’m running the lathe dead slow, so there’s plenty of time to punch the STOP button as the cutter enters the slot and let the spindle coast down. Flip the switch to REVERSE, crank the cross slide out a turn (1 mm with 0.3 mm of crank backlash), run the cutter back to the starting point, crank the cross slide in, and iterate until the fitting screws into one of the OEM lamp tubes:

Floor Lamp – tube fitting – final thread

The 5/8 inch tube is just a smidge too small for the copper fitting, so knurl the fitting to enlarge the OD slightly more than a smidge:

Floor Lamp – tube fitting – knurled

Break the knurl edges, part off the fitting, clean up the new end, and do it all over again:

Floor Lamp – tube fitting – threaded adapters

The knurls got filed down to an exact slip fit in the copper elbow and will eventually be epoxied in place.

The cut-off tube on the lamp head also needs internal threads, so bore out the interior to flatten the weld seam:

Floor Lamp – tube fitting – cleaning tube bore

No pix of the threading, but you have the general idea; the tube wall is a scant 0.6 mm thick, so this isn’t the place for full-spec threads. I stopped when the OEM tube screwed in place.

Apart from the hideous solder job, it came together pretty well:

Floor Lamp – tube fitting – unpainted

It’s much more stable than Kapton-wrapped tubes jammed into a bare copper fitting, although that’s not saying much.

A rattle-can finish seems appropriate …

2020-05-21

Mini-Lathe: Metric Change Gear Tables

Running my assortment of custom 3D printed change gears through the LittleMachineShop calculator and copying the results into a spreadsheet for E-Z formatting produces a useful table:

Mini-Lathe Change Gear Tables – Metric Download

The same table in text-ish format, minus the colored highlights marking the custom gears:

Pitch	A	B	C	D	Actual	Error	In 10 pitches

0.10
	20	80	20	80	0.099	0.786%	0.008
	20	79	20	80	0.100	0.468%	0.005
	20	80	20	79	0.100	0.468%	0.005

0.20
	20	79	40	80	0.201	0.473%	0.009
	20	80	40	79	0.201	0.473%	0.009
	40	79	20	80	0.201	0.473%	0.009
	40	80	20	79	0.201	0.473%	0.009

0.25
	20	55	35	81	0.249	0.225%	0.006
	20	81	35	55	0.249	0.225%	0.006
	35	55	20	81	0.249	0.225%	0.006

0.30
	20	57	35	65	0.300	0.023%	0.001
	20	65	35	57	0.300	0.023%	0.001

0.40
	20	55	45	65	0.400	0.088%	0.004
	20	65	45	55	0.400	0.088%	0.004

0.50
	21	50	45	60	0.500	0.012%	0.001
	21	60	45	50	0.500	0.012%	0.001
	21	80	60	50	0.500	0.012%	0.001
	42	35	21	80	0.500	0.012%	0.001
	60	50	21	80	0.500	0.012%	0.001

0.60
	35	57	40	65	0.600	0.022%	0.001
	35	65	40	57	0.600	0.022%	0.001
	40	57	35	65	0.600	0.022%	0.001
	40	65	35	57	0.600	0.022%	0.001

0.70
	35	55	45	65	0.699	0.087%	0.006
	35	65	45	55	0.699	0.087%	0.006
	45	55	35	65	0.699	0.087%	0.006
	45	65	35	55	0.699	0.087%	0.006
	50	77	55	81	0.700	0.006%	0.000
	50	81	55	77	0.700	0.006%	0.000
	55	77	50	81	0.700	0.006%	0.000

0.75
	42	50	45	80	0.750	0.012%	0.001
	42	80	45	50	0.750	0.012%	0.001
	45	50	42	80	0.750	0.012%	0.001
	45	80	42	50	0.750	0.012%	0.001

0.80
	40	55	45	65	0.799	0.088%	0.007
	40	65	45	55	0.799	0.088%	0.007
	45	55	40	65	0.799	0.088%	0.007
	45	65	40	55	0.799	0.088%	0.007
	20	55	79	57	0.800	0.010%	0.001
	20	57	79	55	0.800	0.010%	0.001

1.00
	21	50	60	40	1.000	0.012%	0.001
	42	50	45	60	1.000	0.012%	0.001
	42	60	45	50	1.000	0.012%	0.001
	42	80	60	50	1.000	0.012%	0.001
	45	50	42	60	1.000	0.012%	0.001
	45	60	42	50	1.000	0.012%	0.001
	60	50	42	80	1.000	0.012%	0.001

1.25
	21	50	60	32	1.250	0.013%	0.002
	35	40	45	50	1.250	0.013%	0.002
	42	40	45	60	1.250	0.013%	0.002
	42	80	60	40	1.250	0.013%	0.002
	45	40	42	60	1.250	0.013%	0.002
	60	20	21	80	1.250	0.013%	0.002
	60	40	42	80	1.250	0.013%	0.002

1.50
	42	40	45	50	1.500	0.013%	0.002
	45	40	42	50	1.500	0.013%	0.002

1.75
	65	42	57	80	1.751	0.029%	0.005

2.00
	42	40	60	50	2.000	0.012%	0.003
	42	50	60	40	2.000	0.012%	0.003
	60	40	42	50	2.000	0.012%	0.003

2.50
	42	32	60	50	2.500	0.012%	0.003
	42	40	60	40	2.500	0.012%	0.003
	42	50	60	32	2.500	0.012%	0.003
	60	20	42	80	2.500	0.012%	0.003
	60	32	42	50	2.500	0.012%	0.003

3.00
	65	50	80	55	3.002	0.061%	0.018
	65	55	80	50	3.002	0.061%	0.018
	80	50	65	55	3.002	0.061%	0.018

3.50
	57	40	65	42	3.501	0.029%	0.010
	57	42	65	40	3.501	0.029%	0.010
	65	21	57	80	3.501	0.029%	0.010
	65	40	57	42	3.501	0.029%	0.010
	65	42	57	40	3.501	0.029%	0.010

4.00
	60	20	42	50	4.000	0.012%	0.005

5.00
	55	21	60	50	4.989	0.215%	0.107
	55	35	80	40	4.989	0.215%	0.107
	55	40	80	35	4.989	0.215%	0.107
	60	21	55	50	4.989	0.215%	0.107
	80	35	55	40	4.989	0.215%	0.107
	80	40	55	35	4.989	0.215%	0.107
	35	45	81	20	5.001	0.012%	0.006
	45	55	77	20	5.001	0.012%	0.006
	77	20	45	55	5.001	0.012%	0.006

Mini-Lathe Metric Change Gear Trains

The basic formulas:

TPI = 16 / ((A/B) x (C/D))
Pitch = 25.4 / TPI = 1.5875 x ((A/B) x (C/D))

So, for example, a 45-50-42-60 train will produce a 1 mm thread pitch with 120 ppm error adding up to a mere 1 micron in 10 pitches:

Mini-Lathe change gears - stacked 50-42 - installed — Mini-Lathe change gears – stacked 50-42 – installed

Overall, the errors are so low as to not matter, even without using the custom gears, but it’s the principle of the thing …

2020-05-19

Tag: Improvements

PiHole with DNS-over-HTTP: Revised

Garden Hose Valve Wrench: Reinforced

Beaver Dam: More Timber!

Kenmore 158 Sewing Machine: More Deglaring

Floor Lamp: Rattle-Can Black

Floor Lamp: Threaded Fittings

Mini-Lathe: Metric Change Gear Tables