Those of you that know anything about me, perhaps have perused the site a bit, know I make a lot of web connected crap. One example that stands out is my computerized smelter. This device has a net connected micro controller that receives instructions from a web server to process […]
Lets Talk About VR or How I Learned Extreme Patience
So I picked up a Meta Quest 2 the other day. It’s great, it really is. I also returned it the other day. Nah, not because it was bad or anything. I decided it was worth the extra 250 to get the Quest 3. Quest 3 is also fantastic. My […]
Culture
Lets discuss Corporate Culture. Hopefully you read that the same way Billy Madison reads Business Ethics. The latest buzz word (concept?) amongst all the pseudo-entrepreneurs out there. Corporate culture is a plague and is adding nothing to your business except extreme distress for many of your employees. Lets dissect the […]
Turnover
Lets do a quick test. Everyone who thinks turnover in your business is good raise your hand. SMH. Yeah see I shouldn’t have seen any hands. Just to clarify we’re talking about turnover in the sense of employees exiting and entering your company. Once again, show of hands, who thinks […]
Surface Grinder Repair – Making a Bevel Gear
As they say, mistakes were made. That used to be a gear. Specifically the gear that tied the handwheel to the lead screw that moved the spindle up and down in my surface grinder. I picked this surface grinder up for $500 somewhat recently. If you aren’t familiar with this […]
BL Touch Knockoff Review
I’ll be honest, this one is on me. If I was paying closer attention I never would have bought a knock off BL Touch 3D printer bed probe. That said, I wasn’t paying attention and I found myself the proud owner of a knockoff BL Touch that cost about the […]
3D Printer Upgrades – Part 3
Well the upgrades are done and the printer is working exceptionally well. As you can see, a lot has changed. This was a ridiculous process and took all of my free time for 3 weeks straight. BL Touch As you can see there’s a BL Touch on my carriage now. […]
3D Printer Upgrades – Part 2
Wow, that went poorly. And maybe still isn’t going great. The first big problem was plastic seep. The crappy cheap heat break I used was not machined flat properly on the end that is supposed to mate with the nozzle, pretty sure it wasn’t the Bondtech CHT nozzle. Of course […]
3D Printer Upgrades
I was working on the dust collector system when my main 3D printer started printing what could safely be called trash. After some poking around I discovered the extruder filament pinch wheel gears were missing the majority of their teeth. You can see the stripped teeth right behind the nylon […]
DIY – Lets Build a 3D Printer – Pt. 1
I am a big fan of 3D printing as you can see above. I’ve been involved with 3D printing for something like 14 or 15 years. You can see my RepRap Mendel in the pic next to an lightly modified Tevo Tornado. Of course the RepRap has modern electronics, ramps […]
DIY – Lets build a TIG welder – Quickie
I need a TIG welder. If you’re familiar with welding but not so much TIG welding think of it as a more civilized weapon from a more civilized age. All the sparks and slag and violence from MIG and stick are all but gone. This feels more like soldering. One […]
DIY – Smart Woodshop Saw Dust Collector 1
Alright time for another concurrent project. This time we’re going to build a dust collection system for the wood shop. If you follow my projects you may not be aware there is a wood shop. I don’t know that I’ve mentioned it yet but you might have noticed some pieces […]
DIY Computerized Electric Smelter/Furnace/Oven/Kiln – Part 5 – quickie
Alright, after half a dozen burnt out coils it’s time to head in a new direction. The problem is the more current the coil can handle the more the resistance drops. It’s an endless game of chasing my tail. So here’s what were going to do. Bipolar Junction Transistor or […]
DIY Computerized Electric Smelter/Furnace/Oven/Kiln – Part 4 – quickie
Just a quick update on some issues that came up in the final stages of assembly. SSRs… First off the Inkbird solid state relays I was using, bought from amazon, failed. As I’ve mentioned before these are semi-dangerous because they fail closed causing runaway heating. Unfortunately due to the contactor […]
How to lose money by saving money or How to save money outright
Some years ago I was the IT director for a relatively large company, something like 1000 employees. I inherited an absolute mess. The chief operating principle had been “spend money as an absolutely last resort” for at least 15 years prior. As a result the entire infrastructure was in shambles. […]
DIY Computerized Electric Smelter/Furnace/Oven/Kiln – Part 3; ChatGPT – Part 2.
Smelter Monitor Web page
Quick tip – Whiteboard
Whiteboards https://whathavewelearned.myshopify.com/collections/quick-tips If you have a lot of machines and lot of projects you probably have a lot of measurements and small notes it would be helpful to keep track of. To solve this problem I’ve put small whiteboards for notes at each machine station. I gave my approach to […]
DIY – Lets Hack a Bandsaw – Part 2
Alright, it’s time to properly implement the Bandsaw controls. The VFD has a number of handy options which are a product of 3 phase power. That means we can futz with the electrical phase frequency in order to use this as an AC electric motor speed controller. First we’re going […]
DIY Computerized Electric Smelter/Furnace/Oven/Kiln – Part 2
Alright, it’s time to make our smelter actually do something. After a long night I have the majority of our code, if not all, ready to go and probably buggy with the help of ChatGPT. Lets start with our NodeMCU / Ardunio / ESP8266. We’ll need the arduino IDE set […]
Coding with ChatGPT
Lets take a look at ChatGPT and writing software. I’m seeing a lot of news claiming the robots are coming for our jobs, programming jobs in particular. I’m going to post the raw input and output of my experience getting code from ChatGPT and let you be the judge. Unfortunately […]
DIY – Lets Hack a Bandsaw
So I have one of those tiny bandsaws you can get at Menards (or home depot or lowes probably) and truthfully I’ve been impressed with it overall. Wood is no sweat, aluminum is ok however steel is out of the question. It just runs too fast, I’ve ruined a couple […]
Home Ownership How to – Introduction
Owning a home is a significant accomplishment and a big responsibility. When you own a home, it becomes your responsibility to maintain it and keep it in good condition. Maintaining your home can help you save money on repairs, extend the lifespan of your home, and increase its value. In […]
The Most Dangerous Person in Your Organization
Who do you think is the most dangerous person in your organization? Think it’s the CEO? They set the direction and make the decisions right? Nope not them, they always have a bunch of people looking over their shoulder and occasionally vested interest in the company’s success. How about the […]
DIY Computerized Electric Smelter/Furnace/Oven/Kiln
Part 2 Alright it’s time to build an oven but not just any oven. We have some specific requirements.1. Electric – I don’t want to mess around with acquiring whatever kind of fuel we might use and the sigificant other won’t let me tap into the gas lines, not even […]
WIP – Whole house humidifier tank and recycler.
In this project we will build a system to catch the water a whole house humidifier normally dumps down the drain. We will also add a 5 gallon tank and an automatic water treatment dispenser so we can reduce the disgusting mess that grows on the water panel and presumably […]
Disclaimer
Don’t attempt to build or do anything on this site. I’m not liable for anything you do. Almost everything here could kill you.