Chebacco Schreodinger
Posted by rlspell on Nov 27th, 2012 | Comments Off
Here is a link to with lots of picture and articles about my current boat.
And most of the articles here written by me are about this boat.
(start at the bottom for chronological)
CNC Router “Li” (he’s Chinese)
Posted by amber on Sep 1st, 2012 | Comments Off
Needed a CNC router to make parts. I have built them before, but decided I really couldn’t beat the price on this Chinese one. Hell, I couldn’t buy the parts for that amount. Li cost about $1000. I upgraded the spindle, and have had zero problems with him.
“Li” as it arrived, with the cheap Chinese router, CNC machine itself works pretty good.
Sacrificial board used when cutting things
Lost form aluminum cast mount for upgraded router for CNC...
Oil Heater
Posted by amber on Sep 1st, 2012 | Comments Off
I seriously considered building a wood stove to heat the shop, mainly to keep it above freezing in the winter. I decided instead to put to use some of the 30 gallons or so of used motor oil I have been stocking up on for about 15 years. I bought plans here: I added fresh air feed, and an Arduino PID controller running a peristaltic pump powered by a servo.
You can see the flame through the mica sight window
Another pic of flame
Control box with safety shut off for oil heater
Works pretty good, uses 2 to 4 gallons a day. I only run it when it’s REALLY cold...
Pick ‘n Place machine “Zippy”
Posted by amber on Sep 1st, 2012 | Comments Off
The volume of the tracker and other boards I’m selling justified a pick and place machine, but not a $10k one. So I built one.
Laptop tray (a good suggestion from a friend) and emergency stop button.
Before laptop tray, testing head
Head after printing and partial assembly, motor “floats” so if I overdrive Z it will just move the motor.
Shot of drag chains and cable management.
Shot of control board wiring. Always take these before taking anything apart…
Shot of printed t-slot nuts
Zenbot mounted in frame, before table.
CNCed corner brackets for 8020...
Solar Trackers
Posted by amber on Sep 1st, 2012 | Comments Off
A couple of years ago while mulling over ways to make a little extra money, I came across this quote by Edison: “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work”.
I decided then to try to sell some of the boards I had designed while piddling around in the shop.
I took pictures and listed them on ebay.
Then the house gets blown down by a tornado.. <link>
And, then, of course people start buying the boards. So instead of dealing with my house sitting on the ground in the yard, I’m having to go out to the shop and make boards… :...
Bob
Posted by amber on Sep 1st, 2012 | Comments Off
While building this I came up with the name, I would say: “It’s a 3D Cartesian robot, basically a self replicating rapid prototype machine that uses fused deposition modelling on open source hardware. I call it “Bob”.I considered many options, including a converted CNC machine, and using the CNC router to machine the parts, ala the “Isaac” design. I finally decided that I needed to become familiar with the properties of printed plastic, so I bought a “kit” of 3d printed parts.assembling the machine and getting it working correctly wasn’t that...
