Quarantine Projects!

Dang! You guys have all been working on big projects. I feel like I'm just piddling.

Bought one of the $12 misters off of Ebay, and printed a couple of mounts for it.

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Didn't really like that one, just seems too big on my little mill, but I'll have it if I ever need it. Second version has four rare earth magnets pressed into the base....

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Not terribly impressed with the mister, but it will do. You have to keep the bottle within about a foot of the same height as the nozzle. Too low, and it won't draw, too high and it dribbles even without air.

I have a set of small drivers for RC, and the ratchet handle gave up the ghost last year, so I'm printing dedicated handles for each.

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My printer has a bed sensor for adjusting the nozzle height. Originally the height of the sensor was just hit or miss, tightening up two cap screws, making adjustments tedious as f***. A couple of years ago I machined an aluminum slide mount for it which used a M4 button head screw to set the height. This was light years better, but still a pain having to grab a hex driver every time I needed to dial in the height. These adjustments are often 1/8 turn to fine tune things, so still fiddly. I took a leap and turned a brass M4 x 44mm thumb screw to do the job, and surprised myself by nailing it the first time. Much better...

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So dummy me had to replace one of the Igaging scales on the mill, and bought one that was too short, and had to buy another one the correct length. Not sure where, but I saw where someone had put a DRO on the tailstock quill of a lathe. Since I already had an extra scale, why not? Made a split collar for the quill (narrow enough so that I can still eject the Morse taper tools) and printed the scale mounts.

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Jury is still out, not a fan of the location of the display, but it works pretty good, and if it is ever in the way, it's just two screws to pop it off.

Finally, just for fun a new adult size speed knob for the lathe.

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And a couple of adult size, not sloppy-ass plastic crank handles for the mill.

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Hope everyone is staying safe and sane, particularly you @Weldo it's crazy out in the world these days.
 
That's a whole bunchalot of good things you've 3D printed and fabricated!!!
 
Spent the past week designing and printing this - a case to house the my smart home 'hub'. It contains two Raspberry PI single board computers and an Arduino Mega. The Mega runs custom firmware to act as an RF transceiver to all my house alarm components (Movement, door sensors, smoke detectors). A Pi 3 runs my WIFI CCTV cameras, and the other takes care of the signals received by the arduino and all the lights. The case is modular, so it could be used for anything really - you just need to design a carrier board that slots in.

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Quarantine project No: 3 Part 3 Today i bought me a new mig wire spool and continued with welding, this was hard work, i added a cross brace on all the mounts, did a bit grounding to smooth some of the welds, couple coats of paint and it will be done. I plan to run couple of safety cables to a higher point. I hope you like seeing staff like this.
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All great stuff here!

@Tio Loco I love the lathe dro! I saw someone, possibly on the forum, do something similar with an old digital caliper. It's kinda half assed but I have an old Chinese caliper layin around. I like your mount design.

@GreatOldOne your enclosure is cool! Looks like it took a while to draft up! I'm guessing you have some experience with Arduino and Raspberry Pi. I've been thinking about getting my feet wet with coding and such, got any quick recommendations for how to get started?
 
I know I should feel blessed to have stayed employed during this quarantine, but I'm pretty envious of all the time/projects that people here and in my neighborhood have done. I come home pooped, go to bed, get up early and repeat...
Great stuff here, I've got to find some time!
 
@GreatOldOne your enclosure is cool! Looks like it took a while to draft up! I'm guessing you have some experience with Arduino and Raspberry Pi. I've been thinking about getting my feet wet with coding and such, got any quick recommendations for how to get started?

I‘d say an Arduino uno would be your gateway drug... ;)

they’re cheap and easy to code for with the Arduino IDE. A raspberry pi is essentially an entire PC on a single board. The Arduino is just a small relatively slow microprocessor with some additional bits to allow it to talk with the outside world. Check out the official arduino website for some ideas:
 
I've gone through most of the microcontroller types but settled in on Parallax Propeller for simplicity of programming and power and usefulness of system. Also has a great forum for help and ideas (just like this forum).

Here's a little site to look at

Aaron
 
Parallax Propeller
I have built projects using several different micro processors but by goto and favorite is the Parallax Propeller. Easy to lean, easy to integrate and fast. Did is say FAST!. Just like I have multiple hammers in my tool box, there are times that the Arduino is the right "hammer" for the job at hand. Or the Raspberry Pi.

You will find that the forum community at Parallax is very friendly and helpful, reminds me of a certain hobby machinist forum :). Also the Parallax company is very geared up for education and has great tutorials and "getting started" kits.
 
I made the profiles for the base and foundations of future machine shop/man-cave/hideout.
I used any planks and MDF I could find.
I painted them up with the leavings of a perforated can of Dulux "Magnolia", to keep the water out.
This all required first the table saw electrics get a new E-Stop switch and stop/start electrics + new blade.

I re-worked some wood into 47mm square x 600mm cut with points, to make the the stakes protected from water by Synthaprufe for the parts that will go into the ground. Building suppliers have stopped. I got the raw materials from farmer neighbour. Planting wildflower seeds everywhere I go. Thinking about how much SWA mains power cable has to be buried to feed this folly.

Laser level in use. Laying out the site. Measuring. Digging and moving earth by hand. About the farthest thing from getting hands on real metal and doing HM-type stuff imaginable.

I suppose you might call it a "quarantine project".
 
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