A bunch of random little things from the last week or so. 304 Stainless This is the first time I'll be doing anything substantial with 304, so I expect to learn a few things. It's for a project I can't talk about yet. I need to knurl, face, and part it. I think the lathe is up to it, so we'll see if my skills are, too. A 12" bar of 304 stainless, 2" in diameter. Big Blue Gets Away From Someone We had an unfortunate incident at Nova Labs: a job got away from the user on "Big Blue", the 4x8 CNC router. I helped out with the repairs on it and on the other large CNC machine this weekend. I didn't get any pictures of the repairs (I'm still working on remembering to take more pictures), so here are some pictures of the damage instead. The router bit went through the spoilboard and into the phenolic-and-linen sheet underneath, plowing a pretty good groove until the bit snapped. Another view of the damage. ...

The Witch Hat Atelier Palm Quire is finished and has been received by my older daughter. It's a palm-sized notebook of watercolor-paper rounds in a stitched leather cover, with a laser-cut brass logo showing through the top ring, a small brass catch I turned on the lathe to hold the strap closed, and leather-cord hinges. The whole build is on the Project page. The finished Quire, in the hand of its new owner. There is something I call "The Maker's Curse", in which one makes something, shows it to someone, and, on getting the reaction, "OMG that looks amazing!" proceeds to list every flaw and regretted decision. I will attempt not to do that here. Nevertheless, I think it's useful to reflect on lessons learned and opportunities. ...

I had a long weekend, and a lot of small things happened in it. None of them is big enough for an entry of its own, so here they all are. Personal Maker Time I'm still working on the project I can't talk about yet. Soon. A small brass part for that project, on the lathe. The Espresso Machine On Saturday I opened up my Gaggia Classic espresso maker, which had stopped working. The power light came on, but it wasn't heating and the pump wouldn't run. A look inside wasn't particularly illuminating at first. But my friend Paul, whose hobbies include repairing, augmenting, and rebuilding espresso machines (yes, really), pointed me at a thermal fuse as a likely culprit, and a quick check with a multimeter confirmed it. I ordered a replacement. Inside the machine. The suspect, out of its sleeve. My brother called it an emergency repair, but I still had pour-over to get me through. It did take a few days, since I had to wait for the part. On Tuesday I put it in. The new fuse, crimped on at one end. Then the other. The finished repair. Back in business. ...

Today I set up the gas for the M3's fiber laser: a nitrogen tank and an oxygen tank. The regulator, attached to the M3's nitrogen tank. The oxygen and nitrogen tanks going into position. The tanks, chained to the wall. It's very important to chain them up. The contents are under high pressure, and if one fell and the stem broke off, it could be propelled around the shop at high speed. Not to mention that a high concentration of oxygen in the room is a real fire risk. Important to be careful. ...

At Nova Labs, an end mill got jammed in a router collet so completely that the whole thing seemingly fused into one piece. Wrenches, an impact driver, a lathe, heat, and a surface grinder all failed; an angle grinder finally got the nut off. The full story, with photos, is on the Stuck Collet Nut project page. What was left when it all came apart.

As usual, my weekend was a mix of volunteering and personal making. Robotics Much of this weekend went to competing with FRC8592 at the Battle o' Baltimore (results). We did reasonably well competitively, but as this was an off-season competition, the main purpose was giving the students a chance to go to a competition and either develop or refine their processes. As usual, I took on the role of Pit Coordinator, where I help Software, Hardware, and the Drive Team to work together to maintain, update, or repair the robot as necessary. We had a few failures, as we often do, and the kids did a great job of tracking them down and fixing them, in a couple cases with only a few seconds to spare. ...

I love my M3, but it has been frustrating to have the computer just sitting on the edge of it. The computer is just wide enough that when you open the lid, the lid wants to knock it onto the floor. I knew I needed to make some space for the computer to hang out nearby. My solution: install a keyboard stand attached directly to the machine. I drilled a hole and mounted a commercial stand. I used the Vevor mag drill again. The best place to do it went right through a warning sticker with some…creative…spelling. ...

I got in a lot of shop and maker time this weekend. Most of it is on a project I can't talk about yet, but I thought I'd drop a few notes about some of the other things I got up to. Laser Hacking My Gweike M3 (the one I moved into the basement back in June) showed up with a pretty major defect: the polycarbonate lid is warped. Looking back at my pictures, it seems to have arrived that way. Here it is in my driveway the day I got it. You can see the big hump at the back of the black bit on top. The hump is big enough that if you just happened to be standing in exactly the wrong place, it is somewhat possible that a scattered reflection could escape and do damage. I have been wearing laser safety glasses when operating it, even with the lid closed, for that reason. I did talk with Gweike support about it, and they asked if I thought it could be fixed. I said yes, because honestly, I do: it just needs something to block the light, and I figured putting a batten across the gap where the lid sits on the lid frame would work. They kindly sent me some consumables as compensation. Of course it sat for a while. I have been chipping away at it. Unfortunately literally: I had the, as it turns out, dumb idea to just force it into submission with some bolts. The polycarb did not like that, and the first time I heard a little crack, I abandoned that idea. Instead, I went back to the batten idea. I was going to use steel, but my experience with the polycarb made me super gun shy: I wanted something with more give. So: plywood. Cheap, I have a bunch of it, and soft. It was also a chance to use my Vevor Mag Drill. I think this is the first time I've drilled holes with it, but the frame is steel, so it was a convenient way to make sure they were straight, since I had to get all the way through both sides of the box tube that makes up the frame. The Vevor Mag Drill, used to drill straight holes through the steel frame. Another view of the Vevor Mag Drill. After that, it was a simple matter of cutting a piece of plywood, painting it black, and bolting it in place. A view of the inside. You can see where I used some epoxy putty to seal up a few errant holes. I really like that stuff. Easy to work with, dries really hard. A view of the inside, with epoxy putty sealing a few errant holes. Even with all that work, you can see there's still a lot of waviness in the lid. Oh well - good enough. Next up on the laser will be finding some way to get a keyboard mounted to it. ...

This is what happens when a hobby machinist needs to work on his bike, but has no bike stand. Or at least, this hobby machinist. Note: don't do this at home. The shop crane was pretty tippy without the leg down, and those things are heavy. While this was amusing, I won't be doing it again.