general-chat

[dusty citrus]

Til: to never trust people.
Managing to do a mess, & getting blame for something I did not do, due to the wrong information given by a client who I later discovered that he has no idea of what he is talking about nor about what he owns

[late fulcrum]

I ended up not with "never trust people", but with "trust is earned".

[blissful roost]

"Trust No-one!"

https://tenor.com/view/the-x-files-mulder-and-scully-gif-18364818

[tardy badger]

I have a mantra about giving people a little bit of trust initially because people are people and they have needs, having a basic amount of trust is important for learning those needs and other intentions. Aside from that, I generally don’t trust more than that without a reason to 😬

[late fulcrum]

As my friends put it, everyone starts out with a certain amount of "slack".

[tardy badger]

That’s basically it

[dusty citrus]

It's not even a great excuse, as I am supposed to also deal with this no sense
The grass of the other job now looks even greener, as it was not relationship driven

So I end up getting to a place, to do nothing than a mess
I should asked more questions, but when I do people get like mad

[late fulcrum]

I try to impress on the contracts people, who arrange for people to buy my time, to work out a contract that covers those eventualities. There are times when a customer is paying $300/hour for my time, I travel there on their dime, sit at a big meeting, and they just talk over me and ignore me. It's stupid, but that's their perogative, and I still get paid (no, I don't personally get $300/hour, that would be amazing, they pay a company who pays a company who pays a company who I work for. I get a small fraction of that money, but the upside for me is that somebody else deals with all the money issues).

On the flipside are the customers who aren't sure what they want and don't want to spend too much finding out. I have a much better time with those customers, as I've come up with various approaches to finding out what they need and if we can even help them, without burning too much time, money, and effort.

[boreal shale]

What would be the correct channel for Adafruit IO feature requests and the like??

[hard estuary]

#help-with-wippersnapper-and-adafruitio would be the place

[boreal shale]

Thank you!

[tardy badger]

Any time I look at the clock and see 3:14, all I think is “it’s pie time”

If I was awake at 3:14a, you might say I thought of pie twice that day

[hard estuary]

mmm, pie

[rapid geode]

mm

[tranquil swallow]

Is there a name for an sensor you'd use to detect a certain loudness threshold has been reached? I don't think a microphone would be adequate but I don't know

[tardy badger]

It’s a microphone but what you do with the output is a little different I believe

[glad ruin]

There are also multiple types of microphone, all with different frequency responses and dynamic ranges.

Are you wanting an absolute loudness measurement, or something calibrated to human hearing?

[tranquil swallow]

It's for a car door being closed , so I think the latter

[ebon dew]

There are auto-gain microphones and static gain. To detect a certain noise threshold vs ambient as a trigger it's best not to use an auto gain type.

This would be a good one https://www.adafruit.com/product/1063

and this is an example of one that would not work well for your project https://www.adafruit.com/product/1713

on the surface they look very similar but their behavior is different in how they operate.

For something like a car door anything in the area that produces a loud enough sound above a decibel threshold will trigger it, you'll get a lot of false positives. Also with car doors people can close them softly or loudly so it also depends on how hard the door is closed.

[late fulcrum]

I might use a vibration sensor for that instead of using audio

[strange sonnet]

Isn't a microphone the same as a vibration sensor

[tranquil swallow]

Thanks for the links and suggestions, those components are cheap enough to experiment with

[late fulcrum]

A microphone is optimized to sense audio frequency vibrations in the air. A vibration sensor is optimized to sense low frequency vibrations conducted by something solid.

Something like this mounted on the car frame (or the door) might do the job directly https://www.adafruit.com/product/1766

[strange sonnet]

Makes sense

[ebon dew]

If you can mount it inside the car then just use the door switch. The door switch can also tell you if the door is open or closed. They're very easy to tie into.

[drowsy zephyr]

Guys, I wanna ask
to those who are working as professionals or working for a company, have you ever done a rather dangerous yet fixable mistake?
I just did one and I can't stop feeling dread

I could use some advice and perhaps encouragement to move forward

[strange sonnet]

Everybody makes mistakes, just own it and fix it

[drowsy zephyr]

it was so nervewracking man

[strange sonnet]

It's never easy

[drowsy zephyr]

True

Especially working with batteries

They are ticking time bombs lemme tell ya

[ebon dew]

well that's not vaguely creepy....

my iphone just spontaneously combusted and almost caught my house on fire. my whole room is full of smoke and my fire alarm is going off. if i hadn't been in the same room with it my house might be gone right now.

[glad ruin]

Ok, that's scary.

[ebon dew]

my trust in phone batteries went from pretty high to zero real quick.

i was sitting right next to it. at first i thought it was my pc because ya know GPU cables are known to do that. kept looking around and my bed was on fire behind me. phone was laying on the bed. that could have ended very badly.

phone is currently out on the wet grass and is burning hot. the screen is burned through. the rubber case is partially melted.

it's a decade old iphone 5 SE. last phone you could replace the battery and had a 3.5mm headphone jack. was probably time for a new phone anyway but now i can't even transfer anything from it. could have been worse. 🙏

[strange sonnet]

Electricity was a mistake

[ebon dew]

So any phone recommendations? That was the only cellphone I’ve ever owned.

[drowsy zephyr]

You're messing with phone batteries, meanwhile im messing with EV batteries

70+ volts of lithium cell power

And i accidentally mangled the wires that connects the bms to the battery while trying to dismantle it

Creating a short circuit

[stoic mesa]

wow!
are you ok?

[drowsy zephyr]

Thank God me and the team managed to disconnect everything safely

My career tho? No idea

[ebon dew]

Been one of those battery in flames kinda nights then. Weird coincidence. As long as everyone is ok. You’re messing with lethal level of amps. My catastrophe probably pales in comparison.

[blissful roost]

If you're ok with Google, the Pixel range is pretty good.

[ebon dew]

Already ordered a new SE. I'm used to that one and most of my data will be directly compatible.

took about an hour of not having a phone before i realized i actually do need a phone. should be tomorrow. :/

[tranquil swallow]

Sad truth about phones

[ebon dew]

not being able to call 911 in an emergency is kind of a big deal. especially if your house is on fire. ironically in this case the thing i would use to call for help is what caused the fire lol.

[tranquil swallow]

I have an SE as well, id like to get rid of it but it's too busted to sell on the secondary market and a replacement phone would cost more than I am willing to spend on a phone

[ebon dew]

yeah i don't need anything fancy. not sure if i'll be able to retrieve my calendar or if that was stored in the cloud. 😦

[tranquil swallow]

Hopefully there wasn't anything too important you lost

[ebon dew]

i have cloud turned on but it's just one of those things that either works when you want to transfer to a new phone or it doesnt.

just mostly pictures of electronics projects. i do have a recent iphoto manual backup so important family pictures were saved. those are small potatoes compared to what could have happened so i'm just thankful i still have a roof over my head.

i have most data spread out through different servers, services, nas, etc... good not to put all your data in 1 basket.

[drowsy zephyr]

So uh, question for professionals, can anyone recommend me some good, big, solid, non conductive prying tools?

so that none of this would ever happen again?

[ebon dew]

depends on how much force or torque you need. nylon prybars are ok for small loads. anything not metal as a long prybar is going to have a short life span.

a thick enough chunk of HDPE can be pretty strong but anything plastic, nylon, or abs will bend or break eventually, if the lever is long enough.

[drowsy zephyr]

any examples or keywords i should look for?

we're messing with silicone seals mostly

really sticky stuff

[ebon dew]

how big of a lever are we talking?

[drowsy zephyr]

it doesn't need to be big

but it has to be sharp and thin

[tardy badger]

https://tenor.com/view/pull-the-lever-wrong-lever-wrong-lever-kronk-pull-the-lever-kronk-the-emperors-new-groove-gif-27333081

Like that?

[ebon dew]

there are non marring pry tools for automotive, typically used for trim panel removal. they're smallish hand tool size.

i wouldn't exactly quantify them as pry bars though

[drowsy zephyr]

what's that?

[drowsy zephyr]

oh these

hmmm

[ebon dew]

they're about 6" or so and using for prying automotive interior panels off.

[drowsy zephyr]

how sharp are they?

[ebon dew]

not as sharp as a razor blade... they can pry up plastic screws but will fail on anything metal. they're designed to be used on plastic pieces.

plastic on plastic

[drowsy zephyr]

good thing im prying plastic

[ebon dew]

if you need a lot of leverage with a really sharp nylon tip that's all i can think of.

[drowsy zephyr]

the only problem is the gap between the two parts im trying to pry

Should i post the battery im prying open?

[ebon dew]

that's what the smaller spudgers are for, they'll get into smaller space to open up then use one of the bigger pry angled ones.

sure

[drowsy zephyr]

only if you promise to NOT

for the love of God

for the sake of my privacy and my company

reverse search it

The image is publicly available, im just not comfortable telling you guys directly where im working at

[ebon dew]

doesn't matter to me and you can delete it afterward. i almost caught my house on fire today so i'm in a bit of an understanding state of mind.

[drowsy zephyr]

that black part there? it's plastic

sealed with a layer of silicone

[tardy badger]

Glad you’re safe

[ebon dew]

sharp edges around it hmmm

so it's the silicone that's mostly causing the need for more force?

[drowsy zephyr]

yes

silicone and vacuum

i think

or i guess just silicone

[drowsy zephyr]

i accidentally mangled some wires that connected directly to battery cells of an EV battery pack, are you glad im safe?

hahahahahaha

[ebon dew]

can try the pack of automotive trim tools. they're like at most $10 for a variety pack. they're cheap because they are consumables, they'll wear out. automotive techs go through a lot of them.

[tardy badger]

Yes

[drowsy zephyr]

thanks

[ebon dew]

get the spudger wedged in there and then try one the crows foot

you can probably find videos on youtube of people using them. i have no idea how tight that pack is or how much force is needed. it may or may not do the job but it's worth a shot and at least should be safe to use.

[drowsy zephyr]

we'll see

I still feel dread man

It feels like a near life or death situation

[ebon dew]

is there a gasket around it other than silicone or is the silicone the gasket?

[drowsy zephyr]

the silicone is the gasket

[ebon dew]

you can try to use a razorblaze to slice through some of the silicone but that is dicey as a razor blade is metal. umm wear gloves and a wood working 3M full shield face mask.

[drowsy zephyr]

nah nah

razor blade?

[ebon dew]

i don't know how close the internals are to the silicone. trying to slice through the silicone might make it easier to pry apart is all i'm saying.

[drowsy zephyr]

that's what we've been trying and asking what tool i should use

because, ill be honest, we've been using these

we carefully tap these in between the black part and the metallic part and slowly carve our way around

[ebon dew]

yeah that's a receipe for disaster too much surface area. xacto blade has more surgical precision.

[drowsy zephyr]

an exacto blade is too fragile for our needs i think, too small and thin

[late fulcrum]

Normally to remove silicone, I use a combination of heat, alcohol, and a spudger. Unfortunately, NONE of these are a good idea near batteries.

[drowsy zephyr]

ugh, what do the tesla folks use i wonder

or do they benefit a lot from their design

[ebon dew]

anything metal isn't a good idea near a battery pack but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. make sure your life insurance policy is updated.

[late fulcrum]

The Tesla folks throw it away and replace it with new. What happens to the thrown away one is it's shipped to a lithium recycling company that puts it through a shredder that's operating under water (not actually water, but a special liquid with a variety of safety related properties).

[drowsy zephyr]

ugh, that's wasteful

[ebon dew]

yeah they use some company out of redwood or something, can't remember the name.

[drowsy zephyr]

well, no, not really

but when you have the cash, i guess you could do that

[ebon dew]

it's a liability they don't want so they hand it off to a company that is willing to take on the liability in exchange for well.. profit.

[late fulcrum]

Tesla? Wasteful? Absolutely. If you're curious about the lithium shredder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2xrarUWVRQ

[ebon dew]

yup, it's not just tesla either. any company that has an ev does it.

[late fulcrum]

From a design standpoint, I like the Hyundia Ionic, but the "replace the battery for US$60k if it gets a little scratch" bit keeps me from considering one.

[drowsy zephyr]

this doesn't seem wasteful as i would define it

[late fulcrum]

Huh, who was it who said "ugh, that's wasteful"?

[drowsy zephyr]

i took it back over here, lol

anyways, thanks for the encouragement guys

I wanna cry maaan, it's so scary

we were almost paralyzed in fear while we're trying to disconnect the mangled wires from the battery cells

those are some SPICY wires

[ebon dew]

please be careful.

[drowsy zephyr]

I will, we will, and we'll try our best

[blissful roost]

Familiarity is fine, but I'd have to get into the USB-C generation. 😅

[drowsy zephyr]

jeez, people in the engineering subreddits are questioning my work procedures

instead of answering my question

[stoic mesa]

reddit be like it.

[blissful roost]

"Welcome to the Internet".

[tardy badger]

Engineers on Reddit in many ways are the worst representation of engineering. Same with stack overflow

Many of the most knowledgeable and helpful engineers I know spend very little time on the internet, or focus their energy in communities that foster learning like this discord

[blissful roost]

Local Makerspaces are great sources of knowledge too.

I was really hoping this would open today, but I think it's too cold.

[burnt tendon]

Those who can, do. Those who can't, argue about it on the Internet.

(with some very notable exceptions, of course)

[stoic mesa]

I find it truly remarkable that in math - I do not mean solving calculus HW, but real, research level math - there is an internet community which is extremely professional and helpful: mathoverflow.net.
You can see questions there answered by Fields medal winners and other world renowned mathematicians - Terry Tao, Peter Scholze, Ian Agol - and there is practically no trolling or bullying.

[tardy badger]

that's really awesome

[fast ferry]

in hostile communities, I think sometimes it's more effective to proudly state a thing cannot be done, rather than asking how to do it. but it's better not to engage hostile communities in the first place, if possible. 😔

I've started using plastic razor blades for a few tasks lately. the edge wears out very quickly, but they're non-conductive and non-marring. very good for lifting thin 3D prints without damaging the print bed, or cleaning weatherstrip remnants from plastic or painted metal.

[tardy badger]

Indeed

[tardy badger]

I printed myself a little resin scraper for similar reasons with my resin printer

[stoic mesa]

sorry for suggesting the obvious but have you tried plastic scrapers like this one?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B093PRB84M/

[patent hemlock]

hmmm - the putty knives linked under "similar items" (for me) is a set of putty knives i previously tried and watched the edge die in 2 seconds

[dusty citrus]

There are flexible beds as with fdm
Or you may want to trow the whole thing under ipa/sun untill it gets easier to remove

I wish to have discovered first good comunities. My overall experience is bad. In the end I wasted more time into asking questions that were not met positively, although by asking them it somewhat helps to think, so I get to a solution myself.
That's when I don't procastinate that is

[fast ferry]

I have a flexible bed, but I still often prefer to scrape small/thin prints off. especially things like prints cancelled after a couple layers, which are so flexible that they flex with the bed instead of coming loose. plastic razor blades are great for lifting even a single layer.

[patent hemlock]

i just got a bunch of those cheap 🫏 hobby steppers (28BYJ-48) because the one i had suddenly decided to stop stepping (i hear the motor, but nothing happens 🙄 ) and i compared serial numbers, since these all come form the same place

the one i had for about 1.5 years has a 8-digit number, the new ones have a 10 digit serial number -- they make a LOT of these things

[strange sonnet]

What's a donkey hooby stepper?

[patent hemlock]

a synonym for another word for "posterior"

[drowsy zephyr]

i need tradesmen, like right now

some HV dudes

[tardy badger]

I have no idea where you’d start other than maybe the union?

[drowsy zephyr]

i don't work in the US

and, ill be honest, i doubt that most of the tradesmen in my country would have better safety procedures than we are, hahahaha

[whole jacinth]

how high is your HV? kilovolts? megavolts?

[dusty citrus]

hv stands for? I though hiv first tbh

[whole jacinth]

high voltage

[drowsy zephyr]

70v

[tardy badger]

DC?

[drowsy zephyr]

yea, we're still talking bout the battery incident

[tardy badger]

Oh gotcha

[whole jacinth]

ah, so not what utility folks consider high voltage, but high enough to be a shock risk

[drowsy zephyr]

added the fact that it's from a lithium battery pack

any sparks becomes an immediate death sentence

[whole jacinth]

yeah that adds stored energy and low impedance risk

not as bad as drawing sparks around a wet lead-acid battery though

[drowsy zephyr]

you got any recommendations?

any brand names even? international brands

[whole jacinth]

looking internationally sounds quite expensive. local skilled labor ought to be cheaper?

[drowsy zephyr]

i am the local skilled labor, heck im one of the ones that is supposed to be responsible to train our local labor to do what me and the team did

international brands is just so i can find it on my local shop

[whole jacinth]

sorry, what exactly are you looking for? batteries? tools to open them up? contractors?

[drowsy zephyr]

tools to open them up

sorry, forgot to specify that to you

[whole jacinth]

did you manufacture these, or buy them from elsewhere?

[drowsy zephyr]

i cant disclose that sorry

[whole jacinth]

ok, so lacking other information, maybe try clamping the free part of the plastic end plug with nonconducting vise jaws, and rigging up something to pull on the metal extrusion? possibly apply gentle heat to soften the silicone (obviously use extreme care if there’s a chance the cells are damaged enough to react badly)

[drowsy zephyr]

i think applying heat is more risky

thats the reason why my foks didnt do it even before i was working here

[autumn onyx]

I have a 9V DC 30 cm fan that I use in my backyard greenhouse for pushing air to help regulate temperature in there on hot days, that I want to be able to control the voltage coming in on to regulate fan speed. The enclosure is impossible to open without destroying it but given it was a $15 walmart fan, I'm pretty sure it's just a two-wire fan where the speed dial is a pot in line with the input DC to control fan speed.

Small computer fans are not nearly enough CFM for my purpose unless I've missed one that can actually push hundreds of CFM at a consumer price point.. I already have a FeatherS3 and AC wiring out there for greenhouse monitoring and power. Any thoughts on the most efficient way to regulate voltage through a barrel plug?

Thinking a MOSFET on the return that can swing from 5V -> 9V based on input voltage would be my best choice there. Any other suggestions or designs you've seen, or fans that can push 400+ CFM at a consumer price point (probably <$50 US)?

[drowsy zephyr]

I just need something thin and strong but non conductive

Would car trimming tools do the trick?

[whole jacinth]

yeah, unfortunately that’s a rather difficult combination. definitely consider making some clamping jigs; they will probably help

[drowsy zephyr]

Why clamping tho?

What am i clamping?

[whole jacinth]

clamp the sides of the end cap, and clamp (or attach pins or screws to) the metal extrusion. that will help you apply force in a straight line to separate the assembly, assuming you can rig up some jig to constrain their movement in a straight line. you probably want to apply the maximum amount of shear force to the silicone to break its adhesion to the parts

[drowsy zephyr]

Oh

So brute forcing it?

That sounds even more risky than slowly cutting the silicone

[whole jacinth]

any deviation from a straight line will make it more likely that the friction of the parts will increase the forces needed

[drowsy zephyr]

Not to mention the cables that hangs out from the cap

[whole jacinth]

brute force, but highly constrained

[drowsy zephyr]

Wish we have like giant versions of handphone repair tools

[whole jacinth]

think like an arbor press but in reverse

any nonmetallic cutting or prying tools won’t last very long in that use case. maybe you’ll expend multiple to open a single unit. and if they’re sharp enough to cut or nick insulation, you still have a short circuit risk

[west plover]

should I get my jumper wires from ali express

[drowsy zephyr]

it's a major design oversight, i have no idea why my company approved it

good thing we've passed that and now all of our newer batteries are opened from the top

[sinful stratus]

https://www.adafruit.com/product/5811 can i wire a speaker or headphones up to this?

i need an amp right?

[tardy badger]

Yeah, an amp would be needed for this. Probably something like a PAM8312? Or something like that. Lemma grab a link

https://www.adafruit.com/product/5647

I was close, PAM8302

Though, I’m not sure if I2C will be fast enough to do anything meaningful with audio unless you’re doing bare metal at 1MHz or 3.4MHz modes

That DAC supports 400kHz I2C which you might be able to eek out 22k audio after i2c overhead

[whole jacinth]

yeah, i think typically you want an I2S audio amplifier for driving a speaker from a digital audio source

[tardy badger]

Or use a fast parallel DAC and something that can write 16 pins in parallel 🫣

Or a SPI interfaced DAC if you want to use a DAC

[whole jacinth]

parallel-input DAC, that's so old school

[tardy badger]

Still very useful though 😄

[drowsy zephyr]

Is there like a good IEEE or electrical engineering forum out there?

[tardy badger]

EEVBlog?

[drowsy zephyr]

what's that

and what's the link?

[tardy badger]

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/

Or even TI has their own forum, most every major component supplier does these days

https://e2e.ti.com/

[stoic mesa]

there is also stack overflow

[drowsy zephyr]

hasn't stack overflow degrade in quality over the years?

[stoic mesa]

it seems so, but it can still be useful

[patent hemlock]

ai-ai-ai-o

[strange sonnet]

It's better than Quora

[sinful stratus]

yeah im not sure what im doing is even feasible. i havent built the thing yet but basically i'm taking in audio data over serial (which will probably be sent over i2c) and then im gonna ideally process that in code and then pipe it to the dac to be output to a speaker.

i would have the serial be over a separate pin but i was planning on doing this with an rp2040 device that only has one stemma qt connector as gpio (MacroPad)

is outputting 22khz audio from an rp2040 to an i2c dac possible? or is that just too much of a bottleneck

[whole jacinth]

22k samples/sec at what sample size and number of channels?

[sinful stratus]

ok i thought about it. its probably like 11khz 16 bit mono

i specifically picked that dac cause its 16 bit so i thought itd sound not horrible

[whole jacinth]

audio quality might be dominated by jitter, given that few I2C drivers are written to produce isochronous transmission

note that chip requires an I2C address and register address in addition to 2 bytes for the DAC sample. unclear if you can stream multiple samples via a longer transaction

[sinful stratus]

any ideas for a better way i could get audio out of a rp2040 macropad?

i thought about using the sda scl lines on the stemma qt connector for non i2c purposes

but i also need to get serial into the thing

so that wont really work

i just had the horrible idea to steal a pin from one of the keyboard leds but thats probably stupid

[whole jacinth]

i’m pretty sure they’re Neopixels, so one GPIO to drive the entire chain

[sinful stratus]

awww

[whole jacinth]

why are you not sending serial over USB?

[sinful stratus]

basically i have an external peripheral sending audio and control data over serial

it isn't usb, it's just serial

[whole jacinth]

yeah, if it’s able to talk USB, sending the audio data over USB makes the most sense. you could even use the USB audio class

[sinful stratus]

well ideally the device is standalone with just power

getting the serial through the usb means i would need a cp2102 or something and find a way to make the rp2040 act as a usb host

and i dont want to send the audio to a computer

[whole jacinth]

also you probably won’t get anywhere near 11kHz sample rate if you’re receiving the audio data over the same I2C bus that you’re playing it out to the DAC with, unless you’re doing lots of buffering and/or decompression instead of streaming

[sinful stratus]

im learning now that i2c is not very fast

ok so i was hoping to reuse my macropad for this purpose but it seems like i just need more gpio

if i had a regular digital pin for the dac+amp and another two for serial tx/rx do you think i could pull it off?

[whole jacinth]

yeah, i think the Macropad was deliberately designed to have minimal expansion capabilities, partly to fit into a compact package

[tardy badger]

Length matched differential pairs 😪

SGMII interface

[sinful stratus]

can i use the usb port on the macropad rp2040 as a host port?

[blissful roost]

Nice, curvy paths.. so the electrons don't fall off the corners. 👍🏻

[ebon dew]

Is that to prevent race conditions or just impedance matching? Impedance matching is like a mystic artform, wouldn't even know where to begin to do something like that.

[whole jacinth]

my understanding is that they ideally do both, which can be a tricky compromise. the squiggles to reduce signal skew will adversely affect the impedance of the differential pairs to some degree

[tardy badger]

It really is a tricky compromise.. I ripped up those traces, and redid it this way:

But I need to redo those and route them as actual differential pairs, and also change the pins to use the 1G Eth interface on my MCU 😪

[blissful roost]

TBF, that does look a lot nicer. 😄

[tardy badger]

It’s what happens when you learn from mistakes lol or have aggravating perfectionism

[blissful roost]

I'll have to start working on PCB designs soon...

[tardy badger]

It’s a great outlet

[stoic mesa]

almost like knitting

[blissful roost]

I've got a lot of projects that need work. 😅

[late fulcrum]

Don't we all!

[tardy badger]

That’s why we’re all here. Didn’t you know this is “Too Many Projects Anonymous?” The maker version of AA

“Hi im Skerr and I have too many projects. I relapsed and started a new project that I have no hope of ever completing but it has been scratching an itch in my brain that’s been there for 2 years.”

[granite dirge]

Oh, hey. Hi. Came here to ask for a second opinion on my shopping list for a project, want to make sure I have all the parts and wires I need for this to work. I assume that'd be in the #help-with-projects channel?

[late fulcrum]

Well, the problem is one of the actuators in my car's A/C system has an issue where it moves but it doesn't give feedback to the control module. The control module then gets annoyed and closes all the vents. Compressor works, fan works, but no cool air comes out and the hot weather is coming. Fixing it "correctly" would involve taking the entire dash to pieces and replacing the actuators. So I'm thinking of interrupting the wires to the actuators, running them to current sensing motor drivers, and having an Arduino run them for me. Sure, I could just have a row of DPDT switches to run the actuators directly, but 30A DPDT switches are like $15 apiece, so the overkill solution is actually cheaper.

So all my other projects get pushed aside, because I don't want to bake in my car.

[ebon dew]

same. preaching to the choir up in here. oh i need to finish this big project aaaand adafruit came out with a new board that gave me an idea to do a thing real quick so i'm gonna start doing that thing and oh yeah what else was i working on, can't remember, will just work on this thing now instead.

[tardy badger]

Instead of you baking, what about cookies 🍪

[late fulcrum]

That sounds like a much better idea! I'm more of a cook, my sweetie is more of a baker, so I generally don't even have to bake my own cookies!

[tardy badger]

I do a little cookie and baking

Not much these days as I have to work so much

[stoic mesa]

yes, that sounds right

[whole jacinth]

in case anyone was wondering, arc welding a hot and neutral wire of your mains service to each other isn’t a great idea (not intentionally: it was storm damage)

[burnt tendon]

I have seen some datacenter incident post mortems with some great pictures.

[tardy badger]

There is a data center in Newton, NC that had a building which mains (480V mains) didn’t get properly “earthed.” And you had to wear rubber suits in to work on servers. So they limited the amount of work that they did in there. It was slated to be torn down at some point.

[blissful roost]

They torn down the entire DC and office I used to work at..
Last time I went there, it was nothing but a concrete slab.

[tardy badger]

Concrete slab sounds like a better use of space anyway

[blissful roost]

That entire company got picked apart by GoDaddy... I'm glad I left.

[whole jacinth]

anyway, current was apparently flowing through the weld until the power company came to disconnect stuff

[burnt tendon]

Arc fault to ground is surprisingly energetic.

[whole jacinth]

i thought the hot leg had burned through once the arc stopped. nope, just kept on conducting short circuit current into the neutral because the weld had completed a lower-resistance path. apparently not enough to blow any upstream fuses

[patent hemlock]

oh wow - i found a bent pin in a STEMMA socket ... 🙄

[rapid geode]

noooo

[patent hemlock]

yeah, it has been causing no end of WT(bleep) moments, including "holy 💩 did i just accidentally hot-plug that thing?"

[rapid geode]

rough day?

[patent hemlock]

well, got that fixed -- anyone got a really dumb suggestion for soldering a PCB address jumper without a soldering iron or solder? (i really can't see buying one for the extremely limited use it would get in my current situation and the local tool library's decent one has been overdue for 2 years)

[late fulcrum]

When I was renovating my house, the electrician said he'd give me the new house price if I removed the existing wiring. I pulled all the fuses and started cutting wires. POP! ⚡ A chunk of my wire cutters vaporized. I was glad I was wearing all the appropriate protective gear. It turned out my house had once been a duplex, and had TWO fuse boxes...

[patent hemlock]

"on this episode of Help! I Wrecked My Reno..."

[stoic mesa]

it is good that US uses 110V, not 220 as in Europe

[patent hemlock]

ah, but we do have 220 for things like dryers and a/c -- 3 phase wiring ftw

[late fulcrum]

It's not really 3 phase, but split phase.

[patent hemlock]

what i do find hilarious is my apartment building and neighborhood are wired so strangely that half of my apartment can goes dark in a blackout and the other half keeps going

[late fulcrum]

Yeah, I've had a phase go out like that. One time, I really wanted some light in the hallway, and that was on the dead phase, so I turned on a couple of stove burners to bridge power from the live phase to the dead one. It caused the hall lights to glow dimly, which was sufficient for my needs.

[fair summit]

I would just say try more to borrow one from somebody, ask for a free one on freecycle, etc. or go to the local computer fixit shop or electric guitar repair shop and ask them to solder it. You don't have to spend that much for something that will be OK and then you get to solder your own headers

[dusk flax]

You can borrow mine 😉

[whole jacinth]

anyway, i had power to half my house after the line came down. then i woke up and took a closer look. called the power company, told them hot leg got welded to neutral, and they expedited. still without power, unfortunately

[night crescent]

SHOW and TELL 5/22/2024 https://youtu.be/SmsUMfGLSGs

[night crescent]

ASK AN ENGINEER 5/22/2024 LIVE! https://youtu.be/sJcif2nuwd0

[burnt tendon]

I once worked in an office next to a company that was trying to be the Juicero of tea and there was some wiring weirdness because some, but not all, of their circuits went through our box. And so every so often the nice lady who was their tea taster and buyer would get all excited and have all three of the Juicero-of-tea machines going... and then she'd trip the breaker on our side. We never really minded because she'd always bring over a carafe of tea and, while the machines were arguably silly, she did know how to pick teas.

[serene hare]

I've been using Adafruit froducts for a few years and I have 2FA using the app on my old phone that has died the phone was playing up Now I'm wanting to sign into ADAfruit and set up ADAFruit IO I can't sign in is there a way to get the qrcode pic to set up my google Authentication app to sign in again.

[fast ferry]

the cool thing about tools like a soldering iron is that you may not have much need of one now, but once you have the capability, you might find more uses. or it could have a second life as a woodburning pen. 😁

[blissful roost]

Apparently my laptop should arrive today, instead of tomorrow. 👍🏻

[brave copper]

https://www.adafruit.com/product/2220?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8LuQ77ajhgMVoDQIBR3VWAUuEAQYASABEgLDCPD_BwE how many amps this makes? I found a 0.25w speaker that was from my spirit proton pack

[drowsy zephyr]

Guys, i wanna ask

What are your thoughts on OEMs?

[blissful roost]

☺️

[fair summit]

When you signed up for 2FA, you were given an "emergency" code to save in case you couldn't use your mobile authentication app. I'm guessing you don't have that?

Assuming you don't, write to [e-mail] and ask them what to do.

[tardy badger]

I recently recommended an E16 ThinkPad for my dad. He really enjoys it

[late fulcrum]

That doesn't include a speaker amplifier, so not much power at all. However there is a version with a speaker amplifier included: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2217

[late fulcrum]

In what sense? For white labelling?

[drowsy zephyr]

yeah

[blissful roost]

The LTE works too.. but I have to take a walk to check 5G. ☺️

[odd yarrow]

so with the rp2040 - similar to halo energy sword, it will charge while en/gnd are switched but just have to turn it to on to connect to pc/etc correct

rp2040 propmaker that is

[odd yarrow]

was able to test and see the charging light turn on

(while switched off)

[ruby pendant]

Heard this today "Python is executable pseudo-code. Perl is executable line noise."

[blissful roost]

Techically, both are both.

Both are code, that gets translated.. and both occur as line noise within a circuit. 😛

[jagged citrus]

text not found

plenty of bugs

bc im playing in spanish every charater withj a tilde has weird spaces around it

the select language option says 1920x1080, im not sure what country speaks that language

and it runs terrible, and the audio stutters

https://tenor.com/view/shia-la-beouf-shia-la-beouf-clapping-brando-gif-4502586

so many gamess are like this nowadays

launching half baked games that are full of bugs and performance issues

[swift panther]

I just picked up a Feather M0 Wifi and I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. Any ideas? I'm not into cosplay and I don't have time for massive projects, and I'm not seeing too much else from tutorials. I'd really like to hear what you all have done with them.

[dusk flax]

This project is defunct, but it's fun and could easily be adapted to work with newer methods: https://experiments.withgoogle.com/paper-signals

[tardy badger]

Hashtag more PCBs weeeee

[ebon dew]

Got my new phone up and running. Thanks to cloud backups everything is the same, every setting, almost no reconfiguration needed. This is the kind of future I like.

Walked into their store with my burnt phone that almost burned down my house, and it didn't even phase the employee, a bit concerning.

almost as if they see it every day. makes me think spontaneous phone fires are a lot more prevalent than the media lead me to believe.

[tranquil swallow]

Every few months I'll see a Reddit post about something being burned by their smart watch due to battery degradation so probably true

[blissful roost]

I'm looking forward to replacing my Pixel 6 Pro, after 3 years of zero fires. 👍🏻

[ebon dew]

i looked it up and owned that SE 1st gen for 8 years. i guess having the thing you bought burst into flames after 8 years is a pretty good business model for planned obsolesce.

[blissful roost]

Lol

[ebon dew]

a warning would have been nice though.

[blissful roost]

Indeed

[ebon dew]

only warning i got was from my smoke detector like 5 minutes AFTER the fire filled my room with smoke.

[blissful roost]

🙄

[ebon dew]

if i was in another room and heard the smoke alarm the entire room would have probably been in flames by that point.

https://tenor.com/view/anti-inflammatory-diet-gif-25646246

i do have fire extinguishers spread through the house, one is right by my room so worst case i "might" have been able to put it out.

[rapid geode]

ah yeah thats an issue. cause the smoke/gas from a battery is from hydrogen so it is mostly co2

[umbral phoenix]

@ebon dew the SE that burned was the original, the size of a 5-series? that was a nice model

[tranquil swallow]

Back when phones were reasonably sized

[blissful roost]

Noice. 👍🏻

[rapid geode]

i want a 85" phone/tv all in one. folded 7 times

[sinful stratus]

what is this thing called

[ebon dew]

Yes like an iPhone 5 series. I got the SE 3rd gen now which i think is more like an 11 series.

[ebon dew]

Resistor array. Instead of many little resistors they combine them into 1 package. The resistors themselves are separated.

Lady ada has a great search video on the subject.

https://youtu.be/QyA9pDsmY40?feature=shared

[tardy badger]

Weeee

[ebon dew]

RPGA 😀

[tardy badger]

RP2040 + FPGA 😎

If you didn’t already guess from the board lol

[sinful stratus]

oh awesome, the 3 digit value is the same as normal smd resistors right?

[ebon dew]

Recommend you watch the video from lady ada to learn more. She goes into all of that.

[sinful stratus]

alright ill watch that, thx

[late fulcrum]

Handy for things like a little sensor pod that tells you things like temperature, sunlight, air quality, or whatever that you can access on a web browser.

[late fulcrum]

Took my microwave 25 years. I decided to repair it and keep using it.

[late fulcrum]

What? CO2 is carbon and oxygen. Hydrogen is ... hydrogen.

[rapid geode]

....

when hydrogen burns ... you know, the fire part of this? ... the byproducts is mostly c02 and water and fairly minimal CO. so a fire alarm may not respond to it quickly

[late fulcrum]

No, when hydrogen burns, it combines with oxygen and forms water. Where would carbon come from?

[rapid geode]

..... sigh. haha. yes, you are right. the same result though, nothing is triggering the alarm until something else burns like the casing etc

[late fulcrum]

It also depends on the type of detector. There are ionization detectors, photodetectors, and combustion product detectors. Each has their own strengths (I'm fond of the photodetectors myself).

[rapid geode]

true. the ones ive had are the annouing CO ones that go off on just about everything except a real fire 😛

i know today we need a smoke and co separate system.

[late fulcrum]

Yeah, CO is a special case.

[rapid geode]

anyhow. i dont remember all this, it was years ago when i had to look into it

hehe

my phone gets super hot, not sure why. ive determins it is not actually the battery.

something else in it heating up

drains the battery in 20 mins

its related to the OS. wouldnt shock me if it was a deliberate way to make an old phone die

[late fulcrum]

Mine does that if I play Pokémon Go. Really (h)eats up the CPU.

Also, phones like to use the battery as a heatsink, since it's full of copper. But of course heat kills batteries...

[rapid geode]

this is apparently doing nothing. if i kill all the google services it stocps

i thought it was gps, but im not sure now

normally the phone would last 5 days.

[stoic mesa]

looks like a bunch of resistors

[late fulcrum]

I wouldn't be surprised if Google spyware really chewed up battery/CPU/bandwidth

[rapid geode]

google or samsung. i wish i could install my own android os to it (maybe i can, i have to look into it)

but it was fine. then one day it started doing this

it has a replacable battery so i tried different batterias and thats not it

[late fulcrum]

Yay replaceable batteries. I'm looking forward to them becoming common again.

[rapid geode]

yeah. i understand the legit reasons for wanting a sealed case, etc etc. but its a disposable item. it needs to be accessible and replacable cause not everyone wants to throw away a perfectly good phone after 2 years (or even 10)

[late fulcrum]

It is possible to have both, it's not even that hard. The phone manufacturers say it's because people want slim phones. Guess what, I'll take a phone with a replaceable battery over a slimmer phone any day of the week.

[rapid geode]

my galaxy alpha is smaller and thinner than any new phone. last(ed) 3-5 days in normal use, and ould easily be made mosre sealed while still having the back removable by hand.

so yeah, its nonsense

lazy design combined with forced obsolecense for them. win win.

[late fulcrum]

I agree...

[rapid geode]

my s7 was a horrible phone

whoever though of this glass back thing needs to be smacked. and wrapped curved glass . bad to use, super prone to damage. non fixable but the user*. zero redeeming qualities.

[tardy badger]

Curved glass could be fixed.. it was just a pain in the rear

(I worked in a repair shop at the time)

[rapid geode]

yeah. hence the ** for all practical purposes, it is not WORTH fixing my phone. and thats sad.

[tardy badger]

It was pretty fast all things considered with the right tools

[rapid geode]

its like $200 for a front and back glass.

[tardy badger]

The iFixit flex tool

[rapid geode]

vs my galaxy aplha whihc ive dropped 10000 times but doesnt break, cause the glass is not exposed on the front, and there is none on the back

[tardy badger]

Galaxy S5 was probably my favorite phone to repair, like 5-10 minutes tops

[rapid geode]

yeah the alpha was based on the s5. more class casing

but slightly slower cpu

only thing i hate is no sd card slot

[late fulcrum]

My current phone has curved glass, but it's touch sensitive all the way to the edges, which makes holding the phone give it unwanted inputs.

[blissful roost]

I don't have so much of an issue with that.. I think there's just enough edge on the screen that isn't touch.

[azure grove]

Hi friends! How are you?

[tardy badger]

https://tenor.com/view/shrug-what-huh-will-smith-i-mean-gif-15916247

[urban arrow]

Howdy, I got you beat 🙂 Got married in 1989, the wife had an old microwave, and we're still running it every day... About the size of an older TV...

[late fulcrum]

Awesome! There's probably somebody out there with one of the old Amana RadarRange ones, with the mechanical timer and everything. Not much to break down on those.

[burnt tendon]

My wife overall likes the prior microwave, that broke somewhere over a decade ago, better than the current one.

[late fulcrum]

We did get in a stunt microwave to use while I fixed the other one. A $40 special. The numbers rubbed off the keypad in the first few days. The light was soldered in. It's astonishing how cheaply a microwave can be made. We much prefer the chonky old one.

[burnt tendon]

Yah, a new microwave doesn't seem like it would necessarily be a real upgrade, given things.

On that note, I really ought to go to some used book stores and grab a few of the old skool microwave cookbooks that teach you to cook literally everything in the microwave before we realized that they were only good for specific things, not everything.

[late fulcrum]

Yeah, those could be an interesting artifact.

[burnt tendon]

A metaphor for the present day AI boom, maybe even.

I could do a TikTok feed like B. Dylan Hollis just different.

[glad ruin]

I hope some environmental or right to repair group offers to collect them all, rents a dump truck (or a fleet of them), and 'delivers' them all to the parking lot of Spotify's headquarters. Or even better, to the CEO's driveway.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/05/pleas-for-open-sourcing-refunds-as-spotify-plans-to-brick-car-thing-devices/

[ebon dew]

Ordered 9 items from digikey, 1 was missing in the box. 😦

Haven't even started designing the heatsink PCB yet and it's a cheap part so not a big deal. Unusual for digikey to miss a part like that.

The missing part is a 300x300 sheet of thermal pad material. The box is huge to accomodate a 300x300 sheet but only filled with small items. They probably filled the box and forgot to add the sheet, shipped it, then saw they didn't add the sheet which was the point of the huge box in the first place and was like awww heck.

Saw Scarlett Johanson is suing someone that used ChatGPT4 for using her voice as an AI model without permission. It does sound like her but on the other hand is the most realistic voice model I've ever heard. It's very impressive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKG4xVS5Qfs

[late fulcrum]

I ended up getting an extra part in a DigiKey box once. I called them up to let them know some other customer would be missing something. I read them the order number of the label, which made it easy for them to look it up. Given the speed and volume they ship, I'm impressed at their accuracy.

Majel Barrett (voice of many of the computers in Star Trek series) recorded a bunch of material in case anyone wanted to digitally re-create her voice in the future.

[ebon dew]

In this case they made the chatgpt voice model based on her, then tried to license her voice by contacting her, she denied the request, and they released it anyway.

[late fulcrum]

That sort of thing is hard to prove, but if it goes to a jury trial, the jury is likely to rule in her favor.

[silver shale]

how many PCB layers does this use? https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-i2s-stereo-decoder-uda1334a/downloads

[late fulcrum]

Looks like 2 layers

[silver shale]

These measurements appear to be in inches? https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/048/420/original/adafruit_products_fabprint.png?1511325945

[late fulcrum]

Right. The pad spacing is 0.1".

[silver shale]

Since two layer and four layer cost the same, I may make my version four layer.

[late fulcrum]

You could do that. Most of the houses I use have a lower price for two layers, but four is so common these days they might just merge them.

[glad ruin]

It's not like that board needs 4 layers.

[burnt tendon]

I did ponder dropping off my now-dead printer at the front of an HP office but I figured they'd probably look up the serial number or something else creepy out of spite.

[glad ruin]

Doesn't matter if it isn't registered.

[burnt tendon]

Yeah but I installed their printer driver suite and don't trust that they didn't do something there.

[glad ruin]

Oh they absolutely did.

[burnt tendon]

Also it was not Thanksgiving and I did not have a VW bus with shovels and rakes and implements of destruction.

[late fulcrum]

I was tempted to do that with my old Canon printer when they lied about driver support.

[glad ruin]

We have decided that you are a bad investment.

https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/19/hps_ceo_spells_it_out/

[silver shale]

that's why we got the Smart Tank version

[glad ruin]

It's amazing when these execs are forced to tell the truth under or face charges of perjury.

[late fulcrum]

I doubt HP even sells supplies for my old printer.

[rapid geode]

O_o

[glad ruin]

They still sell supplies for older commercial printers.

I have a LaserJet 1320 that I got from my community college for $10 and strapped a pi zero w to.

I don't buy toner from them though.

[late fulcrum]

I just checked their site. They sell paper for it...

Where do you get toner for a 1300 series (which is what mine happens to be)?

[glad ruin]

Uhh... I think I just bought it off Amazon...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VKUXHY

It works fine for me. Just don't make the mistake of lifting the little flap.

[late fulcrum]

I loathe amazon even more than I loathe HP

[glad ruin]

I only buy toner once every 3-5 years or so.

Yeah, I don't care for them either.

And I usually avoid them.

[tranquil swallow]

Yea I use Amazon as a rental service for anything I need temporarily

[silver shale]

HPE is not any better, a "support subscription" is required to update BIOS on HP blade servers.

[glad ruin]

This is pretty standard for the industry isn't it?

[silver shale]

afaik Supermicro does not do that

[rapid geode]

ive never heard of that one

[glad ruin]

Supermicro? They make server hardware.

[rapid geode]

O_o

thats their main purpose so yes?

[glad ruin]

Also, HPE is actually a separate company from HP Inc.

[late fulcrum]

Yeah, after the Compaq merger, HP went way downhill

[burnt tendon]

The only reason why the ghosts of Hewlett and Packard don't haunt everyone is that most of the old buildings have been taken over by other companies unrelated to HP so they pop into existence and see everybody hard at work and don't quite notice that the badges don't say HP.

Or maybe that's just what the Spectre mitigations were all across the industry.

[dusty citrus]

Not for am5 server boards. But it seems to be a standard for assembled servers

hpe is aruba

[somber spindle]

I wish I had pictures of the datacenter I worked in when the roof failed and took out a row of racks

[glad ruin]

Did it continue operating at reduced capacity?

[burnt tendon]

Did you hit the roof when you saw?

[glad ruin]

"At first I thought the ceiling was getting lower, then it hit me..."

[burnt tendon]

...the last roofers work was a smashing success.

[patent hemlock]

before and rafter?

[astral portal]

So my PCB ruler is starting to show its age, should i get a new PCB ruler or a pyruler

[late fulcrum]

There are a bunch of cool PCB rulers out there to choose from too.

My DigiKey one is probably on the workbench

[astral portal]

The two on the left are a bit too thicc and the one with stuff on it won’t sit flat in a stack of stuff

I want an actual ruler so sparkfun is out

Digilent doesn’t look like it has inches on it

Top one looks like just inches

So that leaves the adafruit ones

[silver shale]

I might design one

[brave copper]

they have their own tank one? we have a epson eco-tank so we never get cartridged again

[late fulcrum]

And maybe the DigiKey one https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/digikey/DKS-PCB-RULER-12INCH/5767550

[astral portal]

Is there a 6 inch version

[late fulcrum]

I don't think so.

[astral portal]

So that leaves the adafruit ones

[ebon dew]

So that missing item in the digikey box I found after triple checking the box. It's a cardboard layer that looks like the bottom of the box. Kind of camoflaged.

I would love to have this one in a ruler format.

[rapid geode]

i want to make a hardware product that on april 1st a hidden mcu inside will somehow give a message that "we are discontinuing support for this item and it will no longer function after today". but the hardware is something like a spoon, or a coffee cup, with absolutely no electronic functionality.

[ebon dew]

Funny idea except adding an MCU gives it electronic functionality. A spoon with a speaker or display would be pretty hard to put in a dishwasher.

[rapid geode]

dont ruin my dream

how bout a subscription based kitchen faucet

[ebon dew]

a ceramic mug with one of those bone conductive speakers might work? You'd have to encase the entire thing in ceramic and that involves curing it in an oven beyond the temperature range of the components though. where there's a will there's a way.

[ebon dew]

already have one of those, it's called a utility bill.

[rapid geode]

ha

true

a coffee much that the bottom comes up on and blocks it from being filler

[ebon dew]

imagine if water companies charged you per faucet though.

[rapid geode]

hehe

[rapid geode]

haha. you have a water license for one faucet

at 1gpm

[ebon dew]

that would last about 2 seconds the first time it did that i'd throw it in the garbage. good prank mug but not worth the effort.

[rapid geode]

pay more to unlock your shower water

[ebon dew]

water plus pro package now comes with outdoor faucets! subscribe today.

[rapid geode]

yeah thats why i want it to be so stupid like a spoon. an epaper warning that you are violating the terms of use

[rapid geode]

paying for water is the most offensive thing i can imagine

i accept the utility bill as a fee to maintain the system. but not to pay for water

[ebon dew]

cars have fuel subscriptions, prepaid at a fuel pump.

water treatment is a service that has to be paid somehow.

[rapid geode]

yeah

its a tax. but the water itself is free.

[ebon dew]

unless you prefer cholera or dysentery

[rapid geode]

hehe

mmm

[ebon dew]

water is free but doesn't mean it's clean. you pay for clean water... unless you live in Flint, MI.

[rapid geode]

ha

yes

i pay for an infrastructure that provides me clean water on demand

but for example they cant legally shut my water off if i dont pay

[ebon dew]

that too, pipes don't lay themselves... and I enjoy paying for infrastructure that has intelligent people that don't mix water and sewage lines together.

[rapid geode]

it gets billed to the hous

anyhow. i just want to make a subscription item so stupid that it becomes a talking point

[ebon dew]

oh they definitely can shut off your water. and if you live in a house without water the city can kick you out for living in an uninhabitable dwelling. they did it to an old lady near St. Petersburg, FL a couple years ago.

[rapid geode]

here that cant be done

[ebon dew]

it was all over the news here for a while. there's nothing free in the land of the free.

[rapid geode]

:x

[ebon dew]

this is true, i have to concede that. :/

[rapid geode]

bleh

mmm pasketti

[ebon dew]

ok i have a neat idea for an invention. fitbit tracks your daily water intake. how about automating that with a BLE water bottle that tracks how much you drink in real time?

[rapid geode]

hehe

oooh

[ebon dew]

currently you have to manually input how much water you've had per day.

[rapid geode]

so for biking we have water packs. but you cant really tell how much is left inside and sometimes you misjudge and drink to fast and run out

how bout water level sensor that shows on my garmin

(a bottle will work too as an alternate water vessel)

[ebon dew]

It's tedious and no matter how long you track it for eventually you'll get tired on inputting it manually every day.

Might be a good project for AdafruitIO with a BLE water bottle to start with.

[rapid geode]

ant

[ebon dew]

I doubt the first prototype will look elegant sure.

[rapid geode]

i guess bluetooth works but ant is more universal on bike computers

yeah. it has to measure regardless of angle too

and sloshing around

also its often not water.

[ebon dew]

a strain gauge in the bottom can measure weight periodically. a float would be hard to clean and likely grow mold eventually. then there's washing it yeah. interesting project with some hurdles.

[rapid geode]

yeah mass is what i was thinking too

[ebon dew]

ah good point.

[rapid geode]

a guage that isnt actually inside is ideal.

[ebon dew]

something to screw on/off the base for washing? that could work.

[rapid geode]

sloshing i think can be averaged out by sammpling once a second and averages over 10 or something. its not like you need to have high granularity

water packs dont slosh cause there is no significant air inside.

[ebon dew]

i wasn't thinking of bicycling just sitting at an office desk. though being able to track water use for professional cyclists might be handy for an olympic program or something.

[rapid geode]

just general riding would be great. and people replace the pouches often for $30-$60 already so theres some room for an "aftermarket smart bladder" and then you sell it to shimano or osprey etc

just not sure really how youd actually make it work haha

[ebon dew]

oh you're talking more like a smart camel back. that would be tougher because the bladder isn't a fixed shape that can be weighed easily.

[rapid geode]

im actually thinking it might be easier to weigh cause its in a fixed position on your back

vs the bottle that is never static

rattlibng around

[ebon dew]

that would be very handy to know how much liquid is left with a digital readout. i've worn one before and it's hard to judge how much is left when you're wearing it.

[rapid geode]

yup

cause after 2 hours you dont really feel it

if its lighter etc

[ebon dew]

yup

that would be a really neat project to tackle.

[rapid geode]

yeah.

pressure?

[ebon dew]

maybe i'll get one for mowing the yard and try some things out.

[rapid geode]

hahaha

they got soooo expensive. my friend bought an osprey last year for liek $250

[ebon dew]

i'm too old to do actual sports now. :/ time comes for us all.

[rapid geode]

hehe

never!

i sold one of my bike frames today actualy

:/

didnt want to but its never gonna be used again

[ebon dew]

oh my brother came back to visit and did take that old hans GT back with him.

[rapid geode]

ha nice

thats what i sold. my blue gt

[ebon dew]

they're great frames especially the really beefy ones.

[rapid geode]

yeah. i like them. i hate the company now though

hehe

[ebon dew]

after riding my brothers with the shocks i never wanted to ride another bike without shocks. they make riding much more enjoyable.

[rapid geode]

ha

[ebon dew]

you probably still have like 2 or 3 frames left from what i remember from pictures? still plenty to ride.

[rapid geode]

ha

yes

i really got nothing for this water sensor. i supposed thats why you cant buy one, its not something really maklable

without making some complex specialised device

like for tires, them make valves with bluetooth. thats easy. sense pressuer, report to computer.

[ebon dew]

all i can think of is a flex sensor or weight strain gauge.

I suppose you could put a really long flexible capacitive water sensor in there kind of like the soil sensor but on a flexible pcb. that might work.

sloshing would affect it though. it's an interesting problem to solve.

[rapid geode]

hmm

[azure grove]

hi, can someone tell me whats wrong with my prehistoric tamagotchi game?

it says there are some errors (and the stats arent showing up), and thats too big for mewbit/REE

https://arcade.makecode.com/S46548-00525-69809-63756

[tardy badger]

#help-with-makecode would probably be a great place to ask 😊

[rapid geode]

im pretending to be a lumberjack today

[hard estuary]

And now I have Monty Python’s Lumberjack song stuck in my head. 🤣

[tardy badger]

Im a lumber jack and it’s okay

[rapid geode]

that is an ofensive banned song in my country

:x

hehe

[rapid geode]

So what do i make with it? I could do 4 full 61pc keycap sets. OR... shrug. its not super useful for my kid guitar project.

[stoic mesa]

table leg?
🙂

[rapid geode]

just one?

hehye

[stoic mesa]

or carve a Pinocchio

[patent hemlock]

that is some pretty wood

[late fulcrum]

Norway?

[blissful roost]

https://tenor.com/view/im-a-real-boy-pinocchio-magic-zap-gif-14547855

[rapid geode]

.....

[honest moth]

It just now hit me.

The drums from that one doctor who episode with The Master unleashing spheroids with human faces in them upon the Earth which simultaneously symbolizes the two heartbeats of a Timelord, those drums, hold the same rhythm and time signature as the intro synth for Doctor Who's theme song.

Duh-duh-duh-duh, duh-duh-duh-duh, duh-duh-duh-duh, duh-duh-duh-duh...

[rapid geode]

O_o

[late crater]

besides jclpcb and pcbway what are some other pcb services out there?

[hard estuary]

Oshpark is one

[late crater]

thank you this the one I was trying to remember

[dusty citrus]

You can check https://pcbshopper.com/

[blissful roost]

Cross-posting is just bad manners, m'kay.

[night crescent]

Desk of Ladyada - HDC3022 + RGB LCD Shield revision
https://youtu.be/sXuS6K62gw4

Memorial Day weekend edition: improving libraries and revisions. We successfully coded the HDC3022 temperature+humidity sensor with Arduino and GPT-4's help. The RGB LCD Shield kit, previously DIP-based, now features almost entirely SMT components. Additionally, we're updating our RGB LCD Shield and Plate to SMT, seeking compatible tactile switches for a seamless transition.

[tardy badger]

I love holiday weekends because money for bills leaves my account slower which means more time to admire my paycheck

[glad ruin]

@proven juniper @idle lion @polar wraith @burnt wave one of you want to yeet the scammer?

[blissful roost]

What a useless thing..

[idle lion]

They've been banned, thank you.

[rapid geode]

O_o

what i miss?

[blissful roost]

Just a really bad attempt at a troll/scam.

[rapid geode]

bah. i was hoping for pie

[tardy badger]

You can use the community moderators tag @community moderators next time 🙂

[blissful roost]

We're all out of pie... How about some cakeDEATH?

[rapid geode]

cake or death? cake please

[blissful roost]

We're out of plates, sorry.

[rapid geode]

have you got a flag?

[tardy badger]

Anyway the cake is great

It’s so delicious and moist 🎶

[blissful roost]

You're welcome. 😄

[tardy badger]

https://youtu.be/Y6ljFaKRTrI?si=op0YWsJ_4iE6j1CU

[glad ruin]

Yeah, didn't know how many people that would actually ping.

[blissful roost]

Everyone with the tag. 😉

[tardy badger]

It’s there for maximum moderation reach

[glad ruin]

Yep, and in some servers people get snippy if you ping the all mods role. Never understood why, but also didn't want to annoy anyone.

[blissful roost]

Le sigh... UFO: Alien Invasion still won't run on my X13s. 😦

[rapid geode]

shoulda bought an x14

[blissful roost]

lel

[rapid geode]

hehe

[blissful roost]

... and, no. 😛

[rapid geode]

is an x14 even a thing?

[blissful roost]

1. An X14 doesn't have a Snapdragon CPU....

2. Expensive.

[blissful roost]

Ahh, no.. T14. 😛

[tardy badger]

It’s listed as the preferred way to alert moderators to moderation issues on this server

[blissful roost]

The X13 is the Intel version.

[stoic mesa]

I do get annoyed when someone pings @ everyone.
FOrtunately, in large servers this is disabled (except for admins)

[slim shard]

yeah, very disappointed that at everyone is a feature at all, I wish cartoon-violence on whoever uses it in general

[stoic mesa]

well, I do use it myself 🙂
in our team server for 10 users

[slim shard]

watch for falling anvils ;-)

also, the discord emoji pool is severely lacking, probably on purpose? weak

[blissful roost]

Meep! Meep!

[slim shard]

Coyote Time is a videogame mechanic, learned a while ago.

[late crater]

this site is gold thank you

[dusty citrus]

can i get help with micropython raspberry pi pico ??

[hard estuary]

Which programming language are you using with your Pico? There might be a better channel where you can get help. Or just ask your question or share the problem and if someone knows the answer, they'll speak up

[dusty citrus]

ok

can i share here it self ??

coz i cant find any channel with micropython

[hard estuary]

If you go into the #help-with-circuitpython channel, there is a pinned message with a link to the MicroPython Discord. Or #help-with-projects might be able to help, though most folks are using CircuitPython here

[dusty citrus]

kk

[dusty citrus]

i have both codes circuit python and micropython working same but circuit python has many files also the font of scrolling text in LED matrix display is not good so i thought of getting help with micropython

[fair summit]

the problems you mention with your circuitpython code are solvable: there are multple fonts available, and have examples for various kind of LED matrices

[paper meadow]

Hello. I'm very new to working with this sort of thing. actualy hopping to find recomendation on what chip to use for a project.

[patent hemlock]

#help-with-projects

[dusty citrus]

from where can i get fonts ?? @fair summit

this is circuitpy code which i use

[fair summit]

https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython-fonts Not sure if this is what you want. What kind of LCD matrix are you talking about?

[dusty citrus]

LED 8x8 Matrix RED clr

this uses max7219 chip

[fair summit]

there are very few fonts that are only 8 pixels high. There are some here (note most are taller).

The code you have has delays in it. Did you mean it is too slow? You can change the delays

[dusty citrus]

where ?? in website there are many how can i know which is 8px ??

[dusty citrus]

i mean scrolling text is slow i want to increase speed

[fair summit]

So if you take out the time.sleep() here, is this too slow?

    # scroll a string across the display
    for pixel_position in range(len(adafruit) * 8):
        matrix.fill(0)
        matrix.text(adafruit, -pixel_position, 0)
        matrix.show()
        time.sleep(0.25)

[fair summit]

Look at the right hand side of each font listing: it says "16 px", etc. I don't know how to search on that site to limit them by size

[dusty citrus]

where does it shows ??

[dusty citrus]

yes so i just have to change time time.sleep(0.25) here

[fair summit]

so make it zero and see how fast it is

@dusty citrus sorry I meant to paste this link in, sorry: https://www.dafont.com/bitmap.php

[dusty citrus]

lol lighting fast .... okay i'll set it as it is readable

[dusty citrus]

ohh its fine

let me see

[fair summit]

there are 55 pages of fonts, there are a significant number of 8px ones, but they're all mixed up 😦

[dusty citrus]

nvm

lol i found one better font

but can u tell me where to put bcz its .ttf & .otf file

[fair summit]

you have to convert it to .bin. I don't know how to do that off the bat. I have to be afk for a while

[dusty citrus]

ohh okay i'll try to find

[fair summit]

do a websearch for [ ttf to bin ]. But it may not be the right bin format

[dusty citrus]

wdym by right bin format ??

will it be corrupted??

[fair summit]

"bin" just means binary. I'm not sure that the .bin format that you are using now is the same format that the ttf to bin converters will give

[dusty citrus]

soo what should i do

[fair summit]

try a .ttf to .bin converter and see if it works

[dusty citrus]

nope

it gives error in shell

[silver shale]

ADC support is now on the atsamd Rust HAL so now the touchscreen be used on the PyPortal with Rust https://github.com/atsamd-rs/atsamd/blob/master/hal/src/peripherals/adc/d5x.rs

Might make it into a release soon, 0.17.0 does not seem to have it

[tardy badger]

Looking good

Peaches always look funny when they’re growing

[rapid geode]

yeah. theres soooo many. ive pruned off 100s now

theres at least 100 of the stage in the pic. im not sure how many it will sustain yet

[tardy badger]

Wow nice

[tardy badger]

The smallest warehouse in the world

Maybe not officially, but it’s small 😅

[patent hemlock]

well, i like it 😀

[tardy badger]

I tell ya, a $107 PCB order feels routine at this point in business. Gotta keep the value down below tariff limits 😪

[late fulcrum]

Not sure what you're getting at here. Making a bunch of small orders instead of one large one?

[tardy badger]

Yeah, just time them to go through customs at different times

I won’t be hitting the $700 limit any time soon though

I have no need to order more than enough to make 100qty of any product I carry

Otherwise I’m just sitting on stacks of mini panels

But i empathize with makers ordering large quantities of PCBs to keep up with demand

[median viper]

hey guys hows it going

[patent hemlock]

off to the dentist for 2 crowns, so 🙄

[stoic mesa]

isn't the limit $800?

[tardy badger]

I had seen some people mention it got lowered

I have no idea if it did or not, I haven’t bothered to look

[stoic mesa]

my most expensive order so far was about $250, so I am safe

[tardy badger]

Lol I can’t say g o v even if in the context of a website lol..

Trade dot g o v still says $800 is when duties apply

[rapid geode]

limite here is $20 :/

almost nothing i buy has actual duties though. just tax

[dusty citrus]

Cn sellers usually just lie to customs.
I miss the times were I did not pay vat nor dogane

Christ

[tardy badger]

Not all do, JLCPCB expects their packages to customers always get through customs so they have to play by the rules.

Or risk being blacklisted

[rapid geode]

yeah. the days of fudging customs ended 5-10 years ago. at least with canada and the usa.

its simply not worth it

canada post randomly selects for customs on small value items. id say 1 in 3 things get taxed when i buy. anything over $100 though is always taxed

[tardy badger]

Trade dot gov says Canada taxes as small as $20

So anything I send under $20 in value should generally be duty free

[rapid geode]

yes. but how many things are under $20? shipping is so bad here most people will make a bigger order

only times i spend under $20 is amazon when shipping is "free"

[tardy badger]

Yeah, inflation and the global economy has kind of ruined affordability

[rapid geode]

Well i mean more in the sense of "well i guess i need to spend $108 at digikey to get the free shipping or it's not worth it".

I cant buy form adafruit direct. cause the ups fees are 4x the cost of the part

[tardy badger]

Yeah, shipping costs are ridiculous

[tardy badger]

$20 to ship a 0.40kg package to the Netherlands

[rapid geode]

thats why im doing this as well. it goes both ways. trying to ship 1 keycap doubles the price of the cap, not even counting the actual shipping. so im gonna mke a full 60% set in one shot, make one fancy box, and sell* (i hope) it for a fairly high price that makes it "worth the effort".

need to ride my bike to the wood store and get the piece of wood though, cause otherwise it would be $99 to mail me $66 in wood.

sigh

hahah

[tardy badger]

Geez

I suppose wood is considered an oversized item

[rapid geode]

no, they just hire a box truck for EVERYTHING. 4 skids of maple, sure, great deal. 1 little board of padauk, not so much

they are just a bit tooo far. but i can bike 30km there, have them chop it into small sections and shove it in my backpack. then 30km home.

just work it into a "fun ride" schedule.

meant to go this morning but i was too sore from crawling in the attic yesterday doing electrical

[tardy badger]

30km 😀

Not too bad, that’s what.. 19 miles

[rapid geode]

60km total. need to bring food and water on a ride like that.

[tardy badger]

If you bike a nice 20mph, that’s an hour one way, 2 round trip

[rapid geode]

20mph.... um... keep dreamin

[tardy badger]

Lol what

20mph is a respectable pace

[rapid geode]

i live at the top. store is at the bottom

a good pace going up is 16kph

without a backpack full of wood

cliff is about 330-340 ft

anyhow.

it is about 1.25 hours there, and 1.75 hours back.

[tardy badger]

Not terrible

[rapid geode]

yeah. its fine as exercise. bothersome when trying to carry things

might do it friday

i need to make some nice elaborate 2 colour inlays for the caps.

likely black and sky blue. i did that before on padauk

[tardy badger]

Oh yeah, that sounds nice

I want to get a small cnc mill for doing custom little wood things

[rapid geode]

padauk machines very well, in addition to be pretty

[tardy badger]

I’ve considered making one since I can get a control board fairly inexpensive, then buy some 2020 T channel and construct a little bed with some tracks for the head

[rapid geode]

a linux cnc mesa board is $120us i think. plus an only PC with ethernet

[tardy badger]

I’d need more money than I have laying around though

Though I have a mini PC currently not being used

[rapid geode]

2020 i would skip. go to 8080 (the format/thickness, not needing got be 80mm)

[tardy badger]

It’s pretty pathetic, running windows 10 with 4GB of ram and an Intel Atom lol

[rapid geode]

ha

[tardy badger]

64GB eMMC

[rapid geode]

im not sure about an atom and linuxcnc. probably fine. i have run the newer one on a core 2 duo and an old opteron server. (now its on an i5 lenovo refurb)

staples in canada has compact lenovo refurbs with ssds for $100-300cdn. they make good cnc controls.

and you can often find one with 2 network ports

one for the control card, and one for network

[tardy badger]

Yeah, I could probably slap one together for $300

Anyway, I’d just be building a desktop mill since I don’t have a ton of space anyway

[tardy badger]

So 4040 is probably the largest I’d use for the actual frame, 2020 for the enclosure

[rapid geode]

example

thats like $150usd

[tardy badger]

Not bad

[rapid geode]

including win 10 pro lic

[tardy badger]

My buddy works for Lenovo, I bet he could find me a computer they’re scrapping for free 😀

[rapid geode]

yeah. i used to take tons of machines frm the office that were "obsolete".

but an obsolete dual xeon with 8gb ram is not something to whine about

ha. thats the one i bought that ran mu brother cnc.

i left windows on the HD and put linux on a separate little ssd.

[tardy badger]

Hehe nice

[rapid geode]

that control had a pci card and external board for analogue control. i remember i needed to get this machine cause it had a real PSU and not an external adapter cause the adapter would not supply enough pci current

anyhow. they are great little machine controlelrs

for cheap

then you need some servos/steppers, a spindle and drive, 24 or 48v power supply. thats bascially all there is to a machine.

(plus the mechanical)

i like the servos on my current machine. they are barely more money than cheap steppers but work 1000 times better.

i need to repair this guy and put it back together.

[tardy badger]

Looks like fun

[rapid geode]

was fun til it got rained on and destroyed the rails and screws

[tardy badger]

💀

[rapid geode]

possible rebuild configuration trying to use some surplus screws i have and a granite plate.

410x410x180mm travel

[tardy badger]

Oh nice

[rapid geode]

either way, its $5-8k to fix. theres not alot of ways around that

unelss i find something free

ha

spindle is $1800cdn shipped. servos are about $3000cdn shipped. then rails, whihc seem like i will be in the $1000 shipped range for nice surplus ones.

[rapid geode]

found brand new surplus coated stainless (no rust!) precision grade rail from my usually suplier. $890 per axis though. hmmmmm.

[slim shard]

Momentary makes me think there is a mechanical bias towards off. Which is not the case here?
https://www.adafruit.com/product/5929

[rapid geode]

same config as old machine, just modified for new parts. hmm

[rapid geode]

momentary means you push / turn it and its on, let go and its off. usually with some sort of spring

[tranquil swallow]

What spindle are you looking at

[slim shard]

Yeah, that is what I thought.
Description in this case seems to be calling it momentary because the key will not remove while on, Not that there is any spring force or other mechanical bias towards offness overridden by active user interaction. Not actually momentary, but always-turn-off-able.

[rapid geode]

not decided. my old one was iso30 but it was 26kg and way too large. too much inertia on the machine.

[tranquil swallow]

This is the spindle I bought FWIW

[rapid geode]

iso20 might be the ideal here. 1.5kw. its light and relatively cheap and single phase

[tranquil swallow]

Is there a specific brand to look for iso20

[rapid geode]

ah yeah, thats a different category

i have jianken spindles. they are a responsive supplier with good prices and quality spindles.

1180usd for the iso 20 1.5kw 30000rpm model (plus drive, wiring, water cooler, shipping tax, first born child, etc

somone i know has higer end surplus spindle on ebay, but he is in vietnam so shipping is quite bad.

you can get nice iso20 tools for about $30cdn shipped as well, which is a big plus.

[stoic mesa]

@rapid geode btw, can I ask your advice on CNC machines? our team is debating whether we should get one, and if so, which one

[rapid geode]

get one.

which one.. thats another topic. i basically tell people not buy buy the cheap ones cause they will be bitterly disappointed

[stoic mesa]

wrote in private messages

[tranquil swallow]

Yea finding parts in Canada has been a pita. I was looking for good NEMA23 motors

Its like no one here makes anything

[rapid geode]

nah nothing here. for nema23 i have servos. ihsv57 180w. they are (relatively) cheap and perform well

100ish usd per axis plus shipping, plus a good delta DIN 20A psu.

[rapid geode]

this is pretty

[late fulcrum]

thinks dark thoughts about a $10 saddle on a $5 horse

[rapid geode]

ha

my machine aint no $5 horsie 😛

biggest downside with this kit is the tools are $100-$300 each. so it adds up real fast

[late fulcrum]

I was referring to the $5 computer running the show

[rapid geode]

haha

$79 lenovo core 2 duo. vroom.

once i ironed out all the screw ups, its 100% reliable. which is pretty amazing. most of my old system especially with steppers needed constant babysitting with a hand over the emergency stop

servos are much smrtr

it does get still looking at all these small expensive parts.. and then this....

sadly theres no room or electricity to even turn it on let alone clean it up to use

[blissful roost]

I think my power supply might have some concerns...

[rapid geode]

O-o

[night crescent]

SHOW and TELL 5/29/2024 https://youtu.be/t6kl6fvgyBI

[night crescent]

WE ARE LIVE! ASK AN ENGINEER! https://youtu.be/b-oeWFktD_o

[whole jacinth]

(unintentional) fun with optics

[late fulcrum]

Are those cores?

[tardy badger]

They do slightly resemble nuclear core pellets

Which, I will say I was a bit surprised to find out how small a nuclear fuel rod is.

[late fulcrum]

I was thinking mold cores or perhaps ferrite cores

[tardy badger]

Oh gotcha

[late fulcrum]

Or even conductive inserts

[tardy badger]

I’m gonna try doing an ethically sourced LLM for helping people write music. Will I be crushed by people who just scrape the web and don’t attribute or pay royalties to song writers? Probably https://lyricallyai.com/

I’ll probably train it first off of lyrics I write and hopefully I can figure the other parts out 😀

Also wild to me, when I looked up domain names, lyrically.ai was $45k 💀

[late fulcrum]

Ah, lyrics instead of melody? That should be fun. I wrote a Markov chain one a while back, which came up with some great lyrics such as "dawn is breaking against my head".

[tardy badger]

That is a good line

[rapid geode]

keycaps

[late fulcrum]

I was referring to the black cylindrical objects

[rapid geode]

stems

[tardy badger]

Stims?!??

[rapid geode]

O-o

[tardy badger]

https://tenor.com/view/helldivers-helldivers-2-freedom-never-sleeps-gif-6626715468368876008

It’s from helldivers 2

[rapid geode]

oh

[magic talon]

Just bought my first pi 4 can’t wait to play with it. I bought it for 3D printing but I might make it a game system first

[late fulcrum]

I'm teaching mine to sort Lego bricks

[stuck moth]

Seen this? https://rebrickable.com/rebricknet/

[late fulcrum]

No, I haven't. I've been riffing on Daniel West's build

Thanks for the pointer

[stuck moth]

Got a link to that? I was just getting into my legos for childhood too. https://rebrickable.com/users/tannewt/setlists/

[late fulcrum]

https://medium.com/@JustASquid

Also youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIg7y12vUUslNgs2VqDXeSw

Output of an early version of mine

[stuck moth]

very cool

[tardy badger]

The mark of a great software engineer: how well you can google-fu your way out of a pile of errors.

[vestal pier]

Hmm...train an AI on lego kits and have it invent new ones

[late fulcrum]

That might be interesting, or end up with bizarrely huge numbers of arbitrary bricks

[patent hemlock]

that does bring a whole new meaning to the phrase "i bricked my [fill in the blank]"

[stoic mesa]

you mean, more bizarrely huge than we already have?

[late fulcrum]

You're right, there are some sets out there with outrageously uneven brick counts

[rapid geode]

its half a thing...

[crisp narwhal]

hello

[tardy badger]

Thinned out the corn growing in the garden 😮‍💨

Used old seed that I wasn’t sure would all germinate. They basically all did lol

[rapid geode]

i planed 60 corn, 5 sprouted

annoyed

[tardy badger]

I send ya some and get myself persona non grata from Canada for illegal agricultural exports

[rapid geode]

hehe

not sure what happened. bad corn, or eatem by squirrels

[tardy badger]

Or some combination thereof

[rapid geode]

i got 100 peaches so its all good

[tardy badger]

Peaches are better anyway

[rapid geode]

mmm

we'll see in 2 months. i hope they dont get stolen by squirrels

last year they were left alone

[stoic mesa]

trying to imagine a corn that sprouts annoyed....

[rapid geode]

....

😛

[rapid geode]

fin

its always good when the real thing looks like the render

in case anyone is curious, this is a fixture for keycaps. you glue in the wood with CA glue. then you machine a hole in the bottoms from the underside, glue in the delrin, and then machine the cap and stem in one go. no alignment issues. then you flip it, do the inlays, then surface. and finally at the end there is a special cutter that trims the cap off from underneath and it falls away needing only a small touch up with sandpaper. i can glue a mix of woods up top make any colour/inlay/profile 60% cap set in one shot. SOOO much better than before where it was fiddling with them 1 by one.

also works with corian and possibly even some metal caps

whee

[late fulcrum]

Oh, I figured you planted a seed, clamped that around the stem, waited for the tree to grow, then removed it to harvest your keycaps.

[rapid geode]

you think keycaps grow on treeeesss!?!?!

:x

haha

[dusty citrus]

Maybe if you encase them into something
Like square japanese watermelons

[quartz ocean]

anyone know about this pcb?

[blissful roost]

oops....

https://tenor.com/view/picard-what-there-are4lights-star-trek-tng-gif-11252564

[stoic mesa]

looks like a PCB from one of these bracelets they give out at concerts

https://blog.jgc.org/2024/05/controlling-taylor-swift-eras-tour.html?m=1

or is it just a bicycle light?

[glad ruin]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/255067589187862539/1246504753639329813/meme-FirefoxCrashLog.png

[humble python]

do anyone know why i cant get the brd and the schematics of this https://www.tinkercad.com/things/77aP6Ll5Rw2-copy-of-4-x-7-segment-display-with-74hc595/editel?returnTo=%2Fthings%2F77aP6Ll5Rw2-copy-of-4-x-7-segment-display-with-74hc595 ?

[rapid geode]

https://youtu.be/NWfKChh0YUQ