I needed some wrenches for the collets on the pantograph, in the very unlikely sizes of 42/36 and 42/32 millimeters. And I was feeling overwhelmed with other projects (...and lazy...) so I had a pair cut from one of the online services. They definitely came out better than I would have ended up making!
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Realized that this must have been a problem others have faced before, and found some 3D-printable rails to hold 6 key switches in the correct alignment during soldering. They also make it easier to hold everything in place while flipping the PCB over. This is speeding up assembly by maybe a factor of... a lot.
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But I've worked out some systems that are speeding things up now. And I managed to get a terminal beep working through the Arduino serial connection, so testing the switches goes a lot faster now.
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Board 1 of 5, after about 1.5 hours of work. This is going to take a while.
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I probably spend too much time worrying about how cetaceanoid species are getting along.
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I wish I could know the geological models a cetaceanoid alien race would develop (assuming an Earth-like.world). So much of plate tectonics on clear display, but only having access to crust less than ~150 million years old. And whatever could be seen on the continental shelves, mostly just piles of sediments. And no road cuts!
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Thank you, David Lynch.
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After fixing a very silly mistake, the Ten Hundred control board is finally talking to all 5 MCP23017 port expander chips. Taking a break now, but I hope to have the switch matrix over the big PCBs validated. Or at least I'll know what my next problem is.
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Tested the DIY road case parts to make sure I understood the process. And I think I do! Thinking I'll get some thicker plywood, though, and route the edges down to fit the extrusion. This is for the Ten Hundred keyboard, all 62"/1575mm of it. That's long enough I think I want at least the bottom side to be more rigid than 1/4" ply will provide.
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I swear, those drips are just from the last time I was using acetic acid in a tarp pool for removing mill scale!
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Finally tried applying copper foil to the acrylic test cuts of the globe stained glass design, to confirm that the 1mm kerf baked in will work. I might lower it very slightly, but yes, it does. Next step is going back and redoing the layout to avoid some of the ridiculously long and thin sections, which will just get lost under the foil/solder anyway. In this case, geographic reality will have to bend to the dictates of the medium. And then get the real pieces water jet cut!
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Neat, I don't think I've ever seen any metric measurements in the lumber section (of an American big box hardware store) before!
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Got the pantograph fully reassembled and in its provisional location. I like how it looks next to the shaper, and this maintains the metal/wood dividing line, but it will mean running the power cord over to the wall for 3 phase power when I want to use it. If I decide it should stay here, I'll run some conduit up and over for its own dedicated ceiling outlet.
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And now it's safe on the ground* in the inner shop without incident. Hell of a lot of work to move something down by 6 inches, I'll tell you what.
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Got the pantograph mounted onto some skids, which meant far more work than I intended. I realized too late I really wanted some kind of T-nut on the bottom, so they could be removed once it is in the inner shop and I can't lift it with the crane to remove 8" bolts. But it was already 22:00, and the hardware store closes at 21:00 in the winter. So I had to make some rectangular nuts, and mill slots in the bottom of the skids. But it came together nicely in the end, and it should make the move a lot easier.
This means I can get it on and off the pallet jack without the crane, and it provides a nice, long, smooth surface for rolling on pipe rollers out onto the stack of blocking in the inner shop, to deal with the deeply inconvenient 6" drop at the doorway. I would have rather had them running along the shorter side of the base, to optimize stability, but unfortunately the asymmetrical mounting holes didn't really allow for that. It does feel stable, though.
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Finally was able to assemble friends together to do the tasting for James Hoffman's Decaf Project. It was really fun! Each kit was made with the same source beans, decaffeinated through the 3 main processes, plus an unprocessed control, then roasted by the same roaster. (Not all sample kits use the same source beans or the same roaster, however. The logistics of that just weren't practical.)
As someone who really needs to mostly drink decaf, it was really interesting to directly compare the results. My group unanimously thought the water process was weak and terrible, but split on rather ethyl acetate or CO2 was better. Each of those removed some of the more interesting notes from the control, but it was really just personal preference for which of those notes we liked more.
It also reinforced my belief that, while decaffeination does slightly reduce quality, the vast majority of crappy decaf is crappy because people don't bother to brew it properly.
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I forgot to mention, I finally closed out the IMDb Top 250 English movie list last week, and I'm still current on their overall Top 250. I think I'll start on the Letterboxd Top 250, which I'm only a fairly shocking 60% on! It's a LOT more international, so I'm looking forward to that.
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The I2C port expanders are being weird on the Ten Hundred control board, so let me distract you with SO MANY KEY SWITCHES!
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Finished printing the replacement keycaps, and did a set of the utility keys in red while I was at it. I think I'll probably use them, but I'm not committing either way until final assembly. It wouldn't shock me if I find more that I simply have to reprint, but for now I'm considering, at long last, this part of the project as done.
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Glad to be able to close out 2024 with one last rather silly video covering the intercom project. How hard could setting up antique telephones as an intercom system be?
https://youtu.be/mkJmT9kiu30
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