Author Archives: Jim

Shapeoko 2 calibration runs

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Jim

Background After some issues with accuracy drilling holes in PCBs and concern about backlash with the GT2 belt drive that makes some real machinists roll their eyes, it was time to do some initial calibration investigation. Bill P brought in … Continue reading →

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Shapeoko 2 PCB drilling – and scale error

Posted on August 21, 2015 by Jim

Thanks to some urging from Steve S, we finally got geared up to try PCB drilling on the Shapeoko 2 at the space last Thursday (8/13/15).  (We had planned to use it to drill badge boards last September, but during … Continue reading →

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Security camera

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Jim

This is a sort of an append-only history of details of the camera project.  After I get all the software and server hardware running, I should make a nice concise writeup of the whole thing.  Someday. I’ve about given up … Continue reading →

Posted in Home Automation | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Over engineered tennis ball on a stick

Posted on July 9, 2015 by Jim

The lady said we needed tennis balls on sticks to clean the floor after the dance weekend, so that’s what we have. The exit holes for the zip ties were surprisingly easier to drill than the entrance holes.  The cutout … Continue reading →

Posted in Home Repair | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Re-registered TPMS – despite FTDI

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Jim

Background: My new Prius 5 (not V) came with 17″ wheels/tires – rather than the 15″ ones that came with lower trim levels.  Great! (I thought.)  Larger tire diameter will translate to smoother ride!  Well, No.  The wheels are larger, … Continue reading →

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‘Fixed’ 5.5V USB supply

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Jim

There was a nice little wall wart USB charger in the electronics lab at the space for general phone charging, running Arduinos, etc.  But when I tried to charge my new phone (Moto G) with it, it wouldn’t  charge.  Huh? … Continue reading →

Posted in Workshop 88 Stuff | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Low tech garbage pickup indicator

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Jim

Garbage day always brings the question “Has it been picked up yet?” as I look out the window at the cans.  Sometimes I hear the trucks rumbling down the street and watch the mechanical claw pick up the can, dump … Continue reading →

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Project Notes hacked

Posted on May 17, 2015 by Jim

I’ve had a problem over the past few months with someone hacking these Project Notes.  The symptom is a link with text “handjob santa” added very intermittently to the title block of the pages.  It has appeared immediately after “Jim’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellaneous | 3 Comments

Getting Tiny core working with Arduino 1.6.3

Posted on April 18, 2015 by Jim

The first time I tried to compile for an AT Tiny84 with Arduino IDE 1.6.3, it failed with a warning and an error.  The warning was “Third-party platform.txt does not define compiler.path.”  The error was “Error while compiling: missing ‘recipe.cpp.o.pattern’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Tiny 85 stuff | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Analog joystick

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Jim

I found this nice-feeling joystick for $2 at Goodwill, and thought it might make a good controller for an early demo of the LED wall display at the Northside Mini Maker Faire.  I’d originally planned to use a drum pad, … Continue reading →

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