Author Archives: Jim

Bench camera mount

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Jim

I’ve often wished for stable camera mount above the bench where I take a lot of project pictures.  It needed to be quite flexible in where it could locate the camera, but still fairly rigid for say good registration of … Continue reading →

Posted in Photography/Camera stuff | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Damn Tribune “driveway delivery”

Posted on February 26, 2015 by Jim

My snowblower has eaten a couple of newspapers, but this was the worst case ever.  And it’s all the fault of the Tribune’s stupid “driveway delivery” policy.  (OK, maybe not – see very end.) Despite best efforts, I couldn’t pull … Continue reading →

Posted in Home Repair | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Clever flash diffuser

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Jim

A flash diffuser is often very helpful, especially for some of the closeups of hardware I take.  The better-than-nothing hack I’ve used dozens of times is a couple of folds of Kleenex over the Canon SD600’s built-in flash.  It’s free … Continue reading →

Posted in Photography/Camera stuff | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

“Sidewalk fertilizer” bag spout

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Jim

I’ve been using 10-10-10 fertilizer as salt/traction improver for icy sidewalks for several years now and am very happy with the approach.  The milk jug spreader and the inverted half-jug filler funnel work great. Less great is managing the bag … Continue reading →

Posted in Home Repair, Salt spreader | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Bondic zipper repair

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Jim

I’d never paid much attention to the implementation of the bottom part of a jacket zipper until my good jacket started to be hard to zip.  The “pin” side – that fits into the “box” on the other side – … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

W88 sign replacement

Posted on January 10, 2015 by Jim

Somehow the sign in front of the space got damaged and came down – not sure of the order.  It lasted just about 4 years – pretty good for an experimental prototype outside in Chicago winters and summers.  I recovered … Continue reading →

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New handle for Wusthof Classic knife

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Jim

Many years ago, when we redid the kitchen largely in white, we got a couple of Wusthof White Classic knives.  They were perfect (including fitting in with the decor), and were used daily.  But one day the #4066 3.5″ paring … Continue reading →

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

Cheap USBASP knockoff programmer

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Jim

I’ve been using the Arduino ISP programmer sketch, an Arduino, and one of my mini shield cables as my AVR programmer for a couple of years now, and that’s been pretty satisfactory.  There’s always an Arduino around, it works, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

CNC machine emulator for grbl

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Jim

I don’t have a CNC machine at home, but several times I’ve wanted to do some kind of testing that sort of needed a machine to see what was happening.  Not particularly to print or cut – just to watch … Continue reading →

Posted in Shapeoko | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Printing transparencies for PCBs with Epson NX300

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Jim

I need to print PCB artwork on transparencies for my preferred PCB making approach using presensitized board material.  My printer is an inexpensive Epson Stylus NX300.  That printer does not support printing on transparency. The problem is that the printer … Continue reading →

Posted in PCB Etching | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments