Tag Archives: Workshop 88

Laser etched rubber stamp

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Jim

Ever since Mitch Altman presented the idea, I’ve thought hackerspace passports were pretty cool, if geeky.  (Thanks to Adafruit for the pic.)  I’ve also felt that Workshop 88 should be able to participate with a good stamp.  Of course we … Continue reading →

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W88 Laser Exhaust Fan Replacement

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Jim

When we first got the W88 laser cutter up and running, we scavenged the ancient circulation blower from the old, gutted in-wall furnace, took advantage of the 8″ flue/fresh air hole in the wall, and hacked a mounting to provide … Continue reading →

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Observations on laser cutter kerfs

Posted on December 17, 2015 by Jim

I wanted to have the laser cut center holes in 3mm acrylic gears that would provide just enough clearance to use 4-40 screws as pivots while allowing the gears to spin freely.  I didn’t know exactly how much clearance that … Continue reading →

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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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Shapeoko 2 cutting tests

Posted on September 11, 2014 by Jim

Now that the W88 Shapeoko 2 (graciously donated by Inventables) is mostly working, we tried some test cuts in various materials.  All were done with my old Dremel and a 1/8″ upcut end mill (WRONG: downcut; see update at end).  … Continue reading →

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But I marked it so that wouldn’t happen!

Posted on May 11, 2014 by Jim

Yeah, I use unpolarized connectors.  Good old 0.1″ headers are cheap, small, plentiful, and I’m pretty comfortable using them.  For the power/I2C bus in the dollhouse, they were an obvious choice.  But because they’re unpolarized (OK, unless you make them … Continue reading →

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Adventures with the Workshop 88 Cupcake

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Jim

Driven by both my desire to be able to 3D print stuff for myself and desperation at needing to be able to do reasonable 3D printing demos for the schools and libraries that are asking us to do them, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Cupcake 3D printer, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Laser level teardown

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Jim

Workshop 88 was given a box (maybe 100?) of as-is laser levels.  I tore one apart for the goodies inside (as I expect several others will do).  Here’s what I learned. The levels were pretty high quality Keson LL150 commercial … Continue reading →

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Supply voltage brinksmanship for sound modules

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Jim

I’ve been working on two “3 volt” sound modules – a micro SD card module for the dollhouse and a from-scratch flash memory sampled sound playback device for the starter’s gun.  Neither one actually works on 3.3V.  So begins the … Continue reading →

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Dollhouse net with ATtiny85s

Posted on September 2, 2013 by Jim

(This is one of a pair of unrelated Tiny projects that seem to be going on in parallel.  I don’t think I could have chosen two more confusable projects if I’d tried.) These are the first steps in implementing a … Continue reading →

Posted in Tiny 85 stuff, Workshop 88 Stuff | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments