Month: February 2024
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Ordering PCBs
My parts finally arrived at the PCB manufacturer so I was able to place the PCBA order today! These are a slightly modified Malenki Nano R/C receiver and brushed ESC. The board layout is done in KiCAD. It is exported in Gerber format and uploaded to the manufacturer, along with a bill of materials and…
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My Worm Farm
Last year I decided to try vermicomposting. I put together a small composter using 5 gallon pails from Home Depot. Over the winter I neglected it a bit and let it dry out too much. When I checked it, there were dead worms. But, I noticed a few live ones, still, so decided to add…
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No Coffee?
I’m not a fan of bloodwork. I’m also not a fan of leaving the house without having a coffee. Messing up my fairly rigid morning routine does have a tendency to throw me off for the rest of the day. Now I need to buckle down and try to get some actual work done.
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Grow Sensor
It’s almost time to plant my pepper plants. (I usually target 10-12 weeks before plant-out which is late May to early June around here.) I like to monitor and control temperature and humidity under the seedling dome. My existing sensor was giving me some problems, so I decided to wire up a replacement. This is…
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Bungee Jumping?
A friend was over for coffee recently and wondered why I had a big bag of elastics. “Are you taking up bungee jumping?” he asked. Well, not bungee jumping. When packing a parachute, these elastics hold the deployment bag closed and hold all the lines in an orderly fashion. They tend to break after a…
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Sous Vide
I bought a smallish striploin. I trimmed most of the fat, then cut it into three pieces, about 2 pounds each. I seasoned each one differently before vacuum sealing and placing in the water bath for 48 hours. I place a small cutting board across the top to help keep the heat in and to…
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Dead Circuits
I spent today repairing some blown circuit boards. These failed for a variety of reasons — some known and some unknown. I was not hopeful about this one, but I removed this IC and cleaned up beneath it. There’s a hole in the PCB. This one isn’t getting repaired. This was probably the most impressive…
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Mailbag
I love it when packages arrive! Today I got three in the mail. First was a bag of 1104 Brushless DC Motors. These are destined to be the weapon motor in a fairyweight combat robot. Next was a couple ESCs to drive the motors. These claim to be 20A and they only weigh about 4…
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Soap
I made a batch of soap a few weeks ago. I think it’s cured enough to go in the sealed box with desiccant now. For those interested, it’s 80% light olive oil (with 0.05% ROE added) and 20% coconut oil. 6% superfat. Coloured with hydrated chromium oxide and scented with an artificial blend called Gunmetal.…