Sometimes it is the small things. I was able to design cup and handheld scanner holders for forklifts for some friends. Here is the latest batch for them. About 18hr and 750g of ABS for two sets.

Anyone know where I can get a used Hesai connection box and cable for the QT128 devices that I just got off ebay? Conversely, anyone know of a good Automotive Ethernet (1000BASE-T) to standard ethernet converter for a good price?

When I go ebay sniping I win... 3 for 3. Now lets hope that one of the three is serviceable. What am I going to do with three lidar units you might ask...? Well that is a great question. In the words of the wise Tevye, "I don't know"...

I am back on the microscope project. First up, putting the mount ring on the lens adaptor. It was ~ø1mm too big & needed a hole for the lens release button. 3D printed a shim & used my 60W fiber laser to cut through the ~5mm thick AL to expose the lens release button.

@hackadayofficial.bsky.social the hackaday.social site has not been working for me for a while now. I am not sure of the best way to report things being down except through a different social media site.

This weekend parts came in for the microscope build. Reusing a motorized lift that was a replacement part for my laser that did not end up being used. Coupled to a geared lens positioning system. Then attached to a mount ring. @ubermeisters.bsky.social @gregsaunier.bsky.social

Initial test shots. iPhone 8 as the test subject. The iPhone screen has a 326ppi resolution. The lens was approx 6" (150mm) away from the screen when taking the picture.

Working to get my Canon 100mm Macro lens working with the Pinefeat adaptor. So far so good. I have gotten through the calibration, now to get that into the file so that autofocus can work.

Can't say that I have seen this before. Upload much faster than download. Down is supposed to be a Mb connection, but something is up.

This time under the microscope is a brass gear. It is ø9.4mm, 0.2mod, 45 tooth gear. Each tooth is about 0.4mm tall. In this method, I used a cleaning pass to remove oxides off the surface. That produced a very interesting stippling effect around the cut.

Any of my Cincy friends have a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens that I could borrow? Will be used indoors under very controlled conditions. I want to see how it will work as a digital microscope lens when paired with a Pinefeat adaptor to the RasPi High Quality Camera sensor.

New digital microscope came today. First look is at a tiny encoder that I cut on my laser. The windows are .0027" (.07mm) nominal sized. Some things that immediately jump out are the surface oxides and potential remelted. This view gives me ideas on future process improvements.

My most recent laser 0.2 module gears 0.8mm thick. ø9.4mm - 45 teeth ø3.4mm - 15 teeth I was also able to remove them from the frame and confirmed that they mesh. I still need to make some minor changes on the process, but custom gears in about 30min.

What are people using for lower cost digital microscopes lately? Thinking about getting the TOMLOV TM4K-AF Max. Main use cases are electronics rework and visual inspection of features under 0.001" (.025mm). Willing to spend up to $450 if there are substantially better features.

I went small with the laser. I got the features to 0.008" (.2mm) down to 0.004" (0.1mm) very successfully. From there, I tried to go down to 0.002" (0.05mm). The second picture is the best I could get on my current setup. I might be able to do better with a 70mm lens vs 150mm.

I am excited about this. This is the first engineering part that I have made on my ComMarker 60W MOPA laser. It is about .010" thick, and with deep engraving, it made it through in 3 passes. I am very happy with the result. Now I need to finish my laser enclosure for it.

I "upcycled" our small, Ikea kitchen table. Originally intended to be a temporary table while we moved, but ended up being around over a decade while our son got older. The legs were fine, but the top was falling apart. Bought a piece of granite and then hand polished the edges.

Finally able to get ST Micro MEMS Studio up and running. I am planing on using the LSM6DSV16X Accelerometer and the LPS28DFW waterproof pressure sensor for my current RC submarine effort. This tool will allow me to refine the sensor register settings and then import to my code.

I made a workstation for my @anycubic.bsky.social printers and Wash & Cure station. The Wash & Cure station pulls out so you reduce dripping on the floor when moving models from the printer to wash. There is a power strip on the back and I will add one to the front for support tools.

I had a steering bushing break on my lawn tractor. I decided to have a bit of fun and do a 3D scan and then convert that into a 3D cad model. Tomorrow I will print it, install it, and then mow the lawn.

I print a glider today on my @bambulabglobal.bsky.social H2D. It is printed from ASA. I am going to try ASA Aero next as well as making it in a larger scale. It flew well. www.thingiverse.com/thing:5531814

My latest use of Reality Capture in an off use method to extract key points from a wide variety of pictures that have been collected from the web. As can be seen, they do not lend themselves to photogrammetry. Despite this, I am able to extract the Control Points in 3D space.

@stim3on.bsky.social I just came across your "Ward's Midget" photogrammetry effort on the Japanese Type A midget submarine. Very well done. What tools do you use for your photogrammetry efforts? sketchfab.com/3d-models/ja...

Found this guy while clearing the yard of honeysuckle. It is always fun to see nature right in my backyard!

A quick scan that I made with my Revopoint Miraco 3D scanner in about 10 min. I needed to get the shape of the button to create a matching piece that will hold a small garage door opener.

Sketching new project. Inspired by the lilly of the valley plant, this will be a desk lamp. The green parts will be hand made from copper and then given a patina. The bells of the flower will be made of glass. The base marble and frosted glass that will backlight the marble.

Testing to see if my pictures keep going black after posting them. This is a picture of a submarine that I was doing some dimensional analysis on in Inkscape.

Vacation means submarine CAD work. This week, working on the Kairyu. Despite having original, or near original source data does not always mean that it is right. This is the hardest part of the process. It is always interesting to find errors in original source data.

Finally making progress on the Kairyu design. I started a few years ago, using some low resolution and very distorted plans from the US Naval Technical Mission to Japan. I now have official copies of plans for quite a few aspects of this boat.

We had a fox visiting the backyard after the snow

Anyone else getting a bunch of adult themed bots following them in the last three days? I have reported them to @moderation.bsky.app, but they are still live so far. Some reusing the same profile pic, and most riffing on the same basic handle with variations in the @"name" in most cases

We made another functional 3D print. We got a bird feeder that identifies what type of birds come to feed. We have put our bird feeders outside the kitchen table window because it keeps the squirrels out of the feeder. This new feeder did not come with a window mount, so we had to design one.

Got my first run of my ComMarker B6, 60W MOPA laser. This is just a test file, but I am very pleased with the initial result!

Had great fun with the family this week. Watched movies, a great dinner, and my son and I were able to have fun in both virtual and physical worlds. We are doing RC flight sims in prep of actual airplanes. The transmitters came with pokey thumb sticks. So we designed new ones.

Doing RC flight simulator with the son. I am not a fan of the little plane I was flying. All speed no maneuverability.

New toy came today, 60W MOPA laser. It can control the pulse in a way that you can grow colored oxides on metals like stainless steel and titanium. My guess is that it will generally work on self passivating metals. I have a rotary attachment that is coming as well.

Today I was able to get some things out of my head. This is a bit of stream of consciousness as I started to converge on an idea. I have some hand sketches that started it, and then moved to a simple tool such as PowerPoint to increase fidelity without significant time going to 3D.

I was looking for some magnetic encoder chips and came across the MPS MP6551 DC motor driver IC. Looks like combined Rds,on is under 30mOhms. I may have to get some to play with. I also want to get some of their encoders for my project too! www.monolithicpower.com/en/products/...

Continuing to play with my metalsmithing/jewelry projects.

Me playing with some more creative things. Making some leaves that will eventually be part of a rose. Made from copper so that I can turn them green. Made from solid strand copper wire. First time playing with metalsmithing.

I suppose that I should post something to introduce myself. I like rockets, airplanes, submarines, electronics, engineering, and making stuff. Especially when they are interrelated. Here is a project that my son and I did from scratch over the summer.