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Trash Can Sidewalk
Quick project this weekend to create an area for trash/recycling can storage. I used some odd 1×4 composite trim type boards left by the previous owner for most of the forms, for the tighter inside bend I cut a few strips of 1/8″ masonite panel and glued them together in-place. I also setup a length of drainage pipe to direct the gutter downspout under the sidewalk. Wire grid was set in place, then concrete hand-mixed in a wheelbarrow and poured. A few hours later I finished with a broom finish.
Eventually I may add a small fence/wall, but just getting the cans out of the driveway is a big improvement on its own. This yard in this area was holding a pile of landscaping rock until recently, now that it’s been moved the area will be planted with grass.
The sidewalk will eventually be extended around the garage, I’ll likely get a small cement mixer to make the process go faster – mixing a pour this size by hand it becomes difficult to mix and place the concrete fast enough that the beginning isn’t curing differently than the end, which makes finishing tricky.
Belt Sander Fix
Bandsaw Insert
Planer Dust Collection
Quick fabrication project to add a dust collector connection to the planer. The planer generates by far the most chips/dust of any tool, so this will be a welcome addition.
Chainsaw Sawmill v3.0
With the general success of the prototype chainsaw sawmill, I decided to make a more permanent/cleaner version. The idea is basically the same, but for easier installation/removal I decided to have this version clamp onto the bar rather then tie into the handle geometry. This version also allows for finer adjustment of thickness of cut via a sliding fence. (the previous version was only adjustable by adding/removing shims)
Piano Automation – Valve Control Board Build and Test
Last weekend I got around to populating and testing the piano valve control board. Unfortunately it did not work when initially powered on, I was able to track this down with a scope to problems with the level shift circuit between the pi and the shift registers. Rather than troubleshoot this farther I ended up re-designing and re-etching the board to replace my transistor array level shifter with an off-the-shelf level shifter sub-board. I also took this opportunity to #1 redesign the solenoid wire connections so that a pin header connection could be used rather than having the wires directly soldered to the board and #2 add a connector to the edge of the board to use the pi’s pin header connection.
In the mean time I had also created a 3d printed enclosure to hold the board on the back of the valve bank. This was important as it allowed the final solenoid wire lengths to be determined and I soldered all the solenoid wires onto a pin header. I also 3d printed a support ring to stabilize the pin header and hot glued it all together to act as a single strain relieved connector.
This weekend I was able to finish and test the re-design. All channels seem to be working OK and I’m able to control the piano keys individually from a tablet using a python script. I have some python scripts working that successfully decode the MIDI files, but I haven’t connected the dots between this and the hardware yet, that’ll be the next step along with hopefully adding a web interface.
Trailer Light Upgrade
The utility trailer frequently gets used off-road around the yard and woods for moving downed trees/branches, compost, rock, tools, etc. As a result, the standard plastic lights have taken a beating and I’ve had to replace them at least once. Since one of the lights was broken again recently I decided to upgrade them to use a standard all-metal semi trailer style light enclosure. This style of light fits better vertically than horizontally on this trailer, so I modified the enclosure to move the circular side light from the end of the light to the side. I then welded the light enclosure onto the trailer; the size of the light worked out perfectly to connect it to the old light mount and also the top rail of the trailer on each side, making it very strong. At the same time I replaced the side running lights with a low profile LED version and added a guard/deflector made from a small section of scrap rebar.
Custom Desk – Complete
I cut the trap door in the desktop, secured it back with some neat invisible hinges, and got it all assembled.
Custom Desk – Desktop
Continuing with the desk project, this weekend I built the desktop. I first planed down a few more pieces of the oak tree I cut down and dried last winter. This was supplemented with a few pieces of oak from a local hardwood store. I ran every piece through the table saw to get the edges straight, and then I laid the pieces together and perfected the joints with a hand plane. Once all the joints aligned perfectly I glued and clamped the pieces together with pipe clamps. Once the glue dried I cut the ends to length and added ends, making sure that the two outer attachments were slotted to allow for expansion/contraction.
There was some unavoidable variation in the joints across the top surface from the glue-up and this was leveled out with a hand power planer. The planer marks were then leveled with a belt sander and the belt sander scratches were removed with a orbital sander. I finished it off with stain and then applied polyurethane with a roller while using a torch to pop bubbles. The planing steps created a ton of dust so I didn’t get any in-progress pictures, here’s the result:
Next I’ll cut the trap door for the monitors and give it a final sanding and 2nd coat of polyurethane before attaching it to the desk.
Custom Desk – Monitor Lift Mechanism
I got the idea for the monitor lift from an example online using all-thread as lead screws to drive a platform. Essentially I’m just replicating this idea but with a few tweaks that take advantage of having the lathe to make it better/stronger, easier to build, and to take advantage of spare parts I already had.
First I cut the all-thread rod to length and then I turned down one end of each to fit the inside diameter of some spare bearings. I left an extra bit on the end and turned it down to fit the inside diameter of a timing belt drive sprocket – this was later replaced with a chain sprocket due to slipping. I repeated the same on the top side of each rod (without the extra bit for the drive sprocket) and then I cut some metal brackets to hold the outer bearings. I then cut a small platform and attached two nuts to it that would connect it to the threaded rods.
These parts were all assembled into the desk; a few small shims were needed to get the rods exactly parallel. I then connected the threaded rods together with a small #25 chain drive. To power the lift I tried a few different test motors and eventually settled on the guts from a small/cheap electric screwdriver – this provided enough torque while not requiring a huge power supply. It could be a bit faster and I need to add some sound damping, but it’s working very well for an initial attempt.
I also made some mounting plates to adapt the monitors to a fixed mounting since the regular bases were too wide. The monitors were then mounted to a 2×4 that acts as a spacer and also adds strength to the platform. Once the tabletop is in place the 2×4 and the rest of the mechanism will not be visible since the monitors will rise so that their bases are just flush with the top – I’ll likely add a trim piece to block this off. The monitors also drop low enough that the table top will clear with no problems.
The last step was adding limit switches and rewiring – moving the toggle switch up runs the lift up until the positive switch is tripped, and moving the switch down runs the lift down until the lower limit switch is tripped.
Next up will be making the tabletop…