Category: Random Nonsense

Sometimes I just feel compelled to share nonsense, random thoughts, and sometimes just stuff I want to save

Skeinosaur – I choose you!

A printable knitting machine?!  Awesome.  Everything about this is just plain awesome.

3/9/2008:  “Homemade knitting machine using old printer parts, two servos and a Picaxe-18x microcontroller”

2/7/2009: “Faster machine with new carriage, needle and wool drive designs.”

4/30/2009: “Semi automatic machine where the needles are fixed.”

11/7/2009:  “Simple to construct and use knitting gadget”

Dang.  I have zero desire to knit – but I really kinda want to build these…

Also, obligatory reference to evidence of my evil lazzor dinosaur army defeating Team Buser.  Also, thanks to one Tony Buser for the above info and links!

Your mamma was so rusty

I recently watched this bit from Doctor Who.  Cybermen and Daleks insulting one another?  Heck yes!

  • Our species are similar, though your design is inelegant.
  • Daleks have no concept of eh-leh-gance.
  • This is obvious.  But, consider – our technologies are compatible.  Cybermen plus Daleks.  Together we could upgrade the universe.
  • Request denied.
  • Hostile elements will be deleted.
  • Exterminate.
  • Open visual link.  Daleks be warned.  You have declared war upon the Cybermen.
  • This is not war.  This is pest control.
  • We have five million Cybermen.  How many are you?
  • Four.
  • You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?
  • We would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek.  You are superior in only one respect.
  • What is that?
  • You are better at dying.

I had a dream last night…

And, it isn’t the first time.  I was going into excruciating detail about calculating and calibrating a good Skeinforge profile.  Well, we can use a thread thickness of such-and-such, a layer height of such and such, oh, and what plastic are you using?

Admittedly, just before bed I had chatted with several MakerBot/RepRap guys and was tinkering with ProfileMaker v3.0, so math and SCIENCE must have been dominating my thoughts.

How not to ask for tech support

DISCLAIMER:  This has nothing to do with MakerBot, MakerBlock, or anything you see on this site.  This is me venting my frustration at a user of a totally totally different website that has nothing to do with awesome cool robots.1

“Oh, yeah, you know, it’s just not working for me.”

Great.  Thanks for that.  I don’t know what you tried or how.  Did you take your computer out of the box it came in?  Is there a keyboard?  Plug your computer in?  Take the sheet off of your monitor?  Are you wearing a blindfold?  Is your hair too long and obscuring your vision?  Do you have an internet connection?  Are you surfing from your phone, a laptop, desktop?  Could you bring the web page up?  Is the program too slow or are you not able to use it at all?  What happens when you try to use it?

  1. But, damn, I sure wish it did have something to do with awesome cool robots! [↩]

Another interesting project – Tater Tot Gun

This is a project I stumbled across a few years ago.  It’s a “Tater Tot Gun” – a pneumatic gun which uses a small bike pump to pressurize a chamber and hold a semi-rigid diaphragm in place.  When the chamber is very slightly decompressed, the diaphragm falls out of place releasing all of the pressure and accelerating your projectile.  Apparently it’s capable of more than 350 ft/s versus 1000 ft/s for an actual firearm. If this project at all interests you, definitely check out the two or three different models he describes.

Bottom line:  it’s crazy dangerous.  So, naturally, I bought two mini-bike pumps.  I not going to be completing this any time soon. 1

  1. I bought those bike pumps about three years ago… [↩]

I would like to thank my agent…

…the Hollywood foreign press…

Actually, huge thanks to Dave Durant for the math and answering questions, Renosis for exhaustive testing and feedback.  Thanks also to all of the other beta testers of whom there are too many to name.  Um, they’re playing the music,…  uh, uh, Honey – we did it!  Um…  Free Tibet!  and… um…  I’m King of the World1 !!!

—

In seriousness, since the launch of the first ProfileMaker v1.0 less than a week ago there have been 152 profile settings generated and the beta testers generated 270 profile settings through ProfileMaker v2.0.  Version 2.0 incorporates many of the things mentioned in the recent poll. 2  Here are some of those improvements:

  • ABS as well as PLA
  • Works with 1.75 and 3mm or any filament diameter you choose
  • Ability to change the feedrate, the mysterious gear swell, and gear diameter

I’ve already begun work on ProfileMaker 3.0.  If you want to help as a beta tester, or get the math involved, or want to help kick the tires of the user interface please drop me a line or leave a comment.

  1. of web based 3D printing calculators that solve for flowrate for stepper extruders [↩]
  2. Still active as of right now – but get your votes in if you want to let your voice be heard [↩]
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