Archived threads in /diy/ - Do It yourself - 68. page
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Hi /diy/, engineering noob here.
Have a look at the picture. Let's say the red box is a button. What kind of mechanism would be needed to push the two blue boxes outward when the button is pushed down, but allow it to retract to its original position once pressure was removed?
Thanks for the help.
>>994957
it depends...
>>994957
The easiest way would be to have the button push an incompressible fluid.
See pic
Think hydraulic actuator but with you supplying the pressure.
>>994957
Or something like this where the red stuff between the blue blocks are a spring
I have been looking for some time to make a 3d printer but lack of materials like ABS printed pieces or wood cutting habilities..Also knowledge.. sooo I wondered if I could manage to make a small 3d printer to make pieces for a bigger one using Kennex for start. I know I will have to spend some money for motors and an stuff, but try to be as less as possible. To move the motors don't know what to use. I was thinking about using Arduino to mount the motors cause i google it but not sure if it's the best option.
If you have to ask this question, then you don't have nearly the knowledge it would take to make a precision machine like a 3D printer.
Knex won't be stable enough, you'll get shitty prints.
>>994902
It has been done, It took 3 sec to look it up in a search engine ; https://3dprint.com/11001/mec-nex-3d-printer-k-nex/
I've read something about using stepper motors from old regular printers and stuff like that but the printbed and the hotend are huge issues when you're making a 3d printer yourself from low cost materials. Its also more difficult to calibrate.
So you'll most likely end up with low quality prints either way.
>>994904
And as we all know, it's impossible to acquire knowledge you don't already have.
I want to fence in a small area (about 3'x4') and have one of the sides of the fence be completely removable. What would be a good type of fastener to use for the removable side? The side needs to be secure when attached but relatively easy to remove. I can't just use a hinge because I want to completely remove the side of the fence, not just open it. I'm sure there's something out there, I just don't know what the proper term to search for is.
slots, so you can slide the panel up and remove it.
or screws if you are lazy and have a drill close at all times.
>>994868
>slots
Thanks, that seems feasible. Maybe I could even cut the slots like an upside down L shape and have dowels coming out of the removable side so I could slide it in from the side and then down rather than having the slide it all the way up and down.
![61D-n8-0o5L._SY355_[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/ppY8BpX.jpg "61D-n8-0o5L._SY355_[1].jpg")
>>994868
>slots, so you can slide the panel up and remove it.
I was going to recommend loking into stake bed hardware. Because that's pretty much what they do.
Hey guys, noob here.
I have a petrol car engine, a chainsaw engine, a couple of car engine generators and I might be able to make a tesla turbine.
What can I do with these things? Say, if I want to be 100% off the grid and I start from scratch cut off from water and power but I have an old farm.
Any ideas or pointers where to find info about related?
>>994781
you can use the car engine and alternators, assuming 1 on the engine plus two more in place of the PS pump and AC that's 3kW +/- losses at 12VDC, you can then feed this into an inverter, the efficiency will drop to 65%, so you now have 2kW of usable electricity.
the car engine wont last long on a low load for very long with stock tuning, you'll want to lean the mixture out and adjust the timing to de-tune it so it produces all the required power(10hp) at 1,500rpm and nothing more.
forget the turbine,...
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>>994794
No water in the house. plumbing, yes. There's a lake 50m from the main building which will also house the machinery for electricity and water etc.
I have ten 12v car batteries. I forgot to mention this in the first post.
Let's assume I have the turbine.
>>994781
You're going to want to change the pulleys on the alternators because at idle they won't be producing much electricity.
The size inverter you'll need and charge controller will get expensive.
Looks really nice. And only 999 USD, sounds like a killer deal for a poorfag like me.
However it seems that the shipping to Finland costs 200USD and the import tax is gonna be around 300EUR. The only European vendor (that ships to Finland) is in Denmark and while the shipping is lower, they sell the Sparkfun version for 1600EUR and the customs will still bite me in the ass.
What options do I have? Can I bring the price down reasonably by sourcing as much parts as I can in my country? Is it even possible? They tout the project as "Open Source" but I'm...
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If you don't mind a Chinese product with a slightly reduced engraving area, I have heard good things about the 3040 series of cnc machines.
http://www.amazon.com/CNCShop-Engraving-Machine-Engraver-Woodworking/dp/B012CFPL7M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1463449114&sr=8-2&keywords=3040+cnc
It includes a spindle motor so that already makes it a better value than the shapeoko in that regard; the downside is that the electronics are dated, you need a true parallel port to control it or one of those usb to parallel motion controllers (generic usb to serial...
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>>994433
Shapeoko 3 is no longer open source
A lot of their popularity came from being an open machine. You could buy more extrusion and make the machine gigantic if you wanted.
Now the 3rd iteration uses proprietary extrusion which defeats a large selling point of the older machines.
With that said, they will still be a good machine. Is it 1500 euro good?
Maybe not.
Im not sure of other options but I would keep looking. For 1500 euro you could built a much more stout machine from scratch.
>>994537
>>994578
Thanks for the insight.
The 3040 seems like the best bet, although it seems that I could build a Shapeoko2 and upgrade it to X-Carve for really cheap. Alas, it appears that Shapeoko2 has been made as hard as possible to get/build now that 3 is out.
The project manager seems to be in full damage control mode in the Sparkfun comments section and makes it sound like it totally is open guys but I can't help but to feel fishy.
I'll look...
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Hi, I need to find out how to change the density of silicon glue after solidified.
Can anyone help me?
pic not related
You can't just change the density of a material and hope it sticks, it's a chemical property.
Do you mean how hard it is or something??
>>994399
I guess you could manipulate ambient pressure and temperature so that it increases or decreases it's volume. The mass would stay constant, boom, there's your density change.
I want that the silicon glue become more softer and jelly like after it dries. It will need to stick to a magnet ball, for a experiment.
This nut is being a real bitch to get off.
Wd40 didn't work. Bust a nut didn't work. Freeze off didnt work. Damaged nut remover just peeled the crome cover off it. Hammering slighltly under sized sockets on was a waste of time. I even tried drilling the threads so i could peel the nut apart. That didnt really work but it did seem to allow lubricant to get where it is needed and it turned with a hammered on socket but only until the two edges made by the drilling met.
Clearly I am not conceened with the lug or the nut at this point. Id like to not fuck...
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>>994141
you really busted a nut there, anon
>>994141
Use a grinder with a cut off wheel and just cut through the whole damn thing.
find a large nut that the ID barely fits around the toasted nut. align it over the screwed up nut. weld the inner part of the new nut to the old messed up nut. the heat will help with the removal and you have a good nut to grab with a socket.
I own a house over 110 years old. I've had to replace 5 windows. They are stiff and I'd like to get some handle for them so they are easier to open.
PIC related is what I have elsewhere in the house on some french doors. I'd like to find something identical or at least similar. I've been looking around ebay but no luck. Does an /diy/er have a good source for old handles?
If you have the cash, there are services that will reproduce old hardware. Be prepared to have your ass thoroughly ravaged though.
Have you considered having the windows fixed? Chances are they are out of square due to age. Do they have counter weights in them?
>>993936
The 5 windows in question where replaced 1.5 years ago. They are stiff because springs in the sides press against the window. This is a Good Thing as it creates a tight seal, preventing hot air from getting out.
>>993951
If they're single pane it doesn't help too much.
I have a 48 inch Samsung TV(center stand)
They gave me the wrong screws for the stand and I won't have them for another 6 days.
Is there any decent way to rig this TV to stand up and be usable until then?
Anyone?
>>993881
Nail it on the wall
>>993881
>tv stand
Mount it on the wall you tinky council house cretin.
Hello! I have just retired and finally have the time to follow a lifelong dream of building robots and coding AI for them.
I have experience in AI programming for video games, and absolutely NO experience with robotics, electronics, etc.
I'd like to build a 4-wheeled robot that roams around, using some kind of sensor to avoid obstacles.
I'd greatly appreciate some responses to any of the following;
Is Raspberry Pi my best option? What are the alternatives? Pros and cons of each?
Where is a good place to source materials from? Are...
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Forgot to mention, my end goal is to build multiple battle bots, and have them play a 'knock the opponents out of the arena' game.
Myself and a few friends will take 1 bot each (each identically built) and code our own AI for them to try to win.
>>993712
>Is Raspberry Pi my best option?
It's overkill for the type of project you're describing and will be more difficult than Arduino or other microcontrollers (PIC, ARM, etc). A PI is a full fledged computer where you write software that goes on top of an OS. That gives you some nice features like a file system and multitasking, but now you've got to deal with getting the OS configured to let you use GPIO pins, launch your program on startup, etc. It also draws a lot of power...
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>>993722
Thanks. So you'd recommend Arduino?
I visited a friend who works at a pet store today, and while checking out the new fishies that had came in I made the decision to either save up for a simple aquarium or build one myself.
Constructing the aquarium doesn't appear to be that difficult; however, it's a personal project and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Most of the simpler builds just look like simple plate glass net + silicone sealant. That's what I'll be going on.
The dimensions I'm looking at for my build are 750mm x 300mm x 350mm, which would give me about...
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Bump for interest
So based on my spurious calculations, I think I'm going to have to downsize to 745 X 30 X 60 to ensure I have enough material.
That would give me a total volume of 134L, which is still okay.
The idea was to have a narrow, tall shape for the aquarium. Pic related; look at the tv. It's at the foot of my bed. I occasionally use it but would prefer something more ambient and less intrusive.
Ideally I would have an aquarium the same shape and rough dimensions as the tv.
10mm is pretty heavy glass, you can usually get by with 5-6mm, but if you're down to using whatever you can grab I guess it'll do.
Problem with the tall, narrow tanks is they're both a bit of a shit to clean and its sometimes hard to fit gear like filters and powerheads in them, don't forget a lid as well to bounce any fish that get airborne in them.
A group of people and me really like building and shooting slingshots like this one. We mostly craft them from wood and metal. Do you have any ideas what (non-obvious) material or manufacturing technique we can also use?
>>993694
some micarta could be pretty.
>>993706
That actually sounds very good. Is there any way of fabricating similar material (with enough strength for a slingshot!) by oneself?
>>993694
joergsprave on youtube is fairly entertaining.
Guess when it comes to materials its a case of cost vs effectiveness really, or if you're after a certain look. Both brass and aluminium are nice, easy materials to work with (just not together- they eat each other) and some tropical hardwoods look pretty nice when given a good polish.
Hey, /diy/nosaurs, I have an idea that I wanted to ask you about.
So I bought a couple of the NodeMCU ESP8266 Wifi Development Boards and I already know what I want to do with one of them.
I want to make a sort of "Twitch Plays" setup, but in real life with an actual controller.
Let me greentext this shit so it makes a little more sense and you can get what I want to do:
>Players connect to page that I have set up with the NodeMCU board
>A series of buttons (not toggle switches) are...
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Pic related is the NodeMCU, by the way.
not helping until you rephrase the question with the words shipping container and/or tiny home
The console is constantly polling that shift register, reading the state of the button. There's nothing magic going on. You just need what you're doing to look the same as a button press to that chip.
Tie common together between the NodeMCU board and the controller board and connect some wires from the GPIO pins to the high side of the button pad. Then just think of a momentary switch as two toggle switches back to back with a time delay between-- pull it low, wait, pull it high again. This is the easy part of what you're trying to do.
so I'm about to start restoring a bicycle very much like pic related, mainly the frame made from socialist steel.
How do I go about painting it properly?
It has old paint on it and some rust.
I already have a decent steel surface paint remover so that's sorted out and a steel brush end for a tool to do away with the rust.
From there I'm kinda lost.
I figure: an anti-rust ground paint - one layer, second layer, sand with 12000 grit, apply final paint 1st coat and then second coat and it's done.
Would this be the proper course of action?
add a heavy duty clear coat over the top
>>993400
well I was thinking of painting it with matte paint, pretty sure that would ruin the finish
forgot to mention I would be spray painting
>>993401
It's your bike but personally I'd use gloss, matte picks up crud like a magnet, anyway you can get matte clear coat spray.
Sup /DIY/,
I'm getting into making my own loot crates. Kind of a middle-ground between gifting people something that is both home-made and not worthless. You know, for Christmas, Halloween, etc.
Thus far I've made a few rough prototypes like pic related with themes like Resident Evil. As far as materials go, I've done everything from hit up the 99 cent store to digging around in my junk drawer.
So I'm looking to trade up in materials and brainstorming. Doing things like getting properly-shaped boxes from online, printing out labels/stickers,...
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>>992581
That looks terrible.
Anyways, a tip.
Get yourself a cheap laser printer, some xylene (hardware store) and a brush. Print something on thick paper, lay it flat down on cardboard and start brushing with xylene.
Use something to push the paper down (burnishing) and repeat a few times.
The image from the paper is now transferred to the cardboard. People always are amazed how you got the image on.
For extra info, this process is called "solvent transfer".
>>992586
>That looks terrible.
>protoype
No but it's a great idea mate. Have 3 for dudes and 3 for chicks on hand for birthdays.
Good plan.
Also love this solvent transfer idea
