My Blog

Skill Badges

Fri, 2 Mar 2012 15:59:32 -0500

There is a new article on the Internet today about skill badges. You might notice a familiar name in the picture on that article... mine! Adafruit is going to start handing out skill badges to young makers. I was lucky enough to be one of the first few beta testers and was awarded a “Lasers” badge. As you may know, many of my robots are cut out on my high school’s laser cutter. Now I have a nifty badge to show off my skill.

My Free Day Order Arrives

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:45:48 -0500

Free Day is an event that Sparkfun Electronics has been putting on for the past 3 years. They basically give away $100 worth of store credit to thousands of people. Sparkfun Electronics is a company that I order a lot of robot parts from. The previous Free Days I came away with nothing. However, this year I was lucky enough to win, very very lucky. The system was based on the randomness of a geiger counter sensing radiation.

In the video above I show off my loot.
Here is what I ordered with my $100 credit:
- Thermal Printer
- Thermal Paper
- Arduino Pro
- Micro Nippers
- Heaterizer
- Solder Wick
- Barrel Jack Adapter

Today’s Mail Brings Birch

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:27:04 -0500

I received 3 sheets of 6”x12” birch plywood. You might be thinking that “3 sheets of 6”x12” birch plywood” does not sound like that much. You are correct. It is not that much. However, it should be enough to cut out da Vinci (don’t know what da Vinci is? Read my previous blog post). Some of the parts on da Vici will be made from acrylic as well.

Tomorrow we laser! That means tonight I have to finalize the design.

Gears and Project Name Revealed

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 01:24:02 -0500

This was the last part of the design for the etch-a-sketch robot. I searched google for how to design gears in AutoCAD. I ended up finding some pre-designed gears. If I remember correctly, I ended up using a 60 teeth gear on the etch-a-sketch and a 30 teeth gear on the motor. As you can see, the gears currently overlap. I am going to change the motor mount. I am turning the mounting holes into mounting slots. That will allow the motor placement to be adjusted. There will also not be a motor cut out in the mount. Instead, the motor will sit directly on top of the mount with 3/4” spacers.

I decided on a name for the project today, da Vinci.
Tomorrow I should have a “Today’s Mail Brings...” post because I am expecting a package.

Version 2 of Last Night’s Design

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 01:37:00 -0500

So I thought last night’s foam board design mock up was pretty successful. I decided to get more foam board today and make a version 2 of the design. Along with some general tweaks, I had some relatively major changes. The most obvious is the front panel. The whole thing was made taller to accommodate a front control panel. This panel will have a LCD, potentiometer, and button on it. There were some minor dimension changes else where. Everything looks good now. The most important part is getting the motors mounted in the correct location. I will probably slot the mounting holes so the motors’ position can be adjusted as needed. More pictures below: