Always Random
Just worth saying
Ramblin’
I have been making more lithophanes on the Taig. I don’t plan to show them all off here. Some day when I have enough “good” ones I may decide to do a gallery here in Ramblin’ Dan.
I just ordered a backlighting kit from http://www.vibelights.com/info.html. Once I have it tested out I will show the results here. I may be buying a lot of these things.
The 5.5″ x 12″ work area on the Taig is fine for what I am doing now. However, the urge for a larger working area is always lingering. All my designs for a larger HB2 keep ending up looking like a certain commercial product. At least the designs with the components I can afford to use. Don’t be surprised (I won’t be) if HB2 ends up being a hybrid of commercial and home brew. There is little if any cost advantage to total component scrounging. As I have written in Funding HB2 there is retained value to tie in with a recognizable brand name product.
Next anticipated big event for Gloria and me (and Steve and Danielle and Aunt Shelley) in this little corner of N. Texas is the arrival of Tessa our first grandbaby sometime this month. Pictures will follow and of course Gpa’s plans for making “things” for her. 😉
ShopDog VAC
Here is a new use for the old, “man’s best friend”. I call it the Shopdog VAC. Here “Bingo” is busy cleaning up all the bits of aluminum “swarf” created by drilling and tapping 75 holes in an aluminum plate. The best part is he is very quite, so I don’t have to listen to the whine of the high powered electrical version. He does get in the way at times, being underfoot such as you see here. A good kick gets him started in a new direction though. His “poo” reflects sunlight out in the yard so it is easy to find and clean up. I have been thinking of recycling it but I can’t find a scrap yard that will take it. They keep telling me, “We don’t have to take that kind of sh.. from you!” Oh well…
🙂 Dan’l
P.S. Neither do you…
No dogs or humans were injured in the making of this story.
New Update in THMShop
I just posted an update to my Home-brew CNC machine in The Hobbyist’s Machine Shop. Go to the Site Tools menu and click on What’s New for a direct link. ~Dan’l
Missing RhinoCAM
I received the update to Rhinoceros 4.0 yesterday. It loaded into the MS Vista OS just fine. When first booted that worked fine. However, after clicking on a few axis quadrant displays (this is a 3D drawing program) there was an obvious problem. Various quadrant screens would black out. Ugh! I was sure this was a known problem and I expect first releases will usually have some bugs. Vista is certainly no easy beast to tame first time out. There were already two updates to Rhino version 4.0. A quick trip to the Rhino website and after what seemed like umpteen times asking me to enter my registration code, I obtained the updates.
A painless update install followed and I also updated Flamingo (update included with Rhino 4.0 package) to run with the new Rhino 4.0. Flamingo is a graphic ray tracing plug-in I purchased for Rhino 3.0. After a bit of work it makes drawn objects look real after rendering. I am glad I didn’t have to replace or pay to upgrade Flamingo.
Rhino 4.0 now starts quickly and flawlessly as compared to Rhino 3.0. The screen looks the same as my earlier version but perhaps the tool icons are a bit larger. Don’t know… It just seems “easier” to look at. That’s not very quantitative, but my impression. A tool you are going to use when drawing for hours on end needs to have a good “look” 🙂
I obtained the update through MecSoftat a very good discount. I also ordered and was to receive the update to RhinoCAM, another plug-in to run with Rhino 4.0. but for some reason the RhinoCAM update was not in the package. MecSoft is the producer of RhinoCAM (and Visual Mill) so I think they just forgot to put it… Continue reading
Late January Ramblin’
Texas weather is going crazy as usual. It is 32 degrees (F) and raining one day then 62 and sun the next which was yesterday. This morning it is 35 and semi cloudy. I know they say this in every place I have lived but, “If you don’t like the weather. just wait a day…” 🙂
Outside Christmas deco was taken down (finally) yesterday. When packing it looked like I cornered the market on outdoor extension cords. I use over 35 to run all the circuits on the computer controlled light system. The weather was perfect and my back feeling good enough to tackle the task. Ten more months and counting… too long to just leave them up.
The online store is doing OK. Gears are starting to sell very well. I recently sold a Proxxon lathe and have two folks at present wanting to know when I can get the next one. The one I own is for sale but to ship it would double the freight cost as I already paid to get it to me. Shipping it again would not be for free. I may just pay the tax on it and keep it for myself. It is a great little lathe and actually the same size Kozo uses to build his 3/4 scale locos. His is an Emco with the attached mill, no longer available.
My shop is a mess at the moment. I have several projects to work on and Christmas piled all around me. We will fix most of the pile problem today with a trip to storage. Here in the Dallas, Texas area, basements are unknown. Shop space is at a premium and usually must be shared. I am actually willing (dreaming) to move the shop to a rental space… Continue reading