Author Archives: paulwallich

The finicky details are the easy part

Posted on August 7, 2017

For someone coming from a woodworking background, 3D engraving by laser is as far opposite from carving as it’s possible to get. Not just the medium — multiple machine passes from a specially-prepared bitmap — but also the understanding of … Continue reading →

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Glowforge!

Posted on July 12, 2017

My laser cutter arrived a few weeks ago. It’s pretty cool. Partly because I’ve been anticipating it for the better (worse?) part of two years, but mostly because it’s just there. I’ve used a laser cutter before, and this was … Continue reading →

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Arduino on Windows: not ready for prime time

Posted on July 10, 2017

I’ve been teaching a little middle-school mobile robot workshop at the 12-year-old’s school, and it’s been a mess. The kids did pretty well assembling the bots and wiring them up, but clearly I needed to spend much more than the … Continue reading →

Posted in going places, probably boring, things that don't work | Tagged | 3 Comments

Buy extension cords, not wire

Posted on March 1, 2017

When you’re in the sticks, your supply options are limited. That’s why the other day I bought a couple of extension cords instead of the bulk wire that was right on the other side of the aisle at the hardware … Continue reading →

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Solder first, Trim Headers Later

Posted on January 26, 2017

I had a bunch of Adafruit Metro Minis to solder up for a workshop I’m teaching, and –as usual — almost all the header strips were longer than they needed to be. I guess it’s much quicker to pack a … Continue reading →

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A really stupid feature set

Posted on November 14, 2016

In the process of getting solar panels, we talked ourselves into a heat pump with a couple of split heating/cooling units (gotta find something for all those nice renewable kilowatts to do). But it turns out that Mitsubishi designers are … Continue reading →

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Lubricate your fans

Posted on October 28, 2016

(tl;dr: if you have a fan that cools your hot end or heat break, lubricate it. It may solve some problems.) It’s a good thing I splurged on the dual extruder for my printrbot way back when. Not that I … Continue reading →

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