Category Archives: probably boring

How long do 3D printed parts last?

Posted on February 5, 2023 by paulwallich

One data point to add to the world: in a dishwasher that’s used every day, about three years, maybe more. Back in 2020, I fixed the bottom rack of our dishwasher by printing some pegs and new wheels out of … Continue reading →

Posted in making, possibly useful, probably boring, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

I’m going to hell

Posted on January 31, 2023 by paulwallich

Pretty much ever since I upgraded to Ubuntu 22.04 (yeah, long term support), the software updater has been crashing. At first I worried, then a search mentioned that it was a known problem and in line for fixing, so I … Continue reading →

Posted in possibly useful, probably boring | Tagged | Leave a comment

This is why there are PCB fab services

Posted on July 24, 2022 by paulwallich

So the kid decided to teach a soldering workshop at geek camp. Of course that means a custom PCB (and custom firmware, but that’s not my department). Which meant that I finally got to test all those tutorials about etching … Continue reading →

Posted in making, possibly useful, probably boring | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Pin Dance

Posted on March 6, 2022 by paulwallich

Don’t get me wrong, I love Circuit Python. Sure, I could get stuff done in the ugly stepchild language that is Arduino, but the niggling details, the mediocre IDE, none of it was my friend. And truth to tell, it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in possibly useful, probably boring, things that don't work | Tagged , | Leave a comment

In praise of cattle

Posted on September 12, 2021 by paulwallich

The 16-year-old, who wants a career somewhere in IT, introduced me a while back to the distinction between pets and cattle. When something goes wrong with your pet, you nurse it back to health. When something goes wrong with one … Continue reading →

Posted in probably boring | Tagged | Leave a comment

Osmotic Bubbles

Posted on March 24, 2021 by paulwallich

Who knew? Our fancy toilet has been leaking for a while, and at long last I decided to do something about it. Which involved disassembling a bunch of toilet-body parts (remember, fancy), turning off the water and extracting the flush … Continue reading →

Posted in probably boring | Leave a comment

Thank you, Electronics Goldmine

Posted on February 9, 2021 by paulwallich

I admit it, I have an addiction to things that call themselves bargains. Down in the basement are multiple cubic feet of random electronic and mechanical components that looked like a good idea or might be useful someday or just … Continue reading →

Posted in possibly useful, probably boring | Leave a comment

Failing to fail

Posted on February 6, 2020 by paulwallich

I’ve been working on and off with Blinkinlabs’ BlinkyTape and pixels, which means also with their nice little app PatternPaint, which lets you create little light shows to download to their LED strands without all the annoying number-fiddling that is … Continue reading →

Posted in probably boring, things that don't work | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

In praise of useless information

Posted on December 13, 2019 by paulwallich

About a year ago, back when we were still doing laser night at Local64, C did a nice backlit laser-cut sign for me to put in the door downstairs, using a font that wasn’t properly speaking a stencil but still … Continue reading →

Posted in possibly useful, probably boring | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Vindicated

Posted on June 12, 2018 by paulwallich

About two years ago, for no really good reason, I designed a 3D-printable setup for coupling those standard gearmotors to Lego bricks and axles, and posted it at Youmagine. Hardly anyone liked it or downloaded it. Then, last week, Adafruit, … Continue reading →

Posted in making, probably boring | Tagged , , | Leave a comment