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What I did today....

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Mickster

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Today, I went to the local tip/dump and salvaged a load of plated edge-connectors. PCI card connectors, SIMM/DIMM memory connectors, LCD monitor display panel boards, etc. and a few Cisco power module boards and fibre optic adapters.
If it shone, I got it.
Someone else is doing something similar, as most of the discarded Laptop/PC cases have the memory & ISA/PCI cards missing.... but they have overlooked the LCD monitors and TV's. Stripped about 30 LCD display panels.
Need to get there before they do next time, as most of the older cards have thicker plating.

What did you do today?
 
So far I've spent the entire day designing a solid state Tesla coil, which is a project I wanted to do for a long time but never found time. The design stage is about done for now, so I'll probably start prototyping soon :D
 
Mickster, are you salvaging the gold? In the 1980's I knew of a company that was removing the gold from PC boards with an electro-plating technique. I think they crushed the IC chips too so their gold would be exposed. They weren't sure how long they would be in business because newer boards had less gold in them.
 
I'm with Mickster.

There's a wealth of pieces/parts out there for free for those of us who like to salvage (or dumpster dive, take your pick).

Now, admittedly, I've got boxes and boxes of pieces/parts that I might never use (or remember I even have, for that matter :woot:).

But the point is, I've got'em!!... (now, just where is that stash of matched RCA 6146As...?).
 
Mechanical Stuff Intrigues me. Guess it comes with the territory. I still need to "finish" my 20W Amplifier project I posted a few weeks ago, but over the weekend, I worked on a stirling engine.

IMG_2647.jpg IMG_2652.JPG IMG_2653.JPG IMG_2651.jpg IMG_2648.jpg
 
Overclocked, do you have a CNC rig or are you doing the machining the old fashioned way?
 
Overclocked, do you have a CNC rig or are you doing the machining the old fashioned way?

CNC is overrated imho, too "easy" to do things. Im doing it the old fashion way, I only have a lathe and drill press; no mill (yet). Heres the thing: Ive never gone to school for machining in any way or form. Ive taught myself, and its quite easy. I use an empirical approach when I machine stuff. Its not set in stone like electronics are, as metal is quite malleable.

ADD: Apparently I also just hit my 555th Post, hehe.
 
Hi Guys

Milling machine coming for me....albeit a small one. Suits my needs perfectly:

**broken link removed**

They probably make the best minature power tools/machines ever :)

Enjoy and and check the site.

All the best,
tvtech
 
matt.
I'll bet that you found it was probably quite therapeutical, finally getting around to something that you wanted to do for some time?
Try and make some more time for the proto stage, as soon as you can. If you are happy doing something, it can only be beneficial for
your health, IMO, unless you are happy to do parachute-less-skydiving or something similarly crazy.

clyde.
I'm certainly interested in the salvage, although I'm fully aware that a huge amount of scrap is required for a very small yield.
I still have some research to do and possibly build a new power supply, as my current bench unit only does 20V 6A.
I'd like to build one which is capable of 30V & 10A and do a little reverse-plating, but there's always the chemical route.
Research is the key and working out which method would be best, along with the chemical requirements for both methods.
There's a quote in another member's sig line which states something like "If you enjoyed time spent doing nothing, it wasn't wasted."
The time spent stripping parts and snapping off the connectors, thus far, could easily have been spent sat in front of the 'idiot lantern'.

cowboy.
The stuff is definitely out there for the picking, if you're ready to do the leg-work.
I also salvaged some geared Faulhaber DC motors, with encoders, which are going on eBay for around 150 Euros a-piece, from a couple of DVD rental machines, along with a full set of belts, rails and linear bearings for a 3-axis setup (may finally get around to building that Rep-Rap now) plus a trio of card readers and a couple of 20x2 LCD displays.

Overclocked.
That's some nice work there and the photography, with the blueprints as a background, is a great touch.

@TV.
That's a nice little mill there, a CNC kit on that and Mach3 running it, will have you turning out stuff in no time.... your own PCB's, custom enclosures, wooden signs for people, custom knobs etc. Cambam is a great CAM program and there are plenty of people doing wonderful things with it. Have a look at the forum here:
http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/
There are people making all sorts of things and a couple of guys even making bespoke watches..... very nice too.

all members.
Please jump in and tell us what you are currently doing. Who knows where the discussion may end up?
We all have an interest in electronics, otherwise we would not be here, but it's great to see where the other interests of members lie.
This thread is open for absolutely anything within the forum rules and any form of drift is welcome!

Kindest regards,
Mick.
 
tvtech , proxxon mills are really great from what Ive read, but expensive and hard to get in the states. Eventually I want one of the grizzly mills. I want to be able to turn out gears for whatever reason.

Mickster , the camera is a Canon SX150. Its sort of a point and shoot but Ive had it hacked with CHDK at one point. My SX10 (which has 20x zoom) is hacked with CHDK for taking astro photos (AND HDR/RAW :woot:) . It does a decent job but I feel I might need to upgrade that one. Its a stand in for a DSLR, I want one but I dont take that many photos to justify a camera with an expensive lens.

The plans in the background are from the website below (They are free!). Side note: I couldnt locate glass syringes so I was going to use test tubes..But Those dont match what the plans call for, so Im using Brass Lined Cylinders and graphite pistons.

**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**

They are metric but thats OK.
 
matt.
I'll bet that you found it was probably quite therapeutical, finally getting around to something that you wanted to do for some time?
Try and make some more time for the proto stage, as soon as you can. If you are happy doing something, it can only be beneficial for
your health, IMO, unless you are happy to do parachute-less-skydiving or something similarly crazy.

Absolutely therapeutic! I find it very enjoyable and relaxing. I am gathering the parts I'll need for the prototypes now, and hope to start building very soon.
 
Since you asked...

This is my milling machine that I CNCed. It is running a program that I wrote. You can see a short video of making a circuit breaker panel for a boat here:

You can see how I mounted the stepper motors.

It follows an outline path on a bitmap picture. I only had to modify my program a little bit to stop and drill holes. That worked so well, and now I had control of the cutter depth, I was able to engrave the labels on the back side of the clear Plexiglas. I painted the back black, then cut a mirror image of the lettering on the back, only 0.010" deep. Then I painted the lettering white from the back side. Everything fit nicely.

The 3-D part of the program uses a gray scale bitmap picture for Compucarve routers to carve 3-D objects.

My program is written in C++ and communicates with three stepper motors thru the parallel printer port.


This is my first usable circuit board. It is Nigel's 18 pin PIC Tutorial Main Board.

1st board sm.jpg



The next ones, I will cut the isolation paths wider. It was a pain to solder without bridging that fine gap.

It was done with Eagle and the pbc-gcode program. I got a Mach3 interface board real cheap on eBay so I conformed and am using that for G-Code now.
 
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That's some nice work there Clyde.
I used Mach3 before and would like to make another mill.
I salvaged some rails and bearings from a machine and have a 3-axis kit stored back in the UK, so I may bring them next time I visit.
Although, I do have some steppers here and probably have most of the bits to make some drivers.
 
I thought of making my own mill, Ala Gingery Style, but I figured that by time I would get done,I would probably have spent as much or more as prebuilt one.

I HIGHLY recommend the Gingery series books to anyone and everyone. Their just cool to read even if your not into metal casting.

http://gingerybooks.com/

They are also on amazon.
 
The mill is nice.

What I did today is got very annoyed.

I'm trying to work out a fix for an all leather (was expensive) reclining chair. Typical construction: Sliding bars with a washer between them with a rivet acting as a shaft.
The washer is lost, but I have another side to look at.

So, I need to make a stack that looks like:

Shoulder screws
Thrust washer
Wave washer
Thrust washer
0.156 arm with a 3/8 hole in it (shaft size)
(bearing)
0.133) arm with a 1/4" hole in it.
Lock nut

The "bearing" can be one of two types.
Type 1: https://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-rolling-element-thrust-bearings/
Type 2: https://www.mcmaster.com/#thrust-washers/

Mcmaster-Carr doesn;t have the hardened thrust washers. Well, they do for some diameters, it's just very hidden.

Shoulder screws only come in certain shoulder lengths, BUT you can shorten or lengthen the effective lengths with shoulder shim washers available in
0.005, 0.010, 0.015, .030, 0.060 thicknesses.

So, I make a spreadsheet to be able to manipulate some of the numbers AND then the data for the wave washer
https://www.mcmaster.com/#crinkle-washers/ They list the overall height and the thickness, but I doubt the thickness is the minimum height. 2-3x the thickness might be Ok to use.

So, annoying. Trying to create a design and locate vendors.

--
Yesterday, I was trying to figure out what kind of 1/4" phone jack with an isolated break contact can be used in a micro/convection oven. See: https://www.switchcraft.com/Drawings/13e_cd.pdf
The original jacks was enclosed and seems custom. The OEM put the insulator on the phone plug. By examining both the enclosed and non-enclosed the non-enclosed would be better. To made the non-enclosed work, some part of the external oven cavity will have to be nibbled about 1/8" max x 0.750" to make a 1" x 0.750" hole a little bigger.
The enclosed portion still has to be created, but with PTFE heat shrink. Hot air up to 450 deg F can exit through the 1/4" opening making the Nylon brittle. In the enclosed case, the plastic can also embrittle, which it did and is the reason it needs replacing.

So, two possible fixes now that I'm using the non-enclosed jack:
1: Titanium washers on both sides to reduce the thermal conductivity combined with some sort of hole plug to use when the probe is not in use or replace the Nylon Insulator.
Both options will probably involve Macor (a machinable ceramic) in one way or another. The plug might be as simple as a 1/4" diameter of Macor cut and a lock ring placed on it, but would like to find a hook. So, that option doesn't seem too bad.
2. Replace the Nylon with Macor. A little harder because I have to use a friend's lathe, but the machining is very minimal. Just a very short shoulder. Then I could either use a high temp epoxy OR try a Plastic threadforming screw. The latter, I think I have. The epoxy might be too expensive for the amount I need.

Fun stuff!
 
Thanks guys

That is a handy little board. I will leave the whole Eagle project here for anyone that can use it.
PIC main.bot.etch.tap Is the Mach3 G-code to cut the circuit. PIC main.bot.drill.tap Is the Mach3 G-code to drill the holes.
It uses a 7805 regulator (TO220), 1K resistor for the LED and The switch is EG2585-ND SWITCH SLIDE SPDT R/A .5A PCB from Digikey.
There is a jumper wire from JP1 to JP2 for the ICSP header.
I redid it a little with some wider traces for easier soldering.
I didn't cut another board yet but it looks good on paper.

Main board.jpg


PIC board.jpg
 

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