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Author Archives: mechatronicsguy
Quick storage rack for spray paint cans
At Robots and Dinosaurs, we’ve got huge numbers of spray paints, finishes and other bits and pieces that collect in tubs and never get used. Inevitably you can never find the colour you want, and because digging through all the tubs takes time, … Continue reading
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Cleaning up a Sieg X2 CNC mill
Recently a friend of mine Jason was downsizing to move house, and was looking to sell his CNC mill. I couldn’t resist giving it a home, especially after seeing how much effort he’d put into tweaking it over the years. Sadly the mill … Continue reading
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CNC milling log
Milling is a tricky business. There’s lots of variables to tweak; spindle speed (RPM), feed rate, how much depth to remove per pass and more. As an aide to memory, I made this quick spreadsheet: CNCworklog (DOCx) CNCworklog (PDF) This might seem … Continue reading
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Organising lots of small parts easily
Like a lot of people into making and electronics, I have huge number of parts. I do quite a bit of making at Robots and Dinosaurs, at home, and at occasionally at work, so I’m often travelling with parts to use … Continue reading
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Repairing an antique gamma spectrometer with an arduino
A while ago I got given an old Scalar-Counter unit (Thanks Gordon!). These machines are a real blast from the past: This was built far before LEDs were invented, and it uses a nifty vacuum fluorescent (or possibly neon) tube setup to show … Continue reading
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Lasercut test tube rack
Just a quick and simple project. I wanted a way to hold test tubes, and while there’s a few designs online already, none quite fit what I wanted. Some didn’t have enough reinforcing on the sides (so they might collapse if something … Continue reading
A cybernetic jar – Using Kipp’s apparatus with diet coke & mentos
I had a rather nice find today. Picked up a glass Kipp’s generator (from the always enjoyable Professor Plum’s for the modest price of $75.) Although I’m sure this one is a modern replica, the idea of a Kipps generator is really from another era. … Continue reading
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Quick build – a ‘Hyper-B’ inspired kinetic sculpture
It’s 9pm at the Sydney Makerspace and I’m just about to head home, when we start looking at kickstarter projects. After the usual round of terrible and physically impossible projects, we came across the lovely Hyper-B kit: and decided we had to … Continue reading
Transporting a giant robot — Part 2
After getting it back to Sydney, we had the not insignificant challenge of actually getting it into the Robots and Dinosaurs space. First thing to do was construct a ramp from 2x4s and spare plywood: The cheap block-and-tackle pulley set … Continue reading
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Transporting a giant robot — Part 1
Recently I picked up an old Fanuc Arcmate SR robot on eBay for very cheap. Only hitch was that it was in Melbourne, about 1000km away. The seller kindly helped us load it up, and remove the old steel base. … Continue reading
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Tinkerings 