Repairing a 45-year-old Atari 810 Disk Drive
A couple days ago, after putting off the project for decades (you know, kids and all), I finally dug out the old Atari 800 I had as a kid. The 800 fired up after a bit of cleaning but I’m…
Tag diy
Deep Sleep Logic and Reliable Timing on an ATtiny85 — Inside the Code
This is Part 2 of the BookNook Light Timer Series. Last time I introduced my BookNook Light Timer project and walked through how I planned to complete it using an ATtiny85 microcontroller. In this post, I wanted to unpack the…
How to Charge a 12V SLA Battery with a Desktop Power Supply
I have this little SLA battery that enables my emergency generator to start without using the pull cord. I don’t have a maintainer on this batter (and maybe I should), so every once in a while I like to charge…
How to Fix LETAU Cordless Blinds Mechanism
We got these blinds a couple of years ago from Amazon, and recently one of the string take-up mechanisms jammed because the string apparently came off the pulley wheel and wrapped around the shaft. I contacted customer service about how…
DIY Drum Sander
Backstory: We took down a red oak a couple years ago (Part 1 and Part 2) and I got it milled up for projects. Wifey wants a desk but the grain is a little tricky and my thickness planer just…
Outline an Image for Laser Cutting in Inkscape
Here’s how I start with a screenshot (bitmap) of a vector image and prepare it for laser cutting. Usually for cutting I need one path around the outside of the image (for the cut path), and then other paths that…
Dealing with ESPHome Disconnects
I have a bunch of ESPHome/ESP8266 projects, several of which are have been plagued by repeated disconnection during seemingly random times of instability. Sometimes they’ll be fine for days, and then suddenly they start acting up again, and it can…
$56 DIY Under Cabinet Lighting
We just remodeled our kitchen. A few months ago we had an electrician come out to give us an idea of what it would cost to add in under-cabinet lighting. Five fixtures came in at about $1,800 with a few…
Custom DIY Storage Banquette
I built this banquette over the weekend, posted it on Facebook, and now I have a few people asking for plans. While I don’t have any plans specifically, I did take a lot of pictures along the way to show…
3D Printer Club: Update Video
[sc:3dclub-intro] Here’s a quick update on some of the projects we’ve been working on this year: