Garden lights
Next the front garden needed some lights. To keep things in the same design i used the same materials as for the terrace.
However this time i made light in a mushroom shape. Again i used rvs bowls from IKEA, LED decklights from AliExpress and
32mm PVC pipe. I designed a groundpin holder and the lamp fitting which are 3D printed. The windows in thee pipe are
cut with the CNC cutter.
- By: A.A. van Zoelen
- On: 24/06/2018
CNC remote
The small CNC cutter can be controlled by hand or via a PC. Via de PC is prefered but too bad that the PC is located
at the other side of the wall. So controling the CNC had to be done a bit different. I bought a bluetooth numpad and asigned
keys to the motion directions.
- By: A.A. van Zoelen
- On: 21/06/2018
Stofler
Almost the longest day, no clouds to see and the moon in the sky.
This is the sketch made of the moon crater called Stofler. I used a BH pencil and a sheet of white paper.
- By: A.A. van Zoelen
- On: 20/06/2018
Terace lights
The terras is nearly finished and only the LED lights had to be bought. Wow, those lamps aren't cheap at all.
And even worse i need 11 of them. I can do better.
IKEA is your friend again. I bought 6 rvs bowls and cut them in halve. 3 plastic cutting boards where salvaged to make the wall mounts.
A ring made of a 32mm pvc pipe acts as lampholder. The wiring is hidden in the tube and the atachment to the pipe going
underground is 3D printed. For the LED lights i ordered a set decklights on AliExpress. Another job done..
- By: A.A. van Zoelen
- On: 11/06/2018
BBQ table
I am not a bg fan of BBQ but i do like slow cooking. For this i got a kamado and it is placed on top of an IKEA trolley.
However i want to have extra work surface but not a bigger trolley. The solution to this is to add foldable 'wings' on each side.
- By: A.A. van Zoelen
- On: 01/06/2018
Salon table
We are looking for a suitable salon table for sometime now but we can't find one that we like and not utterly overpriced.
That's where plan B jumps in. I had 3 pieces a scrap aluminium pijp, a ring made of a square aluminium pipe, a
serving plate from IKEA (Skogsta) and a round glascover from an industrial ceiling light.
With TinkerCad.com i designed a few caps for the legs and printed them on my 3D printer. All parts where cut
to size and made fit together. The glass plate on top and there you go, one salon table to go.
- By: A.A. van Zoelen
- On: 13/05/2018
LED strip controller
A long ongoing project is a LED strip controller. What I want is to control a few LED strips via WiFi but not all the time.
Sometimes a motion detector will do just fine.
I made this with parts just of the shelves so no PCB or excessive soldering. Just a few boards and wire them all together.
Doing so will cost you far more less then trying to make all yourself.
So what is used:
1 Wemos D1 mini
1 12V 5A power supply
1 3v3 DC-DC converter
2 Full Color RGB LED Strip Driver Sensor v1.0
1 Motion detector
1 LDR
All together about US$25-
The housing is made with a lasercutter and everything fits nicely.
The box file for download.
I programmed the Wemos to serve a webpage where you can select the different options and set the behavior of each LED strip.
You can control among other things the color and the pattern. There are 2 patterns available namely pulsating a color
or go through a rainbow of colors. It's possible to control 2 LED strips of max 10 meter lenght each. Each LED strip can
have it's own settings for color, pattern, cycle speed, brightness and duration.
When you send in a control commmand via WiFi its stored in the eeprom of the Wemos. This way it's possible to trigger
the stored settings with a motion detector and if you like let the trigger depend on the level of darkness.
To do this i've added a LDR inside the motion detector and let the Wemos measure the light level on the analog pin
of the Wemos.
The source code is available.
- By: A.A. van Zoelen
- On: 10/05/2018
Plinth corners
For a renovation i had to replace the the plinths in the living. The corners aren't to square so to appling the right angle is difficult.
Also the plinth will house a few cables so the corners had to be flush. For that i created these 3D printed corners.
- By: A.A. van Zoelen
- On: 27/03/2018
Rangefinder
When changing materials with different thickness to be cut with my laser cutter I have to set the right focal length
above the material. However if I want to measure the distance then i have to open the machine. Safety measures
will then prevent that the bed height can be changed. I can press the door switch and then the machine will
power on and then with my other hand i am able to change the height of the bed. By then i am one hand short
because i also have to measure the correct height of the laser head above the material. To overcome this
hazardous situation I made this little device. It made with a Wemos Xi controller, an OLED display and
a VL53L0X sensor.
When needed i attach this device with a magnet to the laser head.
- By: A.A. van Zoelen
- On: 11/03/2018
Owls
I saw this lovely image of two owls on a branch and I thought 'how will this look as a hanger?'
Some drawing and laser cutting later I got a few of these cute looking hangers.
- By: A.A. van Zoelen
- On: 17/02/2018
Astrolabe
This small case hold a astrolabe. The bos was laser cut and engrave on the front side.
I had to learn to use some obscure chinese software that came with my laser cutter. So why not take the time to make something that not only looks
nice but is also of some use.
This astrolabe was designed using the information found at this unique site at http://www.astrolabeproject.com/
- By: A.A. van Zoelen
- On: 12/02/2018
Telescope revision
My self made telescope had a wrong type of mirror. It was spherical and at an 8" F/4 needs a parabolic shaped mirror to get images in focus.
To solve this i replaced the mirror but the new one has a slightly longer focal length. To compensate this i could have made the trusses longer but
i choose the made a new adapter for the ocular. Its a 2" focuser but my oculars are 1.25". This give me some room to make a tapered adapter.
Again this is a 3D printed part.
- By: A.A. van Zoelen
- On: 30/01/2018
Pocket RoboRally
A good friend of mine like to play board games a lot. I made this pocket version of the board game RoboRally for her birthday.
All parts are 3D printed and it took me hours to paint them.
Here's another picture with a coin for the size.
- By: A.A. van Zoelen
- On: 25/01/2018
Storage
Recently i obtained a laser cutter. With it i started to fix the storage problem i have. I don't have enough storage to put all my electronic parts
away in a organized manner. I designed this drawer system to be stack-able. You can just add drawers to it a much as you like.
- By: A.A. van Zoelen
- On: 20/01/2018
KWH box
For an extra set solar panels i needed a KWH meter to record their production.
I bought a DIN rail version because it's a lot cheaper.
However what isn't cheap is the box to put it in. No 'problemo' if you got a 3D printer. Made a quick sketch and soon after i had my box for under a Euro.
- By: A.A. van Zoelen
- On: 17/01/2018
Extra lights
It's this time of the year that it's all day quite dark. Because of that my wife was complaining that she didn't had good lighting in her room.
To fix this problem i made this LED armature with 3 huge LED spots. Each spot can be switch on an off remotely. When all three spots are on it is as
the sun is shinning again.
- By: A.A. van Zoelen
- On: 08/01/2018
adapter
A quick try to connect a mobile phone to a telescope. This holder is clamped to the ocular and the phone is tucked between the two
sliding blocks. Some more fiddling is needed to get an image on screen before you can take a picture.
- By: A.A. van Zoelen
- On: 06/01/2018
New year, new start
An other year and about time that i update my site again.
At the moment is am swamped with work. In and around the house, the garden, the terrace
and more. You name it and i am busy with it. My workshop is an old garage with a steel door that can't open any more. The plan was to close off the door
but instead i reused the bricks that was previously my terrace and made this extension for my workshop. It's nearly finished by now.
- By: A.A. van Zoelen
- On: 05/01/2018