I haven't had much time to write full articles but I can go through a quick rundown until I tackle each subject:
Will create a separate article about the mods and results.
I've re-tightened all the screws and tried to take out the backlash of the Z carrier. This has improved the jagged edges a bit and also reduced the noise.
I made a small DIY enclosure: A4 plastic sheet on one side, the glass from a picture frame in the front, the particle wood panel from that frame in the other side. The glass frame was affixed with some 3D printed clamps as well as a modified Tic-Tac box.
On the top of the printer I've cut some Ikea Schottis blinds (3$) that fold with the moving head. I found out afterwards that I'm not the first one to do this: https://ultimaker.com/en/community/9484-umo-dust-cover
I've cut a few pieces of 2.5-3mm glass to the bed dimensions. Rather, I've had a glass manufacturing company cut them for me (<10$). Then from the remains of another Tic-Tac box some springy corners were created that keep the glass in place. This allows the glass to be easily removed and replaced with great repeatability.
With the covers in place the printer gets warmer quicker and ABS can finally be printed, though still a bit fiddly. It also reduces dust a lot.
Some nice LED lights were also added, allowing to take better pictures of the things.
I've partially reverse-engineered the Win10 app that controls the keyboard backlight and now I have a Macbook-like backlight behavior on my X230. Source code and binaries will be published as soon as I clean them up, there is already an alpha version available for testing. I've been using that for at least a month and it's been running great.
The mystery part on my Saeco Saleo teardown article was indeed an IrDa transceiver. I thought that it was just a coffee cup sensor, to keep the cup warm. I've reverse engineered the Saeco Service Center tool (SSC) and figured out how to talk to the machine - in theory - including how the checksum is calculated.
I've seen a few pictures of the service unit and it looks to be just a USB to UART to IrDa converter. Hopefully.
The next step would be to build an ESP8266 Wifi-to-IrDa converter. I've read a bit on the IrDa SIR protocol and it looks manageable, even without interrupts, there are quire large tolerances specified.
I think that, with the ESP8266 build, the SSC tool should be able to directly talk to the coffee machine
The DieselBooster is still in tests, the fuel savings are quite a lot lower than anticipated, but still tangible. I've had nobody contact me about publishing the latest sources, so I've delayed that.
I've designed a module that allows a 3S LiPo battery to be left in parallel with the lead-acid ones, especially for motorcycle use. It will boost the voltage on cranking, allow it to be recharged up to 12.4V and generally keep the LiPo safe from overcharge and discharge. I will still need to build the project and test it, but it looks fine so far.
I've built a module that interfaces with Hall speed sensors on motorcycle/scooter wheels. These become weak over time (either the transistors or the magnets, not sure), but it's basically a hysteretic comparator.
At least on my bike, the sensor and cable comes in a single piece and costs 140 EUR second-hand. The module above can be built for ~1$.
I've been meaning to do a test of low-cost batteries for a while now. But, for my German readers, the gist is: Varta, Eneloop, Energizer- they all have their rated capacities or more. Ja! - very close, for a quarter of the price. Lidl/Aldi - junk.
I read all these German reviews that the Lidl/Aldi batteries are being developed by Varta. They very well may be, but the capacity is less than half, shrinking to under a quarter under load (0.5A).
Haven't tested the IKEA batteries yet.
As a price breakdown: you can buy the 4-pack AA Energizer at Rewe for ~6E or more, the Ja! batteries are 1.59E. I've tested the Ja! AA batteries to provide at least 1800mAh under small load compared to 2500 for the Energizer.
Here's a snapshot from a work-in-progress:
CTC 3D Dual (Bizer) Printer
Will create a separate article about the mods and results.
I've re-tightened all the screws and tried to take out the backlash of the Z carrier. This has improved the jagged edges a bit and also reduced the noise.
I made a small DIY enclosure: A4 plastic sheet on one side, the glass from a picture frame in the front, the particle wood panel from that frame in the other side. The glass frame was affixed with some 3D printed clamps as well as a modified Tic-Tac box.
On the top of the printer I've cut some Ikea Schottis blinds (3$) that fold with the moving head. I found out afterwards that I'm not the first one to do this: https://ultimaker.com/en/community/9484-umo-dust-cover
I've cut a few pieces of 2.5-3mm glass to the bed dimensions. Rather, I've had a glass manufacturing company cut them for me (<10$). Then from the remains of another Tic-Tac box some springy corners were created that keep the glass in place. This allows the glass to be easily removed and replaced with great repeatability.
With the covers in place the printer gets warmer quicker and ABS can finally be printed, though still a bit fiddly. It also reduces dust a lot.
Some nice LED lights were also added, allowing to take better pictures of the things.
Lenovo Thinkpad Backlight control
I've partially reverse-engineered the Win10 app that controls the keyboard backlight and now I have a Macbook-like backlight behavior on my X230. Source code and binaries will be published as soon as I clean them up, there is already an alpha version available for testing. I've been using that for at least a month and it's been running great.
Saeco infrared port
The mystery part on my Saeco Saleo teardown article was indeed an IrDa transceiver. I thought that it was just a coffee cup sensor, to keep the cup warm. I've reverse engineered the Saeco Service Center tool (SSC) and figured out how to talk to the machine - in theory - including how the checksum is calculated.
I've seen a few pictures of the service unit and it looks to be just a USB to UART to IrDa converter. Hopefully.
The next step would be to build an ESP8266 Wifi-to-IrDa converter. I've read a bit on the IrDa SIR protocol and it looks manageable, even without interrupts, there are quire large tolerances specified.
I think that, with the ESP8266 build, the SSC tool should be able to directly talk to the coffee machine
Automotive-type projects
The DieselBooster is still in tests, the fuel savings are quite a lot lower than anticipated, but still tangible. I've had nobody contact me about publishing the latest sources, so I've delayed that.
I've designed a module that allows a 3S LiPo battery to be left in parallel with the lead-acid ones, especially for motorcycle use. It will boost the voltage on cranking, allow it to be recharged up to 12.4V and generally keep the LiPo safe from overcharge and discharge. I will still need to build the project and test it, but it looks fine so far.
I've built a module that interfaces with Hall speed sensors on motorcycle/scooter wheels. These become weak over time (either the transistors or the magnets, not sure), but it's basically a hysteretic comparator.
At least on my bike, the sensor and cable comes in a single piece and costs 140 EUR second-hand. The module above can be built for ~1$.
Batteries
I've been meaning to do a test of low-cost batteries for a while now. But, for my German readers, the gist is: Varta, Eneloop, Energizer- they all have their rated capacities or more. Ja! - very close, for a quarter of the price. Lidl/Aldi - junk.
I read all these German reviews that the Lidl/Aldi batteries are being developed by Varta. They very well may be, but the capacity is less than half, shrinking to under a quarter under load (0.5A).
Haven't tested the IKEA batteries yet.
As a price breakdown: you can buy the 4-pack AA Energizer at Rewe for ~6E or more, the Ja! batteries are 1.59E. I've tested the Ja! AA batteries to provide at least 1800mAh under small load compared to 2500 for the Energizer.
Here's a snapshot from a work-in-progress:
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