Meet Thursday Next

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Today all I’ve felt like doing is sitting and reading. I’m revisiting a series of books I first read years ago, and I’m enjoying them just as much second time round. They are by Jasper Fforde. They are about a time travelling crime fighter who can also go and live in books. She’s called Thursday Next (all the character names are fantastic) and she lives in a parallel reality (I probably should have mentioned that first).

Anyhoo, the books are a riot and incredibly clever. If you are missing Douglas Adams or Harry Harrison you really should take a look. You can find the first episode here. Jasper Fford also has a splendid website (all hand coded by the author in HTML - respect) which you can find here.

Coding with Covid

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I had lots of plans for the next week or so. None of which included catching Covid. But there you are. Apparently there is a lot of it about at the moment. I’m the only person in the family who has tested positive so far, which means that I’m confined to upstairs and can only eat things which can be slid under the door. Fortunately I like pizza. The good news is that I’m getting a lot of code written at the moment.

Spintronics and Tagjousts in HackSpace Magazine

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This month’s edition of HackSpace magazine is now out. It’s in the shops, or you can find it here. It’s contains a review wot I wrote of Spintronics. I’ve also made it into their Toys & Games item with TagJousts.

The magazine is, as always, a great read. There is nothing else on the market which has such a broad coverage of interesting stuff, from detailed descriptions of hardware and software projects to 3D printed guitars.

3D Printing at an angle

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Followers of my blog (yes, that’s both of you) will have been observing the fun and games I’ve been having trying to print a handle for my 3D printed camera. The problem is that if you print the handle vertically there is only a small surface in contact with the print bed. As the printing gets higher the print head becomes more and more likely to push the workpiece off the print bed. When it does you get a tree.

I tried printing with the handle flat on the print bed, but that caused other problems. There is a large open gap for the cable release that runs the length of the handle. This can’t be printed without extra support and the support material proved impossible to remove. I ended up with a handle that was solid all the way through So, in the end I tried something I’ve not done before. I tipped the whole workpiece by 45 degrees. This removed the need for any internal support.

Above you can see how it works. The gap in the middle of the handle doesn’t need support and there is now a huge area of the workpiece in contact with the print bed so it grips really well. It worked a treat. The support came off very easily and left a surprisingly smooth finish all over the handle

If you’ve got something that needs internal support you might like to try the same thing. I used Cura to slice the model and the print preview (you can see it above) to check for any overhangs.

This might be a good technique for printing very small things, as it provides a larger base. It also removes any problems with the workpiece lifting up from the bed on the corners, which can be an issue when you try to print large objects.

Using Bolt Inserts in 3D printed objects

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I assembled the 3D printed camera today. I used the fittings I got last week. It turned out to be quite straightforward. I popped the special tip on the iron and set the temperature as low as possible (200 degrees). Then I picked up the fitting with a pair of pliers, popped it on the end of the tip and pushed the fitting into the hole in the 3D printed camera body.

Above you can see the result. I can now screw a bolt into this fitting to hold the lens in place. This is a really great way to screw things together. I’ve had a lot of success just using bolts in 3d printed holes, but this should be stronger and won’t wear out if I need to remove and replace the bolts.

This is the finished fitting in place with the lens attached. It turns out to look quite tidy. Next thing to do is make the handle and then take some pictures.

Lego Ghetto Blaster

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It’s become a kind of ritual. When we go up town in Leeds we visit the Lego store and fill a plastic cup with bricks from their “pick and mix”. I like doing this because you can get a huge number of one particular Lego piece. On a previous visit I got an enormous number of Lego gear levers and we used them to make a brush, among other things. This time we got some funky angled pieces and I used them to make a Lego Ghetto Blaster with six speakers and a sub-woofer. Great fun.

Mudfall

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Today was going great right up to the point where I fell on my back in the mud. I was just about to shout “Careful, it might be slippy” to our six year old charge when I illustrated this fact to great effect by falling over. Fortunately no lasting damage was done, although I did have to spend the rest of the trip walking round in a slowly solidifying coat and jeans.

Watch Extraordinary Attorney Woo

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Extraordinary Attorney Woo is a Korean TV show about an attorney with autism finding her way around a big law firm. Most of the episodes are self-contained although there are also a few longer running story arcs and a love story. Some of the stories give really interesting insights into the Korean way of life, although sometimes they do get a bit bogged down with procedure. I think it does a good job of balancing the issues presented and watching it certainly teaches you lots about the things faced by folks on the autistic spectrum. I really like it because the whole thing is fundamentally uplifting (although not every case has a happy ending). Well worth a watch if you happen to have Netflix.

Failday the 13th

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Today I recorded 8 demo videos and every one of them failed in some way. By half way through I had a “I wonder what is going to go wrong this time” running gag going in each recording. The good news is that I’ve now finished all the videos for the book. All 67 are complete and uploaded. Now we have to make sure that the QR codes and the links in the book text all line up.