John's Blog

Here’s the latest.

There is not much to share in this update.

Kyle got an order for three more card boxes. I’ve lost count, it’s a good thing I’m not keepin’ the books.

I’m almost done with the bench saw. I have a little bit of wiring left to do and grinding down some sharp corners. I replaced all the wiring because the previous owner put zero effort into properly grounding the thing. And the power cord it came with had to go because it was wired directly to the motor (plugging and unplugging something is not a power switch) and it was brittle and cracked. I’ll share some photos when it’s done.

The latest addition to the stable of laser cutters (we’re up to three) is ready to go. I pulled the short straw for assembling the thing. It’s another 20 watt but this one has a wider bed (think ‘landscape’) for stuff like charcuterie (sp) boards and such like.

Kim has been re-arranging the craft room to make space for the new laser cutter. I may be called upon to modify infrastructure.

Oh. The new laser cutter kit came with the wrong wiring harness - it was for a 10 watt laser. So yours truly had to carefully modify the harness so it properly fed the 20 watt jobbie it came with. That wasn’t a lot of fun but I got through it. I knew my wiring upgrade was done properly when Kim was setting it up and started hollerin’ “shut it off shut it off oh no quick oh crap. Dammit.” She somehow managed to command the laser to fire and it did so… straight down into the plastic table top. Good times.

In the evenings I’ve been fiddling with simulator documentation. I left that project in an unenviable state so I’m sorting through all that. As I review my previous work I realize I had over-thought some stuff (no surprise there). It’s kinda nice to prune unnecessary bits and pieces, all the while asking myself ‘what the hell was I thinkin?’. When I’m done I’ll almost be starting from scratch.

When all of the basement power tools are ready for use I’ll move to the next project - replacing the ceiling light fixture in the dining alcove. The one that’s there (which I installed) is too small for the space. We have a larger fixture on site, it needs a cleanup then an install. Cheers.