Monthly Archives: July 2014

Raspberry Pi Gameboy

I've been working on a project with the Raspberry Pi to make a Nintendo Gameboy style handheld that can play all of the original NES games. It's based on this project over at adafruit. So far it has been going really well, but I've hit a snag with getting the controls to line up correctly with the cutouts in the top cover, and getting everything to fit correctly inside - it seems like I've always got at least one button that doesn't line up right and I've got to open it up all over again. I need to do a little more fussing with it before it will be finished. Stay tuned! too.

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Tinkering Workbench – Evolution

My electronics workbench has been getting a lot of use lately, and I've been steadily adding to it since I first posted about it in May. This first photo is of the original setup, as a point of comparison.


Since then, I've added a lot. More tools, more shelves, more monitors, a bookcase - and I've started taking over the nearby basement shelves as well, to make space for an inkjet printer and my latest acquisition - a 3d printer. That thing has been a blast! I'll be posting a lot more photos of stuff I've been printing in the near future.

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Carter’s Desk – Part 2

We've done a little more work on Carter's desk. It's got a top now, and the desk is assembled. It still needs paint - hopefully that will happen this weekend. The wood stacked up on the tablesaw behind the desk is for the cubbies that will go on the desk - they're all cut and ready for assembly - they just need a bit of sanding first. Hopefully we'll get to that this weekend too.

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Galehead Hut Hike

Recently returned from an overnight hike to Galehead Hut. The route was North Twin, South Twin, and Galehead Hut on day 1 - then back to South Twin, My. Guyot, Zealand, the Zealand Falls Hut, and out on day 2. It rained on us the whole time, and every summit was socked in with no views. But I would still classify it as a good time! The hut was great - good food and good company. We got a chance to talk to some AT through-hikers too - some northbound, and even a southbound group. Below is a panorama of the view from North Twin - as you can see, not the best of viewing conditions!

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Visit From the Twins

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Webster-Jackson Trail

This past Friday some friends and I hiked up Mt. Webster and Mt. Jackson in Crawford Notch. The view from Mt. Jackson was especially nice. Not really any bugs either!

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North Kinsman Mountain

I hiked up North Kinsman Mountain a week or so ago with a couple of friends from work. It was a beautiful day, and we almost had the trail to ourselves. The view from the summit is of the Mt. Lafayette ridge. Lonesome Lake (home of the AMC's Lonesome Lake Hut) can be seen in the middle ground between the summit and the ridge.

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Carter’s Desk – Part 1

Carter and I have started building a desk to go under her loft bed. This weekend we got the legs and apron built, and the glue is drying out in the garage as I type. Next up is the top, and once that is done we're going to build a cubby unit for storage of her scrapbooking and art supplies. It's built from construction grade lumber, just like her bed. We'll whitewash the base, but she wants to paint the inside of each cubby a different color. Should look cool when it's done! We'll try to post pics as the project progresses.

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3D Printer

I've been a subscriber to Make Magazine since the first issue, and I've watched the developing world of DIY with excitement. I've wanted a 3D printer for a good long time, and Sean has also been saying that we should get one for at least the last year or so. Well, the entry-level price point has finally dropped into the realm of possibility - last week we pulled the trigger on a Printrbot Simple. I've always wanted to use one for printing small sculptures or designing action figures, not to mention building some robots and printing custom parts. We played with it a ton this weekend, and printed a bunch of small things from Thingiverse. Next up is designing some of our own stuff to print, and coming up with a bigger project. Now we just need to order some more filament! We've already used up the sample filament the printer came with.

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Darth Fume Extractor

A few months ago, in an old issue of Make Magazine I saw instructions for building a soldering fume extractor, to keep you from breathing in the nasty fumes that solder produces when melted. In the article they built it all inside an Altoids mint tin, powered by a pair of 9V batteries. Then, a couple of weeks ago at a Michael's I saw a Darth Vader head lunchbox. I picked it up due to it's low price and high geek factor, assuming I would eventually think of something to do with it. Yesterday the two ideas came together - I cut out mouth of the Vader helmet, wired in a power regulator, switch, and a 12V fan, and built my own much cooler fume extractor. It works great, too!

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