Monthly Archives: January 2017

Neopixel Mood Lamp

Posted on January 2, 2017 by joel
I built one of these Neopixel-based mood lamps for my desk at work, and another for my sister for her birthday. The three dials use the HSV (hue, saturation, value) model of light - each dial controls one aspect. It's a much more natural light model for humans to grasp than a standard RGB (red, green, blue) model. The wood is cherry, and the diffuser is just sanded plexiglass.

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Leather Wallet

Posted on January 2, 2017 by joel
I made myself yet one more leather wallet, and I think my skills have finally progressed to the point that I am satisfied with this one. I finally got the hang of stitching, and got the leather dyed consistently, my stamp (Cthulhu) came out clearly, etc., etc. I've been using it for a couple of months now, and it's been holding up well - in fact, it still looks just as nice as the day I finished it.

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Kitchen Floor

Posted on January 2, 2017 by joel
The kitchen floor in our house has always been sort of a mess. It was 20-plus year old linoleum, and has seen a lot of abuse. Even when we first moved in, we wanted to replace it immediately. Every year I talk about replacing it over my Christmas break, but never do. Well this year I finally tackled it. I put down a floating laminate floor that looks like time - actually, it's the same flooring I put in our bathroom last Christmas break. It makes a world of difference in how the kitchen looks.

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Christmas Ornaments

Posted on January 2, 2017 by joel
A few years ago I made a bunch of little bird house xmas ornaments on the lathe, and gave them out at our family Christmas party. Every year since, I've wanted to do something similar again but couldn't find the time to make all of those ornaments. This year I tried something different - all of these were made on either the 3D printer or the CNC machine. Some of the wooden ones still need a little sanding and some lacquer, but overall they came out pretty cool, I think.

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Leather Notebook Covers

Posted on January 2, 2017 by joel
To play around with leatherworking a bit more, I made myself a couple of leather covers for Moleskine notebooks. I haven't done the edge treatment on them yet, but they came out ok. I like the character and texture in the leather in the right-hand one, but fastening strap is a little wimpy and I'm afraid the snap might pull right out of it someday. The one on the left has a better closure, and the color is nice and even.

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Laser Engraver – Take 2

Posted on January 2, 2017 by joel
This is take two of the laser engraver, rebuilt from the ground up. The old one used to bind up a lot on the x axis, and had a limited work area. With this one, I've used what I learned on the CNC machine to rebuild it. This one is far more reliable, and doesn't seem to have any binding issues at all. I've also hidden away all of the wiring this time, and included a control panel with an emergency stop button, control for each of the (two) fans, and a laser override button, so I can force the laser off when necessary.

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