Ludicrous LEDs

Posted on 2014-03-09 by Nigel VH

A little while back I was visiting a local electronics/hobbyist store called Vetco, which has, in addition to their normally stocked new components, a selection of limited quantity new/used items they manage to get their hands on. On this particular occasion, I ended up finding a remarkable object I couldn’t leave the store without.

IMG_0337This, is a rather large, rather heavy, panel of LEDs. They’re not individually addressable like they would be for a sign. Instead it’s all red, green, and blue LEDs, that apparently made up a very high end backlight for some type of very high end display.

Equally impressive, is the rear side of the panel with all the power supply components to support all those eleventy billion LEDs.

IMG_0331And, for good measure, here’s a bit of a closer look at both the front and back.

IMG_0340IMG_0343It may be hard to tell from the photos, but the whole assembly is built on a block of aluminum about a half inch thick, that’s been milled out and has pipes running all through it for water cooling. Yes, it’s a giant, water cooled LED panel.

Now you see why I had to bring it home… If only I had a power supply that could run it…

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First Lathe Project

Posted on 2014-03-03 by Nigel VH

Recently, I posted about picking up a small lathe, and hinted at a project I had been working on, but didn’t give much info about it, so here it is.

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I’ve been wanting to make a custom pocket watch for a while now. Originally, I was going to design the board to fit into a case from a cheap pocket watch I would strip the original guts out of, but ended up liking the idea of machining a custom case of brass and acrylic.

Here’s the case itself, and you can also see where I cut shelves for the front and back lenses to sit.

IMG_0282The lenses themselves were an interesting one to try and cut. I bought standard sheet acrylic from the hardware store, and used a couple of PVC pipe bits as spacers to hold the acrylic without scratching it, while I turned it on the lathe to make it round and fit in the case.

IMG_0258The board itself was of course a custom design to fit inside the case, and consume as little power as possible so as to prolong battery life. As it is, depending on use, I expect 3-6 months before it needs a recharge.

IMG_0277In case it’s not clear, red is hours, green is minutes, and blue is seconds.

Assemble it all together, and you have a totally custom pocket watch.

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Holiday Fun

Posted on 2013-12-27 by Nigel VH

Happy holidays everyone! I’ve had a pretty good year, and as usual, am thankful for the good things in my life.

Just before christmas, my wife surprised me with a visit downtown to a holiday concert featuring The Coats. They’re always a good show, and the holiday concert was no exception. Here’s a slightly blurry picture of the wife and I with them!

IMG_0244For christmas, she also got me this lovely shadowbox paper craft rendering from one of our favorite cartoons! I am constantly impressed by people’s creativity and skill.

IMG_0252Anyway, hope your holidays have been as good as mine, and that you have all sorts of fun and good luck in the new year.

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Learning to Lathe

Posted on 2013-12-15 by Nigel VH

So, I got a chance this evening to play a bit with the mini lathe I got, and grabbed a scrap of brass tube, and a stainless steel bolt with a stuck nut that I had broken off and started playing with machining them.

Here’s a photo of the results from the evening. The brass tube had the outside turned, the ends faced, and the edges chamfered a bit. The stuck nut was turned and faced and chamfered a little bit as well, I also stuck a spare nut on the threaded rod so you could see how it started and how it ended up.

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Harbor Freight Mini Lathe

Posted on 2013-12-14 by Nigel VH

Well, I recently ordered a small benchtop metal lathe from Harbor Freight, which as usual has some pretty exceptional prices. Initially, the impetus is to use it to do some machining work on a project I’m working on. I can’t talk about the project yet due to the holiday season ;) but I can certainly show some pictures of getting it set up.

IMG_0179Woo! It’s a big 100 pound box! As a side note, avoid FedEx when possible. Every time I’m forced to use them to have something shipped, it’s delayed or some other un-fun-ness. Anyway, Let’s pop it open and see what we’ve got!

IMG_0189How about a whole pile of accessories and random bits to stick on the lathe!!!! Also, below them, the lathe itself, coated in a ludicrously thick layer of thick thick grease.

IMG_0195After a couple hours and half a roll of paper towels, I got most of the shipping grease off, and now it’s set up and ready to machine some stuff! As soon as I get around to it…

IMG_0203Anyway, hopefully in the coming days I’ll get a chance to actually try machining something. (The dust you see on there is from a small bit of doweling I tried it out on and was quickly reminded that metal cutting tools don’t work well on wood.)

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