Stepper Clock

Posted on 2012-08-22 by Nigel VH

Howdy All,

I’ve got a few projects going on lately, but only one of them is into the physical realm so far, so I thought I’d show you a bit of it.

A couple years ago I got hold of an old broken laser printer. I disassembled the thing, and took out the interesting bits. A few motors, some pulleys/belts, and a little air pump. Anyway, one of the motors was a small stepper, and has been of particular interest to me, just in terms of positioning capability.

Finally, a few weeks ago I decided what I actually wanted to do with said motor. I figured I’d use it to make a clock/analog meter of some sort. Then my imagination began to run away with me and I started thinking about how pretty I could make it.

Anyway, I ended up grabbing a large piece of scrap board I had laying around, sanded and stained it up real nice, mounted the stepper on the back, and gave it numbers and a pointing needle. With all the hardware in brass.

Here’s the back side of the board after I stained it. Just to give you some idea of what the front side looked like before staining.

Here’s the board after staining. Pretty isn’t it? Also, the knots look like a bird’s face.

Here’s the front with the brass needle and numbers added. The numbers were done with small brass tacks that I hammered in. The needle is just a bit of round brass hobby stock. The stepper is mounted with two brass screw head bolts, and the peg to stop the needle is just a brass machine screw.

Here’s the back of the board with the electronics installed.

And here’s a bit more of a closeup.

Upper left is what used to be a Lithium battery charger from SparkFun. It broke a while ago, and while I was looking for a DC barrel jack for power, this board was laying there and had one on it. So, instead of removing the jack and placing it on the main board, I left it where it was and added a switch and some wire.

Middle board is just an ATmega328p on a proto-board I had laying around. It’s got a little real-time clock chip, and a temperature sensor also on the board.

Bottom right is the stepper motor driver board (also from SparkFun) and the stepper motor itself. (I still need to mount this board down. For now it’s just hanging there.)

Anyway. I don’t have it programmed yet. So it’s not telling the time, or the temperature. But it IS a clock in potentia, and I think it looks really damn good. Anyway. I’m pleased.

P.S. You also might notice that the clock goes from 0 to 10, which makes telling time difficult. I plan to add a small LED on the end of the needle that will mean +10, so noon will be +10 and pointing at 2. You’ll have to figure out AM and PM for yourself.

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Legalese Part 2

Posted on 2012-08-09 by Nigel VH

So, in continuation of yesterday’s saga. Here’s the report from today.

I waited for a few hours this morning and didn’t end up hearing back from anyone at the State Patrol’s office. We’re all busy, it happens. Anyway, I called in again, was met with a different gal, who said that there was nothing they could do. I asked if I could please speak with or leave a message with the guy who deals with the towing companies. She was gracious enough to allow me to do so and I left him a voicemail with the basics of my situation and asked him to call me back.

A bit later on in the day, he did call me back and we went over what the situation was. He said as far as the records go it’s all with the DOL, so if they say that I’m good, then that’s what the State Patrol will go with. However, since the new owner didn’t register the vehicle, my name is still on the last owner, even though I’m not responsible for it due to the Report of Sale. He offered to call the towing company and said he would call me back after speaking with them.

He ends up calling me back a short while later and informs me that he’s spoken with the owner of the towing company, who told him that he would look at the DOL data again and put some consideration towards it. At this point it’s sounding to me more and more like it’s just the towing company trying to extort money out of me since they don’t have a current registered owner. My documentation is valid. The DOL says so, and everyone else in some way or another gets their info from the DOL.

During this second conversation he gives me what he believes to be the options for my next step. I can 1. wait a short while for the towing company and see if they reconsider, or 2. file a complaint with the DOT and have them investigate the matter.

I thank him very much for his help, time, and effort, and we part company.

An hour or two later I call the tow company back, and ask if they’ve come to any further conclusions. The receptionist isn’t aware of any and says she’ll try to get some info from the owner, or have the owner call me himself. I didn’t hear back.

At this point, I’m going to call the towing company back in the morning, and tell them that 1. I’m not the owner of the vehicle, the DOL confirms this. 2. You cannot hold me responsible for the actions of the new owner because of the properly filed documentation. And 3. If you don’t decide to do the proper thing by this afternoon, I’ll be calling a lawyer.

Hopefully that will be enough to get them to stop trying to extort this money out of me. I don’t own the car, I don’t owe them anything, and I’d much rather pay a lawyer to get them off my back, then to reward them for harassing me. It’s not about the money anymore. It’s about not punishing a good citizen.

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Curiosity

Posted on 2012-08-08 by Nigel VH

Curiosity has been all over the news and whatnot lately. To be honest though, I don’t think it can be said enough. NASA has repeatedly delivered beyond imagination. They deserve every cent of their budget and 1,000,000% more.

As an American, I have to say there is little around that makes me more patriotic than our space program. We’ve visited every planet (new definition) in the solar system, had a surprising number of extremely successful robotic missions, and are the only nation to have EVER put a person, let alone TWELVE.

The engineering feat of lowering a car sized nuclear powered rover onto another planet from a rocket propelled sky crane is just incredible. Incredible.

I look forward to as many years of amazing photos and discoveries as we’ve been fortunate enough to have with Spirit and Opportunity.

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Legalese Part 1

Posted on 2012-08-08 by Nigel VH

You may recall a few months ago I bought a new car, and sold my old one. Not being an idiot, I did my due process and made sure to immediately fill out the Report of Sale with the Department of Licensing. I probably even did it within a half hour of the car being sold.

Anyway, I’m glad I did. Yesterday I received a notice from a towing company up in Bellingham. Apparently the new owner failed to register the vehicle. Then now got in an accident. Then couldn’t decide what to do with the car. So it was towed away. Up to this point, I don’t care. I start caring when apparently I’m still listed as the owner.

Luckily ( I think to myself ), I’m awesome and saved all the documentation, including the Report of Sale stub from the bottom of the title, as well as the printout from the Department of Licensing website giving me the exact date/time and the filing number for my Report of Sale. I’ll just call them up and inform them that they’re mistaken.

If only it were that easy…

So I call them up, and I tell them that I filed the Report of Sale waaaaay back in April, and that I’m not the owner, and I’m simply not going to pay. They say that according to the State Patrol database, the Report of Sale was invalid. “Why?”, you and I might ask? Oh, it’s because the buyer didn’t provide me with his zip code. Yeah. That’s a load of crap.

Anyway, the gal at the towing place has been very understanding, but can’t do anything because that’s what the database says. Great.

So next I call up the Department of Licensing, wait on hold for a few minutes (as if there’s any other possible way), and end up talking with another nice gal who says that the report is perfectly valid and I’m not the legal owner and it’s a civil matter now. Great.

She does however offer the tip to go and request a copy of their copy of the Report of Sale, for some evidence. Unfortunately it could take up to five days to get said document, and each day longer is another $50 the towing place is going to try to charge me on top of the $300 fee to begin with. Great.

Anyway, I file to get their copy of whatnot. I don’t have much else of an option. At least you can submit the request via printing out a form, scanning it, and emailing it to them rather than having to mail it.

Then what do you know, I get home and WOO! more mail. This time from the Bellingham Municipal Court and the Bellingham Police Department. Apparently (because the State Patrol thinks my Report of Sale is invalid) they’re now trying to collect on some parking tickets. The mail for the Bellingham PD appears to just be an accident report, albeit a completely illegible carbon copy.

So, it’s about 4:15 now, and I try to call the Bellingham Municipal Court. Guess what. Those jerks close at 4. Now I’ve got to wait till tomorrow, and deal with them. Great.

Same thing with the Bellingham PD. Great.

So, I go and dig around on the Washington State Patrol website and dig up the number for their Bellingham office (which seems to be where everything went down). Luckily, they ARE still open and I talk with a gal who says to me that this whole situation is totally ridiculous and she’ll get it fixed right up for me in the morning, because the guy who deals with the towing companies leaves at 4. THANK YOU!

Finally someone who can do something about this whole pile of ludicrousness (even if it’s delayed till morning).

So now, I hope to be receiving a call back from her in the morning informing me that the database should be fixed up. So then I can go back and call the towing company, Bellingham Municipal Court, and the Bellingham Police Department, and tell them to all go shove it.

Way to teach me to sell a car and fill out the proper paperwork like I’m supposed to…

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Backpacking

Posted on 2012-08-01 by Nigel VH

Well, about two weeks ago, I was invited to go on a quick backpacking trip up in the mountains of eastern Washington. More specifically around the Engalls Creek trail.

In total the hike was supposed to be about 5.5 miles long and about 1500′ of elevation gain. We ended up seeing a really nice spot to camp at about 4.5 miles in, so we decided that we’d stop there.

I brought my IC-706, a battery, and an antenna in the goal of getting on the air and trying for some contacts on 15 meters. However, when we got to the camp site, I was exhausted, so I took a nap, and by the time I got up from that it was getting darker and the propagation was surely on the decline. So no contacts, but I rationalize it by saying it was extra exercise hauling a lead acid battery and a steel cased radio up a mountain.

Here’s a photo I took along the trail. Maybe a mile or so in.

And here’s another I took at about the 2.5 mile point. This big scree field has a lot of ice and snow underneath the boulders, cooling the air. As the air cools and flows down the slope, out the bottom blows a reasonably substantial and cold breeze. A welcome relief on an 85 degree day.

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