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LIFE! DO YOU HEAR ME? GIVE MY CREATION... LIFE!
THIS is why I haven't really been dorking with my camera recently.
The boxes on the left are microprocessor control boxes that will replace most of the slave labor (currently performed by: me!) in my shop. They allow the remote startup and shutdown of the processing equipment for parts coming off my 3D printer. No more driving 40 minute round trip in the middle of the night just to turn an oven off, or planning my lunch break around when a dip tank needs to be preheated.
I could have purchased off-the-shelf hardware here in the US and it would have ran me close to $3k to get the shop retrofitted. Using parts purchased in Hong Kong, I was able to complete the entire project for about $300. Plus, I learned how to do embedded systems programming along the way - these boxes are my first attempt at firmware programming (writing code that runs on silicon chips inside consumer electronic devices). I started learning Microprocessors in Aug of last year, but then my day job started kicking my butt and well, it got back-burned pretty quick. Over Christmas I picked things back up and I've been busting my butt since I got back from SE Asia in my shop...
The boxes talk over USB! Inside the box a special chip converts the USB back over to serial. Even my day job isn't running this; as a result we are limited to having at most 2 instruments per computer, where I can run the entire shop off one machine. The machine also has special remote-access software loaded, so anywhere with an internet connection I can remote control all the equipment. Schweet.
Now for a little bit more coding to get the Labview UI to talk to these buggers....
LIFE! DO YOU HEAR ME? GIVE MY CREATION... LIFE!
THIS is why I haven't really been dorking with my camera recently.
The boxes on the left are microprocessor control boxes that will replace most of the slave labor (currently performed by: me!) in my shop. They allow the remote startup and shutdown of the processing equipment for parts coming off my 3D printer. No more driving 40 minute round trip in the middle of the night just to turn an oven off, or planning my lunch break around when a dip tank needs to be preheated.
I could have purchased off-the-shelf hardware here in the US and it would have ran me close to $3k to get the shop retrofitted. Using parts purchased in Hong Kong, I was able to complete the entire project for about $300. Plus, I learned how to do embedded systems programming along the way - these boxes are my first attempt at firmware programming (writing code that runs on silicon chips inside consumer electronic devices). I started learning Microprocessors in Aug of last year, but then my day job started kicking my butt and well, it got back-burned pretty quick. Over Christmas I picked things back up and I've been busting my butt since I got back from SE Asia in my shop...
The boxes talk over USB! Inside the box a special chip converts the USB back over to serial. Even my day job isn't running this; as a result we are limited to having at most 2 instruments per computer, where I can run the entire shop off one machine. The machine also has special remote-access software loaded, so anywhere with an internet connection I can remote control all the equipment. Schweet.
Now for a little bit more coding to get the Labview UI to talk to these buggers....