17 May 2012
Martin Raynsford
Brooxes Hangups
Read more »
by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Raynsford) at 17 May 2012 10:37 PM
16 May 2012
Martin Raynsford
Pegs 7
The lizards are so cute with their teeny footprints, yeah whatever.
So that concludes my run of pegs for the time being, maybe more in the future, should also put these on Etsy really. (svg to follow shortly)
by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Raynsford) at 16 May 2012 11:08 AM
15 May 2012
Martin Raynsford
Pegs 6
Cats. I'm a kitty cat! and I dance, dance, dance and I dance, dance, dance
by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Raynsford) at 15 May 2012 11:04 AM
14 May 2012
Dominic Morrow
13 Go to Southwold!
 |
| Mike Pountney's GoPro HD Hero 2 camera mounted on my Cody Box Kite at about 150ft (ish) looking over the camp site with the sea and Southwold on the horizon. This is a fish eye lens that is not the curvature of the earth. |
Had an excellent weekend in Southwold, good weather making our Geek weekender rather good. In addition to the camping and beer drinking we enjoyed a pleasant afternoon that saw us at one point flying about 8 kites including my Cody Box kite (see picture) a brave little blue sled kite also in the picture and Martin's mental wing like kite surfing monstrosity.
We very much enjoyed an early morning (10am) visit to the Adnam's brewery with a tour and tasting that I think got us all a little merry. The afternoon was spent at The Under The Pier Show, which was further improved by a behind the scene's tour from it's proprietor Mr Tim Hunkin. In addition to the camping and beer drinking a pleasant evening off BBQing and kite flying back at camp and at one point flying about 8 kites including my Cody Box kite (see picture) a brave little blue sled kite also in the picture and Martin's mental wing like kite surfing monstrosity.
 |
| Photo by Spencer Owen |
I was really delighted to see everyone have such a good time. It was one of the best weekends I can remember. I hope we can do it all again next year.
 |
| Tim Hunkin crouched down on the floor causing one hacker to exclaim "You look more like Tim Munchkin now!" a good time was had by all. Photo by Gillian Zirmer |
by noreply@blogger.com (Dominic Morrow) at 14 May 2012 10:38 PM
Michael Erskine
3x3x3 Avg 12: 28.74 -- good
I planned not to post any more averages but I'd like to keep this one on record: another lunchtime 12 at work where I got to exercise the new F-Perm and some of the G-Perms with which I occasionally make mistakes. To clarify: I've dropped cubing practice entirely for now and I don't plan to enter any more competitions for a while at least. This will allow me to focus on the Hackspace and my electronics projects.
by msemtd at 14 May 2012 12:07 PM
Martin Raynsford
Pegs 5
Tribal tattoo design.
by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Raynsford) at 14 May 2012 11:03 AM
13 May 2012
Martin Raynsford
Pegs 4
More vector swirls
by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Raynsford) at 13 May 2012 11:03 AM
12 May 2012
Martin Raynsford
Pegs 3
A florally design, simples.
by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Raynsford) at 12 May 2012 11:00 AM
11 May 2012
Martin Raynsford
Pegs 2
I think I found the limit of details with this one. You can just about make out the skull and spine but they're not great.
by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Raynsford) at 11 May 2012 10:59 PM
10 May 2012
Martin Raynsford
Laser Cut Pegs 1
Many people will be asking why, but I say why not add a little bit of pizazz to your washing line. (will block post these files at the end of the series)
by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Raynsford) at 10 May 2012 10:18 PM
09 May 2012
Martin Raynsford
MkV Arc Reactors
by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Raynsford) at 09 May 2012 10:47 PM
Dominic Morrow
Poster for Mini Maker Faire Derby
On the left is a very tiny and low resolution version of the promotional poster for the Faire. I really like the robot and silk mill graphics. I'm really pleased that the Nottingham Hackspace has such a prominent logo which is also a QR code so should drive some traffic back to the Nottinghack.org.uk website!
It's going to be a pretty busy week and weekend for me but it'll be worth it. Hope to see you there! You can get tickets on Eventbrite
http://makerfairederby.eventbrite.co.uk/
by noreply@blogger.com (Dominic Morrow) at 09 May 2012 08:50 PM
08 May 2012
Martin Raynsford
Mk2 Arc Reactors
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by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Raynsford) at 08 May 2012 10:54 PM
07 May 2012
Matt Lloyd
Raspberry Pi GPIO Inputs in Python
I left off having hopefully shown just how easy it is to get turn on an LED on the Raspberry Pi. First up I’m going to show a quick Blinky example, for now I’m going to stick with just using python in interactive mode form the terminal, but we may get into script files after [...]
by LWK at 07 May 2012 02:36 PM
Martin Raynsford
Mirror Decoration 5
by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Raynsford) at 07 May 2012 11:33 AM
Matt Lloyd
Getting Started with Raspberry Pi GPIO and Python
So I’ve been lucky to get my hands on a Raspberry Pi and with my new job at Ciseco I’ve been asked to play around with the GPIO’s and see what cool things we can get them doing. First up some basic info on the GPIO’s. The R-Pi has 17 GPIO pins brought out onto [...]
by LWK at 07 May 2012 08:59 AM
06 May 2012
Kate Bolin
Now available, the 5-13 Shawl, a lace shawl pattern written by...
5-13 shawl in full
Close-up of the 5-13 shawl
Now available, the 5-13 Shawl, a lace shawl pattern written by me.
It was designed to be a project you could take on the go, without worrying about keeping track of a complicated lace chart.
This particular example was knitted in Noro Silk Garden, but it can be knitted in any yarn with any needle size to fit whatever you need.
Also available on Ravelry.
Martin Raynsford
Mirror Decoration 4
by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Raynsford) at 06 May 2012 11:31 AM
05 May 2012
Dominic Morrow
Fishing for keys!
It's been a tough couple of weeks for me and I've not been able to bang a blog post out. That probably means I owe the Hackspace £50 as I did promise I'll penalty myself £50 if I don't write a post a week. Well we'll see I don't like reneging on a promise but I also don't like giving away money.
.JPG) |
| The saddest Captain's hat in the world yesterday |
Here is the thing about Hackspaces, a lot of people have a lot of ideas about how to do things, but often they don't DO those things. I think I've developed a "RULE 3" filter in my head somehow. They don't have Rule 3 at Bristol Hackspace so the bike shedding was rife. The one repeated theme I heard was "GET A MAGNET ON SOME STRING!" I heard it so many times I thought I had to do it just so I could say, "Yeah I've done that." David W (the Bristol Hackspace treasurer) very kindly provided me with a stack of HDD magnets (very powerful had my fingers bitten by them a couple of times) and I borrowed a long reel of string from the Hackspace stationary pot.
It was past 23:00 before I got back to the harbour. I put a head torch on and went out to fish. I determined that this bit of the harbour was 12ft deep. That's pretty deep really, the draught of the SS Great Britain is 16ft and I'm talking about a bit of the harbour near the edge. Anyway I tentatively started plopping the magnet in and dragging it about. Almost straight away I got some feedback. There must have been some girders or re-bar down there as the magnet was attracted to something immoveable (by me I mean). Dipping that thing in and dragging it about on such a calm evening was very soothing. Before long it was no longer about fishing for keys and was about finding anything metallic for the magnet to stick too. I'd have been pleased to pull a nail up really. I did get a number of rusty tiny chunks of iron. I'm not sure what they could be from. Maybe the remains of some industrial process or bits that have rusted to almost nothing. THEN SUDDENLY ... I'd got a bite. I could feel I was lifting something. I was more than 2m from where I thought the keys had gone in. I pulled the string a little too eagerly and I felt the line lighten. More carefully this time I lowered the magnet again. A slight change in weight... did I have it? Surely whatever I'd caught wasn't still attached?
Cautiously I wound the string in. My muscles playing tricks on me that the weight was actually the same as it ever was BUT NO! I'd somehow found my keys! They smelt a bit like fish and they were a little tarnished and already rusty in places. But I'd saved myself at least £25 in deposit costs on the Bristol Hackspace keys as we'll as ensuring I had spares for my different bike locks.
So there must be a lesson here right? Well I'm not sure there is. I could say something about optimism or having a try. I could say something about simplest solutions being the best or dogged determination. I could talk about chance and probability or get very nerdy about search patterns, the depth and flow of current in the harbour or about the distance from where they went in to where they were resting. But I'm not going to. Still I have to admit I've been in a much better mood since I found my keys.
by noreply@blogger.com (Dominic Morrow) at 05 May 2012 11:35 AM
Martin Raynsford
Mirror Decoration 3
by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Raynsford) at 05 May 2012 11:29 AM
04 May 2012
Matt Little
Arcola Theatre Energy Bike Display
Re-innovation was recently comissioned to build the display system for an energy bike at the Arcola Theatre in Hackney, London. The energy bike is in the front-of-house at the theatre to help demonstrate and educate on energy consumption and efficiency.
This display system fitted to a pedal generator built by Magnificent Revolution. It has a bar-graph read out of the power and an actual value in Watts.
The system also worked as a voltage regulator, limiting the output voltage to 12V DC and shunting away the excess as heat, so that devices, such as phone chargers, can be plugged in for demonstration. The display is fully powered by the generator.
by matt@re-innovation.co.uk (Matthew Little) at 04 May 2012 12:45 PM
Michael Erskine
3x3x3 Avg 12: 30.32 -- fair
In no hurry it seems! Lack of sleep and brain rewiring may be the reasons for sup-30 here.
by msemtd at 04 May 2012 12:06 PM
Martin Raynsford
Mirror Decoration 2
Another item for the mirror series (svg here)
by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Raynsford) at 04 May 2012 11:26 AM
Kate Bolin
While this gorgeous Pyrex pattern chart from Hancock’s...
While this gorgeous Pyrex pattern chart from Hancock’s House Of Happy is designed for cross-stitch, it’d make for some sweet knitting as well.
Just imagine a Pyrex fair-isle sweater vest. Mmmmm.
03 May 2012
Martin Raynsford
Mirror Decoration 1
by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Raynsford) at 03 May 2012 09:30 PM
Jason Lee Baxter
Two Kits On The Go, OH YEAH!
So today I’ve started two kit brews going. The first one is a Muntons Imperial Stout which I’ve had my eyes on for a few months but only now just got around to getting, but what is an Imperial Stout? Well to answer that I’ll first delve into the history of stouts and what they are.
Stouts originate from the “Porter” beer style. Porter is a dark beer which owes its lineage to brown beer. Originating from 18th century London the drink was popular with river and street porters this is where the drink gained its name. Stout used to be known as Stout Porter which was a variant of Porter which made use of roasted malts. Over time the “Porter” part of the name was dropped and stouts flourished into distinctively different style of beer. (More info: http://beeradvocate.com/articles/305)
Imperial Stouts (also known as Russian Imperial Stout) are another step in the evolution. Strong in ABV and malt character, they were developed by Thrale’s brewery in London specifically for exporting to Russia to the court of Catherine II. Imperial stouts have had a major revival lately, with many craft breweries experimenting with them. (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/84)
The second one is a strawberry wine, from Youngs and will my first wine homebrew. Thankfully I already have a demijohn from Ginger Beer Exploits… The method is pretty straight forward though it looks a little more involved than beer with my having to add extra stuff at different stages, but still simple enough.
So for my next post I’ll probably be talking Ginger Beer again, this might not be for some time though since my demijohn is now occupied. I may acquire another since they’re fairly cheap.
by Jason Lee Baxter at 03 May 2012 04:23 PM
Michael Erskine
3x3x3 Avg 12: 27.73 -- good
A better average today following a one-day break! A standard deviation of 2.49 sec too. I employed the new F-Perm on a sub-30 and had a sub-30 with an N-Perm finish using the R'U'R (Jb(or 'L-Perm')) R'UR reinsert. So all in all quite nice. Using qqtimer too... http://www.speedsolving.com/timer/qqtimer.htm
by msemtd at 03 May 2012 11:56 AM
02 May 2012
Fionnuala Murphy
The Flynn Jacket
I only saw the second Tron film recently. I was a little behind. It is definitely all special effects and very little story line (personally I think the first one was like that too, easy now fan boys).
Two things kept my attention:
1. Daft Punk
2. The clothes oh my dear god the clothes.
The fight suits were all very good and nice, but what really interested me were the outfits that actually had less in the way of electro-luminescence, or frankly, made better use of it. It’s all very nice to be decked out in a skin tight rubber EL suit but I found the more subtle uses that could be applied to actual clothes far more exciting. And Gem’s shoes. OMG Gem’s shoes.
One thing the caught my attention in particular was Flynn’s / CLU’s jacket from the time when the grid was still in the 80′s.
It’s so simple. It’s not trying too hard. It’s not screaming that it’s from a computer world, it’s just adding to it. You can actually imagine wearing this.
I could imagine it a little too well.
HELLO BAG!
I know the strips aren’t the same way as Flynn’s, but maybe Disney wont sue me if it’s this way round. Or I need to get some extensions for the wires. I’m not sure which reason it is. (There are actually two strips as well, one is inside in the lining near the zip which you can’t see in that screen grab, and one is clearly visible as above).
I got the jacket cheap online, it was actually quite difficult to find one that would work, most had collars and weren’t the same styling as Flynn’s as he’s a bloke and I’m a laydee.
The EL strips are glued onto fabric strips, which I also glued velcro to. The corresponding velcro is in the lining of the jacket, near the zip.
I just need to line it up properly and stick it together. This also means that the EL tape can easily be removed so the jacket can be washed. I’ve discovered that you can iron EL tape but I don’t particularly want to try washing it.
The battery packs which power the EL tape are also removable, and clip into some elasticated hoops. The battery packs also have a flashing setting suitable for inducing epileptic fits / going to raves.
I really like the effect the inner strip has :3
Absent mindedly walking towards the camera before the shutter is closed also produces some rather nice effects.
All it took was 1m of EL tape (cut in half with connectors either end), 2 battery packs, black fabric, elastic & thread, fabric glue & a glue gun and a jacket I didn’t mind wrecking.
Now someone give me a few hundred quid so I can make CLU’s coat and Flynn’s robe.
KTHNXBI.
by fio at 02 May 2012 03:36 PM
Kate Bolin
This tutorial on Weaving a Basket with Crochet Thread is...
This tutorial on Weaving a Basket with Crochet Thread is ridiculous and amazing at the same time.
SO TINY. And even with the teeny-tiny size, surprisingly easy.
30 April 2012
Kate Bolin
laughingsquid: Betsy the KegDroid, An Android-Based Beer...
Michael Erskine
3x3x3 Avg 12: 30.99 -- more meh!
Uninspired - did an average of 50 yesterday and same-old-same-old-slightly-sup-30!
by msemtd at 30 April 2012 12:06 PM
29 April 2012
Martin Raynsford
Garage upgrade
by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Raynsford) at 29 April 2012 10:06 PM
28 April 2012
Spencer Owen
Rubiks Cube – a 30 year on-off love afair
It was over 30 years ago that I first learned to solve the Rubiks Cube. Then 15 years ago I learned to solve it all over again. And recently, I’ve learned that learning to solve it is still good fun!
Read on to find out how this little twisty puzzle has featured in my life…
Like all children born in the early 70′s, I had a Rubiks Cube in the early 80′s. They were launched in 1980, but hit it big in 1981, which is when I got my first one. I tried really hard to understand it, follow it’s logic and come up with a way of solving it that didn’t involve a screwdriver or sticker peeling. Eventually I managed it, although the book I had just got “How to solve the Rubiks Cube” may have played an important role in that! I followed the instructions often enough to be able to solve it without referring to them, and managed to get to a pretty good time. (In my memory it seems like well under a minute, but in all likelihood it was probably a couple of minutes or so). I was one of only a couple of kids at school that could do it, and I amazed classmates, teachers and family with my cubing prowess.
Then the following year came the ZX Spectrum. Then BMX bikes. Then girls. Then cars. Then houses. So for the following 15 years, I knew I could solve the cube, but never actually did.
Whilst sorting out some old stuff in my mid 20′s I came across my old Cube, and having a few minutes spare, decided to scramble and re-solve it. It came as quite a shock that I didn’t know how to do it. Well, I knew kind of what I should be doing, but not the actual moves to make those things happen! Some muscle memory remained, and I had what felt like a couple of moves that I used to do, although I didn’t know what they did. So I embarked on teaching myself how to solve it.
Having the gist of a few moves was a good start. I found that if I did some of them over and over again I might get lucky and something would work right. Sometimes I wasn’t so lucky, and by trial and error and error and error, I managed to add a few more moves to my repertoire, until I had a foolproof (if long and unwieldy!) way to solve it. My girlfriend at the time was no geeky maths wizz, but I was able to pass on my knowledge so she could solve the cube too.
Over the following years I kept my hand in, as I didn’t want to lose this skill again. Gradually I got better, and passed on my skill to a few more people. In 2004 I even ran a Cube Solving Workshop at the British Juggling Convention. Despite my solution not being very quick, efficient or elegant, it was fairly straightforward, and only needed the memorisation of a couple of algorithms. On a good day, with a bit of luck, I was solving it in 1 minute 30 seconds, although 2 minutes or so was normally more realistic.
I knew there were better ways. By now there were hundreds of websites dedicated the the Cube, and YouTube was full of videos and solutions. But I was reluctant to move away from what I knew. My tried and tested method worked, so if it ain’t broke, why fix it!
In March this year I solved the Cube whilst riding a two-wheeled unicycle (see this post). Whilst 2:31 was quite a respectable time under the circumstances (and still probably the fasted in the world!) I needed to cut down on the time quite considerably. I had got to know Michael Erskine through Nottinghack, and picked his brain for a couple of shortcuts. This really opened my eyes as to how much room for improvement there was. So, earlier this month, I went along to a beginners workshop that Michael was running at Derby Makers, and whilst I only learned a few moves, they have made a world of difference. One scenario, which would have taken me 38 twists to complete can now be done in just 6!
Almost overnight my average time dropped to below 1:30, and it’s not unusual now to solve in under a minute (certainly not more than 1:10). So, whilst I’m still lightyears away from the 7 or 8 seconds that some people can do, I feel like I’m getting halfway respectable times again. It feels how I would imagine it feels for someone that bought a brand new car in the 1980′s, that has kept hold of it for years because its their pride and joy. It might not be as luxurious as newer cars, or have modern gadgets like CD players, or be as cheap to run, but it’s theirs and they love it. Until one day they bite the bullet and buy a new car, only to be blown away by how nice it is!
I have now got a 4x4x4 Rubiks Cube to play with too. 42 minutes for a first solve won’t set any records, but I’m now down to under 10 minutes (still looking at the algorithms for a couple of moves though), and looking forward to getting it down to about 5 minutes.
What will the next 30 years bring? Who knows, but lets find out one turn at a time…
by Spencer at 28 April 2012 06:52 PM
Martin Raynsford
Normal service will resume shortly
Feels strange that I haven't posted for nearly a month. This is definitely a gap I'll be ignoring in the 365 day scheme.
We have moved house so we're now over in Countesthorpe, visitors are welcome as usual. We don't have tonnes of DIY on the list but enough to keep me occupied for the moment. I spent some time preparing the garage, I've laid a wooden floor over some insulation, painted the walls and rewired the electrics. The laser is back up and running again and I've caught up on my orders so I'll be picking up on the blog again soon. Photos of the new workshop soon.
by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Raynsford) at 28 April 2012 09:56 AM
26 April 2012
Kate Bolin
typethatilike: Laser cut seaweed for...
Laser cut seaweed for sushi
While I bet this would stink up the laser cutter something fierce, the ability to cut such delicate and intricate designs into something you’re just going to eat is amazing and awesome.
Michael Erskine
3x3x3 Avg 12: 29.80 -- leisurely solving - I'm onto something!
Other than the two PLL skips that saved this average from sup-30, the results are all from leisurely solves. I'm enjoying this!
by msemtd at 26 April 2012 12:29 PM
25 April 2012
Spencer Owen
Duct Tape Wallet
A few years ago, I walked passed a shop in London that sold a Duct Tape Wallet Kit. For about £15 it included a few lengths of duct tape pre-cut to length and some instructions. My interest was piqued but not enough to leave me with an empty wallet. Instead I invested in some Google time and a £4 roll of tape (which would have done around 20 wallets!) After about 4 years it was looking a bit battered and worn, and I had a few ideas to improve on my first one.
This time I made it with camera at the ready. Read on to learn more…
Items required
-
Duct (Gaffa) tape
Cutting mat
Sharp knife
Ruler (or straight edge)
Old wallet as template (or wallet contents)
Start by cutting a length of tape a few inches wider than your existing wallet. Lay this sticky side up. Cut a second length and lay this sticky side down so half of it overlaps the first one;
Turn this over, and add another length of tape so it overlaps the sticky side that’s now facing upwards
Keep repeating the overlapping procedure to produce a Duct Tape sheet. This is the basic building block of Duct Tape items. This first one needs to be at least as wide and at least twice the height of your final wallet.
Fold the top and bottom edges over each other so you’re not left with any stickyness showing.
Then trim the edges with a ruler to the width you want (a £20 note is big enough to check the size is ok. If you have a £50 lying around to check against, don’t worry if it’s too small, you can always buy yourself a nice Prada wallet)
You should end up with a nice neat rectangle of Duct fabric
My first wallet was built from 100% Duct Tape, but I noticed fairly quickly that the top corners were deforming. For this one I decided to deviate from the purist ideal and add some cardboard triangles (old business cards cut up) to the top two corners
And hold in place with a strip of tape
The real Duct Tape purists out there will also tell you that you should only use the silver/grey Duct Tape for wallets. Personally, I prefer the slightly cheaper B&Q tape, and adding a bit of colour to it too. My last one was just black, but for this one I decided to come up with a black and white striped design
All I did was add rows of white then black tape to the original sheet at 90 degrees to the direction of the first layer
Then trim the excess off with about an inch overhanging
Cut the corners and fold in to leave a nice finished edge
I added a black edge to it too;
Turn the sheet over, and fold it slighlyt below the half way mark so edge without the cardboard corners sits about an inch below the edge with them in
Secure in place with a piece of Duct Tape
This will leave you with the notes part forming the basis of your wallet. If you only carry notes then you can leave it here
If you carry cards or other stuff, you might want some pouches and card holders too.
For a pouch, start by making up another Duct Tape sheet around the same width as your wallet, and at least as tall as a credit card
Trim the edge with a ruler
The fold in half and trim to the required width
For the card section, make a Duct Tape sheet at least as wide as a credit card
Keep on going until it is at least twice as tall
Trim to slightly larger than a credit card
And fold it over on itself similar to how the note section was folded
Hold the pouch and card section in place with more tape on the edges
And some more along the bottom edge
And there you have your finished wallet
The beauty of making your own wallet is that you can customise it to your own needs and have the pockets and pouches that you want. You carry more cards? Fine, add more card holders. You want a coin pouch? No problem, make a coin pouch. Your Duct Tape wallet is what you want it to be!
by Spencer at 25 April 2012 10:43 PM
Fionnuala Murphy
The geek bag part two
It’s done.
The aforementioned geek bag (for a geek, so it needs to be geeky…. geek) is finally complete. After spending some much needed time away from it I fixed all the niggly bits that were causing me to quickly become insane, and all is once more well with the world.
As you may have noticed I went a little EL wire happy with this one. There is EL trimming around the outside of the bag and around the the pocket section underneath. All hand stitched on with invisible thread.
There is also an EL panel star, which just came as basically a sheet of plastic with no way to attach it to anything, so I made a felt glue EL panel sandwich.
The connector comes out of the back of the star, and connects to the wiring hidden under the lining of the bag.
There is also a battery pack hidden inside the bag, which recharges via USB and runs to the phone pocket of the bag, to be used to recharge the owners phone.
There’s also a headphone plug, which is for a pair of headphones which run up the bag strap, so one can rock out whilst charging ones phone, whilst walking from place to place.
This is the part that drove me mad. I don’t want to talk about it too much, it was mean to me. These LEDs are for inside the bag, to illuminate the main pouch so one can find what one is looking for.
Above is the final working version, powered by a AAA battery and the brains are a Arduino Lilypad. The LEDs are activated by pressing a little button.
Mah phone (Samsung Galaxy Note for those who didn’t read this) is great for planning out circuits. It ended up being slightly simpler than that, I didn’t split the LEDs up as much in that sketch.
It’s a rather nice feature of the bag. Here’s the code it runs on, it’s simple enough.
int ledPin3 = 3;
int ledPin4 = 4;
int ledPin18 = 18;
int switchPin = 16;
int switchValue; // a variable to keep track of when switch is pressed
void setup()
{
pinMode(ledPin3, OUTPUT); // sets the ledPin to be an output
pinMode(ledPin4, OUTPUT); // sets the ledPin to be an output
pinMode(ledPin18, OUTPUT); // sets the ledPin to be an output
pinMode(switchPin, INPUT); // sets the switchPin to be an input
digitalWrite(switchPin, HIGH); // sets the default (unpressed) state of switchPin to HIGH
Serial.begin(9600);
}
void loop()
{
switchValue = digitalRead(switchPin); // check to see if the switch is pressed
if (switchValue == LOW) { // if the switch is pressed then,
digitalWrite(ledPin3, HIGH); // turn the LED on
digitalWrite(ledPin4, HIGH); // turn the LED on
digitalWrite(ledPin18, HIGH); // turn the LED on
Serial.print('A');
delay(8000);
}
else {
digitalWrite(ledPin3, LOW); // turn the LED off
digitalWrite(ledPin4, LOW); // turn the LED off
digitalWrite(ledPin18, LOW); // turn the LED off
}
}
The bag still looks pretty cool when off, which is nice.
Still looks better in the dark though :3
GLOWY!
by fio at 25 April 2012 06:57 PM
Michael Erskine
3x3x3 Avg 12: 30.67 -- a change of style?
Today's average is slightly different: I decided in advance not to rush, not to panic, not care about the times and just do solves with smart moves and no mistakes. I might be onto something here because the average is up there with my recent speed solves but the process was much more enjoyable!
by msemtd at 25 April 2012 12:11 PM
24 April 2012
Michael Erskine
3x3x3 Avg 12: 31.11 -- tedious
I'm getting rather bored with this lack of improvement and I think I'll take a break again - see what happens.
by msemtd at 24 April 2012 11:53 AM
23 April 2012
Michael Erskine
3x3x3 Avg 12: 31.19 -- meh!
I'm posting a "meh!" for today's average. I clearly need to work on it but I'm not sure when I'll get time to do that, or if it will be of benefit. My plentiful practice is either not benficial or the wrong sort of practice. Perhaps I should work on more theory and learning algorithms?
by msemtd at 23 April 2012 12:17 PM
22 April 2012
Dominic Morrow
The Wolf Returns!
What is the wolf? The wolf stops us being lazy, the wolf stops us being greedy... the wolf behind us drives us. What are we with out the wolf...
About this time last year Nottingham Hackspace had some very serious and potentially devastating news. We learned that we had to move out of our Hackspace. This quite literally was putting us out of our comfort zone. We paid the princely and, I admit at the time, scary sum of £100 per month for a suite of rooms above the Tesco's on Station Street in Nottingham. It's an old Police Station and I guess that it was falling into a very poor state of repair.
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| David H in the workshop of Nottingham Hackspace Circa 2011 |
I don't clearly recall when everyone stopped telling me that we couldn't possibly move into the huge set of rooms at Roden House. Before long everyone seemed to believe we could do it. Pull together £2000 in deposit and build up membership over the course of a few months to cover our £1k a month rent. We all did some napkin maths. RepRap Matt, Michael-the-Money and James all did big spreadsheets working out how our income would need to build and how many members we'd need month on month. We negotiated with our (soon to be) landlord and worked out a stepped rent building up month on month starting with two months for free!
In late April 2012 Nottingham Hackspace has received an invoice for a little under £3k in unpaid rent...just like it says in those large famously friendly letters on the cover of the hitch-hiker's guide to the galaxy
by noreply@blogger.com (Dominic Morrow) at 22 April 2012 07:27 PM
19 April 2012
Kate Bolin
Make a Glue Gun Bandolier, an excerpt from Criminal Crafts:...
Make a Glue Gun Bandolier, an excerpt from Criminal Crafts: Outlaw Projects For Scoundrels and Armchair Detectives, as seen on CRAFT’s blog.
While I’ve never needed quite that much glue, I can’t deny the temptation…
18 April 2012
Spencer Owen
The Minutes Ringtone MP3
Like so many of you out there, I love listening to The Minutes podcast. Even the starting jingle gives me a smile because I know there is an hour of happiness about to arrive in my ears.
I’m sure you can imagine how delighted I was delighted to hear that the theme tune had been turned in to a ringtone. Yay \o/ However, the official download from here http://theminutespodcast.tumblr.com/post/15228052921/the-minutes-ringtone is in a .M4R format, which is fine for all the iPhone junkies out there, but not any good to most of the other 74% of mobile phone users.
So, if you like your ringtones in a good old MP3 format, I’ve converted it for you and you can download it here;
Minutes Theme MP3 Ringtone
On Android, long-click then save link, then play it in the standard music player app, menu > set as ringtone
Don’t forget, you can still listen to the latest The Minutes from here http://feeds.feedburner.com/theminutes
Enjoy!
by Spencer at 18 April 2012 11:36 PM
Michael Erskine
3x3x3 Avg 12: 30.59 -- continued disappointment
Today's average of 12 Rubik's Cube solves continues the disappointing lack of progress I have come to expect :(
by msemtd at 18 April 2012 12:01 PM
16 April 2012
Michael Erskine
3x3x3 Avg 12: 29.35 -- just back from Rapid Dash Open 2012
Late last night I returned home from the Rapid Dash Open 2012 - a speedcubing event in Guildford, UK. A new world record was set for the Blindfolded 5x5 event (well Done Daniel!), there were a number other national records set, and of course most people succeeded in improving their own competition records.
by msemtd at 16 April 2012 12:04 PM
15 April 2012
Spencer Owen
Creme Egg Cup Cake
I like hacking. I like cakes. So why not combine the two? (I’ve decided to call it Cacking!)
If you have ever wanted to get Diabetes but wasn’t sure of the quickest ways to get it, or if a sugar coma is still on your bucket list then read on for a recipe that will make even Willie Wonka raise an eyebrow…
If you don’t want to read on, basically the recipe is “Make cupcakes and put in Creme Eggs”
Before you start, make sure you freeze your eggs. (This is in case you go in to a sugar coma for too long, but still want children later in life). I also recommend putting some Cadburys Creme Eggs in the freezer a few days beforehand too, so they don’t melt too quickly in the oven and turn your cup cakes in to goo.
Next, mix up your favorite cup cake ingredience as normal (remember to use ‘real’ eggs, not creme ones though!). I don’t have a ‘home made favorite recipe’ but I do have a local Sainsburys that does a very nice Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix. General rule of thumb, as long as there are no “Warning: Not compatible with Cadbury Creme Egg” messages on the box you’ll be fine.
Next, put some of the mix in to some muffin cases. This is to prevent (well, delay as much as possible) the chocolate egg burning on the bottom of the tray.
DO NOT place your eggs end on, as shown here. I only did this as an experiment to see if they were better standing up or lying down. Vertical egg alignment should only be attempted by qualified eggsperts!
Instead, you should lay your eggs down sideways as shown here;
Next, cover your eggs with more cake mix. (Note that I went for a 50/50 vertical/sideways ratio on this run)
You will need to check the cakes fairly regularly to make sure the Creme Eggs don’t melt. On this recipe it was suggested an 8″ cake tin needed 25-28 mins, but these were just about done at 22 mins
Note that you can see here where the vertically placed eggs got slightly burned on the top. These had to go through a vigorous quality check, but ultimately all were deemed as “Edible”
If you have any that may not quite look their best on top, simply cover over with a chocolate icing and chocolate sprinkles to disguise any imperfections
When eating, always cut them open first to behold the beauty that lies within
Warning: Do not attempt to eat two or more at a time. As the French say, One egg is an oeuf!
by Spencer at 15 April 2012 09:13 PM
A World First – Rubiks Cube Meets Inverticycle
Rubiks Cubes have been around since the early 80′s, and Unicycles have been around since, well, the invention of the wheel as far as I can tell. And in that time every possible new idea around either one has been done. Until now that is!
Although there are a lot of people that can ride a unicycle, relatively few can ride an inverticycle (Probably around 20-30 people in the UK). Solving the standard 3x3x3 Rubiks Cube isn’t that rare. However, if you drew a Venn Diagram of people that could do both, it would be a very very slim slither of overlap. If you add to it the people that have done both, and have video evidence for it, I believe that will give you an intersection with one person in it. Me!
I will be getting in touch with Guinness shortly to see if there is any kind of category for this record
by Spencer at 15 April 2012 07:42 PM
14 April 2012
Matt Little
Solar bike trailer
I've found some time to take a few photos of a project that I have been working on for a couple of years now, my solar bike trailer. I have recently done a re-vamp of this trailer and thought I'd put up some images and explain what its all about.
The solar bike trailer contains everything needed to instantly have solar power access. It has a 50Wp adjustable solar panel which folds down for transport and an 80Ah battery for storage. There is an in-built 400W sound system (amplifier and speakers), a 200W sine-wave inverter (for AC supply), a number of 12V DC outlets (including car-type cigar sockets), USB charging sockets and lights (both for night travel and for evening use). I'm pretty pleased with it and it is currently providing sounds and power supply to my laptop as I write this.
by matt@re-innovation.co.uk (Matthew Little) at 14 April 2012 09:23 AM
13 April 2012
Kate Bolin
“The Global Pursuit of Happiness, or: The Army of Luck” is an...
“The Global Pursuit of Happiness, or: The Army of Luck” is an art installation of 520 Japanese Maneki Neko& cat figurines (the waving cats found at many Asian businesses). Their waving arms are equipped with servomotors and wired together, creating a 40 by 13 cat matrix display that can show patterns or even scrolling text (video). The installation was created by German artist Boris Petrovsky and debuted last month at the Art Karlsruhe festival in Germany.
From Laughing Squid.
Ohhhhh. Can I? Can I? CAN I?
12 April 2012
Matt Little
Making PCBs with a CNC machine
We use a small CNC (computer Numerical Control) machine to cut accurate holes in things, drill circuit boards and to mill 3D items.
I recently spent the day (along with Ashfaq Juna, who lent one of his CNC machines to Nottiingham Hackspace) playing with my CNC machine and trying to mill circuit boards. These are some notes and photos of what we did.
by matt@re-innovation.co.uk (Matthew Little) at 12 April 2012 09:33 PM
Spencer Owen
I’m back – And certified virus free… again!
Well it only seems like 6 weeks ago that I was posting about how this site was all nice and virus free. Well, less than 2 weeks later, my hosting company, Dreamhosts announced that loads of their sites were infected. Yup, that included mine! Well, I’ve finally found the time to switch hosting company and hopefully I’ll stay clean this time.
I had planned to move to LCN as they have some pretty good packages at decent prices and they come highly recommended. Sadly, though, they need the domain transferred to them so they can managed that in order to provide hosting. Even after a discussion with a very nice guy in pre-sales they still have needed my domain transferring.
I then looked at www.tsohost.co.uk. They were rated highly for security and WordPress hosting and within an hour my old site was up and running on their new servers!
The setup and transfer process was very straightforward, although I’ve had to reinstall all the WP plugins I liked on the old site. I have lost a few embedded photos too, so you’ll have to bare with me with some of the posts here until I get a chance to find the original pics.
Fingers crossed I won’t be needing to do another ‘virus free again’ for a long long time now!
by Spencer at 12 April 2012 05:14 PM
11 April 2012
Kate Bolin
annie-waits: This was the most elaborate Atomic Energy...
The playset
closeup of the lid
the uranium ore
the accompanying manual/"refill request"
This was the most elaborate Atomic Energy educational set ever produced, but it was only only available from 1951 to 1952. Its relatively high price for the time ($50.00) and its sophistication were the explanation Gilbert gave for the set’s short lifespan. Today, it is so highly prized by collectors that a complete set can go for more than 100 times the original price.
The set came with four types of uranium ore, a beta-alpha source (Pb-210), a pure beta source (Ru-106), a gamma source (Zn-65?), a spinthariscope, a cloud chamber with its own short-lived alpha source (Po-210), an electroscope, a geiger counter, a manual, a comic book (Dagwood Splits the Atom) and a government manual “Prospecting for Uranium.”Other Gilbert sets (e.g., the No. 11 Atomic Energy set) continued to carry the spinthariscope, the ore and the manual. In addition, the Geiger counter could be purchased separately.
10 April 2012
Jason Lee Baxter
Ginger Beer
Batch 2 of my ginger beer is almost done so I thought I’d do a bit of a write up on the recipe. Ginger beer is very cheap to make and requires very little equipment, at its cheapest you can brew it in bottles (With a bit of care taken to avoid an explosion) using bread yeast. I’v been brewing my ginger beer in a demijohn with an air lock, this gets rid of the possibility of an explosion due to pressure build up, it also allows me to lower the risk of bacteria and oxidation destroying the drink as well.
You may be wondering how can brewing ginger beer lead to an explosion? When brewing, yeast is used to convert Sugar to CO2 (Carbon-dioxide) and Alcohol, if you brew in sealed environment like a bottle, the CO2 cannot escape this leads to a pressure build up and eventually explosion, if you’re using glass this can be very dangerous.
I looked at several recipes when designing my first batch, most of them are designed for people with no brewing equipment:
- http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/chefs/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall/ginger-beer-recipe
- http://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/ginger-beer/
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/11/nigel-slater-classic-ginger-beer-recipe
- http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/7078/traditional-ginger-beer.aspx
The recipe I eventually set on was one I found on a forum:
Ingredients
Two lemons
450gms sugar
8 pints (4.4litres) of water (enough to fill a demi-john)
Flat teaspoonful of Dried Yeast
100gm Fresh root ginger
Two heaped tea spoons of tartaric acid (Cream of Tartar)
Equipment
A large pan that can boil four and a half litres of water
A jug
A glass
A coarse cheese grater
A wooden spoon
A 1 gallon demijohn
A bubble seal for the demijohn
A lemon juicer
A lemon zester
A fine sieve
9 glass or plastic bottles of 500ml volume with screw caps (eg plastic coke bottles)
Method
1. Put 8 pints of water in the large pan and bring it to the boil
2. While the water is coming to the boil…
scrape the zest from one of the lemons
grate the ginger on the coarse cheese grater
add the sugar to the ginger and lemon zest in a bowl
cut the lemons in half and squeeze the juice into the jug
add the tartaric acid to the lemon juice
put the yeast into some warm water with a little sugar in a glass
3. When the water has boiled ….
add the sugar, ginger and lemon zest to the water, turn off the heat and stir
allow the water to cool to roughly blood heat, stirring occasionally
add the lemon juice and tartaric acid to the water
add the yeast mixture
4. Use the jug to pour the mixture into the demi-john
5. Seal the demijohn with the bubble seal
6. Stand the demijohn in a warm place for 48 hrs at a bubble rate of 40/minute
7. After 48 hrs pour the mixture through the sieve into the jug and fill the bottles leaving an air gap for the pressure to build up in. Screw the caps tightly onto the bottles (8 pints (4.5l) should fill 9 bottles)
8. Leave the bottles at room temperature for 24 hrs
9. Put the bottles in the fridge for 2-3 days to allow the yeast to settle (failure to do this may result in an explosion!)
1. Open the bottles slowly to release the gas
2. Pour the whole of a bottle into glasses, as any gingerbeer remaining in the bottle will contain quite a lot of yeast.
3. Drink
The ginger beer made this way should be fizzy and fairly sweet.
If you ferment the mixture in the demijohn for longer than 48 hrs then the alcohol content will increase at the expense of the sweetness – try different times to suit your taste.
I slightly deviated from the method after bottling by only leaving it 12hrs at room temp to make sure I was safe using glass.
For my second batch I decided to go a bit crazy and use a lot of ginger as I felt the last one was quiet weak:
For 1 Imperial Gallon (8 pints):
200g Dextrose (brewing sugar)
500g Lactose (milk sugar)
225g Ginger
1 lemon zest
Juice of 2 lemons
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient
1/4 tsp creme of tarter
wine yeast (Had no ale yeast in)
OG 1.060sg
I’m also allowing it to ferment for much longer (about a week) because of this I’ve used a lot more suger, I’ve also included lactose (a form of sugar found in milk) which does not ferment so it sweetens the drink unlike the dextrose which is eaten by the yeast; I used 500g as I was unsure how much I would need, it didn’t taste very sweet so I opted to use a lot and see how it turns out.
My recipe is obviously a work in progress; I’m going to alter it slowly after every batch and work towards a recipe that suits me. I’ll post an update once it’s ready to drink with my thoughts on it’s taste and what adjustments I think will be needed for batch 3.
by Jason Lee Baxter at 10 April 2012 02:48 PM
08 April 2012
Dominic Morrow
...the road to success!
Something happened in the Hackspace on a Monday craft night early in April which made me feel really good about Nottingham Hackspace. It was the making of a bird box. Though the design was somewhat rustic and the finishing result (though fabulous) remains to be seen if it's practical, the journey to completion for the Hacker who made it is worthy of a brief mention somewhere.
Moments later Kate appears at the proper work benches hammer in hand. At this point we'd set up the nail gun and offered to show Kate how it worked...
e people may dismiss in different environments. From thinking such tools are potentially "dangerous" in her hands, Kate went full circle (in my opinion) seeing that on the contrary using the wrong tools and environment for a task could prove equally dangerous. Had Kate tried to hammer the birdhouse together on the trestle or sawn the wood clamped vertically in the bench vice the difficulty and tedium of the task not to mention the potential for harm would have been enough to leave the birdhouse a pipedream... at least it would have been unlikely to finish up as the bird mansion (cream coloured, glitter covered, pink writing) it became.
by noreply@blogger.com (Dominic Morrow) at 08 April 2012 10:05 AM
07 April 2012
Kate Bolin
Okay, nerd confession time: As much as I liked the concept of a...
Okay, nerd confession time:
As much as I liked the concept of a hackspace, and as much as I like making stuff, it really didn’t hit me until I saw Iron Man.
And there on the screen is a man who is bleeding and bruised and with this car battery the only thing keeping him from freakin’ dying, and he goes and builds a tiny reactor that fits into his chest and then builds an entire suit that lets him escape.
Most of us, we would’ve been like “Welp, carrying around this battery now for the rest of my life.” Maybe a few of us would’ve been like “Hey, I just made a backpack for the battery! Now I have both of my hands free!”
But not Tony. Tony makes. Tony builds and creates and solders and welds and smelts and casts and can take apart multi-million-dollar missiles just to get a tiny bit of metal and thinknothing of it.
And when I saw that, I went “Oh. Oh.”
And now I know how to solder and make little circuitboards and knit and use a nail gun and build little wood things and make soap and so much more that I can barely remember but it’s all because of this guy, right here, using an angle grinder on his workbench filled with awesome things.
Thanks, Tony.
05 April 2012
Dominic Morrow
Don't touch the precious things!
Hackerspace globally must be fighting the battle of the accumulation of crap.
by noreply@blogger.com (Dominic Morrow) at 05 April 2012 10:50 PM
Matt Little
Measuring temperature
Measuring temperature is incredibly useful. It is probably one of the most important environmental variables and there are a wide range of devices to do this task.
I have recently had a number of projects which require accurate temperature measurement and storage, including a data acquisition system to measure hot water usage and a monitoring system for my home fermentation equipment.
Here I give an overview of a few different sensors which can be used to monitor temperature and how to read that data with a microcontroller (the ubiquitous Arduino).
by matt@re-innovation.co.uk (Matthew Little) at 05 April 2012 12:04 PM
04 April 2012
Fionnuala Murphy
Learning to sew :3
A lot of people think I studied textiles at university.
I was actually in a gray room full of power macs for three years. All of my crafty skills were either taught to me by my mother when I was a child (embroidery, hand sewing, and knitting, but I don’t think that really counts as I couldn’t cast on or bind off), or I’ve taught myself (I learnt to crochet and re-taught myself knitting with youtube, admist the kitties and cute owls there’s knowledge).
All of my sewn projects have been hand sewn. I’m alright at hand sewing, but my god it takes forever. A certain thing that I’m yet to blog about took longer than the film that inspired it to sew, on a machine it would have taken minutes.
And in terms of e-textiles, I think that a lot of the projects I’ve made would have been easier made from scratch. I also think it will affect the way that I approach making things, if I understand how a garment is constructed then I think it’ll change how I’d make it.
Also mainstream fashion sucks I mean I went shopping the other day and all the shops had the same stuff I mean what the hell.
I’ve been stockpiling books and it’s finally bright enough long enough for me to be able to see what I’m doing. So it’s happening now. I’m going to learn to use a freakin’ sewing machine.
Step one was going to the market and buying some hideous striped fabric to practice sewing on. I’m quite good at following the stripes and have gotten over the issues of the tension being wrong and omg how do I get the bottom bobbin out again. I have a couple of more techniques to practice like backstitching and overcasting, and then I’m ready to make some projects!!
YEAH!!
by fio at 04 April 2012 04:12 PM
Jason Lee Baxter
Home Brew Beer
Well well well, looks like yet another one of my blogs fell by the way side, left without content for a year. Since my last blog post I’ve become quiet interested in brewing beer so I plan to post my brewing logs here so that I may track what I’ve made.
So where did it all start? I’ve always been interested in trying it out some day, but it was one of those things that I had no way into and I have far too many hobbies to begin with! A friend of a friend does a lot of brewing at home and it was after discussions with him I decided to take it up; he helped me out by pointing out what would need and preparing my first batch. I started with a start up kit from Young’s, the kit had most of what I needed and was very cheap at £26. (Wilko’s have them). Four weeks latter, I had some really nice beer in a cask which I bought for £24.
Beer School from BrewDog.
The ways that home brewers make beer can be rougthly split into three categories:
All Grain – Starting with the raw malted barley, sugar is extracted from the grain in to water with a process called mashing. After mashing the water (now known as wort ) is boiled for over 1-2 hours, during this hops are added to bitter and flavour the beer. Following this the beer is cooled and yeast is added, the wort then sits in a vat for 14 days where the yeast converts the sugar to alcohol and carbon dioxide. Lastly the beer is bottled or barrelled then left to mature or/and drank.
Extract Brewing – This is the same as the above except that mashing has been done for you. The wort comes in can which you mix with water and continue with boiling as above.
Beer Kits – This is the easiest way to brew beer but lacks flexibility the taste is pretty much set. Like Extract brewing the mash has been done for you, but additionally the hops have also been done, this limits how much the beer can be changed.
I’ve mostly stuck to beer kits at the moment, although I’m going to move on to all grain latter this year, now that I have my foot in the door. Apart form the initial kit that came with my equipment I’ve brewed St. Peters Ruby Red Ale, and BrewFerm’s Triple. I’ve also bought a glass demijohn and brewed a ginger beer (more on this next post).
Brewing has been a really good source of fun and interest for me, I’ve really enjoyed researching the science behind the brew. I’ve still got a lot to learn but I’ve had good results so far. Latter this year I plan to build a Mash tun which will allow me to go to all grain, in my next post I’ll be talking about Ginger Beer, and share the recipe I’m working with and adjusting.
