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Success!  Tested the Hex LED Panels, and they work!!!

4/11/2021

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Well I should say that I tested two strips of LEDs for the panels (and one was in the panel) so I think that qualifies.  Everything works pretty well, and the Blynk interface is very responsive too!  The only issues I ran into was a driver problem for the CH2102 Slilcon Labs USB driver (just had to install it), and I also found that the Blue and Green colors were reversed so I made a small change to Hexalights.ino to swap the colors (see the pics).  I suspect that the reverse colors may be due to some issue with my particular LED strip since I looked over things and nothing else seems amiss between the Blynk app config and the code.

I think this will be really cool once it's done and am now thinking of other things to try with it (possibly some way to utilize the buttons I designed into the case and some other stuff), but first things first, gotta finish printing it.  When done I expect to use upto 10 panels (which coincidentally will utilize an entire strip of 300 LED's since each box uses 30).  Since it was not covered in either the public or private code walkthrough videos from Nerdforge, I will do a write up of how to get the Blynk app to work with his software, when I am confident everything is working (I want to test it with several more boxes yet).
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Some Progress on the Hex LED panels

4/9/2021

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I poked a bit last week at trying to set up Blynk for the HexaLeaf Panel software which I plan to use with the Hex LED Panel design I've been working on.  So far I have not completed the electronics, but that should be done this weekend.  I think I figured out how to get Blynk to interface with the NodeMCU, using NerdForge's software for the HexaLeaf panels though.  Once I get one panel set up, I should be able to test it out but I will need two panels to fully test it.  When the design is posted I will also add some info that may help get the Blynk app set up when using NerdForge's code. 

I also have printed some filters which need to be tested (to see if they are too opaque). I have some more translucent white PLA I could use, but I prefer the look of the solid white panels and it is simpler to find solid white PLA anyway.  So I am just trying to determine if two or three 0.2mm layers works best as a light filter.
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Solder Fume Extractor for a Stanley 014725R Organizer is POSTED!!!

4/3/2021

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The Solder Fume Extractor for a Stanley 014725R Organizer is finally posted.  This project was several weeks in the making, primarily due to the wait for parts, but it was also a lot of test fitting parts and then printing and testing.  It is not what I would consider an easy build, but also not super hard to do either, it just takes some time and willingness to do some testing and soldering.  I am very pleased with the result though, unlike the first iteration of this fan design.  This one works very well, thanks to an upgraded fan and battery, it does not seem to lack power.

The design is posted at the links below, and I built a page with instructions and details here.

Solder Fume Extractor for a Stanley 014725R Organizer
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4816285

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Few Updates

4/3/2021

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Couple quick updates on the projects recently posted.

The Hex LED panels are still sitting on my shelf waiting to be completed.  The designs are completed and verified but I have not had time to tackle the app stuff yet.  I think I originally missed that the blynk code for the app was not included in any of the github files related to the Nerdforge project, which the LED panels were bases on (electronically).  I hate to post the 3D files without an idea on how to make it work as intended, so it may be a while on that one (sux).

The Stanley case solder fume extractor is completed, and should be posted this week to thingiverse and cults3d too.

Work is getting much more busy but I am on the lookout for new projects.  Still, nothing worth mentioning right now.

I will post an update when the Solder Fume Extractor is posted, with some pics.
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Update on the Stanley Case Solder Fume Extractor

3/21/2021

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When testing the fan previously I noticed that some of the fumes seemed to loop up and over the fan when they were sucked away from the source of the smoke.  I designed a couple methods to mitigate that problem but this one seems the most promising.  It is just a thin pull out shroud that extends about 15mm from the fan face and should help keep the flow a bit more directed.  The other idea was to have the handle swing to partly shroud the fan.  The problem with that idea was that it would have been very leaky and probably would have been less effective.  I have yet to test this, and the pics above are just test parts, but once I get the fuse holder, I can fully print and test the works.
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Couple more Stoopid things

3/20/2021

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Probably the most practical thing about a 3D printer is being able to print parts to fix minor annoyances around the house.  I had to replace a gazebo cover which was wrecked by a storm, and found that the new cover was just a bit larger than the old one.  I made some longer points to add to the gazebo, as well as some regular end points, which were just replacements for some that had gone missing.  It did take several hours to print the parts and maybe 30 minutes to design and set up, which is really more like a hobby anyway, so it doesn't feel like working. 

I also made a set of feet for a breadboard which had long since lost the cheap rubber stick on feet.  Without the feet the breadboard would not sit flat due to some posts for the power connections, so this modification makes it much more usable now.

Couple updates on the other projects - I'm still working on the solder fume extractor, and testing some changes to the design while I am waiting on parts (from China).  The Hex LED panels is just waiting for some time to work on testing the electronics and code further, and then I will get to printing the rest of it (this project is gonna take a while though due to the amount of printing required).
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Testing a USB Boost Converter board for the new Stanley Solder Fume Extractor

3/12/2021

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I added a post under the "Lec'tronics" section with info on testing the USB boost converter board that I plan to use with my new Stanley Solder Fume Extractor design.  On USB power it seems like it will work, but I still need to test using the battery alone.
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A Tale of Two Test Cubes (one is garbage)

3/11/2021

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First let me say that this story does have a happy ending, unlike many of my printer stories.  As you can see from the pics above a simple test cube to check flow (info here and here) and horizontal expansion on a new PLA I was trying, did not go so well.  I had been having some issues with print quality on the Ender3 for a couple weeks, but it was good enough for the prototype stuff I was using it for, but now I need to actually print something nice and quality matters.  The test print has several problems including bumps on the sides for no apparent reason and a very weird looking pattern on the base which just looks sloppy.  I first swapped the nozzle and did not get much improvement, so I bit the bullet and went over the X-gantry again (has been a long time since I had to), and also tightened up all the wheels and cleaned the extrusions they ride on with a microfiber rag.  That did the trick and below you can see a before (right) and after (left).  I'm not gonna say that there is no more room for improvement since with printers there always is, but for this project this will do.
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Revising the Mini-Solder Fume Extractor Design

3/8/2021

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My first attempt at making a mini solder fume extractor fan was a bust, but I really liked the compact size which fit in my Stanley organizers, and the USB charging.  The problem was the 60x20mm fan sucked and not in a good way.  I also did not like how jam packed the electronics bay was which was largely a factor of needing two boards, one for USB charging and battery management and a second boost converter to jump the 3.7v of the battery to 12v for the fan.  Recently however I found a board that should integrate the USB battery charging with a boost converter.  It looks like they pretty much took both boards and put them side by side, but that's fine.  I bought a couple of them to try out, along with a 12V 0.2A 60x25mm fan and a larger 1000mAh lipo cell.  If it all works out then I may be able to get a decently powerful mini fan working in a few weeks.  The pic above is the heavily re-worked design to fit the new components (it's not final though since I don't have the boards yet).
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Updated the design of some of the Stanley Organizer Bins

3/8/2021

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It has been a while since I posted the Stanley 014725R organizer bins on Thingiverse, and I have been pretty happy with them.  I use them primarily to keep my M3, M3 and M5 hardware organized, and they saved me a ton of time over the years.  Some folks however noted that the door hinges were not super strong, and I have popped one out accidentally when closing the lid on one that was open, so I tended to agree that something should be done.  This week I had some time so I re-worked the hinges to use a large paperclip wire (straightened of course) as the hinge, and I think it will be the version I use from here since it is much stronger.  The new versions are posted at the links below.  Pic above shows the old versions, but there is no significant cosmetic difference (I only printed the smaller bin with the new hinge, and the larger one is just a slight modification so I don't feel I need to print that one to test).

This model has 3 bins with lids (fits the medium size bin):
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4784172


This model has 3 bins with lids and 4 open bins (fits the large bin):
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4785308


Original dividers can be found here:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3091544
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