![]() Kilby, who’d co-invented the integrated circuit just seven years earlier while at TI, lived to solve problems. This was a huge challenge since at that time calculators were the size of typewriters and plugged into wall sockets for their power. It was the fall of 1965 and Jack Kilby and Patrick Haggerty of Texas Instruments sat on a flight as Haggerty explained his idea for a calculator that could fit in the palm of a hand. Joke if you will, but in the end it’s probably better than an Internet of Farts.Ĭontinue reading “IoTP: The Internet Of Toilet Paper” → Posted in home hacks Tagged IoT, mpu6050, toilet, toilet paper, TP, wemos mini d1 The whole idea, including justification based on monitoring TP use as a proxy for bowel health, seems ridiculous, but we suspect there may be some brilliance here. And of course, critical TP usage parameters are uploaded to a cloud server, so that more toilet paper can be rushed to your door when you’re getting low. The smart spindle can tally the amount of paper used, so you’ll never be caught without a square to spare. It had all the right guts, and being just the size for a Wemos Mini and an accelerometer for motion detection was a bonus. For his proof-of-concept build, started with a gag “talking TP” roll off eBay, designed to play back a voice clip when the paper is used. When you read ’s Instructables post, you find out that this project is indeed a legitimate attempt to meld an Amazon Dash button with your toilet paper dispenser. Right up until you get to the big Kimberly-Clark logo at the end, that is, and you realize that the international paper concern must be looking at this seriously. Watching the infomercial-esque video below is alternately hilarious and horrifying, but it leaves you with the unmistakable feeling that this is all a joke, and a pretty good one at that. Our first impression of this IoT toilet paper roll was that somebody was pulling our leg. It seems hard to lose at prices like these.Ĭontinue reading “Entry-Level 3D Printer Becomes Budget PCB Machine” → Posted in 3d Printer hacks, Tool Hacks Tagged Cetus, cnc, etching, g-code, laser, pcb, photoresist That was a $200 dedicated engraver, this is a $300 3D printer with a $30 laser. He recently tried the same thing using a cheap CNC laser engraver with similar results. This isn’t ’s first budget laser-etching rodeo. But the results are more than acceptable, especially for $330. The video below shows that the printer isn’t perfect for the job despite the smooth linear bearings, the low mass of the printer results in vibration that shows up as wavy traces. CETUS3D PROBLEMS MANUALWith a few mods to the cheap UV laser module had on hand, a printed holder for the laser, and a somewhat manual software toolchain, PCBs with 0.2-mm traces were soon being etched. But hiding beneath the covers was a suspicious transistor wired to a spare connector on the print head a little sleuthing and a call to the factory revealed that the pin is intended for accessory use and can be controlled from G-code. The printer has nice linear bearings but not a lot of other amenities, hence ’s desire to add a heated bed. The printer in question is a Cetus3D, one of the newer generation of affordable machines. And the results are pretty impressive, all the more so since so little effort and expense were involved. Instead of ending up with a heated bed, his $300 3D printer can now etch 0.2-mm PCB traces. A funny thing happened on ’s way to upgrading his 3D printer. ![]()
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