Moteino Node Talking to Host

After about two weeks off for the holidays, I spent time at the Milwaukee Makerspace working on the Moteinos for my Home Environmental Sensor Array.

3D Print of a Battery Holder
As part of the node solution for the HESA, I want to have a complete stand-alone package that includes a holder for the battery.  Also, I want to have 6v battery for the power supply since the Moteino needs at least a 3.2v input.

I have a 6v Lithium battery from Energizer.  I made a case for it but it is not ideal and not reproducible.  I found a Thing on Thingiverse to 3D print a holder for a Panasonic Lithium battery.

I printed the holder on the Cube Pro Trio 3D printer at the Makerspace.  The printer is very easy to use.  I was hoping it would be more reliable than the other printers we have but my first print failed.  I printed the holder in draft mode and it finished but the corners pealed up a bit.  Also, I found out that the Panasonic battery is longer than the Energizer and the terminals are in different spots.  So, I won't be able to use the holder and will have to find a different solution.

On the plus side, I learned how to use the CubePro Trio printer.  This is a professional-grade 3D printer that should make high quality prints.

ACK Testing
The last time I played around with the Moteino, the node was sending data to the host but the node was never getting an ACK back from the host.  I tested combinations of all three Moteinos with the same results.  I posted something on the Moteino forum and the response was that it should work. I finally got back to testing the ACK feature and was able to get it working -- sort-of.

I think the original problem is that I did not have the antennas attached to the Moteinos.  I soldered antennas onto all three Moteinos, and they now send and receive ACKs properly.

However, this gets more and more unreliable as the distance between the node and host increases.  When the distance is less than 20 feet, the ACKs are almost always received.  At 50 feet, ACKs are received about 50% of the time.  If I go over 100 yards away, almost no ACKs are received.

I posted a message on the Moteino forum to see what the problem is.  However, I also decided that I don't care about ACKs for the HESA.  For now, I can continue without this feature.

HESA Node

Finally, I created a sketch for a node on the HESA network.  The sketch will read and transmit the following information to the host:

• Notification that it is on-line on bootup
• Battery voltage
• Temperature from the RF69 chip or from a DHT sensor if installed.
• Humidity from DHT sensor if installed

The code is flexible enough to request ACKs or not when sending data.  The device will also sleep between sends.  This should make the battery last longer.

The next step is to connect the host to a Raspberry Pi and have the Pi read the serial inputs.  Then, I need design a circuit board and complete solution for the node.  Finally, I need to make the HESA python program on the RPi send node data to the SQL database.

RPI serial console: http://elinux.org/RPi_Serial_Connection

Miscellaneous 3D Printing

While at the Makerspace, I 3D printed a couple of objects (or at least attempted to).  The Makerbot was being very temperamental tonight.  I had to take it apart to remove a piece of filament that was stuck on the filament input from a previous print.  It also kept losing connection to the PC.  I would reboot the PC and it would print for a few minutes and then just stop.  Also, the computer in the 3D printing area would not write to an SD card.  I had to use my trusty Linux laptop to write the gcode for the prints to an SD card.  Finally, I think there was something wrong with the filament.  It just would not extrude consistently.  I did get stuff printed but the pieces were rough.

The first thing I printed is a small piece to hold a 3.5mm hard drive for an Xbox 360 S.  I am hoping to find a cheap or free hard drive that we can install in my son's Xbox.  (If you have one you don't want anymore, let me know.)  This piece would hold the drive in place.  I found the design for the hard drive case on Thingiverse.

The next thing I tried to print was a small case for a Raspberry Pi.  I found this design on Thingiverse as well.  For some reason, it did not turn out at all like it was supposed to.  The picture below shows how the print is supposed to look.

This is what actually printed.  I did not get any errors and the printer says the job finished completely. Not sure what happened.  The actual print did not have any walls.  Oh well.  I'll try a different design next time.

#raspberrypi, #3dprinting, #xbox360, #milwaukeemakerspace, #makerbot

Lighted Tardis is Basically Finished

I finally got the lighted Tardis finished (mostly).  Tonight, I 3D printed some windows with glow-in-the-dark filament on the Makerbot at the Milwaukee Makerspace.  I also printed the top of the lamp.  Next, I used super glue to attach the windows and top piece to the rest of  Tardis.  Finally, I super glued the battery holder piece to the bottom of the Tardis.  I still have to attach the papers saying "Police Box" to the sides.

Overall, I think it turned out well.

#tardis, #3dprinting

Printed Some Wobbly Chess Bases

I made it back to the Makerspace after a few weeks off.  Tonight, I took a spool of white PLA filament and printed five (5) bases for the wobbly chess pieces.  This took about 2.5 hours and was all the time I had tonight.

I'll take the pieces home and glue them to the top pieces that I printed before.  I need to figure out a good weight to put in the base to make them stand up.  The Thingiverse instructions says to put in five pennies.  I'm going to try lead from Pinewood Derby cars.

Learning CAD and Trying to 3D Print

I made it back up to the Milwaukee Makerspace after two weeks.  I worked on projects at home last week.  Today, I wanted to do some 3D printing.  I started off trying to print a base for a raspberry pi.  The work kept getting messed up before the raft was finished.  I think the print bed needs to be resurfaced.

I gave up after an hour and started printing chess pieces for the wobbly chess set instead.  The print run will probably take over six hours to complete. Unfortunately, I could not stay at the space until 2am, so I left the machine printing.  I hope if completes.

While the printer was running, I decided to try making a very simple CAD drawing.  At the Makerspace, we have tool holders that are not ideal for the smaller screwdrivers we have in the electronics lab.  I thought I would make a simple rectangle piece that was solid except for holes for the screwdrivers.

I created the drawing in LibreCad and saved it as a DXF file.  Next, I tried to figure out how to convert a DXF file to STL.  Google Sketchup will supposedly do the conversion but only if you have the Pro version.

I read that Blender will do it so I installed that on my Linux laptop.  However, Blender would not open my DXF file.

That's pretty much as far as I got tonight.  Not very exciting but being a Maker takes a lot of patience and persistence.

Printed Prototype Wobbly Chess Piece

I would like to print the wobbly chess set I found on Thingiverse.  The author says it will take 60 hours to print everything so it will be a challenge.  I only have about four hours per week to print stuff on the Makerbot Replicator at the Milwaukee Makerspace.  At that rate, it would take almost four months to print everything.

Just for fun, I printed one piece and one square of the board.  If I wanted a permanent piece, I would use different colors for the top and bottom.

The piece has some trouble standing on its own.  I sanded the bottom a bit flatter and I can get it to stand by itself if I am careful.  However, the wobbly nature of the piece might make it annoying to play with.  Maybe I need more weight in the bottom than the nut I used.

Found Stuff to 3D Print on Thingiverse

I was browsing through the entries on Thingiverse and found some things to 3D print at the Milwaukee Makerspace when I have time.

First of all, I found this cool looking wobbly chess set and board.  I would like to print a copy to either give away or raffle off at the Star of Bethlehem Open chess tournament that I am organizing along with the International Academy of Chess on January 25, 2014.  I'm not really sure what I am going to do because the person who uploaded this thing says it took 60 hours to print.  That will be a challenge for me since I only have about 4-5 hours per week to work on this and the tournament starts in about eight weeks.

Another Thing I found is a case for an LCD screen.  This would come in handy for the enclosure of my Home Environmental Sensor Array.  In phase two or three of the HESA project, I want to add an LCD display so the computer (probably a Beaglebone) will display current status information.

Finally, I added this DIY Magnetic Stirrer to my collection of things to make.  This looks interesting to me because it will let me use the 3D printer, which is always fun, and because it re-uses an old computer fan, keeping it out of a landfill.  I don't do chemistry experiments that require a stirrer but maybe someone at the Makerspace can use it.

Second Tardis Printed and Painted

I was at the Milwaukee Makerspace this afternoon working on several projects.  One thing I was able to do is finish printing all of the pieces of my second Tardis.  I printed the battery holder and lamp cover with the red filament.  Then, I printed the windows and the lamp with the glow-in-the-dark filament.

Next, I painted all of the pieces on both sides in navy blue spray paint in the 'spaces paint room.  At first, I was concerned that the blue would not cover the filament colors but they turned out good.

The next step is to find LEDs and the other electrical components to install the lighting inside the Tardis.  The guy who designed this sells a kit for $12 but I'm going to try to scrounge up the parts myself.

Second Tardis is Mostly Printed

I am printing a second Tardis on the 3D printer at the Milwaukee Makerspace.  This time, I am making it more solid.  Plus, I am going to install a small circuit to power LEDs and light up the top.

Yesternight I printed the open base piece, and both top pieces.  The only pieces left to print are the lamp pieces and the battery piece.  I should be able to print the rest of the pieces in one day provided that the printer works with no problems.  Lately, it has been working great!

The picture shown here has the pieces printed so far except the ring top piece.  They are different colors because I used different colors of filament.  All of the pieces will be spray painted navy blue later.

Started Second Tardis

I started 3D printing a second Tardis. Now that I know what I am doing on the 3D printer at the Makerspace, they are coming out much better.  This time, I am printing the sides with 90% infill to make them stronger.  

As you can see from the picture, the blue filament ran out after the first print so I switched to green.  They will all get spray painted navy blue when all the pieces are printed.

I hope to put electrical wiring in this Tardis to make it light up.

By the way, these three pieces took a bit over nine hours to print.

3D Printing for Dispenser and Getting Back to HESA

Last night, I stopped off at the Milwaukee Makerspace to do a couple of things.

The first thing I did is 3D print the pieces that connect to the wood supports on the automated dog feed dispenser that I am making.  The 3D printer initially had PLA filament in it.  I tried printing with the PLA and it did not work well at first.  The raft printed ok but after that, no plastic was getting laid down.  I cancelled the print, removed the PLA and loaded some ABS filament that I had used before.  I was then able to print the two support pieces.  These are the last two pieces that I needed to 3D print.  Next, I need to use the CNC router to cut the wood.

While I was waiting for the two pieces to print (just over two hours), I got the Home Environmental Sensor Array project off of the shelf and started working on it again.  It took me about thirty minutes to get back up to speed and remember how everything was connected.  Almost everything worked.  The one thing that is not working is the sensor part of the circuit.  As soon as the wire from the sensor is connected to the input GPIO on the raspberry pi, the program I wrote shuts off power as if it detected power coming in to the GPIO port.

I don't understand why this is happening.  Tom G. from the Makerspace suggested that I add a resistor into the circuit.  I did that but it did not help.  Maybe I wired it up wrong.

I also read an article about reading a sensor on the pi.  Its not exactly the same thing I am trying to do but maybe the same circuit would work for me.  It has a resistor and a capacitor.  Maybe waiting for the capacitor to charge is a better way to detect the closed circuit.

I will try to document the circuit I am using now and post it to the Makerspace user forums.  Maybe someone will know what I am doing wrong.

I also need to publish my python source code on the internet and add links to it on my project wiki page.

Even though I did not make much progress on the HESA, it was another great day at the Makerspace.

Printed Auger Part 2

I went to the Makerspace tonight to try printing more of the pet feeder pieces.  At first, I could not get the printer to print.  Nothing would stick to the surface.

I went to get something to eat and ended up at a diner across the street from the 'Space with two other Makers.  One of the guys, Ed, knows quite a bit about the Makerbot 3D printer.  When we got back to the 'Space, he analyzed the problem.  He took the left extruder apart and realized that there was a missing washer on the pin that pushed the filament to a gear.  The missing washer allowed the gear to slip on the filament.  We added one washer and tried another print.  It worked great.

Here is a picture of half of the auger that I printed.  I realized after it started that I already successfully printed this piece and did not need another one.  Oh well.

In other news, I brought a bent metal piece that attaches to my camper to the space.  Dan, the blacksmith, helped me straighten it out.  Cool!

Another great day at the Makerspace.

Pet Feeder and Rocket Launcher Updates

This is actually the second time I have been at the Makerspace since I got from vacation.

Last week, I spent a few hours using the Makerbot Replicator 3D printer to print two more pieces for the automated pet food dispenser.  One was the second half of the auger and the other was a piece to attach the auger to the wood are done (pictured to the right).  However, once I took the auger half home and married it up to the other half, I realized that the first half did not print perfectly.  It curled up a bit on the edges.  So, the halves do not have a lot of surface area that touches and may not glue together well.

This week, I tried re-printing the first half of the auger piece.  I could not do it.  The filament would not stick to the plate.  I tried leveling the plate, cleaning the plate, removing and re-loading the filament, printing from both extruders; nothing worked.  After about an hour of messing around, I gave up.

After punting with 3D printing, I worked on the rocket launcher.  I soldered in the switch I had found and tested the launcher.  The LED stayed on no matter which position the switch was in -- on or off.  I tested the switch by using a multimeter to test the resistance of the switch in both the on and off positions.  The test showed that the switch was stuck open.

I found another switch in the parts rack at the Makerspace and soldered that in to the launcher box.  This time, it worked perfectly.  I used a small motor as a test object in place of an actual rocket.  When I hooked the wires to the motor, the LED lit up -- great.  Then, when I pushed the launch button, the LED went off and the motor fired up.  Next step is to test with an actual rocket.

In other news, the computer that is in the 3D printer area would not turn on.  Long-story-short, we replaced the power supply with a spare we found on the hack rack and now it works.

Tardis Assembled

Stopped off at the Milwaukee Makerspace tonight to assemble the pieces of the Tardis.  I glued on the window pieces and the top of the light.  It really looks nice.

Gave it to my son Dmitry as a (slightly) early birthday present.

Also, I brought Joe from work to the 'space to show him around.  He had a small project to make some kind of adapter for a motor.  It was a problem that he had been trying to solve for months.  We talked to Tom and Jim from the Makerspace about it.  They had an idea to fix it in about five minutes.  After about one hour, they had fabricated exactly what Joe wanted out of a 3/4" nut.

Another great day at the Makerspace.

Tardis Printed & Painted / First Laser Cutting

Its only about two weeks until Dima's birthday and I need to get the Tardis finished.  I spent a few hours at the MakerSpace this afternoon working on that.  I managed to print the final two sides of the Tardis with no problems.  Next, I spray painted all of the parts navy blue.  I'll give them a day to dry and then assemble them.  I might have to punt on the electrical for now just to get it done in time for his birthday.

While I was here I got someone to help me laser cut some pieces for Anna's rabbit hutch.  It came out okay.  I had to print the shapes four times to get the laser to cut all the way through.  Even then, I had to pop out the pieces.  The sides needed sanding because there were some share edges and the edges are not exactly square.  I guess I need some practice but these pieces will do fine for now.  I need to cut two or three more pieces to cover all four sides if the cage.

Another great day at the Makerspace.

3D Print Figured Out (?) and Other Stuff

Jacob and I went to the Milwaukee Makerspace this afternoon.  I worked on several things.  Jacob played a lot on the pinball machine and was bored some of the time but I think he enjoys himself.

First of all, the Makerspace hosted an event called "Fix-It Milwaukee".  People were invited to bring broken stuff to the space and the Makers would try to fix them.  I was surprised about how many people were bringing in their things to get fixed.  It was really well attended.

My main goal today was to laser cut the acrylic for Anna's rabbit hutch.  I have a piece of acrylic that I can cut 10cm high rectangles out of.  The pieces will get attached to the insides of the hutch at the bottom.  The acrylic will keep the bedding (and poop) from getting kicked out of the hutch and all over the floor.  I made a drawing of a 24"x16# piece of acrylic.  Then, I drew rectangles in that piece.  I did all of this in Inkscape on my Ubuntu laptop.  I was told that I could then import the Inkscape document into Corel Draw.  Corel is what controls the 60 watt laser cutter at the 'space.  The reality is that Corel Draw does not work well with Inkscape documents.  I tried several things including saving the document as a PDF file and then trying to import that into Corel.  Nothing worked.  When I asked people who use the laser cutter how they make their documents, they all either have a paid for version of Corel or Adobe Publisher.  I need to figure out a better way.  All I want to do is cut out a rectangle.

I was able to make good progress 3D printing Tardis parts.  Dave Buggs helped me get the right settings for the base and sides.  I was able to successfully print the open base and the front door.  The settings I used were:

• infill: 30% 
• shells: 2
• layer height: .20 mm
• extruder temp: 235 degrees C
• build plate temp: 110 degrees C

Next time, I will try to re-print the sides.  If these print okay, I will have all the pieces printed.  I also bought a can of navy blue spray paint.

In between prints, I got some help with my rocket launcher from Dave Buggs and Bill Murray.  What we finally figured out is that when the button is pushed, the current is going to ground and not to the rocket.  I think I need to re-design the circuit slightly.  I did some research and came up with a new circuit design.  When I get time, I will re-do the wiring.  Hopefully, that will fix the problem.

Finally, there were some guys there talking about alternative energy.  They told me about a solar kit that Harbor Freight sells that would be good for experimenting.  That is a project for another day.  I'd like to install that on my shed and use the power a light and fan.

A Bit More 3D Printing

I spent a few more hours at the Makerspace tonight trying to print more Tardis parts.  This time, I changed the Infill setting on the Makerbot Replicator to 0% and raised the temperature on the stepstruder to 235 degrees Celsius.  It seemed to complete the side panels more than it did the first time but they still are not 100% complete (see the picture below).  It did not fill on all the gaps.  Not sure why.

When I got to the space, someone was printing Star Trek badges.  However, the extruder was blocked and not printing anymore.  I took some time to print eight of the badges (see below).

Finally, I bought a BeagleBone Black the other day.  It arrived yesterday and I fired it up tonight.  Plugged the included USB cable into my laptop running Ubuntu Linux.  The computer found the board just fine.  However, I could not get Cloud9 to show me any of the code installed on the Black.

Someday, I hope to install this in my Home Environmental Sensor Array instead of the Raspberry Pi.

More 3D Printing and Other Stuff

I spent a few hours after work at the Makerspace tonight.  My main goal was to print more of the Tardis pieces.  I was moderately successful.

The Makerbot Replicator finished eight more of the parts -- the two pieces of the top, all four windows, and the two parts for the light on the top.  The extruder stopped printing once or twice.  I had to remove the filament and reload it.  Now, I know how to do that.

Also, I could not get the base or front to print correctly.  I am not sure if it was the settings I used or something with the printer.  The settings for these pieces was:

• Infill: 5%
• Shells: 1
• Layer height: 0.2 mm

The settings for the pieces that worked better had an infill of 0%.  Maybe I will try printing again with 0% for the infill setting.

While I was waiting for the pieces to print, I helped Dan do some blacksmithing on the forge.  I held the heated piece on the anvil while he used a hammer and chisel to make a line on it.  Dan cut the work into small pieces that he then wrapped around other metal parts that he had forged earlier.  The end result was a trivet.

Finally, I spent some time soldering the wires in my rocket launcher.  It will now accept power from external sources.  The stupid LED still does not light but I was able to pass about 12v through the circuit.  The next step is to test it with a rocket ignitor.

My first 3D printing experience

The Milwaukee Makerspace has several 3D printers.  One of them is a Makerbot Replicator.  I was able to use the printer tonight to start a project that I saw on Thingiverse.

I am going to make a Tardis from Dr. Who for my son Dmitry's birthday (shhh. Don't tell him).  Here is a link to the project on Thingiverse.  The extruder material we have at the 'space is white so I will need to paint it blue.  I also might install the lights if I am ambitious.

The process was very easy.

First, I had to download the Makerware software from the Makerbot website.  I have a portable running Ubuntu so I had to download the version for Ubuntu 12.0.4 LTS.  By the way, to figure out what version of Ubuntu you have, type "lsb_release -a" at the command prompt.  the Makerbot website has excellent step-by-step instructions and the install process was very easy.

Next, I downloaded the 3D printable images from Thingiverse.  The files came down as a zip file.  I unzipped it to the folder.  Again, very easy.

The next step was to open one of the stl files in Makerware.  I tweaked a few of the settings for the Replicator and based on recommendations from the Thingi author.  Makerware saved the "g-code" files to an SD card.

The SD card was inserted in the Makerbot's SD card slot.  I kicked off the print and sat back to wait.

The first piece I printed was one of the side panels.  It took almost an hour to print.  It looks like it stopped early.  Not sure what happened.  Maybe the extruder jammed.  (Update.  The side panel did not printer correctly.  The picture shows the back of the door.  The front did not finish printing.)

I also printed two other pieces.  They appeared to print correctly.

That was enough for one night.  I will do some more printing another day.

Another great time at the Makerspace.  Thanks to Joe B. for his help.