I’ve just recently finished building a Casper Electronics’ Drone Lab v2.  I decided to only buy the PCB and source the parts myself and now it is time to work on an enclosure.  I think I’d like to make it from some type of wood but haven’t been able to decide exactly how I want it to be constructed. I have decided that the faceplate file supplied by Casper is not exactly what I want but is a welcome starting point. Miles, a fellow member at Harford Hackerspace, has access to a laser cutter at work (I’m so jealous) and cut version 1 of my redesign into cardboard so I could test fit and function.  I still need to add holes for the LED’s and tweak the size of some of the holes. (Anyone else notice that the hole for the Rate knob is a bit smaller than the other knob holes?)  I removed the hole for the 9v battery as I don’t plan to use it with battery power.  Like my logo?   I’m thinking I might make the enclosure out of some exotic wood…

I’ve been uploading a lot of video to YouTube lately for Harford Hackerspace and have been struck by the poor wording, spelling and general slackjawedness of their error messages.  Today I received this message that instructed me to smash my head against my keyboard, run around in circles, wave my hands and scream.  I did it, of course, but it didn’t fix my problem…

I bought a Drone Lab v2.0 PCB from Casper Electronics and sourced my own parts from Mouser as well as a few visits to my own parts bins.  Over my Thanksgiving break from work, I assembled and tested the unit.  Since I’m a geek with access to an impressive collection of video and audio equipment, I decided to video the entire process and make a little time-lapse recording.  Casper from Casper Electronics liked it so much, he added it to their site.  In realtime, it is about 5 1/2 hours filmed over the course of two days.  The video is presented here warts and all:  marvel as I struggle to install the 1/4″ jacks, laugh when I drop parts on the floor, cry over the well-used PanaVise PCB holder vise I got on eBay for only $20!  Truly a cinematic tour de force.  I think you get the point…  I haven’t had time to do a complete assessment of the device yet, but so far it is an impressive piece of kit.  (No pun intended.)

BTW, not trying to shill for PanaVise, but their PCB holder vises are the bees knees.  If you do a lot of assembly, you should run out and get one right now.

I had a very surreal experience this evening at Harford Hackerspace, where I am a member.  Two sleep-deprived, malnourished, weary travelers and one energetic wind-up-toy of a man from the Two Hands Project stopped by to interview us about Hackerspaces.  The Two Hands Project is a documentary film effort focused on the Hackerspace phenomenon and trying to record the history and direction of the now dozens of spaces across North America and the world.  Quite an undertaking, but worth the effort in my opinion.  Bringing attention to the community education potential of Hackerspaces can’t be a bad thing, right?
Being interviewed always creeps me out as I usually feel that no one but myself could possibly be interested in anything I do.  Plus, no matter how much I talk about myself everyday, it is still awkward to talk about yourself when prompted.  There is something unnatural to me about people wanting to know what I do and why I do it, probably because I often cannot answer those questions myself.
Bilal, Jordan and Paul: Thanks for the surreal interruption to my otherwise run-of-the-mill Tuesday evening.

I promise to take some photos of my current projects this week.  At least, the ones that aren’t secret.  Shhhh.  I’ve been sketching out some ideas for some new microcontroller-driven effects modules.  If my sketches prove to translate realistically into the real world, I should be able to make some pretty unique devices.  So unique, in fact, that I am toying with the notion of producing and selling my Frankensteinian creations here on my website.  In my typical fashion, I intend these devices to be truly one of a kind with each one being housed in a piece of antique electrical equipment and hand numbered. (Almost like art, eh?)    I spent part of the day researching the costs involved in production and the other half doodling out a logo to tag the devices with.  A thumbnail is below.  I’m torn if I should use the name bsom or use one of my other nearly-schizophrenic ramblings like ‘sillyrobot‘ or ‘underscored industries‘ for these new projects.

On a personal note, I just finished watching Adventureland and I am feeling completely depressed.  It reminded me of a relationship I had years ago that didn’t work out in classic Hollywood fashion.  Depressed now, going to bed, have to work in the morning.

Man, I spent too long away from my trusty ol’ website!  I’ve decided to scrape the dust bunnies from the blog and post my most recent project and provide status updates for those already here.  Updates will most likely continue to be sporadic as Ian, my one year old son, now occupies much of my ‘spare time.’  I’ve got to fix my image galleries as the plugin I was using to display them was tied to a website that is now M.I.A.!  I should’ve just used Flickr.

XNDR from MachineCollective did a test engraving of my Arduinome64 logo on a scrap of acrylic.  It came out pretty well, except XNDR pointed out that the lines between the ‘arduinome’ and the ’64′ are a might too thin to show up effectively.  He offered to increase their thickness, using his discretion, to ensure they show up a little better.  I’ve also considered adding a backlight of some type to the logo….possibly one of those pre-constructed SMD LED boards I see on eBay for a couple of bucks.  XNDR’s such a cool guy, he made the test engraving into a dongle-type thing and is going to throw it in with my enclosure when it ships.  I’m gonna wear it on a chain around my neck.

I wanted something original engraved on the bottom of my Arduinome.  So, after careful consideration, I decided to go with a classic motif based on the very computer that made me who I am today: the Commodore 64!  It was a perfect fit; the Arduinome has 64 buttons and the Commodore 64 has……well, 64 in it’s name.  So, I attempted to replicate the classic C64 case badge with an Arduinome flavor.  Xndr from MachineCollective is going to engrave it into the bottom panel of my Arduinome enclosure.  I’ve tried to make a mockup of what this will look like engraved into the white satin plastic, but it is hard to imagine what the finished product will look like…

Well, XNDR from MachineCollective emailed me today to tell me that my engraving artwork for the bottom of my enclosure was satisfactory.  He also informed me that there is a delay until mid-February on the shipment of the enclosure because he is waiting on a supplier to finish the outer aluminum surrounds. If I get around to it, I’ll try to make a mockup of what my engraving will look like when it is etched into the plastic bottom panel so I can show it off.  I’m not sure how it is going to turn out, but I thought I came up with a cool, retro logo for my Arduinome.  The total cost of the case, with priority shipping, came to €127.50, which after PayPal’s exchange rate came to $173.44.  I know what you are thinking, “That’s a lot of money for a silly DIY electronics project.”  Well, I really prefer to execute my projects completely using the best available resources and strive for a finished, well-manufactured look, if possible.  Also, I’m crazy.  (I purloined that photo from MachineCollective’s website and highlighted the Arduinome enclosure.)

I’m a stickler for neatness.  I can’t stand projects with lots of loose wires.  So, while I’m waiting for my enclosure to arrive, I’ve been on the hunt for a more elegant solution to the Sparkfun Button Board wiring problem.  I didn’t want to wire the boards together with a bunch of discreet wires because it looked sloppy and seemed like a lot of labor (cutting, stripping, holding in place while trying to solder them down, etc.)  So, I went on the hunt for a cost-effective ribbon cable system.  After a week or so of searching, I think I found the solution.  Digikey sells small, thin ribbon cables in preset lengths.  4″ lengths were available, but I thought it best to leave myself with some slack, so I acquired some 5″ ribbons with solder pins on both ends.  The are also available with 2.54mm header connectors on them, but were much more expensive and didn’t really seem to add anything I needed.  The Digikey part number for the cables I ordered is A9AAT-0405F-ND and cost $1.30/each in quantity 10+.  The pins are thin enough that I think I can get the ribbon pins and a second thin wire in the same hole.  This will allow me to make the connections from the edges of the button boards to the Unsped Shield.  I won’t know how well these will work out until my enclosure arrives since I refuse to finish my Arduinome without a case to put it in, but they look very promising so far.