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Week 3: January 2017

A project log for 2017: A Year of Hacking

Daily log of the my projects, ideas, tips, failures, etc.

eric-moyerEric Moyer 01/16/2017 at 04:030 Comments

Jan 15th: Today was spent updating my light switch hack project. I have been trying to find a better source for UL1015 16awg and 18awg wire so people are not buying large spools if they want to build this proejct. When I did the original project I purchased wire in 100' spools which is way to much if you are only buying to wire a couple switches. Even if you only buy a single spool for all the heavy gage wiring you still have enough for dozens of projects. If anyones knows a source for shorter lengths of wire please let me know.

Jan 16th: Verified the wiring for the light switch project.

I will post a video of the switch in action tomorrow.

Jan 17th:

Video of the verified wiring as promised. I also spent time updating the instruction portion of the project, specifically the disassembly portion.

Jan 18th: Potting boxes arrived today and there were much larger that I expected. I measured what I wanted to put inside the box and checked the vendor drawing to confirm it was the size I needed. Maybe I can find something a little smaller.

Either way it's great to have some parts in hand to start finding out not only working the integration but also the logistics of pouring the silicone into the box to get a complete fill.

Onto a new topic, I took the leap today and used the Amazon gift cards I received for Christmas to buy a Monoprice Mini Select. This isn't my first 3D printer however my Printrbot Plus V1 (bought in 2012) always sinks a lot of my time just to get tuned and running. I don't see this Monoprice unit as a walk in the park since at this price I expect some level of headaches. It should be fun to see what $200 gets me since the Printrbot cost $700 new in 2012.

Jan 19th: My new Monoprice Mini Select is suppose to show up tomorrow so I spent the evening trying to make room for it. I have some PLA filament I haven't used for a while (it's in a seal container with desiccant) so hopefully its still good.

For my light switch project I found both clear and black GE silicone II in the garage that I am going to try out as a potting compound. I spent about 10 minutes cleaning out the nozzles of both of them so they are ready to go. I was thinking out soldering a small and simple LED project this weekend and potting it to see how well this is going to go. I would prefer to fail on something I don't care about and can just throw away.

Jan 20th: Spent about 30 minutes on the phone with Amazon tonight on why my 3D printer didn't show up. Sounds like the decided to ship it ground and it got stuck in bad weather and wasn't schedule to show up until next week. The solution they came up with was to reorder me another one since a closer fulfillment center had one in stock and they expect it to show up tomorrow.

Back to my light switch project, I was able to create and post a powerpoint version of the wiring diagram. I am starting to remember how much time it takes to document a project. As long as I spend 15-20 minutes on documentation every night hopefully it will not become a mountain of work once I am finished.

Jan 21th: My 3rd week ended with my Monoprice Mini Select showing up. I was printing in under an hour from when it showed up. I will post more later but this thing is amazing for $200.

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