I took a covid-test (far from my first) the other day and got a negative result yesterday. Linn got her result today and it was unfortunately positive. So Happy Easter I guess…
(We all feel quite fine at the moment.)
I took a covid-test (far from my first) the other day and got a negative result yesterday. Linn got her result today and it was unfortunately positive. So Happy Easter I guess…
(We all feel quite fine at the moment.)
I got the FlashForge Adventurer 3. That photo was from the very first print I did with it so thus far I don’t know if I can recommend it or not.
Generally speaking I haven’t done much 3D printing but when I started trying it out for the πFi Music Player I also started thinking about whether to get one for myself or not and when I started looking around I found this one on sale. The machine I’d used previously to that is the printer that we have at work and that one is a different FlashForge model so I figured getting a similar but smaller model for myself would be a good decision.
@MrHenko Thanks for your reply. It all looks very interesting to me, but I really shouldn’t get another hobby. Even so, I think there’s a lot of little things that I could fix using such a machine. I’m terrible at 3D construction though, so maybe it’s not for me…
@odd Yeah, that’s how I keep rationalizing the purchase to myself. ”Imagine all the things that I can make that makes life easier.” 😀
But it is a very fun toy to have! And the web is full of free things to print while you build up your own 3D modeling skills.
A while back I wrote about what new Mac laptop to get as my main work machine. Writing that text really helped because later that same day I came to a decision and ordered the M1 MacBook Air. It should arrive in a few weeks so I hope my beat up 15″ Pro keeps it together until then.

The first print in my own 3D printer is on its way! ☺️
@MrHenko Is it done? I’d like to have a 3D printer some day, wonder which one you’ve got, and if you’re satisfied with it.
@MrHenko I miss living in a country with Clas Ohlson ⚙️
@MrHenko Thanks for your reply. It all looks very interesting to me, but I really shouldn’t get another hobby. Even so, I think there’s a lot of little things that I could fix using such a machine. I’m terrible at 3D construction though, so maybe it’s not for me…
@odd Yeah, that’s how I keep rationalizing the purchase to myself. ”Imagine all the things that I can make that makes life easier.” 😀
But it is a very fun toy to have! And the web is full of free things to print while you build up your own 3D modeling skills.
The second attempt at 3D printing a base plate for the πFi went much better but there’s still plenty of room for improvements. Currently I’m testing out sizes for the QR cards and how those sizes effects the necessary distance between the cards and the camera, which in turn effects how large the whole device will need to be. Currently I’m leaning toward a 7,0×8,5 cm large card with a 5,5×5,5 cm QR code centered on the card and this means that the full enclosure doesn’t need to be any bigger in the base than the Pi itself is.
If stand for the QR cards are on top of the USB och Ethernet ports with just a couple of mm of plastic between them, the camera sensor need to be about 55 mm above the surface of the Pi.
If I connect a display to the Pi I can use raspivid to display the output of the camera on that display. The display needs to be connected to the Pi but the command itself can be run either locally on the Pi or remotely via SSH.
For example: raspivid -o video.h264 -t 180000 -w 640 -h 480 will display an image for three minutes, showing the same that the QR Reader script will see.
This looks like a simple yet functional way to design the cover of the Pi for the πFi.
Turns out there where multiple problems with yesterdays attempt at a base plate for the πFi.1 I had the measurements for the QR cards completely wrong, so even if the Pi had fit it wouldn’t have worked.
This morning I drew up a quick 2D sketch in OmniGraffle and then I worked from that one to get the 3D version in Fusion. Hopefully this one will work better. The printer says about six hours to print.

The first print is done but I will need to redo it tomorrow. I forgot that the front mounting holes in the Pi isn’t at the very front so the space between the QR holder and the camera pole is too narrow.

The first prototype of the Pi base plate is in the printer.
I’m changing things up for the πiFi Music Player.
The way I intended to make the πiFi I would need to do most, if not all of these and it just makes it too large of a project. So I’ve scaled it back. At it’s core it is still going to work the same way but instead of having a built in power amp and connecting it to custom built passive speakers I’m going to make a device that gives line level audio out and connect it to a pair of powered speakers that Iris already have but rarely use.

At first I decided to do this using a Raspberry Pi Zero and a JustBook DAC Zero and that was what I sat down to work on tonight. Unfortunately I realised that the Pi Camera Module needs a different cable to be compatible with the Zero and none of my usual suppliers for these kinds of things have that cable in stock. As I was thinking about whether to keep working on other parts of it hit me, why not use the Pi 3 that I used before but without the power amplifier hat? It has a line out built in and works with the camera cable that I have?
So tonight I’ve been working on the first iteration of a simple 3D printed base plate to mount the Pi on, with place to stick the QR codes on in front of it and a mount for the camera. So far the camera mount isn’t finished but I do have a prototype sketch that should work for mounting the Pi and the QR codes. I’ll try to get it printed tomorrow.

Replies and comments
jeremycherfas
2 april, 2021 18:39@MrHenko I hope it is not serious.
odd
2 april, 2021 18:43@MrHenko Hope you’ll all have a nice Easter despite the diagnose, and that the symptoms will be mild. 🐣🌱
MrHenko
2 april, 2021 19:47@jeremycherfas Thanks Jeremy. Linn’s cooking risotto and drinking wine so thus far the symptoms are quite mild. :)
I felt fine up until she read her test results. At that point hypochondria kicked in and I’ve had a teeny tiny ache in my throat during the day but it’s probably psychosomatic.
MrHenko
2 april, 2021 19:49@odd Thank you Odd, so far the symptoms are mild and we are having a good day. Fortunately we have a well stocked fridge, a big house and a nice garden so as long as we don’t get very ill we’ll be fine.