One year ago today: July 20, 2024 a burned out shell.
Five years ago today: July 20, 2020, the bells no longer ring.
Nine years ago today: July 20, 2016, at warp speed.
Random years ago today: July 20, 2014, home-made signal relay.
It’s a brilliant morning and I have some sort-of brilliant ideas for my latest toy. There are settings for the machine to print batches, as I mentioned, CAD/3D complicated mainly because today’s coders are so lazy. Here’s where you can pat my back for buying a portable unit, so you can just place it where you need it. I even got it to burn a picture on cardboard. Yes, the device is dangerous and one of the first priorities is to build a case (big box) for it. The only precision part is the laser, but it can easily pierce some materials and zap whatever’s underneath.
It’s buried in the text, but it appears the SD card only works with a mobile phone. Another millennial brain-fart, an advertised feature that does not mention you have to pay for a phone to use it. Oh, and yes, the driver or software does knock out your other open apps and other active Internet sites without warning. This was common with DOS installs, each wanted to grab as much of your computer resources as possible, to hell with your word processor and your spreadsheets.
Having dealt with such mentalities in the past, I will likely rig up a computer for nothing but this laser. So far, the aroma is not bad, but one look at the chart of what this can burn says locate the thing out in the shed. Or spring for the vacuum attachment, which doubles the space you’ll need.
Food, it is Apple Sunday, so for me a batch of boiled spuds and a pork-onion-bell pepper omelet, regretting I have not finished my kitchen floor yet. For your morning amusement, here is a video of five carloads of black thieves converging to rob a jewelry store. Then the employees inside open fire. Anaheim, California. The Golden State.
Not a cloud in the sky by mid-morning, looks like a summer broiler on the way. I decided on an air-conditioned car ride downtown, listening to a new audiobook. Another murder mystery by James Patterson, the world’s top selling author. And he has never written a book. That’s correct, he has all his material ghost written, and just smoothes out the chapters. This one is a adopted kid who appears to be framed for some serial murders that match his long-distance truck driving transcripts. And a ton of evidence he cannot explain, centering on a sparrow feather and a missing baseball card.
And let me paste the link to a 3D cube 3D shelf project that this friggen MicroSoft computer will not save any other way: https://youtu.be/_p2N8blTtUA Bearded Viking 3D.
Muleshoe, Texas.
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By 2:00PM I was not even going to open the door. It is 94°F, nearly a record. Phooey on the station that says the real feel is 98°F, it is more like 110°F. Indoors, it is. I’ll spend some time with the laser instruction manual, but I see already the book is about art, not the laser. I’ve already got a idea, all the samples show two dimensional burns with the material resting on a flat surface. There is an attachment for etching curved glass, but my next trick is to see if I can intentionally blur the image, like a real brand.
The unusual for the day is this product. New to me, it is claimed to prevent toilet poo smells by spraying a layer of citrus oil on the water before you go. Let’s look at the ingredients. Castor oil, lemongrass oil, lemon peel oil, bergamot. What? Bergamot, it is an orange-sized wrinkly fruit from the Mediterranean. The package says careful not to get any on your skin.
Let’s call this a study day so I don’t have to admit I was all about computer stuff and the laser. I detect real problems trying to sort out which files can burn without software. The laser cutting industry if full of these little surprises. I’m currently cutting, or attempting to cut, a small birdhouse of pieces that tab together. Where the laser burns any kind of cavity, the darkness of the cut varies and there seems no easy way to clear or brush out the dark spots.
Working the theory that any logo is better than none, I chose “Bartow” on its primary quality of having only six letters. I kept scaling the size down until it printed in less than two minutes. Got it, the first try was too deep and too small, making it hard to read, but by adjusting the laser power, I’ve seen how that speeds up and we should have something functional by this time tomorrow.
I can also confirm that shiny surfaces, like the cover of a paperback book, require the laser to be run at much higher power. Drone builders, take note. In keeping with today’s fancy machine theme, I pulled up the old movie “I, Robot”, because I like the animation and the theme.
ADDENDUM
Fun with lasers, I’ve already tried cutting patterns, but the main event of the day is finally burning a logo. Pretty basic, but I can’t decide what to call the things. The laser is slow, in fact so slow that printing “Mulberry” is not likely. Forget Lakeland or Winter Haven, the shortest town name around here is Bartow, which nobody has ever heard of. Relax, as this is just decoration and the whole things is experimental. I just never thought it would be so much fun.
Picking up some cheap tape at the Dollar Tree, I found a box of brass-colored screws about the right size for boxes. While the generic models use staples, and that contain instruments rafe fastened with screws. Is this something new or just that I’ve not seen before? I’m just remembering how often in this life I’ve found something I like only to have it disappear. For instance, the same dollar place no longer sells pyrogies.
