More 3D printer to the rescue

The knob to my GPS holder fell off and was lost.  I found a good looking replacement knob on Thingiverse (a web site where you can download 3D designs for printing) and made a few changes.  I added a hub and a hex shaped hole to capture a nut.

The knob fits quite well and works great.  I printed it out of black ABS and you wouldn't even know it's not original unless you looked real close.

Fixing Things with a 3D Printer

The drill press at work has a plastic holder on the side to hold the key for the chuck.  It broke.  I took a few measurements with some calipers and created a 3D model in OpenSCAD.  I made my version a little more rugged than the original.  Then I printed it on my Makerbot Thing-O-Matic 3D Printer.  After a little bit of sanding to remove any sharp edges, I installed it on the drill press.

3D Printer

SamCo got a MakerBot Industries Thing-O-Matic 3D printer.  It prints in ABS plastic (the same stuff LEGOs are made of).

It prints parts layer by layer.

I even used my 3D printer to print out some spool holders for my 3d printer!  I love using a machine to make parts for that same machine.

The plastic comes on spools.  Because the printer can only print in a 4" cube, this spoolholder design prints in two parts.  The bottom part has a bracket that clips on the top of the Thing-O-Matic and has a dovetail on the top.  The holder portion then mates with that dovetail.  You print out two of the bottom pieces, two of the top pieces, and then use them to hold your spool.  You can see it assembled in the first picture.

I found this bracket on thingiverse.com, where people upload their 3D designs.  You just find something you like, download it, and then print it out!

Irene Adventure

I was really expecting a lot more wind.  We didn't get more than a bit of gusting (20mph?) now and then.  It was the flooding that took out the power.

Tardhaus is fairly high, so we weren't worried about flooding damage, although there is a bit of water in the basement.  When the power went out, we transferred over to generator.  We have an old generator powerful enough to run the whole house running off a rebuilt 1.6L VW Jetta diesel engine.  Through several mistakes, the generator overheated, overpressurized the cooling system (pressure cap didn't release), and ruptured one of the coolant lines.  The generator was shut down using the kill switch shortly thereafter, but damage to the engine was likely already done by that time.

We triaged the engine, repaired the coolant system hose, and discovered it was also very low on oil - this is odd as it usually only leaks very very slowly when running.  We put more oil in, refueled, and started it back up - it seemed to be running fine.

About 10-20 minutes later, the engine started "dieseling", revving higher and higher.  The "panic/kill" switch was used (this cuts off the fuel), but the engine kept revving higher and higher.  All tards quickly evacuated the vicinity of the generator and the circuit breaker was thrown to disconnect the generator from the house.  We then waited about 2-3 minutes as the engine continued to rev well past it's rated RPM limits.  It was known that we were now simply waiting for the engine to destroy itself and stop on its own.  As the fuel valve has been turned off by the kill switch, the engine was likely running off its engine oil, which was getting into the cylinders via damage caused by the previous overheating - nothing to do but wait for it to stop by itself.

After some knocking and crunch noises, the engine stopped.  Post inspection showed no fire and the engine would turn over and run, but the generator didn't turn.

SamCo got a 2012 Mustang.

Making Google Search stop autocompleting and autosuggesting

Google's autosuggest feature finally got annoying enough that I decided to do something about it. If I paused long enough to think about what to type next and then tried to use the arrow keys to modify my text, the autosuggested stuff would be inserted into my search textbox. Occasionally autosuggest stuff got inserted even without the use of any arrow keys.  Google failure.

I tried turning off Google Instant, and the description says: predictions and results appear while typing

That sounds like, when turned off, it should stop the annoying behavior. No dice. It turns off the automatic results display, but not the automatic suggestions about what you are typing.

More digging found that adding the parameter complete=0 to the URL turns off the annoyances, and that works well for my home page, which is now:

http://www.google.com/?complete=0

The issue is that it still autosuggests in the firefox search box. That took a bit more digging, as FireFox wants you to download new search engines, but doesn't appear to let you make your own through any of the settings dialogs. I created a file in c:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins named unstupidgoogle.xml and put the following contents in it:

----------------------------------------------------------
<SearchPlugin xmlns="http://www.mozilla.org/2006/browser/search/">
<ShortName>Unstupid Google</ShortName>
<Description>Google Search</Description>
<InputEncoding>UTF-8</InputEncoding>
<Image width="16" height="16">data:image/png;base64,AAABAAEAEBAAAAEAGABoAwAAFgAAACgAAAAQAAAAIAAAAAEAGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADs9Pt8xetPtu9FsfFNtu%2BTzvb2%2B%2Fne4dFJeBw0egA%2FfAJAfAA8ewBBegAAAAD%2B%2FPtft98Mp%2BwWsfAVsvEbs%2FQeqvF8xO7%2F%2F%2F63yqkxdgM7gwE%2FggM%2BfQA%2BegBDeQDe7PIbotgQufcMufEPtfIPsvAbs%2FQvq%2Bfz%2Bf%2F%2B%2B%2FZKhR05hgBBhQI8hgBAgAI9ewD0%2B%2Fg3pswAtO8Cxf4Kw%2FsJvvYAqupKsNv%2B%2Fv7%2F%2FP5VkSU0iQA7jQA9hgBDgQU%2BfQH%2F%2Ff%2FQ6fM4sM4KsN8AteMCruIqqdbZ7PH8%2Fv%2Fg6Nc%2Fhg05kAA8jAM9iQI%2BhQA%2BgQDQu6b97uv%2F%2F%2F7V8Pqw3eiWz97q8%2Ff%2F%2F%2F%2F7%2FPptpkkqjQE4kwA7kAA5iwI8iAA8hQCOSSKdXjiyflbAkG7u2s%2F%2B%2F%2F39%2F%2F7r8utrqEYtjQE8lgA7kwA7kwA9jwA9igA9hACiWSekVRyeSgiYSBHx6N%2F%2B%2Fv7k7OFRmiYtlAA5lwI7lwI4lAA7kgI9jwE9iwI4iQCoVhWcTxCmb0K%2BooT8%2Fv%2F7%2F%2F%2FJ2r8fdwI1mwA3mQA3mgA8lAE8lAE4jwA9iwE%2BhwGfXifWvqz%2B%2Ff%2F58u%2Fev6Dt4tr%2B%2F%2F2ZuIUsggA7mgM6mAM3lgA5lgA6kQE%2FkwBChwHt4dv%2F%2F%2F728ei1bCi7VAC5XQ7kz7n%2F%2F%2F6bsZkgcB03lQA9lgM7kwA2iQktZToPK4r9%2F%2F%2F9%2F%2F%2FSqYK5UwDKZAS9WALIkFn%2B%2F%2F3%2F%2BP8oKccGGcIRJrERILYFEMwAAuEAAdX%2F%2Ff7%2F%2FP%2B%2BfDvGXQLIZgLEWgLOjlf7%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F9QU90EAPQAAf8DAP0AAfMAAOUDAtr%2F%2F%2F%2F7%2B%2Fu2bCTIYwDPZgDBWQDSr4P%2F%2Fv%2F%2F%2FP5GRuABAPkAA%2FwBAfkDAPAAAesAAN%2F%2F%2B%2Fz%2F%2F%2F64g1C5VwDMYwK8Yg7y5tz8%2Fv%2FV1PYKDOcAAP0DAf4AAf0AAfYEAOwAAuAAAAD%2F%2FPvi28ymXyChTATRrIb8%2F%2F3v8fk6P8MAAdUCAvoAAP0CAP0AAfYAAO4AAACAAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACAAQAA</Image>
<Url type="text/html" method="GET" template="http://www.google.com/search">
  <Param name="q" value="{searchTerms}"/>
  <Param name="ie" value="utf-8"/>
  <Param name="oe" value="utf-8"/>
  <Param name="aq" value="t"/>
  <Param name="complete" value="0"/>
  <!-- Dynamic parameters -->
  <Param name="rls" value="{moz:distributionID}:{moz:locale}:{moz:official}"/>
  <MozParam name="client" condition="defaultEngine" trueValue="firefox-a" falseValue="firefox"/>
</Url>
<SearchForm>http://www.google.com/</SearchForm>
</SearchPlugin>

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is essentially a copy of the google.xml file but with the stupid autosuggest removed both in the firefox search box and also in the search entry that comes up at the top of the results.  After you restart firefox, it will show up in the list of possible search engines as "Unstupid Google".

My first completely useful casting!

I've been casting aluminum for a while, but haven't made a whole lot of actually useful things.  Recently, Chief Tard asked if I could copy a latch handle from his snow machine, but put a hex opening where his has a splined opening.  This allows him to use the latch pieces from a different year to repair his machine.

The handle was cast using my new oil-bonded sand.  It came out awesome.  It even has the original part numbers on it!  I just taped up the splined hole when I made the mold, so it was completely solid with no hole when I cast it.

Making the hex hole was the difficult part.  I don't have a rotary broach, so I made a hand tool to do the job.

I made the tool from W-1 drill rod, using my CNC machine to create the hex shape.  Then I used a ball end mill to "cup" the center of the tool.  This puts enough of an edge on the corners that they will cut.  Then I heated it red hot and quenched it in water to harden it.

I drilled a small hole all the way through the handle, then a larger 5/16" hole (the hex is 5/16" across flats) most of the way through. Then I used a hammer and tapped the tool into the hole.  The above photo is just after I started and it shows how the tool only cuts the sharp corners; the chips are visible.

 

Here is the finished hex hole.  This fits on a hex shaft and there is a screw that goes on the other side of the handle to hold it in place.

Here's a photo of the handle and the tool.  The handle was cleaned up with a grinder and wire wheel, and should fit nicely on the snow machine.