Introduction In our old flat, we had control over our heating from our phones: I’d reverse engineered the RF control protocol used by our Salus thermostat. I never got round to blogging about that, but the code is available here. Now we’ve moved, we wanted the same control. The new boiler is a “Baxi 600”Continue reading “picotherm: Controlling an OpenTherm Boiler with a Raspberry Pi Pico”
Author Archives: adq
Power Monitoring with a Raspberry Pi Pico
We had a smart meter installed last year. It’s kinda useful to observe long term power usage. However I really wanted to be able to see more detail; like turn off this device, what happens to the power usage? I didn’t find the wee standalone meter module thing that came with it very useful. Luckily,Continue reading “Power Monitoring with a Raspberry Pi Pico”
Turning Bowls
I bought a “luxury selection of exotic wood blanks” from ebay to try turning some bowls. Some of them worked! Bowl 1 + Bowl 2 These were a success, although I think bowl 2 is better from a shape and finish point of view. The groove I’ve cut into the bottom is how you holdContinue reading “Turning Bowls”
Afternoon Experiment with Veneer
A friend, Sandy, suggested trying laser cutting wood veneer (he has plans for a complex design). However, I’d not tried that before, and it sounded like an interesting idea. I’ve often watched people on Youtube restoring veneer, for example, the excellent AT Restoration. I ordered some cheap samples of veneer from Amazon, and, when theyContinue reading “Afternoon Experiment with Veneer”
Hardening Steel
I was watching some of Uri Tuchman’s excellent videos, and he mentioned making his own tools; sounded fun, and I now have a garden I can safely try that sort of project in. Kinda fancied making some sort of engraving tool; mainly for the fun of making such a thing. I ordered some 8mm springContinue reading “Hardening Steel”
Resin 3D Printing
I recently received an Elegoo Saturn 2 resin 3d printer, so I thought I’d document my initial testing: These printers print using a 2d array of UV leds which cure a liquid resin held in a tank where UV is shone. The more/smaller the LEDs, the higher the resolution of the print. I’d assumed thatContinue reading “Resin 3D Printing”
Lasercutting Lathe Toolbox
One problem with the lathe is I now have a whole set of chisels lying around the place, which is kinda annoying. I spent yesterday designing a quick tool support to attach to the lathe bench in Fusion 360 as usual: I cut it on the laser cutter out of 5mm MDF: Unfortunately I madeContinue reading “Lasercutting Lathe Toolbox”
Wood Turning Lathe!
I’ve always wanted one of these. When I was wee, we went on tour round England visiting various relations, and I remember being very impressed with a lathe. I’ve no idea which relation it was, unfortunately, but I do remember the lathe. I decided to order one from the UK rather than direct from China,Continue reading “Wood Turning Lathe!”
Making a Hammer
Nicola bought me a present for my birthday: a hammer making course at Athelstaneforge! I really enjoyed it! It was a pretty intense few hours though: hitting chunks of hot metal with a sledge hammer to shape the head, followed by grinding and polishing it, and finally adding the handle. Would very much recommend it!Continue reading “Making a Hammer”
Boring 3d Printing: Ceiling Cable Covers
Time for some slightly boring, but useful, 3d printing. The Problem When I wired the house, I was planning on adding ceiling mounted wifi access points. However, in the end, I didn’t use them. So we were left with a few cables hanging out of the ceiling. After a while, we stopped noticing them 😀Continue reading “Boring 3d Printing: Ceiling Cable Covers”
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