This is a quick post about taking an .stl file that someone else had designed and adjusting it using FreeCAD to create a new, slightly modified, part for 3D printing. I had downloaded a red dot laser pointer holder for my laser cutter. The link to the original design is here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4803138. It was designed … more
I’ve blogged a bit before on my small (300mm x 200mm) milling machine. This was broken, due to a power supply failure, and also, as it used the parallel port for stepper motor control, I needed to use an old legacy machine with a real-time linux kernel. Because of this I have barely been using … more
Until now I’d not taken the leap into the world of 3D printing. I’d followed the various designs as they improved but always thought that the outputs from the lower cost printers did not look professional enough. Also the time taken to print items did not lean towards mass production for the kits I sell … more
We needed to hightlight some locations on a very large map (3m x 4m!). These locations needed to be lit up as a pedal powered race between two people and needed to display which person had lit them up first. We developed some LED ‘pixels’ based on 24 LED Neo-pixel rings. These lit up in … more
We were asked to build another pedal powered Scalextric for a promotions company. Here are some photos of the build and the final unit – no photos of it in action yet, but hopefully updated soon. … more
After 6 years of a self-designed website that was starting to look and feel very clunky, we have now had our website fully re-vamped. It is looking great and is so much more responsive than the previous site. Whoop! This site is also mobile-friendly so should work on all devices and be a bit more … more
We were asked, by a good friend from Wild Stoves, to produce a portable solar PV off-grid power supply system. Wild stoves supply equipment for efficient outdoor cooking on wood. They run workshops on efficient burning of wood and sell equipment at a number of festivals over the summer. We had been asked to add … more
We worked recently with our friends at T4 Sustainability to produce some Raspberry Pi breakout boards for their Open Source Building Energy Management System (oBeMS) project. … more
Every so often a project comes along that would have been the envy of my childhood self. This was one of those projects – I was asked to build a 8 lane pedal powered Scalextric. This meant putting together Scalextric track designs and testing Scalextric cars. I was really pleased with the end result, which … more
Cyclops Pedal Power, based in Leeds, kindly invited me to work with them on their pedal power equipment. They wanted to record the power and energy from their three-bike set-up, and have a system that can be expanded for more and more generators. We had a three day workshop based in the fantastic Pedallers Arms … more
From November 2014 until May 2015, I have been one of four “Makers in Residence” at Derby Silk Mill, in the UK. This has been a slight change of activity for me, as I usually focus on renewable energy systems, but has been a great opportunity to encourage Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics (STEAM). … more
A few weeks ago I headed down to rural France, near Toulouse to take part in a week-long Development Camp working on wind turbine measurement for the group Wind Empowerment. About 10 people came from all parts of Europe, along with people joining via Skype from all parts of the world. We discussed ideas and … more