Dallas Makerspace Show and Tell - April 2017

Post a picture and description of anything you are working on this month at the 'Space here!

It can be anything from a small craft project to a large CNC router project to building a table to 3D printing to a science experiment and so much more. There are lots of people doing cool things at DMS all the time, but most of us don’t get to see it. Post it here and share the interesting things you are doing at Dallas Makerspace this month!

Posting here helps not only promote Dallas Makerspace, but could inspire others to make something. It will also help PR post a monthly look at what can be done here on a blog post (with attribution to each maker of course).


:bulb: NOTE: Please try to include the following on each post, to help make for richer blog content!

  • a decent QUALITY photo
  • a notation about WHAT you’ve made
  • WHO you are (for attribution on the blog)
  • HOW you’ve made it
  • and WHY
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These are a couple of cat40 tool change holders made on the HAAS. Well not the DMS HAAS. I made these at/for Eastfield College. I did use the DMS resources for creating my 3d CAD/CAM if that counts. This is just to wet your whistles for the upcoming classes.
This bolts to a table and holds the CAT 40 tool holders upright so you can change endmills and tighten them down. Cheers!


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Being new to wood turning, I was practicing on a lathe. I found some tiny wood scraps in the trash (I’m guessing walnut? I’m not really sure what kind of wood it is) and figured I’d play around with it. The result is this chess rook. After turning the piece, I cut the battlements on a bandsaw.

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Kewl Stuff!

…and, it absolutely does count! :smiley:

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That turned out pretty neat! Great use of our tools and cast away piece of “trash” wood! :smiley:

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I haven’t used the trailer hitch on my somewhat new to me truck. I bought the things needed to tow our new trailer for DMS blacksmithing should it need to be towed and nobody else is available. Then I found out there was a class V to class III adapter stuck in the hitch. What do you do when you can’t get something unstuck with a sledge hammer, air impact chisel, and hydraulic ram? Move from the fine adjustment instruments to the coarse adjustment instruments, find a tree and a chain! Or as Allen would say, the Dodge is the coarse adjustment instrument and the sledge hammer is the fine adjustment instrument.

It turned out to be some kind of clay or something wedged into everywhere that was holding it in place. I suspected rust but it was just dirt and clay. @Brandon_Green and I test loaded the blacksmithing equipment into the trailer after the hitch was sorted out. It all fits and is within the capacity of the trailer which is awesome! I think it’ll take some custom rigging and storage to work well (and some kick ass vinyl!). That’s the next step and there will be lots of opportunities to volunteer to get it all done, I hope y’all will pitch in.

Maybe someone see’s this and thinks it’s dumb but I’m learning things I never would’ve otherwise. This happens everyday I’m at DMS and has been the case for years now. Today it was fine versus coarse adjustment instruments, tomorrow who knows? Maybe blacksmithing one of these days, my grandfather that I never met (he died decades before I was born) was a blacksmith.

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An adapter for 1/4" npt threads was too deep for the fitting I got (it was bottoming out on shoulder of fitting instead of the threads sealing). Milling off the top of the adapter to make it shallower should work, ran out of time to test and install them last night.

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I took the laser class on Saturday, and needed to work on something to try and let it all burn into my brain. (The information :wink:) My first run was a successful learning experience, but a mechanical failure due to scaling difference ( and my lack of knowledge) with different file types.

I want to thank everyone who answered my questions and gave pointers / tips, when I looked confused. It all came together with this little box, this morning before work. It is a modified file that I found on Thingiverse, cut from 3mm plywood on the Thunder laser. I plan on spending a lot of time in queue on this laser.

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With the assistance of @mkart who posted up here on talk that he was going to show people how if they were interested (a pop-up-class if you will) I made a couple of small, turned lidded boxes. Not sure what I’ll do with them as of yet, but it was a fun, quick project for the lathe. Once I have a chance to go get some better material (IIRC this is Poplar, which is a poor choice for turning) I’ll probably make a couple more.

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That looks like a fun project. I should try something like that sometime.

I used the DMS machine shop to make some front control arms for my 2005 Acura RSX Type S. The goal was specifically to increase lateral front tire grip for autocross competition. My control arms substantially increase caster and camber angles to suit modern autocross tires and autocross style courses. The reason that Honda did not engineer the car with these angles from the factory is because they will reduce tire life during normal street driving. One really has to be driving like a maniac to make use of a lot of negative camber.

I have mixed feelings about this project. On one hand I am happy because they worked and made the car faster. The nature of the manufacturing technique meant that the fitment was absolutely perfect. On the down side the arms are heavy (2 lbs. more than stock), and that really violates the spirit of automotive engineering. The use of fasteners like this is also tacky for a racing part. The ones I used in particular are of high strength and have precision ground shoulders so they also act as dowel pins. I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a mill, to treat everything as if it were made of billets. It’s time for me to learn some new techniques…

Here’s some pictures. The stock black arm is for comparison. The project took about 2 months from conceptualization to testing on the car.

Below is a link to a video of the fun part, testing the finished product at a competition. In autocross you usually get 3-10 runs on a course made of up pylons that are set up in a new arrangement for each event. The only practice you get is walking the course. The rules that I follow only allow minimal modifications to the car, so my engine is stock and the differential must remain open (non-LSD). I just started developing this car’s suspension last fall. In this particular video the club is called NTAXS. You get 8 runs with NTAXS. The course is the bus parking lot at the Texas Motor Speedway and it is known for low grip. It was a particularly cold day which hurt grip more but I can assure you the car would understeer like a pig without these control arms.

Control arm testing video!

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5 posts were merged into an existing topic: Justin’s Project: Making front control arms for my 2005 Acura RSX Type S

Very cute!


[quote="ten9t6, post:8, topic:19226"] I plan on spending a lot of time in queue on this laser. [/quote]

:laser: :clock11:

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These weren’t done inside the Makerspace (way too messy, especially while I’m new at this technique), but they were inspired by several projects I saw there!

I wanted to try resin paintings- the ones were you mix colors into resin then pour on the canvas and kind of let the resin do what it wants to do. At first I had no idea about how to do any of it, so the pigment to resin ratio was pretty off on this first one.

After that I got a bit better at ratios. In this next one I tried dropping inks and paints onto the resin after it was already poured. That and a happy accident with pearl powder created a nice focal point in this next one. Reminds me of the eye of Jupiter.

That one also got me thinking "man, it would be cool to try and make a one that looks like galaxies in space.’ So I started trying things that could get me there. I got a bunch of 1 square ft panels to try different things on, with the goal of eventually doing a 2’ x 2’ piece epic space piece.

This one is the first where I tried some alcohol ink I made myself. The ink was made by soaking sharpie ink cartridges in isopropyl alcohol.

Then tried making three at one time that would be closer to the swirly space look. Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that if I use too much of the ink I made myself, the alcohol lights up like a torch when flaming the resin if you don’t wait long enough. So, after the fire extinguisher dust settled, I had to make the most of three paintings that went sideways with all the pink dust and scattered wet resin. Did you know that some fire extinguishers have pink dust? I do now.



They turned out fine as standalones, and I learned a few other things in addition to the ‘too much alcohol’ thing. Including trying an irregular top layer of resin on purpose, which when it’s extra webby creates kind of a cool effect, instead of looking like a spot you missed covering on accident.

I reworked my process and used the ink I made myself to put down a layer of color before getting the resin out to make a backdrop for the whole thing. Here’s the first ink layer when it dried:

And after I added the resin with more colors, including some just clear to reveal the colors underneath.

And final!

I’m pretty happy with how spacey it looks! And it’s too bad that photos don’t capture the sweet sheen that’s happening on the metallic inks and powders that are in there. Definitely one of those things that’s cooler in person.

Next I’m going to try adding in some depth with a few layers of resin and color. Here are the beginnings of that experiment:


These turned out to be really fun! I usually go for more realism in my paintings, so its really fun letting go of some of the process and seeing what happens. Need to also figure out where/how to sell them. I’m running out of room in my garage!

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5 posts were merged into an existing topic: Jordan’s Project: Resin Paintings

My wife knit’s and wanted a leather wrist ruler. I think she saw them in a catalog.

  • 3/4" wide, 24" long.
  • Made in Adobe Illustrator
  • Cut on the Thunder Laser.
  • 2oz veg tan leather left natural.
  • Cleaned with saddle soap and sealed with wax and oil.
  • It wraps 3 times around the wrist and closes with a brass button stud. It will darken nicely over time.

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My FIL recently restored his dream car, a 1956 Chevy Bel Air. Since his 70th birthday is coming up, I wanted to try to make him something, and get some laser practice at the same time. The original pic was taken with my phone and then edited / prepared for the laser in Photoshop. I saved it out as a jpg before importing it into RDworks. I made 4.5 attempts, before I finally got the results I was looking for. Anyone interested in the settings I used, please see below. I am really impressed with the detail that is possible with this laser, and I am sure it will improve as I get more familiar with the process. If you look closely at the front bumper, you will see the reflection of clouds, a fence, and me taking the pic. Pretty cool.

Engraved on a ~ 12" x 10" piece of alder.
After the jpg was imported into RDworks, I adjusted the size to fit the wood and then configured the following settings.

Selected the BMP button:
Input resolution 1000
Dither --> Net graphic
Frequency 60

Engraving settings:
Speed 500
Min / Max power 20
Scan Mode: X_unilateralism
Interval 0.08

Total laser time on this run: 44min, 44 seconds.

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Indeed!
Sweet ride.
Excellent gift.
Amazing writeup.
Thank you for the share!

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5 posts were merged into an existing topic: Jorge’s Project: Leather Wrist Ruler

Did a bunch of stuff in the 2 days I was able to spend here in the last 3 weeks… I etched volume markings onto two of my beer carboys… I’ll do the rest when I get back from my next rotation. (Cross posted here: glass-etching-of-my-carboys).

I also made a mount for my old GoPro that I can use with the Command Adhesive Strips (used for those removable wall hooks). I needed a mount that I could stick to the back of our cockpit but still remove easily without leaving any residue on the finish. The mount also swivels so that I can point it where I want to. Low profile, and easy to do.


I also finished my mixer plate that I’ll use for yeast starters for my beer making classes. I have about $20 into it with the majority of it being the $13 box and the $4 for the motor and rheostat. I used an old steel washer and a computer hard drive magnet and printed all of the other pieces to fit in the box. The motor is designed to be able to slide up or down to get it as close to the top as possible. I salvaged the 12v power adapter from the DMS trade shelf and bought the female power plug, motor and rheostat at Tanners. I ended up using some silicone sealant to ‘glue’ everything into place since there was just a little bit of play between the yellow structure and the box.

Edited:
Giphy Link to mixer plate in action

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