This is the first time I'll be doing anything substantial with 304, so I expect to learn a few things. It's for a project I can't talk about yet. I need to knurl, face, and part it. I think the lathe is up to it, so we'll see if my skills are, too.

We had an unfortunate incident at Nova Labs: a job got away from the user on "Big Blue", the 4x8 CNC router. I helped out with the repairs on it and on the other large CNC machine this weekend. I didn't get any pictures of the repairs (I'm still working on remembering to take more pictures), so here are some pictures of the damage instead.

The Onefinity Elite that our robotics team was so generously gifted behaves like a lot of smaller CNC machines: when you e-stop it, the steppers lose power and you lose your position. You can re-home it and it should resume pretty nicely, but that adds a bunch of time. I much prefer a different rule: no hands in the working envelope of the machine unless it is made safe. Having that be the e-stop is great, but not available here.

I figured out that the Masso controller has an input we can configure as a door sensor. When it's open, the controller holds motion and stops the spindle. So I'm going to rig up a switch we can flip when we're adjusting the work or cleaning up. The kids flip it to "hold", do their work on the table, then re-arm the system by flipping it back to "run".

The first piece is the housing, a 3D printed case that holds a two-position switch.

With the case done, I just need to get some wires hooked up to it and reconfigure the controller to use it.

I think one of the best habits we can give the kids is a strict safety environment. Nova Labs is, sadly, pretty lax at times. I routinely walk through the shops and see people without safety glasses on, which in my opinion is the bare minimum precaution people should be taking.

This is just a fun little nugget I picked up on Amazon. You can see it here. It's poorly made, but accurate to within about 0.010"/0.2mm, which is good enough for a lot of what I do. It will live in my pocket, so it being a bit of a piece of junk is fine. Maybe some day I'll make a nicer one.

That's permanent marker in the marks: the lines were basically unreadable to my aged eyes. I'm also very amused by the "two quarters" fractional label.

I had to do more work at the town home we rent out. Part of it was fixing the dishwasher install that I screwed up (the hose clamp wasn't tight enough). The other part was installing a new thermostat, since the old one had failed. Pretty easy, really, although I will note that ChatGPT saved me from wiring it wrong. Crazy times.

I'm still working on the project I can't talk about yet. Soon.

On Saturday I opened up my Gaggia Classic espresso maker, which had stopped working. The power light came on, but it wasn't heating and the pump wouldn't run. A look inside wasn't particularly illuminating at first. But my friend Paul, whose hobbies include repairing, augmenting, and rebuilding espresso machines (yes, really), pointed me at a thermal fuse as a likely culprit, and a quick check with a multimeter confirmed it. I ordered a replacement.

My brother called it an emergency repair, but I still had pour-over to get me through. It did take a few days, since I had to wait for the part. On Tuesday I put it in.

On Sunday morning I once again volunteered at Nova Labs, where I was given a special mission: repair the sink in the Studio. Both the faucets and the drains were leaking, so replacements needed to go in. The first order of business, which took almost an hour, was finding everything. Tools and parts were scattered all over.

The work was moderately successful. I got the faucets installed, but the drains defeated me. They're frozen in place, and I couldn't see an obvious way to undo them.

I eventually found a tool that we can buy, or make, since it's an easy laser job. It looks like it should fit between the tabs in the first photo, but it's really the other side of the tool, which looks different, that fits. I think the drain is nearly welded in place by whatever sealant the installer used, but the tool is worth a try, so I laser cut a template out of hardboard.

I have no idea what all the tabs are for.

On Monday I cut the real thing on the M3, out of 1/4" mild steel.

That's an indication that I need to work on either cut speed or gas pressure. It's still totally good enough for its purpose. I'll find out when I go back whether the purpose is served.

I printed the manufacturer's cutting table for the M3 and laminated it. Sometimes it's the little things.

Ever since the water main break and repair last week, the backflow preventer on our sprinkler system has been pouring water on the ground. I figured there was some debris stuck in it, so I took it apart and cleaned out what little dirt I found.

No improvement. For a while the system worked the same as before, which is to say not well, and now it doesn't work at all. My suspicion is that grit worked its way into the system somewhere and jammed it completely up. I'm out of time and ideas, so our sprinkler maintenance company will have to fix it. I'd like them to do it soon, since we put down grass seed.

On Sunday evening at the FRC meeting, the router was busy cutting parts for the new pit cabinets we're building for travel. The students designed them. It was a good opportunity to train up one of the other coaches on one of my favorite Nova Labs tools, the 4x8 CNC router. Mmm, vacuum table.