Things I think about things, I think
I said I wasn’t going to redesign my Pixelbook cord wrap, but I did. The old one had edges that were too sharp. It was fine on the wall, but it just didn’t feel good in my hand. I thickened the edges and added a generous fillet. I also tightened the dimensions of the inside walls so it would fit tighter on the adapter. I went a little overboard and had to sand it out some to make it fit. I’m much happier with it now.
Not too much to talk about today. I had a pretty normal day at work, and then Monica and I took a walk to Salt and Staw for ice cream in the evening.
I’ve made two iterations on the Pixelbook power cable wrap. The first was from last night, and it was a bit too small to hold all the cable. You can feed the cable through the circular holes to keep it wrapped up.
For the second iteration, I enlarged the piece, and added a deeper channel and more holes for locking the cable in place.
The edge is a little sharp on this one, but it serves its purpose and I probably won’t design and print another one.
I’m working on a new keyboard project, and I’ve taken to 3D printing some of the brackets I’ll use to paste the thing together. Back in October I bought the Ender 3, a Chinese 3D printer known for its solid prints and low price point. It’s also known for its setup, which requires quite a bit of physical debugging. It took me a month of learning to properly tune it. It still needs some occasional upkeep. I haven’t used it for a few weeks, and I spent a lot of my free time today getting it back up and running right. That’s what you get for a sub-$200 3D printer, and I’m fine with that.
I’ve 3D printed a few brackets for that earlier keyboard project, and I’m generally impressed by their strength. I know 3D prints tend to be weak, but for my use cases, I’m finding them more than adequate. Here’s a POC filament/nail bracket I worked up. This should be the final design.
Sunday’s ending, and with it a fine and long weekend.
I spent the evening 3D printing some brackets for a new keyboard prototype I’m working up. I hatched the idea a good while back, but I haven’t turned back to it until now. I’ve been telling people about it, which is actually motivating. Then when people ask me if I’ve finished it yet, it provides the motivation I need to really get started.
If you walk around a dark house with only a laptop to light your face, I imagine you look like a tired ghost to any burglar who might be casing your place from the street.
I retired the second ladder I made for Zavian. It seems he lost interest in it before I was done making it. That’s ok. I’ll keep it stored in the basement in case he remembers it later. If not, I’ll dismantle it for the precious scrap wood. If my planning is accurate, Z will ask where it is one day after that.