1010music blackbox demos playlist

I’ve created a playlist for my videos on the awesome blackbox sampler/sequencer from 1010music.

CNC Circuit Playground Holder

I decided I needed a Circuit Playground and Circuit Playground Express render farm. Here’s the stand I made on the CNC machine.

I designed it in Fusion 360 and then milled it with the Othermill Pro. First, I ran a pocket clearing pass.

Next, I ran a pencil pass to clear out the scooped out slots for the curvature of the boards.

These rough passes left behind a bit of material, as you can see here.

The final cleanup was a parallel pass with a fairly tight stepover, I ran it at 90 degrees from the stock, so it followed the grooves and had longer runs.

Here it is with a Circuit Playground Express nestled in it lovingly.

Here you’ll see some purple prototype boards, and the new red Circuit Playground Classic Digi-Key will be selling as part of the “buy one , give one” donation program for Girls Who Code

Here’s the full set, ready for various tutorials I’m working on with MakeCode, Arduino, and Circuit Python!

Estate Sale pan and knife

Hit a semi-disappointing sale this morning. Not too much of interest, or as pickers say, nothing had any age on it.

The two finds I did get: a great little Griswold no. 3 cast iron pan for $5. Nicely seasoned, probably perfect for a grilled cheese sandwich I’ll be making for lunch…

The other thing I picked up is this kooky Keen Kutter pocket knife. It’s a bone handled Barlow model, made from 1940-1960. Blade marked “K288 1/2”.

I call it kooky due to the tip. Looks like the previous owner snapped it off and then did a nice job cleaning it up into a concave dip. I probably paid too much at $10, but I like its apparent history.

I can tell from the other knives at the estate that the previous owner really had a problem with using knives as screwdrivers/pry bars. At least this one has a nifty attempt at saving it.

Coffee & Tool & Coffee Tool of the Day

Today I’m featuring an electrician’s Leatherman, the E4 Squirt, and a Modern Times (beer brewer/coffee roaster from San Diego) Black House coffee brewed in a Bialetti moka pot my mom gave me. (I think it was from my Zia Wanda’s kitchen in Cassino, Italy.)

I really like the E4 because it’s got a good set of wire strippers/cutters on it, and the Philips screwdriver is a pretty nice one. I keep it in my jeans coin pocket.

Coffee & Tool of the Day

Inspired by Dominic Morrow’s Tool of the Day posts, here’s my new feature: Coffee & Tool of the Day.

The macchiato is from Commissary Coffee in Burbank, the pico widgy pry bar is from County Comm, and is a great little tool to keep on your keychain.

Welding a Welder Holder to a Welding Cart

I have this great little welding cart I got from a picker. The size was almost — but not quite — perfect to hold my little MIG welder underneath. I got 10′ of 1/2″ 16 gauge steel square tubing for $2.06 at Industrial Metal Supply’s remainders bin and cut two lengths down to size to fit the footprint of the welder.  I welded them to the cart and now it’s all neatly contained.

1/2″ 16ga. HR steel square tubing

removing rust with a flap wheel

dry fit is good and tight

merging metals

gorgeous, award-winning weld

exciting action shot

my MIG welder has a home

John Park’s Workshop Project Videos

Here’s a handy playlist of my Adafruit project video series:

Magnetic Foamcore DIY Photography Lightbox

I built this photo lightbox using foamcore, wooden cubes, hot glue, and magnets.

I designed it to set up and break down easily for storage when not in use.

Building a 3D Printer Turntable

 

I built this turntable for my Ultimaker 2 3D printer. Why? Because each time I changed the material on it I needed to go from using the interface on the front to dealing with the spool and filament on the back of the machine three times. Minor annoyance, I know, but I had had enough!

Scrap 3/4″ MDF and a donated bearing

Measuring out a 16″ square base

Improvised saw guide

Finding center

Appropriately sized circle

Aligning the hardware

Countersinking base screw holes

Screwed into top from inside, to bottom from beneath

Hope I aligned it well enough

Sneaking a peek

You can’t wing this too much or things won’t line up, so I did some careful measurements and aligned things well enough that when I blind screwed in the bottom it worked. There are strategies for doing this with large holes predrilled at a 45 degree offset from square so you can screw them in and see what you’re actually doing, but where’s the sport in that?

Now I’m already regretting not making the top piece a circle or gear pattern so I can motorize this for stylish stop motion photography of timelapse printing, but I think I can add that feature later.

John Park, Full-Time Maker for Adafruit

 

I’m thrilled to announce that after a decade of moonlighting in the maker movement, I’m now officially a full-time maker and content creator! Starting this week, I’ll be working from my Southern California workshop, designing and building projects and videos for Adafruit Industries.

Adafruit is an open source hardware and electronics company founded by the awe-inspiring engineer Limor “Lady Ada” Fried, and co-run by the highest energy element on the the periodic table, Phil Torrone. I’ve know these wonderful people since the beginning of the maker movement, working together on Make: magazine, Maker Faires, and the Emmy-nominated Make: Television show on American Public Television. I’m proud to be joining them and the rest of the incredible team in our shared goal to encourage and enable anybody to build anything.

There are so many projects I’m excited to start building and sharing in videos and online tutorials. I’ll be making things to appeal to people with wide ranging passions, including cosplayers, home brewers, gamers, magicians, rock climbers, hot rodders, modernist chefs, lock pickers, kids, musicians, mixologists, Burners, escape room designers, aerialists, cyclists, teachers, animators, and coffee fiends, to name a few.

If you’ve got an idea for something you’d like to see me make, please drop me a note in the comments or on my Twitter @johnedgarpark.

You’ll be able to watch my Adafruit videos here, my Learning System tutorials here, my posts on the Adafruit blog. I look forward to meeting you in the Adafruit online hangouts. I’ll also be doing collaborations, speaking, teaching, and other maker activities, please follow my blog for updates — you can subscribe in the sidebar over there on the right.