Work holding and tooling are like 90% of doing well in a machine shop, and maybe 60% in a wood shop.

I first started with laser cutters in 2009 at TechShop, and that was before I knew about work holding and tooling.

Then I got to live on a property …

Zach wrote an instructable about his DIY Fume Extractor.

Lensdigital Wrote about his build.

And now perhaps it is my turn.

But it is a lot of work, and how well does it work?

I don't like the carbon being on the sides, it means that if the carbon isn't …

(an ongoing post)

Laser Love and Beer! Continuing my hopeful inclusion in North Bay Python.

I paid for my Laser cutter right before NBay Python 2024, while I was frantically and frenetically working on my talk about cocktail robotics.

It was in the period I defined as the great laser …

Original date: 2015-01-08 09:39:22

"From 1973-1976 America suffered more wounds to its' ideal of itself than at just about any other time in its' history. Criminal president, oil shock, inflation, military defeat, etc..."

Apparently from Rick Perlstein

That was exactly when I formed a substantial piece of my …

Original Date: 2020-06-15 11:05:49 I have not been using this blog because it was intended to be for serious and professional things, but time for a pivot. So onward with new focus. New vigor.

This tweet by Brandon Taylor from May 14, 2020 has stuck with me.

"The …

I have a directoy named 'laser_box' with two files in it.

It is a parametric model for a live hinge. Specify a few parameters in the OpenSCAD file and you get a live hinge that you can export to a dxf, and then read into your laser software.

• hinge_work.dxf …

I finally got my GigaMacro rig up to the 'new' house (we have been here for 17 months, so 'new' seems a bit of an over statement).

It is in a sub-nominal condition, there is rust, and wear from neglect. But it is, to me, a beautiful object, and I …

I wanted to make drawer dividers for my tool boxes, especially the out of control screwdriver drawer. I did a little search, and decided that it was worth it to just pay $3 for an SVG of drawer dividers from Pacific Grove Designs on Etsy.

The pattern is designed for …

I like customizing clothes pins. And other people also like doing it

Years ago I made a jig to hold the clothespins. And today I made a better jig.

Image not showing up.

And calibrating the

I downloaded the Sonoma County Parcel information. From

But it is too large to be useful, so let's use ogr2ogr to zoom in on their property.

lower left 38.39 -122.85

lower right 38.39 -122.84

upper left 38.39 -122.85

upper right 38.41 -122.84 …