Author: nlewkowitz

Posted on

AFCON: Mali v Tunisia

I don’t normally write much about soccer, but safe to say I do watch a lot. Mostly it is the Premier League, but right now the AFCON tournament is underway, and so I am catching the highlights each day. Of note was the Mali v Tunisia game today, in which the referee inexplicably ended the game roughly 5 minutes early, in the 85th minute. He quickly realized his mistake and restarted the game, but then blew his whistle around 89:40 to end the game, 20 seconds before the 90, and well before and stoppage time. 

Obviously, the teams were very concerned about the apparent breach of rules. Both sides left the field as the game was over, only to be told much later in the dressing rooms that the game would continue. Tunisia refused to come out and play, citing the fact that many of its players were already taking ice baths. 

Not a good look for AFCON, but hopefully there will be some explanations for a real deviation from protocol. Here is a good article explaining what happened in detail. 

Posted on

Milling

Today I started milling a part that will become a student project. The idea is to have each student learn how to mill their own Arduino holder. The holder allows for easy prototyping, and will give them hands on knowledge of how to use CAD and CAM to to setup a part.

The CAD aspect of the project utilizes a spec sheet in order to get mounting hole dimensions for the Arduino. Students will learn how to import a canvas into Fusion 360 and calibrate the canvas to the correct size. Next, students can build their holder directly on the canvas. Additionally, the CAD project requires importing components from McMaster Carr, and then using the CAM features of Fusion 360 to create the tool paths on two sides of the part. Lastly, the holder requires a laser cut top. Here is an image of the project below.

 

I was able to setup the CAM today and began cutting stock to size. This process started with making 3 cuts on our vertical bandsaw to a large piece of aluminum stock and then placing the stock on our Trax mill to get more precise with the stock dimensions. I am looking for a stock size of 3.2 x 2.6 x 0.8 inches.  Below are some images of cutting the stock.

Posted on

Internet Radio

A while ago my wife surprised me with an old fashioned radio. It’s an Emerson 805 Series B model which was available in the 1950s. The radio does not work anymore, although all its guts were still intact, tubes and all. I decided to turn the radio into a working internet radio, and hoping to keep functionality of the tuning dial and power switch. 

So far, all I’ve managed to do is take the radio apart. A lot of interesting components inside, but for my purposes I will only keep the plastic enclosure and tuning and power knobs. The back needs to be recreated, which I will do with the laser cutter, as well as inner speaker lining. Not sure what I will use for that, but it can be attached to a lasercut support structure. 

For the electronics, I will initially be following a guide from Instructables – this one I found from _Marcel_ which looks very close to what I’d like to accomplish. In addition to new electronics, I’m also going to clean and repaint the enclosure and knobs, unsure of the color scheme right now, but I will want to keep a retro look to the radio. All for now, a few photos of the radio below.

Posted on

COVID Testing

A new addition to this school year has been the weekly COVID testing. The school has tried to break up testing into groups for each period of the day to minimize wasted class time, however, teachers often fail to adhere to their specified time, and when this happens it causes a backup in the line, which leads to long waits for students and faculty to get their testing done.

Especially during this time of year, where COVID cases are on the rise post holidays and with the Omicron variant, the school has opted for individual testing instead of their normal pooled testing. I understand the decision, it’s a quicker way to find out who has tested positive and to keep those people out of the building. On the other hand, it can take a lot of time away from students during the school day. Luckily for my group of students today, the three time slots we had schedule to do testing worked out perfectly, zero waiting in lines, and we were back in the classroom working after only a few minutes.

I don’t see an end to COVID testing this school year, and have a feeling it will remain in place in some form at the beginning of the 22-23 school year as well.

Posted on

Sunday Cleaning

With the Premier League being on a hiatus due to the FA Cup this weekend, I took the time normally spent watching soccer to clean up my office. I worked out in the morning and then got to work organizing and cleaning. It’s been a while since I last cleaned the office, so there were a lot of things that needed to get done. Mainly a lot of airplane study material that I no longer needed could be trashed. Additionally, I realized there is the need to get some organizational storage strategies for all the different types of items I’ve accrued, hardware for electrical, screws, nuts, bolts, wire, velcro, tools, etc.

Spent several hours in my room downstairs, and the mini split unit did a good job of keeping the room cozy, since it isn’t attached to our baseboard heating system. Did not finish my cleaning, but it was a good start. Will continue next weekend as well. Ordered dinner from Istanbul Diner Cafe and was in bed reading by 9pm.