Matt Miller

I haven't posted much recently for a simple reason - I've just accepted a new position and will be moving soon. Between the interviews and making preparations to move, I just haven't had the time to tinker or blog.

Give me a month or so -- I will very likely be space-constrained in my new location, but I'll definitely set up so I can keep working with Arduino in preparation for the arrival of my CupCake (Hmmm, I should probably call Makerbot and tell them not to ship that to Texas...)

In the meantime, I'm about halfway through putting together the robot arm I bought with the intention of wiring it to the Arduino. While I've been poking along, a friends son put it together in a few hours. Check out Abe's blog here and here

I finished up the electrical wiring in the workshop today. I buried a cable between here and the house, and installed overhead lights, four indoor outlets (one GFCI!), and an outdoor outlet.

This sure beats the extension-cord-and-power-strip solution I had earlier. Plus, the overhead lights with CFLs are much better (and more effiicient) than the halogen worklight I had hanging on the wall.

Here's some pics, I've got two from Before and several After. If the PictoBrowser widget isn't working, you can view the set on Flickr

The computer under the workbench is a Shuttle case with a Celeron and 1GB Ram, running CentOS. I need to get a wireless router I can use as a gateway for it and any other ethernet-aware devices I bring in.

I'm excited to have a good place to work. For my first project, I'm going to assemble a Robot Arm and hook it up to my Arduino controler.

I bought some shelves and a workbench Saturday and spent Sunday afternoon cleaning out my storage building so I can also use it as a workshop.

I debated building the shelves and bench -- that would certainly be more in line with "maker philosophy," but the deciding factor was I'm not sure how much longer I'll be living in this location and have access to this storage building. It'll be easier to move the bought shelves, and they would work just as well in an apartment spare bedroom or garage.

I got a deal on a workbench on clearance at Sears. After looking at Home Depot and the current stock at sears, I was dissapointed. Most of the workbench offerings were way overkill - tons of drawers and shelves. The clearance item I found has three drawers, a big flat top, and a backwall with pegboard and an fluorescent light fixture. Best part, it was 40% off.

I hope to finish putting the workbench together tonight, then I'll post some before and after pictures of my workshop conversion.

A few months back I was setting up two three-lcd monitor arms. I had an extra "arm" left over, so I decided to try and build a laptop stand that would hover over my desk.

I used aluminum angle beams and hollow tubes with threaded rods and was able to build something that works. The only tools I needed were a standard drill and a hacksaw. I used 3/8" x 1/8" adhesive rubber weatherstripping to provide a no-slip surface that also protects the bottom of the laptop from being scratches by the bars. It keeps my laptop monitor in line with my other monitors, and clears up all the desk space under it.

If I recall correctly, I spent about $30 on parts - I bought some aluminum I didn't need. It took a couple hours to design and put together.

Here are some pictures:

I couldn't sleep last night. I kept thinking of neat ideas for things I can make with the Makerbot/Arduino combo.

It's going to be a challenge to get any real work done over the next few weeks if I'm stopping every few minutes to sketch out an idea for a quiz game controller or electronic big-screen Etch-a-Sketch.