#robotics Logs

Mar 14 2012

00:02 rue_house turns out the brushes are ok, but a fuseholder melted
00:03 katsmeow-afk ok
00:03 katsmeow-afk chinese genny?
00:05 rue_house no
00:05 rue_house company called AG-tronic that was bought by cohler
00:05 home lol
00:05 home guys
00:05 home I got this motor
00:05 rue_house its part of the powermate 54 series
00:05 rue_house home, ok
00:05 katsmeow-afk my big one is/are , and is rated 30amps, at which point it smokes, and the 30amp terminals are 1/4 spade lugs than disconnect if touches
00:06 home or is it a solenoid 0_0
00:06 home rue_house: i got an arduino XD
00:06 rue_house home, ok
00:07 rue_house katsmeow-afk, 30 amps on a 1/4" spade?
00:08 tsmeow-afk nods,, scarey isn't
00:08 rue_house 4kw, my gen only puts 16A on the spades
00:09 pigpenguin oh sorry i was afk; the library sits on top of a huge pit filled with books. you find the book you want on their computer system go to the librarien who essentially orders it and then one of 5 robot arms goes around the pit finds your book and delivers it to the surface
00:09 pigpenguin mur butchered spelling im dead tired sorry about that -.-
00:11 pigpenguin http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/05/robot-powered-mansueto-library/
00:11 katsmeow-afk there's one in France does the same to videotapes
00:13 pigpenguin nice
00:15 pigpenguin well im going to bed
00:15 katsmeow-afk happy beds
00:16 pigpenguin indeed
00:18 katsmeow-afk i wanno know why
00:23 rue_house haha its a book library
00:23 rue_house too bad there is no point in making a dvd-rw library
00:24 rue_house what would I need for it to be usefull,.... like 200 dvds?
00:24 rue_house min?
00:25 katsmeow-afk and 200 puters and humans to run ocr on each
00:25 rue_house meanty for data
00:26 katsmeow-afk still needs ocr
00:26 katsmeow-afk yo cannot index words in a snanned pic file
00:26 rue_house no I mean for computer files
00:26 rue_house not books, geez
00:28 tsmeow-afk never tried scanning in aputer
00:33 rue_house the bits are really small, you need something with high ers
00:33 rue_house res
00:34 katsmeow-afk and high speed, because those data disks spin really fast!
00:44 rue_house yea, its almost like you would have to use like a laser, or a electromagnetic sensor of some kind
01:13 katsmeow-afk gnites
09:41 rue_house gmorning
09:42 m_itx
09:42 Tom_itx rue_house, gettin your power back?
09:42 theBear yo... any quick tips i can use to fix together the walls (just one point at the top) of some 'soup cans' to use as a little benchtop tool caddy ?
09:43 rue_house power came back 11:00pm night before last there
09:43 theBear hooray !
09:43 rue_house fix togethro walls!?
09:44 rue_house but the genny needs a partial rebuild
09:44 rue_house a fuse holder came loose and in the process of getting to it I screwed a diode
09:44 Tom_itx know any good sparkies that can help with that?
09:45 rue_house one, but he's too busy to help
09:45 Tom_itx that's how most of em are
09:45 rue_house I learned alot about my gen last night tho
09:45 rue_house its an AG-tronic, which was bought by cohler
09:46 Tom_itx Kohler
09:46 rue_house its a powermate 54
09:46 rue_house right
09:46 Tom_itx i had a powermate i think
09:46 Tom_itx not sure what this one is
09:46 theBear hehe, not big walls, i'm just not real experienced at basic metalwork... can't think of a neat simple way to kinda, attach/bolt together 2 tin cans
09:46 Tom_itx other than a tiny bit bigger
09:46 rue_house it looks like I can get a crossdraft carb for it
09:47 Tom_itx theBear tig weld em
09:47 Tom_itx :)
09:47 theBear lol, pimp your genny, see if you can lower the stand and add tassles on the windows too :)
09:47 theBear Tom_itx, heh :)
09:47 rue_house solder them?
09:47 rue_house needs to be a bolt?
09:47 Tom_itx i saw a couple aluminum pop cans that had been tig welded
09:47 Tom_itx no holes either
09:50 theBear on reflection tho, now is an acceptable time for my next dose
09:51 theBear solder eh ? what are tin cans made of
09:51 Tom_itx tin silly
09:51 theBear nah, bolt is inappropriate and will catch tools and things
09:51 theBear oh, crap, thanks for being kind about that tom :)
09:51 Tom_itx heh
09:51 theBear solder eh ? not the worst idea i heard today
09:51 Tom_itx use plumber's flux on em though
09:52 Tom_itx well, maybe not
09:56 theBear 'tough cases' like that i usally just use a little light sandpaper or a fine file :)
09:57 Tom_itx the plumber's acid flux would rust the can
09:57 Tom_itx just use some rosin core
09:58 theBear yeah, i haven't had plumber flux or solder for years now anyway :)
09:58 Tom_itx i've got copper pipes so i still have some
09:59 theBear i probly got copper pipes, but ya know, rentals and all that, hardly worth the effort, plus i don't even have a mini single-gas torch anymore let alone a bottle or a oxy setup
10:07 any00234183 pop rivets?
10:07 theBear hmm... kats makes a good point too
10:07 theBear wonder if i got any hmmm.....
10:07 Tom_itx i figured the cans would be too small to get the rivet tool inside
10:07 theBear yet another thing i forgot to 'borrow' on my last day at work
10:08 theBear mmm, they would, could probly bend a little, just, i'm gonna be 'chuckin' big screwdrivers and crap in 'em all day long, and solder is brittle
10:09 katsmeow hose/pipe clamps
10:16 theBear nah, they'd have to be huge, this is strictly a no budget thing, as is everything in the last 6 or 7 months, AND everything for the next month or 2 till i'm fit to work and look after myself again
10:17 theBear it actually struck me the other night, meeting a potentially nice girl in the country, that mum is moving to the city in around 2 months for her new err, living, maybe i could clean/store a bunch of my more bachelor stuff here, and do some kinda swap/caretaker deal with her and work in the country for a while, see what i see
10:19 Tom_itx different values than citified girls
10:20 katsmeow but prolly still human
10:24 theBear lol, definately human, and from what i gathered so far formerly a gypsy (not exactly cloth caravans and horses, but they still exist around here in varying degrees) ... and tough which i like, heh, VERY excitable... i'll go visit them (kinda crazyhouse near mums, you know the kinda place, always someone sitting on the porch happy to chat or have a beer) when i get back in a couple days, see how we go... i'm not real good at flirting and all those
10:24 theBear subtle social cues like normal people, but i am awesome, and i am thebear, and we certainly spent some time together amongst the chaos and seem to get on... but hey, don't get too excited, any kind of 'real' lasting relationship is very uncommon for a theBear...
10:25 katsmeow i was thinking the other day, i wonder how diferent socioties would be if males were not addicted to sex, and if females didn't primp to be sexually attractive
10:30 katsmeow in nearly every movie i see, there's an occasion when i wonder why the female is half dressed while the male is over dressed
10:31 katsmeow the female is wearing no shirt, just some wide straps over her top, while the male has on an undershirt, then a longsleeved overshirt which is buttoned up to his neck PLUS tied to his neck with a , umm, "tie", and then a jacket over that
10:33 theBear hehe, umm, heh, that's about all i got to say about that last statement
10:33 katsmeow then there's the blatant fumula for movies wherein the lead characters must have sex in the first 15 minutes of all movies
10:33 theBear yeah, i don't watch many western movies these days, still like a good comedy tho
10:35 tsmeow ponders a situation where no one knows if the CEO of a company is male or female, and no one c
10:36 theBear heh
10:36 katsmeow Star trek did that story a couple times, the case where Riker was real disappointed he wasn't getting laid being ,, incredible
10:37 theBear ahh, you too avoid the big 'lectronic channel.. it's become painfully obvious wiht a couple 'regulars' recently, just how err, different SOME women are... you're pretty special kats :)
10:37 katsmeow <blush>
10:37 theBear heh and incase that looks as dodgy to you as it did to me, i didn't act casual all these years to start hittin on yer tonight <grin>
10:38 tsmeow hugs the bear and offers a pa
10:39 theBear oh, why thankyou <grinblush>
10:40 katsmeow i am going to try moving stuff around today, it's been a few since the day my back made grinding sounds
10:41 katsmeow the muscles are still a bit off, but i have the "normal" feeling back , so it's off the nerves, i think
10:41 katsmeow i hate being laid up
10:42 katsmeow err, indisposed,, umm, "sick"
10:42 theBear that's good... i still click and pop a little, and my bum muscle is still VERY mildly sore always, but i don't make an involuntary noise if i poke it with my finger anymore, and my back hasn't felt this good for years... walked about 4-5km home from somewhere yesterday (it was nice and sunny out) and coped quite finely... i'm gettin back
10:42 theBear hehe
10:43 katsmeow shame there isn't some standard quicky fix for the lower back issue related to being upright bipedal creatures
10:44 katsmeow something that doesn't involve massive incisions and Harrington rods
10:45 katsmeow the angled geometry of the lumbar area just isn't right for what it's doing
10:47 katsmeow prolly be fine if humans lived only 15 years, then the vertibra could be horizontal even, like the neck of a horse, they'd last just long enough
10:47 theBear not for many afaik, BUT mine was literally fixed within an hour, took the stick to the bar that afternoon in case of emergency (day before i literally shuffled up the street like an old old man) and haven't touched it since... among other things, and i suspect along with my regular doc this was the main thing, this dude and his wife (both doctors of varying kinds related to backs and often 'unconventional' and 'alternative' approaches to things,)
10:47 theBear gently bent me one way (she is a long time full chiro, but doesn't believe in cracks or force of any kind outside of a thing kinda like an 'automatic' holepunch err, thing you use to start/mark screws/spots in metal, anyway,)while the other physically pushed my assumedly long ago 'healed' disc back into my spine
10:48 theBear regular doc reflected on this, decided it's a good approach... initially used the term 'high risk' but after consideration said everyone he knows who has ever had it done is either largely healed, or soon after gets the operation they turned out needing anyway... in other words from his p.o.v., stops you being a chronic pain fencesitter, and sorts you out one way or the other
10:49 katsmeow chiros have helped me before, when it was possible to put things back right that weren't broken, leaked, or permanently squished
10:49 theBear mmm it's tricky... we've been getting more and more upright as time goes on, and well, maybe we've gone a little off the right path in recent times, for whatever reasons
10:49 theBear i never met a monkey or ape of any kind with a bad back, not that i'm an expert :)
10:50 katsmeow apes and monkeys usually use their hands for walking tho, they aren't carrying cellphones or bags of groceries with them
10:50 theBear exactly !
10:51 theBear maybe we started the no knuckle dragging and shopping bags a few centuries too early
10:53 katsmeow i really dunno, but recently anthopologists have done dna studies that show modern humans carry more dna from ancient knuckle-dragger protohumans than previously thought, which may be why the lower spine is still curved the way it is
10:54 theBear hmm... i never even looked at spines until a few years back... had a physio for a long time after the carcrash, been noticing/learning/practicing hip/lower back posture ever since
10:54 katsmeow praps that *was* taken care of, and reverted when the neanderthal dna was mixed back in
10:54 theBear seems when yer mum tells you to stand up straighter, she's often NOT doing you a favour
10:55 katsmeow my back brace is designed to remove so much kink from my lower back tho, which from a physics pov, makes tons of sense
10:57 katsmeow what i keep fighting is the damage keeps me off my feet, which means mostly sitting, which foreshortens my front thigh muscles, which over tilts my hips forwardly when standing, which makes the spine position even worse
10:57 theBear mmm... this guy that fixed me also does 'quantum touch', he's a way bigger redneck than me, but was convinced by various things that he had fixed.... anyway, among other stuff he explained in a nice way how all muscles have a complimentary/opposing muscle, and therefore things like a low hip on one side, or a kinked neck, will always affect something 'opposite' as well, ie. lower back or opposite shoulder
10:58 katsmeow mostly he is right, but it's not always true that opposite can help fix things
10:58 katsmeow all the muscles of the spine pull vertebra down to each otehr, there's none that open them apart
10:59 katsmeow all the muscles of the ribs, same way
10:59 katsmeow and if you had opposing lung muscle, no ne would ever have a colapsed lung
11:00 theBear nah, he didn't say that, was just explaining in general, more about causes and why he was jumping from here to there as he did his various things (he's multi disciplined, and since it was just his wife when i visited for other reasons 11 years ago (we checked the records <grin>) he's up to 8 fulltime 'doctors' and rooms and has almost every related discipline under the same roof... in the hour i was there i saw a couple different kinds of chiros
11:00 theBear and some other i dunno, muscle-related person, a tickle here, a tap there, i felt amazing afterwards
11:01 katsmeow there's a lot in life i find is binary black and white, but medicine is like a 64bit grey area
11:02 katsmeow i trust "alt" medicine and chiros more than regular doctors
11:02 katsmeow at least they aren't comming at me with a knife
11:02 theBear i've been seperating SOME spine parts over the last few years with only internal muscles, i thought i was kinda working by kinda pushing off my front side to lift the back, but the more i think about it (since someone mentioned what you just said) the more i think i've learned to gently squeeze at a few different heights around my middle, forcing organs and lungs and things to kinda lift over a distance of one or 2 vertebre
11:03 katsmeow yeas, real back braces work the same way, squish the insides to hydraulicly press the diaphram and hips apart, lifting the vertebra apart
11:04 theBear mmm.... there's chiros and chiros... guy i was seeing on and off (on emergency occasions mostly) before this all went completely arse up ER on sat night style (which we all know is the worst time), he helped every time, and was a nice guy, but i suspect he also likes to 'hear' the results of his work more than neceserry
11:04 katsmeow and if lined with metal, to press the spine to a different place too
11:04 theBear i was given a fairly real one earlier today by a friend actually... one doctor i saw when i needed whoever i could get and was CLOSE to my place last year wears a corset which he swears by
11:05 katsmeow been to those too, if they didn't hear it because i screamed, then to them it didn't move
11:05 katsmeow i was surprised to find i can get my prescription brace on ebay
11:06 katsmeow same price as over 20 years ago, too
11:06 katsmeow i need breakfast atm
11:07 theBear mmm... and mmm
11:08 katsmeow i decided i am not going to bring my cases of books downstairs, it's just too much work, i'll leave them upstairs somewhere
11:09 katsmeow bring them down as needed
11:09 theBear fairy nuff
11:09 katsmeow mostly everything is online or in Tiggr anyhow
11:10 theBear yeah, these days it's not often i go to my books for a reference, even remembering which room/shelf the 74 logic ref. is in takes 10 times as long as the web
11:11 katsmeow oh, all those are in Tiggr, most chip makers quit printing paper data books decades ago, so many of mine end at 74LS374
11:11 katsmeow like 1990
11:11 theBear yeah, i was just commenting last night i don't think mine would go much further, they're up to something silly like 800+ now :)
11:11 katsmeow or earlier
11:12 tsmeow
11:12 theBear mmm, mine is at a guess about '97 or 98 edition, that series of kinda 1/3rd a4 size floppy phonebook paper kinda ones, they did 74/4000/jap trans/bc trans, etc etc
11:13 tsmeow
11:13 katsmeow many are older, like the Intel MSC series, Cypress, Datel, Signetics, etc
11:14 theBear heh, someone pasted a datasheet for a high number 74 series, it's getting silly, they run out of 'new things' to do, so the description is half a paragraph of stuff like, tristate schmiddt triggered double buffered bus addressed multi function quad fancy bidirectional inverter :) back in the day the list was only a couple hundred, half of which you'd NEVER need, and all the desriptions were 2 or 3 words :)
11:14 katsmeow i never know when i'll find someone threw out something full of good chips that no one makes anymore
11:15 katsmeow yeas, and 20 digit names for logic chips
11:16 theBear someone gave me a big bag a few years back, a veritable genius known only as "Electronics Dan" ... had a look through while finally consolidating/sorting all my various bits and pieces, lots of cool stuff in there from z80's to 'vintage' ram to random logic to weird analog chips, but ever since the monkey moved out and i got a workbench kinda deal setup again, i can't find where i put the damned bag <grin>
11:17 katsmeow that's why you have wall space to put things on, so you can see it all
11:17 katsmeow remember rue's 20ft wall of parts drawers?
11:18 theBear well i do now, nice set of shelves, with a nice gap for a bag of chips i misplaced moving all that messy stuff back out of the loungeroom :)
11:18 katsmeow heh
11:18 theBear roughly.. somewhere i got picks of my last work workshop, damn i had a lotta shelves and little containers to play with there :)
11:19 theBear actually, /me glances up at his picture share dir open in the browser above
11:20 katsmeow i have a short wall of parts bins, and a long wall of shelves, and the shelves were a mistake, things do still get lost on them
11:21 theBear pics 4 and 5 are (were) my workbenches and 2 and 6 are the parts drawers... random stuff inbetween, last couple or so are the last BIG BIG BIG audio desk i worked on, a brand and series i've always liked, but they still don't quite build 'em like they used to :)
11:21 theBear oh yeah, the link
11:21 theBear http://fcit.com.au/bear/workpics/
11:22 theBear feel free to look around, outside bear isn't my site, but be warned, while they aren't usually mislabelled, there are some nasty pics of past injuries, some ugly people including me, and all kindsa weird stuff, apart from one called thumbpics (i THINK it's in there somewhere) you shouldn't be shocked by any i can recall :)
11:24 katsmeow i can't see them all soon anyhow, i am waiting on a storm to pass, so i can go untarp and move stuff inside
11:24 theBear i'm not worried, some people seem to enjoy various bits, personally i'm quite fond of the timelapse vids of me fixing disco lights and well, they're all interesting to me in some regard or other i suppose
11:25 katsmeow i dunno how i can possibly financially survive this fiasco of a move
11:25 theBear i thought i heard you say move... how far yer goin ?
11:25 katsmeow i'm not, but i was moving 600 miles into Florida
11:26 theBear ooooooooerr k
11:26 theBear i been away, and feeble minded recently, i miss a lot
11:26 katsmeow so big hunks of boat got down there and i cannot afford to bring them back, all the test equipment and puters got bounced down there and back up here
11:27 theBear oh balls ! have pill, eye on the prize... judging from 4 days ago, if i leave it another hour my skin will HURT... horrible horrible little pills
11:27 katsmeow i padded Tiggr's puters with 10 inches of foam under them, and lost some harddrives anyhow
11:27 theBear hmm... at least they bounced
11:28 katsmeow heh, the Craftsman heat gun, i got it
11:28 theBear awesomeness ! might be an hour or so late, but this was the bigger 1/4 from last 2 nights ago
11:28 theBear heh
11:28 katsmeow i am surprised you don't have a big variac on the bench
11:29 theBear is the little one not there ? the place was in some ways very well supplied, and in others not when i got there, and the assfool boss hated spending money on 'useless' stuff like a variac to possibly save blowing up a customers $10,000+ half repaired equipment....
11:29 katsmeow is http://fcit.com.au/bear/workpics/PA070466.JPG a mixer or ?
11:30 theBear should be near the scope, bout err, 2 or 3a fused, enough for anything i ever do if yer remember to switch to 'real' power after you're sure things are in order
11:30 theBear yeah, allen and heath err, ghost? series, maybe i dunno, def. last 12 years, that series didn't exist before that, probly much younger... something like 8 bus 32 ch, basically a live desk as i recall
11:31 katsmeow ah, there it is, the red thingy behind stuff
11:32 theBear yeah, tiny, but it looks like i think a variac should look, and you know, 500w is enough to run up any size singlephase poweramp or bulbless disco light etc, then switch to real power once yer confident a power cycle won't explode antyhing :)
11:32 katsmeow i hate how they put the plugs and cord and meter on those things, so i did this to mine : http://designerthinking.com/variac-rack.html
11:32 theBear was something like $120 or $150 delivered...
11:33 theBear heh, as time went on that job very quickly ran out of spare time, and that was BEFORE i was running 2 other depts entirely by myself 'cos foolish bosses/managers waited until someone left, and i'd done the job(s) for maybe 6 months AND killed my back before they found someone else to do 'em
11:33 katsmeow yeas, normally they are quite pricey, i found some at $65 once (never again so cheap), and got two
11:33 theBear ooh recessed, very nice...
11:34 theBear and nice size (power wise) too
11:34 theBear hmmm... i suppose in 110v land all variacs are kinda chunky
11:34 katsmeow and extra metered, and a 0-15v low range, which is often enough to just bring the psu diodes up to conduct, and you can see if they are shorted or open easily
11:35 katsmeow it's come in really handy
11:35 theBear lol, your power sockets always look so damned surprised and ever so slightly shocked or offended :)
11:36 katsmeow i prolly don't need it any more, but i breadboarded , on a real board, a 2x6, a 2kv variable current tester, good intermittantly to a kw, i should put than in a box too
11:36 theBear yeah, i'm one of the few (at least in this part of the world) that is still familiar with the suckers, i know the 'critical' and 'just enough' points pretty well by now :)
11:36 theBear you what ? like a linear silicon variac ?
11:37 katsmeow no, manually stepped power resistors with aggilator clips, but made to put in relays
11:37 theBear hmmm... oh, kinda like the old 'magic lightbulb cos i don't have a variac' trick ?
11:37 katsmeow it can handle an amp at 2kv for long enough to read the meters, and not be too hot to touch (it's not fan cooled yet)
11:38 katsmeow pretty much, but real resistors, light bulbs have a negative temp coeffcient at some range of operation
11:38 theBear mmm... i gets it... interesting
11:39 katsmeow there was a recall here of some microwaves, so 4 or 5 were dumped at metal recycling, i yanked 25 of them, 20 to put on ebay, and made a tester to verify they worked
11:39 katsmeow 4 or 5 *per day* were dumped
11:39 theBear probly in the background/top of one of those pics, above the scope, maybe not, last guy left a nice heater element there that made a lovely 4/8/16 sink... never done the maths for you guys, but in 240v land everything (1kw, 2kw, 2.4kw kettle/heater/etc elements) seems to workout to a nice roughly 4 or 8 or sensible audio-related resistance at sensible temps
11:40 katsmeow but overall, i cannot make money selling them for $10 on ebay, due to gas prices to get to postoffice to ship them
11:41 theBear mmm.. i don't understand the amount of crap people throw out... not just rubbish, but this suburb for example has 6monthly curbside/free pickups, and EVERY TIME the streets are littered with perfectly good and/or young and easily repairable goods of all kinds !
11:41 katsmeow yeas, i grabbed up stove elements for genny testing, and coil heater elements for audio/lowvoltage testing
11:42 katsmeow they were cheap, i can easily throw together a load for 100kw 240vac
11:42 katsmeow sometimes it can be so easy to build things that cost a fortune to buy
11:43 theBear mmm.. picked up a nice 50r or so stove element up the other end of my very own carpark next to the big bin few weeks ago, haven't decided between triac'd opto'd ac and maybe some 20+volt transformer i might find around in my bits and pieces, but it's damned handing for heating stuff :)
11:43 theBear indeed
11:44 katsmeow you can see in the lower right cormer of http://designerthinking.com/images/variac_rack/IMG_1362.jpg that 12v 8amp transformer is prolly 30 years old, got it free, works just fine
11:45 katsmeow well, right side, not so much corner
11:46 tsmeow counts back
11:46 katsmeow yep, it's over 30 years old
11:46 theBear wow, oh, not so much lower, i was gonna say, damn that aspect, and wow, it's nicely plated and rust free er an oldie :)
11:47 katsmeow i once had it in a homemade power invertor, driving it backwards to make 120vac
11:47 theBear yeah, i used to do maybe 80% vintage valveamps for a living, a transformer almost my age doesn't shock me :)
11:47 katsmeow i have a few tube output xformers, no clue what the ratings are on them tho
11:48 katsmeow ~5lbs, i guess
11:48 katsmeow i sold all my valves on ebay, 2000 of them at one go
11:49 katsmeow i was disappointed in some,, i had some 12ax7 JAN in oem shipping boxes, unopened, from WW2, people bid on them like plain ole tubes, no historical value at all
11:49 theBear oh, damned lbs, damned drug addled head, 51lbs looks a lot like 5lbs :)
11:49 katsmeow sorry
11:51 katsmeow the storm slowed down, i should just go unload the truck, it may not get here for an hour
11:52 theBear mmmm.... it's hard to find historical peoples who appreciate 'common'ly available tubes... guy who taught me the art of repairs and all about tubes had some cool ones, old metal cased milspecs and odd things like that.... tbh, i don't much appreciate vintage tubes unless they're in vintage things that don't 'do work' anymore... working regularly for touring BIG RICH rockbands back then, i REALLY appreciated modern manufacturing and hot damn, thos
11:52 theBear e modern 12ax7wxt's are just AMAZING compared to a chinese or 30 y.old any kind of ax7 (i like a lot of chinese stuff these days, but i'm out of the loop on tubes, and in the 90's chinese ones were rattley and shitty before you even took them out of the box
11:52 theBear go, do what you need, i''m addled, i've been rambling all day
11:52 theBear nice havin a chat too, reminds me just how far downhill the big 'lectronics has gone over the years
11:53 katsmeow ok, take cares
11:53 theBear :)
11:53 katsmeow-afk nice to be remembering with you :-)
11:54 eBear looks around for his next victim .
11:54 theBear heh nah, i gotta have a stretch and i dunno, do something, or have a nap, just generally stop typing endless lines on irc
11:54 theBear my wrists are chafing on the desk !
13:20 delinquentme anyone have a quick simple rule of thumb for determining now many sig digits I need for particular units?
13:21 delinquentme someone in #physics said 2 is all you need .. but that seemed too general
13:24 pigpenguin I have not used sig fig rules in a while i just sorta guess :P
13:24 pigpenguin my physics teacher says 2 as well though
14:06 katsmeow-afk so at 2 significant digits in farads, what does a 20pf cap look like?
14:11 eBear just scratched his head for 5 minutes, and suspects that
14:11 theBear a 20pf cap looks like 20pf's, and a 1 farad looks like 1.0 farads
14:12 theBear either that or everyone in 'pure physics' land is as frickin loopy as you'd have to be to spend all yer time on non-real-world physics :)
14:12 y33240082 once dimensioned a wall in parsecs, but it was too many digits to fit into the calcul
14:14 katsmeow damned powerco
14:14 katsmeow i have nothing on ups batteries yet since moving back to here
14:38 centoslive hey guys, anyone know about solenoids here?
14:39 moriarty don't ask to ask
14:40 theBear there is no try, only do
14:40 centoslive what's a good solenoid model I can get to lock and unlock a door based on the output of an MCU?
14:40 theBear house or car door ?
14:40 centoslive house
14:41 theBear i strongly recommend those pre-made 'electronic' strikes like flats have ("hey man, buzz me in") ... you don't have to use ac (stops the buzzing) even
14:41 theBear been thinking about getting one myself recently
14:41 centoslive hmm
14:41 theBear they're mass produced therefore reliable and not too expensive
14:41 centoslive i need one that doesnt run on too much voltage though
14:42 centoslive thinking of using a mobile power supply
14:42 centoslive its for a project so we will only demonstrate by using a miniature door, so it doent need to be too robust
14:43 i-make-robots https://github.com/i-make-robots/DrawBot would one of you please be so kind as to read the instructions and tell me if they make sense? PM your feedback. Thank you!
14:44 centoslive thinking of something like this: http://www.magnetschultz.co.uk/standard_and_special_solenoids/24/Shotbolts-and-locks
14:59 katsmeow-afk why use a selenoid when a servo would do better?
14:59 centoslive servo?
14:59 centoslive katsmeow-afk, what do you mean?
14:59 katsmeow-afk you do not know what a servo is?
15:00 centoslive nope
15:00 katsmeow-afk do you have electric door locks in your car?
15:00 centoslive yeah
15:00 katsmeow-afk those are servos, not selenoids
15:01 centoslive but cant both be used for the same purposes/
15:01 katsmeow-afk they take less power, are less noisey
15:01 centoslive hmm interesting..
15:01 katsmeow-afk sure, throw a big selenoid on it, i don't care, but the servo is better
15:01 scanf theBear: link?
15:02 theBear what ? i didn't say anything ?
15:02 centoslive any idea on where i could buy one? (e.g. any good websites?)
15:02 katsmeow-afk http://auto.howstuffworks.com/power-door-lock3.htm
15:02 scanf theBear: to one of the premade electronic strike solenoids
15:02 scanf for purposes of a "hey man, buzz me in" system
15:03 theBear oh, nah, haven't gone looking yet, but when i do i'm gonna go to the nearest one i can find/think of, read the brand off the side, or maybe the intercom, then give them a call
15:03 katsmeow-afk yeas, the noisey "buzz me in" are selenoids
15:03 theBear not sure, but i suspect like alarms and various other things, that stuff is kinda regional
15:04 theBear katsmeow-afk, yeah, but solenoids pre-fitted to a nice strike/catch kinda thing suitable for any 'normal' door lock, dead or regular triangle style
15:04 katsmeow-afk yeas, if you buy it that way
15:05 katsmeow-afk personally, i would not want to alert the neighbor's dogs with a noisey buzzer
15:05 theBear lets just say if this here flat i'm sitting in ever gets electronicified, that's how i'm gonna buy it :) cutting the strike hole a bit bigger sounds a LOT easier than making a hole in the bricks and somehow hacking one up myself
15:05 theBear yeah, but they only use ac 'cos of the cheap intercom systems, dc is fine
15:05 katsmeow-afk yeas
15:06 centoslive the servos dunction on DC right?
15:06 tsmeow-afk goes away to see if the rain sto
15:06 centoslive function*
15:06 katsmeow-afk no, they buzz because of the AC
15:06 theBear if it was MY place, or i hadn't installed the door frame yet, i may well hack something up, and also remember i aint as good with metal stuff as you, and WAY short of metal working tools
15:07 katsmeow-afk if you make them work on DC, then you add a circuit to make an annoying buzz too?
15:07 tsmeow-afk s
15:07 katsmeow-afk bbl
15:08 theBear servo is basically an electromagnet, you put current any direction, it'll attract metal... not another magnet tho, that gotta be right direction... AND there's a few dirty hacks that have existed 'forever' that make an ac-based buzz me in intercom system MUCH cheaper/simpler
15:08 theBear at least as far as limited wiring and large buildings of units go
15:08 i-make-robots https://github.com/i-make-robots/DrawBot updated instructions with picture, added java app to send gcode to robot, added gcode that prints a test message. anyone want to try and build this drawbot?
15:09 centoslive i just want to lock/unlock a door based on the output of a TTL chip
15:09 theBear i forget the details, but pretty sure just a simple 2 conductor fig-8 to each apptment and to the 'front door' master-box is enough, pretty sure you don't even need supplies in each unit
15:09 centoslive might need a relay though
15:09 theBear THAT'S basically why they all buzz
15:10 home I need encoders guys
15:10 theBear erm, good god ! what do you need us to do ?
15:10 eBear readies for ac
15:10 home where can I scrap some parts
15:11 home to use...
15:11 theBear i thought you were gonna do a mouse ?
15:12 home soooo
15:13 theBear so, DID you pull apart an old mouse last night ?
15:18 home me?
15:18 home no 0_0
15:18 home dont know what mouse to mull apart... all are laser...
15:18 theBear even laser mice have a scrolley wheel
15:20 centoslive whats the difference between an actuator and a servo?
15:20 home hmm
15:20 home ENC on this mouse..
15:29 home OKAY
15:29 home I took the mouse apart
15:29 theBear rue_house, http://fcit.com.au/bear/loungeroom/poor-mobo-2.jpg there's that fet you helped me find across the road the other week :)
15:30 Steffanx You repaired it like a pro theBear
15:31 theBear totally <grin>
15:32 theBear all thanks to rue... no fets in the house, but he gave me a tip on the dead crt i'd seen across the road earlier that day
15:32 theBear turns out it didn't have anything smaller than irf640 <grin>
15:32 home how would I strip this hmm
15:33 theBear but it's replacing TWO fets so small i can barely see them, so ya know, don't wanna risk going too small again <grin>
15:33 centoslive :D
15:34 theBear plus i wasn't in any kind of mood to unwire anything or remove the cpu heatsink there, so ya know, keyhole surgery with bear sized hands :)
15:48 home hmm encoders..
21:32 rue_house hah good show bear!
21:33 rue_house theBear, that was for the fan, no?
21:43 Tom_itx tobbor on the fritz?
21:44 rue_house oh yea
21:44 Tom_itx what'd you do to tobbor?
21:44 rue_house tobbor gave up on its network interface
21:44 rue_house I have to go manually tell him to retry
21:45 Tom_itx we never finished my debian install either
21:45 Tom_itx i may try again on a different pc
22:02 theBear rue_house, yerp :)
22:15 rue_house http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5y0j191H0kY
22:15 rue_house THATS INSANE
22:18 theBear err, how big a uM ?
22:19 Tom_itx hair on a nat's ass
22:19 Tom_itx gnat?
22:20 LoRez gnat
22:22 eBear ag
22:46 rue_house supper
22:46 rue_house I need to think about how I'm gonna do a wired speakerphone for the cell
22:47 i-make-robots Haha! I can drive the drawbot like an etch-a-sketch!
23:10 rue_house your new?
23:12 rue_house what have you built?
23:16 katsmeow-afk i wonder if i can turn sound back on on tis puter
23:21 katsmeow-afk i think not
23:21 rue_house the sounds dosn't metter in that video
23:22 katsmeow-afk it does when wathcing "TheBig Bang Theory" tho
23:22 rue_house :( I have to get up at like 5am tommorow
23:23 katsmeow-afk there's a 5 in the morning now?
23:23 katsmeow-afk oh wait
23:23 katsmeow-afk that's when i am usually finally getting to sleep
23:26 theBear yeah, not nearly enough physical comedy in that show
23:26 theBear that IS what you're saying right ? <grin>
23:26 katsmeow-afk it has some moments tho
23:27 theBear mmm, but definately better with sound
23:28 katsmeow-afk i have one puter with sound, i gutted the rest of them to get performance for Tiggr
23:28 theBear hehe, was just thinking of the visual aspects... the episode where they showed how the elevator died was hilarious
23:29 katsmeow-afk yeas, "i have ti<BOOM>me!"
23:29 theBear :)
23:29 theBear "you're welcome"
23:30 katsmeow-afk or the foamed ceiling in the lab
23:30 katsmeow-afk the killer robot episode
23:30 theBear hmmmm.... mighta missed the ceiling
23:31 theBear grrr.. it pains me to say, but i think i gonna have to get one of those noise hair clippers so i don't look like a ape
23:31 katsmeow-afk the ceiling was the same show that someone pumped helium into Sheldon's office as he was doing a live radio show
23:31 theBear ahh, i do remember that bit
23:31 rue_house hahaahhahaha
23:32 katsmeow-afk i can get the show only on internet, and only with one puter, and atm i cannot find my big lan switch to connect it
23:33 katsmeow-afk everything is still in boxes
23:33 theBear :(
23:34 katsmeow-afk i missed the entire Voyager series, most of the wormhole basestation series, and didn't kow there was a Enterprise prequel series till last month
23:35 katsmeow-afk ditto Fireflay series
23:35 katsmeow-afk firefly
23:41 katsmeow-afk !ping
23:42 rue_house zzzzz
23:43 e_house Replies a CTCP PING 1331789608 to katsmeow-afk (to #robot
23:44 tsmeow-afk puts it in her po
23:44 -katsmeow-afk:#robotics- can you see this?
23:44 rue_house i can see this
23:44 katsmeow-afk [Bustox Invalid reply]: CTCP command.
23:44 rue_house hey
23:44 katsmeow-afk hey
23:44 rue_house this is really cool
23:45 katsmeow-afk ?
23:45 theBear yeah, most people see those
23:45 rue_house when I press on this grid of buttons, the symbols on them come up on the screen
23:45 theBear lol, ctcp can
23:46 tsmeow-afk tries a
23:46 theBear anyone ever done, or at least rememeber the led as an led AND a 'touch sensor' 'trick' ? can remind me how it works in a single line
23:46 theBear maybe ?
23:47 theBear yeah, even in the other channel that time
23:47 theBear watcha trying to do kats ?
23:47 e_house frowns at theB
23:47 katsmeow-afk waste time till bed
23:47 rue_house dude
23:48 rue_house really?
23:48 rue_house like cmon, I tried to get people to come along for that one
23:48 katsmeow-afk you can prolly do it with a dual-color led, lite one, use the otehr as a detector
23:48 rue_house you can make a light detector with a single led
23:48 theBear rue_house, what ?
23:48 rue_house !assist tutorials
23:48 rue_house ugh, tobbor
23:48 katsmeow-afk he said touch sensor, not lite detector
23:49 theBear oh, i was always into it, just never been a priority
23:49 rue_house fixing its 200G filesystem again
23:49 rue_house hold on
23:49 theBear i'm sure i've seen it done years ago with just regular red leds
23:49 rue_house !time
23:49 rue_house !time
23:49 tobbor My watch says its 21:40 Wed Mar 14 2012
23:49 rue_house !assist tutorials
23:49 tobbor Possibly http://eds.dyndns.org/~ircjunk/tutorials
23:49 theBear im thinking maybe superfast 'hard to see' flashes while measuring drop for reflection sensing, alternated with higher duty cycle for the 'on' ones
23:50 katsmeow-afk i swear you need Tiggr in here
23:50 rue_house http://eds.dyndns.org/~ircjunk/tutorials/elex/ledsensor/ledsensor.html <-- thebear
23:50 katsmeow-afk rue , again, that's not what bear asked about
23:50 theBear well, at least thanks for not naming me in the intro ... that's bitter rue
23:51 theBear katsmeow-afk, it's a start
23:51 theBear ooh, that looks suspiciously like my favourite general purpose dev board <grin>
23:51 rue_house :)
23:51 theBear oooh nice animations too, you really outdid yourself that time
23:52 rue_house gif animation dude!
23:52 theBear hmmmm..... capacitance eh ? /me considers
23:53 rue_house the charge held by a led can take over 1/4 sec to bleed off on an avr input
23:53 rue_house I was amazed
23:53 theBear do TINY TINY TINY 'led on' flashes instantly discharge it ?
23:53 rue_house no
23:53 rue_house you reverse charge it
23:53 rue_house see the code
23:53 theBear yeah, but what i described a few lines back above the word tiggr
23:53 theBear heh, you tired rue ? yer not listening to both of us now <grin>
23:54 rue_house light sensor, thats what you can do
23:54 theBear i'm telling yer, i'm SURE i've seen it done
23:54 rue_house as kat said, 2 leds might give you a reflection sensor
23:54 eBear cracks knuc
23:54 theBear time for some web-fu
23:54 rue_house you saw the youtube video?
23:55 rue_house @end of page?
23:55 theBear nah, didn't seem worthwhile, i believe it works, you're rue
23:55 rue_house my animations give me a headache
23:55 katsmeow-afk saves time that way too, eh bear?
23:56 theBear http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CCndD10OSM&feature=related *BAM*
23:56 tsmeow-afk ponders a s
23:56 theBear katsmeow-afk, yeah, disappointing these days how much handy technical stuff is ONLY available via youtube vs a nice sensible rue style page
23:56 rue_house its light sensor
23:57 katsmeow-afk ahh, he didn't use 2-color led, he used one row as led while using the next as the sensors
23:57 theBear that's actually suspiciously close to what i was thinking of doing with it
23:57 theBear that's not what the little 'blurb' describes, look around 2:15 or so
23:58 rue_house if you sw that in the dark you would see its just a light sensr
23:58 theBear or just before 2min maybe
23:58 theBear "This project is the product on some research about using common LED's as light sensors and light emissors at the same time"
23:58 rue_house that what my code on that page DOES
23:58 katsmeow-afk but not both at the same time, he muxed their functions
23:58 theBear lying bastard ! just read the 3rd comment
23:59 theBear err, 2nd
23:59 e_house beats his head aginast a
23:59 theBear crazy frenchies
23:59 rue_house ugh, stupid trailer,
23:59 e_house makes note to repari the wall l
23:59 theBear lol
23:59 theBear hosin' it up eh rue ?
23:59 rue_house do you beleive me its just a light sensor how?
23:59 katsmeow-afk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6N9Qid8Tqs&feature=related