The Geeky Nerdy Project Page

[Kupar 13,339]

7 hours ago, Euro said:

Perhaps a step beyond geeky-nerdy...?

Backyard foundry.  Simplistically... That is melting metals at quite high temperatures and pouring them into a mould to make a metal object. A Metal Casting. Might take the form of something aesthetic of functional or a bit of both. Eg a plaque.

In the way I do it now, started a few yrs back wanting something that at the time that seeming nobody could-would  do for me, at least at a sane price. Long story, but interesting journey.

Not a hobby as such, just something I now do from time to time. Not everybody's idea of fun doing weird dangerous industrial stuff in the back garden. But I kinda like doing it 🙂

A couple of pics to give the idea..

 

A Bronze metal pour at  circa1150dec C ( 2100degF)

A plaque casting fresh out the mould in Aluminium but way too hot to touch for a while. The lumpy bit sticking out of the side is the left over bit where the molten metal was poured in from.

A finished and painted plaque

 

Wonderful! Thank you for sharing this 🙂

[avatar 382]

Not a nerdy project in itself, but a funny moment that happened to me when working on one (a mental health growth web application for work) that I wanted to share. Don't know how many of you are familiar with Docker but long story short, it's a software that offers a command line interface. One of the commands is docker-compose. I wanted to run the project on my machine using docker-compose build today, and this what my half asleep morning brain still on autopilot came up with:

I know this is just the most immature thing but I've giggling about it for hours the whole day today   🤣  🤣

[oliver2 4,418]

An easy mistake. dicker-compose is used to organise large numbers of dicks, such as when planning an orgy

[avatar 382]

4 minutes ago, oliver2 said:

dicker-compose is used to organise large numbers of dicks, such as when planning an orgy

Ohh okay, I'll keep that one on the back of my mind for the next orgy I throw 🙂

[gldenwetgoose 21,486]

Looking at the keyboard layout,  I guess there are lots of times people have tried to invoke a 'focker-compose',  and probably a few had their access restricted for attempting a 'fucker-compose' ?

[oliver2 4,418]

1 minute ago, gldenwetgoose said:

Looking at the keyboard layout,  I guess there are lots of times people have tried to invoke a 'focker-compose',  and probably a few had their access restricted for attempting a 'fucker-compose' ?

You get your acocunt suspended for that, yes 😉

[avatar 382]

2 minutes ago, gldenwetgoose said:

Looking at the keyboard layout,  I guess there are lots of times people have tried to invoke a 'focker-compose',  and probably a few had their access restricted for attempting a 'fucker-compose' ?

Oh that hasn't happened to me yet, but I can totally see that it's possible as well 🤣

[D-K 154]

7 minutes ago, oliver2 said:

You get your acocunt suspended for that, yes 😉

Wow. I didn't know this. Seems a bit extreme in my opinion 🤔 

[oliver2 4,418]

20 minutes ago, D-K said:

Wow. I didn't know this. Seems a bit extreme in my opinion 🤔 

No, no! You can’t get your account suspended for accidentally typing a rude word, I was making a puerile joke about the word “cunt”, and now I’ve had to explain it, which means to the extent it was funny before, it now isn’t 

[oliver2 4,418]

[D-K 154]

2 minutes ago, oliver2 said:

No, no! You can’t get your account suspended for accidentally typing a rude word, I was making a puerile joke about the word “cunt”, and now I’ve had to explain it, which means to the extent it was funny before, it now isn’t 

Sorry, didn't realize. Docker in general does some weird things so I wouldn't put this past it 😅

[gldenwetgoose 21,486]

This isn't my nerdy project, so not me in the video...    But I can relate to it...

 

Then again - I do like my coffee to be still hot when it's delivered.   And I can think of quite a few better engineering solutions.

Putting a coffee machine in the room where coffee is required for one.

[Kupar 13,339]

1 hour ago, gldenwetgoose said:

This isn't my nerdy project, so not me in the video...    But I can relate to it...

 

Then again - I do like my coffee to be still hot when it's delivered.   And I can think of quite a few better engineering solutions.

Putting a coffee machine in the room where coffee is required for one.

This is lovely 🙂 

I particularly like that (a) he made some silly mistakes ... like I would have done, and (b) it took him so long to stop the cup falling off

But ... it's not a funicular, and even if it was, it's *fun*icular, not *vern*icular!!

Thanks for sharing 🙂 

Edited February 26, 2023 by Kupar

[Johnboy777 3,888]

1 hour ago, gldenwetgoose said:

Putting a coffee machine in the room where coffee is required for one.

For me, a better way to get a hot cup of coffee is going to a coffee house and having my coffee delivered to me by a topless waitress...

[Kupar 13,339]

1 hour ago, gldenwetgoose said:

Putting a coffee machine in the room where coffee is required for one.

haha! Yes - that was my first thought too 🙂 But it wouldn't have been such fun

[oliver2 4,418]

2 minutes ago, Johnboy777 said:

For me, a better way to get a hot cup of coffee is going to a coffee house and having my coffee delivered to me by a topless waitress...

“Would you like milk, luv?”

[Euro 346]

At risk of going way way... off topic, but I couldn't resist....

13 hours ago, oliver2 said:

“Would you like milk, luv?”

See

 

[oliver2 4,418]

That would be massively improved by removing the censor blur, canned laughter and silly noises!

[Johnboy777 3,888]

1 hour ago, oliver2 said:

That would be massively improved by removing the censor blur, canned laughter and silly 

That would be so much funnier without blurring the boobs. The looks on those faces are priceless though.

Edited February 27, 2023 by Johnboy777

[Alfresco 11,629]

On 2/26/2023 at 8:16 AM, gldenwetgoose said:

This isn't my nerdy project, so not me in the video...    But I can relate to it...

 

Then again - I do like my coffee to be still hot when it's delivered.   And I can think of quite a few better engineering solutions.

Putting a coffee machine in the room where coffee is required for one.

Love this, but I can see several easy improvements which would make it better.  First of all the stopping of the loco is by complete cut of the voltage causing it to jolt badly, nearly throwing the truck off the track at one point.  Each of the stops could have either a controlled reduction in voltage, a pulse width modulated control to reduce the speed or even a simple capacitor which would allow it to roll to a stop rather than jolt.  A bit of experimentation may be required to get the stopping point to be accurate.  Same also applies for starting off which is very jolting.

Also, the route of the track straight across the middle of the kitchen must be annoying if actually using the kitchen.  Maybe move the coffee machine to the side near the elevator - it as has been said previously just put the coffee machine on the room where the coffee is drunk.

I guess another expansion could be to have the track go to various rooms with various control points so you can order coffee from wherever you are. 

[gldenwetgoose 21,486]

11 minutes ago, Alfresco said:

Love this, but I can see several easy improvements which would make it better.  First of all the stopping of the loco is by complete cut of the voltage causing it to jolt badly, nearly throwing the truck off the track at one point.  Each of the stops could have either a controlled reduction in voltage, a pulse width modulated control to reduce the speed or even a simple capacitor which would allow it to roll to a stop rather than jolt.  A bit of experimentation may be required to get the stopping point to be accurate.  Same also applies for starting off which is very jolting.

I thought exactly the same.  A simple MOSFET or other power transistor driven by a PWM would work perfectly. 
And then the other area for improvement - mounting and electrically driving a servo to mechanically operate a switch that applies electrical power to a motor…  when instead it’d be far easier to just replace the switch with another semiconductor device. And that would allow soft start of that motor too. 

[Paulypeeps 5,287]

It is all quite easy nowadays, just use DCC control. With built in inertia and simple braking systems it would be a lot smoother...

[Sophie 24,410]

2 minutes ago, Xanthous Gaze said:

This is my favorite programming meme. Writing Computer and Robot programs are something I have NEVER enjoyed doing, because I'm always at my very wits end up to my deadlines struggling just to get something that works. 😬 If you have ever written code and you have experienced the insanity inducing frustration, that is programming. I'm sure you will appreciate this to. 

 

or we fixed it... and we don't know how!

[Euro 346]

15 minutes ago, Xanthous Gaze said:

This is my favorite programming meme. Writing Computer and Robot programs are something I have NEVER enjoyed doing, because I'm always at my very wits end up to my deadlines struggling just to get something that works. 😬 If you have ever written code and you have experienced the insanity inducing frustration, that is programming. I'm sure you will appreciate this to. 

 

This is not just about Programming, This is human culture IE We are, sadly, as humans, disinclined towards working together unless there is a common interest ( or common failure? )

Having said that, It's good that we can laugh about it...? Well mostly... ish

[likesToLick 10,216]

Here is one of my nerdy projects - a vintage one from 1977, when I was a teenager doing a computer science degree at university.  I was just getting into the concept of building my own personal computer,  in the days before anyone had ever heard of Apple or Microsoft,  and one of the tools I needed was a logic probe. 

After paying the rent on my shared flat,  the utility bills, bus fares and groceries,  I didn't have much budget left for education.  I couldn't possibly buy electronic test equipment, so I made this one from a circuit design published in a magazine.

Apart from the two chips, the LEDs and the transistors, everything in it was scrounged.  The resistors and capacitors are from broken radios and scrapped mainframe computers. The base is a piece of old veroboard, and the probe tip was made from a darning needle,  strapped to the board with single strand copper wire and soldered in place.

It works with TTL voltage levels,  lighting the red led for a logic zero,  and the green for a logic one.   The amber led is a pulse catcher,  which will light for half a second if the probe is in contact with a pulse of 1 microsecond or more.

I'm pleased to report that after 45 years,  it still works,  and I never did need to buy a commercial one. 😃