DIY camera

I dun it :)  Yup, I set out to build a camera based on the little raspberry pi zero and then make an enclosure with my 3D pen.  I did have to buy black filament because if you use any other color, it may tint the photo.  I started out packaging it as they do but it was too thick for my needs.  I repackaged it so that it's thinner, though I had to sacrifice length.

 Front (above)

 Back (above)  Kinda hard to see, but this is the camera side.

 Side view (above)  So the plan is to have the control part in my pocket, with the camera sensor outside the pocket.  The cable is protected from the top & bottom.

 The electronics is mounted to the bottom "plate".  And the cover slides over the top.  Could be thinner, it's like a skinny handheld remote.  Tough to make thinner though, as I'm making the plastic enclosure by hand.

 This is the camera sensor.

The LEDs are covered with clear filament because they're a bit too bright.  I was trying to diffuse the light. 

Before I enclosed the camera, I tested out the battery.  It lasts exactly 2 hours before the camera died abruptly.  I risk corrupting the the SD card that way, in fact I did.  But I've learned to recover it, HA!

Nothing new in a month

That's not to say I haven't been creating.  I'm gathering materials to make my own camera.  Why?  Why do I draw when I can just take a picture?  Because I can and because it's fun and I hope to learn something from it.  Then I'm going make my own enclosure with my 3d pen.

Meanwhile, I've been creating short videos, aka vlogs.  The content is private & emo, so they'll probably never be shared.  This is how I'm learning the technical side of editing video and audio.  I thought I'd have to wait until I made my own camera, but I was counting all the retired cameras in the house which are capable of video: 4 Canon ELPH point-n-shoot, Canon 50, GoPro 3, Polaroid Cube, iPhone, iPad, 2 laptops.  Maybe capable, but not necessarily practical.  Then I discovered that I already had Movie Maker on my Win10 laptop and I have iMovie on my iPad.  I didn't have to buy anything to get started.

Now I want to go somewhere, but I've sent away my passport for renewal.

Getting the Roku box off the table

Last month I cleaned off my desk by mounting my monitor up on a pole  (aka dual monitor mount).  One of the things that stayed on the desk was the Roku3...until now.  So two layers was good enough to hold it like a shelf.  I thought it would need tie wrap to keep it from falling off but, amazingly, it stays up on the pole.

Here it is in in place



So now I want to get the power bar off the desk but it hast to stay within reach.  No ideas yet...

I haven't been keeping up

What is it?

 

  The magnetic latch on the screen door doesn't always hold.  This is more reliable.

 

They used to sell a clip for iphones to redirect sound off the speaker.  I can't find it, so I made one, but this goes over my plastic case, too.  Custom fit.

 

These are flexible filament feathers.  I'm going to use them as book marks in my sketchbooks.

 

So Mom was still finding a way to screw up the TV by mashing random buttons.  I had to cover more buttons.

 

Here it is on the remote.  It goes on and off easily so that I can access the menus.

Another box

So the first box was Mom's birthday present, only about 6 weeks late.  This is her mother's day present, only a couple weeks late, LOL.  She really loved the other one.  She said she likes this one too, but I told her she has to say that because she's my mother. This is looser than I intended but I was limited by my brushes.  My finest brush was still too thick for this scale  (the box is 9in X 3.5IN x 3.5in). 

I painted a box

Not the finest art, more like crafty art.  So I've been busy reorganizing my office/art space.  I put my monitors up on a dual stand to get all the cables off my desk and make room to do stuff.  I was trying to clear under my desk...that didn't work out so well, I've just got different stuff under my desk now and the art supplies that were under my desk is now up on new wire shelves.  What the reorganization did was 1) clear my desk top for projects and 2) clear the French doors behind my desk so that I can swing them open now.  I've got to wait til Sunday night to throw out more empty boxes or else they'll find their way back into the house.

Then Mom was sitting at my desk, snooping around, and she found these wooden pencil boxes I'd bought with the intention to color with oil pencils and she wanted them.  I lost interest in the oil pencils after one flower.  But they weren't empty!  Oh yea, I found my first set of printmaking paints and the linocut tool.  I totally lost them, so I'd bought another tool and more paints.  And I found my Dremel Tool bits, DOH!

I was almost ready to donate my old acrylic paints because I haven't touched them in over a year.  A couple of them (browns) are like gel now, but they were going that way years ago.  But this was fun.  I still have peacock feathers on my brain, so I'm going to do some kind of abstract peacock pattern on the other box before giving it to Mom.  And I'm going to keep my paints, they're still fun. 

Flexible camera case

I wasn't satisfied with the purple camera case, so I solved a few problems:

1. Mom kept finding another way to put the camera in that it wasn't meant to go, which meant she forced it.  I don't see damage to the camera or the case, but it hasn't been in use for very long.
2. I didn't like how the camera rattled inside the case, it was a hard case.  Rattling means friction or impact, however minor.  At least you couldn't sit on it and damage the screen.
3. Camera retention is less secure, but the point is to cushion the camera while it's bouncing around in a bag.  The damage to Mom's previous cameras were on the screens from bouncing around in her bag.  Anyway, I'm taking advantage of the flexibility of the material.  I have an opening on the end and rely on the plastic to spring back to its closed position on its own.
4. I was wondering how I was going to use up a pound of flexible filament.  This material is better suited to covering electronics like cameras & phones. 

Headphone hanger

I've been hanging my headphones from a twisted paperclip.  Can't buy this anywhere because this cubicle system is outdated.  The company probably bought these walls on craigslist or ebay.  So the cubicle walls have slots that you can hook onto, if you can fit it in the slot.  That's how the bookshelf hangs.  Anything else, you have to pin to the cloth or use little magnets, neither of which is strong enough to hold the headphones.  It's probably been in use for 2 weeks now.  I forgot to take a picture before bringing it to work.

 



 

3rd time's the charm

Finally happy with the peacock feather. Happy with the eye, happy with the pattern of the individual tines (right word?)  1st one is on the right, 2nd try is middle, 3rd attempt is on the left.  I'm bringing #3 to work.  I'm really liking how springy it's turned out with the bit of PLA down the spine.  Only takes 30 minutes each!

Peacock feather

I was testing out a concept.  Using flexible filament for the peacock feather.  I did have to use PLA on the back of the stem because it was too floppy.  This will go to one of my home pens, then I'm going to give it another shot when I get some time.  I think I can improve on the "eye."  Really happy with it, though.

Flexible filament

On a whim I actually bought some flexible filament when I ordered extra heater/nozzles.  That was a mistake!  I knew better that but I really wanted to try flexible material.  I am so disappointed in the quantity which I misread or misunderstood  for $12 + shipping.  It's not the color that was shown on the website and I measured a foot short.  Okay, color isn't a deal breaker, I just wanted to try out the properties, but the quantity isn't enough for a real project.

So Friday my (side work) client put the project on hold, so I knew I was going to have a long, boring, rainy weekend at home because mom & I are in the 2nd week of a cold and it's supposed to rain for a week.  I'm over the cold but not the cough.  On the way home on Friday I picked up  a roll of flexible 3D filament for $36, 3 times the price of sample filament.  I have a couple projects in mind that need the qualities of what I thought was flexible filament -- not exactly what I thought.

Ugh, it was a rough start.  I thought I was going to need a real 3D printer and water-soluble support filament to do anything with it.  Then I thought I broke the pen -- the motor part that pushes material to the heated tip -- whew.  No, I was just experiencing typical issues with flexible material.  When it's hot, it's a lot softer than I expected.  Then it takes longer to set up, meanwhile it sticks to anything it touches.

Here's formerly "Nekkid Barbie's" best side trying on some flexible filament.  I'm afraid she has a new minor burn scar from the heat on her butt, looks more like rug burns.

Running again

My pen is working again.  While I was waiting for parts, I got the bright idea to get a heat gun.  You've seen my practice snitch before, now it's truly a golden snitch.

I've shown my practice rose before.  I still can't get a good picture of it, even though the heat gun helped make it rounder.  At least I found a purpose for it, it's now a pen topper, too.

Not pictured well (in the back), a stand-alone spool holder.  I was previously in the middle of this project when the pen broke, so I was able to finish it.  Getting back to my feathers, that black one (left) came out really nice, but this style was supposed to be with the clear filament to be a "Sugar Quill" so I re-did it (middle).  Not that you can tell from this picture, the black one came out better.  But now I don't have enough black filament to do the style that was supposed to be black!  I've shown the golden feather before.  It is awesome, except it was supposed to be red.  I ran out of red (sigh).  Good thing I have lots of pens.  I still have to stick the clear one onto a pen.