Back from an unplanned vacation…
A few months ago, while teaching in the Spring, I applied for a F/T position at CMU HCII working on a research project and signed a 1-year contract. However, I’m writing lots of code at work and by the end of the day I really haven’t felt like working on warifuru. I’m learning caffe, openpose, […]
Lasersaur ported to Ubuntu 16
I’ve been having annoying reboot problems with the stock lasersaur distribution. It’s probably my own damn fault, I fiddled with a package contents or installed a buggy version of something ~3 years ago. So there are also a number of security patches and software updates I’d like to have on all my digifab hardware. I […]
Revisiting college life as a professor
In 2009 I earned the first Master of Tangible Interaction Design at Carnegie Mellon. This Fall I’m Adjunct at CMU School of Art, teaching Introduction to Physical Computing in the IDeATe program (yes that intercap is correct). We have a class blog if you want to follow along, half the students are CFA and half […]
Thermal qualities of E3D’s Edge Filament
I’m making some containers for a client who needs to evaporate water from a solution to get the weight of the solids. It’s straightforward high school chemistry: weigh container add solution dehydrate water in a special enclosure weigh container + solids now you have the weight of the solids. The problem they have is that […]
A little fundraising work
I’m riding again in The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, a fundraising motorcycle ride where the proceeds go to cancer research and men’s mental health. If you have a few spare pennies, please throw them this way: https://www.gentlemansride.com/rider/jetownsend
Music Book Page Holder / Clip
Another thing I made for my own use then flipped to sell, a sturdy music book page holder.
Kinect Tripod Mount
Q: Ok, so now you have a 3d printer in your house. What do you print? A: More 3d printers! So we have that joke finally out of the way. How about a tripod mount for the (then) shiny new Kinect?
First Order Tool Access, MakerBot Cupcake
I built Cupcake #235 and in my first few prints discovered it required maintenance, adjusting, tweaking, etc, to make a good print. I designed and shared some first order tool holders that made my life a bit easier.
A clean Studio is a Happy Studio
Some days when I get frustrated with a project or a client or just plain adulting, I take a mental break by reorganizing my studio. I get way more work done in a clean studio then when it’s a total mess. It’s also a safer studio — tools where they are supposed to be, no […]
locking up the UI for safety
My initial plan for warifuru was to lock up the UI during an actual laser cutting operation. There would be one floating control panel that controls the cut, and after the cut is started the only options for the operator is to stop/pause the cut. Looking at the new lasersaur API and thinking about other […]