I have always enjoyed the concept of being immersed into a virtual world. One of my first experiences with VR was in roughly 1993 when our local arcade introduced a game from one of the OG gaming founders John Waldron called Dactyl Nightmare on a 1000CS. After that experience, I have always wanted to build a motion sim which gets you as close to reality as possible.
Last year I took the first steps and decided to put the initial blocks in place and start with sim platform that I could eventually add motion to. I purchased a Fanatic wheel base and thought it would be a great learning experience to build the steering wheel from scratch. Many of the components can be built versus bought which is what is keeping me motivated to eventually get the entire system together.read more
Designing, building and then using something you have made, has been one of the most rewarding and personally satisfying activities I have found in my life so far. I was born a tinkerer, always disassembling, trying to understand and improve or recreate.
My favorite TV show is “How it’s made”.
I have way too many expensive tools, printers, cutters and machines, and not a single one has made a significant return on the investment … but, what I have learned using them has been 10x …
Its not just the tool, its the tools to use the tool, the software to design the product, the process to start, run or finish the machine or product, the prep work, consideration and the functionality.read more
This weekends challenge, a better hook for a bicycle:
Want to laser cut one of your own or remix it? Check it out on Thingiverse
This is a vertical based bike hook for bicycles with aero (deep) front rims. Currently there are not many wheel hooks that keep the front wheel vertical and that don’t scratch the rim when putting the bike up.
The hook is lasercut using a glowforge and medium draft board (the material thickness is important as all the slots need to interlock). Assembly is slotting the parts together and installation requires two screws/anchors into the wall.
It was specifically designed for a Reynolds AR80, however, I believe other wheels with similar dimensions, depths or profiles should fit.read more
One of the benefits of Quantum Computing is their ability to generate truly random numbers.
Since classical computers are deterministic machines, governed by algorithms, they are inherently predictable. Therefor any number generated by a classical computer, even if it seems complex is actually based on a set of conditions or algorithm, which therefor makes it a “pseudo random number”, rather than truly random.
To generate truly random numbers you need to rely on a physical processor or phenomena that are unpredictable, examples of this include radioactive decay, electronic noise or even atmospheric noise.
Since QC is essentially based on a physical process and the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics, its qubits can exist in a superposition state, this means they can represent a combination of 0 and 1 simultaneously, this state/property can be harnessed by QRNG (Quantum random number generators) to produce truly random numbers.
As a fun project, I decided to build a small physical QRNG using an Arduino, laser diode, beam splitter and two photo resistors. The basic premise is that you pulse the laser, it sends a wave/particle (both!) through the beam splitter, 50% of the time it should hit one of the two photo resistors, providing you with a random string of “1”s or “0”s.
While a very simple, basic and small example, it is a fun experiment. Check out OpenQbit.com if you would like to build your own. To make this a little easier, I laser cut a template/outline for the beam splitter for holding each of the components.
/* Annotated QRNGv1 Firmware V1.1
Author: Noah G. Wood
Modified: Paul Aschmann
Copyright (c) 2019 Spooky Manufacturing, LLC
License: GPLv3.0
*/
int triggerPin = 2; // This pin will pulse our quantum circuit
int hPin = A0; // This pin measures the horizontal polarized photons
int vPin = A1; // This pin measures the vertically polarized photons
float H = 0;
float V = 0;
long previousMillis = 0;
long interval = 1000;
float maxH = 0;
float maxV = 0;
void setup() {
// Just setting up triggerPin and serial connection
//pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
pinMode(triggerPin, OUTPUT);
Serial.begin(9600);
}
int Random() {
// Pulse the laser
digitalWrite(triggerPin, HIGH);
//delay(1);
digitalWrite(triggerPin, LOW);
}
void loop() {
// The main program
// Run our program and print the random bit to serial
//delay(1000);
unsigned long currentMillis = millis();
if (currentMillis - previousMillis > interval) {
previousMillis = currentMillis;
Random();
}
// Read the photoresistors
H = analogRead(hPin);
V = analogRead(vPin);
// Determine random bit
if (H > V) { // More photons in the H mode, return 0
Serial.println("-------------------- > H: ");
Serial.println(H);
Serial.println("V: ");
Serial.println(V);
if (H > maxH) {
maxH = H;
Serial.println("New max H");
}
} else if (V > H) { // More photons in the V mode, return 1
Serial.println("-------------------- > V: ");
Serial.println(V);
Serial.println("H: ");
Serial.println(H);
if (V > maxV) {
maxV = V;
Serial.println("New max V");
}
} else {
Serial.println("Same values");
}
delay(1000);
}
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An ion is a atom with one of the outer electrons removed (normally removed by pointing a laser beam at it) – forming positively charged ion. Ion trapping is done in a vacuum chamber to isolate the ions from the external environment as much as possible. (And avoid other atoms in the air from bumping and
Atoms
Consist of 3 components, a proton and neutron (called the nucleus) in the center and electrons which orbit this nucleus
117 different types
Are elements the same as atoms
Every element is unique and has an atomic number
That number tells you the number of protons in every atom of the element. The atomic number is also called the proton number.
I have collected well over 30 yardage books from all over the world. Most of them from bucket list courses like Pinehurst #2, Harbor Town or one of my favorite courses, The Ocean Course at Kiawah. But sometimes courses didnt offer or sell them, so I started down the rabbit hole of designing and printing my own.
Majority of them were for tournaments I played in on the Golfweek Amateur Tour. The design process included using Google Maps to get an aerial photo of the course, and then subsequently outlining each hole using Adobe Illustrator and vector shapes. Then measuring and taking the yardages from the course and annotating the map.
As an avid amateur golfer, I always look at the professionals for ideas, tips or tricks on what they are doing to improve their game, or gain a competitive advantage. One of the differentiators between amateurs and pros is their green reading books. It is essentially a layout and guide to each unique element of green helping them to decide where to hit their ball on approach shots, and what to expect on any given putt. While these are still simply a guide, and the golfer still needs to putt the ball along a planned path, they do provide valuable insight which is not always evident or visible when looking at the green.
Because of this I spent some time trying to understand if it was possible to map greens for this purpose and develop my own green reading technology as a startup or, simply improve my own golf game through this innovation. Here is what I have found on this journey:read more
A fun DIY Lego Shelf from Walnut Wood. Some woodworking, finishing and using the laser to mark and brand it. I have made about 5 of them now for friends and family and they always seem to be a hit!
Step 1: 160 -> 180 -> 220 Grit Sanding Scuff with steel wool (00) Clean with microfiber Danish Oil (Walnut)
Step 2: Scuff with steel wool Clean with microfiber Danish Oil (Walnut)
This was a fun project using a Arduino, a sliding rail and belt to pull a sled with a DSLR on it for taking long exposure photography, video or long exposures. This was mounted on a Tripod for some additional stability and flexibility.
