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Showing posts with the label cad

Journey to a Fully Custom Pinball Machine - Part 1

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The"maker bone" has bit me pretty hard since 2011 when I began working on LEDgoes/BriteBlox and won 3rd place the Apps for Metro Chicago hackathon with Owtsee/headonout.  And while I've worked on a mixture of side projects for profit and fun since, I can't help but note the urge to do more ridiculous things for myself just to say I did them -- not necessarily to make any sort of profit (in fact, most of my projects sink an enormous amount of time spent over several years before true completion), but for the notoriety. The Actual Beginning Of This Post There... Now that the part Google Plus will post as the headline is out of the way, it seems to me that my coworkers generally love me, and I love them too.  I am seen as quite the maker type inside my area, and have been invited to participate in events even in various groups I don't necessarily belong to because they like to "claim" me.  Often, these are external recruiting events, and I love exuding...

It's a Huge 100x Faithful & Functional NES Controller Coffee Table!

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A great deal of my time was spent from Memorial Day weekend up through now trying to produce this gigantic piece of functional furniture, and now I am pleased to present an Instructable on how to make one for yourself!   Here is a link to the Instructable . Hint: It is helpful to have a Makerspace handy. I actually started this project back in January in an effort to get certified on the CNC table router at Dallas Makerspace and start cutting pinball playfields.  I made a post previously about my experiences and learnings from that particular endeavor, but as you can tell by the edits, I didn't quite get it right the first time.  It took a bit of time before my schedule could clear up in order to try 3D parts again, and lest I forget the procedures involved with using the table router, I thought it'd be prudent to try building an even bigger NES controller than what I did to get certified.  My proficiency test involved making a 16x-sized controller, but here I w...

Making 3D Parts in VCarve, a 2D Editor

In my quest to get certified to use the MultiCam CNC router table at the local Makerspace, I need to create some kind of part that requires use of at least a couple different types of end mills, plus do various cuts such as pockets, profiles, V-carves, engraving, and so on. First, a bit about the Makerspace movement, in case you haven’t heard: Makerspaces (or Hackerspaces) are places set up for community good that allow people to share knowledge, resources, and tools to help further DIY activities such as programming, electronics, 3D printing, machining, or other activities where people make something.  Makerspaces come in various flavors: some are set up as startup incubators, others as for-profit centers where paid employees build things for people, and still others where members mostly come to work on something completely different from work.  The tools one would find at a makerspace were traditionally owned by companies or by individuals who have spent a long time ho...