March 12, 2022 by acole on Metal Working, Uncategorized

Plasma CNC for Workshop Cleanup

Background

So awhile ago after binge watching some YouTube videos I was certain that I needed to have a Plasma CNC, you know like every normal person. Having no experience with CAM and very little CAD experience, how hard could it be. Just over a year later I finally get it fully assembled, and then a couple of months later got the plasma cutter hooked up and started making sparks. So to have a place to keep a plasma CNC and various other tools that I really have no business having, I rent a decrepit and overpriced workshop. Don’t get me wrong as shitty as it is, it’s very nice not to have to try to figure out where to put my sit, I mean tools. It’s also so nice not to work on projects in a moldy basement or in the crap North Idaho weather for 9 months a year. Also, my friends enjoy having a place to work on stuff as well. My big thing is I am ok spending too much money as long as it is getting used and beneficial to others. Kinda weird philosophy for someone who inherently dislikes people, but what can I say, I am a walking conundrum.

Initial Projects

With that overly wordy section done let’s mention the first project with this thing. So what do you do when you have a plasma CNC? Well after tripping over a dozen tools and other random crap just to power the damn thing on I had an epiphany… let’s use it to make some brackets and other parts to get the crap off the ground.

The Grinder Holders

So the first 2 things I happened to trip over were my angle grinders, so that seemed like a logical place to start. Grabbing a sheet of 18ga sheet metal, you know the cheapest overpriced metal I have… quick rant: what dumbass says I know what I’ll do now that COVID is a thing and the price of everything is soaring, I’ll get into metal and wood working… I take it over to the table and make my first actual cut on the machine to use it to cut out a 2×4 ft section to work with. Normally I am not a fan of proprietary software made by a company making cnc’s or 3d printers, but I have to admit, the Langmuir software isn’t half bad, and having the ability to generate a straight cut without having to open fusion to create a CAD/CAM file for something so simple was nice.

So now to design a bracket for the angle grinder holder, wait why reinvent the wheel. So over to the FireShare website, I start to look for one someone else has made and get horribly distracted, you know like my writing. 45 minutes later I finally decide on a design by Wolfgang Hofer. So it’s not the greatest design that I could have chosen, but it did have the cut file ready to load and go.

Lessons Learned

So yeah 18ga, while it did work, if I had to do it over again I would definitely use 16ga or larger so it’s a little less flimsy. I was able to run this at 25A with 180IPM with decent results.

Hammer Holder

The next thing I tripped over was 3 different hammers. You know those hammers I can never find when I actually need them. So that’s my next project, but this time I decide that I need to design it myself. I went and grabbed some measurement off the 3 hammers I tripped over and made some educated guesstimates on what I should dimension the part to. After having watched 2 YouTube videos I decided I was a Fusion 360 sheet metal expert and went after it. I have to say after the first 15 minutes of cussing at it trying to flange an extruded sketch, before realizing I should have used flange on even the first sketch instead of extruding, it went pretty well. Well, well enough, you tell me.

If you like the design you can grab it here.

To Be Continued…

October 12, 2021 by acole on Uncategorized

Costco Dual Socket Outdoor WiFi Smart Plugs Tear-down

Prologue:

So in the past I have had success with flashing custom firmware on the Costco outdoor smart outlets, but like I said that was the past. Over the past 2 years WiFi devices that used to have the infamous ESP8266 module on board have increasingly become replaced with other soc (System On a Chip). While I do hate this fact, I will say that it’s not entirely to thwart people from flashing it. The new chips mostly use an ARM architecture and can prove to have better abilities where security is involved. That also said, I highly doubt more security measures have been taken.

So now I digress and get to the meat of my point. The new outlets feature a bk7231tqn32 chip making it far less easy to flash with custom firmware and impossible with the current variants of Tasmota. I figured I would share some pictures below to give you an idea of what is in this device. So if you find it helpful awesome, if not, there’s the door… Also, if you have any thoughts to contribute make sure leave some more info below.

Notes:

This things has some really shitty mechanical crimps on the high voltage connections and tiny traces as well. Please make sure you don’t over load this plug.

Warning!!! Rant to ensue…

I mean honestly WTF, how much more time and cost would it be to at least add a little solder. I know we have a chip shortage, but is there also a solder shortage??? I mean I guess the only other option is a competency shortage. Yeah I like that one. I go with that.

Gut Photos

Look at that shitty mains connection. I mean Grrrrow. That thing is sexy.

February 18, 2021 by acole on Electronics, RV, Upgrades

Wyze Thermostat in an RV

So first off, I have to admit something; I am a Wyze Fan Boy. Now that that is out of the way, I will give some background on my situation.

Thanks to COVID my work schedule has changed to being in the office one week and work from home the next. Being in tech this is actually not a bad deal for me, and I have come to quite enjoy it. That said, I also have a wonderful…ly loud toddler at home to make sure that I am in a nice quite environment allowing me to focus, he said facetiously. Luckily, a few months ago we decided to buy a travel trailer and then parked it in the driveway. Welcome to my new office.

The trailer is great. It is quiet, comfortable, and has everything I need to be productive. Being the nerd that I am, I setup a server for development vm’s and internet via Starlink, which is awesome by the way, a great WIFI network, and even a cell phone booster. The only issue that I run into is thanks to the wonderful winter storms in North Idaho, and my desire not to waste propane by keeping the trailer 65 degrees, I come into the trailer for my morning meeting to a 50 degree trailer, brrrrr.

Enter the Wyze Thermostat. When I saw the thermostat get released, I decided that I must have it for the trailer. I mean the thought of having the ability to heat up the trailer before I go out was too good to pass up. After reading the specs I had a decent concern, 24 volts AC. But I want to use this in a trailer, with a 12v system, and I don’t want to use an inverter with a step-down transformer and use so much power for less than 1 amp of needed power. Well after thinking about it and discussing it with a friend who is much more adept with electronics than me, I decided to try powering it with 12v DC.

Guess what… It Worked! There you go that huge, long story just to tell you that you can use a Wyze thermostat with 12v dc in an RV. I will at least give you something in return. Below are the pictures and diagrams of how my system is wired. I looked everywhere online and found that others had the same idea as me for using the Wyze thermostat, but no one had apparently tried to, so I did it just for you.

TL; DR

Setup

Wiring

Wiring Color | Function | Thermostat Label

Green – Fan High –> G
Gray – Fan Low –> Not Connected
Yellow – AC Compressor –> Y1
White – Furnace –> W1
Red – 12 VDC + –> RC
Blue – 12 VCD – –> C

Warning!!!

*** Do not connect the Blue Wire to O/B *** It will blow fuses if you do.
Your devices all share a common ground on the trailer and do not need this to be connected. The thermostat is setup for AC power and does not handle the DC ground properly.

Fan Speed Note

The thermostat is only setup for one fan speed. I picked the Green wire for high fan speed. For my use case I will likely always want the fan to blow fast if I want it on at all. If you would like to be able to control the speed you can connect the green and gray wires to a SPDT switch and install that near the thermostat.