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Bike Lock Mount Spacer

I have a bike lock that mounts to the seat stay by clamping around the tube and it’s never quite fit right. I can tighten it all I want but the plastic on metal doesn’t really prevent it from rotating slightly. It’s not a huge deal but it’s enough to bother me.

In the past I had a GPS handlebar mount and it came with a little piece of rubber to help shim it tight and grip the bar which prevented it from rotating. I didn’t have any random pieces of rubber around, but I do have flexible filament! TPU (or Thermoplastic PolyUrethane) is 3D printing filament that is sort of soft and flexible, so I loaded it up in the Prusa MINI+ and designed a piece in OpenSCAD.

When I say “designed” there is barely a design, as it’s just a hollowed cylinder with a slit down the side. While 3D printed parts can be complex, they can also be really simple. (I once printed a shim!)

Again, for me it’s all about solving problems. I could have hunted around for a piece of rubber, or ordered some, but I had the filament on-hand, I can design things quickly, and they can print while I do more important work.

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Bike Seat Light Adapter

Back in February I got a set of bike lights and the rear light mounted on the seat post perfectly, but I recently added a bike rack and bag which blocked the light from view. At first I attached the rear light (which is also a reflector) to the back of the bag, but it wasn’t ideal.

So looking at the options I thought mounting it to the back of the seat (on the saddle rails) made sense, but I needed an adapter, so I designed and printed one. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: This is why I like 3D printing. I’m not interested in printing little toys or trinkets, I am interested in solving problems.

I fired up OpenSCAD and designed a cylinder, split it in half, added holes/grooves to fit around the bars on the seat, and then added a hole for a bolt to go through to clamp it together.

One side of the bolt hole allows the head of the bolt to be recessed so it doesn’t stick out, and the other side allows for the hex nut to be held captive so you can tighten the screw with the nut held in place.

I remember back in 2012 when I asked Michael Curry if he got designs right the first time and the first print worked perfectly, and he said that most designs took about three attempts… I’m happy to say this one took just two! (Well, I could probably slightly improve things with a third attempt, but the second was close enough so I called it done.)

I did have to slightly cut down the bolt with a hacksaw to get it to not stick out too far. Again, a third print could have addressed that issue, but sometimes a hacksaw is the right solution to a problem.

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Get Some Binoculars!

Dana and I recently took a trip to Ireland, and I decided to grab a new pair of binoculars to take along. A few months ago I saw a post that recommended binoculars as a gift and so I decided to gift myself a new pair.

I ended up getting these Occer 12×25 Compact Binoculars from Amazon because I needed them quickly before we left for our trip and didn’t want to research dozens of options. (And yes, there are tons of options at various price points.)

These are my old binoculars. I got them nearly 40 years ago as a kid. They still (mostly) work, though there are some broken bits, and the main thing not to like about them is that they are heavy! These weigh over 20 ounces while the new Occer binocs are under 10 ounces. Granted, the old ones are metal (and plastic) while the new ones are probably all plastic. Hanging 10 ounces around your neck isn’t too bad, but doubling that isn’t pleasant.

Here’s the size comparison… The Occer might fight in a large pocket but the old Tasco definitely will not.

And at some point binoculars switched from the end where you put your eyes being large instead of small. Dana actually tried looking through the wrong end when I first handed them to her!

These feel sturdy enough than I’m not too concerned with them bouncing around in my bag while hiking or biking. I haven’t dropped them yet, but since they’re pretty lightweight I’m not too worried.

I can totally see giving a pair of binoculars as a gift as well, since it’s one of those things I assume a lot of people don’t already own. I think Dana actually has a pair that used to belong to my dad, that she uses to look at the birds in our yard.

It came with this little connected eyepiece cover, and I didn’t even bring that on the trip because I wasn’t really worried about protecting the lenses from dust or scratches, but they’re nice to have. You also get a little lens cleaning cloth.

My one complaint is the strap. Even though the binocs are lightweight and small, the strap isn’t very comfortable on the back of your neck. I may try to rectify that situation by sewing up a small fabric strap cover.

I did manage to get a photo through the binoculars using my phone while on a boat in the ocean. I took about eight shots and this was the best.

After I posted this a friend asked if I used a monocular. I hadn’t! And sort of forgot those were an options. (Lots of cheap monoculars as well!) I had thought about making a little phone mount thing to take phones photos through the binocs and it looks like some of the monoculars come with something, so I’ll investigate that a bit as well.

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Sleep Report – Summer 2024

It’s been a number of months since the last report and I am definitely doing much better with the new CPAP machine.

The one issue I’ve had with it is that the water tank always runs out before I get enough sleep. Like, even with the humidity set low (3 or 4) it runs out after like 5 or 6 hours… and this is in the summer! Winter will probably be dryer, though we did get a whole house humidifier as part of the new furnace install during the winter, so who knows?

I had this plan to modify my CPAP water chamber to be larger, and it was a good plan! I then searched to see if others had done so and they have, though with different approaches…

So I may still try to modify the tank, but for now I have two tanks, and fill one and place it in the machine, and half fill another so I can swap around 4am or 5am when I wake up dried out because it ran out of water… I’d like to set the humidity high at like 5, 6, or even 7, but alas… I cannot yet.

Anyway, here’s wishing you a good night’s sleep!

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Deftaudio MIDI Enclosure

I’ve mentioned Sky Creature before, as I’ve made a few things for them. So back in April I was chatting with Matt and he said he got a Deftaudio Teensy MIDI Breakout Board but would have to figure out an enclosure for it. I said something like “I make a lot of enclosures!” and he said “I’ll keep that in mind!” and then I totally forgot about it.

Matt did not forget about it though, and asked me to knock out an enclosure for it before they headed out on tour. He shipped me the assembled and programmed device and I designed and fabricated an enclosure for it. Oh, I also added circuitry so it could be powered by a standard guitar pedal power supply, which is a barrel jack with 9 volt tip negative. I threw in a power LED while I was at it. (The Deftaudio board is nicely designed and easy to add things to via a set of male pin headers on the board.)

I got this done it about a week. The funny thing is that I sent Matt a photo and he said “That’s a great looking render” and I said “Sir, that’s a photo… I’ve finished it!” but sadly I forgot he wanted easy access to the USB port for (re)programming. I had it so you could remove the bottom cover and get access but I ended up redoing the body of the enclosure to make it easier.

It was sort of last minute and a rush and I don’t know how elegant it is, but there’s a little swinging hatch that pivots on a 3mm screw with a cap nut cranked tight on the end of it. The other side of the hatch has a small screw to hold it in place…

The idea being that you remove one screws and flip the door around 180 degrees to plug in a Micro USB cable, program it, then remove the cable and replace the little door. I think it’ll work well!

I also sent Matt a bag of extra screws. The screw used for the door is the same size as used on the bottom to hold the cover in place, so a few extra seems like a good idea, I used plain old 3mm pan head screws for the top so those could also come out with a standard screwdriver. I typically use black button head screws because they look better, but I didn’t want to include a tiny hex key when a standard Philips screwdriver is probably easier to attain.

I also did a two color print for the top cover and the USB door. The door print didn’t turn out amazing (rush job, didn’t have time to print another) but I think the top looks really good!

Anyway, I really like doing these sorts of things, so if you have a project in mind let me know!