Categories
Uncategorized

Vertical Stick-On Lip Balm Holder

I made a Vertical Stick-On Lip Balm Holder because more than one person seemed to want their own… See, I keep a lip balm in the car, and in the summer I park outside, and it gets hot, and at least a few times I’d grab my lip balm and realize it got all melty and pooled to one side of the cylinder and that was definitely not cool…

So I quickly printed this thing. It’s a cuboid shape with a round hole in it. (There hole gets wider at the top to allow for easier insertion while driving. Anyway, I posted this and people were like “I want one!” or “I need one!” or “You should patent this!”.

Well I’m not gonna patent it, as that seems like a lot of work. I don’t event want to sell them, as I prefer to just give them to people if possible. And it is possible. In fact, I made a bunch of them to give away.

So yeah, I printed a bunch, added a little informational sheet, and dropped them into Gallery 69, the Free Little Art Gallery in front of my house. If you’re local and want one, just come and grab one. They probably cost about one US dollar if I include the cost of the plastic, the tape, and some of the electricity to run the printer. If you really want to pay for it I’ve included a Venmo username to send money to. (And when you pay for one that means I can make more to give away because that’s how I do things.)

There’s a few people who wanted the file, so you can grab that and print your own… and I supposed I could mail some out to people if you don’t have a friend with a 3D printer, but honestly finding a printer and printing one locally is probably better than mailing them out since postage would probably add a few more bucks to what should be less than a dollar.

You can get the STL file from Printables.com – Vertical Stick-On Lip Balm Holder though you’ll have to provide your on double-sided tape!

Categories
Uncategorized

A Little Free Craft Closet

As you probably know I launched Gallery 69 – a Free Little Art Gallery back in 2023. You might also know that in the last few years I’ve tried to get around my community by walking or riding my bike and sometimes you find a hidden gem down some side street that you just never noticed before… and that’s how I found this Little Free Craft Closet.

Located on Lefeber Avenue between Clarke Street and Wright Street in Wauwatosa is this charming little “closet” where someone decided to put some extra crafting supplies they could bear to part with. As you know, crafters are notorious for saving even the smallest bits of things, especially fabric! So to find a kind soul willing to part with some… it warms the heart!

Anyway, while this Little Free Craft Closet probably won’t be listed on freelittleartgalleries.art it always good to see variety in the “free little” movement to help build community. (Correction: It’s now listed there!)

I am reminded of my 2016 idea for a Little Free Hack Rack which would be perfect outside a makerspace or really anywhere! Someone could still make this idea a reality.

If you have the means and an idea for sharing something of value with your community, I urge you to do it. We need it now more than ever.

Categories
Uncategorized

Custom Lighting Controller

I was contacted by someone wanting a custom controller to work with the lighting control software they used. The controller would be programmed as a USB MIDI device and it just needed to send noteOn data to the software. I build controllers so how could I say no?

This was the first sketch based on our discussion, which had three 60mm diameter buttons. After some back and forth the client asked about adding more/smaller buttons, so we came up with this…

But they wanted to see a four button version as well as two buttons. These quick and dirty renders were mainly to show the spacing of things. Once we agreed on what it would consist of, I got to work. (I should note that sometimes I do 2D sketches in Inkscape for the client to see, and on occasion I do the sketches directly in OpenSCAD.)

For these projects I design the enclosure in OpenSCAD and try to make things parametric so it’s simple for me to change the dimensions of things if needed. I’ve got my own OpenSCAD library I use for this, and I continually tweak it to be exactly what I need…

I’ve found this to be what works best. I get the whole reusing of code, and I do that! In the past I’ve tried to use code that other people have written but usually hit a wall when I need to do something weird or something they didn’t anticipate. This way I know all the code and what it does and how to change it easily.

I should note that this isn’t your standard computer code that can do terrible things or compromise security if you do something wrong… it just renders a 3D object.

Anyway, the controller turned out well, the client was happy, and even sent me a thank you email once they got it and started using it. I really do like doing these custom projects, and I know that sometimes I may not charge enough but I am definitely learning things along the way and perfecting my process… and there’s some value in that for me, so I’m good with it.

As always, if you need some custom built MIDI or USB controller, get in touch!

Categories
Uncategorized

Pizza Napoletana

I’m here to (once again) share the progress of my pizza journey. Back in 2020 I shared the dough recipe I had been using for at least 10 years, and it’s okay but not amazing. There’s probably a number of things wrong with the recipe but it was still always better than frozen pizza.

Back in December of 2023 I got a book recommended by a friend, The Elements of Pizza: Unlocking the Secrets to World-Class Pies at Home and I then got a pizza steel, and you can read about that in this pizza steel post.

For my birthday this year Dana asked me where I wanted to go so I did some searching and discovered we have a Pizzeria Napoletana certified restaurant right here in Milwaukee… San Giorgio. So we went there! (All the photos in this post are from San Giorgio… these were not made by me!)

Was it good? Yes, it was damn good. There are only five certified Pizzeria Napoletana places in Wisconsin as of this writing. Two in Madison and two in Sheboygan(?). Oddly enough, I think I’ve been to one of the Sheboygan ones years ago. Anyway, San Giorgio in Milwaukee is not to be missed if you’re a fan of Napoletana style pies.

And hey, there are many different styles and it may not be what you like, but that soft pillowy crust is what I find really amazing, and it’s what I chase after in my pizza making. I am not at all interested in going the Ooni route with an outdoor woodburning oven, but between the book mentioned above and a pizza steel I think I can make some pretty decent pies. So far, so good!

Note: This post contains an Affiliate Link. Read More.

Categories
Uncategorized

Mouse Click Space Controller

Someone who got one of my S1D Controllers and was using it with MAME got in touch with me and wanted a version with a few buttons added on. They said the knob programmed as a mouse scroll wheel was working great, but wished it also had a left and right mouse button so (based on a provided sketch) I adjusted the case, added two buttons, programmed the knob/button to send a space character, and that was it.

I’m glad I rewrite all my OpenSCAD code for generating enclosures a while back as that made things a bit easier, but honestly I can already think of some improvements, and may end up rewriting it all again in the future…

You can find out more about the S1D Controller on this wiki page. And yes, I did in fact create a wiki for all the products I’ve created, which you can find at codex.2xlnetworks.net. It also has links to custom projects a few guides, and other things. I want it to serve as a support site for the products I build.

Etsy has worked quite well for me, but I also want a separate space, and not necessarily a separate shop, so this was a good compromise and allows me to easily update things, add new stuff, etc. All the classic wiki jazz. (It’s sometimes hard to believe I’ve been using wikis for close to 25 years!)