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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!

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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!

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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.

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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!