I usually try to accomplish something each weekend, something I can look back upon and tell myself I did not waste my days off.
This weekend I accomplished a bit more than usual.
I did start the weekend with a fairly long todo list, one that still has unfinished business despite a good run at it. And, of course, a couple more items got added to the list as the weekend progressed.
I just had to type out the list, a simple act of celebration and a sense of accomplishment when it was all said and done…
- I spent a couple hours in the Saturday dawn fiddling with a telescope, including fixing a problem with a power connector, then a few photos before the sun rose.
- Designed, built, and tested an interface circuit for a Signet in-pipe flow meter. This involved reverse engineering and figuring out the signal from the flow meter, then designing a circuit to convert that signal into a logic level signal indicating there is flow in the pipe using a quad op-amp and some clever circuitry. Calculator? Nope, just guessing component values from expereince. After breadboarding and testing the circuit was re-built on perfboard then encapsulated in epoxy to make it field rugged.
- Rigged the flow meter into a PVC adapter to put it into a pipe. A couple hacked PVC fittings and a bit of 3D printing are used to create a watertight housing that holds the flow meter at the right position inside the pipe. To modify one of the PVC fittings I 3D printed a mandrel to chuck the fitting into a cordless drill then spun it and filed it down just enough to fit into the tee fitting.
- Wrote a small Arduino sketch to control a stepper motor for a gal in Tennessee. The code controls the RA drive on a hand made telescope, creating an accurate pulse train to drive a stepper motor. A couple hours of composing code and testing it before e-mailing it off.
- Assembled and tested a PiFinder kit, this is a Raspberry Pi with a camera that takes a photo of the sky, plate solves the stars in the image, then tells you exatly where your telescope is pointed. The boards had to be soldered, then a bunch of fiddly parts assembled and sometimes “adjusted” to fit properly. I like the computer, camera, and software. The 3D printed case sucks a bit, not impressed. I could, and just might, design a better one, surprised no one has done so already.
- Removed the rear wheel from the e-bike, replaced the inner tube with a new tube, patched all four new holes in the old one which will become the spare.
- Washed, folded and put away three loads of laundry.
- Cooked a pot roast that provided Sunday dinner and will provide more meals into the week.
- A quick shopping trip to get ingredients for said pot roast… And epoxy.
- Test the PiFinder on-sky. It works!!
- Solved three Wordles and Spelling Bee puzzles.
- And not to be forgotten… Feed the cat… Again.
As I consider the last two days here on a Sunday eve I have to admit I got a bit done. It was not a relaxing weekend, time to go back to work to rest? Nope, it looks like a busy day tomorrow. Tuesday? Maybe a bit of a break… I have jury duty.
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