Gotta cut wood - 2020-10-30 - Entry 28

So I'm taking a break from the workshop and for some reason sat down at my computer, probably because ADD. But who knows. Anyway, where was I going with this? Oh yeah, on the subject of cut calculators I thought "aha, I have written a program like that! But for what?" and eventually realized it was not for cutting boards, but for calculating the optimal size of homemade solar panels. And then I thought, "Really? I was doing that stuff, which seems like ages ago, after I essentially stopped working on Game21? It's really taking me a long time to get back to that, huh!"

Did I ever mean to get back to it? Well, I did put a lot of thought into the data structures for that program to future-proof them, and if I ever try to build another game/maze/simulation thing, I expect to try to reuse at least parts of it. Things got a little annoying when TypeScript went through 3 major version changes and the new versions of Visual Studio Code insisted that my code was riddled with errors which I never got around to fixing. Apparently the import system changed? To this day I am still confused about this, though I have other TypeScript projects that compile just fine, so at least there's something to compare to.

Actually the biggest reason I want to get that code to compile again is to fix a bug in Random Mazes where sometimes your path gets blocked by a single stupid block (which you can usually see around diagonally). Though it might be fun to add some new blocks and room types and stuff to it finally. Those gray bricks get boring after a while.

Enough about abandoned software projects from last decade! What else have I been up to?

Making some 18″ boxes, that's what!

An 18″ cube slapped together with brad nails. I have made much 'better' and more solid ones, but don't have a photo of one of those handy.

Also a 13½″×9″×18″ box for holding work equipment. Remember how I said that 13½″ isn't a very useful dimension for boxes? Well it turns out it kinda is because then you can put a 12″ rack inside the box! And then of course your thing is a multiple of 4½″ wide, which is great for obvious reasons.

13½″×18″×9″ equipment rack (full of equipment)

Also, PowerPole connectors are very nice, and should replace Deans as my standard inline connector for 12V power distribution. #6-32 screws are still my lowest-common-denominator standard, though. For some of my LED strip panels I've put in #6-32 T-nuts so that I can then attach whatever dangly connector I want, which usually ends up being a 2.1mm barrel connector.

A 3″×3″ plywood panel (with gridbeam-grid-aligned holes) with a block of 4 PowerPole connectors and some model turf in epoxy, because why not. Yes, it's a block of 4, not a pair of 2-unit connectors, which means if you want to plug two things in, they have to be blocked together first. I didn't really think that through before I made it.

Note from 2024: I have indeed mostly forgotten about Deans connectors, and use PowerPole for 12V and 24V distribution (with an additional spacer or center-tap in the middle to ensure you don't get zapped with 24V when expecting 12V). That said, 2.1mm barrel connectors and JST-RCY still get used a lot as inlets for LED fixtures and such; the barrel connectors are common on 12V appliances and power supplies, and JST-RCY are easy to superglue onto the edge of a board.