Because in-home sensor systems and User Experience are interests of mine, I offer this How To after replacing a sensor in my home alarm system.
We use an ADT home alarm system, and we’re happy with it. I know other sensor systems are just as messy to deal with, and hope this narrative can help all developers iron out the wrinkled parts of their users’ experiences.
Continue reading How to Replace an ADT Sensor BatteryI’ve been designing 3d printed parts for a while now, and thought I had the process down to a science. Continue reading What is a Brim and why does my 3d print need one?
A calculator Android app I’m writing needed an expression parser, so I researched how to build one. I started by reading a bit of Google’s Android Open Source Project Calculator source to get some ideas.
We’re celebrating Blue Paper Technology’s Site Founding Day today, the day after Oregon’s birthday. Welcome!
For some time we’ve caught rare glimpses of small, rabbit-like animals who seem to be living under our front porch. We’ve seen little, round ears bobbing past the window, footprints in the snow, and during one hot summer I found a dead chinchilla in the garage – the poor thing couldn’t take the heat.
So I’ve decided to capture photos of the little fellows – or at least try – using a Raspberry Pi, motion-detecting Webcam. The project as it unfolds is stored on my ChinchillaCam Repository on github.
Continue reading Chinchilla Cam: Installing the Raspberry Pi Camera Module and OpenCVHaving read Clifford Smyth’s excellent book, Functional Design for 3D Printing, I was anxious to try out his method of cutting a design into parts and gluing those parts together after printing.
Continue reading Does Superglue work with 3D Prints?In going through old family papers, I happened on a letter from my great-grandfather, John Foshay, to his wife, my great-grandmother, Martha (Whealdon) Foshay. It’s a letter composed mid-trip on a journey from Albany Oregon to California along what is now Interstate 5.
I love this letter for its sweet expressions of love, and for John’s vivid description of coach travel in the late 1800s in Oregon. Whenever I’m stuck on a plane waiting to depart, I think of John on the freezing floor of the coach, on page 2.
Continue reading Travel is Broadening, 1873In my previous post, I covered the mechanical construction of the scale. In this post, I finish assembling the scale, calibrating it, and installing it.
After painting I put feet on the scale so it won’t soak in water spilled on the floor.
Continue reading Dog Water Bowl Scale Part 3: Final Assembly and InstallationIn my previous post, I started working on the scale. In this post, I finish the woodworking, and painfully re-learn the woodworker’s adage: “Measure twice; cut once”.
I was so excited about the progress I’d made, and so eager to finish the drilling that I carefully measured, drilled the holes for one half of the Load Cell, then counterbored the hole for the first Load Cell nut… then discovered in my haste I’d counterbored the wrong side, and ruined the bottom plate of the scale.
Continue reading Dog Water Bowl Part 2: Measure Twice, Cut OnceNow that my Dog Bed Weight Scale is sending data, I’m going to have a go at a water bowl scale. The idea is that, like the bed, the bowl will periodically send its weight to a cloud. This data should tell me when Pippa drinks, when we refill her bowl, and (maybe) how much she drinks.
The work-in-progress sources on Github, contain the beginnings of the Arduino 101 Sketch, Bill of Materials (Parts List), mechanical design/construction details, and a day-by-day project diary.
Continue reading Dog Water Bowl Scale Part 1: Initial Design Work
