It's been a while since my last post and things are starting to slow down a bit so I thought I'd make a quick post. First off, the automatics saw stop/pusher project that I've been working with a few other people at the space on is making a little progress. Above you'll see the initial prototype pusher hardware which we just got up and moving. It's a chain driven system with a 405 oz/in NEMA23 stepper driving the pusher. The electronics and software are coming along nicely as well and will hopefully be integrated and working soon.
Why make an automated saw stop/pusher? Well tons of the stuff made at the space is basically a whole bunch of precisely cut 2x4s, like our big room tables:
There's 4 of these in the big room and a few more of similar construction in the shop area and we need to make more. Having a cut list and a device that automatically sets a stop and adjusts for the kerf of the saw when making successive cuts makes building these things super easy. It can also be used with other tools around the shop to help you do stuff like drill holes in a part at regular intervals. Hopefully it'll be a useful add-on to the newly constructed cut off bench in the shop.
Next, a client of mine pointed me to these Nanuk cases for a potential cost down on a project. If you've worked with Pelican cases before these should look pretty familiar. They seem a little less sturdy than a similar sized Pelican, but not by much, and have the same nice feature set. One thing you may not know about Pelican cases is that Pelican sells an add on frame for most models that screws in to the case and allows a panel to be mounted to the inside to make an awesome project enclosure. These Nanuk cases can be found significantly cheaper and have lip and a set of holes on the inside of the rubber seal of the case that eliminate the need for a separate frame:
I'm definitely going to be using these for future projects!
Lastly, I'm going to be slowly rolling out new enclosures for the BeagleBoard, APC, and Raspberry Pi single board computers. If you've got any suggestions for other systems or projects that need enclosures or want variants on designs I already have, let me know!
