00268 Make

The eggs, the pooh sticks, the rake art, the KAP group and the robot that will one day draw in sand have now all appeared in the MAKE blog. I so love their magazine, what a nice vibe to think we are all singing from the same made-up hymn sheet.

Next up will be trying to trigger a Nikon D50 from a PICAXE chip - harder than it looks, as I'm finding out. The result will be (hopefully), some really neat time-lapse photography and possibly even the burst KAP rig (where the camera takes a sequence of images really quickly when I press a button). The collest thing about the time-lapse thing and the PICAXE could be the possibility of having a tracking panning camera doing fully moving time-lapse - a sort of time-lapse motion control. Come to think of it, repeated time lapse moves would look really neat running next to each other.

BTW, I found a couple of old eggs that I hadn't posted:

Although technically speaking there is no egg in the last one.

00267 Herm trip yields Pooh Stick again

Outriggers are becoming a little too easy and I'm really looking fro something new. But they make nice boats and the other pooh stick I made with this one just blew over and sank, so this is the winner by default:

00266 Eggs as promised

Here's the images of the egg from the video below. This was the first time I've made one so soon after high tide. As a result there was a pool of sea water waiting for me about six inches from the surface, not necessarily a bad thing, mind.

I quite like the in situ image. It's subtle but noticeable.

00265 Egg video

SO we went to Petit Port today and with all this new time-lapsey stuff, it only seemed right and proper that there be a video of egg making. And lo! there was an egg video:




Images of the egg to follow.

00264 Pre-programmed robot

So I made a new robot and this time it's got these dual-in-line (DIL) switches. Basically it means that by using different combinations of switches I can call up a particular routine (or pattern) and then execute it by pressing the red button. What it really means is that I don't have to keep going back to the computer to change the settings of a particular pattern to try out different types, I can just load it up with a whole lot of patterns and see what they all look like. This'll make it easier and more productive (?) when I take it to a beach.
I can only take pictures of the patterns at night, so progress is slow, but I'm quite pleased with the offset spiral below. Not perfect, but came out reasonably well and almost as expected.

The idea, although the offset spiral doesn't show it too well, is that one colour of LEDs traces straight lines and another traces the curves/turns. I'm probably going back to the multicolour LED for now, seeing as it doesn't help me to envisage what the patterns would look like on the sand.

00263 Appeal

So after the spirographic robot patterns thing appeared in the Make Blog, I'm appealing to anyone savvy (knowledgeable) enough to recommend a dummies guide to attaching two 14v drill motors to the PICAXE chip. The idea is to run the robot off a motorbike battery (or similar) so that I can generate enough power to leave decent imprints in the sand. I'm imagining two full bridge chips like these, one for each motor and I'm assuming that the PICAXE will generate enough of a signal from an output channel to control the full bridge chips. Then I'm assuming that the Full bridge chips will be able to handle between 10V and 20V to drive the drill motors. I'm such a novice, I guess I'm just hoping that I won't burn anything out, or worse, that I'll solder it all together and nothing will happen.

The previous idea of leaving one enormous pattern hasn't been completely ditched, but has been replaced by the concept of around 10-20 patterns accessed by using tiny DIL switches attached to the PICAXE inputs, four switches giving 4 factorial (=24) possible input combinations and therefore 24 patterns that I can call up on demand. Take the robot to the beach and let it draw numerous, maybe interlocking patterns and then KAPing them like I did with the rake art.

To do the KAPing I need POWER to make a really decent impression in the sand by dragging a rake/plough shaped object behind or underneath the robot. Your input would be most excellent and there would be much love (although I am married, so there might be some love-limits).

Don't even mention the possibility of PICAXE powered pooh sticks

00262 Living area tables

The need for a place to do all this robot/painting/otherrubbish stuff has meant that there is an increased need for the design and manufacture of two tables for the living area. Here's an underside view that will show the idea:

The idea is that they come away from the wall and fit together to give us a square table with seating fro four, but with nobody having to endure "a leg":

00261 Further developments

This is the latest installment of the robot stuff for making patterns in the sand. So I managed to get the motors of the robot to run at different speeds in order to do smooth curves. It makes things a bit easier in a way. Describing curves is possible by looking at it as line segments, but waaaaaay easier if you can incrementally adjust the motor speed settings. Here's the latest offering, a 760 second exposure - it's certainly a little more interesting:

And here's the perpetrator, or as I'm calling it "The Perpetrator":

The servo will be for lowering the stick/rake/device onto the sand. Yes, even I think that it might not work quite perfectly. Perhaps the trick will be to cause as much disruption to the surface of the sand with the least mechanical effort, so as not to strain motors and waste batteries. The real knack will be in doing a pattern which will be photographable (even I don't know if that a real word, my spell checker says it's not - blaaaaaaaaaah).

And here's the code for the PICAXE:

let w1 = 3000 'forwards length
let w2 = 4000 'pulse width
let w3 = 120 'turn period (via for...next loop)
high 0

check: let b1 = pins
if b1 = 000010 then
low 0
pause 2000
goto main
end if
goto check

main:
high 4 high 7 'forwards
pause w1
high 4
for w0 = 1 to w3 'turn
pulsout 7,w2
pause w0
next w0
low 4 low 7 'stop turning
goto main

I'm so inefficient at programming, but it gets the job done, so hey.

D'you know, I almost forgot to say that the coolest and smallest thing on this robot is the RGB LED - how else would I get multicolour light lines for 50p?

00260 Robot patterns

So the new robot, with two motors (pictures to follow soon) is programmed and creating some simple patterns. To get an idea of how they would look, I used a long exposure (around 76 seconds for the spiral). Real bummer having to wait until dark 'till I could take them.



The spiral would work well if there were loads of them all over the sand, especially if I could do a double spiral, starting in the center of one and ending in the center of the other to give a kind of "figure 8" look.

As soon as I've figured out whether or not I can control the motor speeds, I might be able to form some more complicated patterns.

00259 Pinholer

An explanation to Jonah of how a camera works got a little out of hand the other day and ended up in a project lasting around an hour. Reasonable results, very educational (hopefully for Jonah too).

00258 Port Soif boats

Went down to Port Soif with Drew and Boz the other day. Thought I's do a proper race this time. Perfect conditions, but I rushed two of the boats and as a result they never really had a chance.
Here's the boats:

And here's the winner:

00257 Robot parts arrive

I've just taken possession of a PICAXE chip and starter kit:

And set to work making a robot with any bits available. In this case I've added a motor and a a servo:

It works OK, but I think it'll go better with two motors (in the post) and even better with two 14v drill motors. The latter will need alot of forward planning and I'll probably have to buy a unit to cope with the increased voltage needed to drive the bigger motors. Then I'll be able to stick a motorbike battery on board and get down to the beach for some cyber-raking action.

I'll also consider attaching an LED to the 'bot in the meantime and do a long exposure of it moving in the dark to see how the movements over the sand might turn out.

00256 New Pooh Group

I started a Pooh Sticks group on Flickr, probably rather prematurely after reading someone's comments on on of the images and after seeing one other boat on Flickr.

Hey, but wait! There's one member in the group!

... oh, hang on, it's me.

00255 One by one

I was thinking of starting a group called "One by one" with the idea that the videos could be of ant subject as long as it involved the addition of one object at a time (or the taking away for that matter) using time-lapse photography. Anyway I had a moment to spare and did this:





Must remember to set the camera to manual to get the full effect next time.

00254 Petit Port and Lihou

Two more pooh sticks, the first from Petit Port. If only I'd taken the time to add a keel, then it wouldn't have blown over:



The second a more successful and very much larger affair, would have reached the colonies if it hadn't been for the damn onshore winds:

00253 bits and bobs for Backgammon

Although I have become much less independent with regard to finishing off the backgammon board (I just don't want to mess it up), I have managed to get hold of these natty mini barrel hinges:



They'll make it so that, when closed, the board will have no metalwork showing - nice and neat, hopefully. Also managed to pick up these small but crazy powerful magnets to hold the board closed. I'll probably try to embed them in the board and put a wooden plug over them to make it look all minimal, like. Now all I've got to do is make the frame up - nervous? me?

00252 South Coast Pooh Stick tour

I'm thinking of doing the ITEX walk this summer, so it occurred to me that I should see something of what I might be in for.
I did about three hours, but just couldn't help stopping whenever there was good stuff to make boats from.
I'll try not to use so many things that are alive for a bit - the penny wort boat was just picked off the hedge and it just doesn't seem in keeping with the vibe somehow.

Also, because of the Flickr Video thing, I got this idea of throwing stones onto a pile while I was having my lunch. Much fun. On own. No mates. Sad-o.

00251 Pooh Stick hit spike

Four words that can't have been seen together before now - surely.

Suddenly thousands of views on the pooh sticks set on Flickr. I'm really not sure why this sudden interest even after a brief trawl through the web. If anyone knows, just leave a comment. Ta.

00250 Moulin Huet boats

Here are the boats from the same place as the vide was shot:




And this time I gave them to the boys to race. Or destroy.

00249 Video on Flickr

Look, look, they do video now. So while we were on the beach the other day I put my camera on a rock, stuck on the Gentled and left it there for a while. Then I just used something called JPGVideo and bob's your uncle. Here it is:

00248 More ideas ...

... to do with time that I now don't seem to have.

More laser cut board games - as there may be a chance that we can return to the woodworking class for an extra term. Maybe I should finish the first lot.

Polystyrene robots - I'm sure there's a way to make things move using really simple electronics and import them into a flatpack cardboard or polystyrene body, so that they can be reduced to a light kit form. Smacks a little of a commercial venture, so perhaps I won't go there.

Beach things book from Blurb - After the success of the kids book (pictures to follow after Gran's birthday) I'll be steaming ahead with the publication of a beach things book. There'll be rake art, eggs and pooh sticks. I can't wait.

Floor sweeper robot - I'm still interested in a sand drawing robot, but maybe I can get myself motivated by making a simple wheeled robot for the living area. The idea is that it drags a small "V" shaped brush behind it and picks up the cat fluff. I think it'll come down to how well I can program it to change direction when it hits something - oh, and whether or not I can build one. This instructable has given me hope. Which reminds me, I must make a water mortar.

00247 Stick boat revival

Either because I'm relishing the idea of producing a book of stuff I've done at the beach using Blurb, or because it's always been nice to do, I've started doing Pooh Sticks again. Two near the Lihou headland and one at Marble Bay. I've got another two from Moulin Huet, but haven't got round to posting them as my computer's off for repair.

00246 Laser engaving

After numerous false starts, I've finally got the laser engraved boards I wanted for the backgammon board and they're looking really good.

Just hope I can put the board together well enough to do them justice. They need to be painter a kind of burgundy colour on the back and given a coat of varnish or two on the fron and then we head for a jig to add the rails and to make sure that the top and bottom trays meet together properly.

00245 Rails ready

I've prepared the rails for the backgammon board and now I just have to hope that the laser etching comes off this week. After struggling to get it sorted last week, I'm hoping Dave can get the board sorted and ready to have the rails built up around it. Then I can devise a rig which in theory will allow me to make multiple, identical boards - mostly important because I want the top and bottom trays to match perfectly.
Anyway here's a shot of the rails, for no other reason than I have nothing else to show for it all:

00244 Wheel building

In order to get my track bike back up to something like scratch, I rebuilt the hub and spokes of the old (broken) from wheel onto a new rim. What a satisfying thing to do - great symmetry too.

00243 Pieces ready and frames rebated

I've sanded down some pieces I bough to give a much more pleasing look and used the table router at the woodwork class to dash off the frame rebates:



The frame pieces need to be cut in half, then mitred when I have the laser cut boards back. Hope the boards work out, if they measure up they'll look amazing.

Meanwhile the barstools are already in use daily:

00242 Backgammon!

I've routed out all the rails for the frame of the board, although I've found that the wood was a little more warped than I'd like - what is it with all this warping? Am I, like, Captain Warp?

Anyway I managed to get a design sorted out to check out how the laser cutter will deal with doing a board design. It looks ok, but I know I'm just going to want to experiment with it more and more - although I don't think I'll get the opportunity.

00241 Coasteering & backgammon again

Went coasteering again last weekend along the same route as the first time, but this time a little further. Looking forward to going on a different route next time. We did get to check out this quite cool cave towards the end:



Stools are pretty much done so I've started the backgammon board and will be posting up images soon. I've routed out the rebates in the frame rails and I'll be fighting with the warping wood again. Only time will tell if the whole thing will go together without big gaps between the lids. On the upside it looks like the design for the board itself can be laser cut - really cool.

00240 Stools coming to an end

I've now cut down the stools' legs to the right size and I've begun waxing the seats to stop the kids from greasing them up. I'll probably do the legs,too, although they could probably do with some extra sanding first. Meantime the tops continue to warp a little, which, while it isn't a nightmare, still causes me some aggravation as they are making the legs sit unevenly on the floor. I'll wait 'till they're done moving and then I'll trim them some more.



Generally speaking they're a great success and I'm now waiting for the wood to arrive to start my backgammon board. Mmmmmm,can't wait.

00239 Fishin' & eatin'

After a couple of fruitless, but interesting fishing trips with my birthday present (two fishing rods & accompanying reels), I went on a boat trip to catch fish. There really wasn't much to catch - mostly because of the time of year, or so I'm led to believe.
Anyway everyone eventually caught at least one (mostly bream) and I took my two home to eat. One of the fish I was told was a little on the small size, but I was determined to cut it down to size and eat it as sushimi, which turned out to be awesome. The larger one I shared with Meriel and went down a treat steamed with butter and accompanied by home made tartar sauce and chips. Pukka, it might be said.
The upshot of all of this is that the idea of fishing off the rocks, given the time and the expertise, is looking really appealing and I'm now ultra determined to crack it.

00238 Playing with fire

Although it's a well trodden path, I think the idea of using twigs from a fire, a long lens and a long exposure might produce some interesting results. So far nothing special:



We'll have to wait for the next bonfire.

00237

I've actually done with the stools, bar a little finishing (anding and oiling), but haven't taken any pics, but here they are before the legs are cut down to fit the island:



and here's a view of them from the Sketchup pre-viz I did:



Not bad at all.

00236 Coasteering

So my Christmas present from Meriel this year was a Coasteering trip. We headded down to Petit Bot at ten this morning and got kitted up in wetsuits, bouyancy aids, trainers and helmets and this was the kind of thing we did:



Highly recommended (and, yes, that is me).