Author Archives: Brett

3D Printing Home Improvement

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Brett

I’ve lived in my house for 2 years now. 2 weeks after we moved in, someone who shall remain nameless turned our 2 bathroom house into a 1.5 bath. They were cleaning the bathroom (that’s how you know it wasn’t … Continue reading →

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Sousvide-O-Mator [PID Showcase]

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Brett

There have been many sous vide projects floating around the tubes recently. The one I’m showcasing here was first brought to my attention by the Adafruit blog. I found out from the developer that he was in the midst of … Continue reading →

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When a Maker Gets Married

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Brett


I got married a couple of weeks ago. We did all the planning / decoration ourselves. By we, or course, I mean my wife. One of the things she wanted to do was have lit paper lanterns suspended above the tables.

The initial plan was to use throwies, but I felt they wouldn’t give as much light as a commercial 3 LED solution. This led me to a fun, albeit time consuming project.
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Posted in Craft, Electronic, Projects | Tagged | 4 Comments

PID: When Should I Compute the Integral Term?

Posted on July 24, 2011 by Brett

Recently there was a suggestion posted to the Beginner’s PID Series. The contention was that if you solve things in the Laplace domain, it specifies a different way of executing the Integral Term. Rather than looking at the sum of … Continue reading →

Posted in Coding, PID | 2 Comments

Reflow Oven Shield [PID Showcase]

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Brett

The reason I created the PID library was to make it easier for people to integrate PID control into their projects. Surprisingly, it’s actually happening! I’m starting to see a lot of really cool implementations out there. As a result, … Continue reading →

Posted in PID, Showcase | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Mighty Bottle Opener

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Brett

I’ve been wanting something printable that I could carry around with me, especially after this Colbert Report thing. I finally settled on designing a bottle opener: something I could show off. There’s already a bottle opener you can print, and … Continue reading →

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SketchUp to STL Plugin with No Dialogs

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Brett

When designing parts for the Makerbot my tool of choice is Google SketchUp. I’m able to do this easily (and for free) due to the work of Nathan Bromham and Konrad Shroeder. Their skp_to_dxf plugin quickly exports my model into … Continue reading →

Posted in Projects | Tagged | 6 Comments

Laser-Cut Business Cards

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Brett

I’ve really been saturating the blog with ear-bud wrap posts lately. This should be the last one for a while. I decided to order some laser-cut copies of the earbud-wrap business card. They were a bit expensive, but I’ve been … Continue reading →

Posted in Mechanical | Tagged | 5 Comments

Earbud-Wrap Business Card

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Brett

I made one last (for now) modification to my Credit Card Earbud Holder. The wrap now ends with an over-pass that really locks everything in place. As before, it’s insanely easy to remove the wrap. The other thing I realized … Continue reading →

Posted in Mechanical | Tagged | 2 Comments

My Take on the Credit Card Earbud Holder

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Brett

Yesterday on Lifehacker they posted a forehead-smack idea. Take a credit card, cut it up a bit. You’re left with a free, light, earbud holder. I’ve got a bunch of old cards lying around, so I made one. I Didn’t … Continue reading →

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