Fighting with computers

A while ago I bought some Arduino UNO and Mega cards that featured, besides the usual processor, an on-board ESP8266 processor to bring Wi-Fi connectivity to them. These boards , have DIP switches to be able to program either the AVR (Arduino) processor or the ESP8266 using the USB port (think of them as a sort of serial port multiplexer). The main use for me was to be able to use them for different applications without using a USB cable. A [Wi-Fi]  TCP connection to port 23 would be used instead. As I am using ESP-Link firmware for the ESP8266. Do you want to print wirelessly on your 3D printer? You can do that with one of these Arduino Mega boards that can use Marlin. Using Pronterface software you can print to a TCP socket the same as if you print to a serial port. However, what intrigued me is that no mention was made in the boards I use about using the ESP8266 to upload new programs to the Arduino processor. And that was odd as ESP-Link software allows you to do that. H...

I am involved in a project to create a tensile tester for a friend. I have never used a tensile tester myself so I have to play by ear here. But it occurred to me that not much more than a strong 1-dimensional axis would be needed. So we built a mock-up using a stepper motor, some old guides from a sliding door and threaded rod connected to both the motor shaft and a nut that was soldered to the moving carriage. The second part of the contraption was to set a load cell on one end so a test piece could be fixed between the load cell and the moving carriage. As the carriage pulls away from the load cell, the specimen response could be measured and graphed. Using an Arduino was the obvious choice this time, as it was, in fact, the only choice, given my friend is building this thing at home, three thousand miles away from me and we all are under covid19 lockdown. He only had one Arduino Mega at home, so that is what we will use. I thought that specimen test data could just be sent to...

Although I bought the unit back in October 2019, it seems I was not the only one, so it has been a while until I have received my unit, but just last week, during the lockdown, I was pleased my new printer arrived. The main goal was for this printer to be a tiny 3D printer to have on my desk at home. I have been very pleased with Prusa's MK3 printer that provided me with reliable prints every time I need it. I just thought a smaller printer would be ok at home, as most of the time I do not need the extra volume the MK3 can do. Building the Prusa MINI was quite straightforward and it took me less than one hour. I guess it can be done much faster once you are familiar with the model. The new LCD graphic color display is one step forward from the older LCD used in the MK3. It is kind of small so I did not miss it was not touch-sensitive. Once it was built and working, I checked the firmware version and it was, indeed, running the latest version.  So the next step was to prin...