This is a box for Mitch Altman's Brain Machine. I liked the kit, but thought that it really needs something to keep all the exposed parts safe from being bumped when not in use.


Design:

The waves on the top of the box are examples of brain waves. From the most noisy to least they are Beta, Alpha, Theta and Delta. The order is the rough progression that the brain machine takes from wakefullness to rest.

The blobs were hatched using the EggBot hatching tool for inkscape, very handy.

The zener cards are just for fun. Sadly arduino based projects do confer psychic powers.


Sources:

A few of the elements I got from open source SVGs floating around.
Zener cards:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Cartas_Zener.svg
Brain wave examples:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroencephalography
Brain Note:
openclipart.org/detail/19500/monstara_Brain_Notes
G-clef:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/GClef.svg
60-hexagon spiral:
openclipart.org/detail/148501/60-hexagon-spiral-by-10binary

The base box design was generated here: (Check it out, well worth the $12)
frag-den-spatz.de/shop/boxgenerator/boxdesigner.html

This is a set of button boxes for use on large CNC machines for emergency stop (E-STOP) applications.

The spindle control is for passing through power to a router, so it has a power switch and an easily press-able emergency stop. The two other boxes go back to the PC and are used to stop motion on the X, Y & Z axes.

The electronic parts are all available from Altronics in Australia, but I'm sure other vendors have compatible stuff. Check their datasheets to see if the mountings are the same or just delete and add a new one.
S3228 - Rocker switch , Neon. (27.5mm by 13.6mm square mounting)
S0820 - E-stop buttons, (16mm dia hole.)
P8241 - GPO outlet, flush mountable. (most of a 33.5 mm dia circular hole and 4.5mm dia offset hole)

The box designs came from here. Check it out, well worth the $12.
frag-den-spatz.de/shop/boxgenerator/boxdesigner.html

I needed a bunch of brackets to hold small high voltage supplies in place for a rack of discharge (spectral emission) tubes I have.

I got the tubes at an antique store, and wired up a separate ~2kv supply for each. There's also a TTL signal to control the bank from a microcontroller.

This was my first project with Alibre cad, to make it parametric. I found it a great tool to use, and it's now my method of choice.

Ok, so I was inspired by Zaggo’s two excellent probe designs:
thingiverse.com/thing:4226

And had started making both of them at various times. I’d finished making his minimalist probe and realised that i’d have trouble mounting it on my bot. (I’ve got bot number 3, and it doesn’t have that nifty ‘U’ cutout from the acrylic that the newer ones do.) There was no way to mount them that close to my extruder without running the risk of melting or fouling against it.

Then i got to thinking, the reason (I presume) the probes were put on a servo is that you want to be able to get them out of the way of the object being printed.

But as long as the lowest thing on the Z axis is the nozzle (by at least a few mill) you’re set, right?

With that in mind I decided to try mounting a little microswitch to the underside of the Z-plate, and have it home when the platform’s at the most Y+ end. The extruder tip clears the side of the platform with room to spare, and the switch touches nicely agains the platform. (See pic)

So far it's behaved extremely repeatably, and I'm now running prints from a single button click. (High fives everyone in the room!)

Considering this uses a switch and some hot melt glue, I'm guessing this is the most minimalistic Z-probe you can get. :-D

Another advantage of this design is that you don't need to use custom firmware. Everything is taken care of by the G-code

My local hardware store has some extruded aluminium tube, and plastic corners to suit. However, attaching a panel to the front is tricky. These tabs clamp between the panel and the inner lip on the extruded aluminium, and secure it neatly, but removably.