Projects – Page 2 – The Cyberia Hub

Shop work: May 2020 – Plastic Injection Molding Machine

Posted on June 1, 2020 - September 16, 2020 by hakasays

The following Tweetroll concerns the Plastic Injection Molding machine project that came from some serendipitous thinking on 3d printers vs professional industry.

4/27

Working on a homemade plastic injection molder.

Dunno why, I just had the 'engineering itch'.😁 pic.twitter.com/cyCIlPef4g
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) April 27, 2020

5/12

The thing with prototyping is you often can't just make a part,

you gotta machine the tool that makes the bracket to make the adapter that makes the actual part you need. pic.twitter.com/yC0NFpxjiG
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) May 12, 2020

5/15

There is something strangely satisfying about working with pneumatics.

"PSSST, CHK, HSSSFT" love that sound🥰
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) May 16, 2020

Working on a homemade plastic injection molder.

Been testing out a full-pneumatic-based system, maxes out around 250lbs of force.

It's still running slow, may need to machine the piston down a bit to minimize friction,

Or use a bigger pneumatic cylinder…..😏 pic.twitter.com/fUqI4zXjV7
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) May 16, 2020

5/16

Fixed the problems on the homemade injection molder.
I just needed to up the temperature🙂

Test molds are coming out fully-filled and relatively consistent now.https://t.co/1LxXRlXycL pic.twitter.com/Vrb8SWJPGt
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) May 17, 2020

Homemade plastic injection molding machine in action.

I just love the sound of pneumatics😄https://t.co/1LxXRlXycL pic.twitter.com/4EZOb9bJT9
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) May 17, 2020

5/18

Homemade injection molder update.
Welded the frame together, figuring out how+where I want to mount the control box and vise.

Gonna paint it TARDIS blue at the end😋

Also did a rough test of a filament pelletizer using a really simple drillbit setup. Surprisingly easy. pic.twitter.com/Kxl7cPYoxc
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) May 19, 2020

5/22

Adding some finishing touches to the homemade plastic injection molder.

Designed to be somewhat modular so I can upgrade the pneumatic cylinder, swap out the injector module, or upgrade to an electronic actuator. pic.twitter.com/C5fbsf8RQ7
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) May 22, 2020

5/23

A couple more shots from later design+construction.

It's a pretty simple setup.
Plastic is heated in a barrel, and injected with a pneumatic piston into a metal mold in much the same way that professional systems do.

Although this one is not fully-automatic (yet). pic.twitter.com/FYYRIPCh6O
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) May 23, 2020

Homemade Plastic Injection Molding update,
Final assembling and testing today.

Overall I'm liking how it all came together, very clean and professional looking. Works good too.🙂

Now I just need to start making some proper molds to use with it. pic.twitter.com/bo5f7wx8Q9
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) May 23, 2020

The nice thing about injection molding machines is you can make damn-near anything with them. Legos, cellphone cases, brackets, keychains, etc.

Next phase will be making some molds, I'll probably make a few keychain designs just to play around with it. pic.twitter.com/vMwxT2HWlc
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) May 23, 2020

Here's the injection molder in action🙂

(just a test mold for now)https://t.co/XVCT3V8Vkt pic.twitter.com/ERaFgyLwEx
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) May 24, 2020

5/24

Machining a rebel keychain to test out the injection molding machine.

It was chosen mostly because it is a relatively simple design that can use relatively large 1/8" and 0.05" cutters.

Micro-machining can get really tricky, very easy to break bits.🧐https://t.co/52d7qaHbLj pic.twitter.com/sqIQfSBuRU
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) May 24, 2020

5/25

Finished the injection mold, came out really good.😁https://t.co/fxjMYAzux6 pic.twitter.com/NrdBWPPSyc
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) May 25, 2020

5/27

Economy-of-scale is weird sometimes.

Was trying to find a specific motor+gearbox for a project
and it turned out to be cheaper to buy an entire drill and just scavenge the gearbox assembly.🤨 pic.twitter.com/xXZDoDaUBy
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) May 27, 2020

5/30

Working on the next next phase of plastic injection molding machine 'lifecycle', which is converting plastic filament into pellets.

Machined some brackets+misc to mount the power-drill assembly.

Next phase is working on the extruder so I can make the homemade filament…🙂 pic.twitter.com/N3LzROqsi4
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) May 30, 2020

Shop work: April 2020 – Quantitized Inertia

Posted on May 1, 2020 - September 16, 2020 by hakasays

The following tweetroll covers the last few posts I made on Quantitized Inertia before going on a long sabbatical

4/2

'Wave-particle duality'
always felt like a schizophrenic way of handling the divide between particle and quantum physics.

They're contradictory, so it has to be one or the other (or neigher).

It can't be the sitcom solution of "you stick to your side and I'll stick to my side" pic.twitter.com/UKihypaMJx
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) April 2, 2020

4/4

#QuantitizedInertia build update.
Just published first prototype 3d-printable microgram balance on Thingiverse.

Anyone interested in building something that can weigh individual grains of sugar
using 3d-printed and hardware-store parts?😉https://t.co/qiVfiZP2LA
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) April 4, 2020

4/8

#QuantitizedInertia well I got some more glass cavities to use as QI thrusters,
but apparently these were air-dropped without a parachute.🤨

I might be able to glue the second one together and use it as a former/mold. pic.twitter.com/oe8pIzFPmU
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) April 8, 2020

4/10

Fellow cohort working on #QuantitizedInertia
(gravity/information theory with some very sci-fi ramifications) https://t.co/UFJUFU12kb
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) April 10, 2020

4/15

I think we should start looking at funding scientific fields based on how useful they might be.

Even if Dark Matter eventually proved to be true (>30 billion dollars later),
that discovery likely won't translate into any practical benefit to society. pic.twitter.com/m7CiF0I4zc
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) April 16, 2020

4/18

Taking a break from #QuantiziedInertia for a little bit to clean up shop+reorganize and catch-up with some other projects that have been simmering in the back of my head for a while. pic.twitter.com/BloA1NitME
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) April 18, 2020

Shop work: March 2020 – Quantitized Inertia

Posted on April 1, 2020 - September 16, 2020 by hakasays

The following Tweetroll covers the experimental testing of Quantitized Inertia, a ‘warp drive’ theory that has a lot of sci-fi ramifications.

3/1

This might help visualize what is happening.

As the center-of-gravity gets closer to center it becomes more accurate,
but if you go to far it will never balance at all and just tips to one side or the other.

CoG needs to be dead-close to zero to measure milligram/uG level. pic.twitter.com/IrASyJbJ5I
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 1, 2020

#QuantitizedInertia
I keep running into problems making a balance scale that is accurate and also stable.
It all has to do with center-of-gravity.

Machined a part so i can adjust center-of-gravity by hand.

If it works I'll make a 3dPrint .stl so others can replicate easily.😉 pic.twitter.com/9zqPF66VGe
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 1, 2020

3/5

Ordered some silver nitrate so I can test out making a custom mirror using the reduction method:https://t.co/ZSDQxN2ZnB
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 5, 2020

#QuantitizedInertia build update.

The small ultrabright 10-20w LED's came in
(boy are those hard to solder)

The 'spray-on mirror' stuff used to paint the tapered cavity turns out to be a pretty poor solution. Lots of pinholes, even after putting 10+ coats of paint over it. pic.twitter.com/RMxXKl5dCW
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 5, 2020

The last 50 years of Cosmology in a nutshell:#ElectricUniverse #PlasmaCosmology #QuantitizedInertia https://t.co/AfNsp3QxKZ pic.twitter.com/dko2ioS8LS
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 6, 2020

3/6

Once you get the center-of-gravity down you can easily measure in the milligram level.

After an hour of tinkering+calibration, best performance is ~1mm deflection per 1mg of mass

(using short pieces of very thin 32awg wire as test-loads)
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 6, 2020

I have some video too, but trust me it's not exciting at all.
😴 pic.twitter.com/WCdg0WURio
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 6, 2020

#QuantitizedInertia build update:

Conclusion on the '3 razorblade balance scale' method:

It works and is VERY accurate, but it is also very slow due to the masses involved.
I could only pick up thermal currents😕

Oh well,going back to interferometer🛠️https://t.co/GOBkZ7uPXH pic.twitter.com/uorYdIlno2
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 6, 2020

This is what the fringes look like:
(in practice, the beams are very rarely this clear because of vibrations, air currents, etc)https://t.co/nI1iznOcPm
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 8, 2020

The scale itself is basically a balance scale sitting on top of a laser interferometer.

An 'interferometer' is a super-accurate way of measuring changes in distance (like 1000th of a human hair)

It gives the balance beam a resolution of something like 0.0003degrees.🛠️😯 pic.twitter.com/4xw5Tn7ZuZ
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 8, 2020

Second apparently successful #QuantitizedInertia build test today.

Still needs a lot of work to rule out other factors, but getting an apparent thrust between ~10uG and 100uG using a 10w LED.🙂

I'll eventually post the all the specs so other amateurs can replicate if curious😊 pic.twitter.com/c1Jn1HeVca
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 8, 2020

3/8

My goal is to eventually have a technique that is simple enough that high-schoolers can replicate.

Not only will it make the process harder to dismiss, but we'd get a LOT more data points that way too.😊#QuantitizedInertia #QI pic.twitter.com/gwAks3AQAG
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 8, 2020

3/9

Someone else doing amateur #QuantitizedInertia 'baby warp drive' tests:
😁🧐 https://t.co/JtQONODSXO
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 9, 2020

3/13

I've been trying to publish a paper on retro-causality since 2036.
😋 https://t.co/bXEPLFgOKT
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 14, 2020

3/14

Working on #QuantitizedInertia this weekend (baby warp drive thruster).

Been tinkering with a new wireless receiver. Should improve accuracy quite a bit once I'm rid of the umbilical power cable.
Causes a lot of problems when you're measuring micrograms. pic.twitter.com/rjFwrbh1xS
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 14, 2020

Not that pretty, but I got all the pieces together to do a fully-wireless EMDrive/QI test.

(once I get the board mounted on the balance and everything dialed back in)

I'll have to do a custom PCB eventually to clean everything up.https://t.co/dkiXvwsf6s pic.twitter.com/W69AL1PoDo
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 15, 2020

3/15

One other side-project I am starting is a high-speed QI 'fringe-tracker'.

Basically a counter that can track movement of fringes faster than the eye.

So if the fringes move quickly we can still count them. pic.twitter.com/4GuXCB7wPQ
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 15, 2020

3/16

When you're not sure if something will work, it's worth cobbling together a rough test before building the real thing.

This was *supposed* to track interferometer fringe movement, but after tinkering, looks like I'm better off w/ a highspeed camera😗#QuantitizedInertia #QI pic.twitter.com/2NivQbpDzM
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 16, 2020

Short clip of the microgram balance I've been building to test #QuantitizedInertia.

At the moment it still takes a lot of tinkering to get everything dialed-in to where it reliably detects below milligram level.
Probably needs another redesign.🛸🧐 pic.twitter.com/hzweEnXf7n
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 16, 2020

3/19

#QuantitizedInertia update:

Working on a good, final microgram balance design using what I've learned over the past few months.

We'll see this weekend how the plastic prototype model holds up🤞☺️ pic.twitter.com/Ky0bPljV8F
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 19, 2020

3/20

#QuantitizedInertia prototyping in-progress.

This latest design is based on linear-rails, so if it works, it'll be much easier for others to replicate.
Servo-driven as well🧐

Microgram balances are neat; you can often measure less than 1/20th of a single grain of salt. pic.twitter.com/W3sGAZ1QCL
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 20, 2020

3/22

#QuantitizedInertia microgram balance build update:

Initial 3d-modeled linear-rail-based prototype is working beautifully. Easily dials down below the milligram level.

I wonder if there's a market for cheap, ultra-sensitive scales like this?#QI @memcculloch @ZKomala pic.twitter.com/ZwxtuefB7r
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 22, 2020

3/25

#QuantitizedInertia #QI build update.

Huge progress today as I added magnetic dampening to the microgram balance.
It's such a night-and-day difference, absolutely amazing.

3d-printed microgram balance design coming pretty close to public release😗 pic.twitter.com/UHMFKTCd4A
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 25, 2020

3/26

#QuantizedInertia test today, fairly inconclusive result at 5w.

There's a lot of factors involved, but this should give an idea what the setup looks like when in action.

I think the magnetic dampening might be too strong (diamagnetic force?) pic.twitter.com/vzIYr5pgtd
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 27, 2020

Just now realizing that I can actually use the razor blades as electrical contacts (with a couple minor changes).

I can test the 30w cavity now😄
It will introduce lorentz-force errors, but I can null that by powering in multiple polarities+orientations.https://t.co/53FvzmnsG4 pic.twitter.com/hdhBjIX97j
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 27, 2020

3/27

More build updates. (microgram balance for #QuantitizedInertia)

Designed a 3d-printed coupler to adapt a small stepper motor to the rig (eventually),

and testing out razor-blade based power transmission for the COB LED.
(worked beautifully) pic.twitter.com/1XkjOVafBS
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 27, 2020

Today's test for those interested.
Qualitative, not qualitative, but it was successful.🙂

Working on a stepper-motor-based rig to be able to fully calibrate the results to fixed microgram values.https://t.co/UunX6r7Ro5 pic.twitter.com/DggnbdiRUC
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 27, 2020

3/27

I have a doppleganger on Youtube that posts similar impossible things.😉

Most of his videos are a lesson that you can do an incredible amount of high-level science and engineering using basically garbage.

Like a homemade 3d CT X-ray scanner:https://t.co/fDjimuae1b
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 28, 2020

3/30

A few recent updates from my #QuantitizedInertia precision balance build.

Getting pretty close to a 3d-printable balance that can reliably measure less than 1/10th of a milligram.

Also waiting on a few more parts to cobble together a motorized version. pic.twitter.com/70ty0G4IH5
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) March 30, 2020

Shop Work: February 2020 – Quantitized Inertia beginnings

Posted on March 1, 2020 - September 16, 2020 by hakasays

This Tweetroll covers early experiments into Quantitized Inertia

2/9

#QuantitizedInertia replication update:

Testing thermal drift from a 25w LED as well as fine-tuning/testing sensitivity.

Tiny air currents can have a pretty big impact when you're working below the milligram level.🧐#QI @memcculloch pic.twitter.com/2QuGcAKWjH
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) February 10, 2020

Also tested some cheap chinesium 'mirror film' online to use as a #QI tapered cavity.

Maybe another brand works better, but this particular one is no good for reflectivity.

Probably need to stop by the metal shop and pick up some sheet metal to bend.https://t.co/EE5HKJatDD pic.twitter.com/m3qe1a1t8T
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) February 10, 2020

2/11

#quantisedinertia has been carefully tested against a lot of astronomical data (lab tests being done now) & published in good journals. It gets rid of awful #darkmatter, makes physics informational (finally!) & suggests propellantless thrust & new energy sources #reason2bcheerful
— Mike McCulloch (@memcculloch) February 11, 2020

2/12

Just got an envelope in from Wuhan, China😳
(electronics parts, dated early December).

I'm hoping that all the pollution and plasticizers it was packed in are enough to kill the virus….

But if I don't make it, someone avenge my death.😷😷😄 pic.twitter.com/if7yOOikJ6
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) February 13, 2020

2/15

#QI replication mini-update,
it turns out 3/4" steel plate is a LOT heavier than aluminum. Over 100lbs.

My arms are freaking dead now😵 pic.twitter.com/SeMpI8TIzd
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) February 15, 2020

I soaked it in simple green for 2 days just to be safe.😷😗https://t.co/mcVrXGdoKM pic.twitter.com/ShnNK8rMAI
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) February 16, 2020

2/16

Side-project this weekend was building a toolpost rack for the lathe.
Modular so you can plug+play lathe bits easier.

Beats rummaging through drawers to find stuff all the time🧙‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/PCmen5JrMF
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) February 17, 2020

#QuantitizedInerti build update:
(baby warp drive)

Cobbled-together mockup with some art+craft mirror film while I figure out how to bend+polish sheet metal. 25w LED.

Issues getting the interferometer balance working with this, some more tinkering+redesigning in order.🥴🧐 pic.twitter.com/Zl7ohpcUPc
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) February 17, 2020

2/17

A few more random bits from my #QuantitizedInertia #QI build.

The makings of a homemade microgram balance.
Is crazy accurate for doing things like measuring single grains of salt. Well, when it's actually working….🧐 pic.twitter.com/uM3BTjGU3I
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) February 18, 2020

2/18

There is a viable solution for cosmology that avoids the need for phantom things like dark matter,
but scientists laugh it off for not being silly enough. pic.twitter.com/je9DVNPNON
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) February 19, 2020

2/20

This is probably what '1 grit sandpaper' looks like😂 pic.twitter.com/zxFfAwIQCN
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) February 21, 2020

2/22

Finally finished the lathe tool-post rack.
(holders for some lathe bits)

Had to add some bracing to the back to account for the extra weight, but overall came out well.🙂

It beats having to shuffle through drawers for everything.#machining #CNC pic.twitter.com/7SsDs4SaNX
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) February 23, 2020

2/23

Stanford scientists have just managed to get photons to wrap themselves up & behave like electrons. This interests me because, after reading a 1979 paper by Jennison, I believe that electrons may just be trapped photons: https://t.co/fhSCVjient
— Mike McCulloch (@memcculloch) February 23, 2020

#QuantizedInertia build update.

All the pieces coming together this weekend to do a full proper test of #QI (warp drive theory but with very tiny thrust)

Machined some more components+misc testing.

Resolution is well below 1mg.
(for reference, a sesame seed can weight 3-4mg)🥳 pic.twitter.com/CV78kq82zV
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) February 24, 2020

Video of my first successful #QuantitizedInertia replication test.🥳🥳

Still need to rule out thermal currents and calibrate it to scale,
but it does seem to be generating thrust in the right direction.
(albeit far less than a milligram)@memcculloch https://t.co/WH42A965l1 pic.twitter.com/deZSPxFGTQ
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) February 24, 2020

2/26

#QuantitizedInertia #QI update:
Broke down the interferometer for a few days so I can test out a different micro-gram balancing method.

One reason is that the design is much simpler so it would be easier for others to replicate.https://t.co/GOBkZ7df69 pic.twitter.com/zKCjd5byLP
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) February 27, 2020

2/28

Just realized I haven't seen a payphone in over a decade🤔 pic.twitter.com/j8xzxlGDBJ
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) February 28, 2020

#QuantitizedInertia update:
Some cone-shaped glass planters came in. I'm gonna try turning them in #QI mirror cavities.😉

If it works, it will be a super cheap and simple solution for other replicators to follow.🙂👍 pic.twitter.com/ccct9AdHJu
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) February 29, 2020

The EMDrive is the Wright Bros. of space travel. It is not the end, but simply the means so it.

Once the concept is properly modeled and confirmed, creative advancement will quickly improve the thrust capacity many times. pic.twitter.com/2v9uyIHVtx
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) February 28, 2020

2/29

#QuantitizedInertia mirror cavity painted, still waiting on some small LED's to drive it.
It's hard to say, the arts+crafts 'mirror film' might actually perform better.#QI pic.twitter.com/r7V8NDpBqf
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) February 29, 2020