A month since my last “weeknotes”, so quite a lot to write about. Firstly Mike G replaced the original power cables we’d used for the Plastic Flowers with white ones. We covered these with netting tube known as “millinery crin” which we’d first seen when makers from DoES Liverpool were involved in this project for Batala Mersey drummers with Uma and Mandy from Brouhaha International.
@batalamersey drummers with backpacks by Mandy and Uma from @Brouhaha_int - #neopixel spirals (not switched on yet) by @zarino, me, and lots of other people @DoESLiverpool #MakersHour #weeknotes pic.twitter.com/ejHZwvLkpZ
— Jackie Pease (@jackie_pease) May 16, 2018
Here’s a link for millinery crin, in case it’s useful to anyone who wants to tidy up some cables, and here’s another picture of the Plastic Flowers, now with new power cable (any excuse):
Thanks to Mike G for attaching a new white lead to my #plasticflowers (so it doesn't show up against white surfaces), and mending a couple of broken stems. #weeknotes pic.twitter.com/dZ7tOMowK0
— Jackie Pease (@jackie_pease) February 26, 2022
I was pretty convinced at the time of my last weeknotes that the issues we were having with McGraw, the DoES Liverpool pen plotter, were finally resolved, but this turned out not to be the case, and quite a lot of time has been spent on this in the last few weeks (and not just by me).
Firstly Pablo 3d printed an attachment to keep the penholder more steady (McGraw used to be a laser engraving machine, so wasn’t designed to cope with the friction between pen and paper):
More pen plotter testing today. Pablo printed an extra wheel attachment for the @doesliverpool penplotter, McGraw, to stabilise the pen holder.
— Jackie Pease (@jackie_pease) February 27, 2022
There are still some artefacts in the print though - the next thing to try is cleaning the belts and bearings with IPA#weeknotes pic.twitter.com/hedIwXW5sj
I then took the plotter to bits, replaced the upper belts, and cleaned the bearings and track with IPA:
Cleaning McGraw, the @DoESLiverpool pen plotter and replacing some of the toothed belts. It definitely needed it!
— Jackie Pease (@jackie_pease) March 6, 2022
Lines seem a lot smoother again now, but there's still a bit of work to do.#weeknotes pic.twitter.com/nbg1BdrSWp
After putting it back together, the limit switches didn’t work, so thanks to Ed Saul for noticing that the Nano controller wasn’t seated properly…
A few pictures from this week: Emre and Fatih heat pressing garment vinyl, Nathalie with tote bag, Ed and Mike debugging McGraw the pen plotter, Karen ironing sheets of soft plastic#weeknotes pic.twitter.com/HwqRvoDJ6a
— DoES Liverpool (@DoESLiverpool) March 13, 2022
So now the plotter is working fine, and we can get on with using it.
Back to LEDs then - the “disco breast plates” I helped create for Peloton Liverpool had been displaying the same pattern since they were delivered in November. Danny got in touch to say he’d like them to show the colours of the Ukrainian flag:
Joy ride tonight with students of University of Liverpool. On the last one we had 7 countries represented.
— Danny, part of the Peloton (@PelotonLiv) March 2, 2022
If you see us, give us a friendly beep.
Thanks @jackie_pease for reprogramming our lights. pic.twitter.com/myGRze2sPD
You can’t stop a war with LEDs, unfortunately, but it did spark conversation about the subject at Friday night’s Joy Ride cycling group, and passers-by were interested.
Finally, last week, I used a Pico with Pimoroni Pico Unicorn Pack that I already had to make this Pomodoro timer I saw featured in MagPi magazine. A quick and simple project and a potentially useful output - the Pomodoro method aims to improve productivity by breaking up your work time into 25 minute tranches with 5 minute breaks. I’ve attached it to my work computer and will report on any positive changes.