nuxx.net
Making, baking, and (un-)breaking things in Southeast Michigan.

Cicada Killer

July 29, 2006

While wandering around Holland Ponds Park today I came across three cicada killer wasps flying close to each other and regularly landing on some flowers. From what I’ve read, while they are very large, noisy, and somewhat intimidating, they are barely a harmful to people, and their sting (if they happen to sting you — which is rare) won’t hurt you, unless you happen to be allergic to them.

I managed to get that photo above, and these other two: 1 · 2

That one there was probably around 1 1/2″ long… Definitely big enough to make me wonder / worry slightly.

This page, Prof. Chuck Holliday’s Cicada-Killer Page has a bunch more info about them.

Now, to shower and get the DEET off.

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Parts Oops

July 27, 2006

Yay! Leave it up to me to screw up yet something else on this synth project…

1) The black screws from McMaster-Carr are a bit larger than I’d figured, so they won’t sit quite right in the holes on the front panel. And since I want them to match on both panels… Well… I need to try and cancel the orders tomorrow, then resubmit them.

2) I ordered a $9 bag of 4-40 bolts with captive lock washers. Not bad… Except I needed 6-32. I must have clicked the wrong fscking thing. :\

Ah well…

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McMaster-Carr

July 27, 2006

Wow, McMaster-Carr has really impressed me.

Yesterday evening I ordered these parts and paid $4 in shipping. When I arrived home from work today, all the parts were waiting on the porch.

Wow. Just, wow.

Sure, I had to order 100 of each piece of screw which I wanted, but I was able to get the exact parts needed. And the cost was only around US$0.05/each anyway.

No trying to make-things-work with the hardware found at Lowes or Home Depot.

I’ll definitely be ordering from them again next time I need mechanical parts… Or whatever else they carry, for that matter.

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MIDIbox SID-NUXX Update

July 27, 2006

I have just ordered the last of the parts needed for building the first MIDIbox SID-NUXX. Provided everything goes as planned I will simply have to wait for the parts to arrive, then assemble the synth. If that goes as planned, I can build one for Bryan, a second one for myself, then determine what will be done with the other two PCB sets. :D

Oh, I had to pull a weird hack to order the front panel PCBs. It will require me to cut out the center of each board, but that shouldn’t be too difficult.

Now I’m going home. :D

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Paper Models

July 26, 2006


Paper models of the front and rear panels and associated PCB for the MIDIbox SID-NUXX.

Making paper models of the mechanical parts for things is really handy. For example, the bottom two ones up above there helped me identify a problem with the alignment of the LCD and pushbuttons. Takes about 20 minutes to make, works out really well. Those bottom two are the front panel itself, and the PCB which is sandwhiched between the LCD and the front panel, in order to hold the LEDs, rotary encoder, and pushbuttons.

Oh, and yes, this project is starting to wrap up. As soon as I finalize the design for the front panel and order the parts, it’s all a matter of waiting. Then provided the parts all fit together, it’s all then a matter of final assembly and documentation and the MIDIbox SID-NUXX will be complete.

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Canon EF 35mm f/2

July 24, 2006

Do any of you have any experience with the Canon EF 35mm f/2?

I currently have the Canon el-cheapo 50mm special and while it’s a great lens, it’s a bit tight on a 1.6x crop body. I think that this 35mm should be more comfortable, as it should be more in line with a 50mm lens on a full-frame body.

Cost is $219 grey market…

I’m thinking it would be a good lens to keep on the camera when wandering around and not wanting a bulky zoom.

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It fits.

July 24, 2006


MIDIbox SID-NUXX Paper Rear Panel Test Fitting

Huh. Imagine that. It fits.

That’s the paper version of the rear panel for the MIDIbox SID-NUXX being test fit before I order a metal one. I’m pretty surprised that it fits, but… I must have done something right earlier. I may make the Audio In / Out jack holes a little larger just to be safe. And I also want to reword the copyright stuff along the bottom, I think.

Oh, and those angled white bits at the top are vent holes. They’ll be open in the real panel.

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PowerBook G4

July 24, 2006

So, I’m thinking of selling my PowerBook. It’s a 1.5Ghz PowerPC G4 15″ PowerBook with the following things:

· AppleCare through 26-Jan-07
· 80GB Hard Drive
· 1.25GB RAM
· Backlit Keyboard
· Light Sensor for automatic keyboard and screen brightness control.
· DVD Writer
· Bluetooth
· 802.11a/b/g Wireless (Airport)
· OS X 10.4.7 (Latest)

It also comes with a keyboard protector / cleaner thing to go between the keyboard and the display to ensure that it stays nice.

The reason I’m selling it is because I simply don’t use it enough. It’s always worked great whenever I’ve needed it, but (unfortunately) that hasn’t been often enough. There are no dead pixels on the display, and the entire thing is like new. The battery still gets it’s full charge, etc.

I also have all the original packaging for it, manuals, cables, etc.

I’d like $1200 for it. Interested? Please get a hold of me…

It’s going to a good home. :)

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MIDIbox SID-NUXX Rear Panel

July 24, 2006


MIDIbox SID-NUXX Rear Panel Beta
(Click for full res view…)

That right there is my proposed idea for the rear panel of the MIDIbox SID-NUXX. The angled slots at the tops are vent holes, the grey rings around the corner holes are countersinks, and the hashed rings around the Audio In and Out holes denote the space taken up by the plastic retaining nuts.

So, what do you think of it?

I’m not sure about the labeling beneath Power, and MIDI In / Thru / Out. I think that maybe it should be moved up a bit… But when the labels aren’t in a straight line, things look odd. Done. I think it looks okay.

I’m also not sure about the ‘MIDIbox SID-NUXX’ text. It should fit in well, because in real life the vent holes should appear dark. But should I have a bit more text beneath it? Maybe www.nuxx.net? Changed this too. I think it still looks all right.

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NA Numbers for iPod

July 23, 2006

In case any of you are interested, I just finished producing an iPod Notes file containing all the NA numbers in the DOT’s ERG 2004.

Through the use of these Notes files, anyone can use their iPod to look up the number on the placards on hazardous shipping containers to see what they are carrying.

Please see this post for more information: NA Numbers for iPod

(Note, some of this data only applies to North America. The UN numbers are also included, but since they encompass a subset of the NA numbers, this will be more information than non-NA people need.)

Oh, and please, digg this story!

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