Month: November 2014

Electrodragon ESP8266 (Wi07C) Module Notes

I recently ordered up a few of those super-cheap ESP8266 wifi modules.  These have an 80211 b/g/n Wifi with WPA/WPA2 support, are super small and have a fairly powerful CPU on board (more powerful than that Arduino I am hooking it up to).  I ordered my modules from Electrodragon and they came super-fast (and even shipped from state-side).  For ~ $25.00 I got 4 pieces shipped to my door.  In hindsight I should have ordered a couple of the modules with all the GPIO pins exposed.  The first order of business is interfacing.  These modules utilize a 3.3V power supply and IOs.  I utilized my $17.00 Arduino Mega with 3.3v selector to be voltage compatible instead of setting up voltage dividers.

There are 5 critical pins needed to get this working:

  • GND – Connect to Arduino GND
  • VCC – Connect to Arduino 3.3V VDD
  • UTXD – Connect to Arduino Mega RX1
  • URXD – Connect to Arduino Mega TX1
  • CH_PD – Connect to Arduino 3.3V VDD

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Thing-O-Matic PLA & Nylon Printing Notes

PLA Setup:

Must adjust the Z Homing offset for PLA to account for the additional Blue Painters Tape affixed to the build platform.

Platform must be more level since the “noodle” hardens almost instantly.  Perhaps a little pre-heating would help it stick/smush better

Nozzle must be clean.  I preheated to the tool head and cleaned it off with some 000 steel wool.  This prevents the PLA from curling in and sticking to the nozzle.

Need a good purge/anchor when starting the print PLA oozes much more than ABS

Taulman 618 Nylon Setup:

Adjust Z Homing offset same as for PLA (Load PLA profile with blue painters tape affixed to the build platform.

Print with ABS setting and adjust bed temp to 65 and Extruder temp to 245

Make sure  filaments dry – otherwise finish will be sub-par – damp filament is indicated by popping and steam during extrusion

A material datasheet can be found here: Nylon 618 Specification

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Engraved Walnut Cantilever Wine Bottle Holder

cantilever1

I made this nice cantilever wine bottle holder out of 3/4″ walnut and engraved it for my friends wedding.  I ripped off a 2 1/2″ piece of black walnut  from a piece of walnut I had purchased from The Woodery in Fitchburg.  This isn’t an advertisement, but I do take notice when someone has  excellent customer service and a fantastic selection of hardwoods, softwoods and exotics.  I could spend all day in there picking out lumber.
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