Phil Pascoe
Established Member
Just when I was thinking if I never see a polyester blank again it'll be too soon, my wife tracked down another two.
Beastly stuff to turn.
Beastly stuff to turn.
Post a photo of the last thing you made
- Thread starter DTR
- Start date
Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:
ALB
Established Member
I love this! Do you have anything more on this build?
Are they WS2812B/NeoPixels? They're great - I've been using an ESP01 and ESP32s to drive them using the Arduino FastLED and NeoPixel libraries.
Incredibly flexible. Love your design - very clean.
Thank you all for the comments and likes.
The basic idea was not mine; I found lots of this design on the net when searching for “acrylic wood light”. I decided a plain colour was a bit boring.
V1: ~100x100x100, Trinket microprocessor, vertical rotary encoder.
Pro’s: Looks compact and well shaped
5V microprocessor
Cons: can’t write to the internal memory so had to add a eeprom board.
Had to cut a lot of material out for the encode activation wheel
Would need to add a button for dimming
Trinket didn’t have enough pins
V2: ~130x130x100, ItsyBitsy MO microprocessor, horizontal rotary encoder.
Pro’s:
5V microprocessor
Custom pcb
Cons: Looks squat and heavy – lighter wood may help it look better?
Write to the internal memory entails shorting a pin to ground
I prefer the wheel activation over the knob
I usually use a ESP micro but needed 5V which would mean adding a LDO. Not a problem but more work, I didn’t need the wireless function and it is larger. This would be useful if I decided to go for Alexa or similar implementation.
I was also thinking about using a Pi Pico as it is 5V and still quite small.
The programming was in Python as I thought I would try it. It is better in one way than Arduino as Python does not need compiling
The basic idea was not mine; I found lots of this design on the net when searching for “acrylic wood light”. I decided a plain colour was a bit boring.
V1: ~100x100x100, Trinket microprocessor, vertical rotary encoder.
Pro’s: Looks compact and well shaped
5V microprocessor
Cons: can’t write to the internal memory so had to add a eeprom board.
Had to cut a lot of material out for the encode activation wheel
Would need to add a button for dimming
Trinket didn’t have enough pins
V2: ~130x130x100, ItsyBitsy MO microprocessor, horizontal rotary encoder.
Pro’s:
5V microprocessor
Custom pcb
Cons: Looks squat and heavy – lighter wood may help it look better?
Write to the internal memory entails shorting a pin to ground
I prefer the wheel activation over the knob
I usually use a ESP micro but needed 5V which would mean adding a LDO. Not a problem but more work, I didn’t need the wireless function and it is larger. This would be useful if I decided to go for Alexa or similar implementation.
I was also thinking about using a Pi Pico as it is 5V and still quite small.
The programming was in Python as I thought I would try it. It is better in one way than Arduino as Python does not need compiling
Good projects @Lorenzl - If you like odd clocks, I run the Google neonixie-l group at neonixie-l - Google Groups
Main passion is neon, but will do other display technology if pushed!
Main passion is neon, but will do other display technology if pushed!
user 29368
Established Member
- Joined
- 12 Sep 2018
- Messages
- 79
- Reaction score
- 170
That looks excellent, very well done.
I'm coming towards the end of a scratch built Tele with P90s (my first attempt at being a luthier), so I know how much work has gone into that.
I'd like to build a set neck LP style guitar next, ensuring the neck break angle is correct worries me!
Have you built guitars before?
I few years ago, I built a half dozen or 7 fender guitar types. the neck angle varies from one guitar to the next so you really have to do some initial calculations or mock up with a pattern (and have the bridge you'll be using in hand so you can use it to see how much string height you have) and add about 1/8th above your mock up for frets and lower-action string height.
For this second guitar, I wanted just 1.8 or 1.6 degrees of string angle but something was amiss and I didn't test fit the neck. By the time I was done clamping it, some part of the neck area made everything around 1 degree, so it's bottomed out.
Now I know when I build the next one, I have plenty of room for 2 degrees without making the bridge too high and I'll be a little more careful about just how dead flat the area is where the top of the body meets the fingerboard.
If you do one with a carved top (which I did for the one before this) there's a lot more sort of ranging things to be sure they're good, but it can be done by placing a bridge, measuring where it is on top of the carved top and putting a mock nut in place at the end of a neck and running a string on the high and low E.
I was far more careful on the first guitar and that all came out great. I think there's a small undulation in the right side of the neck pocket (on the remaining wood on the guitar body) and it was worth about half a degree - which is a couple of turns of the bridge screw.
That's my poor man's tip (I have the idea of making a whole bunch of jigs) - to mark the centerline, make the neck pocket joint tight enough that it will stay in place when you're testing the joint and set a nut in place so you can stretch a string from the nut to the bridge and make sure everything is visually OK in three dimensions (especially on a carved top where the surface in some places is closer to flat (pickup to bridge or tailpiece) and then everywhere else falls off.
Alpha-Dave
Established Member
A piece of sycamore, I think. This really was firewood at the start, it included a small bug-entry hole that disappeared after the first few mm were removed.
Fortunately the cracks were not very deep so I filled with CA glue.
The spalting was nicely ballanced. 3x coats of Danish oil plus buffed wax finish.
I’m told I have made one of Mario’s hats.
Fortunately the cracks were not very deep so I filled with CA glue.
The spalting was nicely ballanced. 3x coats of Danish oil plus buffed wax finish.
I’m told I have made one of Mario’s hats.
Last edited:
Yorkieguy
Established Member
I may be wrong - I often am, but that looks to me more like olive ash than sycamore.
(it's definitely tree wood)
A lovely end result from what appears at first sight to an unpromising looking piece of firewood.
(it's definitely tree wood)
A lovely end result from what appears at first sight to an unpromising looking piece of firewood.
Stigmorgan
Established Member
That looks really nice. I must try some sycamore but haven't come across any here. I like the light colour. Well done.
Sawdust=manglitter
Established Member
Sale of the house fell through end of last week being only 3 weeks away from completion, so with a bunch of tools and wood already packed away ready for moving I thought i’d spend a few hours of my day off on the lathe yesterday. Nice chunk of Oak Burr. Largest bowl i’ve turned on this lathe, it’s around 12” diameter and sits something like 3.5” tall
Jameshow
Established Member
What a bummer, hope you get sorted soon. Nice bowel!
Too much detail!
The bowl looks great, well done. I like the touch on the base. Did you make up a stamp with the initials on yourself? Then burn it into the wood? Smart idea. 🖒🖒🖒
I may be wrong - I often am, but that looks to me more like olive ash than sycamore.
(it's definitely tree wood)
A lovely end result from what appears at first sight to an unpromising looking piece of firewood.
You sure ? It may be dogwood , You can tell by it's bark
Sawdust=manglitter
Established Member
Thanks Shan!
I had a couple of different size branding irons made via etsy a few years ago. Something like…
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/260733879/2cm-10cm-custom-leather-stampleather?ref=yr_purchases
Fairly cheap for what it is. I only got the brass stamp made, then made myself a handle with a stainless steel bolt of the right size to attach the stamps, then heat them up with a blow torch
