Collaborate Disseminate
The oft-quoted saying “all models are wrong, but some are useful” is a tounge-in-cheek way of saying that at some level, tools we use to predict how the world behaves …read more Continue reading Misleading GPS, Philosophy of Maps, And You
Arduinos have been the microcontroller platform of choice for nearly two decades now, essentially abstracting away a lot of the setup and lower-level functions of small microcontrollers in favor of …read more Continue reading The Inner Machinations of the Arduino are an Enigma
Do you ever have to ensure that an exact amount of time passes between two tasks in your microcontroller code? Do you know what’s the difference between precision and accuracy? …read more Continue reading Time And Accuracy in Las ATMegas
Cheap GPS units are readily available nowadays, which is great if you have something that needs to be very precisely located. Finding the position of things is one of many …read more Continue reading NTP Server Gets Time From Space
It’s commonly said that the great thing about standards is that there are so many of them. Of course, that’s talking about competing standards. But there’s another kind of standard that …read more Continue reading A Savage Discussion of Measurement And Accuracy
[Foone] saw a tweet a few weeks ago alleging that digital pregnancy tests are a rip-off. Regular, cheap tests have an absorbent strip running the length of the plastic, with one end exposed for collecting urine. A few excruciating minutes later, a little plastic window in the middle will show …read more
Continue reading Digital Pregnancy Tests Use LEDs to Read Between the Lines
Continuing the discussions started at our successful FuzzCon event held earlier this year, ForAllSecure is hosting a series of follow-up sessions online called FuzzCon TV (formerly A Fuzzing Affair). Our second episode is hosted by Matt Venditto, … Continue reading FuzzCon TV Tackles Federal Fuzz Testing
There is something to be said for brute force or trial-and-error approaches to problems, especially when finding a solution has an empirical element to it. [Tommy] perceived that to be the case when needing to design and 3D print servo horns that would fit factory servos as closely as possible, …read more
Continue reading Finding Perfect Part Fits with the Goldilocks Approach (and OpenSCAD)
It may only run for a brief time, and it’s too big for use in an actual wristwatch, but this 3D-printed tourbillon is a great demonstration of the lengths watchmakers will go to to keep mechanical timepieces accurate.
For those not familiar with tourbillons, [Kristina Panos] did a great overview of these mechanical marvels. Briefly, a tourbillon is a movement for a timepiece that aims to eliminate inaccuracy caused by gravity pulling on the mechanism unevenly. By spinning the entire escapement, the tourbillon averages out the effect of gravity and increases the movement’s accuracy. For [EB], the point of a …read more
Continue reading 3D-Printed Tourbillon Demo Keeps the Time with Style
All of us would love to bring our projects to life while spending less money doing so. Sometimes our bargain hunting pays off, sometimes not. Many of us would just shrug at a failure and move on, but that is not [Mark Rehorst]’s style. He tried to build a Z-axis drive for his 3D printer around an inexpensive worm gear from AliExpress. This project was doomed by a gear flaw invisible to the human eye, but he documented the experience so we could all follow along.
We’ve featured [Mark]’s projects for his ever-evolving printer before, because we love reading his …read more
Continue reading Fail of the Week: 3D Printed Worm Gear Drive Project Unveils Invisible Flaw