EEtwidget

I would either cut the pole and sand it flush, or if you want to keep both: As other members already said,. Drill a few small relief holes around the pole. Should be easy to remove the pole. Then clamp some wood to the table and use a hole saw to make the umbrella hole just a little bigger- this will clean up the small relief holes too. You can leave it alone or plug the hole.

My mother-in-law requested tacos so I made chicken & steak, homemade guacamole & salsa, rice beans and some other assorted goodies. Really good stuff. Everyone enjoyed the food and lots of leftover thats my mother-in-law and her oldest son.

No need to buy servos, although if you have the cash they are the best, steppers will work just fine. gecko 540 controller with NEMA 23 steppers. Configured in micro-step mode, these things will be really fast. Pair the kit with some quality shielded wire, eliminate noise (electronic interference, not audible) Also a good power supply is key. You want nice clean power. The nice thing about a plasma cutter, like a laser, there is no mechanical resistance with the work so the machine doesn't have to be as rigid as a CNC milling steel. I would recommend using extruded aluminum reinforced with steel. It's lightweight and easy to work with. Your main obstacle will be keeping the Z-axis light. The heavier the gantry, the slower it is. Also takes more to get moving & stopped.

You wouldn't want to use chain, although I have seen it doen. Chain stretches too much. Belts are the way to go if speed is desired. The wider the belt the better. But if the axis is long, ~60" belts might not work. Just depends on the design. Threaded-rod is used on DIY builds but it's not accurate. Lots of backlash. ACME rod, ball screws, or rack & pinion is more common, but more $$$. ACME rod isn't too bad but ball screws & racks are $$$. It's what the pros use. eBay has deals though. Belts can be used but when milling hard wood or aluminum, feeds and speeds are a big deal. Take a look at the Shapeoko 3 for an example of a low cost, belt drive CNC. Besides backlash & rigidity, the electronics make a big impact on accuracy. This is also an area people tend to cheap out, ... at first.

I had my heart set on building a CNC router. I did my homework and narrowed the list down to three possible choices. If you're considering a CNC build, these three are solid: Brian Oltrogge Grunblau Platform Kronos Robotics KRMx02 Openbuild OX CNC I even considered a Chinese 6040 and upgrading the electronics. Unfortunately though my wife has baby fever. Her biological clock is ticking and we have been unsuccessful in our many attempts. Went to the baby making Doctor today. $400 conversation turned into $1200 'peek under the hood'. Although we have great insurance, these fertility visits aren't covered. So it looks like no CNC build in my near future. Damn invisible baby is already a pain in my ass.

Yesterday we invited Irvine Valley College Robotics Team to present their 'Rescue Robot' IVC Robotics won 1st place last weekend @ a University level Robotics competition. The robot is an first responder bot that can automatically search for a victim (simulated by an orange bucket) and report back the victims location. This is is the 2nd year the robot program has been in existence and it gets better each go! In in about a month the team will compete in simulated rescue competition

Yes they have. The UN just had a meeting talking about Robots on the Battlefield. Many think it's inhuman for a robot to kill a person because the robot doesn't have any emotional consequences. https://www.stopkillerrobots.org

Another quick robot update. Meet Baxter. He is our latest & greatest 'toy'. Baxter is made by a company called Rethink Robotics. Marketed as an easy to use automation bot, Baxter can be programmed by simply moving his arms. Here is a short video of the first run. I'm just calibrating his arms but next week I'll program him to do something cool.

Milwaukee Saw Blade Sharper. or maybe a new concept for a modular workbench. Save space by switching out the tool module

Im actually going to take it apart and configure it to write on a white-board. I have some Kreg T-Track i'm going to use to make an adjustable mount. Something I can take into the classroom and throw up on the board, press a button and away it goes. Butt I'll draw a TIA Logo with the arm first. Today I made a few circuit boards with my friends CNC Mill. I really need a CNC of my own but they are just so damn $$$. I keep hoping Dan will give his away. Check out the youtub video I took of the mill in action. This PCB is a shield that attaches to the Arduino Mega board. A few sensors plug into it and turns the Arduino Mega into a flight-control for quad-copters. Nice relaxing music too.

Just updating with a new robot build. This one is called the mDrawBot. It's a kit that can be configured into 4 different XY Plotters. mScara (current configuration) is a robotic arm plotter. Originally designed to clamp onto the edge of a desk. I mounted it to some MDF, finally discovered what MDF was good for. mSpider: Can draw on horizontal surfaces like a whiteboard. I am going to build this unit next mEggBot: is great for Decorating Easter Eggs . mCarBot: Maybe useful for making custom parking spot decals. I will need to do a TIA Print, but for now here are a few I did. The print resolution and quality isn't the best but its pretty cool. I need to work on my video editing skills.

We can do better then a flamethrower ? But yes, I actually learned to build a flamethrower from this Russia guy I worked with. I uploaded my first YouTube video. Nothing special, just shows the Humanoid doing some moves, including a headstand. My dog Alley makes an appearance. She doesn't trust technology.

Also, moral objections aside, DARPA is hosting a weapons design competition. They want people to build weapons from normal house hold objects. Think macgyver type stuff. Weaponized toasters! TIA inspired weapons? What can we make from power tools? http://www.maxim.com/maxim-man/darpa-improv-program-2016-3

here's a pic of some of the kids in the engineering class. Dr. Sims in the center on the floor showing the students how to attach motors to a block of wood with plumbing strap. ? I brough some some tools in that day and for many of the students it was the first time they used a power drill. I think I created a few Milwaukee fanboys/girls. ill get get some pics of the students robots today.

If you don't know me I'm big on electronics. I worked on robotic weapon systems in the Navy, industrial automation as a civilian, product development on embedded systems, and I even had the opportunity to design exhibits for Discovery Science. Im using my GI Bill, studying Mechatronics (Mechanical, electrical, computer engineering). The engineering comes easy to me, calculus... Not so much. Anyway, this semester I have been building a lot of robots. I built a Hexapod for one of my instructors, a humanoid bipod who I'm teaching Kung-fu, quads, & maze solving rovers. These toys cost thousands of dollars and I wouldn't normally get an opportunity to play.. I mean learn, with them if it weren't for an engineering research class I'm taking. I originally signed up for the class because I was 1 unit short of full time. It didn't take long for me to settle intomore of an active teaching role. I enjoy the field and it's a lot of fun when I get to show-off and teach people who have PH.D. in Physics. The is the Hexapod. I built/coded/& debugged it in one day. Lots of work but I wanted to get it finished in order to demo to the High Schoolers. We are building 6 Quadcopters in the engineering class. I had to solder and configure some GPS modules so I threw together this rig to speed up production. My truck was in the shop so I loaded up the wifes Subaru and headed over to an event where I demonstrated some robotics and gadgets for high schoolers. Brought along my solar generator. Branded with a TIA sticker, this thing rocks! It powered all my demos while charging my laptop and cellphone. It's a great talking point too This is the Humanoid robot. I'm teaching him Kung-Fu. Maybe I should teach him to build something? Its really a cool kit, able to build many different styles including robot T-Rex *i have some videos but can't seem to post them from my phone

Good eye. I'm poor so I have to compromise sometimes. Figured a breaker bar was a good compromise. I told my wife I missed wearing coveralls in the Navy. Underway it's all we wore. Super comffy.

I have an endless to-do list but the big ones are 1)Kitchen Remodel 2)Rathrooms Remodel 3)Truck Remodel

If she knew I posted this picture I'm sure I would need some of Eric's garage door lube.

Cheap build contest. Set a budget, a challenge (problem to solve), and require short video or write-up.

My wife got tired of me messing up my Tools in Action shirts working on the greasy truck. She surprised me with a pair of new coveralls. I made her model them

Seriously, the floating shelf is the right way to do this. Build the shelf with cheap ply and skin it with the bamboo. Keep it simple! French cleats are great for stuff that gets moved & rearrange but too bulky for a mantel build.

I do need another toolbox...

To be fair, when was the last time Canadans really fought? They get mad, but then the weed kicks in and they forget what they were arguing about.

Nice, now she's going to want a matching... Everything! Good excuse to buy more tools

Like a French cleat but just a floating shelf. Make a frame with solid wood skinned in the flooring. you can use 1/4" ply and attach the flooring to that if it's easier. Secure that to the wall then slide your shelf over the piece. Check out this video for inspiration. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeyLj0Ppukc