We've got a joke with a buddy of mine at work - he once claimed that some task would only take 15 minutes (an unrealistically short time for pretty much any software development task), that we started joking that all of his tasks would take some multiple of an NTU - Nick Time Unit. A month or two later, I was looking for something fun to make that would let me mess around with neopixels again. So I built this NTU countdown clock. The button on the left adds NTUs, and the button on the right clears the counter. As the time counts down the color will progressively move towards red, and when the timer expires all of the neopixels will blink red to alert the user. I love those illuminated arcade buttons on the top - they make a nice solid click when you push them.
Carter recently asked me to make a big letter 'C' to go above her bed. I cut it out of MDF on the CNC machine, and she painted it. She used to have a canopy hanging there, but she kept accidentally pulling it down (although I suspect that was less "accidental", and more because she was always playing with it). I like that the kids are really starting to get into the mindset of what the CNC machine, 3D printer, and laser engraver can do - they often come up with ideas for projects on their own these days. It's great that those machines are becoming part of their "mental toolbox" when brainstorming ideas.
I promised my Dad in May that I was try and make him a kickstand puck for his motorcycle, but had been stuck on how I would attempt it for a while. Last weekend I finally decided to go for it, using a pewter casting method I had read about online. I used the CNC machine to cut out a mold for the pewter, dusted it with baby powder (as a mold release) and then poured in molten pewter. What you see here is the result. At first I wasn't too keen on the pitted surface finish, but it has definitely grown on me - it brings home the idea that it was hand cast rather than made in a factory.
Every time the kids or I get a pin we stick them here. The kids sometimes get them with Pokemon cards, and I always get one in the Loot Crates we're subscribed to. We're slowly amassing quite a collection. It's fun to look back through them and remember where they all come from.
Carter got a kit in the mail to make her own soap. It came out pretty cool. It's real glycerin soap - not like store-bought soap where they skim off the glycerin during the process to use in making liquid soaps and lotions. I've been using it every day, and it lathers up pretty nice.