Not An Engineer

Merch discount!

Hey everyone,

Still figuring out the best way to set this up permanently, but for now here's links to the current offering of slightly witty "work" wear, with $5 off for all you lovely people.

Hoping there's a better way to do this and I just haven't found it yet.

I can see some of you have already placed an order! You're amazing - but you paid full price! Send me a message if you're one of these people and want to put that fiver back in your pocket.

Hope everyone's e...

I made a mechanical counter, but it's a little bit different.

What a rush. Building the most ridiculous video title generator you've ever seen (and I know you've seen a lot!) for the biggest blacksmith on YouTube,  @AlecSteele , as my contribution to #ToolroomTakeover2025.

Everything everywhere all at once

Surprise! I just hit export - new video inbound.

The last two months have been a rollercoaster of rotary axes and clockwork machines - the latter of which being the focus of my upcoming feature.

It's also a collaboration with almost a dozen household names of the YouTube machining world, so we've all got a lot of content to look forward to.

Apologies for the lack of a proper early release, again - I was lucky to make the deadline at all. But hopefully it's worth the wait,...

From DIY CNC to "Industrial" Grade Machining Centre

Well, I'm never doing that again!

My machine config files are attached for those interested, though I'll warn you, they're rough and incomplete!

There's nothing simple about building precision machines.

Who likes good news? [everyone raises their hands] Everyone? Then good news, everyone!

After just over a month of round-the-clock crimping, soldering, bending, folding, terminating, debugging, desoldering, resoldering, debugging, rebugging, trimming, fastening, and debugging - I’ve finally got the machine back to the stage it was before I set foot down the path of completely overhauling the control system. 

And by that I mean I can feed it GCODE, change too...

You've tried entropy, now try DRAWERS!

A bit of filler, with big things to follow.

A Rough Timeline

Heya!

There's a lot going on around here at the moment, and things just keep getting added to the pile, but I think I'm started to form something of a plan for the next couple of months at least, as well as some hopes and dreams for the year in it's entirety.

First of all, the script for the next video (Loosely following the events of the shed reshuffle) is just waiting on final approval from the sponsor, then it'll be on to shooting the voice to camera and post production. Aimin...

Progress Photo Dump

Hey everyone, thought I'd share the photos I've snapped of all the stuff that's been happening so far this year. Sorry for the quality, they're all just phone pictures.

If you're curious about any of the details, make sure to ask!

Captions that didn't fit:

Machine base:

New mill base, 75x75x3 SHS. This time with some actual thought behind it. Also pictured is my first attempt at bending up a stainless steel pan (don't look too closely.), and another wacky solut...

*Another* PSA for the Tinkering Aussies in the crowd: bandsaw bargain.

Managed to get Bunnings to honour their beat it by 10% schtick on this Makita bandsaw skin today, if anyone's had their eye on it like I have for a while, now is your time. Normally around the $530 mark, they let me walk out with it for $380.

Normally they try to get out of it because retailers usually get unique model numbers, so argue it's not the same item, but not this time!

Obviously no affiliation to Makita or Bunnings, have just used one of these saws at work for ages, an...

PSA: Apple Takes 30% of New Subscriptions

tl;dr: Apple is taking a 30% cut of NEW patron subcriptions/purchases made via in app purchases. Use a web browser on desktop to avoid this.

G'day everyone, just wanted to pop this here for any new members considering becoming a Patron. One of the reasons I chose to use Patreon as a way to receive backing from the community are the minimal fees charged by Patreon.

For similar reasons, I've avoided YouTube memberships on the channel because Google takes 30%, and then Apple takes 30...

State of the Workshop - February 2025

Noo rest for the wicked!

Gridfinity Links:

https://makerworld.com/en/models/704997#profileId-634873 - GRIPS

https://makerworld.com/en/models/699533?from=search#profileId-641327 - Plier Holder

My favourite bins so far:

2025-02-11 23:45:23 +0000 UTC View Post

Technical Hurdles

Hey everyone, sorry about the mishap with the video upload - it's been a crazy day of technical issues. I'll be reuploading it tonight, but there's a good chance it'll go live on Youtube before you see it here.

Sincere apologies for that, the support I get from you all is immense, and I'll do everything I can to avoid this situation happening again. Those damn deadlines creep up on ya.

Thanks to everyone who joined the inaugural stream tonight, I had a blast (a far cry from the h...

Join us!

Standby for stream!

Won't be long...

Building precision machines is simple, until it isn't

A long overdue upgrade to the homemade CNC milling machine, among other things.

Am I stupid? Maybe.

Just realised that 9-11pm (AEDT, UTC+10) is possibly the worst time slot imaginable, as far as international viewers are concerned, and perhaps even for the local audience.

I chose the time based on the recent poll, but I'm wondering if maybe some people didn't realise the time zone implications? (This guy included, imagine thinking aus is 25 hours ahead of the US)

Anyway, just sweating a bit over the possibility of speaking to the void for a couple hours, and considering changi...

Alright, we're doing it: Workshop update & Q&A livestream this weekend.

Saturday the 21st, 9pm-11pm AEDST, guest starring the cricket in the roof of the shed. Leave your questions in the doobly doo, or feel free to send me a message if you'd rather keep it a surprise. Stay tuned for more details, and be gentle; you're my first.

Oh and - fingers crossed - there'll be about 40 minutes of brand spankin' new shenanigans heading your way ever so slightly before then, which might even give us something to talk about.

Redemption

Hey everyone, I know it's been a while again. More has happened over the past 6 weeks than I've been able to put to words; so I thought a little trailer of the outcome might do the trick.

Of course it only shows the culmination of my efforts, and doesn't come close to touching on all the side quests, like finally getting my hands on a van, which promptly broke down minutes after the buyer had left (don't worry, it's not actually a lemon), taking on a mechatronics intern in dire need of ...

Gauging interest

Hey everyone!

As I mentioned in the latest state of the workshop, I've been thinking about hosting a Livestream to (maybe) replace the pre-recorded updates.

I've still got to find out if my network is good enough in the shed, and figure out the logistics of running a stream, but I'm thinking it could be better for a few reasons;

The interactive element allows for way more relevant and specific discussion, which would hopefully mean much more value for you, the audi...

State of the Workshop - September 2024

Bandsaws and control cabinets - plus! Should I start doing livestreams?

Big ups to Jack for all his hard work over at https://github.com/NoEngineerHere/TeensyELS

Make sure to subscribe for his side of the story: https://www.youtube.com/@jackfromscratch

I added a NUT button to my lathe

Nothing goes through undies quite like threading to a shoulder, but with my new NUT button, I'll never be taking that trip to brown town again. At least, not because of any mechanical moments.

Thanks to YouTube.com/@jackfromscratch for his massive contribution to the project, make sure you check out his channel.

Source code on its way, underneath the next state of the workshop video.

Solving the biggest problem with budget lathes.

Here it is, at long last, the first of two instalments of the electronic leadscrew saga. All I can say is: I can't wait to get back to machining. Without ever need to switch change gears again, of course.

It's hard to know how deep I should go on these topics, and which areas peole want to know about, so If you've got any burning questions about the project, make sure you leave them in the doobly doo, and I'll try to give a more comprehensive explanation in the next state of the worksho...

State of the Workshop - August 2024

Something something servo motors

State of the Workshop - July 2024

Many roads.

Hey everyone,

I had planned to shoot a state of the workshop this weekend, but a trip to the dentist earlier in the week has condemned me to having two wisdom teeth cut out of my skull later this afternoon, so I won't be doing much of anything for the next few days I'd say. A bit of a blessing in disguise maybe - I feel like I've been teetering on the edge of burnout for a good while.

I'm so close to being able to wave goodbye to the day job, just a few more details to iron out, ...

Tripteron Files

Hey guys, this post is the home for all things tripteron related. If you've got questions, ask away. If you end up building one yourself I'd love to hear about it, and if I ever get around to updating the code/models, I'll upload here.

Cheers! 

I made a PARALLEL AXIS TRIPTERON, whatever that means.

It's shiny, and it moves on it's own, but what is it even good for?

Thanks for your patience in waiting on this one, it was a slog the whole way through.

Correction, Zaber Industries should be Zaber Technologies (no affiliation)

Dan's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EtXycVGJg4

I left the Bamb...

Almost there.

Hey everyone,

I'm alive!

This tripteron project has taken a lot more f**ing around than I could've ever imagined, and it required a skillset I haven't got too much practice with, so that's made the conveyance of the struggles to all you fine patrons a struggle of it's own. I'm halfway done editing the video, so you'll get to see that very soon; though it doesn't have too much info on how the control side of things function. There's a brief explanation (The controller runs GRBL an...

Lots to share.

Hey everyone! Wanted to give an update, as I've got some more time off work, and there's been a lot happening this week.

First of all, machining parts for the tripteron has been going pretty well. Very glad to have the mini-mill in the workshop, it's making second operations way more manageable. I've been able to get things 90% finished with the fourth axis, and then clean up the last face manually, as well as add hole features that would require a fifth axis. I have started to notice ...

It was going so well...

...until I got to the last part. Typical. Was getting a little late in the evening, so I thought I'd slow down the feeds and speeds to spare my neighbours a little; I think the roughing toolpath might have pushed the stock out of alignment a little, so the finishing passes were way out in the y direction.

But it's still going pretty well. 3 + 1 axis machining is beautiful. Can't wait to share the whole adventure. And I'm definitely casting my gaze towards 3+2 axis. It's a real shame t...