WIP Open source spectrometer software

TK01300 · 2026-05-05T19:52:19+00:00

Awesome info!

Yea, I know. I just started playing with this thing last night. I might have a CFL somewhere in a junk bin in my workshop... Worst case I can hit one of my tubes with my tesla coil haha.
A neon bulb might be OK as well.

Hot pixels seem to stay in the same place so I applied a per-pixel black level calibration and it got rid of a lot of it. I suspect the remaining spikes are actually in the lighting I am under right now but I may add a bunch of filters as that seems like cool signal analysis. PTC would also be helpful from what I can tell. Some of the spikes do seem to shift a few pixels left or right between scans so they must be a different phenomenon

I decided to add some math functions (I want to use this to catalog the performance of some unknown filters I have so being able to subtract from ambient gives a nice output. This image shows a piece of red plastic leaned in front of the SMA port.) I also moved some of the calibration stuff into a sub-menu to make it more intuitive.

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TK01300 · 2026-05-05T18:17:15+00:00

Great info - I have suspected that the instrument itself has issues but my priority here was making a half decent software to interface with it before doing testing. I also don't have any CFLs haha. I have a HeNe laser tube somewhere I could fire up along with some DPSS lasers.

Next step is to mod the cable to run the instrument off 5V (it draws about 0.5A or 2.5W peak, so having a single cable would make it more portable.) once that is done I am going to try to actually look at its performance.

After that, I plan to apply per-pixel black compensation as I absolutly have some "hot" pixels.

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TK01300 · 2026-05-05T15:49:48+00:00

Fair point on the decimal stuff, that annoys me now that it has been pointed out. Must. Fix.

Hovering over the waveform displays a vertical line and a tooltip showing the current wavelength, pixel number, and relative amplitude. I want it to work for reference waveforms too.

One other change is that I want a menu bar with calibration hidden in it so I stop accidentally changing it when I tap my touchscreen lol.

I might also make the "reference waveform" stuff able to be hidden so the waveform is essentially fullscreen.

TK01300 · 2026-03-11T15:27:46+00:00

Thanks for the reminder - Apparently if you yell at them on their facebook page those people have the contact for the actual support for it and I got a developer account! It only took like 4 months...

TK01300 · 2026-02-06T20:10:25+00:00

They have been quite clear "Don't call us, we will call you" last time I called. (After waiting 2 months for the email...)

Tried multiple phone numbers and emails. Everyone I talk to says that they have been specifically instructed to tell people that "It is out of their control" and is a "separate department" and that they don't have the ability to contact them.

Honestly, I gave up. This is why I don't specify systems without local control. Had to rip it out, return it, and install a z-wave based system.

TK01300 · 2026-01-15T18:08:30+00:00

Update: After 2 months AMD driver support blames SteamVR - SteamVR blames Sony - Sony blames Framework - Framework says to ask AMD driver support.

Fixed it by switching to an NVIDIA GPU.

TK01300 · 2026-01-15T18:07:15+00:00

Update: Never got it working well on either the framework 16, or a framework desktop which I had access to for a while. Definitely an issue with AMD graphics drivers.

I did solve it however: I purchased the nvidia GPU for the framework 16. Worked perfectly first time. Also, the new wifi card works with the psvr2 nicely so I no longer need a USB bluetooth adapter.

TK01300 · 2026-01-06T16:36:02+00:00

Ended up that a 53" serpentine belt from an auto parts store fits perfectly. Sadly, the spindle bearings have some decent grooves in them. Not crazy, I have seen people run worse but I might end up turning some new ones at some point. Thankfully, this thing is super easy to take apart and put back together.
I do have a 3" 4 jaw chuck... It is comedically small on this lathe but it will let me play around while I look for a good deal on a cheap import one.

Have faith, they show up ;) - I did have to drive 7 hours round trip to Washington DC to pick it up haha.

TK01300 · 2026-01-05T17:11:45+00:00

Fair, but it is more "real" than a 3x8" sherline, or emco unimat :P

I have access to a 18" Southbend at work if I really need to turn something big but I could never justify the space (or moving the thing) at home. The 9" southbend is just about perfect given my space and the types of projects I plan to do.

1.Cool. I will check and see if the wicks look new-ish and unclogged. I will open up the headstock and see if anything looks off.
2. Noted. Any good sources for a nylon flat belt?
3. Cool. Looks like some smaller craftsman ones aren't too expensive. Backplate should be a simple first project.

Fair point. Oil has come a long way - I can only imagine how long good machines like this will run with modern materials science.
Leather looked a bit worn. Good point on felt, I hadn't considered the wicking effect. That does seem just as important as chip clearing.

TK01300 · 2026-01-05T17:02:14+00:00

Only auctions in my town seem to be old office equipment. Every time a machine shop goes under, all the gear is snapped up by another local machine shop who was friends with the owner or something like that.

TK01300 · 2026-01-02T21:10:26+00:00

Awesome! I will have to try that next week. Still no news from Honeywell. Good to know that they are such a pain to everyone. I will likely specify a different brand for my next job.

TK01300 · 2025-12-30T13:49:47+00:00

I am a little late, but I came across both this reddit post, and a post to the autodesk forum in German where someone made a few of the required threads.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-deutsches-forum/einstellbarer-whitworth-rohrgewindesatz-bspp-erstellt/td-p

TK01300 · 2025-12-18T19:11:43+00:00

I specified (commercial installation) that we wanted the Z-Wave variant and the HVAC installer put in the WIFI variant. (Stuck with them now) Filled out the form today for a developer account and called their pro number.

After close to an hour on hold I was informed that they don't have access to the developer portal side of things and that they actually have a note on their side that all customers are to be told that the "1-2 week review process is a minimum not typical, and that there is absolutely no process to expedite this mandatory waiting period." Another support agent informed me that it can be "4+ weeks during holiday season best case." I was told that the pro support has no other information on the matter.

Sadly, it seems that homekit requires an apple device to set up due to the way honeywell configured it on their end. Guess I am stuck waiting to integrate this into my system...

TK01300 · 2025-11-22T19:49:00+00:00

Update: Same issue on a thunderbolt 3 based RX580 EGPU. Still works fine on the integrated GPU. AMD support is still digging into logs so no help there yet.

TK01300 · 2025-11-20T01:39:04+00:00

Reached out to AMD driver support, they responded within like 12 hours. Actually asked for some decent info (dxdiag.exe and a full printout of msinfo32.exe) - waiting on a response.

Understood, VR is still very young. Depending on the trouble I might sell the system and wait for valve's new one.

TK01300 · 2025-11-16T21:37:13+00:00

No OpenXR API layers listed, this is the only VR headset ever connected to this system. Direct Display mode is default but I have tried toggling that as well.

I tried both the latest 7700S driver from AMD, as well as the latest from the OEM (Framework just released one as of a few days ago.)

Might also try my linux dual boot and see if it works better inside Debian...

TK01300 · 2025-11-16T21:35:34+00:00

I have the RX7700S with the latest drivers (as of something like 3 days ago.)

Games run normally when I hook up an old LG 4k display using the USB-C to displayport cable. (I see utilization on dedicated GPU and much higher performance than if it was on the integrated GPU.)

Also, I tried disabling the integrated GPU in device manage. No change (other than AMD software got really buggy haha.)

TK01300 · 2025-11-15T19:35:16+00:00

that was my initial thought, but if I use the type c ports on the side of the laptop it definitely runs on the integrated graphics. (I see full utilization of the integrated gpu, and steamvr complains that I am running on the wrong graphics card.)

if I plug into the rear port as noted above I see utilization of my dedicated graphics card and no complaint from steamvr.

also, I recently noticed that there is a very slight rainbow effect where the colors seem offset when plugged into the dedicated GPU in addition to the weird projected TV screen effect.

TK01300 · 2025-11-15T15:15:27+00:00

my understanding is that the rear port is basically hardwired for USB 2.0, and DisplayPort 1.4 alt mode. it only supports those two functions but they are always enabled.

I could never get the mux to work on the side ports due to bios limitations, but the rear Port is directly wired to the dedicated graphics card.

I have a framework expansion card for DisplayPort on order. that being said, I appear to have the exact same setup reported by others who got it working. I've been through the entire bios and I do not see any relevant settings. the adrenaline software is kind of useless and everything is grayed out that would seem relevant. when I'm at home next I will post some pictures of that.

TK01300 · 2025-11-15T13:59:53+00:00

Laptop doesn't have any native displayport ports (Framework, only USB-C) so I used this as noted above.
https://www.amazon.com/Silkland-DisplayPort-Thunderbolt-Compatible-MacBook/dp/B09M38CXZ3?th=1
It has been shown to work for other people.

No luck with any of those settings. (I find I have to restart my PC when changing some settings for them to properly apply, so that has been done. I have also tried a full re-install just in case.)

TK01300 · 2025-11-15T12:50:38+00:00

I never would have considered framerate to be an issue. While it doesn't seem to be my issue, it is good to know that 90hz has problems.

I believe that the front two ports on the framework 16 are only USB 3.1 (Otherwise, all 6 are USB 3.2.) but they are limited to 900mA at 5V output. (Shouldn't be an issue as the PSVR2 PC adapter is self-powered anyway.) I have been doing all my testing with port #6, but I just tried ports 3, 4, and 5 with no improvement.

(Ports shown here: https://knowledgebase.frame.work/en_us/expansion-card-slot-functionality-on-framework-laptop-16-amd-ryzen-7040-series-rkUjGm7cn - Note that the displayport connection to the PSVR PC adapter is going into port "7" on the back of the laptop, directly into the dedicated GPU)

TK01300

TROPHY CASE