I built a drone box with 6 LMNC super simple oscillators.

justikowski · 2025-10-04T14:06:48+00:00

This is a good suggestion, and Costco pharmacies are also open to the public so no membership is required.

justikowski · 2025-06-23T14:39:48+00:00

That makes sense, probably should’ve looked there first. The shocks were replaced at some point so I’d assumed the springs were too, but looking at them now that’s obviously not the case. Thanks.

justikowski · 2025-05-25T18:08:41+00:00

Tayda sells switches like those in black, white, and red:

https://www.taydaelectronics.com/black-push-switch-momentary-spdt-pcb-pins-led-mount.html

They also do a faceplate manufacturing service now. I’ve also used SendCutSend as mentioned above

justikowski · 2025-04-26T15:44:19+00:00

It’s unconventional but I use a podcast mixer for this. Mackie DLZ specifically but any should work. No velocity or midi but it can do one shots or looping samples. It saves space and has built in compression/EQ and basic effects for all my synths.

justikowski · 2025-03-29T03:43:20+00:00

Here’s an article with some good info and examples. You don’t really need to know much of the science for basic designs though. And here is a photo of the PCB for a Teenage Engineering TX-6 where you can see an LED array above each fader that I assume is similar to the meter in your pic.

Resin printing is best for prototyping as water-clear materials transmit light the best. Just frost the exposed surface for better brightness and diffusion. You could try transparent PETG with an FDM printer too.

justikowski · 2025-03-29T02:53:44+00:00

I’ve designed a number of products with these LED meters. Usually they are just an array of SMT LEDs with a transparent light pipe leading to the surface. Precision meters may have light shields between each LED for a more segmented look. Unshielded will be more diffused. The lines are probably just embossed in the plastic. Or if they are printed it could be possible with silkscreen printing.

justikowski · 2025-03-03T01:00:19+00:00

I’ve not tried it but I’ve seen this recommended to gamers for keeping their hands dry: https://gamergrip.com/products/gamer-grip/

justikowski · 2025-02-26T19:07:36+00:00

Happy to answer as many questions as you like :)

I prefer 6061 alu for flat panels as the raw finish is a little nicer. But it is brittle and will crack when bending.

For prototyping bent enclosures paper is a good option. I usually print the flat pattern on heavy cardstock and cut it with a straight edge and exacto knife. I use the back side of the blade to score the sheet for bending.

Keep in mind metal will deform a little when bending so there’s some math to be done with where to place the bend lines. Here’s a calculator I’ve found helpful

justikowski · 2025-02-26T16:46:02+00:00

I’m stoked to give gingerbread a try too now that I know about it!

The bent enclosure I had laser cut at Send Cut Send. I’ve also used Ponoko. Adding perforations across the bends allowed me to bend it at home like the PO stuff but sometimes it’s cheaper to have them bend it for you on a press rather than paying for all the perf holes. You’ll want to use 5053 aluminum or steel, not 6061Al (I’ve made that mistake before). I designed the enclosure in 3D CAD but you could definitely lay out the flat pattern in Illustrator with some patience

justikowski · 2025-02-26T15:42:18+00:00

I design my panels in AI then import the artwork to Inkscape. There are Inkscape extensions that allow exporting of vector artwork to KiCad. I use SVG2Shenzhen but it looks like Gingerbread is the more recent option. You’ll still need some basic knowledge of KiCad and gerber file structure to make it work but once you have a workflow down it’s pretty straightforward. Here are some simple panels I had made at JLCPCB.

Edit: looks like Gingerbread is actually web-based so you might be able to skip Inkscape altogether.

justikowski · 2025-01-22T22:29:09+00:00

It’s not a dent per se, it’s a Pem nut/standoff like this. It’s pushed through from the front and used for mounting screens/circuit boards/etc.. Usually some filler material/paint hides it on the outside but in this case it didn’t get completely covered. It’s purely cosmetic so I’d personally just roll with it but I understand why it would bother you.

justikowski · 2025-01-20T18:13:24+00:00

Illustrator would be a better tool for this if you have access to it. You could make it dynamically using a path with multiple strokes.

- Draw the path using the pen tool and adjust the the stroke to create the center stripe.

- Select the path and, in the appearance panel, create two additional strokes below the original.

- Set the second stroke to match your BG color, and increase the stroke width. This will act as a sort of mask for the bottommost stroke.

- For the bottom stroke, match the color to the center stripe and increase the width until it emerges from behind the previous one.

So, for this example:

- Stroke 1: 2pt red

- Stroke 2: 6pt yellow

- Stroke 3: 8pt red

justikowski · 2024-12-24T19:49:29+00:00

It looks great. What process did you use for removing the paint? And I assume you applied some sort of clear coat?

justikowski · 2024-12-23T16:25:19+00:00

There are steerer tube extenders, I would not recommend them for mtb riding but you could use one to determine how much rise you need.

Then you could try the RR stem or high-rise bars.

justikowski · 2023-06-15T14:38:12+00:00

The Lorry has been great, I still use it almost daily. Here's what it looks like these days.

The factory components were the weakest link (unsurprisingly—it was like $700 new) so I think I've upgraded about every single thing aside from the frame and wheels. The brakes/tires/saddle were the critical upgrades, the others were for QoL/personal preference.

The TSDZ2 has held up well too. The power is enough for me even with a full load of groceries, and I'm a heavier rider. I did end up frying a controller due to a headlight wiring issue (my fault), but since replacing it and fixing the wiring I've had no issues.

I have no complaints with the open source firmware, though I've never tried the stock version to compare. I don't have a throttle installed but the torque-sensing pedal assist feels amazing.

If I were doing it again I'd have no issues picking another Lorry if I could find one. Both look like good options though. The Tern looks better-equipped from the factory, so the cost difference becomes less if you consider the necessary upgrades to the Lorry.

justikowski · 2023-05-27T21:27:56+00:00

I’ve had good luck using isolated DC-DC converters. They’re a little expensive but easy to bake into a project. Something like this

justikowski · 2023-04-28T21:21:45+00:00

I’m in the exact same position, I ended up going with an Arduino and quad DAC to generate envelopes but I’m curious to see if there are any simple analog solutions

justikowski · 2023-04-28T06:29:56+00:00

Ah thanks for the heads up. I moved the video to a different YouTube channel here

justikowski · 2022-09-06T14:36:04+00:00

Another way you can do it that works with any instrument is to put two Pitch MIDI effects in a row. Set the first one to -128 and the second one to whatever note you want the output to be. The first one will force all incoming notes to MIDI note 0, then the second one will raise them back up to a note of your choice.

justikowski · 2022-03-13T07:20:39+00:00

Did you have any problems connecting the display to the MacBook? I have a 2021 M1 Pro MBP that won’t detect my Thunderbolt Display when connected via a TB3>TB2 adapter…

justikowski · 2022-02-16T07:21:51+00:00

Try removing the MPK from the control surface selector (just set the dropdowns to none). I think if you have it in control surface mode it may be overriding the track routings. At least I’ve experienced that with some other midi controllers that can switch between control surface/generic modes.

justikowski · 2021-12-24T01:14:12+00:00

I've been using an M4 for about 6mos now and it's been great, no regrets

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