Ejaad-Nama 0x12: The Question of How
Ejaad-Nama (Urdu: Letters of Invention). We talk about lemons, acid batteries, and anything in between.
Ejaad-Nama is the word from the Urdu language which means Letters of Invention. Big thanks to a couple of new subscribers since the last newsletter. Welcome and feel free to comment, criticize, contribute, call out, and so on. If you still have not done so, you can do so here:
Ejaad-Nama Updates
#1
Honestly, not much has changed. 1 January of 2021 was not any better than 31st December of 2020: COVID-19 was not a dream, and lockdowns have not vanished.
#2
But that’s not true for our newsletter. Our Ejaad-nama header just got blasted into the 21st century (see: Top of the newsletter). The latest newsletter of the last year featured a hand-drawn emblem for the Ejaad-nama community. This was drawn by Hafsa Sheikh on a piece of paper. It consisted of the lost art of Urdu calligraphy (Its a picture of Frere Hall ceiling drawn by Michael Angelo of Pakistan) and captured perfectly what this newsletter represented:
The small Aha! moments in “our” lives documented.
One of my regular readers had a similar Aha! moment. He extended the idea of a hand-drawn emblem to create digital banners and headers for this newsletter. I have used one version as the header of the newsletter. Big thanks to Behroz who himself writes blogs related to Big Data and software as Commander Data. If you are into Big Data, his blogs have real technical depth and well-explained diagrams.
#3
While that’s one way to contribute to the newsletter, I have been asked by many since the last newsletter on “How” they can write for the newsletter or contribute to it. I created a small manifesto for the newsletter which quickly explains what Ejaad-nama stands for and also as a writing guidelines for whenever you feel to document your experiences and learnings for others:
Ejaad-nama is not only about makers, engineers and DIY. Its about improving scientific literacy and normalizing it.
We use technology in our everyday life. We are surrounded by science. However, developing a further interest in science and technology can sometimes be a daunting task. The newsletter aims to both educate, excite and entertain that are new in the world science while inspiriring the old to dust off their tools box.
By removing the barriers to learning science, we aim to create a community that contributes to society more than just in one meaningful ways.
The Question of How
Many times What we want to make is clear. But planning for How we are going to make it is often underestimated. Pretty much what I did in this project.
If you have been following my escapades from yesteryears, you would know that my favorite therapy is teardown therapy. - wow, I could not make that sound more cheesier with exceptions!
I had salvaged an old laptop display and finally made it work. I had decided to make a wooden frame for the LCD and mount it on the wall of my work desk with a raspberry pi. With a small wireless mouse and keyboard, I could operate it which will remove my laptop from the precious real estate of the workbench.
That was the “what” I wanted. But the question of how I was going to do that was a bit more complicated than I ever thought.
I have no experience of working with wood. But there is always a first time for everything and I am also never shy of asking for help. I called upon my good friend Arfan, who previously was found building a camping van. In a brainstorming session, we decided the best product we can get is if we have a big piece of wood, and we cut the LCD slot in the middle. That way, it will have no joints or connecting lines. We decided to 3d model the whole design to plan for everything: where the components will go, cable management, on/off switches, insulations, etc.
But things get complicated quickly. One of my colleagues calls “Problems”, Fun. It keeps things positive. - Here we go with the cheesiness again. Cheesy come, cheesy go.
Fun # 1 :
Amidst lockdown, it was not possible to source a big piece of wood from the local hardware market. We decided to scourge the eBay classifieds and were left disappointed as it got expensive really quickly for the big piece of wood to buy for such a small frame. It felt like a waste too. So we ended up buying a comparatively smaller very old wooden shelf for cheap (for 10 euros). For consistency's sake, it made sense to salvage old furniture for an old LCD from a broken laptop. It’s a match.
Fun # 2:
While our 3d model had the perfect tolerances to millimeters, it was time to execute the same craftmanship we had with software over with our tools: A jigsaw, some Clamps, A circular saw, and a Router. It seemed enough.
For inspiration and learning to use the router, I was looking at a 6-minute video titled “Making a Bowl with a Router” which was very close to what we wanted to do. The only problem (fun) with that video is that the guy used a lot of expensive tools other than the router to create a jig that allows him to use the router to hollow out the center (phew!). Well, the video was useful anyway.
We decided to use the top of the shelf as the front face of the LCD frame. With the limited tools and a lot of trial and error, we decided to do the following: To mark the cut-out and also screw the linear guide against which we will move the router to get a straight cut. With only using a ruler, this activity to marking the cutout, offsetting the marking for linear guides, getting the wood for the linear guides, and then installing them already took 1 working day.
However, we were pleased at what we had got with just a Router and some clamps at our disposal:
After doing reasonable work for the first time on a snowy day, we called it a day. The frame still requires trimming from the outside borders to have evenly spaced borders of reasonable size.
What did we learn from the Fun?
Deciding what you are going to make it easy. You may model it up, or use old school drawings to visualize how your project is going to look like, and how it will come together. You may already have a solution written down in the plans. Just as we did in the model. All the measurements, pieces, and how they all come together.
But execution plans are different. It is best to allow more time creating a classic old school list of what are you going to execute first in priority order. Also on each task: put down an exhaustive list of items you are going to need (always include snacks here, keeps the team morale up). and always start incremental!
How does a Computer work?
The question of How a computer works is answered in many different ways: in writing, in videos, in university lectures, and many thick books. But to me, none of them have actually shown how a piece of hardware wired together connects to the simple “Hello World” in C language. Engineers and Scientists love abstraction and we wouldn’t have inventions without them. But sometimes, you just want to know in a tangible way how the software of the high level ties up with the hardware beneath the keyboard of your laptop.
I stumbled upon a Youtube Series by Ben-Eater who builds a 6502 processor-based computer on a breadboard. The 6502 is an 8-bit microprocessor from the Atari Gaming era. The 7-part series is very detailed which takes you from the datasheet of the 6502 processor to programming a hello world on the microprocessor.
Secret Benchy Society a.k.a Secret BS
Over at FTIJPI (F**k That Ill Just Print It) society, there is a campaign starting up. The campaign starter Mike Brandonisio is calling for 3d printing enthusiasts to print a Benchy (classic 3d printer torture test) and stick it to the back of the car. It is certainly a fun way to share the 3d printing enthusiasm but also promoting 3d printing community. I did it for my car here:
It would be amazing to see this in every car in the future as a testament to people having as many 3d printers in the world as many there are cars.
Here is the STL for the benchy, in case you have both a 3d printer and car to stick on (try not sticking it on the public bus).
If you would like to send in your projects and hacks to be part of the newsletter, please do comment below, or email me: a.nadeem89@gmail.com. Leave your feedback in the comments about the content. and subscribe here, and share the newsletter with your friend.