I assume a lot of us have forever-projects that are somewhat backburnered, but will totally be finished. Some day.
For me, it’s an Electro-Discharge Machine.
Since basically 2013, I’ve been sketching out designs, researching, and doing small-scale tests for an EDM. They’re generally huge, expensive, proprietary machines.
When I started, no one had really home-built a CNC version that worked. Since then, there have been a few, but still nothing rock-solid. Some of the creators have found and contacted me through my portfolio site, because it discusses some of the principles of operation that are hard to find elsewhere.
I’m still plunking away at it, but it’s a big, complicated project that won’t really work until all of the pieces are put together.
So what is everyone working on, with a deadline of “years from now”?
My ADHD has ensured that I don’t have one long-term project, but rather many … so many in fact that I use a spreadsheet to keep track of them and their status ( waiting on parts, need research, etc. ) otherwise I would get parts from China 3 months later and not remember why I ordered them.
Most of my projects are one-time use tools to solve an specific problem I’m having. Here are some examples:
Inertial Nav Platform: abandoned 2-3 years ago as drones have made great flight control boards available for under $20
High Voltage ( 4KV @ 250mA ) power supply: on-hold due to safety concerns regarding build and learning that acrylic is a good dielectric and at those voltages, it can work as a capacitor …
Bench Power Supply: 2 channels, 0-40V, 0-5A. Initial design phase, found a good design, but want to replace switching pre-regulator with multi-tap transformer. Also, need to figure out a good way to wind new coils onto a toroidal transformer.
Bench Clock Reference: bought Rubidium reference and a video distribution amplifier to buffer the clock signal. Need to modify video amp’s impedance.
Vehicle travel logger ( needed for business use of vehicle reporting purposes ): prototype is working. Need to figure out a nice way to embed the human interface ( 3" touch screen ) in the vehicle’s dash. “If it’s not pretty I don’t want it in the car” are the current marching orders
Whack-a-mouse for Cats: Cat figures out very quickly how to stick his paw into the hole and pull up the mouse (currently using solenoids to move the mice in-out of the box) … need to be smarter than cat and design a trap door mechanism that is quick but safe (in case the cat sticks paw into open door).
I’ve got a kit for Phasma’s blaster in a box, needs more sanding, lights and paint
A thermal detonator that needs proper smoothing, a solder reconnect for a light, a new prong on the sliding activator button and paint
A Kit for a Jedi Training Droid, I need to purchase a sphere for it, glue it all together and paint it
A board game that I’ve written basic rules for, need to print out test cards and board and try it out
A mask from the upcoming game Pyre, have the model, need to print it out, sculpt a face on it, mold and cast it
Judge Dredd pistol from the newer movie, need to find a glock toy/airgun/3d model as the under structure
Peter Quill’s element gun from the Guardians of the Galaxy comic books
A full Flame Trooper costume from The Force Awakens
A custom version of the board game Pushfight
A Custom version of the board game Tak
A 3d printed and ideally resin cast robot, grabbed the design from someone’s portfolio, in the middle of modeling it
Also current projects or projects that are nearly finished that I’ve failed to continue working on
Tiny versions of the armour packs Torbjorn gives out in Overwatch
Christmas tree ornaments for my family
A lasercut wall hanging for my mom
A lasercut wall hanging for a secret santa gift
Replicas of the Wailing Stone in Steven Universe
A full Torbjorn cosplay
Forehead, hand, brooch and belt gems for someone’s Raven cosplay
Lasercut tray for X-Wing ships and bits for travel and tournament use, first attempt didn’t fit properly, need to resize and find a last wasteful way of cutting it.
Still need to cut 4 more boards to shape for the table and cast metal slide pulls for the drawing boards
I’ve got a trello board full of ideas and resources, but there are a few that have stuck around long term:
The Pinball Project has been a long running, off and on, project. Been pretty comprehensively documented here. It comes and goes as I have available time. I’ve generally struggled with the electric side of things, but I’ve been learning more as I go.
I periodically go looking into making a unique pair of entirely custom (and nice enough for regular wear) prescription eyeglass frames. I’ve got some doodles, and done some research on design constraints, but haven’t gone too far.
A modular pack and storage system design. Building dedicated storage pouches bags and rolls that integrate in a systematic fashion with more general pieces of different sizes to let me easily throw together what I need for whatever I’m doing.
Okay, I finally have a strategy for responding to this question. I’ll just ignore most of what’s on my list (piles of electronics and robotics ideas) and share two things that involve no batteries or programming whatsoever.
First up: sew a giant squid. Just look at this beauty.
Secondly, I’d like to make some straps with velcro on them that I could use for quickly securing together the parts of my couch cushion fort. Darned kids keep knocking down my stuff…
The Stewart Platform - a 6 axis motion control machine. I want to make it strong enough to lift a person, then hide it in a foot stool and sit on it while I’m driving/flying in VR. I think the Elite Dangerous crowd would love it.
LapDog - BigDog, but built really small with hobby servos.
VHS - improving VHS to make making better for everyone.
projects that are done but could be better: the hog drive, the line follower, the meccanum car, the maze solving robot, the walking crab…
projects that ended in failure: the hypocycloid gearbox
