Hacker News: zakqwy

New comment by zakqwy in "How to make almost anything (2019)"

zakqwy — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 19:57:36 +0000

I took this class with D. in 2019! Was a great whirlwind through digital fab and microcontrollers.

New comment by zakqwy in "Ask HN: What are you working on? (July 2025)"

zakqwy — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 23:42:55 +0000

ah this is fascinating!!!! Any more info anywhere?

New comment by zakqwy in "Printegrated Circuits: Merging 3D Printing and Electronics"

zakqwy — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 17:26:11 +0000

For this in 2D, see Sam's thesis, 6.3.3 (p. 86, CNC wire plotting). 3D would add a lot of challenges.

https://cba.mit.edu/docs/theses/19.09.calisch.pdf

New comment by zakqwy in "Show HN: PLAttice, for assembling structures much larger than the 3D printer bed"

zakqwy — Sat, 10 May 2025 22:16:53 +0000

Let me know how it goes!!

New comment by zakqwy in "Show HN: PLAttice, for assembling structures much larger than the 3D printer bed"

zakqwy — Sat, 10 May 2025 21:24:45 +0000

Knex is great! I had a small set growing up, but never one of the big dynamic ones. Did you ever come across Capsela? Another fun modular building kit. The floaty set was awesome.

Show HN: PLAttice, for assembling structures much larger than the 3D printer bed

zakqwy — Sat, 10 May 2025 20:18:19 +0000

Struts, nodes, and pins are reversibly assembled into fully 3D printed lattices, trusses, and tree-like structures spanning up to a few meters. I used the system to build a stand for an overhead table lamp which supports a ~1 m cantilevered arm using a tensioned floor-to-ceiling column. If you want to give it a try, find the *.stl files at the bottom of the page; figure ~1 kg of PLA and ~1 day of print time per meter of box truss; pay attention to print orientation; plz respect the license; and definitely print the pin trimming jig.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43948633

Points: 24

# Comments: 6

New comment by zakqwy in "I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad"

zakqwy — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 16:17:46 +0000

If you run an X220 or X230 and do embedded development, build in an ARM debugger (a thing I made some years ago)! [1]

[1] https://hackaday.io/project/27272-tp-bmp

New comment by zakqwy in "Malware can turn off webcam LED and record video, demonstrated on ThinkPad X230"

zakqwy — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 10:15:04 +0000

Just install an NSA-B-GONE, my janky open-source modboard that adds Thinklight-controlled USB hardware switches to the webcam and microphone! Designed for the X220, but the X230 is pretty similar so I bet it would work: https://github.com/zakqwy/NSA-B-GONE

Of course, if everyone does that, attackers will just start pulsing Thinklights and seeing if anything enumerates, I suppose.

New comment by zakqwy in "The Circuit Graver, an interesting new way to fab PCBs at home"

zakqwy — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 04:13:26 +0000

Yeah, vias in particular are a challenge. I've spent time with annoying tiny copper rivets and bits of wire and the rest, and usually end up making one layer boards with perhaps a few wrap around jumpers to a ground plane. Not ideal! Commercial stuff is damn good.

But! Hand soldering boards is a joy. To each their own.

New comment by zakqwy in "The Circuit Graver, an interesting new way to fab PCBs at home"

zakqwy — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 21:13:07 +0000

It's probably not excellent; the grooves are V-shaped and the machine isn't stiff enough to go very deep, so you'd need to take a lot of passes. But a crosshatch toolpath might pull up extra copper on the sides and make fills quickly. I'll run some tests when I'm back home and report back! Would be neat to be able to prototype RF trace circuits same-day.

New comment by zakqwy in "The Circuit Graver, an interesting new way to fab PCBs at home"

zakqwy — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 20:43:39 +0000

I designed and fabricated a weird 3D printed 4-axis CNC machine (in ~3 months, oof) which uses carbide inserts to carve tiny isolation routes in chunks of PCB substrate. It's very much a finicky proof-of-concept, and may very well host fatal hidden gremlins which doom the project to novelty status, but with a bit of care I can produce boards with 6/6 design rules (0.15 mm spaces and traces) at 20-30 mm/s, roughly an order of magnitude faster than a desktop mill with significantly less noise.

I gave a talk this weekend on the machine at the eighth Hackaday Supercon, which will be on YouTube at some point, but for now here is a link to the project page, including design files and a few dozen hasty project logs.

The Circuit Graver, an interesting new way to fab PCBs at home

zakqwy — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 20:43:39 +0000

Article URL: https://hackaday.io/project/197182-the-circuit-graver

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42045804

Points: 18

# Comments: 6

New comment by zakqwy in "Essential node in global semiconductor supply chain hit by Hurricane Helene"

zakqwy — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 10:33:51 +0000

We can, using big autoclaves and a process called hydrothermal synthesis. It's how we make single crystals that get sliced and diced into quartz oscillators. But the process takes a long time, think mm/day, and isn't really appropriate for making big things like crucibles.

New comment by zakqwy in "Show HN: I've been making one HTML5 game per week. Here's my 10th game"

zakqwy — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 17:55:54 +0000

Easy to learn, difficult to master. Great game, needs more levels.