Monday, June 10, 2013

Whiteboard-inator!!! (Part 1)

Some of you who know me may be aware of my (allegedly unhealthy) obsession with whiteboards.  I assure you, it is not getting any better.

Here, you will see the newest addition to replace the old 4x3 board.  This is a full 4'x8' panel... which had to be carried home aboard my Yaris.  If you don't know, Yari... Yarises... Yarae.. these cars are TINY.
The panels are sold as "white panels" in the trim section of most Home Depots and work great as whiteboards.  They're also cheap, considering I spent $12 on the 4x8 sheet and they'll cut it to smaller sizes for free.

"But what's that around it?"  I'm glad I asked, because it gives me an excuse to explain PHASE 2!!! You see, I'm lazy AND a control freak.  If I could, I would make everything internet controllable and have them all sync to my phone.  (I'd also like to take guitar lesson from Brad Paisley and attend Scarlet Johansen's yoga classes, but that's later.)  So, why can't my whiteboard be the same way?

I started with 1/2" EMT (yes, the metal conduit stuff).  They're sold in 10ft sections, so I bough 3, cut one in half, and built an X-Y frame.  3/4" PVC pipe provides both structure AND a convenient bearing surface.

The initial idea was to make a linear bearing using beads, paper clips, and mdf.  I made a prototype of this system and it turna out that PVC on EMT has less friction.  So, it slides right now.

I went on an inkjet rampage a while back and harvested a bunch of steppers.  An arduino motor shield later and I should have a working slide table soon.

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