Arduino and an Inkjet Cartridge

I have started experimenting with Arduinos and electronics.  This involved buying a Arduino Mega, breadboard wires, PCBs, and some other assorted goodies.

I have managed to get my Arduino to talk to a inkjet cartridge and spray ink.

This is going to be a part of my senior project at the UW, more on that later :-)

Snow!!!

Monday we had snow at the UW.  I was 20 minutes late to class and then after lab it took almost three hours to get home....

Some fellow students were even making a snowman. :-)

This turned into two snow days on Tuesday and Wednesday...

Movember

I am participating in Movember to help raise awareness of men's health issues.  I have been growing a Moustache since the first of November and have been posting daily picture updates on my MoSpace Page.

I also have a collection of items on etsy that I am selling to help support Movember.  During the month of November I am donating 100% of the sale price of all of these items to the Movember Foundation.  Some of these items were 3D printed on Willow.

An Update on Things...

It has been a while since I last posted here.  After my brothers wedding I took some time to get caught up on things.  I did not come here and post about them, so here is what the rest of my summer brought.

• I started printing Mendel parts again and now have a full set on eBay.
• I opened an etsy shop and have things ranging from wood-burned Celtic knots to 3D printed Moai and hand painted Bullroarers.
• I started websites for myself (NicholasCLewis.com & RepRapBreeding.com) and my wife (SunnysideCakes.com & GoatvillePygmies.com).
• I setup a demo with a local distributor of a uPrint at work.  I think we may buy one for prototyping, tooling, and mock-ups.
• School started and it is a little lighter quarter than I have been having.  (I also turned in my paperwork for my math minor).

I think that is about it for now.  I will try not to wait so long before posting again. :-)

My Brothers Wedding

The kilt making turned into some last minute marathon sewing by myself, my sister Joiwyn, and the best man Curtis.  Ivan (my brother) was trying to make his own kilt but became overwellmed with other things, so starting on Wednesday at 9pm my sister Joiwyn started working on it.  She worked almost constantly until 8am Saturday morning (the wedding day).  My kilt and Curtis' kilt were also completed Saturday morning... we cut some things close.  I finished making belt buckles at around 11am and the kilts were still having the temporary basting removed at around 3:45 (the ceremony started at 4) :-).  Even with all that the wedding went very well here are some pictures (and more here.)

Ivan & Amanda

The ceremony (I am in the kilt on the far left)

Some Dress Progress and a Frustrating Morning

I have now completed the main work on the skirt including a fitting for the gathers and the hem...

The bodice now has sewn on loops for the back lacing and is complete except for the final silk outer shell (which is waiting on the embroidery, which should be back to me soon)

This morning bought frustration.  I went down to my car to head to work only to find that it had been broken into...

Nothing major was missing except for the face plate for my radio...

All said and done the damage (counting window cost, a new radio, and a iPod charger) came to about $350...  Why do people do things like this?  They got less than $20 worth of value and caused me all that trouble...

Here was my fix for the window...

A New Toy for My Birthday

My birthday is tomorrow and my wife gave me a very cool present.

It is a Droid X... the screen is amazing and it is very fast.

I am getting very close to the end of summer quarter (last day of classes is the 19th) and my brothers wedding is fast approaching.  Now back to finishing up some homework and back to the dress and kilts...

Cutting Tulle and Making the Petticoat

A crazy truck driver and sewing progress.

To start with I had a wild experience today leaving school.  While walking to my bus stop I saw a traffic jam at the main campus entrance.  As I approached I discovered a over-sized load truck with a crane on it.  As I got closer I saw it had run into a sign turning into campus and they had a reciprocating saw and were cutting down the sign. 

I then managed to get to my bus stop and the truck managed to get free and moving.

Sorry bout the video quality/camera work

 It preceded onto campus after much effort from both Seattle PD and Campus police to get the lead car past the congestion and then my bus arrived.  We rode most of the way around campus with out incident until we reached the tight turn at the top of the hill by Meany Hall.  The truck was stuck again.

They were turning cars around.  And even turned a bus around by backing it on to a side street.  At this point I decided to leave the bus and walk toward the freeway to catch a different bus.

The front bus was just turned around, the third bus from was the one I exited

 I then walked toward the freeway planning to catch a 511 from the freeway stop, but at 45th and Brooklyn the 855 caught up with me so I just got back on that bus.  In total it took almost 2.5 hours to get home....

Adding boning to the lining of the bodice

Boned lining on the dress-form.

Mocking up the lacing

Laying out the kilt pattern on the tartan (from my measurements and on the tartan pattern)

,

Progress on dress

Tartan in the house...

8 yards of double width MacDonald tartan (for two kilts) and 8 yards single width Dunbar tartan (for one kilt)

The start of a wedding dress...

I have officially started cutting and fitting my soon to be sister in-laws wedding dress.

We also have received the tartan so kilts will soon be in work...

With the changes to the Community Transit schedules and my schedule for summer classes I am walking over 1 mile a day.  It is nice to have a little extra motivation to walk (since I have to) but this week has been very hot and I can't wear shorts to work.  I may have to start changing before I go to school and after I get back to work.  Tomorrow I think I may try my zip-off pants.

Everyone be sure to drink lots of water on these hot summer days.

Watch for more pictures of the dress and kilts in the next few weeks...