No, it's not an alternative shipping forecast, it's Malty Mail

4 minute read

Outernet

things I've been up to

Home Assistant

I mentioned in the last newsletter that I've been building up a Home Assistant instance. Things have been going well and I'm at the stage now where I think I've got enough of an understanding to at least help people in the right direction.

Having tried different options in the past, I like the balance between seemingly unlimited customisation but also an active community so that you can just copy someone else when you don't feel like developing your own, custom implemented solution.

Software choices, however, are just the start. With many competing communication protocols it took me a while to figure out which way to go. Zwave seemed to be the best choice for me - avoiding interfering with 2.4 GHz WiFi, especially since I've got neighbours close by. The commonly cited downside is relatively slower transfer speed. While I haven't noticed any issues with speed, I have had excellent connectivity from all my devices once they're set up.

Porous Plastic

If you sinter plastic together rather than extruding or casting it, you end up with millions of microscopic pores and plastic sheet that lets air pass through it - think of a sponge but dimensionally stable.

On and off, for the last 6 months I've been trying to find a replacement for the vacuum table covering on my LPKF Desktop CNC. While larger scale machines tend to use MDF, my machine has a sintered plastic sheet. MDF tends to absorb moisture from the air and warp, even more so when you remove the top and bottom surfaces to improve airflow. For large machines, the warp is negligible but on a precision, desktop machine designed to cut within 0.2mm tolerance it could be an issue.

Following the trend for industrial items, I could find suppliers but no specifications, standard sizes or prices. The only exception being Datron Vacuum Card which wasn't available in the UK.

Recently I found Porous Plastics. Again, no prices online but they did have standard sheets and specifications. They sent me a sample which looks very promising and while a custom size is prohibitively expensive, the roughly A4 sheets are £20 each and at a 10 piece minimum order should last me for years.

I suspect most readers won't have an immediate use for a porous plastic sheet, just knowing they exist might help future you!

Internet

Spiffing things to focus on and grab your attention

I've been on the 2/3rd Focused Podcast along with Steve, Rasmus and Red. It's a pretty wholesome 90mins of 4 friends chatting and I think, worthy of your time. In case you don't make it to the end though, do check out Multi Awesome Studio on Instagram... although I'm going to make you listen to the podcast if you want to find out the specific reason!

Othernet

Tools, recommendation and tips

If you're interested in Home Assisant then a good step into the system is this Fibaro Smoke Detector. It's a Zwave device so you need a USB adapter (this is what I use) but it functions as a stand alone smoke alarm but also gives you a temperature sensor.

It's far smaller than the Nest alarms I've previously used but the real bonus is being able to have a battery powered smoke detector in remote areas. If there's a fire in the workshop, I can set Home Assistant to sound the alarm throughout the house and if you really want, send a message to everyone in the household with an image from a security camera pointed at the shop.

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