Welcome to Blondihacks! My name is Quinn, and this is where I write about all the hacking projects I seem to find myself getting into. There’s electronics, home-brew computing, machine shop, welding/fabrication, 3D printing, and lots more.
Thanks for stopping by!
If you like this content, please consider supporting me on Patreon. Any little bit helps, as these articles take a lot of time and money to produce.
Trying to contact me? You can reach out via email.
-Quinn
Links in my video descriptions and in some blog posts earn small commissions. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Hey Blondihacks,
Great website. Do you have an email address I can contact you on? I have a few questions to ask.
Thanks
Ryan
Hey Ryan! There’s contact info in the post up above.
Thanks for reading!
Hi Quinn,
Thank you for posting all the great content on your YouTube channel and your website. I am a newbie home hobby machinists and I am very thankful that you post informative content. I am soaking up all the information. You’re a great teacher.
Thanks
Quinn:
Love the work and especially your human condition in the small fails. Will be supporting you soon.
Q – what 3D printer do you like and why? Small parts only and looking for excellent surface finish.
Thanks and best! Mike
Thanks Quinn I to have a question from ‘downunder’ what is the clear looking product you are useing in the TV mounting episode for a lubricant?
I’m getting back into hobby type work. I’m retired and considering a PM 11/30 lathe or a Weiss 11.5/28. What’s your thoughts, is DRO a “must have”? PS just recently discovered your presentations. what a talent you have. thanks
I have a layout accuracy question. I need to layout a linear pattern of 54 1/2″ ID holes with their centers 2/3″ apart. There edges are 1/6″ apart. I can layout and scribe the line for the hole pattern to follow. But I cannot accurately layout the 54 holes.I always run into cumulative errors. I believe it is due to the fact that 2/3″ and 1/6″ are repeating numbers in decimal form which makes them difficult to represent repeatedly over a long distance. I have watched all of your videos and you have a great talent for figuring out the proper order of operations to do things. How would you solve this problem?
The same way measuring tapes are dimension printed.. at least in the “ old days”.. a pre printed transfer rubber “stamp” mounted to a steel band the total length of the tape measure.. rolled on.. a precision steel rule clamped to your material XandY..
If you do not have a precision steel rule long enough, you can “ leap frog” what you have.. think of a vernier caliper line alignment when incrementing your “ master rule” for optimal positioning.
Hope this helps.
Edward,
Not sure how Quinn would do this, but given her software background I suspect this is on the right track. If I understand you correctly, the center-to-center distance for the start and end holes is 35-1/3 inches. Holes are located at 0, 2/3, 1-1/3, 2, 2-2/3, …, 34, 34-2/3, 35-1/3. I would mark the holes on even inches using a rule, so that the errors do not add up as they are all referenced from the starting location. You could then use dividers to locate the centers of the two intermediate holes in between each mark. Basically trial and error, adjusting the dividers until they are exactly 1/3 of the distance between marks. Use the dividers to mark the hole each side of the marks so that the error for each divider mark is the divider setup error.
Would you be willing to take a look at a simple and cheap hack that I made on my PM1030 to protect the lead screw?
Quinn,
Nice site – great hacks! Definitely gets a spot in my RSS reader. FYI though, I had to read the page source, ’cause the href for your “Posts RSS” link in the page footer is missing, so the link shows up as just the current page.
Michael
Thanks, Michael! I really appreciate it!
Actually, the regular page link that the RSS button sends you to is sufficient to put into your reader as a feed. I use it that way myself, in fact. That is pretty confusing though, you’re right. I’ll see about fixing that.
Okay, Michael, I think I’ve fixed up the RSS feeds to make them more obvious, and the links should work better. Thanks for pointing that out- it’s a big help!
You are an inspirational person – I particularly admire your attention to quality, detail and planning; a trait most hackers dismiss.
Keep up the great work
Aww, thanks! You just made my day. 😀
This blog is going to be definitely in my RSS feeds.
You are the first entry on my blog, in section: Cuando sea grande quiero ser como ella or in English “When i grow up i want to be like her”
Thanks for helping me to relive the late 70s when I wire-wrapped my first 6802-based micro system! I had no idea you could still get a DIP 6502 🙂
Anyway — I like your “back-to-basics” approach…nothing but the essentials. Have you considered adding a 16×2 LCD display? Although, since real computers have switches and lights, you should probably go all the way and build a real front panel for it, like the old IMSAI 8080…but using LEDs instead of incandescent lamps. Or, for authenticity, get yourself an ASR-33 Teletype and write a monitor PROM!
Haha, yah, I was surpsised to find how plentiful they are, and in fact Western Design Center still makes a 20Mhz(!) version (although in a tarted-up modern microcontroller form with onboard RAM and stuff). Honestly, I’m surprised DIP packages are still made at all. Surely they most only be catering to the hobby market. Are we that big?
The 65c02 and ‘816 microprocessors are available in PLCC also, and I hope WDC will bring back the smaller PQFP. The microprocessors are faster than the microcontrollers (65134 and 65265). WDC makes most of their money licensing IP to companies that put the ’02 at the heart of custom ICs in automotive, industrial, appliance, toy, and even life-support products, to the tune of hundreds of millions of units per year. The fastest ones are running over 200MHz, but the fastest individual microprocessor ICs available off the shelf are about one-tenth that fast. Come join us on the 6502.org forum where there is a load of expertise!
I wrote above, “and I hope WDC will bring back the smaller PQFP.” They do offer it now, although you might have to order it directly from WDC rather than get it from the distributors. See http://westerndesigncenter.com/wdc/HowToOrder.cfm .
Wow! That takes me back to 1978 when I was in college at La Tech in the Electrical Engineering Technology program. We were using a KIM-1 with a 6502 microprocessor in it! That was my first intro into machine language – and I mean using a hex keyboard to enter each raw instruction. It was brutal but great foundation! Thanks for taking an old-timer (61 in July ’21) back to his roots!
Brad K.
Nope. The Devil’s grocer, (global warbiz) calls the shots. Most military equipment was designed when this stuff had just moved from High Tech to proven and trusted. It is designed for a service life of decades (some of my company’s stuff dates back to 1957!)
Thank you for the site. I’m heading for retirement and have just bought a small lathe and a broken down mill to restore after fifty years of electronics so I can start on my real passion for making things. I learn so much from every video. Have you considered selling a dvd with it all on?
As a fledgling hacker your work is so inspirational. I’d be happy to be half as good as you are one day!
Thank you! For me, the secret is attempting projects that I think are just a bit outside my ability. Too easy, and I don’t learn anything, too hard and I’m liable to get discouraged or quit in frustration. Of course, things are usually harder than expected, so the final trick is to just keep plugging away and don’t give up.
Hey Quinn,
Dunno if you have noticed but your amp fix is on Hackaday….
Cheers,
David.. BD
Hey, thanks for the mention of my LucidScience site. Now that winter is here, I am back indoors hacking away and now have an XMega pumping out full 256 color NTSC with nothing more than a few resistors. Hope to start a site just for AVR video stuff at AVRCade.com and possibly sell a kit as well.
Anyhow…. cheers!
Brad
atomiczombie.com
lucidscience.com
avrcade.com
Just found your page last week, and so far have found your Veronica project very informative. I am currently diving head first into learning PIC micro controllers for a similar project. If your interested, Myke Predko is the man when it comes to these. Also, Microchip has a PIC32 chip. One of its packages is a DIP24 and most models have ethernet capabilities and what they call USB-on-the-go, which is actually a USB host capability. They can also be ran on external memory in a microprocessor mode. Also, I would recommend a program called KICAD. It looks and feels like Eagle, but it’s free and doesn’t have any of the limitations that the free version of Eagle has.
Hi Blondihacks ! Through Hack a Day I found your website and spent a LOT of hours reading all you Veronica achievements ! Congratulations, excellent job ! If I had the time…. but I’m building other stuff, however your info is verty good. I plan to build a HexOut circuit based on your design but using a PIC.
I would say that your best advise is “…the secret is attempting projects that I think are just a bit outside my ability”, I have face the same situation ! So this comment is really valid !
I found in one of your comments, that you said I’m not a Electrican Engineer”, what is your background ??? How has you achieve to get so much information ? What do you do for living ???
Regards from Colombia, South America.
Hi Andres, thanks for writing!
My background is mainly software, though I learned just enough hardware to be dangerous back in school. My electronics endeavors are mostly self-taught (which is probably self-evident from my designs 🙂 ).
I run an app development and consulting company:
http://www.quinndunki.com
Hi Blondihacks.,
Just wanted to leave a message to say that your posts are epic and quite frankly inspirational. I just finished reading through around 30 pages of captivating posts and have bookmarked your page.
Good luck and keep them coming!
Nasir
P.S. Love your humour
You are one seriously SERIOUSLY talented girl hacker! 🙂 Excellent site, excellent projects, very inspirational stuff, have just read through the entire site and setup a permanent bookmark. Wish there were a lot more women like you out there. Good luck with everything and keep those projects coming! 🙂
Thanks Jon, I appreciate that! I hope you enjoy the site.
I’d “help you pay for more hacks”, but it looks like your PayPal link is broken?
Thanks very much for letting me know! It should be working now.
Very impressive site, I really like your home brewed computer project. I did something like that myself back in the 80s (although no video on my system). You obviously have great talent.
Hello Quinn,
Have you ever consider working on a project that dealt with arudinos? or like a raspberry pi board?
Yup, it has crossed my mind! So many projects, and so little time, though. 🙂
Arduino micro computer that would be quite impressive.
An attraction to a 6502 computer is that you can understand every speck of code in it. You can’t do that with things like the Pi which has too much complexity that you don’t stand a chance of fully understanding and controlling. I enjoy the challenge of striving for elegant, efficient, maintainable, well documented solutions, rather than a “just get it going” mentality. The 6502 is probably the most documented processor in history, and it’s still growing. Things like USB are not friendly to cobbling together solutions on the workbench. I like open, non-proprietary software and designs. The 6502/816 field has been useful and fun for me, and I use it in my work.
When I try to subscribe to the RSS or email notifications, I get a “Sorry Greader is no longer offerred.” :'( Could you please let me know what I am doing wrong or how best to get notifications so that I can make sure and not miss any of your blog?
Thanks Craig
Hi Craig,
That message is probably coming from your browser or other software on your computer. The RSS and Email subscription links open a URL that looks like this:
feed://blondihacks.com/?feed=rss2
(for email, it’s a bit different)
You can paste that link into any RSS reader, and it should work. Your computer appears to be trying to auto-open some tool or application in response to the URL.
Hey, Quinn, you haven’t had any new posts in quite a while (or so it seems to me). You OK over there?
Hey hey! Thanks for writing! Yes, sorry for the delay in posting. I’m working on a couple of larger projects at the moment that don’t make for good blog entries. You’ll see something new here before too long, though!
Hey Quinn,
Great talk for the Hackaday anniversary! (did you really get dressed up for those geeks?)
You should do a short post and link to the video. It’s great encouragement to just dive in and make/learn something.
– Crawford
Thanks! And no, I didn’t get dressed up- that’s… just how I dress. 🙂
Interesting to read of your PCB etching issues, I ran into similar problems trying to develop PCBs after etching patterns with a UV laser.
Orange peel texture – While working with enameling (colored glass on metal) several years ago, I learned that when remelting a piece while adding more colors, the Orange peel texture appeared just before melting, probably caused by non-uniform temperature or composition causing small areas to melt before their surroundings, and surface tension altering its shape. Since you don’t want melting, try lowering the oven temperature a little.
Fun article.
Wow! A very nice and interesting blog 🙂
Only recently found it, so am now working my way through each post.
You went in some different directions with Veronica compared to the “conventional” approach. This is always good to see (makes for a more interesting project than simply being a sheep 😉 ).
Keep up the good work 😉
Mark
hi quinn,
i develop new version of your HexOut. name of that is BusReader. it also can generate 20bit address and read 16bit data from data bus.
http://emadrezvani.blog.ir/1393/12/22/BusReader-v0-1
Looks great- thanks for sharing!
I originally wanted to leave a comment on the PCB page, regarding the double transparency problem, but the comments were closed, so I’m leaving this here.
Anyway, I’ve had really good success with exposing the printed transparencies to acetone vapors. This doesn’t work on all toner types, but it should be worth a try. I tape the transparencies to the lid of a metal can (toner side out, so the vapors can attack it), throw in a paper towel drenched in acetone, close the lid and let it sit for an hour or so (You might want to take the can outside before opening it after this).
The result should be a shiny, uniform, homogeneous, and most important of all, opaque toner surface. IF it works on your type of toner, that is. If it doesn’t, you might try a different printer/toner. I’m using an old Samsung ML-2010 with the cheapest replacement toner cartridge from Ebay, and I can go down to 5/5mil with decent repeatability.
HTH,
Alexander
PS: Amazing projects you’ve got here!
Hey Quinn,
That Sony chip in your Chinon Laser 128 disk drive is a diskette read-write amplifier. I believe that the sony 3.5 mechanism in your IIc+ has a similar one. I remember looking one up a while back when I was attempting repairs on my own internal IIC+ disk drive
See the data sheet here:
http://www.datasheetarchive.com/dl/Scans-029/ScansU3X2955.pdf
Best.
Henry
Just a comment on the Garage Door Fail article, about the mod you did on the FOB PCB.
Instead of soldering the wires to the area where the soft button was, you could have easily soldered them to the lowest hole and the third one from the bottom of the row of six holes at the bottom of the PCB. Looking at the two images of the PCB, those go to the contact of the switch in the upper right of the PCB.
It’s great to see you got a lathe! They are so much fun aren’t they? Here’s an amusing lathe project of mine: http://everist.org/NobLog/20170321_machining_pool_noodle.htm
I’ve been reading your site a long while, and always enjoy your work.
Btw, one comment on lathe use. Yours looks very clean, almost as if the steel surfaces have no oil on them. It’s bare steel, and unless you coat it all in some kind of oil it WILL start rusting. There are special oils recommended for the ways, but I just use an old tin, with some gear oil and a rag that lives in that tin, to wipe everything down now and then.
Yes, of course I oil it regularly. It just doesn’t show up in photos.
Hi
How about a new version of https://blondihacks.com/?p=835
?
Perhaps optimized for SMD parts? Maybe based around some $200 mill, laser cutter, or UV box?
🙂
thx!
Honestly, the method described there works very well with SMD. I have made several SMD boards that way. It’s extremely precise and allows very small PCB features, by virtue of being a photographic process. PCB mills have worse limits on board density, because physical removal of material is less precise than photons and chemicals. Laser cutters for copper have to be very powerful indeed, so you’re not going to find an inexpensive solution there. A UV box’s only advantage is speed. If you can afford to wait 10 minutes, a desk lamp works just as well.
I just read through your Apple IIc+ fixing the beep article and have just one thing to say…
[gets down on one knee and clears throat]
“Will you marry me?”
Imagine. I am just surfing around on the inter-web looking for metal lathe “Stuff” in general and maybe some project ideas that are simple yet help to develop my skills and knowledge base. Kinda looking for help grinding HSS steel blanks because for me its been a little hit and miss, sometimes they cut pretty well other times not so much… half surfing and half watching a re-run of Myth-Busters I come across an article about grinding tooling and then see some pictures and notice that looks like my lathe, a lot like my lathe, Hey! that is my lathe, So cool! Then I figure out this a lady and think that makes it even more cool to me actually for some reason. ( maybe it’s because I am currently reliving my crush on Jessie Combs from MythBusters…?) I will defiantly be a follower as I continue to get my home shop set-up and equipped, now looking for a good bench grinder with solid and adjustable stops btw. Thanks for doing and sharing, I’ll be checking in often. Also… Happy New Year!
Thanks, and welcome to Blondihacks! Be sure to check out the YouTube channel as well, as there is machining and shop projects a-plenty! http://www.youtube.com/c/Blondihacks
Quinn I am fascinated by the machine tool videos [and the stunning array of other interests.] How did you get interested and proficient in so many areas like welding, fabrication and machine tools?
I’m not sure! I guess I just like a lot of different things. Maybe growing up on a farm was part of it- you get comfortable with a lot of different things because nobody is gonna do it for you!
Hi, thanks for doing this. I just discovered your YouTube channel after Abom79 started to work on your collaboration project. The good thing about finding this late is that I can binge all your content. Thanks again for all your well curated content. As an aspiring hobby machinist I’m starting with the lathe videos and blog.
—ga
Awesome, thanks German! Welcome to my site and channel. I hope you enjoy it!
Hi Quin,
Just a quick thank you for getting me back into engineering, been over 30 years since I was in front of a lathe. I discovered you when watching an AVE youtube video, been following him for a few years, just for the tits and pickles. Your metal lathe tutorial series sealed the deal for me. Got myself a lathe / vertical mill combo (Clarke CL500m) 2 weeks ago, binge watched your tutorial series and have just completed my first project, a slitting saw arbor.
Thanks again for your superb content and for helping to stop me from falling into a pit of endless boredom. Keep up the good work.
That’s great! So glad I could inspire! 😀
I am preparing to buy a bench top mill and learn some machining in connection with my gunsmithing hobby. You YouTube channel has been very helpful and I’m glad I have now “found” your blog. Good stuff!
That’s great! Thanks for watching (and reading 🙂 )!
Hi Quinn , I recently discovered you through Adam Booth (referral on youtube) – Love your attitude and you do have a great sense of humor. More than anything – I love that you are taking a “classic men’s hobby / Job and are rocking it – I love to see woman in the trades – too long in the waiting. Most important is you are very bright and share your experience (including mistakes) with us all so we can learn too
Thank you for the kind words! Glad to have you here. 😀
Hello Quinn,
Your videos are great. I don’t even have a lathe and I watched your entire lathe series! You have a knack for explaining things clearly, you articulate your ideas well, and I find your machining principles sound. I have a question for you I would like to ask off-line. What is the best email to use?
Thank you.
Greg Priest
Youtube priesttools
Thank you! My email address for this sort of thing is blondihacks42@gmail.com. Feel free to drop me a line there!
Thanks Quinn. I just made a donation. The mini lathe videos have been very helpful.
Terrific, thank you, and welcome! 😀
Hi Quinn. I hope you are well. I’ve been trying to track down a game that I think you might have made. It’s called Gate. I played it a few years back and I’ve been looking for it again recently to no avail. The link to download it sent me here so I was hoping you could help? 🙂 Kind regards, Ché
Hi Ché! Gate is not hosted anywhere at the moment, but if you drop me a line (see the bottom of this page) I can send you a copy. I don’t believe it runs on any current hardware, though. Maybe it could be convinced to, but it hasn’t been maintained in several years.
Che, Quinn hooked me up with Gate and at least on my system, it will indeed run under Windows 10 if you don’t try and invoke Full Screen. I am going to try and get it to run on the Pi somehow, probably through Mac emulation. I am one of those zealots that actually got Win 98 to install into DosBox on the Pi (which isn’t supposed to be possible) but very little will actually run on it (StarCraft was a fail), so I’m not holding out much hope for that.
Since a lot of folks are asking for it lately, I put the files up again. Here they are:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hBhpeB70oG6huIq4V07rkTA3h5EWF0d2
I put the files up again:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hBhpeB70oG6huIq4V07rkTA3h5EWF0d2
Apparently the PC one will run on Windows 10. I have no idea if the Mac version can still be made to run on latest Mac OSes. It’s a full-time job keeping up with modern OS changes, which is why GATE is no longer supported.
Could you post the link to gate once more??? Pretty please? I’m a Computer Engineering teacher and want to give my online students a fun way to practise logic. I thoroughly enjoyed playing gate ‘back in the day’.
Unfortunately GATE no longer runs on any current versions of MacOS or Windows. It’s a full time job these days to update software for evolving platforms, and I can’t afford the time to do that for a free game.
In my high school electronics class we had an Apple ][ and I remember playing Robot Odyssey. The wikipedia article on that game mentions you made a similar game, but I can’t find it anywhere on this site. Can you point me in the right direction?
Hi
Your work is very inspiring, I even try not to read so I can explore myself, in the top
https://blondihacks.com/veronica-rom-emulator/ that I’ve read some years ago and gave me the thrust to move along this path in https://seguridad-agile.blogspot.com/2020/05/rescatando-un-8051.html
Thank you for sharing you hackery
Hey Quinn,
I’ve been really enjoying the videos and other content. It’s all been very much enjoyable as well as inspirational. One thing I was curious about though was the state of play for the Machinist’s Relay. Is that still ongoing or dead in the water? It was a great idea and I was really looking forwards to seeing it progress.
Thanks Jon! The Relay is still going, albeit slowly. It went from AvE to NYCCNC (aka Saunders Machine Works). They added a part but didn’t do a video, so their part was kind of a wash. They sent it to someone else who has it now and is, I believe, working on it.
That’s great news, I’ll keep my eyes open for it.
More sense to watch your intro to Milling video the other day. Really enjoyed your comment that this machine is trying to kill you
The inventor of the stove we are building watches your channel frequently and he wants to buy and send you a tool that you mentioned the other day. Where are you located?
Hi Quinn, first I’m addicted to your honest, throw all the punches and admit the oopses on YouTube.
I’ve just watched your anniversary question and answers. On the suitable literature question, when I was toolmaking in the 70s, we always had a Zeus Book in our top pocket. It was our Bible.
Keep up the awesome work, stay safe.
Les Stone
Swansea, UK
I am *so* glad I found your Youtube channel – thank you for doing this! The videos are very well made, and if that wasn’t enough, the articles on the site are excellent as well. I’ve been a struggling beginner with my lathe for a while now – looking forward to working through your Lathe skills and Mill skills series!
Hello, Thanks so much for this great content. You are an excellent teacher. Your video editing is fantastic – makes for a very engaging show. I’m just starting out with metal work, and I have learned so much from your videos. Thanks so much, and please keep posting.
Greetings Quinn,
I enjoy your YouTube postings and appreciate how your focus, accuracy, enthusiasm and honesty inform and inspire my fledgling machining milling hacking (setting out with a Bosch PBD 40 Bench drill and some weird ants eking me on).
May I please suggest that you stack the comments in reverse chronology – recent/current topics at first glance?
I value your machining presence as a woman (I miss women in the co-called mens’ domains), clean hands (mostly! 🙂 ), safety, generosity of sharing and humour.
Luthando Prinsloo
Fish hoek, South Africa
Thank you for the kind words! Happy I could inspire.
If you’re referring to YouTube comments, I do not control the sorting of those. YouTube has an algorithm for that. If you’re referring to these comments here, this is just my bio page, but people keep posting general questions here for some reason. Each blog article on my site has a dedicated conversation thread attached.
Thank you for replying,
Got it on the YouTube algorithm, I meant the comments here in your bio. I believe it great that we can interact with you here as the person.
Hi Quinn,
I just come across one of your videos by chance looking for lathe speeds, I’m very impressed with your knowledge and skill level. Your tone of voice makes it easy to understand and follow along, you would make a great shop teacher. I own an enco 13×40 lathe and a 9×42 mill although I am far from a metal machinist but anxious to learn more. I saved your website and plan on watching more of your videos.
Hi Quinn!
Dad found your videos on YouTube and passed them along to me. I’m hooked! I’ve recently started dabbling a bit with the lathe in our shop and love it.
I have two questions for you:
You mentioned in one of your lathe basics videos that the headstock is “precise but not repeatable” and explained why that is. What makes the Jacobs chuck different that (presumably) makes it repeatable? Both items outwardly look similar, so what’s different? Would love to maybe see a video explaining that.
My other question is: did your lathe come with metal quick change gears for threading or did you have to get those separate? I’m looking at getting a bench top lathe, but want to avoid vinyl gears if at all possible.
Thanks!
Hi Quinn, drop a reply to this e-mail and I will send you some photos of this Fancy 10EE that will be looking for a home when I retire, or just look on my Facebook page on the photo pages.
Hi
Just discovered your you tube videos and love them. I’m curious as to your story/background. What’s your training, where you from etc. Be nice if you had a little bio to satisfy the curious, though I totally get it if you want to remain more private.
Hi Quinn,
I totally agree with Moritz! Just discovered your video’s and I am hooked! You are a great and inspiring teacher! Tubalcain (mrpete222) was my favorite, but now I have two favorites! 🙂
Back to Mortiz’ remark: some bio about you would be interesting!
Keep up the good work!
Bye, Hans.
hey Quinn You have inspired a 65 year old disabled vet to take up a new hobby. I got a new mini lathe and am cutting away. thank you.
Hi Quinn,
Just wanted to say thanks for your You Tube stuff. Great info and well done. I got a kick out of hearing you say “Engrish” a couple times and had to share. Where I work we have to break out the vendor schematics sometimes when troubleshooting equipment. Not long ago I traced a pressure switch signal back to the “regurator” box as printed on the schematic (I had to show everyone of course). Sure enough though, I replaced the faulty regurator and the tool came right up.
Thanks Quinn.
Hi Quinn,
Just watched your YouTube video about the Priest Tools power lift for your mill. Looks like a good unit and easy to fit.
I have just send an email Priest Tools to find out if they sell a unit compatible with my mill (Optimum BF20V). I think the Grizzy G0704 is more or less the same as mine.
Great video by the way, and I gave you a mention in my email, saying it was where I saw their product.
Just a quick Thank You for your YouTube and Blog. Just hearing “and we’ll face it off as we traditionally do…” makes my day.
Also, I want to express my thanks for helping show folks the foundational basis for computing systems – when I took my first comp class (back in 84), I was forced to endure boolean logic and the machine language fundamentals before I was ALLOWED to begin programming in BASIC (on an Apple II with a Z-80 card). Knowing what happens with every clock-tick (and interrupts, I/O ports – I am still angry at MS-DOS’ failure to close the I/O ports on their 1985 release of DOS – and the other pieces parts that make up the machine that our code is controlling) makes it so much easier to visualize what we are trying to accomplish with our code and makes me so much less reliant on others’ code-snippets, libraries and drivers when I’m trying to accomplish something very specific to my particular application.
Now, If I can only get some of my current projects done and get my lathe and milling machine…
Hi Quinn,
Thanks for you time and efforts, I am surprised (but not really) you have to put up a code of conduct “COMMENTING POLICY” ( yes I read it all)
I am truly sorry you have to deal with this, but I am pleased you keep making great informative video’s. I have a trade background, and yes I could pick holes, but after 40 years I still make mistakes, but that’s just on my garage, With no one looking over my shoulder, I watch your videos and learn something new, or think yes I had forgotten that, best of all I might learn something new ! I hope you take heart in the fact you are helping 1000s learn a new skill or give “it” a go…., THANKS !
Could you please reupload GATE again ? The Google Drive link above is dead…
Someone here said it still works on Windows 10 (no full screen).
It no longer runs on current computers and I don’t have the time to maintain a 15yo free game, I’m sorry.
I accidentaly found your channel when searching for model steam engine stuff. I hoped there was some compound engine lore out there, but unfortunately I don’t have the tools, the knowlegde, the handyness or the money to get into that by myself. Then I found your in depth building videos on the steam engines and boilers, and been binge watching them for days now. Even it is not a compound engine, which I find technically even more interesting. But I don’t think I will come any closer to the internals of a steam engine build than your videos, because of above reasons.
Also, your videos are just the ideal micture of technical information (I’m a mechanical engineer, so I’m interested in more than just surface info), showing how to do stuff and how not to do it, and humour. And all that presented with very high quality video and a very pleasant and soothing vioce.
Thanks for your work!
Hi, Quinn
I accidentally discovered your YouTube channel and I can say that it captivated me immediately. I follow on YouTube everything I find about mechanical machining, motors, electronics, Arduino. I like everything that is technical or has to do with science. I have known in my life many women who were geniuses in technology and for whom I have all the respect. I subscribed to your channel and I plan to go through all the materials posted there because I have a lot to learn. I also like to do various things on a mini-Chinese lathe, on the kitchen table (!!!). I’m from Romania and if my English isn’t very good, I apologize.
Quinn ,I’m watching the episode where your building a steady rest for the lathe and your at the part.time mark 17:25 where your about to Mill a side of a thin piece of steel . It was scary your saying and I though your the perfect person to donate something extra I have who will probably appreciate it. It’s a 6″ X 6″ electromagnetic chuck/sine plate. It would have been perfect for the job.Its old. From the mid 40’s but in beautiful condition
Kept since new in the wooden crate it was shipped to the original owner all those years ago. If you would like it. I would love be to donate it to your shop you can contact me and I will show you all the pictures you request. All I’d ask is you pay the shipping. I’m old & on a fixed income I just can’t afford to pay the shipping. Donating the chuck is fine since it would be going to a good home. Either way. Your amazing. Keep it up.your very gifted.
Enjoy your youtube channel…too old to start a machining hobby but have always wondered in awe how the precision is accomplished so your teaching with sense of humor has been fun…as an IT professional and electronics hobbyist, had LOL moments when you stitched in search vectors, binary searches (most projects…programming and hardware seem to end up this way) and a couple other terms not typically associated with machining.
best wishes
Is there A PO box that I can send you a copy of your logo I made on my cnc router.
Mike Perry
mperry9025@yahoo.com
Hi Qinn its nice to hear from a woman who is interested in model engineering and someone who knows the subject , i have made the brass slide locks for my mill , brilliant , when i purchased my mill from Chester UK I had overheating problems with the motor and the control unit getting very hot and failing , parts being very expensive meant i would have to do something quick ,the solution i came up with was simple on top of the motor casing i installed a cheao copmputer fan and also another fan to keep the control unit cool ,that was 5years ago and still runs ok i did send an article in to Model Engineer in Minature UK comaniy but they declined my idea seeing they had Chester UK as anadvertiser in their mag .i spoke to a rep of Chester at a model eng show , i got a very curt reply , needles to say i don,t promote Chester any more . i see you were in the Mounties is it true they always get their man ? Brian (79 )
I have really enjoyed your videos since I discovered your site. I am impressed by what you do and accomplish. Thank you for going to the effort to share what you know.
Great job! I like your ideas. We have same interests and hobbies. I am BD in EE working software in PE for last 28 years while also having a passion for electronics and machine-making since childhood. I like your projects and the way you thinking, keep a good work. And here is one of my projects https://youtu.be/ziXmku7p6O0 Srdjan(52)
Hello Quinn, First I wanted to say Thank You for all your efforts and professionalism in creating some of the best content in the community, I thoroughly enjoy your channel and wish you all the success you so richly deserve. I had only one question for you, I saw your presentation on drops, and was wondering about having to do linear compensation on my dro, or is that already done from the factory?? Thanks, Kenneyb
A curious trail through wooden geared clocks, clock history, industrial tool restoration, Chris Budiselic’s Clickspring channel, and various die filer searches related to die filing with scroll saws finally caused YouTube’s algorithms to suggest your channel and of course your interview with Greg Sowell. I wish I had found you about six years ago or more. Your projects and knowledge are fantastic. But what really impresses me Quinn, is your approach that puts humility on display. I am simply in awe.
Aww, thanks! 😀 I’m glad you’re here.
I’ve just finished reading the entire series of Electric Boiler posts, and I must say they are truly inspirational. Thank you for sharing your adventures!
Now if only you could be persuaded to apply your boiler building superpowers to the creation of espresso machines…
Quinn,
Hope all is going well.
We’re missing you on YouTube.
Joe
Hi Quinn.
I trust you are well.
I stumbled upon this again after a few years. I reached out asking for a copy of your game, Gate and I see you had replied.
I remember looking high and low for it. Gate was one of the first programming related games that I played back in the day and probably what set me off on the journey I’m on today.
I look forward to trying to get it to install. If I get it to work I was thinking of relaying it to my partner who uses educational games to teach neurodiverse students. If you have any objections to using your work please let me know.
I look forward to your reply.
Kind regards.
Che
Hi Quinn,
I watched your video on heat-treating tool steel and was taken back to 1958-59 when I made a set of punches and cold chisels for my father in high school metallurgy class. I do woodworking in my retirement and was thinking about making some profile chisels for my wood lathe. Since tool steel is so expensive I was thinking about using used leaf springs. I would like to know your opinion.
Hello Quinn,
I am a retired machinist. I’ve watched your videos with delight for some time now. I find it remarkable that you are self trained. Trust me, you are more competant than many of the Red Tag machinists that I have worked with.
Since retiring, I have set up a small shop in my basement. I ran across Eccentric Engineering’s tool sharpening system some years ago. Seeing your videos have inspired me to finish it. I bought the plans and set myself the challenge that it had to be built from scrap lying around in my shop. Consequently I’ve had to modify the drawings somewhat to accomodate the materials on hand.
Keep up thd good work.
Hi Quinn,
I recently heard about your amazing game “Gate” and I’m very interested in trying it out. I love the concept of using logic gates to control a robot, and it seems like a really exciting and educational game.
Could you please send me a link or instructions on how I can download “Gate”?
Thank you so much for your work and for sharing this interesting projects!
Sorry, it is no longer available. Keeping free software running on modern OSes that change every week was taking too much time and I couldn’t maintain it any longer. It doesn’t run on any current version of MacOS or Windows.
I know it was a long shot, but now I know. Thanks for the reply.