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Mᴀʀᴋ VᴀɴᴅᴇWᴇᴛᴛᴇʀɪɴɢ
@brainwagon.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
He/Him. Formerly Senior Technical Director, Pixar Animation Studios. K6HX. Telescope Maker. Tinkerer. Woodworker. Programmer. Open source afficionado. Enthusiast […]

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Playing with nano banana to add some elements to a photo I took several years ago. #merrychristmas all.
December 8, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Patchouli and Petey. happy #caturday!
December 6, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Used #3dprinting to make a keyfob that contains an NFC RFID tag that stores my vcard. Now, if I want someone to have my phone/email, they can just tap this fob and get it added to their contact list.
December 6, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Not everything is better as a live action remake.
December 3, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Sunspots today. #astrophotography
December 2, 2025 at 8:27 PM
More laughs from evil technology: myself as Grand Toff Markin.
December 2, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Quick rendering of the first rough case for my "findr" project. Lots more clean up and stylization to do.
December 1, 2025 at 8:48 AM
I should let my beard grow out. #happyholidays
November 29, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Late for #caturday, but too cute not to share. :blobcat:
November 24, 2025 at 6:59 PM
One of the first things I printed on the new 3D printer was a "poop chute". When you do multicolor prints, there is a lot of waste blobs as the extruder flushes out the wrong color filament, and these get ejected out a port in the back. So, you need a little […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
November 21, 2025 at 10:52 PM
A new era in #3dprinting for me: a basic nametag as a test, using the random PLA colors I had loaded. Success! New printer is an #anycubic Korba S1 Combo, which I got a pretty good deal on. Software is a bit quirky, but it seems pretty functional.
November 21, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Used my lowrider CNC to test cut a foam insert for my toolbox from some scrap harbor freight anti-fatigue mat. https://brainwagon.org/blog/2025_11_19_foam_insert_test/
November 19, 2025 at 7:34 PM
First live test of my "findr" project: i set it out on the back patio aimed at the north east sky, and started acquiring images. When I flip from "live" mode to "solve" mode, it captures images, extracts star positions, and then uses the tetra3 library to do […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
November 19, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Added some additional space for my new (and yet not arrived) 3D printer, as well as a new electrical junction box for additional power outlets. https://brainwagon.org/blog/2025_11_18_space_for_new_printer/
November 19, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Added a stand in for the camera model in my onshape housing design.
November 17, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Decided to go with a Waveshare UPS Hat for my "findr" scope project: a Raspberry Pi 5 powered camera. I started roughing in some models to stand in for the internal parts so I could make a design for a 3D printed case.
November 16, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Making headway on "findr", my Raspberry Pi based plate solving camera.
November 13, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Now the computed image will include slightly better IDs than just the Hipparcos catalog number, including greek letters as appropriate.
November 12, 2025 at 4:54 PM
It's cloudy tonight, so I can't test this for real under the stars, but I have some data I acquired from a couple of nights ago. The tetra3 plate solver is really awesome and fast: so much so the other processing is the bottleneck. Stars are currently labeled […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
November 12, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Prototype computerized finder scope is more or less complete/functional, on a baby camera tripod. It has a 3D printed Vixen style dovetail, which should make it easy to mount on a telescope when I get it working better. If it is clear tonight, I am going to […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
November 11, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Prototype #astronomy / #telescopemaking project: a basic Raspberry Pi 5 based camera, with an IMX296 based camera and a 25mm lens. It can acquire images which can be used with a plate solver, and figure out what stars are visible in the field. The acquisition […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
November 11, 2025 at 1:58 AM
I had a device that had a mangled M2 thread, so I thought it would be good to get a small, cheap tap set from Amazon. And wow, is the tap wrench cheap and terrible. But it does the job. I designed and printed this little holder: the same magnet that fastens […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
November 10, 2025 at 7:39 PM
I'm just lately binge watching "The Expanse." I'm enjoying it, for all the reasons that left me rather "meh" about Alien Earth. Not perfect, but good to watch.
November 10, 2025 at 5:15 AM
Dumb waste of time designed and printed for today: a little bit holder for the set of five nut driver bits for my impact driver. I keep misplacing them, so I made this little holder with spaces for all of them, and an embedded magnet to attach them to my pegboard.
November 9, 2025 at 1:27 AM
My shop is a catastrophe. #sigh
November 8, 2025 at 4:45 PM