beam

27 Articles

Bokeh photo of red light particles in the dark

Beam Me Up: Simple Free-Space Optical Communication

December 29, 2024 by 26 Comments

Let’s think of the last time you sent data without wires. We’re not talking WiFi here, but plain optical signals. Free-space optical communication, or FSO, is an interesting and easy way to transmit signals through light beams. Forget expensive lasers or commercial-grade equipment; this video by [W1VLF] offers a simple and cheap entry point for anyone with a curiosity for DIY tech. Inspired by a video on weak signal sources for optical experiments, this project uses everyday components like a TV remote-control infrared LED and a photo diode. The goal is simply to establish optical communication across distances for under $10. Continue reading “Beam Me Up: Simple Free-Space Optical Communication” →

Makerpipe Turns Conduit Into Structures

September 27, 2024 by 25 Comments

At the risk of stating the obvious, building big things can be difficult. Sure, parts that fit on the bed of a 3D printer are easy to make, if not particularly fast, and scaling up from there is possible. But if you need a long beam or structural element, printing makes little sense; better to buy than build in that case. The trouble then becomes, how do you attach such parts together?

Enter Makerpipe. This South Carolina company, recently out of a crowdfunding campaign, makes a range of structural connectors and fittings for electrical mechanical tubing, or EMT, the galvanized steel conduit used in the electrical trades. EMT is widely available in multiple sizes and is relatively cheap, although we have noticed that the price here has ticked up quite a bit over the last couple of years. It also has the advantage of being available off-the-shelf at any big-box home improvement store, meaning you have instant access to a fantastic building material.

Makerpipe’s bolt-together couplings let you turn pieces of EMT, easily cut with a hacksaw or pipe cutter, into structures without the need for welding. Yes, you can do the same with extruded aluminum, but even if you’re lucky enough to live near a supply house that carries extrusions and the necessary fittings and is open on Saturday afternoon, you’ll probably pay through the nose for it.

Makerpipe isn’t giving their stuff away, and while we normally don’t like to feature strictly commercial products, something that makes building large structures easier and faster seems worth sharing with our community. We’ve done our share of fabricobbling together EMT structures after all, and would have killed for fittings like these.

Continue reading “Makerpipe Turns Conduit Into Structures” →

3D printed test jig to determine the yield point of a centrally loaded 3D printed beam.

One Object To Print, But So Many Settings!

February 25, 2024 by 12 Comments

When working with an FDM 3D printer your first prints are likely trinkets where strength is less relevant than surface quality. Later on when attempting more structural prints, the settings become very important, and quite frankly rather bewildering. A few attempts have been made over the years to determine in quantifiable terms, how these settings affect results and here is another such experiment, this time from Youtuber 3DPrinterAcademy looking specifically at the effect of wall count, infill density and the infill pattern upon the strength of a simple beam when subjected to a midpoint load.