July 2026 Journal Entries

#0353 (2026-07-26): Matt DiPalma - 03015 (PinchValve)

Designed and printed 2 iterations of this short stroke linear actuator that uses an M4 screw, a T slot nut and a stepper motor, but the stroke on this is currently only 2mm, which is not enough to pinch the silicone tubing, and it needs some chassis that contains the tubing as well.



#0352 (2026-07-24): Matt DiPalma - 03015 (PinchValve)

Printed molds and casted silicone gaskets for the water reservoir nipples.









#0351 (2026-07-21): Matt DiPalma - 03015 (PinchValve)

Wrote test code to sweep servo motion. See video.


#0350 (2026-07-18): Matt DiPalma - 04006 (FurringStripHardware)

Designed and printed 2 joints for furring strips. These have several planned uses.









#0349 (2026-07-18): Matt DiPalma - 04008 (AppleWatchDock)

Designed a dock for an Apple Watch charging dongle. It mounts to the 1-inch thick headboard of a bedframe.



#0348 (2026-07-18): Matt DiPalma - 04007 (WindowCrank)

Designed and printed a window crank. It took 2 iterations of the adapter to get it correct. This sets the stage for an automated window control unit.







#0347 (2026-07-15): Matt DiPalma - 04004 (SlidingGate)

Installed handle. Overall system works very well and is quite smooth to operate. The lightweight nature of the gate is decent but the twine is not especially sturdy, though it would be enough to keep the cat in, which is the intended purpose. The fact that the bottom and cantilevered ends are wholly unsupported does make it seem somewhat fragile. Maybe something could be done to lock the gate in the closed position.


#0346 (2026-07-13): Matt DiPalma - 04004 (SlidingGate)

Installed new bracket assembly to raise the entire gate 4mm, which was enough for ground clearance. Also designed and printed this little knob handle that I will install tomorrow.



#0345 (2026-07-12): Matt DiPalma - 04004 (SlidingGate)

Weaved sisal twine into frame (took a long time) and installed it in on the client's deck. It rubs slightly against the floorboard so I designed and am reprinting the mounting brackets to raise it a few millimeters. In the limit I want to make a handle, some locking feature on the wall end, some soft end cap on the exposed extrusion edge, possibly convert away from 3D-printed ASA to metal components, and make the actual gate a bit more sturdy by running some reinforcement stringers (maybe steel cable).





#0344 (2026-07-11): Matt DiPalma - 04004 (SlidingGate)

Cut 2020 aluminum extrusion for the gate. Drilled holes every inch along each bar for eventual threading of wire. Assembled the entire frame along with the carriage assemblies.



#0343 (2026-07-10): Matt DiPalma - 04005 (SquareBarHook)

Designed and printed some bathroom organization hooks.





#0342 (2026-07-05): Matt DiPalma - 04004 (SlidingGate)

Printed another set of the components to hold the gate at 2 points.


#0341 (2026-07-05): Matt DiPalma - 03015 (PinchValve)

Mark 2 of the pinch valve uses the entire 180 rotation of the cheap servo but will hopefully have enough torque. I could shrink the length of the larger component slightly. It's unclear to me how this would work in a water line since this in effect would need to create 2 bends to keep the line running the same direction, but maybe if there is enough slack it would be OK either way. Need to hook this up to a different controller to get the full rotation, since the one I soldered previously had resistors selected for 45deg.





#0340 (2026-07-03): Matt DiPalma - 03015 (PinchValve)

Soldered 03012-001 servo control board but with 20k and 24k resistors for R1 and R2 to reduce the range of motion to just 45 degrees. Printed and assembled corrected pinch valve geometry mark 1. Unfortunately there is not enough torque to compress even this soft tubing, so we will try something different. I don't want to pivot (no pun intended) to a beefier servo than the lowest-level hobby grade. See video of the fail.







#0339 (2026-07-03): Matt DiPalma - 04004 (SlidingGate)

Designed 3-unique-piece wheeled sliding carriage for the gate. Printed and assembled some of the parts and tested on a short length of 2020 extrusion.







#0338 (2026-07-02): Matt DiPalma - 03015 (PinchValve)

Printed out models and realized I need slightly less distance between the stepper mounting surface and the recess depth in the rotor. Also realized I need to improve bed adhesion before the next print.


#0337 (2026-07-01): Matt DiPalma - 03015 (PinchValve)

Received 8mm OD 6mm ID silicone tubing and did a quick fit test on the 03015-001/2 pinch valve. It does successfully block air when close and allow air through when open, but I noticed a few things that needed to change, so I updated the model to a 3-piece 03015-001A/2A/3A. Started printing this new model overnight.