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YamPAD project log 19

A project log for YamPAD - Feature-packed open source macropad

A fully open-source, mechanical, hot-swappable, RGB backlit, QMK powered, OLED screen featuring numpad/macropad.

mattia-dal-benMattia Dal Ben 08/21/2019 at 08:380 Comments

Sorry for taking too long... A few unexpected problems along the way delayed the project completion.

Long story short: I added the oil finish without reading the instructions and I made a mess. Turns out you should remove the excess of oil to avoid turning your piece in a sticky gummy mess.

Anyway I cut the piece again (this time filming it) and obtained the following.

From the last image you should see where this is going... I used fir wood for this. Unfortunately it's too soft and tends to get stringy and furry after cutting. No amount of sandpaper can fix this.

I moved on anyway with the oil hoping in a miracle.

Honestly it looks like garbage...

After the finish (on the right, on the botched piece) you can see that it looks like some plastic wood surrogate.

Then I decided to swap wood essence for the project. Enter beech which seems to inherit some properties from its homophone term when cut. I'll explain...

Beech is a harder wood than fir, which means that it doesn't string or get wooly when cut BUT it creates a lot of chips that get stuck in my CNC rails.

Loosing steps like there's no tomorrow...

So here's the "Improvise. Adapt. Overcome." part. Here's the Poor Man's Dust Shoe (patent pending).

I actually dived in my garbage bin to salvage the parts for this dust shoe... AND IT ACTUALLY WORKED!

The white parts are from my lab's desk packaging (they were meant to protect the corners during shipping), while the transparent plastic part comes from some other packaging. My next project will be a proper dust shoe for the Shapeoko by the way...

Here's the results:

Please note the absence of wooly surfaces.

Now to the oily part...

This is what I'm talking about. This is so much nicer. And yes I fixed the two slots positions because (again) I botched them in the previous iteration...

Anyway, my next post will be (I hope) the final assembly of the YamPAD. This time I think I'm finally satisfied with the results...


Bonus: my lab assistant (pun intended).

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