The project name for the dock just randomly came to me. I’ll be calling it project Black Box, because that’s literally what it is, it’s a black box that does things. It also sounds a tad mysterious to me.
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Now that I’m finally done with uni, hopefully forever (I’m just waiting for grades), project work will be resuming. The first on the list is project Black Box, I’ll be designing the final top part where the magnetic docks and my audio switch will be. I’m still waiting for a couple of parts to come in (hopefully today) and I can get started. Once Black Box is done, I’ll finish of the rest of the list I had for the general desk project.
After that I’ll be going back to Banshee, I need to redesign the rims and my bearing to hex adapters. I’m also going to implement a 1-wire system where I can off-load telemetry and camera footage at once over a single USB cable. I also intend on running a magnetic USB cable from Black Box to my other desk specifically for Banshee.
Then it’ll be a matter of getting through the list of things I need to design and 3D print. Speaking of, project FYHAS isn’t dead yet. I’ll be keeping an eye on the rocket team in uni, when they go for a launch day, I’ll be there to test the pocket rocket. I’ve waited way too long to not test it.
I’m still waiting for Dell to release the i9 XPS 17, when they do I’ll be waiting for one of their big sales and I’ll use a student discount code, because I’m not paying £3K+ for a laptop. When I eventually pick one up, I’ll be back on the PC train as I already have some mods in mind.
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No backpacking trip to Europe?
Applicate far away from home?
Funny you should say that, before corona hit, some friends and I were considering going to Iceland around Feb.
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I’ve already made progress on Banshee’s dock by routing the cable around and making a basic storage solution for when it’s not in use. Now I just need to do the truck-side wiring. I re-purposed my camera dock from a few posts ago as I no longer need a cam. Although, I might use one of the magnetic cables I have coming for a similar dock for my buds.
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More updates (these are going to get more and more frequent).
The last of my parts came in today, I’ve already been making small prototype nests for the magnetic 20 pin connector. I initially wanted to make it such that both magnets were flush with the surface, but found that detaching whatever was docked (in this case an extrnal HDD) would actually just pull the male end out of the device. So I solved it by only making the female-side magnet flush.
I started prototyping a more compact headphone stand that will also have a charging dock for my buds, a prototype desk-corner mount is printing as I type this. I’m considering the headphone stand as an off-shoot of Black Box.
I ordered a small USB hub to mount inside Banshee so that I can have the camera and programmer (for programming the ESC and off-loading telemetry) on one cable, then I realised that I can save a lot of space by de-soldering all the USB connectors and just running direct cables, didn’t have time to solder today so I only derived the pinout with a quick continuity test. I might do the soldering tomorrow if I don’t get carried away with the headphone stand design.
It’s so nice to be able to just focus on my projects without having to stress over uni.
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What the hell did you want in Iceland in February?
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Umm a holiday? We were planning on Feb specifically because our friend group is spread all over the country and we’re all doing different things, we estimated Feb to be roughly the time we’re all free.
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Yeah, that I get.
Just the weather on Iceland in February is hard, even for you.
That doesn’t bother us too much. My concern is more that everything cost a fortune over there, even more so than here.
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Just a quick note, if you see bits of my site changing over today and tomorrow, it’s only temporary. I’m helping my society in uni by posing as a fake engineering company of sorts.
Whaaat?? 
It’s for a test run they’re doing for a virtual conference. I’m one of their test presenters and I have to impersonate someone from a fictional company, figured I’d temporarily modify my site to make it look like a company site. To be honest I’m only really probably going to change the banner.
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Tell me when it’s ready, I want to see 
I’ve done it. Change isn’t massive, I’ve swapped the banner, taken away a few of the usual blocks and removed the application button. This is only to help sell the lie, I don’t think anyone will actually visit it. 
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I see, it’s the same lol
I don’t want to spend too much time putting it back the way it was, that’s why.
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Yeah, you’re right… I was just really curious about it, seeing you as a company leader 
I said I’m impersonating a fake company. lol
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I feel like nobody actually reads what I post.
Also the mobile version is total garbage, it gets rid of most of the site. You have to switch to the web version on mobile.