iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 08/10/2026

Still waiting on the sight glass, but the oil seals came in, so the turret has been reassembled with all its spindles. A couple of the bearings in there were feeling a bit chunky, so I replaced all those as well. And new snap rings, too! (Yes, it only ever had 5 […] [Original post on clacks.link]

A blue cylinder of cast aluminum. There are 6 spindles sticking out radially from it, 5 of which have small Jacobs chucks on them. It is labeled BURGMASTER in the casting, plus 1-6 labelling each spindle.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 07/10/2026

I've been thinking about making an exoplanet orrery, because ultra-short period planets could fix the biggest problems with orreries: scale. It really bugs me that you can't (practically) show the planets and their orbits and the sun all on the same scale in our […] [Original post on clacks.link]

Diagrams of the WASP-19 and WASP-47 systems, all done in the same scale. The first has a single planet about a 10th the size of the star, about 3 stellar radiuses out. The second has 3 planets, only one of which is large enough to see on this scale. The innermost is almost grazing the star's photosphere, while the other 2 are farther out than the hot Jupiter in the first example.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 07/10/2026

@hannah I like that they made it paint-by-numbers-able.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 06/10/2026

The Last Chance (1945) A POW/refugee escape film with actors who had actually escaped a POW camp, shot in Switzerland while the war was still going on. The acting/writing isn't always the strongest, but overall it's fine with a couple pretty good moments. More importantly, the urgency and fear […]

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 06/10/2026

Update: Turns out the oil seals were trivially available on Amazon, so that's sorted. And after a false start, I think I've figured out the proper replacement for the sight glass. The key there was to look for a "Bijur Window Unit", which somehow never came up during searches for press-fit sight […]

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 05/10/2026

I've added number set symbols to my collection of technical concept emoji, for those interested: www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/eokvzxxf24j5…

A list of emoji image files in a Dropbox: gdnt-straightness, gdnt-total-runout, number_set_complex, number_set_integer, number_set_natural, number_set_rational, number_set_real, platonic-solid-dodecahedron, platonic-solid-hexahedron

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 05/10/2026

Not a wildly productive weekend, but I got the balancing spring in the Burgmaster lever mechanism cleaned up, regreased and remounted. It had snapped at some point before I got it, but close to its inner attachment point, possibly because its lube had gone crusty […] [Original post on clacks.link]

The grey-green body of a mid-20th-century turret drill press, with the lever arm attached to the squat cylinder of the coil spring housing. It is sitting on the welding table in an unfinished shop space.

The coil spring inside its housing. There are at least 9 complete wraps around the outside, with the inch-wide spring bolted in the middle to thick shaft.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 05/10/2026

It's okay to do a little phrenology just to dial in the fit of custom eyeglasses, right?

Fish looking unsure as he measures the width of his head with an old pair of calipers.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 04/10/2026

I just watched the season finale of Jet Lag in a theater, one of dozens of showings. Which was a lot of fun and still deeply weird.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 03/10/2026

@futurebird I once saw dancers on ropes on the side of the Space Needle, on one of the leg sections just short of vertical. The end result was low gravity ballet, utterly gorgeous. I bet you could make that work with those rotating ring harnesses they use for filming zero gravity special effect […]

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

There are a couple more super huge ones I want to track down, but the reduced shank/Silver-Deming drill bit collection is now complete up to 1". To celebrate, I finally installed the drawers in amongst all the other cabinets on the old workbench.

$And old grey metal set of small drawers, open to reveal a set of reduced shank/Silver Deming drill bits. These are sitting in slots in 3D printed organizers with the size in fractional and decimal printed into the top surface in a contrasting color. All the slots are filled in the lower 3 drawers, but in the top there are 2 empty slots visible.$ A wider view of the drawers, showing them surrounded by filing card cabinets and Huot drill/tap cabinets on a very cluttered old folding table.

A wider view of the drawers, showing them surrounded by filing card cabinets and Huot drill/tap cabinets on a very cluttered old folding table.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

@futurebird I've been poking at this in Inkscape ever since you posted it, and I finally figure it out!

A series of configurations of the puzzle board starting with the initial condition and ending with the win state.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 29/09/2026

Help, I'm becoming a weird coffee person... but I think I've dialed in the grind setting acceptably.

A kitchen counter with 4 mugs of coffee in a row, the results of a series of experiments in grind settings. Behind them are various bits of pour over equipment.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 27/09/2026

@foxxtrot Yeah, I'm not super convinced it will work. But it seems worth a try before anything more involved.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 27/09/2026

With the help of a janky homemade spanner, I've managed to get all the individual drill spindles removed from the Burgmaster head. This means I can replace their cracked oil seals and the broken sight glass on the front. ...how exactly I'm going to do this has […] [Original post on clacks.link]

A worn, squat blue cylinder with "BURGMASTER" cast into its face, surrounded by the numerals 1-6 around the circumference. It is sitting on some 2x4 sections, on which 6 spindles are also sitting. Some of these still have small Jacobs chucks attached, all have bearings and worm gears.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 27/09/2026

@Unixbigot Somewhere I've got a wifi poster (promotional for some router manufacturer) from the early 2000s that shows all the "warchalking" symbols for marking public wifi in an area. Also unsure just how much that was ever used, other than the one time my friends and I did.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2026

María Candelaria (1944) This is the first true Grand Prix of this project, awarded in Cannes' long-postponed inaugural year of 1946. Get used to that year, because the jury got a bit carried away and awarded ELEVEN grands prix, most of which will be new to me. This is a tragic love story that […]

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 24/09/2026

@NNN I find it fascinating that we still say a clock is running fast, but now we just mean it's set slightly ahead, not (necessarily) that it is getting farther and farther ahead every day. It used to be a statement of velocity, now it's one of relative position. Technological change has taken […]

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 21/09/2026

@LabSpokane I'll put up STLs for my part along with the build video. (I can't share the STL for the base frames, as I bought those, but it was only like $10 and they're much nicer than any other eyeglass frame model I found.)

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 21/09/2026

There is still a lot of work to be done, but the adjustable glasses -- the idea that got me playing with custom, homemade glasses in the first place -- are actually vaguely functional. All distance, all close up, or classic progressives in between, all at the turn of a knob.

Fish wearing a frankly ridiculous eyeglass frame. The across the top is a rod with small pinion gears on it. Over the left eye only, as this is still a prototype, there is a blue plastic lens holder that has rack gears on its front so it can be adjusted up and down. There is a slightly awkward concavity in the holder and lens on its lower, inboard corner, a cut out to make room for the nose when it is lowered.

Same, but down it has been lowered to distance-only mode. The need for the nose cutout is very clear here, and in fact could probably stand to be another millimeter or so deeper.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 20/09/2026

I finally got the Burgmaster base properly mounted on the stand. This was all half way through modifications to put the turret drill on a small X-Y mill table when I bought the parts, so it's a weird mishmash. I had to add some adapter plates between the table […] [Original post on clacks.link]

An old grey-green X-Y table mounted on an old grey-green (but a different grey-green) steel cabinet. On top of the table a fairly massive but obviously homemade block of aluminum is bolted on, with two precision ground shafts projecting up from it. In the background, shop clutter.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 20/09/2026

@andyjennings How often do you drive? I've gotten along pretty well with just a 120V L1 charger that plugs into any outlet, since it's just keeping a PHEV topped off, with days between most trips.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 18/09/2026

Union Pacific (1939) I was too lazy to figure out a new project to start, but I missed the excuse to go rent physical media every week. So I'm just going to go back and watch all the Grand Prix winners, from before Cannes rebranded the award as the Palme D'or in 1955. This is a particularly […]

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 16/09/2026

@hannah I seem to remember the text said someone was "kah-ming" which left me rather perplexed until looking at the Latin and seeing it was actually "calming".

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 16/09/2026

I took part in this study last month, and it was a nice, chill conversation. The researcher is looking for more input from the AI-skeptic side of the maker community, so I offered to pass the link along. Most of the people reading this will lean in that direction, I'm pretty sure! […]

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Reposted by Matthew Dockrey

highly praised and little read @hannah.posts.rat.pictures.ap.brid.gy · 13/09/2026

Snagged a book printed in bernard shaw’s weird little phonetic alphabet

The shaw alphabet version of androcles and the lion with included key card

The first page with both traditional latin alphabet and shaw’s goofy one

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 14/09/2026

@hannah Complete with the key card, nice! I managed to read through the Shavian once, but the fact it's encoding ultraproper received pronunciation was almost as big of a hurdle as the symbols.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 13/09/2026

And a bit more lathe work and some keyway broaching, and it's done! Feels like it should work just fine. It'll be an improvement on the original, to be sure.

A length of 1.5" rod with a 24 DP, 34 tooth gear cut on the end. It is mounted in a horizontal bandsaw, and the end with a turned hub is being sliced off.

The original and replacement gears sitting next to each other. The original is darker and missing almost 3/4 of its teeth. Otherwise they are identical.

The new gear sitting on the quill rack from the Burgmaster turret drill. It appears to mesh perfectly.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 13/09/2026

Tonight I got back to working on the Burgmaster turret drill restoration, cutting the teeth on what will become the replacement gear for moving the quill up and down. One of those evenings where 90% of the time is spent dialing in a setup, but it seems to have […] [Original post on clacks.link]

A dividing head set up horizontally on the table of a vertical mill. A long length of 1.5" stainless is held in its chuck, supported at the far end by a cheap little tail stock. In the quill of the mill is an arbor with a gear cutter mounted.

Close up on the end of the rod, which is being held by a blurry hand. 34 gear teeth have been cut around its perimeter, stretching back about an inch and a half.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 10/09/2026

Oh good fucking god, I was just trying to search for the book, and Google decided to start writing one for me based on the search string.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 10/09/2026

@ish It's from that same moment, definitely. But I reread Earth about 15 years ago, and that wasn't it.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 10/09/2026

RE: techhub.social/@rayckeith/117243760… Finally, something from a cyberpunk novel I'm excited to see in real life! ...not that I can remember where I saw the idea. Random library book from 1993 or so, possibly YA. There each frame was signed with the private keys of news […]

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 06/09/2026

Update: everything turned out fine, and I'm on my way home. I took the opportunity on my way out to finally stop to get some proper pictures of one of my favorite trees in the world, this lonely juniper in a pullout on Nevada 447 in the absolute middle of nowhere.

A large juniper tree stands in the middle of a gravel turnout. Behind it is a very small highway and brown hills with exposed rocky outcrops. There are no other trees in sight.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 05/09/2026

@sundogplanets I once 3D printed out the continents so I could directly compare their size and shapes, after realizing that neither a globe nor any projection could ever truly do that. Plus, it's neat to see their *real* shapes, curved into 3D!

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 04/09/2026

@moira It strikes me this will hurt rural voters a lot more than urban. Still an evil, explicit attack on democracy, of course, but I'm wondering if it might not hurt them more.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 04/09/2026

It's been raining on and off for the last 12 hours, turning the lovely dust into the stickiest mud known to science. I've instituted the lifeboat contingency, and will be hiding in the back of the uhaul until conditions improve. And honestly, it's not bad! I've […] [Original post on clacks.link]

The back end of a uhaul truck with the door partially rolled up. Backed up against one corner of it is the bike RV, a boxy structure made from silver insulation foam, strapped onto a very long cargo trike, with 200W of solar on top. The ground is very, very muddy, with puddles in many areas. It is very chewed up around the bike RV, from it being manhandled into docking position with the uhaul.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 03/09/2026

There have been more than a couple technical difficulties, but the bike RV is rolling, at least a little bit. #biketooter

A small, boxy structure made from silver foam insulation panels is strapped down on top of a very large cargo trike. It is rear heavy enough to lift up the front of the bike when no one is in the saddle, but there is a pair of adjustable trailer jack casters on the back to help with this. There is a solar panel strapped to the roof. It is very dusty, sitting in front of a row of very dusty portapotties.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 31/08/2026

I ended up deciding to just get a very early start tomorrow, but everything is loaded up and ready to go. I was definitely right not to attach the roof of the hexayurt quite yet. Also, it turns out the truck dimensions uhaul quotes includes the little cubby above […] [Original post on clacks.link]

The bike RV, a very long cargo trike with a living compartment on the back made from 1" foam insulation panels, mostly loaded in the back of a 15' uhaul truck.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 30/08/2026

Final prep has been even more frantic than expected, after the chain broke in two(!) places when I put my weight on it. Not a welcome development, but I'm glad it happened before I'd left! I've managed to replace it with the last of my spool of #40 industrial […] [Original post on clacks.link]

A very large cargo trike, with a bed that is a full 4' x 8' sheet of plywood. The bed sticks out far beyond the rear wheels, and has trailer jacks in the back as adjustable casters. Equipment can be seen mounted in the frame under the deck. It is obviously quite tail heavy, as the front wheel is currently lifted clear of the ground, and the whole thing tips backwards.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 29/08/2026

It's only tacked together, but the hexayurt is complete. Still to do: Fully tape up the seams, except joining the roof, as it probably won't fit in the uhaul with that attached. Connect the walls to the deck, add the tape loops to the roof for the straps which […] [Original post on clacks.link]

A boxy structure 4' wide and 8' long made out of shiny silver insulation panels, on a platform on the back of a very long cargo trike. It has a slightly pitched (30 degree) roof. The forward side has bevelled edges, a design flourish I definitely didn't come to regret.

The rear view of the hexayurt, which isn't bevelled but flat. There is a large door set in the rear panel, and the roof jets out over it to form the vague gesture of a portico.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 28/08/2026

Whew! The blade jammed twice and broke once, but it's still a remarkably planar cut.

The cut finished, showing signs of multiple repositions of the round in the chuck as it was cut, but still with a face flat to within a millimeter at least.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 28/08/2026

I think I'm going to be here for a while.

A 6" round of aluminum being cut on a horizontal bandsaw that looks to only be just barely large enough for the task.

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Matthew Dockrey @attoparsec.clacks.link.ap.brid.gy · 27/08/2026

Newton could predict mountaintop observatories, but not adaptive optics.

Cropped picture of text on a Page of a book, where many of the Nouns are randomly capitalized in an early modern English fashion:

"Long Telescopes may cause Objects to appear brighter and larger than short ones can do, but they cannot be so formed as to take away that confusion of the Rays which arises from the Tremors of the Atmosphere. The only Remedy is a most serene and quiet Air, such as may perhaps be found on the tops of the highest Mountains above the grosser Clouds."

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