Author: moosh

The PITA (Pain In The Ass) box is a fun/funny vessel to give a gift of cash, etc. The premise is that the box must be taken to one or more pre-defined (by me in the code) GPS locations before mechanically unlocking itself.

The first PITA box, crammed into a water bottle so all it’s guts and glory are visible. Note the flickering screen is an artifact of the video recording process. In real life the screen does not display such artifacts.

Because it’s based on the ESP8266 module, the PITA box offers a WiFi access point in order to connect and control the device. Once the “game” has ended, instructions are given on connecting and resetting the box.

I’ve made two of them so far, each one in a very different container. The bottle was version 0, and this box version 1:

The top of this PITA box sports a small screen and the GPS antenna

Inside is the madness of the device, including a ESP8266 MCU, GPS module, motor controller, Li-Ion battery management system (BMS) and mechanical puzzle housing with stepper motor attached.

And here is the bottom with the “payload” exposed.

The next PITA box will possibly be built with a simpler lock/unlocking system and a single board PCB. Stay tuned!

My rechargeable bike light (Planet Bike Roho 100) no longer takes a charge. I cracked it open and discovered the Li-ion battery is dead. Fortunately I have another battery (from an old digital camera) approximately the same size, just a little thicker. Let’s see if it all can be made whole again.

To accommodate the larger battery I printed standoff extenders (green, in image below). The original screws aren’t long enough to go through the circuit board and extenders into the original standoffs so I glued wires in place instead.

The circuit board now hovers over the larger battery, and the bent wires keep it snug.

Now , when the original parts are dry fit, a gap forms around the unit. What’s need is a collar of some sort to fill the gap. It took several attempts to get it right.

The last thing is to replace the rubber caps over the switch and USB port then glue it together!

Lastly, it’s time to charge the new battery!

Even if you’re not an avid cyclist chances are you have one or more dead innertubes lying around. I’ve used one to create a bunch of stretch ties that have held up pretty well. They’re not elegant but seem to work! Bodge or hack, I guess it’s up to you to decide

Using a paper punch I added holes at regular spacing to accommodate different attachment points.

As for the attachment points themselves, I used zip ties clamped around the rails of my bike rack. The idea is to use the head of the zip tie as an anchor point.

Wrapping the strap around the zip tie locks it into place

Ditto for the other end. In no case has this come undone, even in the punishing environment of a bikepacking trip on single-track and gravel roads.

Pretty simple, really. And two seasons of bikepacking have proven (to me, at least) they are robust and trustworthy. The nice thing is if one ever breaks it’s easy to craft a new one, even out in the field.

My friend Phil has a vintage pair of Avalon Acoustics speakers that survived a house fire, taking some damage along the way. These speakers, while currently in terrible disrepair, are incredibly well made. The interior of each is lined with lead sheeting an contains a beefy crossover circuit.

The worst of it one of the speakers has a tweeter missing it’s backing magnet. I wonder if replacements exist? [UPDATE] Said friend actually found the missing magnet. He’s had it for nearly two decades sitting on top of his refrigerator!

With the tweeter re-assembled and new woofer soldered in place, we’re almost there.

Finally the second speaker is made whole again. And they sound GREAT!

This year’s card was more difficult to produce than most. To make sure it could be folded properly we created and used an automated creasing tool. Check it out:

Here’s the tool in action on a real card:

Once it proved itself, it was time to really open the faucet and go into production mode:

I drew each panel about 2x the final size. This makes it much easier to add details and watercolor. The original card design was hand built and folded on a thinner piece of paper. You can see the folding pattern highlighted in sharpie marker. Dotted lines are “valley” folds, solid lines “mountain” folds. The image on the computer screen is the CNC “tool path”, aligned with the printed card. The crease tool follows that tool path to create a precise folding pattern. Once off the machine, there is still plenty of manual creasing and folding necessary.