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geekhack Community => Other Geeky Stuff => Topic started by: FloFoer94 on Fri, 07 July 2017, 03:51:06

Title: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: FloFoer94 on Fri, 07 July 2017, 03:51:06
I don't know if someone here is like me in that aspect, but i really like stuff way more that is somewhat unique, interesting and deviating from the standard boring/plastic pc stuff.

So if someone else feels the same way and has something interesting around his desk - may it be electronics or non-electronic like office utils, writing stuff, decorations etc. - feel free to show it off ;)

I'll start with something i discovered yesterday: A company called SlavaTech. They are producing USB hubs, extensions and sticks with some steampunk appeal to it. Apparently handmade out of wood, copper and sometimes (real, but decorative) vacuum tubes.
Have a look here: http://www.slavatech.lv/product-category/usb-hubs/ (http://www.slavatech.lv/product-category/usb-hubs/)
I ordered the only hub they have that is designated as USB 3.0 in the blue lit tube variant. I'm looking forward to see it in person once it arrives.

The wooden USB extension boxes could also be nice to connect a keyboard to: http://www.slavatech.lv/product-category/usb-extensions/page/2/ (http://www.slavatech.lv/product-category/usb-extensions/page/2/)
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: SBJ on Fri, 07 July 2017, 06:12:39
I don't know if this is suitable.
But I'm really into good looking headphone holders. You can get some pretty awesome ones made out of wood.
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/5-headphone-stands-to-display-your-cans-179788 There's a ton of inspiration here.
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: FloFoer94 on Fri, 07 July 2017, 08:17:50
Quote from: StickyBlueJuice on Fri, 07 July 2017, 06:12:39
I don't know if this is suitable.
But I'm really into good looking headphone holders. You can get some pretty awesome ones made out of wood.
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/5-headphone-stands-to-display-your-cans-179788 There's a ton of inspiration here.

Yeah i think everything that belongs to a desk/office setup is suitable. Everything besides keyboards maybe, because these are already handled enough on other places of this forum, except for maybe something similar to a datamancer.
I must agree with you, they look really nice. I for my part still never picked one up because i don't know where to put one conveniently.
My headphones are simply hanging on a "brainwavz hooka" which is taped to the side of my desk, out of sight, but in arms reach.
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: tp4tissue on Fri, 07 July 2017, 09:42:15
If geekhack wants to chip in for a laser cutter,  we can cut a million of these things in an hour..



Also, the cut boxes from slavatech is complete amateur hour ..

Notice the gap in the fit, and where the pegs protrude past one another.

They didn't properly compensate for the Width of the laser burn

it's usually approximately 0.022mm , but could be more or less depending on the temperature and cut speed.

It's a huge gap,  because if you have two inside cuts meet,  then your gap is 0.044..


And they don't seem to care about the making sure the cuts are done on the inside of the workpiece, because many of the edges look like they were done from the outside.



The laser doesn't cut a channel at 90 degrees,  it's up to something like 2.5 degrees diagonal


Which means, if you had the burn on the inside, the outside has the potential to meet flush

While if you had the burn on the outside,  then you either get large gaps, or overhangs..




These guys either don't know what they're doing..

Or they have a poorly calibrated machine.

Or I guess they could just have a really bad machine that produces poor linearity..



[attach=1]

[attach=2]

[attach=3]
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: t8c on Fri, 07 July 2017, 09:47:14
(http://www.umart.com.au/dbs/images/pic/31044.jpg)

I have one of these, imported from Japan. Looks great, very functional and easy to secure & rotate. Audio Technica  :D
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: tp4tissue on Fri, 07 July 2017, 10:16:09
Quote from: t8c on Fri, 07 July 2017, 09:47:14
Show Image
(http://www.umart.com.au/dbs/images/pic/31044.jpg)


I have one of these, imported from Japan. Looks great, very functional and easy to secure & rotate. Audio Technica  :D



I could bend something out of copper coat hangers to do that..  SUPER unique.. !!

Hahahaha..

Naw,  that looks good, how much is one of those..  why did it have to be imported ? special branding?
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: ___q on Fri, 07 July 2017, 11:08:06
Not functional at all, but I have a tungsten cube (https://midwesttungsten.com/1-5-tungsten-kilo-cube-with-base-best-seller/) on my desk. It's very dense, I pick it up sometimes. I really like it a lot, but I'm not totally sure why.
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: tp4tissue on Fri, 07 July 2017, 15:57:49
Quote from: ___q on Fri, 07 July 2017, 11:08:06
Not functional at all, but I have a tungsten cube (https://midwesttungsten.com/1-5-tungsten-kilo-cube-with-base-best-seller/) on my desk. It's very dense, I pick it up sometimes. I really like it a lot, but I'm not totally sure why.

wow.. ur rich..

is that pure tungsten,  do they have one in tungsten carbide?
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: Shapey Fiend on Sun, 09 July 2017, 06:41:10
If you want a cool looking box for your desk just go to antique shops. It mightn't work as a usb hub but it'll be somewhere to say keep a pen, paperclips and post-it notes.
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: mrduul on Sun, 09 July 2017, 21:40:25
Looking for high quality driving wheel
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: tp4tissue on Mon, 10 July 2017, 01:57:18
Quote from: mrduul on Sun, 09 July 2017, 21:40:25
Looking for high quality driving wheel

pssssst,   rich people have drivers,  you're just middle class.
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: Leslieann on Mon, 10 July 2017, 03:55:42
Quote from: tp4tissue on Fri, 07 July 2017, 09:42:15
If geekhack wants to chip in for a laser cutter,  we can cut a million of these things in an hour..
Even 40 in an hour would be a stretch, in fact a more realistic number would be 10, especially if there is any etching involved.
They are not that fast unless you have a much, much higher wattage and something other than stepper motors and that's not cheap (as in, you could buy a high end luxury car for less).

As for their kerf...
Some of that could be bad CAD design, but there are things that do effect the kerf. More air helps keep from burning the wood as bad but will cause a wider kerf, you also set a wider kerf when cutting certain plastics, otherwise the plastic will weld itself together after being cut. While they may be cutting plastics on the side (or their primary business), I'm betting they are using a lot of air to keep flames and smoke from darkening the wood and not need to protect it with a mask which would drive up costs.


By the way, many local hacker/maker spaces have laser cutters you can use, some have short (often free) classes to teach you how to use them (takes about 15-20 minutes) and you are good to go. Some will also want you to be a member to use it, or while a member will often do it for a club donation, membership is often pretty cheap and brings lots of other equipment you can use. My local one has a full metal, wood and electronics shop.
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: tp4tissue on Mon, 10 July 2017, 04:40:06
etching is slower, because that is highly dependent on the speed of the motors/ motor controller,   and complexity of etching.

For just cutouts however , they're super fast. definitely can cut hundreds in an hour, even on a the budget 90watt lasers.

As for air, it's not that much no more than 15psi is necessary.  the venting is more of an issue.
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: Leslieann on Mon, 10 July 2017, 07:58:09
Quote from: tp4tissue on Mon, 10 July 2017, 04:40:06
etching is slower, because that is highly dependent on the speed of the motors/ motor controller,   and complexity of etching.

For just cutouts however , they're super fast. definitely can cut hundreds in an hour, even on a the budget 90watt lasers.
Sorry Tp, but you're simply wrong here.

1 inch per second is quite fast for a 100w laser cutting 1/4in ply (based on Camfive's $7500 100w laser cutter who promotes theirs this way on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3_Y3mxMF2M)), that's not taking into account complicated curves or multiple sharp corners on something like these boxes would need. I own and have access to 3 lasers of similar power and they all run pretty close to this speed as well, so it's not just that one brand.

So... Let's take a rather small USB hub and run the numbers.
4inches for the top (perimeter), plus the added length to make the joints would triple that number, so 12 seconds, add about 3 seconds simply because of acceleration rates and rounding (the small cut size hurts it here) so 15 seconds per top and bottom. Figure 10 seconds per side and 8 per end, we'll say 4 seconds travel time just to round out the numbers.

That's about 1minute 10 seconds per box.
Let's say I'm off by 10 seconds seconds and make it an even minute, you still have to remove parts and replace the wood, and set origin each time, which takes time. Yes, you can do more than one per chunk of wood/batch and use a jig to avoid resetting origin each time, but you still have all those parts to collect and clean up after each batch, so odds are, 40, maybe 50 per hour is a more reasonable number. Even if you doubled the speeds, it's a far cry from hundreds per hour. You also do not want to run your laser at 100% all of the time as they are a consumable item and this causes it to wear faster. The less power you use and the colder you keep it, the longer it lasts, so even these numbers are optimistic, we use a water chiller to keep ours just above freezing and run it usually at no more than 80%.

Yes, there are industrial machines that run faster, and cut larger chunks of wood, but you are talking a LOT of money and they are not using a wimpy 100 Co2 watt laser.


By the way, etching complexity is incorrect. Motor speed and surface area matter here, but not complexity, it simply runs over it and turns the laser on and off while going back and forth over the project, there are no turns. Cutting is where complexity matters as the head has to make multiple turns, accelerating and slowing down for each turn rather than just sweeping back and forth while blinking the laser.
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: tp4tissue on Mon, 10 July 2017, 09:33:34
That's not quarter inch ply wood,  that looks like 2 or 3 mm model airplane wood.

You don't remove part each time. and rezero the machine.


You just go on the cad cut out,   click multiply,   and set 100 pieces on a single 1 meter by 1 meter sheet.  and off it goes..



etching complexity matters a whole lot, because there are different etching algorithms which make different etch patterns..



Acceleration and turns are seldom problems on lasers because the head weights nothing , and there's very little resistence.



With the 3mm wood,  we're looking at least 2 inches per second,  if you got a good tube, and good focus/beam hardware, you can push that up to 2.5 maybe even 3.



That cam 5 laser isn't even worth $7000,  that's a $3000 machine these days if we buy from aliexpress..

They're just flippers cashing in on people who don't know.
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: Halverson on Mon, 10 July 2017, 09:41:41
TP, shhhhhhhh, it's not your thread. Make a new one for your laser cutting mathematics
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: Dernubenfrieken on Mon, 10 July 2017, 09:53:56
Quote from: Shapey Fiend on Sun, 09 July 2017, 06:41:10
If you want a cool looking box for your desk just go to antique shops. It mightn't work as a usb hub but it'll be somewhere to say keep a pen, paperclips and post-it notes.

Phillies Blunt boxes are a personal favorite, and are available at nearly every thrift store. Old school tin box goodness.
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: Coreda on Mon, 10 July 2017, 09:59:14
Quote from: t8c on Fri, 07 July 2017, 09:47:14
Show Image
(http://www.umart.com.au/dbs/images/pic/31044.jpg)


I have one of these, imported from Japan. Looks great, very functional and easy to secure & rotate. Audio Technica  :D

I have the Sennheiser version of a similar thing. Appreciated the compactness of the design, though unfortunately the desk it was meant to be attached to was too thick. Bought two for about $15 each. Nice thing about your AT version is it can swivel under the desk.

(http://i.imgur.com/iBJLLiK.png)
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: tp4tissue on Mon, 10 July 2017, 10:14:10
Quote from: Halverson on Mon, 10 July 2017, 09:41:41
TP, shhhhhhhh, it's not your thread. Make a new one for your laser cutting mathematics


So their hub says 100 mm by 45 by 40,   so that's roughly 740mm worth of edges.  at 50mm/s   we get 14.8 seconds per box, at 3600 seconds per hour,  we get 243 boxes..

If we got a good crew going on this machine.. We can definitely crank out over a hundred..

Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: chuckdee on Mon, 10 July 2017, 14:38:30
Quote from: t8c on Fri, 07 July 2017, 09:47:14
Show Image
(http://www.umart.com.au/dbs/images/pic/31044.jpg)


I have one of these, imported from Japan. Looks great, very functional and easy to secure & rotate. Audio Technica  :D

I'm using this instead: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P31BMHG/

(http://i.imgur.com/sVdGwv3.png)

it goes under the desk- that's what I like about it. It can hold two sets of headphones, but I've never tested that.

I also have a Grifiti Nootle: https://smile.amazon.com/Grifiti-Nootle-Universal-Monopod-Surface/dp/B019M1C2AI/

I connect it t a gooseneck that I had for something else, and it fits up right next to my monitor for use with my calendar to check status and things that I need to keep an eye on.  I used to use rainlendar for that, but this is so much better.
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: Leslieann on Mon, 10 July 2017, 19:23:27
Quote from: tp4tissue on Mon, 10 July 2017, 10:14:10
Quote from: Halverson on Mon, 10 July 2017, 09:41:41
TP, shhhhhhhh, it's not your thread. Make a new one for your laser cutting mathematics

So their hub says 100 mm by 45 by 40,   so that's roughly 740mm worth of edges.  at 50mm/s   we get 14.8 seconds per box, at 3600 seconds per hour,  we get 243 boxes..

If we got a good crew going on this machine.. We can definitely crank out over a hundred..
So... A square box with no tongue and groove and no etching... Good luck selling that.

I've seen boxes similar to these made, your number isn't even remotely realistic for something that looks like what these guys are selling if done on a common 100watt laser system.


And no, you don't pull one out after each is cut (why would you even think of that?), you do however need to pull them out before loading the next sheet.
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: tp4tissue on Mon, 10 July 2017, 19:56:48
Quote from: Leslieann on Mon, 10 July 2017, 19:23:27
Quote from: tp4tissue on Mon, 10 July 2017, 10:14:10
Quote from: Halverson on Mon, 10 July 2017, 09:41:41
TP, shhhhhhhh, it's not your thread. Make a new one for your laser cutting mathematics

So their hub says 100 mm by 45 by 40,   so that's roughly 740mm worth of edges.  at 50mm/s   we get 14.8 seconds per box, at 3600 seconds per hour,  we get 243 boxes..

If we got a good crew going on this machine.. We can definitely crank out over a hundred..
So... A square box with no tongue and groove and no etching... Good luck selling that.

I've seen boxes similar to these made, your number isn't even remotely realistic for something that looks like what these guys are selling if done on a common 100watt laser system.


And no, you don't pull one out after each is cut (why would you even think of that?), you do however need to pull them out before loading the next sheet.



I am 100% sure we can do 100s of these with those $3000 chinese  100watt laser machines..


Perhaps you haven't seen my acrylic wood case in my keycap project thread.

But I am an Actual Xpert lvl @ making this type of cases.  having made hundreds for other projects. 

[attachimg=1]
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: FloFoer94 on Wed, 12 July 2017, 07:02:41
It got delivered. I really like it, despite the discussion above :D

[attachimg=1]
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: fanpeople on Wed, 12 July 2017, 07:42:34
[attachimg=1]
Title: Re: Unique PC / Desk Accessories
Post by: SBJ on Thu, 13 July 2017, 10:44:39
Quote from: FloFoer94 on Wed, 12 July 2017, 07:02:41
It got delivered. I really like it, despite the discussion above :D

(Attachment Link)
I like it, looks cool.
It's not something I'd personally get but I see the appeal.