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MatthiasWandel

792 karma · joined June 21, 2015

YouTuber and creator of woodgears.ca since 2007 Used to work at Research in Motion (later Blackberry) before that.
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MatthiasWandel··on A closer look at Raspberry Pi RP2040 Programmable IOs
The question was not how quadrature encoding works, but how to implement it with the limited PIO instructions
MatthiasWandel··on A closer look at Raspberry Pi RP2040 Programmable IOs
I have been puzzling over how to program quadrature decoding with the PIO instructions. Not many chips have quadrature decoding built in.
MatthiasWandel··on Localize your cat at home with BLE beacon, ESP32s, and Machine Learning
Tracking location by signal strength is highly error prone. Antenna orientation and multi-path can change signal strength a lot (+/- 6 dB easily) without the object actually moving. So the location data you get will be VERY approximate.
MatthiasWandel··on Localize your cat at home with BLE beacon, ESP32s, and Machine Learning
This has much to do with fading and such. If the polarization of the antenna sending is 90 degrees from the antenna receiving, for example, you will get no signal, even if close. This sort of thing can make the signal get weak as though it was 3x as far away at random as things move.
MatthiasWandel··on Linus Torvalds rates his own words ‘incoherent ramblings of a crazy old man’
I see the register is not above misleading click bait headlines either.
MatthiasWandel··on Mark Rober (former NASA) launches a 30 day Creative Engineering Class
if you are a self starter or a self directed learner, an online course is not the way to go. Start with a desire to do something, then search online for how to do it.
MatthiasWandel··on Cheap Router Table and Lift
Some routers have a height fine adjustment screw accessible through the base plate, some even come with a wrench for turning it, so if its upside down, you can just adjust it from the top like what was built on that page. A problem with both approaches though is that the plunge mechanism has some play in it, so it's not ideal for this job.
MatthiasWandel··on The Unix timestamp will begin with 16 this Sunday
Making time an unsigned 32 would break any code that computes a difference of times.
MatthiasWandel··on Prime Numbers for the Win (2009)
This problem would be better and more consistently solved by just offsetting some of the scripts in time. Who says the 10 second script needs to run on even seconds or even multiples of 5?
MatthiasWandel··on How long does a freezer stay frozen when the power goes out?
Problem is, freezers typically run 40% of the time. If you let it get up to -10C, the duty cycle will be a fair bit lower, but still quite high, while only drawing about 100 watts. But that's a lot of money to spend protecting food hoarding. Dry goods would be better for emergency cases.
MatthiasWandel··on How long does a freezer stay frozen when the power goes out?
Maker of the video here.

For a moment, I though this was about my video and article, but reading the comments, it's more about everyone sharing their stories. Few of the comments reflect having read the article. Fair enough, sometimes it just takes a link to give theme for a discussion.

MatthiasWandel··on Finding SARS-CoV-2 carriers by optimizing pooled testing at low prevalence [pdf]
Like so many clever puzzle answers, this doesn't take into account the effect of measurement error. The tests apparently have a false negative rate of 20% as it is. Now start mixing samples together, causing more dilution of the positive samples, and the false negative rate is bound to go up further. Now you have to do studies to figure out what the false negative rate is going to be, and put that into your model as well. This could get impractical fast.
MatthiasWandel··on Woodworking for Engineers
Thanks for pointing that out. Just added the Mac URL
MatthiasWandel··on Woodworking for Engineers
Lots of woodworking youtubers have had no background in it. Its evident that they are learning it as they go, but it also shows that it's possible without schooling or a teacher.
MatthiasWandel··on Woodworking for Engineers
Just plain HTML, versioning managed with GIT. Just can't be bothered to learn and deal with a CMS.
MatthiasWandel··on Woodworking for Engineers
The software is a good chunk of the revenue, but youtube makes more than the sw. But when others talk about how much they make on youtube, it's alwas more than me per view. Biggest revenue contributor is plan sales.
MatthiasWandel··on Woodworking for Engineers
Being an apprentice is probably bretter, yes. But I have no idea where you would find a master who wants an apprentice, let alone a master at all.
MatthiasWandel··on Woodworking for Engineers
Mostly time constraint. Have been thinking about building a gear cutting machine using a table saw or angle grinder as the cutter. Sort of a single purpose CNC machine.
MatthiasWandel··on Woodworking for Engineers
Matthias here. Surprised to see my website hit the front page of HN overnight. Got any questions for me?
MatthiasWandel··on Woodworking for Engineers
Matthias here (surprixed to see my website hit the front page of HN). Got any questions for me?
MatthiasWandel··on Woodworking for Engineers
fixed that page.
MatthiasWandel··on Woodworking for Engineers
The best replacement for sketchup these days is OLD sketchup (version 8), from ten years ago. You can still get it. More on that at http://woodgears.ca/sketchup
MatthiasWandel··on Woodworking for Engineers
Good point. The LEDs lighting would eliminate horizontal distortion, and if it's a color laser prointer, the vertical scaling has to be just right too or the colors won't register.
MatthiasWandel··on Woodworking for Engineers
Some specific examples would perhaps make your case, instead of just making an unfounded assertion.
MatthiasWandel··on [dead]
Although the article is phrased as "look at these right wing demagogues", it's not like this strategy of ignoring truth and using fear isn't also used by the political left. Certainly, the old notion of "liberalism" has been abandoned.
MatthiasWandel··on Templates for Cutting Gears from Wood
Matthias Wandel here.

Funny how my old stuff shows up on hacker news from time to time, though it was less than a year ago that I ported it to javascript, used to be flash, cause when I created it more than ten years ago, javascript canvas wasn't mature enough yet.

MatthiasWandel··on Wood Joint Strength Testing
If I just want to spend the time at it, I’d build another bandsaw.
MatthiasWandel··on Wood Joint Strength Testing
I miss working with other engineers. But overall it’s been fun. But with changing trends and so many people making videos now, it may be the right time to get out and get a real job again.
MatthiasWandel··on Wood Joint Strength Testing
The transverse pin weakens the tenon and the piece of wood it goes into. If the joint is well designed (so that the glue strength and wood strength are balanced), the tranverse pin only weakens the joint.
MatthiasWandel··on Wood Joint Strength Testing
I haven't tested it explicitly, butI consider the magick mortise and tenon (or dowel) ratio to be around 4:1 or 5:1. A tenon longer than that will break off (wood failure), shorter than that, and it will pull out (joint failure). I suppose grooves on the dowel would help the glue a bit, but they also weaken the dowel.
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