Show HN: 5 Years Ago I made the Recovery Kit, I just made the RK2 • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: 5 Years Ago I made the Recovery Kit, I just made the RK2

#81

Post by myself248 » Sat, Apr 13, 2024, 2:34 PM UTC

ThinkBeat wrote: post #46

I have discovered over time that I hate screws. No not really the concept, but there are far too fucking models. I started collecting screws to put together for my "workshop" were I repair whatever family, friends, enemies want me to look at. I am not great at it, not even good, but I am who they bring things to, and over time I have learned a bit of skills. (Also I fail, sometimes I break stuff and sometimes I hide…

An app would have trouble with that since it doesn't have an absolute size reference. By the time you put the screw atop a calibrated reference background tool, you'd be faster to just read the markings on the tool yourself. (If someone wanted to make an app that uses an object of precisely known size, say, a credit card, as a reference, and then calculate from there, yes I'd be all ears! But I've never heard of such a thing.)

BoltDepot has some fantastic pages (and printable reference posters) that explain how fasteners are measured and described: https://boltdepot.com/Fastener-Information/Fastener-Basics

Once you've got the terminology, it's pretty straightforward to take the measurements. Thread diameter is easy to do with a $2 plastic vernier caliper (I use mine constantly), or fit into the holes in any screw checker. https://www.amazon.com/Stainlesstown-Bolt-Thread-Gauge-Blue/...

Thread pitch is best done with a thread gauge, which is a fold-out affair sort of like a feeler gauge. I've got an inch/metric combo one like this: https://www.amazon.com/ChgImposs-Imperial-Whitworth-Industri...

And then length is easy to do with the ruler on the side of the screw checker, or the calipers themselves. (Use the jaws for the overall length of a flush-type screw, the step-shoulder part for the length of a cap screw.)

There are also combo gauges, I'm intrigued by this type and I should pick one up to see how I like it: https://www.amazon.com/WEN-ME210G-Imperial-Multi-Gauge-Carry...

Re: Show HN: 5 Years Ago I made the Recovery Kit, I just made the RK2

#82

Post by mrbombastic » Sat, Apr 13, 2024, 3:48 PM UTC

myself248 wrote: post #81

ThinkBeat wrote: post #46

I have discovered over time that I hate screws. No not really the concept, but there are far too fucking models. I started collecting screws to put together for my "workshop" were I repair whatever family, friends, enemies want me to look at. I am not great at it, not even good, but I am who they bring things to, and over time I have learned a bit of skills. (Also I fail, sometimes I break stuff and sometimes I hide…

An app would have trouble with that since it doesn't have an absolute size reference. By the time you put the screw atop a calibrated reference background tool, you'd be faster to just read the markings on the tool yourself. (If someone wanted to make an app that uses an object of precisely known size, say, a credit card, as a reference, and then calculate from there, yes I'd be all ears! But I've never heard of such…

Newer iPhones are lidar enabled and do a fairly good job at measurement see: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-01763-9

i don’t know if it is good enough for this use case but theoretically possible without a reference object.

Re: Show HN: 5 Years Ago I made the Recovery Kit, I just made the RK2

#83

Post by winrid » Sat, Apr 13, 2024, 7:31 PM UTC

ThinkBeat wrote: post #74

winrid wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Screws have different thread and pitch sizes. An app won't read that correctly. You can get a tool to measure the size/thread/pitch. I have containers with lots of slots and I label each slot, so I have many dozens of types of metric/imperial screws sorted. It's actually hundreds of screws, bolts, and nuts, I did the sorting as a relaxing week while watching some shows :D

I will have to check that out, thank you

For sure! I think I have these [0].

[0] https://www.amazon.com/tenluno-Checker-SWTC-44-MaleFemale-Id...

Re: Show HN: 5 Years Ago I made the Recovery Kit, I just made the RK2

#84

Post by anarcat » Sat, Apr 13, 2024, 8:24 PM UTC

I had a short moment where i felt "omg i can fit a framework board in there", but alas the 1300 is only 9" wide. Still, I really like this idea, and I wonder if i might not just make exactly such a thing but with a larger pelican case. Then you can cram a lot of data in there with a bunch of modern 3.5" spinning disks (which, hopefully, the pelican will keep from rusting too much).

Beautiful idea, would love to see open specs, but really nice to be sharing!

(Update: the framework board is so close. The first daughtboard in the schematics https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/Framework-Laptop-13/blo...> is actually 9.071 inches (115 + 115.4mm, so 230.4mm if i read it right) wide! But alas the mainboard is 274mm (10.8 inches), and that is without the expansion cards added. With the cards, we're talking about 11.7 inches (297mm) and then you still need to plug in things in there! Still there's something there, i think.)

Re: Show HN: 5 Years Ago I made the Recovery Kit, I just made the RK2

#85

Post by back7co » Sat, Apr 13, 2024, 8:56 PM UTC

anarcat wrote: post #84

I had a short moment where i felt "omg i can fit a framework board in there", but alas the 1300 is only 9" wide. Still, I really like this idea, and I wonder if i might not just make exactly such a thing but with a larger pelican case. Then you can cram a lot of data in there with a bunch of modern 3.5" spinning disks (which, hopefully, the pelican will keep from rusting too much). Beautiful idea, would love to see o…

The framework just about fits well with a 13" display in the Pelican iM2200. The challenge with the framework is the USB display, and the all-USBC nature of their board- all solvable problems though. I almost made one and may yet, but these builds take months!

Re: Show HN: 5 Years Ago I made the Recovery Kit, I just made the RK2

#86

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Apr 13, 2024, 10:16 PM UTC

haswell wrote: post #26

serf wrote: post #18

I think that the inside should match the motif that the outsides set. what I mean by that : the outside sets a tone of professional heavy-duty post-apocalyptic computing, yet the insides are filled with fragile wire connects, fragile routes, multiple boards and new (read: unproven) non-redundant technologies. I would expect something that exudes that aesthetic to be wired like a NASA project [0], use radiation harden…

The reason NASA invests so much in hardened components and redundancy is that their hardware has to continue functioning in an environment where humans cannot intervene. The availability of commodity hardware is one of the reasons projects like the Recovery Kit can exist. Redundancy and durability can be measured in multiple ways, and I suspect it's cheaper to keep on hand a stack of backup components that can easily…

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: 5 Years Ago I made the Recovery Kit, I just made the RK2

#87

Post by vizzier » Mon, Apr 15, 2024, 7:01 PM UTC

doodlebugging wrote: post #53

vizzier wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel this. As an amateur 3d printed project enjoyer in Canada, getting ahold of M* screws is a real pain, even though I prefer their specifications greatly over the weird imperial sizes.

I get my metric fasteners from BelMetric [0]. Huge selection including obscure styles and finishes. Nuts, bolts, screws, hardware, etc. One of the best things about them is that they sell small lots including single screws if that is all you need. Another great thing is that they ship quickly and if your order is relatively small it arrives in your mailbox instead of needing to be delivered by UPS or another shipper.…

Useful suggestions, thanks. I'll dig in further next time I'm building something.

They do seem to suffer from the other part that prevented me from ordering from places like this before though; its hard for a hobby project to break the high free shipping minimum order size. This may again be a problem with being in Canada not the US though :)

Re: Show HN: 5 Years Ago I made the Recovery Kit, I just made the RK2

#88

Post by doodlebugging » Tue, Apr 16, 2024, 3:46 PM UTC

vizzier wrote: post #87

doodlebugging wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get my metric fasteners from BelMetric [0]. Huge selection including obscure styles and finishes. Nuts, bolts, screws, hardware, etc. One of the best things about them is that they sell small lots including single screws if that is all you need. Another great thing is that they ship quickly and if your order is relatively small it arrives in your mailbox instead of needing to be delivered by UPS or another shipper.…

Useful suggestions, thanks. I'll dig in further next time I'm building something. They do seem to suffer from the other part that prevented me from ordering from places like this before though; its hard for a hobby project to break the high free shipping minimum order size. This may again be a problem with being in Canada not the US though :)

From reading thru their international shipping FAQ it appears that they do not offer free shipping on any international orders and all customs, importation, etc fees fall to the buyer.

With that in mind it probably works best for your case to stock your bins in a single order of the common sizes of screws, nuts, and specialty fasteners that you regularly need so that you can limit the fees you have to pay instead of making a new order every time you spin up a new project.

They regularly send email alerts to special pricing events. I don't know how that plays out for someone in Canada though. The shipping costs on my end are fairly low since I tend to order a few things at a time and the contents of one order easily fit into a standard USPS mailer or a small padded envelope.

Another thing that may work for you is Fastenal [0] since they operate in Canada and offer metric fasteners.

[0] https://www.fastenal.ca/product/Fasteners/Bolts?fsi=1&catego...