Though UND doesn’t have a huge online presence with respect to this series, I did find mention here and UND’s official post courtesy Rebecca Weaver-Hightower here. There’s also an announcement on Facebook, though, since I’m not on Facebook, I can’t really share it with you.

Hope to see you there, it’s going to be an exciting talk.

These are the sorts of things that are only justifiable to businessmen — Yes! make a one-of-a-kind undocumented connector, and then charge loads of money for cables and connectors, because we’re the only source! You can almost hear them laughing all the way to the bank extinction.

I recently acquired a Uniden Bearcat BCD396XT, which is a remarkable radio. The most salient feature of this radio is its ability to decode APCO25-standard broadcasts, which now comprise the majority of public service frequencies like police, fire, etc. But this radio goes a step further, allowing connection to a GPS (for “location based scanning”, a funny thing for a radio device, when radio was invented to overcome problems of distance) or to a computer for complete control. Problem is, the connector of interest is wacky.

This connector, though it kinda resembles USB connectors, does not transport a USB signal. It is a plain old serial connection. Why they chose to use this connector is beyond me. However, as a hacker, I want access to those pins. I could just open the radio and solder to the board, but it’s more elegant and flexible to find the connectors themselves. After taking some detailed photographs, and searching around a bit, I was able to find a replacement.

Detailed photographs:

Items on eBay — they can be had for about a dollar each, with shipping – a hell of a lot cheaper than the $20 asking price for the standard serial cable. The magic search words turned out to be “4 pin mini USB cable” (most are 5 pin, these 4 pin models appear on a few odd digital cameras and MP3 players).

Please note, these cables are only good for the connectors on the end. Plugging the radio into a USB port without a proper USB adapter is asking for pain.

The machine hadn’t been loved or used in many years. Tonight, I took it apart completely, cleaned and lubricated everything, repaired the wiring, scuffed all contacts and the motor armature clean, and clamped, glued, and screwed the bottom of the case back together. Incredibly enough it almost worked when I finished putting it back together. The remaining problem was adjusting the tension of the upper and lower mechanisms.

What I’d never fully appreciated before was that the stitches you get from a maladjusted machine are plainly diagnostic. Just look at the image below, from the Pfaff 130 service manual (taken from the Yahoo Group linked at the bottom of this post, BTW).

If the top thread is piercing through the fabric, but not pulling the bottom thread in, the bobbin tension is too high.
If the bottom thread is piercing through the fabric, but not pulling the top thread in, the top tension is too high.
If both penetrate the fabric equally, the tension is correct. Awesome!
(also remember that these things can be conceptualized the other way — if one is never high enough tension, the other probably needs to have its tension reduced)

Once I got that done, which took almost two whole hours of adjusting and re-adjusting (but will be a cinch now that I have done it a few times), I loaded it up with a needle and thread and tried to sew some neoprene. After quite a number of frustrating attempts to sew this thin neoprene, I realized that the hold in the needle was too small for the Consew Heavy Duty nylon thread I was using. The symptom that tipped me off was the thread sort of unwinding itself at the eye of the needle. After loading the machine with a “leather” needle, which is heavier gauge and has a larger hole, I was able to sew this little N900 pouch with almost no effort or trouble.

Spending an evening refurbishing this machine reminded me, again, that I am a builder, fixer, maker, artist. Nothing soothes like keeping these idle hands busy.

It’s probably obvious that I love this machine. I’m not the only one, there’s a Yahoo Group that has manuals and some discussion, and of course, there’s always the mass of people chatting all over the web.

First and Second builds by Alumrich.

Possum’s simple and awesome build (lots of neat ideas).

ThatTallGuy’s ENORMOUS scanner for very tall people.

Cratylus’ Beta Build (check out the incredible pipe-based sliders. This guy makes PVC look awesome!

RogerMaris has some serious out-of-the-box thinking, imagining and testing a scanner that’s designed to also hold a book up for reading. Great work.

Darryl Smith posted two builds and a build log, one from aluminum tubes — very cool.

Tulane’s Ben Varadi has essentially completed his excellent build. Documented with dozens of pictures full of awesomeness. Some truly unique ideas in there.

Can’t remember if I’ve posted Antoha-SPB’s single-camera build, but it’s inspired a lot of other builds.

The DIY Book Scanner project as a whole continues to gain academic cred — it’s been cited in several papers, shown at 26C3, and spoken about at several universities, including NYLS. Next week, I’ll be speaking at UND in Grand Forks, North Dakota (details forthcoming). March 23rd I’ll be speaking at Harvard’s Berkman Center, and user Misty De Meo just presented her work with DIY Book Scanner technology at the OLA conference. More on Misty and the projects she works on.

I am so honored to be a part of this community. It’s incredible what people have done with this basic technology.

Sorry for the silence here lately; have been dealing with some personal issues.

Super-cool that it coincides neatly with my appearance in DC for World’s Fair Use Day.

See also:

Couldn’t have had a better birthday party. Thanks. 2010 and 28 begin, on fire.

I rocked the Winter Carnivale.

Built a book scanner.

And another.

Baked bread.

Studied math in the early hours.

Published.

Made music.

Made machines. That make machines.

Drowned.

Saved books from drowning in Valley City.

Froze.

Revived You Are Not Dead with Black Pants Theater, soon to be a play in Vancouver, BC.

Entered the book scanner in a contest.

Won a laser cutter.

Used the laser cutter to make a book scanner.

Tooth infection gone bad.

Lost my apartment.

Grilled.

Burned.

Dumped.

Spoke in New York at NYLS. (image courtesy and copyright NYLS, used without permission)

Won a Kindle in a contest for laser-etched art.

Featured in Wired.

With Matti, built a light field camera.

Watched my building collapse and my hopes of easy progress with it.

Got a birthday gift I’ll never forget.

Got rear-ended about ten minutes ago. This year won’t die without a fight, but I’m a chin-up fighter.

Ups were up. Downs were way down. The balance is even, rising.

In a few hours I’ll have aged. Twenty eight, over ten thousand days and a third of the way there.

Note particularly the steam in the stairwell — the steam heat in the building might have flooded the building with a wet, hot cloud.

The second place I’ll be spreading the good DIY word is Harvard’s Berkman Center, on March 23rd. I’m not yet sure of the exact time, but I will update as I know more. The Berkman Center, founded by Charles Nesson (whom I had the pleasure meeting at D is for Digitize) is a real force for freedom and legal sensibility when it comes to the Internet. I couldn’t imagine a better place to talk about our work as a community.

Comment here or in the forums if you can make it to either of these events!