Tibia's Modding Journal

"This is your get out of jail card."

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:05:31 GMT

I think I've finished painting the mouse. I want to fill the window with some kind of glue, but I need the paint to fully cure before I can tape it off and do that. It's supposed to take a week, but it's been so humid lately, I might just give it two.

Not a whole lot more to say. The piano will supposedly be moved down to the shop this week. Aside from that, I defrosted the fridge. Nothing really big happened.

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So fucking tired

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 07:19:18 GMT

I'm done with the electronic side of the mouse. As usual, all thumbnails link to larger pictures.

Here you can see the extra green LED I've added is working. It's actually under my finger, so I could take a picture without it getting all washed out. I grabbed the power from the headers that connect the two circuit boards together. I may need to add a resistor in there, if it's too bright, but I need to finish the cosmetic part first. It's not very obvious, but I've also changed the low-battery indicator light to green.

Over here, this is the guts shoved back in the casing. I've cut out most of the back, under where the window will be. I might have to get a bit creative with glue to prevent light leakage, but that will come later.

And finally, the window itself in the process of being cut out. I'm actually about half-way done in this picture. It's totally cut out now, and I've started painting it. It's going to still be purple. But I don't want it to say "BELKIN" on it, so I sanded that off and I'm starting clean. I might be able to finish the painting tomorrow, but it will have to sit for at least a week after that before I can finish it off. It takes that long for a full paint cure.

And that's where that is. I had the screws sitting in a container on my workbench at home, but all my tools were packed and moved to the shop. I seem to have misplaced them, but I'm not particularly concerned. If I don't find the exact screws, I'm sure I have some that will fit. In any case, I'm kinda busy as fuck with all the repairs and cleaning the apartment needs. Then I can move in. Joy unbounded, or some shit like that.

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It's a shop, damnit.

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 20:22:31 GMT

A change in employment and living arrangements have led to me using the shop as a shop. What a concept. I'm also doing more projects, so I will hopefully keep this journal updated more often. I "celebrated" Independence Day by working down at the shop. I finally got my benchtop turned back into a workspace. The thumbnails link to full-sized pictures.

Before: After:

The Bach bust is there because it's about the only place I have that it won't fall off, not because I want it there. I'd kind of like to shove the thing in a box and not look at it, to be honest. I'm probably going to be moving the last of my tools and parts at home down there tonight.

I did start a little project. I can think of a million reasons why I shouldn't have, but I did it anyway. I apparently own well over a dozen optical mice, some wired, some wireless. Since I am a huge X-Files nerd, I'd like to mod one to be themed. The first one I pulled out of the box was a purple wireless mouse. I HATE PURPLE. However, it's the color of cancer survivors. My younger sister is a survivor who loves the color purple anyway. She's been in remission from Burkitt's Lymphoma, and the lymphoma awareness color is green. I'm going to add a green ribbon window and change the optic color to green, and give it to her. A little something she'll appreciate, and a bit of fun and practice before I do a more complex design for myself.

All I've really done so far is take it apart, glue the loose optic lens into place, and start cutting the hole for the window. I'd kind of like to change all the installed LEDs to green tonight, but I've got some priority work from the computer shop to do. We shall see what I get through tonight.

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