Black miliput (epoxy putty) is great for vactrols and you don’t have to bake them.
3 Likes
This is either completely unrelated or the perfect video for you-I don’t know, Crafsman doesn’t seem to try to do anything functional with the PCBs:
(I’m about 99% sure that’s the presenter’s real voice and accent. I’m a little troubled that it might not be though. Their website says they anonymize the character out of fear of hate-speech so it’s hard to know if there’s any appropriation going on there.)
5 Likes
The crafs man will abide. Good to see this content here even as a non-sequitur.
4 Likes
I’ve already posted this elsewhere, but I post it here because I find it very inspiring. This guy is describing the whole construction process so you may want to skip to step 12 or thereabouts. He’s using what he thinks is a polyester resin, but the basic idea is the same. If I should ever “git gud” at this I may then aspire to achieve the beauty of this finished article, in which case I’ll start to fix my mignons onto the front panels with their own LED lighting.
3 Likes
Here is the article
5 Likes
Close enough. In problemspace the issue I’m tackling is the need to painlessly integrate digital logic and audio signals (0 to 3.3V or 0 to 5.0V) into the analogue environment during the prototyping phase. The tools I’m creating are similar in the sense that they’re encapsulated circuits with defined behaviour and can be indefinitely reused.
The only difference is that I’m not asking to construct entire circuits from these mignons, I’m only using them to make it easier for digital logic (0-3.3V or 0-5V) to talk to analogue modular components.
The circuitry is not dissimilar to Bela Salt and Bela Pepper, the Mutable Instruments modules, and more recent stuff like CTAG’s TBD. My approach is closer to Raytheon’s than to any of these guys.
4 Likes
Been thinking about the Grammar for you @Bitnik
Mignon (means “cute” in French I think)
Possible plurals depending on your taste
Mignons, mignice, mignay, mignodes, mignieces
Possible contractions
Mig, migs, despicable mi’s, mimi ( perhaps no)
Logic and function
Mignon, migon, mignor, migor, mignand, migand
Ok ok, so I’m stuck in bed and bored… sue me!
3 Likes
I’m thinking of sticking with French. So a boxed mignon would be mignon à boîte, a transparent potted mignon would be mignon en verre, one with a breadboard on top would be mignon à chapeau, and so on. This is just pillow talk for me too (voluntary in my case) but I think I like the idea.
3 Likes
A favorite film of mine “Diva” has a scene where a man describes the “Le zen dans l’art de la tartine” (The Zen in the art of a sandwich or toast - excuse my french)
I can see a zine in your future…
le zen dans l’art du mignon
Ok ok I’ll stop now
4 Likes
The breadboard one - panneau de mignon?
Now stopping
3 Likes
Yes. French is a pretty big language so anything that’s sufficiently precise in context is fine.
Edit: I love those French glass showcases, so perhaps a mignon en verre could also be termed a mignon à vitrine.
4 Likes
Well my epoxy resin arrived. I took the opportunity to order a measuring vessel and stirring sticks too (though I also have loads of ice lolly sticks I bought as stiffeners for the greyboard I use as front panels.)
I’ll post experimental stuff here but once I get going I’ll post on my progress in actual mignon à vitrine builds on the fast prototyping thread.
4 Likes
Fantastic! And your off! Exciting times to keep a video journal (mignons the movie? 
)
I miss those energetic days.
Right now my working motto is
"I love the smell of nae plan in the mornin’. "
Enjoy
4 Likes
I’ve ordered some reusable silicone moulds, and I’ll be very cautious at first. I’ll have to concentrate on reliably getting a good finished resin with tolerable electrical properties.
4 Likes
I’ve just leapt without really looking. I mixed up some epoxy without really bothering much about bubbles and the like. For the single 2.5cm square mould I have selected, a depth of 1cm requires about 6ml of mixed epoxy. I used veterinary syringe measures (the sort you use to squirt a dose of antibiotic into your pet’s mouth) and mixed up about 10ml. Here’s the mould after 30 minutes, top view and side.
My guinea pig for vitrinisation is a resistor. If the process works I’ll be able to judge the thermal qualities of this embryonic mignon by feeding in current and seeing what it does to the temperature.
3 Likes
Side view didn’t load. Here it is.
On the shelf below also notice a tl074cn with its legs splayed so I can solder extension wires. The plan is to put it into a mignon à chapeau with the extension wires connecting it to the hat. Fixed resistors, power supply, trimpots and the like on the hat (a miniature breadboard) can then be used to configure the mignon. From experiments with these mignons I can then design mignons à vitrine which I can mass produce for use in prototyping.
4 Likes
Things I wish I’d done.
Use kitchen gloves. This is tacky, unpleasant stuff and it clings to everything.
Clear my work surface better. I did all the work at the bathroom sink but I got some resin on the sponge. Soap did wash it off but my wife had a nasty surprise.
Get a proper graduated measuring column to handle the quite small amounts of resin. My improvised measures may or may not be good enough, I’ll find out tomorrow.
5 Likes
GOOD LUCK!!! I hope it works out for you.
2 Likes
Amen to that!
Silicon ice cube trays may take up less resin for testing.
Bon voyage!
3 Likes