Rodrigo Alvarez

Tinkering as a way of life

Author: Rodrigo

TrueNAS Scale – Lessons Learnt

This Christmas, I’ve been playing around with TrueNAS Scale to create a homelab. Here are some things I’ve learned, just in case they are helpful to someone. I will be keeping this post updated. Access from your IP is restricted I locked myself out by adding an incorrect IP to ‘Allowed IP Addresses.’ When trying

3D Scanning BMW K75 turn signals

I’ve 3d scanned BMW K75 front turn signal bracket and 3d printed them as a method of saving money while keeping asthetics the same as the original model. Since I restored my 1990 BMW k75, I’ve been trying to return the motorcycle to its stock configuration. One of the items I’ve been missing is the

SpaceNavigator: Principle of operation

One dimensional Operation A (1-D) PSD will output (in the form of current) the position of a light beam in a light strip. Given two linked light sources, a two degrees of freedom system can be derived. The goal is to locate the relative position of the center of both light sources with respect to

SpaceNavigator Teardown

A broken 3D Connexion SpaceNavigator has fallen into my hands. I would like to know what makes it “tick” to see If I canfix it. At the end of the day, it’s just a 6 degree of freedom joystick, but to fit in this package it has some clever tricks. To start dissasemby, three screws

Nautical Grid Protractor – Free Download

I’m studying towards getting the skipper license “Patron de embarcación de Recreo” and some of the exam questions include navigational chart exercises. As I did not want to waste too much paper while studying I thought I’d download a chart and a PNG image of a navigational protractor so I could take measurements on my

Using MKS SGen_L w/ TMC2130 Stepper drivers

I’ve had a a few bad days trying to figure out why the files found in the MKS github wouldn’t work with their own TMC2130 stepsticks via SPI. My recommendation is to start from a fresh Marlin install and change the following lines. Of course you will have to change typical settings as well, but

K75 Restoration: Bike rebuild

Once all the parts were ready to be assembled, I managed to trick a Gonzalo (The same Gonzalo from the kite foil) to help me carry the assembled engine and gearbox from a fourth floor to the garage. Frankly, I started the day thinking the bike wouldn’t start. There could be a thousand other things

K75 Restoration: Engine Rebuild & Final drive maintenance

Taking advantage of the christmas holidays I’ve been working hard on the engine. Having the head removed, it makes sense to check the state of other components, such as the piston rings, connecting rods and bore tolerances. I should replace the big-end conrod bearing shells, which are worn but have not reached their service limit,

K75 Restoration: Valve Job

After careful disassembly, the problem has become more obvious (if possible). The valves themselves, have their stems in tolerance (Inlet: 6.960 – 6.975 mm ;Exhaust: 6.945 – 6.960mm), but the problem relies with the mating surface of the seats. I used the optical measuring machine at ICAI to take a few reference points to compare,

K75 Restoration: Engine diagnosis

Last time I wrote I knew that the engine didn’t start, but lets focus on the good things; The electrical system seems ok, ignition and fuel pump look also alright, and I haven’t seen any obvious leak. Since then, I’ve also taken the time to check the rear spline and it seems it’s in top