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Dunce Bot: The Soldering Do-Boy I Didn’t Mean to Build
OK, so here’s the deal: Among the stuff I got for Christmas this year was one of those servo-motor kits. Five servos. A handful of DC motors. A couple of H-bridges. Basically, a little box of “make things move” for adults who still void warranties for fun. Naturally, I cracked it open Christmas night — because what else are you going to do when you’ve got free time and freshly printed datasheets? I’d never really messed with servos before. I live mostly in the world of AI, i

Rich Washburn
Dec 30, 20253 min read


VaporVault 3.0 — The “It’s Done (No, Really)” Update
I don’t even know if it’s still night or already morning.I just know that VaporVault 3.0 is done — and it’s good . Like, shockingly good. Not “cool prototype” good. Not “it boots without catching fire” good. I mean finished product good. If this thing were in an enclosure instead of hanging off my desk with a spaghetti mess of jumper wires and a button dangling from a breadboard, I’d buy it. Full stop. It’s clean. It’s stable. It’s slick. You connect to it and it just feels

Rich Washburn
Dec 6, 20252 min read


I Don’t Have a Pick-and-Place Machine, and That’s the Real Problem with the World
There’s a guy on YouTube — a seemingly innocent man — who builds these tiny remote-control cars in his garage. They're adorable. They’re fast. They corner like little rally demons. He even programs them with wireless remotes and custom PCBs and prints the enclosures on what appears to be a farm of 3D printers. He’s smart. Creative. Focused. Wholesome, even. I hate him. Now to be clear, my hatred has nothing to do with the cars. The cars are great. I hope they go to nationals

Rich Washburn
Nov 10, 20253 min read


The Age of Ridiculous Invention: 2.0
(Still the same day. And yes, I’m still waiting for Amazon to catch up.) Hey, remember that ridiculous IR floodlight project from this...

Rich Washburn
Oct 10, 20253 min read


The Age of Ridiculous Invention
I build a lot of things—some professional, some ridiculous, some that start out as one and become the other. But lately, there's been a...

Rich Washburn
Oct 10, 20258 min read


☕ My Coffee Now Has Wi-Fi. What Are You Doing With Your Life?
OK, so here's the deal: I was supposed to just knock out a simple control project for a client — build a gizmo that handles remote...

Rich Washburn
Apr 27, 20253 min read
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