chris-allen-lane.com

Building a Cryptocurrency Mining Rig - Part 1

When Ethereum exploded in popularity (and value) in Summer of 2017, I decided to educate myself about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. As part of that process, I built an Ethereum (Classic) mining rig.

Here I’ll discuss how I designed and built my miner, focusing primarily on the construction of the chassis using OpenBeam, Fusion 360, and a Shapeoko 3. (Later, I’ll discuss BIOS configuration in Part 2, mining strategy optimization in Part 3, and compute performance optimization in Part 4.)

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Building a DIY Acoustic Enclosure for the Shapeoko 3

Shortly after assembling my new Shapeoko 3, I realized that the milling process was quite loud, and would likely disturb my neighbors. (I live in a small apartment.) Wanting to avoid that, I decided to build a “soundproof” enclosure for the Shapeoko.

Here I’ll document my design for the enclosure, as well as some of the thought that went into it. I hope this effort benefits others who are looking to build something similar.

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Connecting a Shapeoko 3 (GRBL 0.9) to VirtualBox

I recently purchased a Shapeoko 3, and am currently exploring options for my CNC workflow. Being averse to closed-source software like Carbide Create, today I spent some time configuring Universal G-code Sender as an alternative.

For reasons mostly related to Java dependencies, I decided to run Universal G-code Sender on a VirtualBox-based virtual-machine. Configuring the VM turned out to be non-trivial, so I’m documenting the process here. What follows are (a streamlined version of) the steps I took.

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Static Code Analysis Using Watchtower

The following article was published in 2600 magazine (Volume 30, Number 2) in Summer of 2013. It is republished here with permission.

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PhoneGap: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Having recently completed my first PhoneGap application, I wanted to take a moment to summarize my experience. What follows are my opinions regarding “The Good”, “The Bad”, and “The Ugly” of the PhoneGap framework.

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