Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT 3rd time's a charm with a 3 car workshop

[loganb]

Check out Synergy - toss an old monitor on the 2nd machine and you can use 1 keyboard and mouse back and forth like it's just one PC. I used it for years to have my work computer and home computer on the same desk but one set of inputs.

This is awesome! Might have taken a super long coffee break this AM getting this to work but exactly what I was looking for and avoided buying a new keyboard to use Logitech Flow to do this...though I still have to get a new mouse but that was happening either way

Took a bit to get settings right as for some reason my home desktop wasn't allowing communication from the work laptop which is the opposite of what I thought would happen with VPN software on the work computer. Turned off private network firewall on the home machine and it worked...so need to do some digging on that but working awesome this AM(using it right now to type this on my home computer with my work machine keyboard ).

Thank you for the recommendation! I'll have a more in depth post later on printers...but my recommendation is Prusa or Creality...more to come.

 

[bdbecker]

Check out Synergy - toss an old monitor on the 2nd machine and you can use 1 keyboard and mouse back and forth like it's just one PC.

That is exactly the kind of witchcraft I've been looking for! Thank you for posting that!

 

[loganb]

Any suggestions on what to look for on the 1st time 3D printer? I know I don't want a tiny one as much like you my prints would be mostly utilitarian stuff...

Ok...printer thoughts....Prusa or Creality CR Series

For a first time printer, I think that more popular/more common is better. Larger community of users, more likely you're not recreating the wheel and the aftermarket options are more prevalent as you get a taste of the koolaid and it helps you dive in faster . In that manner...Prusa and Creality/Ender are 2 of the biggest, most common and prevalent names out there in the "consumer" 3D printing space(filament printing not resin).

Creality has several brands of machines but their most common are the CR(Creality) and Ender series. I've never used either extensively(though my next addition will probably be a Creality) but the CR series are generally "upgraded" Ender machines....same base design but with better electronics, upgraded drives, and a lot of the improvements that you can bolt on an Ender, but there to begin with. I'm looking for the machine to support hobbies, not "be one" though at times it is that... so I'm looking for something I can set and forget and don't want to tweak a ton so I like CR over Ender for that reason as many of the common upgrades and improvements are done and I see fewer "help" threads about chasing odd electrical stuff with CR's then I do on Enders

Creality has a lot of different options for machines as well(far more than Prusa), primarily based around size of print area/envelope but also on the qty of bells and whistles so you do have more choices to match function/budget etc. I have a deposit down on the next Prusa XL(still in development) but it's now likely delayed to Q1/Q2 of next year if not longer and I'm looking for a larger area machine so a CR-6 Max is probably being added in the future. If I didn't have 2 kids and a host of other projects my next one would likely be a Rat Rig V-Core 400mm so I could print the same envelope area as the CR-6 Max but way way faster

I started with a Prusa as my first machine as my brother who had more experience with them said it was more reliable, less effort to manage and the plant I worked at before moving to Chicago area had a number of them and they just worked without much support. 3-ish years in and I've had 1 part on it fail so far(6 bucks or something to replace) and less than a handful of failed prints. The machines do cost considerably more than the same print envelope vs Creality, however the general consensus I see on some of the 3d printing sites/reddit groups is that they're also built better, with higher quality components and they just flat work better with fewer issues. Lots of other models and brands work well as well and there are a lot of Enders and CR machines on this forum, but internet consensus everywhere I've seen is Prusa's will print with fewer issues and support....but you pay for it in what's generally a "smaller" print envelope and a bit of an outdated/clunky UI on the actual machine but you don't use it that much...so it doesn't bother me.

For Prusa MK3S+ (avoid the Mini, it's just too small), you can assemble it yourself or pay them to do it. I enjoyed putting mine together and think it helped me learn more about it, how it goes together and works...but next one I'll have them assemble. Great instructions, solid videos out there, they go above and beyond on making it easy to assemble(all required tools included, even include spare hardware bag)...but it's still a solid 8 hours for a first timer.

For resource places to learn more, several /r reddit groups that are active on Prusa and 3D printing in general(prusa3d, 3dprinting, 3dprintsintheshop). Warning some of the reddit folks are crazy...but I think you knew that already.....a guy out there literally printing a full size T-Rex sculpture....looks awesome but dang!

The Everything 3D Printer Thread

It’s alive. Still waiting on the bed heater. The mcu errors out of it doesn’t get a temp reading from the bed. I had a spare hot end floating around so it is hanging off the back right now. Still have lots of timing to get it dialed in, but I’m stoked.

www.garagejournal.com

www.printables.com is a site run/owned by Prusa that is primarily Prusa related but also has some great models/files and I find generally "higher quality" download files than thingiverse. Thingiverse has more content...but it takes awhile to sort thru the chaff so to speak. Prusa is based in Europe but they just bought an US based filament company (www.printedsolid.com) and they're now stocking at least some filaments here in the US to reduce shipping costs which is great...plan is to stock printers and parts for shipment as well, just not there yet.

www.all3dp.com is another site I like with general 3D printing and related tech, solid reviews, buyers guides, comparisons etc.

That's probably enough for now....but I don't think you can go too wrong with a Prusa or CR series machine, lots of others that would also likely be good first time machines but those are my recommendations.

Other printing "aficionado's" of GJ...what advice or nudges would you give to help give our colleague something new to learn over the long long long long long long long South Dakota winter (cause Omaha where I sit is soooo much farther south and warmer lol). Tagging a few fellow addicts..... @nicholam77 @Bakafish @bugnut @MadeByMiller @bj383ss @kaymccampbell

 

[loganb]

Quick update on a little bit of progress....

Got a new personal desktop PC for me so I could separate my CAD stuff from the household desktop that was my wife's machine...and super happy. Way zippier, 0 lag and with the recommendation from @iced98lx on Synergy I've got it setup for 1 keyboard/mouse at my desk is running 3 machines. Desk is a mess...lots of cable mangt needs to be done still...but think this is going to be helpful...unfortunately that is code for me spending more time at computer screens but is what it is

Working on the model for the spindle mount for the CNC router:




Wanted to make sure I had that 4-bolt pattern on the back right for where it mounts to the premade Z axis assy so I pushed it to the printer with that "back" down on the print surface so I could print (1) layer, put a "pause" in and actually cancel the print so I could pull it off the bed and walk it out to the machine and make sure it was right. There were easier ways to do this....but it was a bit of an excuse

This doesn't look right...




Haven't printed that much since the temp sensor on the bed went out...but based off this I've got a low spot on the bed. Prusa by default uses (9) leveling points to generate a "mesh" that it then adjusts the print head/Z axis off to help account for this, but a later software update added the ability to move from a 3 x 3 (9 total points) to a 7 x 7 mesh...more mesh points means more accurate(in theory). So I went back, swapped that setting to the 7 x 7 and hit print again. Definitely an improvement:



Still not perfect...but definitely an improvement. But to get a better idea of how far off it was....I booted up OctoPrint the RasberryPi based printing utility/manager and added in the leveling plugin to see how far off it was:



And not as bad as I thought, from high to low it's about .6mm different and with the 7 x 7 leveling mesh it'll account for that pretty well but if I have (2) flat surfaces to try and mate that were printed on the bed they won't mate as cleanly as they should so going to try and adjust that out this week.

 

[iced98lx]

Ok...printer thoughts....Prusa or Creality CR Series

Thank you for the very detailed run down... A Prusa is on my fall shopping list for winter projects for sure. I know I can find a few things to print for the garage, and lake.

 

[slodat]

Went back a few pages and didn't find it.. details on your cnc project?

 

[loganb]

Went back a few pages and didn't find it.. details on your cnc project?

Ohhh I forgot tagging you as another 3D printing and Prusa fan!

Most of the details on it start here:

3rd time's a charm with a 3 car workshop

What baby monitor do you use? I might need to copy this with my spare TV. Probably should have explained the setup better...thx for asking! I hated the range limit of conventional baby monitors, so we are using a security camera setup run on a PC for the baby cameras. We already had all the...

www.garagejournal.com

But 4' x 4' working envelope DIY router kit I bought off a coworker who upgraded to a 5' x 8' AVID before he finished this one. Controls for it are this:

Full Demon Controller

I've got it jogging around and have most all the remaining components in hand to make it create chips....just need to find a place to buy garage time to work on it....haven't found that on Amazon or McMaster yet. Goals for it are to get it running and learning whatever software I end up buying then work on improving the design/rigidity of it after I get some time on it as is...but first I need to get it running.

Not sure I remember seeing in your thread...what program are you using to generate files for your router? You using Fusion directly or are you using vCarve or something else ? I moved away from Fusion360 to Alibre for CAD design with some of Fusion's newer changes to licensing on their hobbist version but that was before I had a router....so have to figure out that side of it now as well and what's best.

 

[slodat]

I bought Vectric Aspire with my router. I have kept updating it over the five years I have owned the router. I don't recommend Aspire. Instead, I recommend V-Carve Pro. The 3d features in Aspire leave a lot to be desired. For 2.5d router stuff V-Carve is great. For true 3d stuff, or anything I want modeled, I use Fusion. I think it's worth the price for my needs. I do use Vectric here and there. It's fast and easy for some stuff. It's also what I use for the laser.

 

[loganb]

I bought Vectric Aspire with my router. I have kept updating it over the five years I have owned the router. I don't recommend Aspire. Instead, I recommend V-Carve Pro. The 3d features in Aspire leave a lot to be desired. For 2.5d router stuff V-Carve is great. For true 3d stuff, or anything I want modeled, I use Fusion. I think it's worth the price for my needs. I do use Vectric here and there. It's fast and easy for some stuff. It's also what I use for the laser.

Appreciate the feedback! V-Carve continues to be the one I see listed over and over on basically all forums I browse and my coworker I bought this one from uses it as well so likely what I'll get. Once I get it up and going and some of the kinks worked out I'll see if I can get some time off from work and other household projects and devote some time to it, download the demo/trial version and see what I think but I'm sure it'll just end up costing me $699 before my trial is up

Thank you for the very detailed run down... A Prusa is on my fall shopping list for winter projects for sure. I know I can find a few things to print for the garage, and lake.

They make fun Christmas present generators too! Lots of fun articulated animals that print in a single shot, combined with some of the fun color changing filament...big hits. Also for family members you're annoyed with who have kids...swords! Super fun "print in place" expandable swords....what else.....some "puzzle boxes" to make getting that cash a bit harder for the nieces....a really noisy toy for one of my other nieces....lithopane light boxes around and LED are big hits with parents/grandparents etc....it's not a "printer" it's a "creator of unique, customized family memories"

 

[iced98lx]

it's not a "printer" it's a "creator of unique, customized family memories"

We'll see what my wife thinks of that statement lol

 

[MadeByMiller]

Ok...printer thoughts....Prusa or Creality CR Series



Other printing "aficionado's" of GJ...what advice or nudges would you give to help give our colleague something new to learn over the long long long long long long long South Dakota winter (cause Omaha where I sit is soooo much farther south and warmer lol). Tagging a few fellow addicts..... @MadeByMiller

I know more about South Dakota winters than I do 3D printing, but I'll throw in my $.02. I think it's important to evaluate what kind of printing enthusiast you intend to be.

Do you want to print odds and ends trinkets that will sit on a shelf?

Do you want end use prints or prototypes that need to be accurate?

Do you want to nerd out on the printer itself, endlessly tweaking and experimenting?

All of these are of course not mutually exclusive, and I would say most 3D printer owners fall into each category in some regard. I am most heavily in the second category of end use/prototypes. With that being said, I am not so interested in working on my printer and tweaking things. My time is better spent designing the parts in which I print, I just want the printer to work and be repeatable. That is what my Prusa i3 mk3s+ offers. From the moment I finished assembly (yes, I believe it took me about 8 hours) 18 months ago, it has been working nearly flawlessly (my print bed is not as flat as I wish it was). The only failed prints I've had have been due to errors on my part. The Prusa has an unrivaled reputation and deservedly so in my opinion. Speaking of South Dakota winters, the Prusa has a brilliant feature that will pause and resume prints in the event of a power outage, that's saved my **** on several occasions and is really magic I think.

If you're going to get into 3D printing, I highly recommend learning a 3D CAD software if you haven't already. My flavor of choice and what I recommend is Fusion 360. Even if you only intend to print existing files from Printables or Thingiverse, it's only a matter of time before you realize the power you hold in the ability to command your robot slave to materialize objects overnight. The ultimate control is being able to model anything you can imagine and bring it to life using your printer. You can fix, recreate, duplicate, and retrofit many objects around the house/shop with printed plastic and save yourself trips to the hardware store, calls to the manufacturer, or buying new. It doesn't take too many projects like that for the printer to pay for itself, even the more expensive Prusa.

That's about all I've got. In the end, the Prusa was the clear winner for me. There are countless Ender owners that love their machines and print great quality, and there are many who struggle with them and shove them in a dark corner of the closet out of frustration. My vote is for guaranteed quality and ease of printing with the Prusa, spend your time saved learning Fusion 360.

Here's my most recent print, an end use part. My friend's dresser was more narrow than the span of the legs of his TV, so he asked me to move the legs further inboard.



*Rendering done in Blender, model of course made in Fusion 360

 

[loganb]

Well back to yard work now that weather got more cooperative

Need to finish the rock retaining wall around the former weed patch now mulch pile






Thought I was gonna get done that day, just a quick run to the stone yard to get what I needed to finish out...yeah right. They were out of the 4" limestone edging and weren't planning to get anymore...so 8" it is and will intermix them into the project



Helper gonna help!


With the 2 high 4" or the single 8" I think it looks intentional which was the goal! Couple small holes I still have to fill in







Once I get it done will glue the top ones down to limit the risk of a careless snowblower operator or exuberant child from causing greater injury...hopefully that can be an evening project this week. About 15 more linear ft to go but will need to dig 3 bushes out and move 1 sprinkler head to do that 15'. Then there is more mulch to get and spread, plants to put in ground(wife's job) and a yard that needs mowed, dethatched, aerated, fertilized, sprayed, top dressed, leveled, over seeded, rolled...fall lawn work probably going to cost a couple days of vacation if I'm going to get it done on time

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Looks good from my vantage point!

 

[loganb]

Looks good from my vantage point!

Thanks! I'm pretty happy with it and so is the boss lady which is what matters. Get this project done and off my list so I can move onto the fall grass and soil improvement project which is one I'm more interested in then she is. Hoping that a couple rounds of aerating, soil amendments and top dressing with compost over the next several years will make some nice improvements to the clay we have right now and cut down on the required summer water

 

[loganb]

10 minutes or so and once again the Root Slayer shovel earns its keep.

First one out. Assuming originally there was space between these but 7 or so years of minimal trimming removed that space






And resting spot before the trash can



Now just a sprinkler head, time and 2 small kids between me finishing...so a lot!

 

[loganb]

Didn't finish the wall...but did get a bit farther Sunday afternoon before childcare duties ended the progress



Tonight was mower service on the walk behind. Deck height adjustment is in 2 ranges and it was in high range and I needed it in low as I'm trying to work towards a close mow then aeration, overseed etc....

Swapping isn't bad(but not something I plan on doing again), 4 pivot bolts move to a different set of holes and the drive pulley moves up/down based on spacer location. Belt connecting the blades is a herringbone pattern timing belt which makes removing blades easier since they don't move independently. The last guy(not me) to zip blades on hammered a bit too many ugga ugga's on his impact....but they're now sharpened, deck in low range and ready for grease when I get a new tube tomorrow because of course I got 2 zerks done before she ran out



Biggest accomplishment though was probably using this stuff and not getting any on me!

 

[82355]

Quite the feat with that anti-sieze.

Martin

 

[Boostingaz]

VersaChem that's the good stuff right there

 

[loganb]

Quite the feat with that anti-sieze.

Martin

I was even prepared with crappy shirt, gloves etc and no issues. Maybe some support for the saying about an ounce of prevention...

VersaChem that's the good stuff right there

It's honestly the only stuff I've ever used as it's what we always had on the farm and I figured that Dad generally knew what he was doing there and anything that messy that continued to stick around and be used must've been worth it lol As the bottle shows it hasn't been used a heck of a lot....pretty sure I bought it when we moved to Omaha as I tossed most of the chemicals when we moved from Chicago as the potential of spills in the moving process outweighed the cost of just rebuying most of it.

 

[Boostingaz]

I've used their gasket makers / rtv type stuff and it's good too. Years ago when I worked at an RV & trailer repair place we used to sell the **** out of their plastic tank repair kits.

 

[loganb]

Couple small updates

Got the rest of the stone edgers down and the leftovers out of the truck...little bit of rearranging to do, couple need cut and then glue top row down...and get 4 more yds of mulch to fill in...then onto the next yard project...grass dethatching, aerating, top dressing, overseeding and still more sprinkler work

Did first real "side" on the smoker, roasted red potatoes. Little heavy in the pepper but pretty tasty



Had some surprise free time when the almost 4 yr old boss decided Mom was taking her to swimming lessons instead of Dad and the 1 yr old was down for nap so cleaned up the plethora of empty boxes in the garage and then started sorting thru the metric fasteners. A McMaster order had shown up and didn't have much organization on them yet....so getting them into the printed organizer boxes and labeled until I ran out of boxes.





Quick couple minutes at the computer and 12 more boxes fired up and running:




If I ever get time to update the model on these boxes(bought the models, not something I designed) I will extend the spot for labels across the full width of these narrower boxes and make it just a shade deeper to take 1/2" labels without trimming

 

[Boostingaz]

1) The next yard project...grass dethatching, aerating, top dressing, overseeding and still more wrinkles work


2) Had some surprise free time when the almost 4 yr old boss decided Mom was taking her to swimming lessons instead of Dad.

1) shewww that sounds like a lot of work lol. I'll stick to my rocks.

2) Don't you love that! I'm not gonna lie sometimes when we are getting dressed for horse lessons or something I secretly plant the seed of, " mom hasn't watched you in a while and you are getting so good, don't you want mom to take you today so she can see how good you are ". Followed immediately by running full speed Mom Mom take me today. Success!!

 

[loganb]

1) shewww that sounds like a lot of work lol. I'll stick to my rocks.

2) Don't you love that! I'm not gonna lie sometimes when we are getting dressed for horse lessons or something I secretly plant the seed of, " mom hasn't watched you in a while and you are getting so good, don't you want mom to take you today so she can see how good you are ". Followed immediately by running full speed Mom Mom take me today. Success!!

I was reading the other day where some areas of California were paying as much as $6/sq ft to convert grass yards to more water friendly materials and I'd be sinning if I didn't admit to thinking what I would do if someone offered me that....we'd have about 1.5k or 2k sq ft of grass and the rest would be something else!

And Yup....I'd be sinning again if I didn't admit to doing that a time or two...but swimming lessons this time wasn't one of those...she just decided she wanted Mom to take her...had she decided it 5 minutes later it would've been too late...but worked out this time for me! We did trick her a bit today though..... as painted fingernails happened for the first time



What she didn't know is that the sparkles were a cover for the supposedly bad tasting clear polish on the top to try and get her to stop sucking her fingers when she goes to sleep! It's at least only at nap/bed time but still trying to get the habit broken.....my initial impression is we may need something stronger

Did get over and got the next load of mulch...their little skidder wouldn't start so had to get the big tracked unit from the back and one of the bosses was on load out duty and he's always more "generous" with his loads. Think it was at least 30% more than the normal volume of 2 scoops....might only need 1 scoop on the next load for this area. Then there is another probably 8 or 10 yards of natural color that needs to go in the back behind the fence....never ending!




Made some CAD time while kid 1 was coloring and semi-supervised by wife while kid 2 was napping...heat index of over 100 was enough for me to push spreading above mulch around to the "maybe tomorrow" list and found inside work. Got the small "1 x 1" storage box for this grid system I got from https://www.alch.shop/shop remodeled with a slightly different label face intended to let a full 1/2" tall label go on without trimming.

Section view of (2) of the bins "stacked" below, label would go on that blue face. Since this is just a single box it was an easy model as I extruded a "solid" cube and chamfered the bottom to drop into the matching grid/baseplate, then I could use the "shell" command to easily make it hollow with my desired wall thickness (1.5mm). A quick triangle and some manipulating around for the label face and it was done far faster then I thought it would be.



This new PC for CAD is a significant improvement in speed, primarily due to having a discrete/separate graphics card vs the other machine's integrated Intel graphics. Having a more enjoyable CAD experience as a whole will hopefully keep said activities farther up my list. I should have about an hour left on printing today's run of the "original box" and hope to remember to start the overnight print of (2) of them so I can play with them in the morning and make any needed adjustments before a run of another (12) during the day.

And speaking of computers....both excited and lamenting it's computer upgrade week for me as my new one showed up end of last week. My team's hardware guy does a great job of working with IT to get our machines setup correctly and CAD packages working properly so a lot of the work is done...but I've been on a loaner for almost 2 months and have hesitated moving some things etc since it was a loaner...but time to probably kill most of a day and get things moved around and all setup as needed. In good news he did give the green light to upgrade the RAM in it as our hardware team feels that 16 GB is enough and the fight to get a "non-standard upgrade" or whatever done when you ask for more to start isn't worth it so so we just upgrade the RAM after it's put into service. 2 x 32GB chips getting ordered this week!

 

[Boostingaz]

What she didn't know is that the sparkles were a cover for the supposedly bad tasting clear polish on the top to try and get her to stop sucking her fingers when she goes to sleep! It's at least only at nap/bed time but still trying to get the habit broken.....my initial impression is we may need something stronger.

Oh my middle daughter is a thumb sucker, but they won't stop until they decide to on their own. We have tried and she's just not willing.

This might be bad lol but I'll admit that upfront.

I have an uncle who lost his thumb in a work accident years and years ago, way before my kids were born. We tell our thumb sucker that Uncle was also a thumb sucker as a kid and never stopped and look what happened......it fell off. She laughs and then somehow at the "teenage" age of four years old gives you that I don't believe a word you say dad look. Whenever we see him though, she runs up and that's the first thing she always asks. Is dad right, did your thumb fall off?? He cracks up everytime and just shakes his head at me.

 

[loganb]

Oh my middle daughter is a thumb sucker, but they won't stop until they decide to on their own. We have tried and she's just not willing.

This might be bad lol but I'll admit that upfront.

I have an uncle who lost his thumb in a work accident years and years ago, way before my kids were born. We tell our thumb sucker that Uncle was also a thumb sucker as a kid and never stopped and look what happened......it fell off. She laughs and then somehow at the "teenage" age of four years old gives you that I don't believe a word you say dad look. Whenever we see him though, she runs up and that's the first thing she always asks. Is dad right, did your thumb fall off?? He cracks up everytime and just shakes his head at me.

Ok, that's flipping hilarious! No way I could resist doing that same thing in the same situation!

Overnight print of a pair of the modified boxes with better for me label surface was successful so loaded up another print with (12) of them on it and got it running after getting back from daycare dropoff. Other benefit with this and being able to stack these is I can do "half height" boxes for smaller items like nuts or washers and stack them to save a bit of drawer space and not store as much air



Original box on left, modified on right. The full width label face also gives a slight ledge to hook it with a finger and lift it out.

 

[nicholam77]

Everything looks good! Nice work on the landscaping.

As far as the 3d printing, I'm back to trouble-shooting my Ender. Hopefully a minor fix this time. @iced98lx if you don't mind spending the money I'd go straight for the Prusa or higher end Creality like Logan said. No experience there for me, but everyone seems to like the Prusa especially. What I have had experience with is extensive troubleshooting, calibration, and fixing things on my Ender 3 v2. Can't complain about the price, and it does give pretty good results when it's not being a total douchebag, but if you want more of a set-it-and-forget-it experience I'd maybe avoid. Again, this is just my own experience. I know people with the older Ender 3 or 3 Pro that have no problems. But if you look at the r/Ender3v2 subreddit I think you'll find that unless you're comfortable taking a deep dive or upgrading it into oblivion, a lot of people new to the game have similar issues.

@loganb the small parts storage boxes look great, and I like the redesign for the label!

 

[loganb]

Little learning for me here on printing and paying more attention to the slicer program

Was watching the printer on the Octoprint (webpage based program showing what's going on and letting you control some things) and wasn't exactly sure why the printer path was showing as it is on the green lines below and it kept going to every corner



So pulled up the slicer image and sure enough...it's done just what I told it to do....just wasn't smart enough to realize it!

The small yellow dot in the left corner is a gap that was too big for it to fill the perimeter paths running along the inside/outside so it was going and depositing a little teeny tiny bit of material in each corner. The amount/cost of the filament involved is miniscule but it's a time consuming move when it happens on each box and on around 130 "layers" as it builds the prints up.




So back to CAD, and changed that outside corner fillet to 2mm instead of 1.5...and you get the right hand version of the part....no silly little "dot" of material in each corner, just nice smooth lines and it cut 1.5 hours off a print run of (12) boxes. Material saved is miniscule...about 8 grams total...but saving 1.5 hours on what was a 13.5 hr run and is now 12 hrs...that's an improvement! With some more tweaks like that as I pay closer attention to the tool paths and some of the speeds/feeds I think can probably get another 20% out of the run time.

In foolish lawn project land that occurred after supper, I think I have a better idea of how ppl with large, furry, always shedding pets feel as my yard just kept shedding grass thanks to the silly dethatcher. Bagged up 6 large contractors bags from the clippings from mowing it super low and then getting about 40% dethatched. Would have done it all but the fence is supposed to be stained tomorrow if mother nature allows it and didn't want to rake up more then I could get bagged before dark








Would be pretty happy I think if I could get everything dethatched, mess cleaned up and it aerated prior to the long weekend. Not sure that's going to happen...but it'd be swell.

 

[loganb]

Not exactly how I thought the night was gonna go....

 

[Boostingaz]

@loganb

Kid or pet?

 

[harley jim]

Dose this mean we get to call you a nit picker now!

 

[loganb]

@loganb

Kid or pet?

Kid

Message from daycare late last night that a kid in another class had lice...daughter wasn't getting to sleep and kept itching her head....sure enough. She'd been itching some the last couple days but I figured it was due to her "helping" me rake up grass clippings in the yard. "Helping" for those unfamiliar with the definition of said word for 2-4 year olds is similar to when some bosses offer to "help"....they slow you down and make a mess of it...which in this case meant rolling around in the grass pile

Fortunately the 1 yr old was clean this morning....so this morning we get to trim some hair up to make it a bit easier, then do the special shampoo and change out bedding. Forutnately I'm leaning that lice aren't that resilient and looks like this is still preferable to some of the other germ's that she's picked up there...so we live, learn and get to keep something else in the medicine cabinet now!

 

[loganb]

Dose this mean we get to call you a nit picker now!

ROFL....Yup! Well played Jim!

 

[Chrisb62]

Kid

Message from daycare late last night that a kid in another class had lice...daughter wasn't getting to sleep and kept itching her head....sure enough. She'd been itching some the last couple days but I figured it was due to her "helping" me rake up grass clippings in the yard. "Helping" for those unfamiliar with the definition of said word for 2-4 year olds is similar to when some bosses offer to "help"....they slow you down and make a mess of it...which in this case meant rolling around in the grass pile

Fortunately the 1 yr old was clean this morning....so this morning we get to trim some hair up to make it a bit easier, then do the special shampoo and change out bedding. Forutnately I'm leaning that lice aren't that resilient and looks like this is still preferable to some of the other germ's that she's picked up there...so we live, learn and get to keep something else in the medicine cabinet now!

Hopefully it is a one and done thing ......sometimes they return from other kids for a second bout.

I do apologize for now potentially causing it to happen because I've spoken about it.

 

[Boostingaz]

I always hate to say it but school, daycare, even church Sunday school, they are all so dirty! It amazes me what some parents will still go ahead and send their kid in to those places with at times

"Helpers", ohhhh yes. I've got 6,4,2 so I know all to well. All three "helping", sheeeew the simplest of tasks can turn into an hour.

 

[harley jim]

Mine are 46, 44, 43 and I still remember all too well.
They all 3 went through it at the opening of the school year, and all of them were an only once occurence.
It's a right of passage!

 

[loganb]

Mine are 46, 44, 43 and I still remember all too well.
They all 3 went through it at the opening of the school year, and all of them were an only once occurence.
It's a right of passage!

School here started almost 3 weeks ago and I told several ppl that end of August was going to be prime time for sickness at daycare as it gets passed from kids at school to younger siblings at home etc...just didn't think it'd be this...but I do like being right lol

 

[loganb]

I always hate to say it but school, daycare, even church Sunday school, they are all so dirty! It amazes me what some parents will still go ahead and send their kid in to those places with at times

"Helpers", ohhhh yes. I've got 6,4,2 so I know all to well. All three "helping", sheeeew the simplest of tasks can turn into an hour.

I remind the wife that they're going to public school in a few years and they're getting sick till then or all in the first year...so yeah...fun germ factory but we think the socialization is important.

It was an excuse to chop the way past shoulder length hair for the 3 yr old off...wish I would have been allowed to so it at start if summer instead of end but take what I get



Later I get to try out the new backpack sprayer...just with insecticide instead of pesticide...but will get the perimeter outside as well so it's justification for that vital piece of equipment....

 

[loganb]

Random updates, not highly garage related but a couple are.

Fence got stained so that's one thing off my list...roughly 40 gals of stain for just under 300' of fence...glad I paid it to be done.



Back home at the farm for a quick 2 nights and are fortunate to have 3 of my grandparents still with us and 2 are fairly computer savvy but require tech support from the younger generations. This time was installing a new outdoor camera to feed a dedicated 27" TV so they can see what's going on outside on the street easier. As they get up in age the stairs are harder so this helps them be more comfortable in their basement level and reduce the trips up and down the steps. Basic 4mp camera, with a run of cables around and in, to a converter box to then output HDMI and to a wall mounted TV. need to do wire cleanup and put a weatherproof sleeve over the cable connection off the camera pigtail but they were very happy.




Made it farther on revising the models for the small organizers and have "half height" models with the full width label. After using these with some M3 screws I think will make a version with a center divider as I think for small, short screws that'll be a bit easier then a "half width, half height"



A family member who lives in Vegas had a set of patio chairs that succumbed to 20 years in the sun and the back angle adjusters cracked out and broke. They had 1 that was still usable for a reference so some measuring and then head scratching as I learned how this CAD program handled constraints so I could print a sample to "check". The sample was spot on so when they were back last I ran 3 pairs in white ABS for better temperature resistance and they got installed earlier this week and so far are working great.

 

[Boostingaz]

My Grandpa will text me back, that's about the extent of his tech lol. His let's see what's going on out on the street is probably a rifle scope knowing him haha. That's awesome that they will let you do some things like that, most are very anti tech and push back when trying to be introduced to "whipper snapper" things like that lol. I know mine are.

 

[Boostingaz]

@loganb

I am not camera savy, but......

When we built out house I did pre-wired for 7 exterior cameras, but have never got around to doing anything. What cameras do you recommend, do you have a preference? They all run through my "tech" box in the closet and then make their way to the kitchen desk. So I can cut those wired and terminate them in the closet if I choose. If I have a box of sorts in the closet is there a way to broadcast that signal to any TV via Ethernet. So I can view the camera signals on any screen in the house? That same closet is where my satellite internet comes into and then goes back out to each TV / computer via hard line. I'm not a huge fan of wifi if I don't have to be.