I joined Bluesky a couple of weeks before it went public. One positive is I found more artists and anime creators there than on my entire time poking around Mastodon. Not sure if it is just luck or if the different rules play a part. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Note: I’m not talking about NSFW art.

I built my Prusa MKS3+ from the kit so I know generally how to assemble and disassemble my factory-built MK4. The one part that is unfamiliar is the extruder.

Prusa just published no-nonsense videos showing how to build the MK4 from the kit. Would have been nice to have these when I built my MKS3+. Anyway, I just watched the video on the MK4 extruder assembly so I now know better how it works.

Here is part one of the series on YT: youtu.be/OkRODkM2JNU?si=vpKlJf

I think this angel figure looks nifty printed using Amolen’s dual color silk PLA.

I’ve been playing with some of the popular AI image generators. I’ve noticed they are SUPER biased to generating young, thin, pretty/handsome characters. It is a real prompt battle to get diverse images from them. Rather disappointing to say the least.

I will never come closer to using up the last of a filament spool than this! Top right you can see about 1” of filament remaining when the model finished.

I gotta get one of these. Looks so cool!

Prusament Dragon T-Shirt (S) | Original Prusa 3D printers directly from Josef Prusa prusa3d.com/en/product/prusame

Hmm, I seem to have Bluesky now.

My Prusa MK4 started squeaking periodically on fast Y axis moves. Listening carefully I could tell it was from the right side so today I replaced the 3 Y axis bearings as well as the right side smooth rod (even though it looked and felt fine). No more squeak and the calibrations remain spot-on. Seems a bit premature after 46 days printing time but the fix was easy and cheap. Prusa thought based on the sound there was a stuck ball inside the linear bearing.

RIP Ingenuity. You’ve been the ultimate overachiever.👏🚁

After Three Years on Mars, NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Mission Ends - NASA nasa.gov/news-release/after-th

My hopes and dreams have been crushed into dust again. Thanks FedEx.

I was supposed to have parts needed to make a repair by 2pm today. Somehow that silently turned into 8pm so there’s no way the repair is happening today. Glad I waited on the disassembly until the new parts arrived. 😖

I’m running the Snowflake Tor proxy on a bottom-spec Bmax with Linux Mint and I wondered if it would impact other services. I needn’t have worried. The CPU and network loads are negligible.👍🏻

When I got my Prusa MK4 I bought an inexpensive Wyze camera to monitor prints. I had heard they supported RTSP so I would have been able to use any app that knows that protocol with the camera. But it turned out they dropped support for that which was always a pain in my side.

I heard good things about the Tapo C100 so I picked one up for $20 a couple days ago. Very happy with it. Nice video quality, easy set up and works great with RTSP.👍🏼👍🏼

I seem to have set up a Snowflake Tor proxy.

support.torproject.org/censors

This 3D puzzle kept us very busy this past week. We’re all relieved it is finally finished.

Today I discovered there is a free plug-in for Fusion 360 for generating Gridfinity bins and baseplates. I’ve long wanted to be able to due more customization than I could manage with the OpenSCAD model. Now the Gridfinity model is in Fusion 360 and I can use the full arsenal of tools. This makes me happy. 😁

apps.autodesk.com/FUSION/en/De

If you’ve encountered a problem with USB-C charging or low data speeds this excellent video will give you the info to understand what is going on. There are a wide range of standards that use the USB-C connector. When I got my Mac mini I did a USB-C cable check and purge and now all cables I use for data transfer are rated for Thunderbolt 4.

One thing he doesn’t cover is video over USB-C which uses the same lanes as other data transfers and effects their speed.

youtube.com/watch?v=qV03FfdPHO

Can’t handle the speed.

TIL how badly a PLA brand fails when used on a MK4 running full speed. Fugly. I’m going to have to pay closer attention to spec sheets from now on.

Today I removed and lubed the Y axis bearings on my MK4 for the first time. Apparently I didn’t ruin anything because it still prints fine.

But I did find one of the tiny balls from one bearing on the desk when I put everything back together. Apparently losing one is not dreadful but I have ordered new bearings.

I also need to find out what the minimalist disassembly steps are to get the bearings out. I don’t feel I was very efficient.

So far I am not a fan of Polymaker PLA… None of my 6 other brands does this. Hoping to hear back from their support team. Nice color though.

Our state energy agency keeps asking for conservation due to unusually cold weather. I feel this could be avoided if they would simply harness the tremendous amount of static electricity generated in every home due to the heaters draining all moisture from our homes. Zapppp!⚡️

I have a Nikon D7200 and 4 lenses I’m thinking of selling. My non-iPhone photo taking has dropped dramatically over the years. So much so I have trouble remembering how to operate the thing. I think I’d like a simpler mirrorless camera. Hmm🤔

A high of 14ºF and a low of 10ºF for a few days straight is providing amble proof our HVAC is geared more to 100ºF+ days than arctic cold fronts. At least we will get back over 32ºF Wednesday.🥶

By the cold light of day, and I do mean cold because it is 14ºF right now, I quickly found why the Linux Mint box’s services were offline. The port it was connected to on the gigabit switch is no longer working. Kinda weird but at least a quick and cheap fix since there were a couple of spare ports.

Put some tape over the bad port. If any others go bad I’ll replace the switch.

Current mental state: relieved. 😅

I noticed shortly before bedtime that the services on my usually rock-solid Linux Mint box were offline. Couldn’t even ping it. Since it is headless I dug out a monitor, keyboard and etc and after some confusion over the fact it had network access while all the services were unreachable I realized it showed no Ethernet connection. It was using WiFi which doesn’t advertise services.

I’m gonna wait for the cold of dawn to figure out if it is a hardware or software problem.😞

Our snow was like a bad one night stand. Showed up after midnight, gone before dawn, seen by no one and leaving a completely unsatisfied feeling. ❄️