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King Audio Books

Different Seasons, 1922 and 11.22.63

King Book Lot

King Books

New King books on the ‘actively reading’ list, Different Seasons, 1922 and 11.22.63.

6 King Books to add to your reading list… Sure beats investment books, BDU’s and tech talks. For context, I just wrapped up Different Seasons by Stephen King. Different Seasons features 4 books – Hope Springs Eternal, Summer of Corruption, The Body and A Winter’s Tale. Keep in mind, these books are tied together by season or for some, a King twist; highlighting the change of the seasons, each book in the series will have you eagerly waiting more King horror and suspense. ‘The Body’ stood out among the others for me, more nostalgia I guess, reminicent of the days past. Days of old, a simplier life, sun up to sun down, doing kid stuff. Give Hope Spring Eternal a go as well… it’s been awhile since my last run in with Shawshank. For a couple of bucks or Amazon credits, you can pick up the Audible version, narrated by Frank Muller.

Next on the list there, we’ll start with 1922 and then 11.22.63. There are a few others, as part of the Donald E. Westlake exploration, staying in that Hard Case Crime Book/pulp fiction… but, we will cover those another day.

Enjoy.

Holiday ’23

Happy Holiday

Sallee Technology LLC

Marketing – Year End ’23

It’s that time of year, 4th Quarter, we celebrate the end of the year, holiday cheer with friends and family. It’s a special time of year to share, share with one another…

A time to reflect and start a new. 4th quarter, year end; new creations, new fixes and cool tech coming in the new year. As we look back on the year, some learning lessons… we look for solid ground, new paths and progression forward. Remembering our goals from last year, we will continue to grow, improve our relationships with others, foster new relations, and continue with our projects inflight; ‘what’s on the bench’. New goals, new challenges, New Year; I want to thank you, my customers and those who help support the business. Here’s to a great holiday season, wishing you a happy, healthy, Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Looking to start the new year of right? Let’s start on the right ‘foot’ this year! Give us a call, we are currently working our first and second quarter backlogs, looking forward to the new year. Happy to help, reach out via email, phone or Connect via online form.

Holiday Merchandise

Holiday Gear Update – Richardson Performance Trucker, T’s, Umbrellas and more

Sallee Technology LLC Merchandise

Gear – Hats, Nike & Reebok Zips, Polos, T’s, and More

Get yourself some gear; Sallee Technology gear featuring The Game, Zippo, Yeti, Columbia, Champion, Flex-fit and more. Our new Golf Umbrellas in and the Richardson Performance Trucker hats are headed to production soon.

Goal is to have the new hats in before the holiday, tareting week before the holiday! I’m very thankful for the new relationship we’ve developed with a local print shop. They’ve been great to us, extremely helpful and willing to work with high level concepts. Great to have them on board!

A full list will be posted shortly, gear type, sizes, colors etc. However, a sneak peak may serve its weight in gold here… All navy Richardson Performance truckers… great products, great marketing gear.

Give us a shout if you would like to purchase something… We are bringing back the polos 1st/2nd quarter next year. Let us know what you think about the merch, or if your looking for something special, a one off print, or a special order.

Small orders, large orders, don’t care – Happy to accommodate where applicable… just let us know what your thinking. Let’s chat, happy to work with you to find what it is your looking for.

Weller 70w

Weller 70w Solder Kit

Weller Soldering Kit

Weller Tools

Needs must be had, time for a new Weller Soldering iron… with that in mind, the Weller 70w Solder Kit did just the trick. The Weller 70w Solider Kit.

What’s in the Kit? Kit includes the soldering iron, power unit, cord, tips, sponge and iron holder. It is a handy soldering kit/unit to have in and around the office. More recently, the need for more consistent power, temps and more specifically – a better all-around unit when comparing the unit to the original soldering iron/wood burning kit around the shop. Although the Weller 30w Kit purchased many years ago has been helpful, its woodburning capabilities have not been need. Again, for a hobby kit, woodburning and soldering, useful tool to have around… Most recently, ‘more power’ and ‘precision temps’ have been needed for a few items around the shop, for those of you who follow the 3d printer build, the Weller 70w was put to the test – rewiring and replacing thermistor wires, fan wires and hot end… I did again, test the Weller 70w unit on an old hack, the 9v cell battery hack and some car audio system wire for good measure. We will be soldering new wires into the guitar rebuild as well, new wires, connectors and more. Stay tuned for the guitar rebuild.

First impressions on the Weller 70w; immediate heat, responsive, handy housing and a few spare tips for smaller jobs. You’ve got to like the responsiveness… the tips are easy to clean, a handy sponge, a simple digitized interface for precise soldering temps and a clever housing coil to protect the heating element. An easy to use configuration to get what you need soldered; soldered.

Next, when comparing the kits I’ve used, Weller has been the brand of choice, again… I’ve not needed the soldering iron as much as you might think, but, when I do… Weller is the brand. The original Weller 30W Wood Burning or Hobby Soldering Kit has been all I’ve needed. From vintage train parts, drone boards/fans, home audio/home audio speakers, car audio wires e.g. battery wire, guitar wires, head unit power (blue wire), remote (yellow wire), hot and ground wires etc. Not sure that Weller 30w hobby kit was up for the job. Again, the 30w hobby unit got the job done, in a pinch.

Weller Solder Kit Weller Solder Kit 2
Coming Soon Weller Solder Kit 3

King Books Available on eBay

Gwendy Trilogy, B Hodges Series, The Dark Tower Series, Loads and Loads of Classics

King Book Lot

Other – King Books

Looking for some paperback, pulp-fiction? Check out the eBay collection up on eBay for sale.

The others are paperback (Mass Paperback)… recommend the book for future reading or passing a book along to someone else. There is wide range of tales, phenomenons, scary stories, haunting short stories etc. in the collection. Enjoy.

Stephen King – Dark Tower Series – 8 Books
The Dark Tower Series Complete 8 Book Set (Newer Addition Paperback) By Stephen King. Get yourself the complete set of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower Series books and unlike the movie (personal opinion) you’ll have hours and hours of King style adventure, mystery and horror! In any case, the books are ready to go, buy now!

Stephen King – Gwendy Trilogy – 3 Books
A Stephen King ‘lot’ of books, mixed (2) hardcover and (1) paperback. Goes nicely with any horror creation from Stephen King and one Richard Chizmar. Again, new stories from the horror writer, not much I can say other than, these books ‘scream’ fictional horror unlike any other. Interesting take on the fictional worlds problems and Gwendy’s unique way of ‘handling’ the matter. Get your King and Chizmar trilogy copies today!

Stephen King – Mixed Lot – 13 Books
13 Books – Stephen King Mixed Book Lot. A few horror classics, a newer grouping of books and some off the wall variety too! Don’t forget the ‘pulp’ classics and the animated book as well. We’ve got the following paper – (6 books) – The Stand, IT, Pet Sematary, Insomnia, The Outsider, The Tommyknockers – (3 books) – Finders Keepers, Mr. Mercedes, End of Watch – (4 books) Cycle of the Werewolf, Later, The Colorado Kid, and Elevation

Stephen King – Mixed Lot – 3 Books
Stephen King Mixed Lot of Books – The Shinning, Doctor Sleep, Salem’s Lot and It. Everyone needs these four books in their Stephen King collection. Anyhow, grab your Stephen King mixed lot of books today.

Some of my favorite are the pulp fiction paperback novels, Colorado Kid, Joyland etc. I think those are some of the best stories, cause of length. Some King books can go on for days, which is good, you get what you pay for. In my this is the old way of writing, pre-internet writing that requires time to develop characters, story lines, over all ‘voice’ of the book. Anyhow, get out and own your day or get your own King book lot today.

Enjoy.

M1 Refurb

Refurb Update – Keys, Touchbar and Screen – Images being prepped

M1 Mid 2020 Refurb process – Keys, Touchbar and Screen

Not recommended, but if you’re in a pinch, there is a way! Without purchasing a new M1 upper and/or M1 full assembly.

I was going to post the refurb process in two posts, one showing the screen and keys, the other, the touch bar. Since, the touch bar is ‘invasive’ to say the least, it’s easier to cover the screen, and touch bar in one post. So, a length post it is…

Where is the post today, 25 plus images ‘in-process’, quick story line complete and a pre-post completed. I think there was some 50 steps to remove, replace and install the touchbar, so we will make it as streamline as we can. More to come, check back in a few days, as we should have the post ready to go.

Reminder: New Merch

Holiday Gear Update – Richardson Performance Trucker, T’s, Umbrellas and more

Sallee Technology LLC Merchandise

Gear – Hats, Nike Zip, T’s, and More

Get yourself some gear now in stock; we’ve got Sallee Technology gear featuring The Game, Zippo, Yeti, Columbia, Champion, Flex-fit and more. And now offering, new golf umbrellas, Richardson Performance Trucker hats and T’s.

More “swag”/gear for your liking… we’ve just added a few new items that we’ve not carried before, i.e. Nike Zip Hoodie and Richardson Trucker Hats. Email me, we will get sizes and gear out as soon as we can. Also to note, we have Yeti’s and other sweatshirts in stock – Reebok Zip Hoodies, Zippo Lighters, and Yeti drink ware as noted.

We’ll be kicking out some quarter zips, and maybe some full zip sans hood. I think those will look nice and compliment the Columbia zip (med. weight) jackets. Those of you in the cooler climates, might want to look into those, warm, durable Columbia full zip jackets. On the other hand, those in the warmer climates, T’s and sweatshirts might just be your thing.

Posting in reverse order, from the current offerings, current stock –
a. Current offering below in this post – Hats, Sweatshirts, T’s and Umbrella’s
b. Original Series Yeti, Jackets, Hats
c. Second Series Yeti’s, Hats and Zippo

Alpha-Numeric Domain Salad

Domain Soup

Finding the right domain name

These days, it’s getting tougher by the min, all the 3, 4, 5, 6 and some 7 letter combination domains are all gone (purchased). Now, what do I do?

A new year, a new you (business you). Keep it simple, short… Questions, It’s time to create a new domain or find a new domain, find an alternative? What’s a domain broker? Whatever the reason, the strategy might be more difficult than you think. Loads of questions, it’s time for a domain buying strategy. More and more our domain strategy is put to the test, rankings, rage clicks, drops and more… all play a role in our evolving domain buying strategy. Keep ICANN handy, ICANN – Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers; on second thought, get to know ICANN and namecheap.

These days it might be just spelling out the business name, a service provided or an area of expertise… all not problem just a few years ago. Let’s start with domain brokers, we’ve used them, they are what they are ‘at a price’. Guess who wins in that transaction? Again, unless your trying to purchase an existing stable domain, coming out of pocket might be your best bet.

Tip, when trying to evaluate your next move – find a registrar, start with a few words that you might feel represent your brand or influence… try different domain sub-categories, partial and combined alpha-numeric characters etc., country codes and more. We tend to stay away from the .org’s, .co’s, and others like .net. More of a preference things, might even be more of a slight age thing, nostalgic may harkening the early dot.com days? Above all else, try and find something you can own (for a year). All joking aside, all domains are an annual expense, like it or not. It’s not the 20(teens) or early 2000’s; or earlier for that matter. It’s twitter handles and IG accounts, TikTok, ChatGPT and AI algo’s. Find something that sticks, a D.B.A. might be in order for some(not a lawyer, so consult where applicable) while others, might be content with a domain that is just catchy when available. Domains are pricey, finding the right one is not easy for that matter; just find something you can work with. Try it out, have a go!

The ICANN reference above, ICANN can do a lot of the leg work while doing your own domain research, domain brokers like Namecheap (more of a domain registrar), but there are thousands who do the same thing, domain sales… we try and find domain at the best price, what makes the most advantageous sense as well. Error on the side of caution, some owner don’t want to be found, i.e. private domain listings… be patient, make the right decision for your business or brand.

Part 5

Rebuild(s), Sonic Pad Adjustments, Assembly, Part 5

Part 5 Inputs/Outputs

Labwork – Upgrade Part 5

Finally, a moment to enjoy, a moment to enjoy success, what we’ve all been waiting for… a full print – Ender 3 Max Neo, Sonic Pad, Creality TPU. Full print, sans a dreaded motherboard upgrade.

No motherboard upgrade needed at this time! Just need some more time to print and tweak; print and tweak. Success! A fresh print, an end-to-end cube test print… just look at the ironing, ‘it’s alive, it’s alive’. Perhaps some perspective, a small win, yes but it’s a win. The config/console looks correct, no supruses, I’m looking into a few more tweaks in the end. Let’s point out a few things, I wanted to get an update up on the site specifcally celebrating the print test win. After a very early start this morning (the pictures are included below) we’ve got the Ender 3 Max Neo kicking out TPU test prints with minimum blips/blurps, zits, stringing etc. All good things. Key takeaway, delta is extrusion settings… this controls the direct drive pressure on the filament, can be found -> advanced settings -> extrusion settings. Reminder, we are using the Creality Sonic Pad interface, those of you using the onboard interface, you’ll need to look at something called – steps or look to control the stepper. Which in laymans terms is the ‘pressure in steps’ to again push filament throught he extruder.

Two, while we highlight the exutrusion win, matching other minor tweaks such as heat at the tip, bed for adhesion, speed etc. in the effort to match the Sprite Extrusion settings. A few print temps do work, and we wil work through those 220 – 240 C, depending on filament type – Duramic or Creality TPU. A few other hightlights, we did increase the flow an additional 25%, bringing the flow rate to 125%, and knocked down the speed 25%, to ~75%. So -> 220C – 240C Nozzle – 75C Bed – 75% Speed – 125% Flow Rate – Sprite Extrusion Settings Enabled.

At the moment, a few more tweaks are being applied to movement settings, the Z height seems to need a few n/mm’s here and there, no idea why. Might be start layers vs those layers that follow the starting layers. 3d printers allow controls to be manipulated over three phases of print – start, middle and end.

One other item to note, I failed to mention this in my previous post, Part 4… bed adhesion remains an issue, could be the dark horse of issues in the mix, bed adhesion quick fix… For now, alcohol and paper towels to keep that adhesion plate clear and clean! Really get after it, scrub away any and all oil residue, filament, blips, dust, stringing, dog hair (Zeus), all the left-behind filament and whatever else might collect on the build plate in an average office environment. I don’t recall that it made a difference to keep the plate clean, cleaning the bed per say, but we’ve tried a few things – a clean bed, a taped bed (Blue Painters Tape), sprayed adhesive bed, all in the name of finding an alternative solution for prints shifting this way and that on the bed surface plate. We will post a few of build plate tests as well, working toward spray adhesives next. Might that be the answer?

A few tweaks of the Hex (Allen) keys, reset the rail wheels and we’ve got gold! In hindsight, not sure the build plate needed a scrub down in between PLA prints. I’ll have you notice in the picture, if you can, the Creality Sonic Pad is up and running as intended. Honestly, not sure I would have stuck with the generic screen that comes with the machine. Wifi, Cloud Printing/Slicing, direct printing and settings all main reasons to stick with the Sonic Pad. One item to note, on the flip-side, we have yet to get the Wifi Box 2.0 to work in the upgraded sandbox. More over, for now atleast, we will skip the Wifi Box 2.0 and keep that item aside until we can gain some clarity on the optimal print settings and adhesion consistency. Positivity, all within target, as we move to spin up a few larger format prints, including a few Tinkercad projects for a true test. Also of note, we moved the printer off the ‘bench’, the work ‘bench’/tabletop doesn’t provide the needed stability, ideally the shaking, vibration and the back-and-forth motions of the printer assembly.

All in all, it’s a win today, for the week/weeks we’ve had the printer on the bench. Upswing, new parts, new break-fix settings, slicing settings and a new place-setting for the 3d printer to live and work. For those of you who are interested in the what’s to come (next prints), I’ve got a backlog of TPU Max Neo parts – specifically a TPU threader, some technology ‘covers’, and one-off locking mechanism for a cooler/fish well, more on that later.

Part 5 Inputs/Outputs Part 5 Inputs/Outputs Part 5 Inputs/Outputs Part 5 Inputs/Outputs Part 5 Inputs/Outputs Part 5 Inputs/Outputs Part 5 Inputs/Outputs Part 5 Inputs/Outputs

Rebuild Part 4

Miss-Prints, eSteps/Stepper, Filaments and More Rebuild, 4

Part 4 Internals

Labwork – Rebuild Part 4

Fine tuning, break-fix, and reprints. Yes, break-fix steps continue, fine tuning/recalibration, config adjustments, steppers, test prints and more. Largely, considered a failure so far…

Failures, not to worry! We will get this fixed, upgrades and all. A couple cycles now, including – what I will call the ‘teardown-and-rebuild’ cycle – removal of most external upgrades such as the Creality Sonic Pad, Wifi Box 2.0, direct drive extruder, tubes and hot end… the key is to isolate issues with teardown and rebuild cycle, building up with neutral or known issues. Please note, the Sonic Pad interface, under the ‘advanced settings’, extrusion settings… the default extrusion type must be changed/modified to include the ‘sprite extruder’, this accounts for the upgrades and the most significant step forward.

Please note, there are four default settings – default, sprite, MK8 and manual or custom… although we quickly tested each extrusion type, here, we focused in on the sprite extruder settings. Also of note, we’ve not had a clean TPU print. The TPU prints have been bad to say the least, as you will see in the test photos, bad to worse in some cases. In addition to miss prints, under-printing has been a major factor (due to extrusion steps as mentioned above, check the Sonic Pad Settings -> Advanced Settings -> Custom Extrusion Settings – Spite Extrusion vs Onboard Interface ramping up eSteps ~ 500mm). Before we move on, we’ve had globules (just large drops of melted TPU, simiular in shape/size as the end of a q-tip) miss-prints, gummed up nozzles and so on.

Beyond this point, I’ve looked at a board swap, which will also be something to consider until the print issues can be ironed out. Yes, that would be mean an effort in futility, meaning a full swap which would be considered moot.. for those that might not understand, this would leave only the base hardware/structure unchanged, changing out all components; which is not the goal. If a required motherboard change is confirmed- Creality motherboard v 4.2.7 specifically, a new printer specifically used for TPU might be the answer. Not ideal, but necessary. Below, you will find new images have been posted, thought it would help to highlight the removal of the fans, changing out heating element and sensor and Sonic Pad configs. Furthermore, I feel we are close to a successful print. Before I forget, the PLA prints run with little error, printing test cubes with minor blips or over printing… Beware, slicer/printer controllers do vary, Utlimaker Cura, Creality Slicers etc have varing results, some no result at all as the print is shown outside the consoles ‘known print’ area. More on that later, we can share a few posts on slicer sucesses (failures in our case).

Next, let’s cover some of the activities taking place during the rebuild:

  • Hot End
  • Assembly
  • Backplate
  • Sprite Extruder
  • Filament Tube
  • Filaments
  • Bed level, Adhesion Spray Glue and Blue Tape
  • Software – firmware and slicers (Creality Cloud, Creality Slicer, Ultimaker Cura)
  • Wifi Box, MicroSD Cards, Sonic Pad, Onboard Interface
  • OS – MacOS/Linux
  • Lot’s of cleaning, grab yourself a brass brush
  • E-stepper
  • Nozzles
  • Temperatures – hot end, bed
  • Homing Issues
  • Extrusion Settings
  • Homing Issues

So, what’s next you ask? Nozzles, needles, upgraded plate screws, leveling, Capricorn tube, Spider 2.0/3.0 Pro hot end… motherboard? We will have a full swap on our hands shortly! Ugh. Listen, it might sound like a lot of work, it is… but that is part of 3d printing, don’t let that bog you down. The challenge, the challenge or build problem ‘is what I gravitate to’ the most, a good problem, finding solutions, and working around said challenges… testing, and failing. In this case, may be to many times. I’ll sure video at some point, but for now, pictures and commentary will have to do the job for now.

Moving on, I mentioned a few items on the ‘pending’ list, nozzles, I think something is going awry with the heating element, thermistor and nozzle – space issue, wrong temperature etc. Globules of filament collect on the heating element, nozzle and many times fail to find the build surface. E-Stepper will help with this, I’ve read 424.9 is the ideal. However for our build, it has yet to be determined as the hot-end and thermistor might be the culprit. We need to eliminate those as build factors first, more to come on that front. Next, we need to have a few needles around to keep the direct-drive and assembly filament path clear, the collection of burnt filament doesn’t help the situation. So that to will be addressed this week.

Motherboard upgrades, we’ll skip the motherboard update for now, as that would as I mentioned be a full swap with a new sprite/extruder assembly to bypass the extruder and sprtie upgrade purchased at the start of this build. If the printer would require a motherboard update – 4.2.7 specifically, again, not the happy path per say. We will stick to items above, new screws, metal tension knobs, cushions, tubing and hot end are next. Ideally, the win will come from a level and consistent bed/build plate temperature, a clean adhesion plate, consistent hot end temperatures to reduce ‘leaking’ and hot end ‘heat creep’ and a quality filament… hardware problems might recede, or at least that is the intention. Now, assuming the hardware and upgrade components work, software will be the final challenge… TPU seems to be more about testing and failing tests, more so than first expected. I was able to print a clean print with a filament swap using the old Bowden drive and PLA settings. This was a full step back, to make sure the base product still prints as expected. Honestly, the speed-to-market issue comes into play here (this assumes you are looking to print commerically or in some professional fashion), as we are down both the ability to print PLA, cost per print and TPU. We will get the problem solved here shortly, more to come.

Part of this process is just keeping a positive outlook, even when balls of filament build up on the hot end and nozzle for the ~40th test. I know we are close per say, but, as we eliminate or mitigate more pieces and parts, the solution is there. Honestly, I might just need a few more mins to find the right combination of parts and software. Frankly speaking, TPU has been a bit of a bear. TPU is not all that hard on newer machines, but we need to find a solution for the Ender platform… on the cheaper end, wallet friendly for some (or may be not) when comparing to other very expensive printers which provide an out-of-the-box solution for many types of fulfillment needs. I will say this, for those looking for an easy, out of the box 3d printer (crickets, crickets), time/budget will be major factors, if not the defining factor; make or break.

More in part 5…

Part 4 Internals Part 4 Internals Part 4 Internals Part 4 Internals Part 4 Internals Part 4 Internals Part 4 Internals Part 4 Internals Part 4 Internals Part 4 Internals Part 4 Internals Part 4 Internals Part 4 Internals

Baseball

Nintendo’s Baseball

Lab Work – Baseball

It’s been awhile since I posted some of NES updates, I’ll be posting some of my favorites from the mid 80’s, through the 90’s. Same with a focus on todays online games, such as Alan Wake 2, Raft, and Spiderman 2 etc. So more online games, hisotry, favorites and commentary.

Starting with Baseball, great game… easy to play, from start-to-finish. Shout out to @worldoflongplays… Hopping into the game, once a team is selected, it’s ‘game on’. Bat, Pitch and Field, fairly straight forward. It’s funny to hear the ‘out’ sound bit, same for some of the other sounds you might hear throughout the game. Anyway, the ‘out’ sound, sounds very much like the opening sceen for ‘Mike Tyson’s Punch Out’; a little easter egg for those paying attention. Not much you can do with 8 bit.

You’ll find that it’s hard to find a game these days that didn’t make my favorites list. Maybe Gyromite? Or Megaman 2, cause I could’nt beat “Heat Man”, California Games, specifically the hacky sack game, Double Drago 2 or even Contra for that matter. Especially, before the 40 lives cheat – (up, up, down, down, b, a, select, and start for two players) or Game Genie in that same breath… now, the Game Genie, that is a topic we need to touch on.

Let me drive home the point, Baseball is up near the top of that favorites list, same with Contra and Mario World. Anyhow, an easy to bat, field, pitch, hit homeruns and more game. Again, probably not as difficult as the games made today… great game for late ~1983.

Baseball, Another Nintendo classic.

Rebuild, Continues 3

Final Assembly, Boot, Config and Print

Ender - Middle

Labwork – Rebuild Part 3

Hit a bit of snag, working through those challenges now. For the time being, see above/below for part 3 updates… We cover rebuild – x/y axis bands, plate, direct drive snafus, boot/reboot, reinstall printer drivers, slicers, nozzle change, a bit of troubleshooting on the extruder/heating element and the latest snag below, the onboard/external interface.

As noted in the previous build, part 2, we are probably a good 80%/90% complete at this point. We have some filament melting out, with a few hiccups here and there to mention. We will cover those in part 4. However, Part 2 was successful, Part 3, all parts are working as expected, boards boot as expected, and the new drive and extruder work in tandem as expected. The ‘snafu’ as I mentioned is between the Creality Sonic Pad, printer board and software to connect the two, unfortunately. Images will help clarify rebuild challenges, you’ll see manual updates performed on the printer screen, main board and where we are ‘stuck’ on the Sonic Pad. Two errors to note, Klippy, Sonic Pad physical connection failure and Filament recognition.

Next steps will include reinstall/rebuild Klippy, test/retest print config files, reattach Sonic Pad, replacing extruder tubes, nozzles, e-Steps, home position and more, while adding Wifi Box 2.0. Once we have all this in place, tested/retested, we will capture a quick video summary of the build and active print as those items are ‘ticked off our rebuild list’.

Got to love technology (or not), and office ‘helpers’ Zeus thought he would snooze a little while the troubleshooting session continued throughout the day/night. Same can be said for discovery and testing, no time like now. Some folks call it the ‘grind’… I’ll leave that there for you to imagine. Is it painstakingly difficult, no. Time always has an impact where speed-to-market might be a big deal. It’s always there, you have to be willing to work with what you have… Part 4 coming shortly, where we will cover fine tuning, steps, extrusion, adhesion and whatever else pops up in the meantime.

Internals Internals Internals Internals Internals Internals Internals Internals Internals Internals Internals Internals

Creality TPU

OEM TPU

Duramic 3d - Post Upgrade

Labwork – Various Filaments

Filament types, brands etc. a nightmare of a problem to have. Which filament to purchase, what works best on the 3d printer I own? What to do when you’re just starting out? Cut to the point, purchase, use what you can in context, however, when push comes to shove… Ender Series, Prusa, Makerbot all great choices for novices or beginners. Start with an eBay ‘parts’ printer, this might help cut down cost or refurb’ed. In time, as you learn the in’s and out’s of 3d printing, overcoming fine-tuning issues and filament extrusion/application will be key.

Regardless of product make/structure, the fine-tuning the nozzles, stability of the machine, drive system, adhesion and filament… Filament might be the easiest to swap out, may be the nozzle (noting various nozzle sizes, most default include .4mm) and for those hobbyist, the drive mechanism, bed/build plates etc. Filament might just be an easy swap with a catch.

Like most things, filament comes with it’s own issues – additional research is required, fine tuning and testing depending on choice of 3d printer. Let’s talk shop, filaments… retraction (later, future post). Listen, if purchase power is a problem, meaning if you have the money, first, buy what you can afford, especially those starting out in the 3d printing hobby… Do what you can to make ‘it work’. Making it work, meaning so that you can test, test, and retest. It’s a process of elimination, elimination of problems over time. Better filaments, better results. There have been many times when testing, in fact, I might venture to say, problems are related to cost of filament and the length of time it takes the user to move from the cheap ‘stuff’ to the final working filament. After all, at least in my filament finding (tersting) days, more often than not, filament testing became cost to throw-away, ‘what not to do’. So, yes, a healthy dose of testing is needed; failure as well. That said, I would be remise not to shine a spotlight on the value of the article; which is saving you money on filaments, pieces, parts and cost to print etc. The punchline, buy and match OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) filaments. I have a Creality ‘shop’, thus, I use Creality filaments – Creality TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) Filament.

Lately, we’ve been looking branch out a bit, as we’ve recently added the Prusa’s i3 MK3S+ 3D Printer kit to the mix. Again, there are many options, printers, upgrades, filaments… choose wisely.

Let’s move onto what works, finding something that works for your printer, or future printer. I’ve maintained more of a ‘happy path’ as a hobbyist, less venturous and sticking to the PLA’s (Polylactic Acid) and TPU’s. Again, MatterHackers does a great job sharing what’s on the market – types of filament, sizes, brand, color. Dive in! Or maybe, expansion is on your mind, and you want to setup your own print farm – @ShopNation might be a great research to check out. Have options, which might be the biggest take away beyond testing or OEM/OEM filaments. Hey, as a hobbyist, saving some cash is good thing, there are thousands of upgrades on the market, same for the number of printers, filaments, parts, boards etc. What I’ve found through various testing methods, settings, set ups, printers and more, has been more about what works, the ‘success’ metric here. Consistency, fit/finish – quality over flash, speed – quantity. Take for example, and why perhaps I’m writing to you now, Duramic 3D TPU is just not working in the Ender 3 Neo Max rebuild. Teardown, rebuild all updated, same result, so, again, time to make a switch.

The switch, I’m referring to here (moving from generics to OEM) worked on the PLA side of the equation, may be a correlation perhaps, and not causation. I believe that’s the value here. A handy lesson here, might be to continue to test where it makes sense – remembering “correlation does not imply/mean causation” ((Shout Out)) Find more about Mr. Glickman on his personal website or faculty website, Mark Glickman – Senior Lecturer in Statistics, Director of Masters Study.

If you want to learn more about filaments, do your research, please do look into – MatterHackers, All3dp – Filament Finds and/or @ShopNation

I’ll leave you with this, try what you can afford… what you can afford to discard, test and worked to fine tune your printer. Words of encouragement ‘leave no product stone unturned’. The goal is to produce high quality, consistent and clean prints. Find something that works 80% of the time, the old 80/20 rule. PLA is a bear to tweak and maintain, so is TPU and the ~14 other materials including metals, carbon fiber, wood, nylon. The application is endless, from starter to full forge, high-strength, commercial production. Focus in on settings, adhesion, extrusion temp, nozzle temp, surface tension, drives – pushers… And so it goes, testing is our motto/mantra, testing has become a constant when finding something that works, good over bad outcomes… so, test them all. Checkin from time to time, new posts are created daily, we will cover the Prusa tests, Creality TPU, Polycarbonate and PVA (Polyvinyl Alcohol).

Have fun, cheers

Creality TPU Creality TPU Duramic 3D

Rebuild – In Progress, 2

Assembly & Direct Drive Rebuild, 2

Ender Part 2 Direct Drive

Labwork – Rebuild Part 2

A few steps forward now, we pick up with the bold on extruder assembly and assembly backplate here in part 2.

As noted in the previous build article, part 1, we pick up with the orginal backplate, reusing the backplate while adding in the new assembly hardware. Unfortunately, the new OEM plate was incompatible with the setup I have, so, we’ll harvest the new wheels, screws/tightening washers, bolts and spacers where I can. A quick fit, a dryfit of all the screws, spacers and wheels, placement of the bracket, probe (black, narrow plastic with probe), side fans (yellow and blue wires) and heating element (heater, heat sink and extruder).

The final fit, be sure to tighten down the wheel screws, fan, drive belts and extruder prior to placing the heating element. Order will matter here, same with the removal of the Bowden drive, brackets and extruder tube. We will harvest some of the old tube to help direct TPU filament into the new direct drive extruder. Finally, we place the extruder fan (red and black wires). At this point, you can unscrew the two top wheels in order to place the new direct drive platform, tighten down and snap in the carriage case (caution hot should be on top).

Next, the direct drive, clip on the tube provided, snip tube after a fitting or two. Do make sure, the fit is proper. The direct drive platform is screwed in from the backside of the plate, installed on the last step. Following a screw down action, you’ll need to connect the direct drive motor to the main ‘line’ by passing the frame platform where the old extruder motor lived (see last couple of images) and place the harvested tube for filament.

Easy right? Part 3 coming shortly, we will cover that tomorrow, we’ve got to replace the heating plate, power on the machine and change the step movement.

Internals Internals 1 Internals 2 Internals 3 Internals 4 Internals 5 Internals 6 Internals 7 Internals 8 Internals 9 Internals 10 Internals 11

WiFi For Legacy Creality Devices

Creality WiFi Box

Creality WiFi Box

Tech | Tools – Creality WiFi Box 2

Need a boost, WiFi or Bluetooth connection for your Creality printer? How about the Creality WiFi Cloud Box 2.0?

Those of you who might be use to the idea of ‘airprint’, or print-over-wifi or can print on a WiFi/Bluetooth ready 3d printer, know how easy it is. It’s easy to sit down, run through your sketch or drawing export, send the slices to a printer via WiFi/Bluetooth, kick off a print via wifi/bluetooth sketch and print.

Before I go into the best case scenario, let’s cover the old school models. Like me, those of you, who utilize old printers, nano sd cards, usb 2 cords and swap nano SD cards and usb sticks. Those of you who might want to skip ‘the chair slide back-and-forth, switching usb dongles and nano cards’… again, it’s old school, it works, manual; yes…

Please note, we haven’t set up the Creality WiFi Box just yet. We will get something up here shortly, once the rebuild is complete ~give or take a week or two to wrap up the build. Rebuild pt 1 – Rebuild, install new drive, assembly and back plate. can be found here. While we are currently reconnecting the new assembly housing, heating element etc. Rebuild pt 2. start today or tomorrow.

With that being said, we’ll cover the Creality solution for older 3d printers, more specifically the Creality WiFi Box with the Ender 3 Neo Max.

Rebuild – Start

Ender Teardown, Rebuild

Unpack - Ender Internals

Labwork – Teardown Part 1

A few steps to crack open the Ender housing, replace extruder wires, internal fan wires, jumpers etc.

Check out the timeline below, quick editorial: Case removal, wires, replace section by section… replace covers. Voila! Step 2, coming shortly, the more difficult portion of the build as we are swapping extruders Bowden to Direct Drive, and back plate swap. Back plates don’t match, we will proceed with a salvaged plate (existing), harvest the plate, add new hardware… shouldn’t be to difficult.

I’ll post another update on the tool set I’ve recently added, Klein driver set… handy multitool to go with the new-ish Tekprem Torx set. Check back shortly as there is more to come in round two!

Internals OEM Wires Jumpers and Terminals Case Fan Wrapped Up - Wires Finish Up Wiring Zip Up The Wires

Downloads – Boards, Slicing & More

Creality – Ender 3 Max Neo, Halot Sky & Prusa Boards, Slicing and More

Tech | Tools – Software Support

For future usage*, specifically those of you who are running an Creality Ender 3 Max Neo 3D Printer, you need the following software, yes, *already used in various parts of the rebuild effort.

Here is the list:
Creality Halot Sky – Firmware or Slicing (bottom)
Ender 3 – Neo Max – Firmware or Slicing (bottom).

Also, included:
Prusa I3 MK3S+ Kit – Firmware, Drivers and more

Capo

Replaced: D’Addario Capo

Gear – Capo (Capotasto)

20 mins a day, now includes a capo.

I’ve checked all around the shop, the office, the home etc. everywhere… as you know by the post title, I had to find a replacement… Sweetwater – D’Addario Capo arrives and we are back in business. For those who are not on board, capo, or clamp, a clamp which can be placed on a desired fret to ‘shorten’ the fretboard. Bringing the nut to the higher number frets. Ideally, we picked this one up, for both acoustic and 6-string electric guitars.

Quickly, I’d like to note the missing capo, the original capo around the house – the Sweetwater – Kyser Capo. Great capo, black… easy to use for those of you who might want to start practicing with a capo. Both great capo options the Sweetwater – D’Addario Capo or Sweetwater – Kyser Capo, get yourself one today…

Switch

Artwork – Switch (acrylics)

Zoomed In Housing Vents

Lab Work – Switches

Back At It Again, The Light Switch Series is now underway, in Progress

It’s a start, got to get something down on canvas… it’s been awhile since I put paintbrush to canvas. These days, I’ve been spending more time on the sketchpad, a year or two back now, I sketched out a few smaller ideas on light swithces before moving to stretched canvas around the office… Honestly, I’m not fawned of or painting on smaller canvas.

It’s a start. This will probably be a 5 to 6 part series, same subject, in this case an old light switch. Who knows, I might scale the sketches up at some point, once the direction is set and subject matter gets ironed out.

Have a look, kind of hard to tell at this point what it is, but it’s there… Check back for updates in the next few months.

Navigating Challenges

Challenges, Issues and Blockers

Adverts – Working Around Challenges, Solutions Ahead

Finding new trails, blazing new paths; navigating trail challenges.

Keep your goals top of mind, keep them simple… understand the trail (business), other trails criss-crossing over and under, through and through, the undulations, water/no water, hazards etc. Eyes ahead, work quickly and diligently to find new paths. Keep it simple.

Assembly Plate

OEM Back Plate

OEM Assembly Back Plate

Tech | Tools – Back Plate

Back plate on the bench…

Quick update, assembly back plate is in hand… unfortunately, I had to push the build back a few days, OEM parts ‘the Achilles heal’. Look for an update this week/weekend as all parts/harvestable parts are in and on the bench. Let the rebuild begin! Questions, comments, may be a little encouragement… leave a comment below. Cheers