New Assembly, Drive Drive Extruder, Support Back Plate and Rail Wheels
Lab Work – Building and Buying Parts On The Supply List
… a few more days folks, a new extruder support plate for the Ender 3 Neo Max is on the way. Not on back order, but awaiting the last piece so the rebuild can commence.
Before the assembly and new direct drive can be upgraded, we found an ‘issue’ with the back support plate (including wheels and bolts) are out of whack. Following the printer ‘meltdown’ a few months back, check out the results of that print here… The final piece in the rebuild is this support back plate. There is to much play, movement, space between the assembly and guide rails. I’m not sure (I don’t recall the play or any movement between the assembly, support plate, wheels and rails). I would think there is no or very little ‘wiggle room’/tolerance in those items. That said, I can almost remove/lift off the assembly housing, extruder and back plate from the guide rails under tension. Third sign, in this case, it was time to replace the support plate, bolts and wheels to ensure an improved upgrade and/or fix.
Anyhow, all the pieces and parts have been removed from the initial purchase. So, for picture sake, we’ve got the frame, base, and guide rails and that’s it. All parts have been removed for the moment. ~3 weeks now, awaiting the OEM support plate. Ultimately, we are looking at a clean rebuild, OEM parts with a few upgrades (direct drive, replacing the Bowden extruder) to allow for TPU, Wood/Bamboo, Carbon, Metal, Organics and more. System upgrades might come later, the goal being more power to compensate for the downforces on the extruder head in the direct dirve case. Caution, there are differences between the Direct-drive and Bowden extruders, obviously advantages and disadvantages for both… maintenance and care being the most complex for the direct-drive variety. The goal with the direct-drive ‘pivot’ is the heat, extrusion pressure, retraction and a much broader range of filament materials. I will stick to the update advantages/disadvantages for the sake of this article. The opposite being the vs. advantages/disadvantages. One more time, more materials, heat, pressure, and variety vs maintenance (a lot of maintenance). I use the break/fix method – parts being less expensive in the printer ecosystem to replace. May not be wise, but sometimes you’ve got to break-it to understand the machine or engineering behind the magic.
Final thoughts, parts help, build yourself a parts bin, part out used and gently used parts to cut-down on out of pocket expenses, learn how to maintain and reuse your gadgets. Don’t forget to fail fast, when working on such equipment… short-term break fix expenses go along way when dealing with 3d printers, drones, computers and more.
Disposal Problem
No Grind, Time For A New Disposal
Lab Work – Emergency Fix
A few weeks back now, had a minor issue with the sink/disposal, picture here is worth a thousand words… or more
After the problem had been discovered, it was time to replace the disposal unit. After further investigation, rust had seized the disposal or was continuing to cause further damage internally. We did crack (remove the seal and screws) the top off the disposal unit, honestly, I thought this unit was way past it’s usefulness, a timely discovery I might add.
So the title, ‘no grind on the original, and same for the replacement… The replacement had a short in the wiring, so, I opted for the new 3/4 hp unit shown here… same brand. Check out the final install down below. These are usually plug and play, assuming pipes and plugs are available, also a reason that I stuck with the same brand. I didn’t want to hack away at the existing piping, cabinetry etc, just want to maintain and in this case boost the output. You’ll see a slight increase in HP, a plastic outercase/shell and a sparkly new (newly cleaned) lower cabinet for it’s foreseeable future. What a mess. Moving along, fix in place, watch what you put down the sink etc. Remember to check sealant between disposal and connector. We had a little leakage that has now been remedied. Same for placing a small bin in case of water leaks or intrusion in the future.
Hopefully, you can learn a thing or two, be sure to unplug disposals, have some extra ‘shop’ towels to mop up excess water or worse, sink goo, make sure local power outlets are off and to be safe, turn off water where applicable.
Quick Fix – Nano Mixer
Bloom’n Again, Mixer Back In Action
Tech | Tools – Frother Quick Fix
Quick Fix – Disassemble, Clean, New Batteries…
Quickly stir in sugar and milk, mix up your protein powders and fine particulates; all made easy with the Bloom mixer. I wanted to share a quick fix, as our nano mixer quit on us a few weeks back. Typically, the morning and afternoon espresso is ‘cut’ with a few granules of sugar and some half and half… as I get older, the trend has been ‘lighter and sweeter’… any how, here is the internal works of the mixer, teardown – a few screws, clean up, reset the metal prongs and a new set of batteries and we were back in business. Mixin’ up protein powder, scrambling eggs and espresso/coffee.
Just a note, be sure to keep the lower body (green structural plastic in the picture), keep that area dry if you can, there is a bit of a seal there… but better safe than dropping $20 – $40 on a new one. Again, here is the link for the Bloom variety, I think the mixer has been updated since date of purchase.
We’ve tried the ‘mini blenders’ like the Bullet’s, and the hand blenders, the top of the line per say, with the blenders… there are advantages to all, negatives as well. The Bloom’n mixer is nice for the small stuff, no need to plug anything in, or clean up pre-made cups etc. Magic Bullet style mixers were great for ‘bullet coffee’*. Never heard of bullet coffee, see below. Anyhow, there are a few of the nano/hand mixers on the market, Amazon will help you filter down and find the one that might make sense for your budget. Anyhow, I’ve included a few items below so that you can spin up your own ‘bullet coffee’, links included…
*Bullet Coffee – Full Fat Butter, Raw Coconut Oil, espresso/coffee of choice – Nespresso Pods – Tokyo Vivalto Lungo, a few spins of the mixers, done. In conclusion, I’ll probably post about espresso machines, more specifically the Nespresso machine. More to come. Thanks
Adventurer Lifevest
Lifevest
Gear – Adventurer Lifevest
Adventurer Lifevest, life, safe and ready to deploy at a moments notice.
Class 2 lifevest/inflatable by Adventurer… Need a hand in and around the waterline, shallow, moderate water and the deep. This lightweight alternative can even inflat itself when the float is needed most. The float vest has both options to inflate, both automatic and manual. Co2 cartridges will be required, maybe a few extra in the event of an emergency. Neon and slate colors, keep you safe in style.
Handy to have lifevest around for kayaking, boating, small boats/floats or floatables like paddleboarding.
TPU Update
New Assembly and Drive Drive Extruder
Lab Work – Bolt On Upgrades
We are updating the extruder, bolt on direct drive upgrade and replacing the Series 3 full assembly body.
PLA is great, TPU might be better. Of course, if you need flexibility over rigidity… this assumes you want to test TPU filament. First, we replace the existing assembly body on the MAX NEO, and bolt on the new extruder to help with the TPU issues*. A little more on the issues, TPU requires*/needs more ‘umph’ to drive the flexible TPU filament through the assembly and out the nozzle. The direct drive helps will ‘refinement’ and focus on pushing and pulling the filament more accurately and more precise. Again, not something that is a *requirement, however, I’ve seen enough test prints now, it’s time to make the switch. So, here is the bolt on solution from Creality for the Ender 3-Series, MAX NEO.
Look for additional photos and mini-clips covering the install shortly. In the meantime, here is a brief unboxing and assembly tear-down. Thanks!
Movement
The Study of Movement
Artwork – Movement
More paintings coming out of storage… check out the movement series posted under artworks. The idea was to capture movement, motion; action etc. Below you will find mixmedia, and acrylic works, studying water elements, creatures, night sky and radio signals.
Sun Study
Rise and Set, Sun Study
Artwork – Sunset Series
More paintings to dig out of storage… for the time being, the following sunset works/study will act as a storage/archive for my sunset/sun study work.
More to come, check back later.
Piet Study
Inspired by Piet Mondrian
Artwork – Mondrian Series
Mondrian Study
Form Study
Human Form Study
Artwork – Human Form Study
Human Form Study, using acrylics and oil paints; sizes vary.
More images to follow, we will include a hand study, and tree study over the year. Briefly, the main image won 1st prize back in college, highlighting various elements – clouds, marketing, human bust and the human skeletal structure. Two, is an old oil painting, painted prior to university, while studying the bust of Alexander the Great.
Lastly, a painting inspired by the famous “Girl With The Pearl Earring” by Dutch Master Johannes Vermmer ~1665. Although the famous pearl earring was hidden in this rendering, the study was an early ‘pointillism’ painting on watercolor paper. The final work was to represent the most famously painted by such names as Georges Seurat and Paul Signac ~1800. This study was very early on in my painting adventures, when the background was playing a major role in the final painting, instead of other similar colors to fill in the painting all together.
Aircraft Study
Flyin’ And Park Airfield
Artwork – Single Engine Aircraft, Acrylics
Traveling Triptych
Triptych – A Life’s Journey, Life As Vagabond, A Thinker (Tinkerer), and Under The Knife
Artwork – Triptych
Traveling works, national art show; Progressive Employee Artshow.
An exploration of color, the human form, emotion; being human. Painted back in the early 2000’s the works won multiple first awards, traveled coast-to-coast and remains in my private collection.
Acrylics Indoor And Outdoor Study
Waterscape, Vases and Flowers
Artwork – Indoor And Outdoor Works
Various styles, vegitation inside the house and out.
The style has been carried throughout my career, more recently in a pelican study. Exploring the world around us, using color and space to define the setting, mood and the time.
Telescoping Magnetic Picker
Enbar. Need A Hand? Pick Up Metal Tools, Scrap, Nails and More
Tech | Tools – Working With Metal? How About Small Screws And Bolts? Need A Hand?
Need a hand? Pick up a Enbar magnetic telescoping ‘pick me up’ tool.
This particular Enbar tool has a small magnet, extending 7″ to 30″, handy to have around when you need a magnetic hand. While work on the Jeep, from time to time, a screw or bolt might find it’s way in an area where my fingers and arms simply can’t reach. Also, the fingers lack magnetism to pick up 1″ to 2.5″ bolts, tucked down in front framing tubes (recently ‘lost’ down in the front tubing area, when changing out the headlamps… recovered a star screw, multiple times; just wasn’t a good day to tinker on the Jeep). This is where the Enbar came/comes in handy.
I chose the mini without a light, the small No.1 Magnet Tool, there are a three others in the handheld tool in the lineup. Others range in size, while others have a small light to help in tight, dark areas. Check out the link, Enbar tool, if you’re looking for the same help in and around the shop or garage.
A handy tool for roughly ~$10 bucks*, depending on which model you choose. So, for as little as ~$10 bucks* for the smaller model sans mini light or ~$12 bucks* for the largest tool with a light, *rounding up for simplification. The Enbar Magnet tool just might be the tool to have around the house, the shop and/or the garage. Maybe a couple, one small, one large? You pick, you pick the right ‘pick me up’ tool for your needs. Don’t forget to leave a comment or share your experience online, if you do choose to purchase one of these tools. Helps drive that customer review rating (4.6 stars of 3,925 ratings as of 8/6/2023).
NES F-1 Race
Race Formula 1
Lab Work – Break Out The Controllers
Another great option for you racing fans out there, Race F-1, F-1 Race.
For those Rad Racer, FZero and Kart fans, don’t forget about F-1 Race. Very similar to Rad Racer, from what I remember, refresh your memory with @worldOfLongplays play through. I’ve not heard screeching tires and high quality 8 Byte sound effects as good as F-1 in a long time. While I’m on the sound quality bit, I was always fascinated with game sound effects, and what the developers were able to enhance in-game gameplay. Also, while Mario Kart, FZero, Excitebike (not going to name all my favorites, excluding arcade games e.g. Cruisin’, Daytona or MotoGP) and maybe Super OffRoad, F-1 Race is spectacular. Great classic game, a change in pace and scenery is nice as well.
I’ve touched on Kart and Excitebike, I might pull in Al Unser’s racing at some point as well. In any case, if you can get a hold of a copy, F-1 Race is a great game, difficult to handle at times but overall a great time. Give F-1 Race a shot, enjoy.
Godaddy Bounceback Services
Report Your Findings, A Bounceback Option
Tech | Tools – Email Support
Report A Bounceback Error
Those of you using Godaddy for hosting, check out the Report A Bouncebak Error mini site. Need to dig into a rejected or bounceback? Need more information from your hosting provider? This mini site comes in handy from time to time, especially when diagnosing returned email. Same for Hostgator folks, HostGator Bounceback Support or background.
Assuming you want to tackle bounceback messages on your own, be aware, raw source data will be required in order to further diagnose system errors/spam rejections. In order to do so, your local mail client – Outlook, Apple Mail, GMail etc will offer a ‘view’ in order to look at the header data on such a transmission (both those with successful sends and NOT successful sends). For example, those of you on MacOS – Open Mail => Find and Click Mail in Question, While mail in question is highlighted => Goto Vie w => Down to Message => Select either All Headers or Raw Source depending on what service is requesting. DIYer’s you can find online resources to troubleshoot this yourself, before you reach out to your hosting affiliate.
Report A Bouncback Error will ask for .EML files, once you have the messages headers or raw sources, you’ll want to save those in a readable format. Simply rename with requested file type. Simple right? If you can get to this point, most Tier 2 or Support centers can investigate email in question in greater detail. Although there is no standard SLA (Service Level Agreement) the timeframe was 12-24hrs depending on order of magnitude; most will respond within a few days, some a week, assuming limited or non-paid tech support.
Investing In Your Business
Finding Small Wins, Eyes On The Target, And Focusing On The Next Win
Adverts – Iterative and Incremental, Design, Build, Release
Three simple points to drive home incremental successes, aim small, eyes on target and awareness to see beyond.
Aim small, finding wins that are impactful, can change experience in a positive manner and find the target. In not so many words, CBA, find cost effective ways to improve your customers experience. Eyes on target, bring a focus to your work, understand the value of customer diversity and how those opinions and experiences can improve your products and services in the market.
So, let’s dig into the image for a minute. I understand, you might ask, what is the significance around a stylized eye?. While it’s a illustration, zoomed in on a human right eye… cool colors, hard edges etc. Why an eye, right?
Vision, vision is the take away here. Having the ability to ‘see’, right or wrong, seeing (in some cases, using braille to see as an example). The image works more so for those who have vision issues per say, because the experience and the ability to see ‘value’ in a product or service is the point we are driving home. Do your customers understand the value in your products, service and more specifically the experience they might have when engaging in your product.
Next, understand or having the awareness to see beyond the trials and tribulations day-to-day. Understand the ups and downs in the market, how the ebb and flow takes place, the lifecycle of your product. With the satisfaction of learning from the experience, the challenge; the win. Testing is core to what we feel is the ‘learning’ process, the value gained from focusing on such a test, focusing on that test and learning from the outcome.
Final point, depending on budget, of course we have to understand the cost to such testing. However there are always ways to test your customers, learn from their experiences, understand how those ‘events’ change and/or improve your products lifecycle.
NES – Double Dribble
Let’s Jump Into Some NES Classics
Lab Work – It’s Double Dribble Time
Thought it would be nice to post a bunch of old NES/SNES/SEGA?DREAMCAST Games
Starting with what might be one of my favorite baseketball games, maybe due to the ‘slam ball’ cut scenes. I was awful at the game way back when… painfully awful. Game got a bit easier to play once you figured out how to ‘steal’ by standing infront of the machine player or second player and swiping away at the ball. A foul or two would occur, more likely in the painted area. Causing freethrow shots. Anyhow, check out the play through, bask in the glory of the dunk cut scenes – Jordan-likeness, Byrd-likeness etc.
DELETE
Delete Yourself via Just Delete Me
Tech | Tools – JUST DELETE ME
Need to delete an account, permanently? Could be difficult, for some, the process might be virtually impossible.
Not sure how long Just Delete Me, but I’ve used it numerous times, more particularly late 2012 and late 2018. Sometimes you just need to purge your accounts, gain some sanity online. Also, think about how often you sign up for an account that goes dormant indefinitely. And furthermore, what about when you download a game i.e. Candy Crush, Crash Of Clans etc. and want to truly purge the data, account and interaction with that company? Start with JustDeleteMe. Although, there are many ways to perform this task, JustDeleteMe helps with them ALL! Notice the color palette (Difficulty Scale), the ability to perform the ‘deletion’ per say and help pages provided by your selected account or entity to purge. Give it a shot, get rid of your accounts! Great time to purge your accounts.
For the purposes of the post, we started down the path of deleting our Basecamp account. Enjoy!
NES – Rad Racer
Rad NES Classics
Lab Work – The Classics With @NintendoComplete
Adding to the list of old NES/SNES/SEGA?DREAMCAST Games, we toss in Rad Racer. Same for the content via NintendoComplete. If you like the content, feel free to subscribe.
Between RBI, JAWS, Double Dribble and Rad Racer was great… a good game from the start, maybe due to it’s ‘ability’ to play with limited skills. Again, as a child, I think it might be relative, I was not very good at games, board games/cards; maybe. There were a few games I remember being decent, above novice etc. SOCOM, Contra, Mario Kart, Street Fighter Series, NHL Hockey… Rad Racer was in the top 15 games that were playable as a kid, button smashing, no patience; New NES. You get the ghist.
Next, let’s hop into playing classic games… Check out ArcadeSpot. There are others, but I’ve not gone down the proverbial online rabbit hole. Initially, I wanted a away to check out the old games. As you will see if you check out the link below for Rad Racer. Two, I’ve looked to outfit the office with an old NES or emulator system that may offer an experience similar to those of the past. The rom systems in my opinion are out (out of scope), I need to look into the OEM’s or original systems. And how to retrofit those for modern gaming or modern office space. Lastly, I’ll post another post here again, just for those who might want to dig into more online games. It does help to have remote controllers, or some sort of controller. If not, no big deal. You can play classic games with the ‘keyboard/mouse’ setup. It will not be NES controller, or the bad graphics (assuming you have modern compute and display hardware). Check out play old games like Rad Racer.
FLUSH – DNS Cache
Flush System DNS CACHE, IP Address Wisdom And More
Tech | Tools – More Reference Than Tool, MacOS Flush DNS Cache
A items to note, from time to time, you might need to flush… flush your DNS Cache, need to understand how your IP Address is acting and how to dump/secure/authorize computer code to start fresh.
Flush DNS Cache – MacOS
- Plain text: sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder; say cache flushed
- Or
- 1.
Command + Spacebar - 2. Type
Terminal, strike enter - 3. Select to Open ‘Mac Terminal Application’
- 4. Type
sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder; say cache flushed, strike enter - 5. Terminal will request “Sudo” password, enter Sudo password, and strike enter
- 6. Assuming the password given is correct, the system will state “Cache Flushed as indicated in the terminal command
- 7.
Command + Wto close Terminal window - 8. Strike Enter to close out window
Flush DNS Cache – Windows
- 1.
Ctrl + RRun Windows Terminal - 2.
ipconfig /alldirecting the system to flush all. For more information, you can look up more information by inputtingipconfig? - 3. Assuming no superuser credentials needed, strike enter
- 4. Terminal will confirm, all released and renewed
- 5.
Ctrl + Wto close Terminal window
Although this post may be read as rudimentary, at it’s core, it is. However, the command is there, has been since the dawn of the internet, giving the user the ability to reset as the system is used. Similar Process for Windows, but this post will focus more on the need to flush MacOS DNS Cache. There’s a snippet/script there for your connection issues, specific to both MacOS and Windows for those of you who stumbled upon this post.
Experiencing lag? Also, before we take the dive, please understand, these terminal commands have been used for awhile, limited change over time. The only differences might be MacOS specific directing the system to ‘speak aloud – Cache flushed’ when command has been completed. Among other things, actions etc. Flushing the DNS cache just might be the trick for your Mac. What’s this DNS flushing business? We skipped the process to physically delete your local cache (not internet cache/cookies etc). I’ll post something about that as well.
So, flushing the DNS? Let’s start with the DNS – Domain Name Server… if you need more info on DNS, check out Cloudflare’s Definition of DNS, how it works etc. For the purposes of this post, the DNS communicates it’s(translates computer code) domain/domain name into ip addresses(computer web code via WhatIsMyIPAddress). Additionally, why is this important, DNS ultimately is what allows the web browser to load the internet/interwebs. That is the long and short of it, for far more information. Check out the Cloudflare article for more.
Here in a day or two, I will follow up with a post on WhatIsMyIPAddress… and deleting ‘local user cache’ files on your Mac. It will make more sense here in a few days, if you’ve not had a chance to troubleshoot your own computer issues specific to the internet, speed, lag and internet connections.