Sweeney
Administrator
Thanks for the feedback. I hesitated to write this because it was so lengthy. I'm thinking about starting film some of this stuff -- maybe I can be the next youtube sensation (doubt it, I have a great face for radio)
On the maker culture, I'm certainly on the periphery. I'm finding that If I'm going to start making, I need to have a space dedicated to it. I'm a packrat, and am constantly surrounded by chaos. I do better if a 'space' --- right now, my house is too small, and I'm just out of room.
On 3d printers --- when I first heard about them, I thought it was the dumbest thing in the world. Who would want to make cheap plastic chachki? Well, let me tell you --- once I had one, I immediately started finding its uses. Broken levers, clasps, latches...you name it. This little bracket took me literally minutes to do. Saved me HOURS.
So far the printer has fixed a water fountain for a cat, a latch that holds a transport kennel closed, hair clipper adjustment lever, an industrial part for a friend (see if this actually works today) -- that just off the top of myhead. For $200 -- its saved me twice that in time. If it died tomorrow, I'd replace it with a bigger and faster one.
The 'coolest' project was a kitten corset. Flat Stanley was born with a 'collapsed rib cage' --- he was 'flat' in the middle. We needed a corset to help re-shape his little green-stick bones into a normal chest barrel shape. My wife made one out of cardboard, but he not only was growing, but the cardboard wasn't durable enough. The little puff now runs the house --- sadly no good pictures of his angelic little face.
The interesting part was that as he grew, I just needed to adjust a few numeric values on a drawing --- add length, add with, add a new lace hole....each interaction was trivial. Faster than making it out of a plastic sheet or cardboard. Just adjust and hit 'print' --- come back later and there's your part sitting on the built plate. Too cool.
View attachment upload_2024-2-16_10-15-31.png
Back to the camper, I am happy with my AGM decision. The lifepo4 really have slight advantages for me. If this battery lasts 5 year instead of the 3 it was a good use of time. I've tested it by unplugged the camper for a day, using the fridge and turning some lights now and then as I worked on another project...after 24 hours, it was still at 90%. I'll be fine with this.
I'm looking forward to an actual _use_ of it. We'll see, too cold this weekned.
My only downside is that the blutooth is wrapped in aluminum, so I have to be in the camper or right next to the galley to get a reading.....
On the maker culture, I'm certainly on the periphery. I'm finding that If I'm going to start making, I need to have a space dedicated to it. I'm a packrat, and am constantly surrounded by chaos. I do better if a 'space' --- right now, my house is too small, and I'm just out of room.
On 3d printers --- when I first heard about them, I thought it was the dumbest thing in the world. Who would want to make cheap plastic chachki? Well, let me tell you --- once I had one, I immediately started finding its uses. Broken levers, clasps, latches...you name it. This little bracket took me literally minutes to do. Saved me HOURS.
So far the printer has fixed a water fountain for a cat, a latch that holds a transport kennel closed, hair clipper adjustment lever, an industrial part for a friend (see if this actually works today) -- that just off the top of myhead. For $200 -- its saved me twice that in time. If it died tomorrow, I'd replace it with a bigger and faster one.
The 'coolest' project was a kitten corset. Flat Stanley was born with a 'collapsed rib cage' --- he was 'flat' in the middle. We needed a corset to help re-shape his little green-stick bones into a normal chest barrel shape. My wife made one out of cardboard, but he not only was growing, but the cardboard wasn't durable enough. The little puff now runs the house --- sadly no good pictures of his angelic little face.
The interesting part was that as he grew, I just needed to adjust a few numeric values on a drawing --- add length, add with, add a new lace hole....each interaction was trivial. Faster than making it out of a plastic sheet or cardboard. Just adjust and hit 'print' --- come back later and there's your part sitting on the built plate. Too cool.
View attachment upload_2024-2-16_10-15-31.png
Back to the camper, I am happy with my AGM decision. The lifepo4 really have slight advantages for me. If this battery lasts 5 year instead of the 3 it was a good use of time. I've tested it by unplugged the camper for a day, using the fridge and turning some lights now and then as I worked on another project...after 24 hours, it was still at 90%. I'll be fine with this.
I'm looking forward to an actual _use_ of it. We'll see, too cold this weekned.
My only downside is that the blutooth is wrapped in aluminum, so I have to be in the camper or right next to the galley to get a reading.....
and I couldn't find my latex gloves at the time.