patches

We specced Blum soft closing hinges, runners and hardware on the recent kitchen reno. Must say I'm very impressed with the quality and build of them. We have an entertainment unit from Citta (an overpriced furniture shop) and that uses Hettich hinges. They're soft close, but there is so much vertical play in them that they are very hard to set. Really lets down the look of the unit as the backs of the doors and face of the carcass have complimentary 45 deg bevels, so any slight deviation in alignment is instantly noticeable. May replace the entertainment unit hinges with Blum at some stage.

We had one of these recently installed with the new kitchen layout. Works great and no need for a bi-fold door or any other crazy cabinetry. Also makes items more accessible than a carousel, and seems to utilize the space more efficiently. As a bonus it's "soft close". It's called a Lemans Arena Style II and I see Larson sells them in SA for about R7,800 (a bargain compared to the price here in NZ).

Yeah, very happy with my Ender 3 v2 as a foray into 3D printing. It'll be a while before I outgrow it. And can concur on the Fusion 360, although I am a massive fan and former daily user of Inventor Pro, so I am somewhat biased towards the Autodesk products. Fusion 360 is a great starting block into 3D modelling. It would make for a good knowledge base if one were to want to delve into the more specialist packages like Inventor Pro, or even Solidworks (although it's Dassault and not Autodesk, many of the concepts are the same).

hahaha, you're not wrong. I spend more hours per week playing board games than riding bicycles or dirt bikes As for the modelling, thanks! It's so good to be back "on the tools" after years of middle-management duties. I'll take 3D modelling over writing business cases, specifications and procurement plans any-day. Unfortunately my mortgage won't agree

Yeah, NZ had a fairly dry year last year (particularly Auckland and upper North Island). The restrictions were nowhere like CT was in 2018. It was mostly just no using municipal water for gardens. Plenty of water in the rivers, but the bureaucratic process and Water Care's tardiness put the pinch on the largest city. But yeah, people weren't overly stressed unless they were farming.

I've seen some of the Catan models on Thingiverse. Some people have gone into insane detail to create custom hexes. We have about 7 Catan boxes cluttering up our sideboard (Seafareres, Cities & Knights and 5-6 player expansions of those too). Klaus Teuber must be a very rich man. That said, since the Covid lockdowns last March, we play online "Catan" (colonist.io) with our friends (zoom video call on the side) as it's easy and requires zero setup and a quick weeknight game is feasible. In person lately has been mostly Wingspan and Viticulture.

About 4 years ago myself and 2 friends did a 1400km, 3 day offroad adventure-rally around the South Island of New Zealand (see Dusty Butt event) We were all on Austrian Enduro bikes (KTM EXC 450-F, Husaberg FE450 and Husqvarna FE350). Very capable, but not very comfortable for 10-15hrs/day in the saddle One of my friends came from an exclusively motorcycling background. Myself and the other came from an MTB background. The motorcyclist friend went through every effort to pad his butt to the n-th degree as he complained about how terrible enduro bike seats were. Myself an the other MTB friend just laughed and stated that compared to an MTB saddle they're like a soft sofa A pic from the final day, looking out at Lake Benmore. Tail packs had 5L petrol containers in as fuel stops were few and far between.

Down about 10kg (102kg - 92kg) from September last year. I created a curved graph to track progress and set weekly goals. The curve (albeit shallow) is intended to replicate the initial rapid weight loss which tapers as one gets closer to the goal weight. No real increase in physical exercise (2hr MTB once a week. 1 hr squash once a week. Walk about 8000 steps day). Biggest change has been a reduction in snacking and a more concerted effort to reduce sugars. Daily breakfast/brunch (I only have my first meal around 10am) is now 2 rice cakes with Vegemite, as opposed to a tasty muffin or scone. Lunch is leftovers from the night before (usually a pretty healthy meal). Dinners are typically 500-600 cal. 2 meals a week are vegetarian. Eating out is reserved for weekends. All in all it has been easier than i thought. My final goal is 90kg (I'm 1.87m tall, so that seems about right). Next challenge will be getting some definition.

Another handy little 3D print. Router guide bushes in any size one wants/needs (3D printed 25mm guide bush on left. OEM on right). Won't be as good as some aftermarket brass bushes, but cheap and only take about 1hr to print.

When friends ask why I got a 3D printer, they immediately assume I did so to print little figurines and novelty items. Whilst I'm not really into that and have not even printed the right-of-passage Benchy, I am massively addicted to boardgames (Catan, Wingspan, Powergrid, Pandemic, Viticulture, etc). So I thought I would put the printer to good use and after failing to find a suitable design on Thingiverse, I printed an organiser for the most of the fiddly pieces in one of the games we're playing regularly. A quick model up. The one are of the design I'm finding is tricky/trial & error is latching systems/notches. That slide-in lid has a small recess to match a raised bump on the box. This is to ensure the lid "locks" into place. I made it 1mm high with a 1mm fillet all round, but after printing I found out that 1mm is way too much and i needed to shave it down. Will try 0.2 or 0.4mm (increments of my print height) next time and hopefully that will allow the lid to slide on smoothly and still lock into place. A good few hours of printing. And designed to fit neatly in the original box

Haha, I was walking home from the bus stop the other day, looking at all the houses in the neighbourhood to see what style of fence looks good and would suit a little mid-century bungalow style house. I told my partner and she said I have too many "projects already" so I kinda got outta any fence repair/replacement... for now. I do plan on putting an electric gate in at some stage (we currently have no front gate, and the Saffer in me cannot settle for a manual one. Too much schlep). The gate won't be to keep people out, but to keep future dogs and mini-humans in. I'll replace the fence when I do that. (another project )

The missus feels too bad to use any of the cutting boards I have made, even though I have told her that they can be looking good as new with a little sand and oil. Question, typically how many times do you raise the grain on a new board? After my initial sanding I sprayed it with water to raise the grain, then sanded it back down again to give an even smoother finish. Although the other night after washing the board the grain started to raise. I'll sand it down again and hopefully it settles.

Hahaha believe it or not the bike was out because I washed it.... finally! We've had water restrictions is Auckland for ages and even though they were lifted a month or so back, I have been lazy and avoided washing the bike. So it's just coincidence that it's out there ...well not entirely coincidence... the washing of the bike AND the installation of the post box were both an attempt at avoiding mowing the lawn

haha especially rare then if one takes into account that dogs here don't have rabies. Most Kiwis I have spoken to don't even know what it is.

Hmm interesting. So 2020 had fewer attacks than 2019 (Covid may have had something to do with that), BUT there were more fatalities. 2021 figures should be interesting.

hahaha I see what you did there! Amazing what a mini reciprocating saw and some brute force can do

I finally finished one of my original DIY woodwork projects The post box. My better half had been asking when it was going to be done because our current one was rotted and falling apart. In fact when I removed it it was riddles with ants. I kept blaming Aliexpress as I was waiting on some nice simple house numbers. Aliexpress finally delivered (after about 7 weeks). They finally delivered so my excuse expired. The old one The new one. I don't have picks from the back, but I just used a stainless steel piano hinge for the door, with neodymium magnets to keep it closed (no one locks their post boxes here). Whole box has had about 5 coats of polyurethane. Now my fence looks extra ugly

It seems like it's a recent escalation. With SA beaches closed the snack platter was empty But yeah, not sure what the recent increase is attributed to. There was even a shark attack at Lake Macquarie in NSW.

Holy crap! some next level stuff there carrera4s. Here we are with planks of wood chopped and plakked together and you're turning threaded parts from fine timber

Another bloody chopping board Edge grain, made from American Hard Maple rough sawn lumber. Finished with food grade mineral oil. 15 degree bevel added to each side for the hell of it (I thought it looked cool ) Nothing fancy, and pretty simple to make. I find the milling process somewhat therapeutic, so don't mind spending a couple of Saturday mornings making noise and sawdust.

Not a stupid question. Depending on the printer type, the hot end and bed can move rapidly. One can set the jerk/acceleration to lessen the impact this has on prints. But the base settings I've used seen to be fine. The most some people seem to do is create some sort of vibration dampening where the printer feet rest on the table.

Like ouzo, I have posted this in other threads that seem to have been forgotten. About 2 years ago looking for a house to buy, one of my key requirements was a garage/workshop. In NZ many people park in their driveways/on the street and so garage's are not as big a thing. MANY houses do not have them. So this was a little challenging, especially considering how little one gets for their money here (currently in my area one is will be looking at about R15m equiv for a 3 bed, 2 bath, 120sqm 1950's house on about 500sqm land. It is MENTAL). Anyway, so with the crazy prices, it meant that I had to settle for a carport in stead of a garage. Fortunately the carport had electric doors front and back, and the "open side" was semi closed in my the property fence. In order to convert this into my little man cave, I relined the walls with ply, added racking, and a few other touches. Here's the basic idea. The "open" wall, bounded in by the fence. After lining it with builders plastic and ply After the bikes moved in. The tools started to multiply The racking/shelving side. aaand The little work bench (which can fold down), if I didn't have so much junk stashed underneath it. There's still a lot I want to do to better organise the space, but my tools seem to be like a gas and tend to fill the volume of the space no matter what. Some things have been invaluable, like the modular toolboxes (the AEG stack). These keep things organised, mobile and I can just grab the one I need, when I need it.

In my quest to organise the study, I decided to take the lower legs off the 3D printer enclosure I'm building so that I can tuck it under the desk. My little mid century bungalow has hardwood floors, and one can hear (and feel) any movement around the place. I didn't want these vibrations transferring into the printer, so I modelled and made some "shock absorbing" feet to screw into the holes where the Ikea Lack table legs were. The enclosure, tucked beneath the desk. The design. The plan was to make it take an M6x40 coach screw to match the holes already in the underside of the table, and make it tool less, by cutting a hex for the coach screw head. The result turned out pretty well. Could tweak some tolerances but it does the job. Now for the "shock absorbing" part... Used squash balls! I have half a dozen of these which I have failed to throw out. At least now they get put so tome use. All 4 in place. And in action. Overall it worked pretty well. As mentioned, I would tweak some tolerances if I were to reprint. The squash balls grip like crazy on the wood floor, and hopefully add a bit of vibration damping to stop household traffic from affecting any prints.

Oh yeah, those are great! I have from a while back, which I used with the circular saw to cut down ply sheets to line my garage wall. At one stage I had the rail-to-kerf offsets memorised for both sides. Very reasonably priced too (about 1/5 of what a track saw rail goes for).

Perhaps the PTFE is pulling away from the hot end slightly, causing the filament to overflow into that gap? Or perhaps the PTFE hs become damaged (slightly melted/worn) at that interface with the hot end, and simply needs the damaged bit trimmed off? (Although melted PTFE is less likely as you're runnig Capricorn tubing)