I: 4/24/2023 – 5/7/2023
J: 5/8/2023 – 5/21/2023
K: 5/22/2023 – 6/4/2023
I have not been posting lately because the work I have been doing is very boring.
Summary: Lots of pics below. Last 6 weeks have been very busy, but not much worth talking about. The Current Projects shows me studying AoE and building out Neon Vision Signs. I miss building stuff, and I don’t even take digital notes anymore lol.
NVS:
I’m up to $7000 in revenue YTD. LFG! I was shooting for $10,000 this year.
After giving up on the brain surgery of replacing the stock motherboard in the Anycubic Kobra Max with Klipper, I asked them to supply me with some replacement cables and hotend for the gear I broke during the upgrade process. They said sure, and it was free, but the parts were out of stock for over a month. I actually just got them a few days ago and was able to get the original printer working again. I purchased a second of the same printer in the meantime since I had the capital.
I secured the order for the BJJ sign a few months ago. During the last 6 weeks I did a ton of freeze/heat cycling, UV tests, testing different epoxies, silicone insulators, adhesives, etc. Along with various filaments like ASA and PETG.
I eventually settled on ASA mechanically bound with 2-part epoxy and electrically insulated with a small layer of hot glue over exposed solder nodes for grip and binding, and then coating that with silicone. For the edges of the with solder pads and wires coming off of them, I flood the space in the channel with silicone from both sides, as well as injecting silicone onto both sides of the PCB before insertion. Also created some wall mount bits on it. This whole combination yields something I believe to be durable for many moons. Client asked for a wooden frame to mount it to the wall, so I’m throwing something together using some 1x4s and plywood. Should be mounted by the end of July, ideally.
It’s nice finally having both printers operational, I can print out the ~25 full day prints for this sign in just 2 weeks instead of an entire month.
I’ve been training Vince to do the 3D modeling for me, and after the BJJ sign I’ll put out an ad for someone to solder for me. I’m also looking into dropping $3-4k on a 500mm Rat Rig with all the bells and whistles. It’s a smarter way to use my space, power, money, and maintenance time to just get a gigantic super printer than to buy 5+ of these Kobra Max. In 3-6 months, ideally I’ll have the Rat Rig up, 3 people on modeling, soldering, and marketing/sales, and then I can manage the overhead/admin while sustaining approximately part time contract work for those people. I’ll have to pivot away from these signs eventually, or improve them into something really unique and valuable. Fun to see how far I can take it though 🙂
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AoE:
For AoE, I have read 100 pages since I finished the first notebook in late February! Very proud of this. I hit page 250 today.
I’ve been pushing hard on it lately in between the weeks of downtime I’ve had from all the traveling we’ve been doing lately. I’ve been all over the place and hosting lots of guests + work is busy + signs are busy so little time for study or gym or much else really. I’m close to closing out a second notebook on it, and the notes are getting dense and naturally becoming more coded and structured. I’m track to fill this notebook about a month faster.
I purchased some files for a Youbionic Robot that you can 3D print and assemble with a ton of servos for a birthday present for myself. Looking forward to putting it together in the near future. Probably after I finish chapter 5 or 6. When I finish the book, I’m going to pick up the X-Chapters Extension and the Lab Course affiliated and go through those as well. It may have been possible to finish this book in one year if I didn’t start the business, but it’s a lot of fun being able to do both. I haven’t been building circuits that exercise what I’ve been learning, and it’s important to learn by doing, so I see myself going back through the book, reviewing, restructuring notes, etc. and then deciding on a handful of select circuits to build out myself as a test of master over the material. It’s not so demoralizing since I finished Chapter 3. I know I can get there and it’s enjoyable enough on the day to day now that I don’t have many doubts anymore. I think Chapter 5 is going to burn me down though.
Once I’m done with the book, I’ll enter a similar rabbithole with software and coding skills. Essentially the long term plan is to become an Embedded Systems Master. Wish I had this clarity in school :^)
