SnapMaker Part 2!

So last time, I had gotten the SnapMaker assembled with little problem.  As someone who has trouble with tools outside of a screwdriver, that was not only a personal good job, but says much for how simple the SnapMaker actually is to assemble.

I had downloaded the SnapMaker software that turns OBJ files and STL files into GCODE, I’d loaded the GCODE onto the (included!) USB drive,  and in short order (of several hours) I had really neat nut and bolt set that was the wrong size for what I wanted it for, and a pretty cool crab from the internet.  I was set, I was ready to CREATE!

So I need software that makes OBJ and STL files – and SnapMaker has… Nothing.  OK, no problem, jump on the net and google “simple 3d software”.   The bulk of the net says Fusion 360 is a good option for the beginner.  Download it, watch a tutorial, fire it up, and OH MY GOD WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE!?!

Yeah, not simple.  Finally get a nice shape I’m ready to TRY to get printed.  FINALLY figure out how to export it into  OBJ file – and SnapMaker says “too small to see”.   What? I gave it valid sizes in the maker program, I even manually put in the size.  Well fine, scale it up some 1000+% and I get a reasonable object ready to print.  Cannot find the problem,  all my OBJ’s are too tiny to use.  Only problem is, if I want to do precision 3d prints in the future, this OBVIOUSLY isn’t going to work.

So hit the web again, as well as ask around.  One of my friends who is an architect recommended blender, and it seems to work much better.  But while I was out there, I discovered something I never knew was an actual thing – LITHOPHANES!

Prior to photographs, these were ultra-thin sculpted pieces of porcelain that light would shine through, showing an image.  Early on, very difficult to make – but with 3d printers, it’s a fun afternoon project! There is a great online “Photo to lithophane “ website, but my poor old computer dies if I try to make a lithophane of any decent size.

A photo I took of the Lady Washington going up the Columbia River in 2017, and a lithophane taken from the photo:

Long story short – searching for Lithophane software, found Cura, another free to use 3d software –and it does lithophanes with ease!  New hobby!   I’m having so much fun with this I haven’t even TRIED the SnapMaker laser printer or CNC mill yet.  More to come!

SnapMaker – Part One!

Christmas in May! A couple weeks ago my Christmas present from last year arrived.  I ordered a SnapMaker off of Kickstarter early in December, expecting that it would probably not be there in time for Christmas, but at least arrive before my birthday – in February.

Box is packed FULL of well organized goodness!

To be honest, I was starting to get worried – I had heard of others getting scammed by Kickstarter, but there were people out there posting videos of their machines, and while they didn’t keep me updated on WHEN the machine was going to arrive, they DID contintue to let me know WHY they were having shipping problems.  Scammers more than likely would just disappear.

Finally the big day arrived!  Unfortunately it was during a hectic time at work, and the box sat there for another couple of weeks.  Finally came the grand unboxing!  It was impressive – the parts were all very well organized, and they even included the (one) tool needed to assemble it.

The instructions said “ten parts in ten minutes!”   Well, maybe if you’re mechanically oriented.  But even as poor as I am around a screwdriver, the machine was up and ready to power on in about an hour.  There were two hiccups – the bolts are for the most part EXACTLY the minimum length needed, except for one foot that defied letting the bolt reach the hole.  That was on step one too, so it made me nervous about the rest of the assembly.  But mechanically that was the only problem.  The only other issue was getting the cords plugged into the right spaces.  I misinterpreted one, and had a time getting them straightened out.

Unit Built!

That’s the mechanical end of the build – it actually went together much easier than I expected.  Of course that’s when I ran into the next problem, the software.

Not “included”, it the base programs for printing needed to be downloaded from SnapMaker, and finally within a short period I had an unsuccessful print running.  I apparently messed with the settings a bit much.  But the second attempt with the other demo file that came with the download worked just fine!

So far I only have tried the 3d print function of the unit – still haven’t attempted the laser (which should  be easy) or the CNC mill (which should be a nightmare), but still having fun.

I was going to make this longer – but decided to break it up into another piece before I go into the next problem – the horrors of 3d modeling software!!

A few things to look forward to:

Almost Shopping at the Dock Adventure

Last week I had an opportunity to attend a “Shop at the Dock” seminar at the Warrenton Boat Basin, which was sponsored by Oregon Sea Grant.  I found out about this through a report in the local paper, which was too late for the July event, so I had to plan ahead a couple of months to make sure I was able to get into the September event.

 

As many of you know, I love fish.  Love cooking and smoking them, and love eating them.  But what most of you do not know, I really do NOT like to fish.  I do not have the attention span needed.  So when I first saw this, I was wondering if this was a good alternative to get fish at a good price.   Unfortunately there were no boats selling fish that day, so the event was mostly informational in purpose, but it was still a lot of fun.

 

There are many reasons why boats do NOT sell directly to the end user – first of all, if they sell their fish to the public, they must sell ALL of that catch to the public, or have a special license designating them as a processor.  Most loads are already set to go to a processor, so there aren’t many fishermen in the area who sell off the boat.

 

Secondly, the boat must have fish available – it’s not like running down to your local grocer, they may not have any fish that day, or the boat may be out to sea for weeks at a time.  Depending on the time of year, the fish may not be in season or running.  Timing is everything.

 

Finally there seems to be a communication disconnect between the fishers and the public.  Some boats may have a Facebook presence to let people know they have fish, but if you’re not following that boat, there is no way to find out short of going to the dock.  Many dock sellers will just use signs, both handmade and commercial, but again that means actually finding the fish is quite hit and miss.

If there is a repository on the web of boats selling, the guide from Sea Grant did not know about it.

 

I also asked about pricing, since I was looking for a bargain.  Initial prices sound good, but you have to remember you are paying for the WHOLE fish, and not just the usable parts.   After processing the cost of the fish is going to be similar to prices you pay in the stores, BUT you get better control over quality and how fresh your dinner is going to be.

 

But back to the tour!

Amanda from Sea Grant checked us in and gave us an information packet (and nifty bag) telling us about local fish types, some information on boats, and handy recipes.   Once we had all gathered (do not forget to pre-register!) we had a round robin of introductions.  People were from all over, and we had everyone from hobby smokers like me to retired commercial fishermen.

 

We were driven down to the commercial side of the dock, where we were shown different types of boats and told of what they fished for based on their equipment.  As we were looking over one tuna boat, the Captain popped his head out of a window – why are all these people gawking at my boat?  Mike from the Carol M was in very good humor, and spent a good amount of time answering questions from the gallery.  The boat goes out from 75 to 200 miles out, and can stay out for two weeks to a month, with a crew of only two.  They use a brine freezer to coat the fish in a protective layer of ice to keep it fresh until they bring it in.

 

 

After the dock tour we were shuttled over to the Skipanon Brand Cannery to get a tour of their facilities.  I had briefly visited them before but hadn’t had the chance to have an in depth look at their operation before this.  We were met by Bob the manager and Mark the owner who both were showing us around.  That day there were processing fish that had been caught at a special event down in Garibaldi, and was being canned for the food bank.  They deal with private parties, and can smoke, can, or just vacuum pack your catch for a reasonable fee.  They also do the new “pouch” canning that lets the fish stay in non refrigerated pouches, but that is not YET available to private parties.

They also have a “Friday Fish Club” I may look into – every Friday they take the best of the catch for the week and set it aside in individual pouches for club members to pick up.  Grab bag depending on what is in season and what is caught.  Fun especially if you’re local like me.

One of the thing that really caught my attention was listening to the ex-commercial fishermen in our group – they commented that it was the best smelling fish processing plant they had been to, and it was obvious they didn’t just ‘bleach’ the area prior to our arrival.

 

Overall, it was fun and free, so while I was disappointed that there was no actual fish to shop, a good time was had by all and I received a lot of good information.  Hopefully in the near future we can get some more information on when and where to get a hold of the boats.

If you are a fish seller – please let me know how I can track you to get fish in the future, and let the good people at Sea Grant know – they indicated that they were hoping to get a list together for the public.

The Struggle to Support Local Small Business

Has it REALLY been that long since I’ve written? It’s been a hectic year – going through five managers in a year, including losing one just before Labor Day weekend, and another literally leaving the Wednesday before black Friday.   Hard to run a store that way, but we’ve gone through.  Mostly training new managers during the first half of the year, and now we’re into the VERY busy summer season, fully staffed in numbers but short in hours by corporate.

Couple that with having to rebuild a laptop that had a hard drive failure, which was misdiagnosed by the local computer shop. Which brings me to today’s topic.

There’s always a big push to “buy local” and use “local services”.   It makes sense in theory – help keep the money local.  There’s just a problem when the local services aren’t there.

Take the aforementioned laptop. We took it to the local computer store, who told us the windows directory was corrupted, and would salvage our data and rebuild our system for a cost.  Rather than go to the big box store, we went with them.  They rebuilt the operating system, moved the data over, and the computer worked for another three days.   They reinstalled the operating system again, and said it would be more cost if they had to do it again.  Two days later I was at the local big box, who said ‘Ah, hard drive failure’.  I had them retrieve the data (another cost!), and rather than have them replace the hard drive, told them I would take a crack at it at a later date.

Last week I went to the local farmers market. When I was young, the local farmers market was a place to cut out the middle man and get some good deals on locally grown produce.  What a shock!  Overpriced “organic”, questionable art projects, and people trying to get home businesses off the ground.  The kicker was the  $7 for a small bag of homemade pasta.  I went back to the car without produce in hand.

Buying from local stores sounds good, but as a person who works for a store run by a large corporation, I can tell you that every employee at the local “big box” store is a local service person. While the corporate entity may make money, every person there gets a pay check they also spend locally.  Additionally, they have the support from the corporation, which includes training so that they know what they are talking about, and the corporate structure in place to back up what they are saying.  Several times I’ve felt taken by the “local shop”, when I should have just gone to the bigger store first.

Will I try the smaller businesses in the future – sure, I’m always looking for the diamond in the rough. But experience is making it hard to do.  If you have a small business – stop acting like victims of the big box stores.  If you give quality customer service, you’ll get the business.  Don’t promise what you can’t deliver, you’ll get one sale, but without repeat customers, you’ll be sunk.

The laptop is back – managed to use the old hard drive to create recovery media on a USB, and got a new hard drive which ‘mostly’ works the way I want it to. Not putting a lot on it for now –I want to make sure it WAS the hard drive before it takes another dive.  No big deal if it does, I found it to be a good learning experience in it’s own.  With that project out of the way, I’m going to try to force myself to write a bit more frequently.  Yeah sure I said that before.  We’re going into the home stretch for summer, and hopefully once that winds down things will slow down at work and give me a little bit of breathing room to write more.

How about the rest of you? Have you had good/bad experiences with local businesses?  What do you think they can do to get/retain customers in the highly competitive market?

 

Dealing With Depression This Week

These last few weeks have been very rough.  We’ve been extremely short staffed at the store, and things came to a head when it turns out that the manager, probably the only person I called a personal friend who lived within 50 miles of here, was terminated with cause.  This happened just after the other assistant manager quit to return to his hometown.  For the third time in less than 18 months, the other management staff was removed from the equation, leaving me to start over again with a new staff.

What really hurt was the fact that the Manager was terminated for cause.  unfortunately, nobody seems to be able to share WHAT that cause was, but he has not tried to contact anyone since the incident.

I’m actually taking an extra day off today, told my wife I just needed to get away.  She said that’s probably because I’m grieving. Once she said it, I saw that she was right.   I’m not a social person.  Almost all of my good friends are long distance people.  This wasn’t just my boss, he was my only good friend in the local area.

So I’m taking the day off, taking my wife’s good camera and a bible, packing a bit of lunch, and plan on driving up the peninsula for the day.  Get my head cleared out, see what steps to take next.

I’m so tired of the current job.  I’ve got a few applications out but there are very few non-retail opportunities on the coast.  If one of those doesn’t pan out, I’ll have to decide if I want to ride the current storm out at the store I am at, or jump to another store and see if the situation is any better there.  All I really know right now is that I’m not happy at my current job.

Ok, enough of the pre-trip whining.  Got to clean the cat box, pack a little snack, and head out.

Updates from the Coast

It’s been a while since I’ve written.  While I cast some of the blame on the fact that the summer is the busy season out here, there is still one main reason I haven’t posted.

No Man’s Sky.

The ultimate time sink has finally arrived, and I’m making the most of it while I can.

On non gaming fronts, the Traeger has died.  Again.

Fortunatly they have great customer service.  About a week after it died I finally had a good block of time that I could call them and have them troubleshoot the system.  Looks like the induction fan is shorted out.  The good news is they are very good about sending out replacement parts.  A new fan under warrenty should be out next week.

Since that means BBQ is down to a minimum, we’ve been eating out when guests come to town.  Now in an earlier post, I mentioned just how bad service is on the coast.  For the most part, make sure you have a snack before heading to dinner, or you will be VERY hungry by the time the food arrives.

But take heart! We’ve found a good restuarant that actually has good service!

Here in Warrenton is a little family mexican resturant called “El Compadre’s”.  The food is good, and even better the staff is fast and friendly.  It’s bright and cheery, has a full bar for those who need it, and it’s obvious the whole family is helping around the place.  It’s right on main street.

Déjà vu gaming: Ratchet and Clank on the PS4

Yes we’ve been here before, and we’re happy to be back again.

The Ratchet and Clank franchise has had a long history on the Sony Consoles.  There was the thrill of the original trilogy on the PS2, where each game managed to surpass the previous with wilder weapons and funnier dialog. Returning not only to save the galaxy but time itself in the Tools of Destruction/Crack in Time combination on the PS3.  This is a series so beloved that it even returned on the PS3 with a compilation disk of the original trilogy. 

 

 

Now we have a reboot on the PS4, and it’s just as glorious as the previous entries.

Since it is a reboot, we can forgive the differences in the plot between this and the original.  Not that there are many.  We also probably will not be seeing a direct retelling in a new trilogy, there are many elements from all three of the original games packed into this monster.   With favorite weapons from the series, familiar landscapes re-rendered for a new generation of consoles, and a story line that combines the best from the original three games, it’s no wonder I’m more than happy with this retelling of one of my favorite stories from the PS2 era.  Beyond the story of the original trilogy, they’re also introducing us to characters that we’ve met, but only in later games.  Even if there was no movie coming out, this game would be a wonderful tribute to the many fans of what came before.

Still there are a few things that I wish were different.  For one thing the Arena, a staple in one form or another in ALL of the previous games, is missing (perhaps they’re planning on a new Deadlocked to fill this void).   People have complained that once a area is clear, it’s hard to find enough enemies to work on upgrading the weapons, but I found that a extra trip with challenge mode fills up the meters nicely.  My biggest gripe is with the PS4 trophies with the game – a few more gadgebots sent to their death and I’ll be only three items short of a platinum trophy – all three time trials that are more of a time sink than the rest of the game in its entirety.   At least it’s not a meaningless side scroll filler thrown in that’s keeping me from all the skill points this time.

Overall, this game is a great reboot, I’ve had a lot of fun playing it, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the franchise translates to the big screen later this month.

 

Summer Gaming Priorities

June looks to be a bad month for gaming.  And by “bad month”, I mean for my wallet.

It’s bad enough that the ultimate time sink, “No Man’s Sky”, finally has a June 21^st release date, but after waiting for most of a year for a US release date, Atelier Sophie has a release date for the beginning of June.  Top that off with Star Ocean and Lego Star Wars at the end of the month, and can feel the coins slipping through my fingers like sand.  That doesn’t even count Ratchet and Clank (the game, based on the movie, based on the game) in April and Far Harbor (the BIG Fallout DLC). 

If I was still single, I’d bite the bullet and just get them all.  However, the fact that I prefer sleeping on the bed instead of the couch makes those survival instincts kick in – some are just going to have to wait for the fall.

Fortunately the nice people at Insomniac have set a price point for Ratchet and Clank (the game, based on the movie, based on the game) down to $40 right out of the gate – the fact that it’s a reboot of a PS2 game that was bundled with a PS3 collection might have something to do with it.  They fear version fatigue.   Since it’s a good two months before No Man’s Sky, I can jump on that, and get pumped for Ratchet and Clank (the movie, based on the game) at the end of the month.

 

 

Lego Star Wars can wait – sooner or later it will be part of a sale.  It’s how I’ve, well, assembled the rest of my Lego game collection.

The real dilemma is two JRPG’s coming out on the same month.  Star Ocean I think will be put on the hold pile for now.  At this point you can count on the series being a fairly generic JRPG.  Which is a GOOD thing, but not good enough to warrant an “Oh My God I Must Buy This Game Now”.  Atelier Sophie on the other hand, I’m a big fan of the series, and reviews of the Japanese version of the game have been good.  There’s a good chance I’ll bite the bullet and get this one when it comes out.

 

 

Climate Change and Science Deniers

Today I’m going to introduce a lot of people to a phrase they should have learned the meaning of in grade school.  I know in today’s educational environment, with teaching that close enough matters in math, correcting someone’s grammar is racist, and which bathroom you may or may not go into changes on a weekly basis, some of the basics of critical thinking get pushed to the side.

The phrase is “The Scientific Method”.

The Scientific Method, dating back centuries, is the process that for a long time scientific advancement was based upon.  Like most “basics”, it’s actually easy to understand once you get the gist of it.  You develop a theory or “Hypothesis”.  You then come up with tests or experiments that have some measurable result that will either prove or disprove your hypothesis.  Then you collect the data from your experiments, and see if the result is what your hypothesis would have predicted.

If the data proves you correct, you call your best friend and hit the local bars in celebration.  Ok that’s a simplification, one experiment may be a success, but it should be reproducible in order to be a true success.

If the data does NOT support your conclusion, then you can design a new test.  If enough of these tests fail to support your conclusion, a reasonable scientist would begin to question the initial hypothesis.

Some of the things that SHOULD get you laughed out of the scientific community include changing your data, completely falsifying your data, or simply saying “Even if this failed, this is so important it MUST BE TRUE!”  Yet strangely enough not only is this happening, it is the people who point to them and say you’re lying that are labeled “Science Deniers”.

The Church of Climate Change has changed recorded data.  They have chosen to add data where they feel they should, and delete data that disagrees with their goals.  Even the “tests” based on historic data they have came up with CONSISTANTLY show that the climate is NOT changing as fast as they expected, and that man’s activities are NOT as impactful as they predicted.

This week, hundreds of politicians and experts, each one with a much larger carbon footprint than my own, will fly to Paris, again each one using much more carbon based fuel this trip than I will use in a year,  to proclaim “It’s too important NOT to be true!” with wailing and gnashing of teeth.   They will then use this to strip more money from the working class to use on their own pet projects.

It’s time to call these charlatans what they are – the TRUE SCIENCE DENIERS.

Fallout 4, Streaming, and Why I Don’t Do It

A couple of months ago a good friend of mine asked why I didn’t stream my gaming.  At the time, I told him that I didn’t have the equipment to do so.  Then came Fallout 4, which caused me to upgrade to a PlayStation 4.  The PS4 has built in streaming capability, even going straight to a Twitch account.  So in anticipation, I set up an account and prepared to show my skills to the world.

I’ve spent the bulk of my free time this last week playing Fallout 4.  Returning to the (improved) wasteland, conquering both giant mutated insects and men with evil in their hearts.  I wanted to get some time under my belt, so that I could get a good stream going.   While I was doing this, I came to a stark conclusion.

I’d be a very boring gamer to watch.

I’m not a “twitch” gamer, I don’t run and gun.  Just APPROACHING a building will take a great deal of time;   I’ll find the best long distance point, snipe, and back away.

He’ll Be Right Back

Crouching in one spot waiting for that raider to step back into my sights doesn’t bother me a bit.  I’ll try to find a place just at the outside range of my weapons, where I can hunt with impunity.

 

So don’t expect me to stream Fallout 4 anytime soon – you wouldn’t like it anyhow.  I may decide to stream in the future.

After all, there ARE other games out there.