Dog house. I ended up with quite a number of paper sheets — they almost completely covered two rooms in the apartment.

Next, I decided to start by making frames for all the vertical partitions — basically to have some kind of structural foundation.

I created the model in Blender using simple boolean operations on the existing model. Then I sliced this frame in Orca Slicer into printable pieces (the print bed is 30×30 cm), printed them, and assembled everything using a 3D pen, going over all the seams around the perimeter (dumbbell plates served as clamps).

After that, I began assembling the individual parts of the doghouse (since the whole thing wouldn't fit through any doorway) — and even at this stage it became clear that the number of frames wasn’t sufficient. So I printed additional frames for the outer "edges" of the model and also a separate one for the top section, following the same approach.

I was on the second day of printing, doing my best to save the job.

First, one of the walls (3mm thick) detached from the bed, so I had to fix the model in place with clamps. Then the filament ran out at the worst possible moment—not once, but twice.

But in the end, it all turned out well. The model is a spice organizer for a drawer. The oddly beveled corners are there to allow the model to fit on the printer bed. The drawer is 31 cm wide plus side lips, while the printer bed is 30×30 cm.

The moral of the story:

* always remember to print a skirt or brim for better bed adhesion;

* always keep an eye on your filament stock;

* and finally set up the filament runout sensor in Klipper—so you don’t have to babysit the printer the whole time.

I remember a time when I refused to print anything utilitarian if it seemed like it “used too much plastic” (say, 300 grams)—but now filament vanishes by the kilo. This model alone weighs about 800 grams.

P.S. I could watch bridges being printed forever.

A bit of footage from a thermal camera.

I was heating up some threadlocker on the fittings of an inline water heater.
Always wondered: what's faster — a regular lighter or a hot air gun?

Intuitively, you'd think the lighter should win — it burns at around 800°C, while the hot air gun maxes out at ~400°C.
But in practice, the difference is dramatic — and not in the lighter’s favor.

While you're at it, take a moment to appreciate how beautiful the world looks in infrared.
Especially when there's a light source and reflective surfaces in view.

P.S. The brief video freezes every few seconds aren’t a bug — they’re a feature of this kind of thermal camera. That’s when it performs calibration.

My English level is approximately B1-B2. I can comfortably read technical and other types of texts, talk about general topics, and write things that aren’t too complex. I also watch some YouTubers in the original.

However, I don't have practice speaking with native speakers, and I make a lot of grammar mistakes. I'm especially weak when it comes to idiomatic expressions and set phrases. Literal translations between languages almost always sound clumsy.

That's why I created a GPT in ChatGPT called "Russian > English Corrector and Translator"

There are two main ways to use it:

1. You send a text in Russian — you get a direct translation along with explanations of why it was translated that way.

2. You send a text in English — it gets checked for grammar and stylistic errors, and a corrected version is provided, also with explanations.

So it helps you learn the language and understand why something should be written one way rather than another.

I saw a gadget for washing fruits on social media. I found it on Thingiverse and decided to print it.

I set the print to run overnight, and in the morning I woke up to find that the print had stopped halfway through.

I opened Fluidd – it cheerfully reported that it had stopped the print on its own due to the temperature exceeding 250°C (even though I was printing at 240°C).

I didn’t understand the cause, so I just increased the maximum temperature to 260°C.

Today I restarted the print. After some time, I checked the interface – and there was a sine wave with a 10-degree amplitude! The part being printed has overhangs with 100% cooling set. After that, the print continues with minimal cooling.

So what’s happening is this: maximum cooling turns on, quickly chilling the hotend, the firmware tries to compensate and cranks the heat to max – and the cooling turns off. But due to inertia, the nozzle keeps heating up.

But the main cause of this problem is simple – I forgot to put the silicone sock back on...

I managed to work on the project over the weekend. There was no blog post this week, but I’ll write one by the weekend about the booth and the next stages.

In the meantime, here’s a bit more thermal camera content. The GoPro, when shooting a 4K time-lapse for about an hour, completely drains the battery and heats up to nearly 70 degrees Celsius.

P.S. At the end, I tried to remove the battery with one hand to check the internal temperature, but I tore off the pull tab =\ No idea how to revive it now.

P.P.S. The "radiator" under the lens that was supposedly added in version 13 is just a piece of plastic; the metal mounts underneath get much hotter.

And so, I broke a continuous 44-day streak of posts =\
The reason is not exactly respectable—I fell asleep in the evening after a night release at work.

So, let me show you how the booth is coming along—I finally assembled it completely.

During assembly, I discovered a mistake—I had swapped two paper sections, so I had to cut everything apart and glue it back together.

I had to assemble it in the gazebo. Despite having a garage for three cars, it’s completely filled with very “useful” junk, so I couldn’t fit in there.

As a result, the structure is still pretty shaky despite the frame. I’ve finalized and am now printing the bottom slats to close off the lower perimeter. After that, I’ll move on to the shell. I’m planning something like papier-mâché made from several layers of paper, and then I’ll start applying composite techniques—fiberglass, epoxy, filler, and all that.

P.S. Yes, there’s a grill in the center of the gazebo, and the whole table even rotates, but I’ve only done the lighting so far.