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.

About Tankless Water Heaters

While designing the bathroom, I couldn’t figure out where to place a storage water heater, so I decided to install a tankless one instead.

Here are a few points that most people don’t quite understand:

1. A tankless water heater typically has a power rating of around 6 kW. It’s difficult to get more from a single-phase system, especially in older buildings with aluminum wiring. And you definitely can’t just plug such a heater into a regular outlet.

2. The water temperature depends on the pressure and the temperature of the cold water.

I bought one of the cheapest 6 kW heaters. But after burning through three of them (yes, the same model each time), I finally decided to replace it with a mid-range one.

Time will tell how it performs, but at least take a look at the built-in flow-reducing solution — there’s a small insert at the outlet that narrows the flow, which reduces pressure and increases the chance of getting hot water with a standard connection.

While I was replacing the water heater, I remembered a story about a renovation.

My bathroom is tiled with 30x60 cm tiles, and behind one of them is a hidden access panel.

The contractor who renovated the bathroom twice tried to seal the joints with silicone, but each time it peeled off.

I had to take matters into my own hands. The process is fairly simple:

1. Cover the niche with masking tape and apply petroleum jelly.
2. Degrease the tile on the access panel — the silicone should adhere to it.
3. Then proceed as usual: apply the silicone to the joint, trying to press it in deeply.
4. Spray with soapy water and smooth it out.
5. Once it’s fully dry, you can use a utility knife to carefully separate the edges.

It didn’t work for me the first time due to lack of experience, but the second time it did, and it’s held up for four years now.

I'd long heard stories about Chinese-made products, but one day I had a personal experience.

I ordered a rechargeable LED desk lamp. It had three lighting modes, an adjustable angle, and microUSB charging—nothing out of the ordinary.

The problem was the very short battery life—the lamp would start to dim after just 20 minutes.

As it happened, I had some 18650 Li-Ion batteries on hand, so I decided to replace the ones inside with different ones.

Imagine my surprise when I opened it up and found two batteries inside—one of which wasn’t connected at all.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the unconnected “battery” wasn’t a battery at all—the casing had been crudely opened and inside was... sand.

It all ended well—I replaced them with four 18650s connected in parallel (yes, without balancing—what are you gonna do about it), and now the lamp shines for hours without needing a recharge.

Here's a bit more thermal imaging footage. This time, it's the frame parts of a doghouse being joined together using a 3D pen.

It took less than two months after installing the KVM under the desk before I finally got around to tidying things up.

Mounting the KVM itself to the desk was trivial—I simply 3D-printed a bracket of the right dimensions.

As for the cables, I looked through tons of mounting options and eventually settled on this one from Thingiverse.

What won me over was that everything is securely fastened with zip ties, and the tension can be adjusted accordingly. Making changes is now more difficult, but there's always a trade-off. I didn’t use screws—I just stuck it on with double-sided tape.

Now I no longer have to worry about accidentally yanking a connector out of the board or unplugging a monitor cable with a stray foot movement.