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.
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.
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.
Today's blog post is about cross-posting DIY content on social media.
It covers which types of content work well on which platforms, whether it's okay to share links to your own resources, and some of my general thoughts on the topic.
It covers which types of content work well on which platforms, whether it's okay to share links to your own resources, and some of my general thoughts on the topic.
Continuation of yesterday’s post about cross-posting.
I’ve been sharing some of the short videos I create for YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and X here. The numbers have always looked roughly the same—up to about 1k views on YouTube, about the same on TikTok, and on Instagram and X the figures are laughably small.
But the latest video somehow made it into the rotation even though it’s only 11s long. It’s a clip of a hidden bathroom hatch opening and closing that I recently posted here.
That isn’t even the most surprising part. The real shock is that the video brought a bunch of new subscribers to YouTube—129 of them. That’s 1.5 times more than the channel had in total before. How anyone can figure out the channel’s theme from an 11-s video, get interested, and subscribe is a mystery to me. If those people were checking the profile and watching other videos, it would make sense, but they aren’t—the view counts there have hardly changed. Anyway, I’ll keep an eye on how things develop.
I’ve been sharing some of the short videos I create for YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and X here. The numbers have always looked roughly the same—up to about 1k views on YouTube, about the same on TikTok, and on Instagram and X the figures are laughably small.
But the latest video somehow made it into the rotation even though it’s only 11s long. It’s a clip of a hidden bathroom hatch opening and closing that I recently posted here.
That isn’t even the most surprising part. The real shock is that the video brought a bunch of new subscribers to YouTube—129 of them. That’s 1.5 times more than the channel had in total before. How anyone can figure out the channel’s theme from an 11-s video, get interested, and subscribe is a mystery to me. If those people were checking the profile and watching other videos, it would make sense, but they aren’t—the view counts there have hardly changed. Anyway, I’ll keep an eye on how things develop.
Despite all the confusion with the pricing plans in Cursor (an AI-powered IDE for code), it’s nice to see it continue to improve.
This week, to-do lists were added—created by the agent itself to accomplish a given task, which it then follows step by step.
Previously, such behavior required writing special prompts, decomposing the task manually, and feeding it in parts. With the evolution of the toolset, this approach is becoming less and less relevant.
P.S. Most of the code for the Caretaker (firmware, web UI, integration plugin for Home Assistant) was actually written using Cursor. And overall, it’s proving useful both at work and beyond.
This week, to-do lists were added—created by the agent itself to accomplish a given task, which it then follows step by step.
Previously, such behavior required writing special prompts, decomposing the task manually, and feeding it in parts. With the evolution of the toolset, this approach is becoming less and less relevant.
P.S. Most of the code for the Caretaker (firmware, web UI, integration plugin for Home Assistant) was actually written using Cursor. And overall, it’s proving useful both at work and beyond.
Today's blog post is about designing and making a custom cutlery organizer.
I've been using it without any issues for several years now, so I consider the project quite successful.
I've been using it without any issues for several years now, so I consider the project quite successful.
Also about the water heater — I finally integrated it properly into the niche.
The previous one, as I mentioned, was vendor-locked by design, and replacing it with something else turned out to be quite difficult.
Different dimensions and distance between pipes
Pipe layout is usually different — the previous water heater had the hot water outlet on the right
At first, I tried a straightforward approach and mounted it upside down using flexible hoses, but that option turned out to be extremely unaesthetic and unreliable.
So I took measurements, sketched a custom bracket-adapter in Fusion 360 to fit the new heater onto the old mounts, taking into account that rigid pipes would run behind the casing.
And in the end, despite some effort, everything was installed in place and works better than before.
The previous one, as I mentioned, was vendor-locked by design, and replacing it with something else turned out to be quite difficult.
Different dimensions and distance between pipes
Pipe layout is usually different — the previous water heater had the hot water outlet on the right
At first, I tried a straightforward approach and mounted it upside down using flexible hoses, but that option turned out to be extremely unaesthetic and unreliable.
So I took measurements, sketched a custom bracket-adapter in Fusion 360 to fit the new heater onto the old mounts, taking into account that rigid pipes would run behind the casing.
And in the end, despite some effort, everything was installed in place and works better than before.
Apart from electronics and 3D printing, I sometimes have to repair completely ordinary household items.
For example, once I had to restore the base of some coat hangers. Though I must admit, 3D printing still played a role there too.
Read the full story about how I brought old coat hangers back to life in this post.
For example, once I had to restore the base of some coat hangers. Though I must admit, 3D printing still played a role there too.
Read the full story about how I brought old coat hangers back to life in this post.
If you've ever wondered how a "boxing trainer" device works, I happened to get a chance to show you.
Some time ago, I was given one of these as a fun gift, but one of the strike zones didn’t work very well.
Inside, the assembly is extremely poor quality, using hot glue and sloppy wire connections.
But the key part is how the striking zones themselves are built. Inside, it’s just as basic—a circuit board with three contact pads and the same number of rubber “buttons” that close the circuit. A hit is registered only when two buttons are pressed at the same time.
The issue with registering hits was caused by poor contact between the buttons and the board, but I managed to fix it simply by working the buttons in a bit. I’m not sure how long that fix will last.
Some time ago, I was given one of these as a fun gift, but one of the strike zones didn’t work very well.
Inside, the assembly is extremely poor quality, using hot glue and sloppy wire connections.
But the key part is how the striking zones themselves are built. Inside, it’s just as basic—a circuit board with three contact pads and the same number of rubber “buttons” that close the circuit. A hit is registered only when two buttons are pressed at the same time.
The issue with registering hits was caused by poor contact between the buttons and the board, but I managed to fix it simply by working the buttons in a bit. I’m not sure how long that fix will last.