Some of statistics on my previous project – Caretaker.
Habr – 18K views, 92 likes, 161 bookmarks.
Thingiverse – 58K views, 1.3 K likes, 1K downloads, 550 bookmarks.
GitHub – 64 stars across 3 repositories.
Personal blog – 1900 views on the first article in the series.
YouTube demo video – 4K views, 100 likes.
Tomorrow will be the article on integration with Home Assistant.
Some notes on the platforms:
* Habr – the article made the top lists for the day and for the week. Most views and reactions came within the first three days.
* Thingiverse – the project gradually climbed to #1 in the “Best of the Month” section, which is the site’s main showcase; after thirty days, traffic also dropped off.
YouTube – the first video’s 4 K views were driven entirely by two main platforms, but the second video demonstrating the Bluetooth joystick has already gathered 500 views purely via recommendations—which is quite good for a video of this type and for this channel.
Thank you for your support!
Habr – 18K views, 92 likes, 161 bookmarks.
Thingiverse – 58K views, 1.3 K likes, 1K downloads, 550 bookmarks.
GitHub – 64 stars across 3 repositories.
Personal blog – 1900 views on the first article in the series.
YouTube demo video – 4K views, 100 likes.
Tomorrow will be the article on integration with Home Assistant.
Some notes on the platforms:
* Habr – the article made the top lists for the day and for the week. Most views and reactions came within the first three days.
* Thingiverse – the project gradually climbed to #1 in the “Best of the Month” section, which is the site’s main showcase; after thirty days, traffic also dropped off.
YouTube – the first video’s 4 K views were driven entirely by two main platforms, but the second video demonstrating the Bluetooth joystick has already gathered 500 views purely via recommendations—which is quite good for a video of this type and for this channel.
Thank you for your support!
🔥1
The promised article about implementing a Home Assistant plugin for managing the ESP32 interface is available on the blog.
One might think it was just a matter of porting an existing interface into HA—what could possibly go wrong? As it turns out, everything can go wrong.
Details are in the article; here are a couple of takeaways:
AI knows how to write Python plugins for HA, but gets tripped up on the details;
The HA authorization mechanism is nontrivial—via WebSocket you must obtain a signed key for each endpoint and append it to the URL—in my case, virtually every request to the robot API goes through this mechanism.
This series of articles about the Caretaker is almost complete—there will still be a video showing the manufacturing process, fixing a couple of HA-specific bugs, and small enhancements (in the YouTube comments they requested WASD controls). I’ll probably fit all that into one more article in due course.
One might think it was just a matter of porting an existing interface into HA—what could possibly go wrong? As it turns out, everything can go wrong.
Details are in the article; here are a couple of takeaways:
AI knows how to write Python plugins for HA, but gets tripped up on the details;
The HA authorization mechanism is nontrivial—via WebSocket you must obtain a signed key for each endpoint and append it to the URL—in my case, virtually every request to the robot API goes through this mechanism.
This series of articles about the Caretaker is almost complete—there will still be a video showing the manufacturing process, fixing a couple of HA-specific bugs, and small enhancements (in the YouTube comments they requested WASD controls). I’ll probably fit all that into one more article in due course.
🔥1
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New device added to the arsenal!
You probably wouldn’t go out of your way to look up what a cat looks like through a thermal camera, so here’s mine.
P.S. This is the Mileseey TR256i — I’m not a professional, so in cases like this I choose budget-friendly devices with decent reviews and specifications.
You probably wouldn’t go out of your way to look up what a cat looks like through a thermal camera, so here’s mine.
P.S. This is the Mileseey TR256i — I’m not a professional, so in cases like this I choose budget-friendly devices with decent reviews and specifications.
Here's what can happen to plastic if you leave it in a car under the sun.
These are parts for a future project — I printed them from leftover filament and glued them together with a 3D pen. The entire batch was supposed to be PETG, but either those lime green pieces turned out to be PLA, or it's an ultra-soft PETG that starts warping at relatively low temperatures.
So now, it's either reprint everything or try to fix it with a heat gun. I’ll start with the latter.
These are parts for a future project — I printed them from leftover filament and glued them together with a 3D pen. The entire batch was supposed to be PETG, but either those lime green pieces turned out to be PLA, or it's an ultra-soft PETG that starts warping at relatively low temperatures.
So now, it's either reprint everything or try to fix it with a heat gun. I’ll start with the latter.
Positroid live
Here is one of the first 4K print timelapses for one of the upcoming projects that prompted me to upgrade to a Raspberry Pi 4B. Main reasons and benefits of switching to Klipper: 1. After replacing the extruder from a BMG to a Biqu H2 V2S, the printer could…
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I've got a bit more to say about Klipper and timelapses – particularly observant people might have noticed dropped frames.
There’s an issue on GitHub reporting the same problem with a similar stack – people were also using IP Webcam on a phone as the camera source.
This led me to the idea that the root cause lies in the timeout for downloading the snapshot image.
I had a bit of free time and tried to dig into the error myself. I cloned the repository, opened it in Cursor (an IDE with AI), pasted the text from the issue, and asked it to fix the problem. The first prompt already gave me working changes. It turned out to be trivial — the timeout was hardcoded to 2 seconds, so I added a configurable parameter for it.
I set it to 5 seconds and did a test print with 80 layers — not a single frame was dropped.
The issue is resolved now, so I submitted a Pull Request to the repository. Unfortunately, I doubt it’ll get merged, the project seems to have been abandoned for a couple of years now.
There’s an issue on GitHub reporting the same problem with a similar stack – people were also using IP Webcam on a phone as the camera source.
This led me to the idea that the root cause lies in the timeout for downloading the snapshot image.
I had a bit of free time and tried to dig into the error myself. I cloned the repository, opened it in Cursor (an IDE with AI), pasted the text from the issue, and asked it to fix the problem. The first prompt already gave me working changes. It turned out to be trivial — the timeout was hardcoded to 2 seconds, so I added a configurable parameter for it.
I set it to 5 seconds and did a test print with 80 layers — not a single frame was dropped.
The issue is resolved now, so I submitted a Pull Request to the repository. Unfortunately, I doubt it’ll get merged, the project seems to have been abandoned for a couple of years now.
New gadget!
From time to time, I have to work with wood. One of the latest projects was building book shelves into a rack.
Overall, I already have quite a bit of equipment — a handheld router, circular saw, sanding machines, and a planer–jointer combo.
But long straight cuts or sheet plywood rip cuts have always been a bit of a struggle. I even made a DIY guide rail for my hand circular saw to deal with it.
Now, the struggle is over — the Einhell TC-TS 2025/2 U 2000W should take care of that. Just like last time, it’s in the budget segment, but it has everything I actually need.
To complete the full woodworking setup, I just need to build a router table (I already have the insert plate and handheld routers).
P.S. New gadgets don’t pop up as often as it might seem — it’s just that I recently had a birthday)
From time to time, I have to work with wood. One of the latest projects was building book shelves into a rack.
Overall, I already have quite a bit of equipment — a handheld router, circular saw, sanding machines, and a planer–jointer combo.
But long straight cuts or sheet plywood rip cuts have always been a bit of a struggle. I even made a DIY guide rail for my hand circular saw to deal with it.
Now, the struggle is over — the Einhell TC-TS 2025/2 U 2000W should take care of that. Just like last time, it’s in the budget segment, but it has everything I actually need.
To complete the full woodworking setup, I just need to build a router table (I already have the insert plate and handheld routers).
P.S. New gadgets don’t pop up as often as it might seem — it’s just that I recently had a birthday)
I’ve planned a mini welding project for the weekend.
I’ve never welded before (one test MMA bead 10 years ago doesn’t count), and this time I’ll be using a MIG welder — so I did some prep.
But probably not the kind you’re thinking of — I prepared to film the process.
I dug through the internet and found conflicting info about the risk of burning the sensor, but in direct footage you can’t really see anything except glare anyway.
So now I’ve got a UV, ND, and CPL filter, plus 4 welding lenses with different DIN ratings (9–12) — the cheapest ones I could find (genuine filters cost a fortune).
Also grabbed a GoPro, which still needs a custom case to mount all this gear — going to design and 3D print it myself.
I’ll definitely share the results — both the welding and the filming.
I’ve never welded before (one test MMA bead 10 years ago doesn’t count), and this time I’ll be using a MIG welder — so I did some prep.
But probably not the kind you’re thinking of — I prepared to film the process.
I dug through the internet and found conflicting info about the risk of burning the sensor, but in direct footage you can’t really see anything except glare anyway.
So now I’ve got a UV, ND, and CPL filter, plus 4 welding lenses with different DIN ratings (9–12) — the cheapest ones I could find (genuine filters cost a fortune).
Also grabbed a GoPro, which still needs a custom case to mount all this gear — going to design and 3D print it myself.
I’ll definitely share the results — both the welding and the filming.
👍1
As part of preparing for the next project, I set up an area with synthetic grass mat.
It ended up being done in two stages — first, I leveled the ground, prepared the edge for a border strip, laid down geotextile, and just threw the mat on top without securing it.
But when I came back three weeks later, I found something unpleasant — I hadn’t removed all the plant roots, and bulb flowers along with some particularly strong remaining roots had sprouted just fine, even without sunlight. I had to peel everything back, dig it up, and re-lay it. At the same time, I also added some sand, because after the rains the soil had settled in places, and the area was no longer level.
Hopefully this time, I won’t have to redo the work so soon.
It ended up being done in two stages — first, I leveled the ground, prepared the edge for a border strip, laid down geotextile, and just threw the mat on top without securing it.
But when I came back three weeks later, I found something unpleasant — I hadn’t removed all the plant roots, and bulb flowers along with some particularly strong remaining roots had sprouted just fine, even without sunlight. I had to peel everything back, dig it up, and re-lay it. At the same time, I also added some sand, because after the rains the soil had settled in places, and the area was no longer level.
Hopefully this time, I won’t have to redo the work so soon.
👍1
Today's blog post is about setting up Klipper (3d printer firmware) on a Raspberry Pi and connecting it to the Two Trees Sapphire Plus printer.
I also cover timelapse setup and share another 4K example on YouTube.
P.S. Tomorrow’s post will be about welding. The aesthetics are, of course, a disaster — but technically, everything worked out just fine.
I also cover timelapse setup and share another 4K example on YouTube.
P.S. Tomorrow’s post will be about welding. The aesthetics are, of course, a disaster — but technically, everything worked out just fine.
So, here's the promised post about welding.
As I mentioned before, I can't weld. And after 60 cm of welds, I still haven't learned.
Thankfully, any extra weld can be ground off, and the piece isn't aiming for aesthetics anyway.
As for filming, here are some quick notes:
1. Shooting through welding glass sucks (video 1) — you can’t see a damn thing.
2. GoPro has a really distant focus, which only gets “fixed” with macro lenses (already ordered), so I filmed the second welding clip on my phone (video 2).
3. I need to figure out how to protect the gear not just from light, but from molten metal too — the glass I used got filled with embedded bits of steel.
And video 3 shows the first welds — before and after cleanup (and slightly rusty after the rain).
I'll tell you what this thing is a bit later.
As I mentioned before, I can't weld. And after 60 cm of welds, I still haven't learned.
Thankfully, any extra weld can be ground off, and the piece isn't aiming for aesthetics anyway.
As for filming, here are some quick notes:
1. Shooting through welding glass sucks (video 1) — you can’t see a damn thing.
2. GoPro has a really distant focus, which only gets “fixed” with macro lenses (already ordered), so I filmed the second welding clip on my phone (video 2).
3. I need to figure out how to protect the gear not just from light, but from molten metal too — the glass I used got filled with embedded bits of steel.
And video 3 shows the first welds — before and after cleanup (and slightly rusty after the rain).
I'll tell you what this thing is a bit later.