If you've ever wondered how the self-leveling function of a laser level works – the answer is gravity.
And the power for the lasers (I’ve got two in my case) is supplied through ultra-thin wires – using thicker or stiffer ones could affect the accuracy.
I found this out by accident – I needed to align a foam panel on the wall precisely, but my old device wouldn’t turn on anymore.
I had to figure it out – turns out the contacts had corroded in the battery compartment – the connection was lost, so I had to fix it in a brutal way by flooding it with solder.
And the power for the lasers (I’ve got two in my case) is supplied through ultra-thin wires – using thicker or stiffer ones could affect the accuracy.
I found this out by accident – I needed to align a foam panel on the wall precisely, but my old device wouldn’t turn on anymore.
I had to figure it out – turns out the contacts had corroded in the battery compartment – the connection was lost, so I had to fix it in a brutal way by flooding it with solder.
Teaser for a new big project.
This time, no electronics — but even more complex technical stages.
The platform with artificial grass I showed earlier was prepared specifically for this one.
Not all the materials have been purchased yet — only part of them are in the photo. I’m currently in the assembly stage. There’s still so much left to do that I’m not even sure I’ll finish before the end of summer. Besides, I don’t get to work on it every weekend.
What it is and what it's for — I won’t say just yet. Feel free to take a guess based on the materials you see.
This time, no electronics — but even more complex technical stages.
The platform with artificial grass I showed earlier was prepared specifically for this one.
Not all the materials have been purchased yet — only part of them are in the photo. I’m currently in the assembly stage. There’s still so much left to do that I’m not even sure I’ll finish before the end of summer. Besides, I don’t get to work on it every weekend.
What it is and what it's for — I won’t say just yet. Feel free to take a guess based on the materials you see.
New device!
A digital microscope. It supposedly supports 4 K, but in reality it barely reaches 1080 p.
Still, you can now stop worrying about the macro-shot quality of tiny details.
The magnification level is set by the distance between the lens and the subject, and focusing is manual.
The examples show roughly the maximum and minimum magnifications.
A digital microscope. It supposedly supports 4 K, but in reality it barely reaches 1080 p.
Still, you can now stop worrying about the macro-shot quality of tiny details.
The magnification level is set by the distance between the lens and the subject, and focusing is manual.
The examples show roughly the maximum and minimum magnifications.
As you may (or may not) have noticed — not like anyone looks at this stuff besides me anyway — there was no blog post over the weekend. Partially, I can blame it on being busy, but honestly... I just forgot. Fixing that now.
Today’s post is about getting into video blogging: what I’ve already bought for it, what’s still ahead, and what’s left on the wishlist. Bonus content: a timelapse of sticking acoustic foam to the wall. It really did get quieter. 4 square meters are up already, 4 more on the way.
Today’s post is about getting into video blogging: what I’ve already bought for it, what’s still ahead, and what’s left on the wishlist. Bonus content: a timelapse of sticking acoustic foam to the wall. It really did get quieter. 4 square meters are up already, 4 more on the way.
Let me finally tell you about the project I teased a few posts ago.
The main inspiration came from the Sydney Opera House — I’ve always loved that piece of architecture.
At first, I had a rough idea of what the final shape should be, but no clue at all how to actually bring it to life.
I tried generating images with AI — some looked vaguely close, but only in fragments. Then I sketched a rough concept by hand on paper, and based on that, the AI results improved just a bit.
3D generators, on the other hand, were completely off — nothing reasonable came out of them.
So in the end, I had to build the whole model from scratch in Blender, one polygon at a time. I found one of an early architectural drafts and used it as a base.
Honestly, I think the final result turned out quite nice.
The main inspiration came from the Sydney Opera House — I’ve always loved that piece of architecture.
At first, I had a rough idea of what the final shape should be, but no clue at all how to actually bring it to life.
I tried generating images with AI — some looked vaguely close, but only in fragments. Then I sketched a rough concept by hand on paper, and based on that, the AI results improved just a bit.
3D generators, on the other hand, were completely off — nothing reasonable came out of them.
So in the end, I had to build the whole model from scratch in Blender, one polygon at a time. I found one of an early architectural drafts and used it as a base.
Honestly, I think the final result turned out quite nice.
Media is too big
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
I barely had time to enjoy my new KVM switch when the button suddenly broke.
It connects via microUSB, and the cables already fit quite tightly. To make matters worse, I plugged in an adapter next to it, which forced the cable sideways, putting a good amount of stress on the port.
So the most obvious possible cause was a broken contact somewhere.
I had to take it apart and fix it — the whole process and result are shown in the video. I’ll finalize the edit and post it as Reels/Shorts on social media tomorrow, but for now, it’s a Telegram exclusive.
Bonus: my digital microscope came in handy too.
It connects via microUSB, and the cables already fit quite tightly. To make matters worse, I plugged in an adapter next to it, which forced the cable sideways, putting a good amount of stress on the port.
So the most obvious possible cause was a broken contact somewhere.
I had to take it apart and fix it — the whole process and result are shown in the video. I’ll finalize the edit and post it as Reels/Shorts on social media tomorrow, but for now, it’s a Telegram exclusive.
Bonus: my digital microscope came in handy too.
So this is a dog house. But modeling it isn’t enough — I also need to figure out how to bring it to life.
Originally, I was planning to 3D-print the entire frame. But the dog house is roughly 1×1×2m — it would’ve taken around 10 kg of filament, a full week of printing, and hundreds of parts.
I even ended up writing a Python script for Blender (yes, that happens too) that generates flat surfaces and slices the model into appropriately sized segments.
But while printing just one of the parts, a major issue popped up — thin-walled curved surfaces started warping badly after about 10 cm in height. Fixing it would require either designing internal ribs for reinforcement or drastically increasing wall thickness.
And then it hit me — I could just unfold the model into flat pieces and glue it together from paper.
Turns out there's even a special program for that — Pepakura. I used it to unfold everything, and within a couple of hours, I was already holding full-size A0 printouts of the patterns in my hands.
Originally, I was planning to 3D-print the entire frame. But the dog house is roughly 1×1×2m — it would’ve taken around 10 kg of filament, a full week of printing, and hundreds of parts.
I even ended up writing a Python script for Blender (yes, that happens too) that generates flat surfaces and slices the model into appropriately sized segments.
But while printing just one of the parts, a major issue popped up — thin-walled curved surfaces started warping badly after about 10 cm in height. Fixing it would require either designing internal ribs for reinforcement or drastically increasing wall thickness.
And then it hit me — I could just unfold the model into flat pieces and glue it together from paper.
Turns out there's even a special program for that — Pepakura. I used it to unfold everything, and within a couple of hours, I was already holding full-size A0 printouts of the patterns in my hands.