I took a look at my last post and realized it’s been over a year since I last posted…good god, I’ve gotten behind.
It’s unfortunate I’ve let it go, but my latest project (the 3D printer cabinet) got put on hold while I attempted to figure out the next steps in my life. Pretty much all projects got put on hold, the beer brewing, the metal casting, the electronics…it all had to be put on hold.
After a lot of debating back in 2021, I decided it was time to move into a different home. While I had some grand visions for the house I had in Windsor, basically none of them came to fruition. This was for a number of reasons, but at the end of the day it just never happened.
This last year and a half, I got a taste of selling a house and buying yet another house. The truth is it sucked. The second half of 2022 was a really bad time to sell a home. There is nothing fun about the process of selling and buying a house, especially when you manage to list right when the market flips from a sellers market to a buyers market.
I am happy to say I made it through. I managed to sell my home in Windsor and found an awesome upgrade in the USA, I close at the beginning of January. I’m excited for the upgrade, the additional space, and especially the additional garage space. That being said, I went through a lot of challenges to get there. While buying a house can be exciting, I will only ever look at buying and selling my home in the future with dread. A lot of people have more positive experiences, in which case I’m happy for them. It’s personally not something that’s ever going to be on my list of enjoyable activities.
Looking Forward
One of the major benefits of the new home is the massive increase in space. It’s going to be a massive improvement from what I’ve had for the last 3 years, I can hardly wait!
What makes me incredibly giddy is the amount of space I’ll have for my projects!! A 3 car garage, a dedicated den, and a basement. I have 4 bedrooms, so there’s a possibility one of those will become another project space, maybe for electronics. It’s hard to believe that a single man with a cat would already have all his bedrooms allocated. One for me, one for Roland (cause you know, it’s Roland’s house 🙂 ), one guest room, and a spare for something, maybe projects.
Reflecting on what I’ve done so far, one thing I’ve noticed is that while I’ve completed some stuff, I’ve done lots of projects that I could consider alpha, or version 1 prototypes. They’re ok, they serve their purpose, but they definitely could be better. They’re cobbled together and while they function, they’re not great. The only thing I think I can really call a true “finished” project that doesn’t need improvement is the Keezer. Even that could use a few improvements to make it look better.
I’ve also noticed when I do the initial planning, I’m not that organized and clear on how things are going to be built. Whether it’s hardware or software related, I find I’m normally lacking when it comes to concrete plans. Inevitably I end up with a lot of “oh crap, I didn’t think that out” issues when I go to execute. The clearer the plans I have ahead of time, the better things tend to work out. (Real wisdom bombs here…earth shattering, I know). I plan to try and make better CAD drawings or architecture/process diagrams to help me figure out how things are supposed to work. Hopefully it helps me better document them as well.
Below is an example of an idea I have for an expense tracking SW. For numerous reasons, I seem to have issues with expense tracking. I know there are already a ton of software programs out there, but for the sake of argument, I want to develop my own.
Below is a feature I want to implement. The idea being if I get a receipt of a cash transaction, I want to take a photo of the receipt, have it save all the details, and put them in a database. It sounds daunting as a full feature, but if I can make a graphical representation of what’s supposed to happen in each step, it helps me mentally break down each part of the problem into smaller manageable chucks. (Also in case you don’t know, OCR stands for “Object Character Recognition”). While it doesn’t make developing it any easier, it helps me break it into sections and gives me some starting options.
Once I get myself a little more established in my new place (which will take time…) I want my focus to be on less projects that are of a higher quality. I also plan to improve on some of the projects I’ve already done, learning from the past.
A short list of what I plan. It’s not exhaustive, but it’s sure to keep me busy.
Improvements and Updates
- Fermentation chamber
- More robust construction
- More head space for moving carboys in and out
- cleaner electrical wiring and organization
- Timelapse Camera Slider (only got partway through)
- Improve construction stability
- Add pan, tilt, and side motion options
- Allow for both timelapse and quick camera motions
- Build in object tracking and make follow me option
New Projects
- Sand Casting (making actual objects)
- 3D printer cabinet (still in digital development stage)
- All grain brewing stand
- Table all on single level
- Instrumenting to accurately determine gravity during boil
- Woodworking table station
- Slide in sections for miter saw and table saw
- Built in section for shop vacuum
- Painting Station
- Big enough for a full vehicle
- Can handle all spray painting without worry of over spray in garage
- Handle detail jobs likes 3D prints or big jobs like a car
I hope to contribute more routinely, I’ve been getting antsy to get back into my projects, I’ve left it for far too long.
Thanks for reading! If you’ve made it this far, here’s a picture of my Roland, just because. 🙂
My Broken Skateboard 