"my struggle" by the not-so-great dictator, Charlie Foxtrot

 Body issues improving slowly.  Still not up to full strength or speed.  I have tasks waiting for me to be less hurty, less stony, less shaky.  The work is even laid out.  In the shop bathroom, my mechanic's creeper waits for me to get down on my back and hold a plumber's torch above my (shielded) face.  Like that.

-={O}=-

 There's a trip to a friend's house I need to make, both to see my old and dear friend of course, but also to take advantage of him yet again, in that he has lead shot which is surplus to his needs, and I have a need for lead shot. (the hoist cart main counterweight)  Unfortunately, one car needs to go to a shop (or I need to buy Yet Another Code Reader for it - heyrockythistimeforsure), while the other car has failing front CV joints and half-axles so we're reluctant to take long trips in it, where "long trip" = anything longer than a trip to the doctor's office across town.  My friend is an hour's drive away by freeway.

-={O}=-

 There is steel I need to buy, from the hardware store, for the hoisting cart's outriggers, but that might have to wait until February because cash flow is a thing.

-={O}=-

 Three things dramatically affect my cognitive ability as an Old Fart, including things like my ability to design things in my head:

• hydration
• exercise
• level of depression

 To the extent I can manage those three things, I get to have a life.

 I like to say my head is like an Italian sportscar; capable of high performance when everything is just right, but is a very high maintenance machine. ;/

-={O}=-

 I've been having to trap mice in the garage which is bugging me because I don't like vermin unless it is Vermin Supreme.  I guess their population is up this year.  Can I borrow someone's chickens?  Or rat terrier?

 -={O}=-

 For a lark, designing a suppressor for a cannon chambered in 38mm L&L*.  So far the basic likely dimensions are on the order of 6in x 24in.  Probably longer because the initial expansion space is not big enough.  It's a big damned can, and yet probably not big enough.

 As for the guts, Hiram Maxim knew what he was about, honest tests prove it.  And I tell you this for free, I will never design or purchase a can with a monocore.  And oh mama this is a lot of gas to deal with, and you've got to give it somewhere to go, and if it fills up and then pressurizes that 'somewhere', it won't be a quiet can. 

 The next problem is the ginormous hole (call it 40mm) down the middle of a 38mm can.  It seems to me that doing the various tasks of suppression† will all have to be done before the bullet leaves the can, because once it is no longer obstructing gas flow, it will be very hard to divert gases from the center of the bore into our radial or other chambers.  The first solution suggested for this is always asymmetrical baffles, which try to use some of the gases to redirect other parts, and baffles which allow gas flow to go around the bullet in order to "push back at" the remainder of the existing gases. 

 Both of these schemes cause bullet deflection and are thus no bueno.  I don't even like wipes for the same reason, despite that they are perfect problem-solvers for managing gas flow and preventing precursor noise.  They Fing touch the bullet.  Nope, nope, nope.

 Hiram Maxim called it: The best you can hope for is to peel off the outer layer of the gas flow a bit at a time until there is hardly anything left, but this takes time and distance.  An example is the deathly quiet MAC / Sionics design fielded in Vietnam for the M-16.  Very long and narrow, with some variation in the baffle design inside (the semi-useless spirals were Mitch Werbell's misunderstanding of how British spiral baffles worked)  I don't think I want to build a can as long as the barrel, LOL.

-={O}=-

 I am still seeking distractions and diversions in all directions with only a little luck, not dealing with my bro's death.

_______________________________________________
* I just made up that chamber, but the initials are of the two designers / perpetrators' last names
† 1. make leading edge of impulse much less sharp, 2. reduce peak impulse amplitude, 3. release stored gases slowly

"I found (or worse: published) an excellent paper concerning this on ResearchGate"

 

everything is fine here, no problems at all, how about you?

 Back better, heart* much worse.  Desperately seeking distractions / diversions.

Trying to find a filament dryer that meets my needs but doesn't require taking out a second mortgage.
Drowning in analysis paralysis.

requirements
• usable while printing, so no nonsense about cardboard boxes sitting on the printer's bed
• MUST reach a minimum of 80ºC so I can dry high temp, hygroscopic materials like PA6
• front filament exit because the dryer will sit on a shelf above my printer bench†
• "affordable" meaning $50/spool capacity, or less
• spaces for desiccant packs, hopefully I can use my existing DIY
• prefer higher wattage (ie; north of 200w) so it doesn't take half a day to reach temperature
• no food dehydrators; too much work to give those the usability features I want
• an accurate hygrometer would be cool, but nobody seems to be offering that
• I probably need two spools capacity, minimum

This is just idle chit-chat.  I'm not ready to buy one right now, and I don't mean to use my readers as a search engine.

Heh; in theory, I could put the above into some AI tool or other and see what it spits out, but I dislike and distrust AI tools.  What few experiences I've had, have not been useful/helpful, just aggravating, so I mostly refuse to touch AI.  I try to find YT videos that are not obvious shills / Amazon affiliates, but those are few and far between. 

Hmm, there's a thought: I should dump my YT bookmarks here, seriously. 
No AI slop, all quality, many topics.  Curated too; recently removed a semi-popular "former physicist" after realizing she just isn't a very good scientist. ;) Just need to figure out how to dump the list 'cuz IIRC, YT doesn't provide one.  I'll poke around.  There's far too many to transcribe manually. O_O

And that's enough onion-belting†† for now. ;)

______________________________________________
* figurative, not literal; my cardiac health is just fine

† I'd really prefer that exit to be a push-in fitting for a bourdon tube; most are now anyway

†† telling long-winded, rambling stories, like the time I caught the ferry to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for m'shoe. So I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. "Gimme five bees for a quarter," you'd say. Now where were we... oh yeah. The important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. I didn't have any white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones. (Simpsons)

Well, a real brother has died

 ...and I'm gutted and not processing my grief well at all.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,

dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,

angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night
-- from Allen Ginsberg's "Howl"

pee dee thrinting quote (random)

 "By comparison, the world's largest 3D printer can make a whole house in under 80 hours, but that's obviously not something you'd do at home."

Now listen here, you little...

random, idling...

 

 I just stumbled across this.  I knew the brand, but not this product.  In 1975, the Audio Research D-150 was one of the world's finest amplifiers from 1975, and looks like a lab instrument, not a piece of HiFi kit. 

 150 watts per channel of pure Class A power.  (I believe, as I couldn't find circuit topology, but power consumption supports the theory)  It weighs 115 lbs, 30 of which is the massive power transformer, and if you can find one for sale (usually because someone died) it will set you back in the neighborhood of $25,000. O_O But unless someone dropped it, it's guaranteed to be working fine without a tech even looking at it.  These things were built without compromise, as was everything from Audio Research.

 I only posted the thing for that astonishing front panel.  I think only one person I know might be in that market, and this isn't to his tastes.

"We have evidence you are in possession of an illegal workshop. We have a warrant. Open up."

 Washington state legislature have lost their damn minds:

 This isn't just about FDM printers anymore—this language targets additive manufacturing, subtractive manufacturing, CNC mills, lathes, lasers and potentially any device capable of "fabricating" a part.

 The "Banned shapes" provision!  The mandatory firmware mods that could brick your machines if you attempt to machine a shape the firmware thinks is forbidden...

 This is fuckin' lunacy folks.  That's one fantastically stupid legislature they got in Washington... oh, uh, state!  I meant state.  Also.

 But can you imagine if this goes through?  All it takes is one "new idea" to take hold in one state... you've seen it before and you know it.  And don't expect the manufacturing industry to save the hobbyists; I can easily see the industry throwing hobbyists and small business under the bus on a compromise.

This is grim, but we live in grim times, so best get used to it. 
It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

"progress" (belly laugh) report

 Sir, this recruit reports that there is nothing to report, sir!

 Back pain is being a real ... 'punt' ... to me and slowing me down.  I tell myself it's getting better, but if it is, it's happening agonizingly (geddit) slowly.

 What worries me is that we don't know what caused it this time.  For sure it wasn't overlifting, and when it all started weeks ago, I could not think of any "lifting and twisting" motions I might have made either.  This is bad, because it means I have no idea how to prevent it from recurring.

 Right now, I am focused on two things:

1. fixing the plumbing in the shop bathroom
2. fixing the broken bit on the 3D printer

#1 looks easy but has to begging with me on my back on the floor (uh-oh)
#2 isn't hard, just a little tedious, but involves going downstairs to the basement

Have I whined about how I hate getting old... lately?  I hate getting old.

_____

 There are also "dead" times when I am working on stuff I will not blog about, ie;
things you're all too young to know about.  Maybe I'll post details on those projects
to Fetlife, if I ever return there.

Lance Foster was a friend of mine

 

Lance was kind, intelligent, and gifted.  I will miss our long chats.

Always Change As Many Variables At One Time As Possible

 Mmm, yes, that's a good idea! >_>

 Depending on what my back lets me do, I might replace the Y-axis belt tensioner today.
[later: nope, cry, hurts]

 Once that is done (meaning, belt re-tensioned using both calculated audio & belt tuning app and investigating if they don't match)...

 I plan to try a print with:

• Flexible PLA
• a 0.8mm nozzle
• a 0.3mm - 0.6mm layer height {to be reviewed; I want thin, flat, slow layers}

- all for the first time of course.  <_<

[later: ah-heh, maybe another week. Owwww.]

 I think the reason I am like this is that life has always thrown me into the deep end of everything, all the time, so I'm just used to it.