Countdown

    The marina sent out an e-mail last night to ask members to reach out as soon as they're ready to launch, so that they can get the list moving as soon as possible. They want to avoid a mid-May avalanche of requests all at once, and I for one am all on board with that idea. Naturally, I sent a reply saying I was good to go. Granted, I knew the time was coming, I've been watching them get the docks in over the last week.

    There are still a couple of fingers left for the C dock as well as D, the East wall. Tomorrow should be a nice day though, so hopefully they're able to get those in too, and get some of the launches started. I'm certain I won't be in the water tomorrow, so I'll be using the day to run up and install the new LED bulb for my deck light into the fixture before it splashes. While I believe that a ladder would give me plenty enough reach to reach it after the mast is stepped, there's no reason not to just get it done while I can. It'll also give my car a good chance to prove to me that it's fixed.

    I drive a GL series SUV, and last trip up caused me to notice that an issue that I had been avoiding diagnosing had become well, needy. A bunch of months ago, I went to take off in a spirited manner from a stop, and heard a crunching/grinding noise briefly in what seemed like the driver's side front wheel area. Normal driving however, was fine. While concerning, obviously, I deduced that as long as I just drove normal, I could just put off having it looked at. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. I noticed it happen one more time during my last trip to the boat, under what I would consider less-than-spirited takeoff. Now, I could certainly baby the vehicle off the starting lines of stop signs and green lights, but I also decided that it was less safe than practical; if I needed to quickly accelerate on the highway out of potential danger, it would be a problem.

    We have a newish garage locally that I've found relatively reasonable and pleasant to deal with. They're also one of the few places around that will install parts you've purchased yourself, at least within reason. Of course, they can't guarantee those and nor would I expect them to, and generally I would rather they get the parts anyway, but the option is nice. They've done some work on other cars, and honestly I'm just at a point that I hate spending free time during nicer weather under or beside a wheel well. I called at the middle of last week, and dropped it off for diagnosis, hoping it was something as simple as a bad CV axle, or maybe a wheel bearing. 

    One transfer case, and twenty-two hundred dollars later - which included an oil change, mounting two more tires I had purchased already, and a renewed state inspection - we'll see if it's fully fixed and trustworthy of a longer journey this weekend. To be fair, it's the first major issue I've had, and going through the service records for the 160k miles of it's life, seems to be about the first major issue it's had at all. Shocks, batteries, but this was the first biggie. No complaints.

    On the order of other projects again... the tiny-home shed is no longer going to be a tiny home. It's still a shed, though I've been working on some of it. I've run electric throughout, although right now it's all powered off an extension cord. Once I get it moved over to the driveway, I'll run a dedicated feed into it's panel. It will ultimately be finished off inside and turned into half office/work space, half playroom for my toys, like the Sim rig, and the other simulation that I've built in there:

    

    I can't remember if I've mentioned or not, but one of the bucket list items I have in life is to learn to fly, to progress towards a Private Pilot's certification. This would be done by training on likely a small Cessna plane, a 152 or 172 perhaps. So I've built myself a flight simulator cockpit that somewhat replicates a generalization of one. I do have a different throttle assembly coming in the mail, either tomorrow or Monday that will effectively round out the experience, but so far, I'm happy with it. I'll do a full breakdown in another post. Right now, it sits in the shed, pre-move, but functional. 

    I've made the joke, that since I have a racing sim cockpit, a flying sim cockpit, a Venture 21 sailboat on a trailer outside I can go sit in while a breeze blows, now I just need a submarine to put in my pool and all my bases will be covered.

    I did also order some fairing compound to finally work on solving the ugly cockpit bulkhead where the gauges used to be, and a new block for the port rail to feed my jib sheet through. I did also order some wiring to use to do a better job with the outboard electric starting. Currently the battery sits in the cockpit locker, and I have to pull the battery out and set it on the seat so that the wires from the outboard can reach it. It's annoying, but at least it works. I'm hoping that this panel mounted connector will let me make a disconnect for the wiring, but also enable me to leave the battery in it's container in the locker without having to manhandle it up, cause tripping hazards, and such. As a slight bonus, I can also use a spare connector to wire up a small solar panel to act as a trickle charger for that battery if need be. I still have a small 5 watt (I think) panel and it's controller that were on the boat when I purchased it, so I can retrofit that into working for the outboard battery, and just set the panel on the seat when I leave, letting it keep the outboard battery topped off in between trips. Even though the outboard has an alternator of sorts to keep the battery up, I don't usually run it long enough to make much difference. I'm sure it does something, but if I can regulate the battery better via solar in between outings, why not. I might even be able to start working on that system tomorrow while I'm there.

Untangled

 It's official - I'm ready for the season. At the very least, the boat is. Whether or not the yard is as ready, that remains to be seen.

I woke up this morning, beating my alarm by an hour for the third day in a row - not a fan. I hopped onto good ol' trusty Amazon, and decided I better order up a couple things quick. I can't remember if I had mentioned it, but my steaming/deck combo light had an accident at some point. Personally, I believe they caught the deck light half with the mast sling when attempting to step the mast onto the boat at the beginning of last season, or banged the light fixture somehow in the process. I remember getting to the boat, and seeing an LED circuit board laying on the deck. So, assuming that my cheap fifty dollar combo had reached an early grave, I wanted to replace it. Now, I'm a cheapskate for some things, and I didn't see the need to spend hundreds, potentially several hundred dollars on a light for a boat that wasn't in a financially sensible value to warrant it. I did decide, however, to step up to a Hella Marine model.

There were two models I came across, an 8504, and an 8505 model. Hella Marine themselves only list the 8504 on their website as far as current products go. It's not too shabby, however it's fully halogen including a blinding 100 watt deck light. That's nice and all, but I don't need sunlight at 10 PM on the deck. Bugs are bad enough as it is. The 8505 uses a much more practical output, and can easily accept LED equivalents. So, a little under a hundred bucks later, that was on order, as was a new block for my port-side jib sheets, and some wiring to add a panel connector that I can use to hard-wire the electric start for the outboard without having to move the battery in and out of the cockpit every time I go out. Granted, none of this would arrive instantaneously, but at least it was on order.

I arrived at the boat in wonderful weather, just shy of 80 degrees and mostly sunny. First order of business was going to be to string the halyards into the mast, but as I walked the topsides, I realized that my cheapy light had a few screws on it's face. Hmm, I wonder... Yep, sure enough, the three screws allow for the top lens to be removed, as well as the lower housing to bend up out of the way to replace the bulb. The wait, what? Oh. Yep. Turns out the LED array I found on the deck last year was from the bulb that was in the unit, but the whole bulb could be replaced. So I ordered a whole new light when all I needed was a bulb. You would think I would've looked further into that. Cheap, yes. Smart, not so much so often.

So now that I had a plan for the light issue, I went about my time fixing and arranging the halyards. It takes three bolts, and a half turn of one nut in order to swing the top plate on my masthead off to the side with enough clearance to run the halyards up through the sheaves. This time, I took extra care to make sure they were actually run correctly, instead of over the forestay tang mistakenly like last year. I also triple checked that nothing was crossed up or tangled in the spreaders or upper shrouds. I'm confident that everything is finally settled and ready to go, barring the wasp next in the base of the mast. Not my problem, they can vacate when the yard steps it.

I also took my fancy new iPad and it's case, which arrived yesterday, to the boat and tested that claw mount. As I was remarking to myself, and to my dad on the phone that the mounts were very reminiscent of the RAM style mounts, I actually saw the RAM stamp embossed into the side. Go figure, but I guess that explains their robustness. And just as I had hoped, the claw mounts perfectly onto the handrail inside the companionway hatch. I guess I could've read the description better, but I'm quite happy with how it works. Now if I can only find a navigation app that I like, we'll be in business.

Lastly, I brought the fridge/cooler thing back into the cabin and placed it where it should go, got the fenders ready, and called it a day. Packed up my ladder, bundled up what was left of the tarp (really only one corner had ripped away, so it could probably be salvaged for.. the Venture!), and headed back home. I stopped at Wal-Mart for a couple quick things, like numbers for the other side of my mailbox. I've lived here for twenty years, and it didn't dawn on me until just the other day that the only side of my mailbox with my house number is on the opposite side of the mailbox from where the mail route comes. I have it it on the side facing the driveway, but the route comes from the other side. And since I had another ipad ordered which was quite literally dropped off at the neighbor's porch yesterday (the good neighbor, at least), I figure it was probably time to spend two dollars on numbers to put on the other side so that there's no excuse for drivers to not find the correct house. Whether or not they actually perform the duties beyond that, well... baby steps, I guess.

I also bought a new window unit air conditioner to finally replace the decade-and-then-some old 220v unit that I have installed now. I went with a 110v version, only 10k BTU but I'm also relocating it to a more central location on the opposite side of the house with a much better airflow path into the living area, instead of kind of tucked into the corner where the old one is. I believe that this will actually work out better, even though I think the old one was rated higher from it's time. Then again, it's so old and rattling while it runs, I'm certain that's a good chunk of missing efficiency there. And the old one is on the South side of the house, wide open and taking the brunt of the sun full force during summer. I'm not an expert, but I remember reading that if your AC is shaded, it's more efficient. The new one is now on the North side, center of the living area, which will be shaded until late in the evening, so that should help too.  Plus with the new shed being moved soon, I can get the race rig out of the spare room, which means there will then be two rooms that can be basically shut off from the rest of the house, helping out. And worst case, I get a little 5k BTU deal to stick in my bedroom window and tag-team the heat. Can't wait to drop that old out out of that window that it's lived in for years now, with the added bonus of having a freed up 220v circuit! I guess I could start a welding business in the dining room?

Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy and miserable, so I guess I won't get to tell Google to turn my AC on for a little while. At least in the virtual world, the race tracks will be dry. 

Oh, Hello Spring

I keep telling myself that this year, I won't need to really spend much on the boat. Turns out, all the excess spending I'm doing for everything else is more than making up for that. However, at least one of those purchases might be boat-handy anyway.

I've dabbled in the racing sim stuff, as you've seen recently. I'm putting together a flight simulator rig (budget minded, let's not get all multi-axis full motion crazy yet), which I'll outline soon for kicks, and I've decided to start taking lessons towards a private pilot's license this year, as soon as the weather can make up it's mind. It's the latter that might lead to more boaty things.

One of the things I've purchased ahead of flight lessons, is a new iPad Air. First, let me stress this, and I cannot stress it enough, I do not like Apple. It's not because of the products, which I freely admit are quite high quality. As far as that goes, I prefer the customization and such of Android products, and I can't stand that Apple can announce a new feature that Android has had out for years, and the world touts them as innovative. I'm not a fan of some of their legal tactics - there was a case not long ago where they realized no one had patented the slide-to-unlock gesture on smartphones, that had been in use by basically everyone at that point. So they did, and then sued everyone. Really? My thoughts are, win by being better, not by trying to belittle and undermine the accomplishments of others to lift yourselves up. 

I'm also not a very big fan of their.. I don't know what to call it, exactly. But for example, I once had an iTunes account to download music. I didn't use it much, I think I bought a handful of songs once, and never used it again. I hated that I had, HAD to use iTunes for it because there were no other options for what I was doing. I then ended up buying an iPhone X for someone to use, ended up taking it back when they moved South, and tried setting up the phone using my standard fare of free apps like Pandora. I couldn't even get it to let me download free apps. It took two hours on the phone with customer service over the space of three phone calls, to find out that there was a rogue application at some point, that was trying to charge my account (which is why I refused to put any default payment method on file - why should I need a card on file to use free apps?). Had I put my card on, it would've instantly been charged. Ridiculous. Even now, I said ok, I'm buying an iPad, let me see what apps I can--- oh, you can't access or browse the Apple App Store without an apple product. At all. 

So why do I buy an iPad then? Seems strange for someone like myself that is anti-Apple, no? Well the short of it is, I'm not an idiot. At least not always. When aviation started trending towards the digital age, the apps that paved the way were initially created for the iPad, because it was THE tablet to have at the time. And over the years, that's how it's stayed. The iPad is the tool of the trade, and while there are some Android based alternatives for many of them, I've resigned myself that an iPad it is for it. It's just a fact that there are some apps across all genres of activity that are just iPad only. Take sailing for example. Many people have found great success with iSailor, and other similar apps that generally work better on an iPad than an Android equivalent. 

One thing I'll note, is also the outrageous prices of Apple products. Fortunately, I ordered my iPad through Verizon, so that I can spread the payments out as well as have a Cellular model that has internal GPS instead of WiFi only. But if I wanted the fancy pencil to go with it? $129 dollars. Seriously, it's that much. I can buy much cheaper alternatives if I wanted, that charge separately and don't have all the functionality of whatever this piece of plastic does, but still. I don't think I need that.

What I do need though, is protection from the elements, and my own mishaps. A nice rugged case, but also a way to mount it in a plane cockpit. I've settled upon this, a Pivot case:

Now before you ask, it's not cheap. And that seems a little funny from someone that was just complaining about the price of a pencil. But, this uses a lot more plastic than that pencil, lets be honest. It also allows for the addition of accessories like suction cup mounts, and another one, a claw mount.

The best part about the claw mount, is it would allow me to easily affix that arm to the handhold just inside the companionway, and give me a perfect view of the iPad in the cockpit of the boat. See, told you there were sailing applications to be had. So in a roundabout way, I guess I bought an iPad for the boat. In seriousness though, it's a really rugged, heavy duty case with a wonderful yet easy to use latching and switching mechanism, and for what it does, I can't really find many better alternatives. It does add some heft to the iPad, sure, but the versatility it adds outweighs that, no pun intended. 

In other news, the slip is fully paid for, and I'll be going up next weekend to get my halyards in order, and straighten things up, and then she'll be ready to go in the water whenever the marina is. I haven't heard of a planned start date, but the bay isn't frozen and we're already well into pandemic times so hopefully not much of a delay. I really hope not, I have most of the month of May already taken off from work. Checked the marina cam, I see there's the dredger parked over on the other side, and the marina even left one of the floating docks in for the winter that just needs fingers added to make room for boats. Who knows, maybe we'll have an early season.

Are you not entertained? Or immersed?

    Since the boat doesn't have a huge laundry list this year involving large purchases, it's been pretty obvious that I've been spending that money elsewhere. I can blame COVID or any number of things, but it's just how it's been this year. My last post showed a newly constructed Sim Racing cockpit. Unfortunately, I can't claim that it's ended there...

    As you can see, things might be getting a little out of hand here. Surprisingly, this is all actually still working off that poor defenseless laptop I bought. I had to get creative, employing the use of an external docking station by Plugable that somehow uses magic to make pictures come out in threes. Without getting into too many complexities, I'll just say that I built the stand out of some more of that 40-series profiles, and a couple of TV wall mounts bolted to it. I added a keyboard tray, mounted my tablet on the side so I could use an application to show me all the same gauges that I can usually see on the screen anyway, and obviously have upgraded to three monitors wrapping around me. I also purchased another set of studio lights, telling myself that of course, OF COURSE I can use that for regular photography and such. As if I'd actually get around to doing that again. 

    All of these things are done in the pursuit of immersion. Now, I will admit that I plan on going not much further in that pursuit. Certainly not to the extremes that some do. That isn't to say that the idea of a full motion rig that tilts, pushes, pulls, yanks and throws you from side to side isn't captivating. But at half the price of my next boat, I can't justify it. Hell, I don't even think I have the electricity to power it. I will offer this reflection though. I've watched many YouTube videos and read lots of reviews talking about how a certain feature or addition, or product, adds to the immersion factor of Sim driving. There are vibration motors that bolt to your seat and other places, there are the motion platforms to simulate sliding or losing traction, there are actuators you can bolt to your equipment that rise up and down as the car bumps and dips. There are bigger screens, and VR headsets. 

    And I just don't get it.

    All of this to increase immersion into what is always going to look like a video game. Regardless of which game or simulation it is, at the end of the day it's still pretend. I have not once sat in front of these screens and thought "woah, I totally forgot I was in a chair in my spare room and not on the racetrack!" I'm not saying that it's not entertaining, or that it's all stupid if it's fake. And it's certainly (usually) cheaper than trying to race real cars on real tracks. Oh, and you just yell at the screen when some idiot in front of you or beside you blasts your pixels off the road, instead of riding in an ambulance. I would also like to present if I may, Exhibit A in this defense.

    Meet Emily Jones. See that view? No, not the horrible line through the screen, but the fact that it looks like someone just chilling in the corner of a room at home, against a wall, relaxing and having fun. No big monstrosity enclosing them, or any such dramatics. Now, I don't know how up-to-date her Twitch page is kept in regards to her gear, but I would imagine it's pretty close. A wheel setup not much different than mine, on a homemade wooden stand setup, a simple 27" monitor, and a modest computer with lesser specs than my desktop here at home. And yet she is one of the quickest persons around the 911 Cup Cars that I've watched, and the one to beat in the Porsche E-Sports All-Stars circuit. All without dumping multiple thousands of dollars into gear to do so. Full disclosure, she did race Karts when she was younger but then switched to Sim. I'm not trying to do an Emily history lesson but just wanted to show that you don't need to go all out. In comparison, Boosted Media's Will has a genuinely insane rig, with three 4k 65" screens and all the trimmings, but as he does a lot more content for creating, and reviews, and as such doesn't have the full speed that others do. I enjoy both sides of it, but it does show such a range in what can be done, and that it doesn't have to cost a fortune to go fast, and likewise, spending a lot doesn't just make you fast.

    But why, I hear you say, have I spent as much as I have and then turned around and said you don't need to? Because I don't know any better. Plus, it does mean that I have more resale value. Ok, it means I didn't save as much. Judge if you will! I kind of wanted to go for the experience, and aside from a new set of pedals that I ordered, I don't know if I'll toss too much more at it. We'll see.

    All that said, it is still cool as Hell to play on.

Going nowhere fast

    Well, since it's been a handful of months, I guess it's time to recap. Didn't do anything for Halloween this year, since I was stuck at home. Christmas for the family actually didn't go too bad, though a bit limited in whom could visit and be visited. We were some of the fortunate ones not terribly affected by the COVID pandemic. It almost feels bittersweet in that we were able to have a good ending to our year, while knowing that even helping others as much as possible couldn't possibly restore what some had lost.

    There hasn't been a lot in the sailboat realm to speak of. The marina has already informed members that they have pre-sold all the slips for the upcoming season already. No doubt people want to make up for what they missed last year. I was able to enjoy it a bit, but I'm sure many others weren't. They've made other changes there as well. No longer will the yard be totally strewn with vessels on the hard. In an effort to tidy the appearance up and make it easier on staff and guests alike, the marina is no longer offering storage for boats that are not paying for a slip in the water. Now, there will surely still be some boats that don't make it in the water, even after paying for the season, but that's the nature of boats and working on them. Many boats have been removed from the property though, including that C&C 37' that I had secretly hoped to make a deal with the owner on. Oh well. Plenty of other boats to be put in the sea.

    I do have my deposit fully paid, and will be paying my slip fees this month and next. Then the only thing I need to do is go up to the boat sometime prior to launch and re-run my halyards the correct way. Surely third time is a charm? I had purchased new main and headsail halyards when I purchased the boat. The first year, I had them on backwards. Last year, I got the orientation right but messed up and ran them over the tang for the forestay on the masthead. It was usable, and fortunately for me it didn't chafe the lines over the few times I was out last summer. I do plan on doing it right this year.

    Otherwise, it'll be creature comforts. I really don't foresee any major purchases this year. Last year, I purchased the replacement outboard, put extra batteries and a larger solar panel on, a 2nd anchor and a Raspberry Pi computer for navigation. There was also the replacement Richie compass, and the fridge/cooler. I probably have been spending approximately fifteen hundred, to two thousand dollars each of the last couple years. This year? I could pick up a new fixed VHF, dedicated depth display, finish putting covers on the cushions and purchase new material for the cushion backs in the salon and still be way under budget. I guess we'll see how that ends up. I'm hoping that this year I can finally convince myself to tackle the manual labor style projects. It is hard though, to go up and have sunshine and winds and not leave the dock. But, I do want to finish the cushions for the cabin, finish up the painting around the trim, and just generally get things in shape. Spoiler Alert - This could very well be the last year of ownership for this particular sailboat. More on that later.

    Ok, that's all for anything sailing related. Back to stuck-at-home-itus news. In October, I upgraded my computer and bought a fancy foldable racing cockpit to play with. At the end of that post, I mentioned wanting more. To recap the hobby timeline:

    I purchased my first steering wheel and pedal set in the middle of August. After a handful of times playing with it clamped to my desk, I ended up upgrading at the end of October to the new wheel and cockpit. And prior to Christmas, I placed and order and received...

    Welcome to my GT Omega Prime aluminum profile sim cockpit, and it's new home in a freed up spare room in the house. Ok, the walls need work, and it echoes pretty fierce with the carpet gone, but it is now basically my hobby room. Certainly that picture isn't the final resting place, nor configuration. It actually looks like this now:

This is more how it stands now. You can see in the back of the desk, the 3D printer has a new home. I picked up that GS66 laptop used for a good price, which is being used to run the iRacing. Eventually I will have a dedicated desktop built for that duty, which will then power triple 32" monitors. I actually bought one of them, but since the 35" ultrawide in that picture works better for racing then a single 32" will, they've temporarily swapped duty. I am pretty excited though. I started a second YouTube channel - I think I have 4 subscribers now? Well, ok, 1 is me, but still. It'll be a place to just upload random stuff whenever I feel like it. I also managed to get my first win in a race! I'll likely make a post specifically to detail that process. The build, not the win. 

    Let's see, what else. Oh, a 12x28' shed has arrived just before Christmas as well, which will eventually be turned into essentially a tiny home. 

    It wasn't long after it was delivered that we were hit with a pretty hefty snowstorm, leaving over a couple feet of snow blanketing the hillside (and yard). So it's sat pretty much untouched since then but will be revisited soon. There's a lot of work to be done, and a lot of it that can't be done for a while anyway. First order of business though will be to do all the measuring, and sorting out what goes where. That will then let us layout the electrical system, and go from there. Then there's the matter of electric and plumbing - electric is easy enough, but plumbing might need to get creative. 

    Also in the very beginning of December, I managed to finally finish rebuilding the front end of the Mustang after a run in with a deer. Geico wanted to total the car due to mileage and condition versus their estimated repair cost. Instead, I fixed it myself for less than 1/3rd their estimate (which was missing things anyway). The only minor thing is that the bumper cover was reused with a crack in it, instead of a replacement. Too cold for paint anyway.

Before:

And here's the after:

Not too shabby I guess, for a backyard DIY-er.

Out of Thin Air

 In keeping with new hobby tradition, another new toy arrived this Wednesday. In my defense, when the idea was struck into my head, I was actually searching for new keyboards, a mouse, and a new headset for the computer. But while talking to a friend from work, they mentioned something to the effect of "they can 3D print guns, that's crazy" and in the midst of my Amazon spree, my brain went AHA! And not just because the thought of guns is all manly.

A Creality Ender 3 Pro 3D Printer has found it's way to my desk (the one that my prior post alluded to having more space on). As with a lot of hobbies, this thing is addictive. It came partially assembled, and thanks to copious YouTube videos while waiting for it to arrive, I had it fully put together in probably an hour. I've never owned a 3D Printer before, but I've looked before. There are a few different styles, and different technologies. The most common that I see for general public use are FDM machines, standing for Fused Deposition Modeling. As the name implies, they work by heating up a filament, usually plastic, and fusing it into layers upon itself. Depositing it, if you will. One style that had caught my eye before was a Delta style printer. They look like this:

Obviously that is not the type I ended up with. I'd still like a Delta, if for nothing else because I love the motion the print head has when it moves. But no, I settled for a Cartesian style, the most common out there. The two are fundamentally the same in principle, with the main difference being the Delta machine, the print bed stays fixed and the nozzle dances around. The Cartesian such as the Ender I purchased, has an X,Y, and Z axis movement - the nozzle travels along the gantry for the X and Z motions, and the bed itself moves back and forth for the Y bit.

When I went to Amazon, I typed in "3D Printer". Novel idea, I know. I then picked a budget, relatively small. I knew I wanted one, but also had the presence of mind to convince myself to start basic, and see how I got on with it, or what I would even use it for. So for a max budget of $250 dollars, I sorted by rating, and well I'll be dipped if this Ender 3 didn't pop up at the top of the list with over two thousand ratings, 4.5 stars with almost 80% being a 5-star rating. Good enough for me, I was sold, and a few days later, it arrived. This particular model is also a very popular one, with great community support to boot. Couple that with sites like Thingiverse.com for free prints of almost anything you can imagine to serach for, and I felt fine with my choice. 

The hardest thing to do with most 3D printers for novices, is leveling your print bed surface. A video make a good point that while it's referred to as leveling the bed, it's not entirely accurate. What we're really doing is making sure the surface of the bed is square in relation to the X and Y axis of the nozzle as it goes back and forth, and at the right height off the surface. Too low, and the nozzle can scrape, scratch or damage your print bed. Too high, the material doesn't get smooshed onto the surface enough to adhere to it and your plastic just flakes off before you get anything accomplished. I felt relatively proud that it didn't take me too long to find a dialed in setting, and I got to work printing test prints.

This turned into a finished dog, that I was rather impressed with. Certainly as a demo print, they had the quality dialed up pretty good, but hey, if the machine wasn't capable of printing it as fine as it came out, it wouldn't have mattered, so I was thrilled with it.

The picture makes it harder to see than real life, due to the single color and being unable to make out the depths and contours well enough. But it printed great to my eyes. I printed some other things, like a Baby Yoda holding a pumpkin, and a tool holder that clips to the top of my printer to hold the various hex keys and things that came with the printer. There were plenty of other things to print for the printer too, but I knew I wanted to wait until I had some black filament to match the black printer, instead of the light gray, whitish sample I was playing with. Fortunately, that didn't take long to arrive either, so I've done a few of the common Ender 3 additions since. And when I say since, I mean in the last two days, I've been having a ball.

There's the tool holder, and there's a standoff arm to help the filament have a better arc down into the Extruder, where the filament gets driven and pushed through the tube to the nozzle. I upgraded that tube to a newer one that can handle slightly higher temperatures which will be ideal for different plastics to print. I added a little cover for the front of my rail, then some panels to cover up some of the wiring, and even swapped out the extruder to an all metal version. 

I swapped out the factory Extruder which had a plastic assembly (but did at least have metal gears and a proper bearing), to an all-metal version and topped it off with a printed knob. And you can see the tubing, called PTFE or the Bowden Tube, so named as this is considered a Bowden type extruder and nozzle setup, is now blue and not white as it was originally. This blue tubing is made by a manufacturer called Capricorn and seems to be widely accepted on these printers as the go-to upgrade. This is more heat tolerant, where the end is that sits against the nozzle, is less prone to damage over time and can handle higher heat for certain other materials.

I printed a decorative cap complete with the Ender dragon logo, to cover up the pulled and belt adjustment on the front of the machine.

And I printed these snap-in panels that cover up the wiring for the control panel. If you look in the first picture from when the printer was first assembled, you can see the rainbow colored ribbon cable. Not any more!

And as I type this, I'm printing more goodies, like a different arm for the filament and a little guide for the bottom, so that I can use that original PTFE tubing as somewhat of a guide tube from the filament arm, down to where it goes into that new metal extruder. While the arm does a good job of holding the filament out to allow a less steep angle of entry at the bottom, it's still not the best way of doing it. Having a piece of that tubing will really allow it to make a more graceful curve at the bottom, and enter straighter. Similar to this:

I might just need to let that one finish on it's own and go to sleep. It's already almost 2 AM. I need to stop finding new hobbies, they're costing me sleep!

Wait, I should look for some sailboat models to print while I'm at it...

Vroom

2020 has been kind of a weird year to say the least. With working at home being a thing, one thing that has also been a consequence has been free time during the week. Obviously on the weekends I prefer to go to the water, but a funny thing happened on the way to the lake.

Early in summer, my uncle had asked if I had ever tried iRacing. At the onset of the pandemic, NASCAR had actually been running virtual races using this service, with the racers in their homes running on computers and steering wheels. I think this is what prompted the question due to the increased exposure. But iRacing.com isn't just for NASCAR races. There are plenty of race types, cars, tracks, and experience levels. One of these avenues is dirt track racing, something that my uncles and family had been involved in for years. Perhaps this was some of the motivation as well.

A few months back, I decided to take him up on this offer, and signed up for an iRacing account. They are running still a promotion on a yearly subscription which costs far less than many forms of entertainment. I believe plenty of drinks at Starbucks would also singly exceed the monthly cost of the service. Costing a little more than a caffeine fix, I also picked up a second-hand racing wheel - a Logitech Driving Force GT. While it's many years old, they're a solid starting point. It clamped to my desk, and the pedals sat on the floor under my feet. It provided a good learning curve for me, learning the challenges between sitting in a real car, and in a chair at my computer. 

It became time to replace the carpet in my bedroom, opting for a laminate option to ease the keeping of it. At the same time, a lot of changes fell into place like dominoes clattering. As I sat back and saw my lowly desk sitting in the corner, I outlined it:

My current computer was still plenty strong enough to run anything I needed to do it. It was an i7-7700k, with 32GB of RAM and a GTX 1070 FTW video card, all housed in a Genome II case with integrated water cooling. I had an older 43" 4K TV sitting on the top, and my work computer to the side. 

Admittedly, part of the urging for an upgrade was spurred on by the announcement of the 30-series graphics cards release. I started thinking about different situations, and the next thing I knew, I had new goodies and a plan. First, the computer. 

Out with the old, in with the i7-10700k, newer faster RAM, and a shinier motherboard than previously installed. I kept my existing case - the cooling has been fine, and I like the look. So the new parts were chosen to compliment that look as well as a performance bump. Sadly I must keep my existing 1070 video card until stock comes back in the newer generation. I also traded out my big tv for a more modern ultrawide monitor, to better serve my racing playtimes. I then built a new desk, one that gave more space, but tighter to the wall, moved the tower up to the corner on the wall for even more room, and reassembled my goodies.

One issue became apparent after I renovated the flooring in my bedroom, from carpet to wood, and my pedals no longer stayed where they started. It's quite hard to stop an imaginary race car when you push a brake pedal that darts away from you. So next it became time to make myself more comfortable. 

A new chair, and a new wheel. The T300 RS GT edition comes with the 3-pedal setup, and seems to be a proper upgrade in quality too. The Driving Force GT was a great start, but it did nothing more than make me yearn for better. And in the T300, I've found better. Smoother, more precise, and combined with a better seating position in the Playseat Challenge, it made me quicker the moment I strapped in. Granted, I'm still slow. But it did improve my own times at least. The advantage is that when I'm done, it simply folds up and out of the way like a lawn chair, wheel still attached. When I want to race, I take it out of the closet, roll my desk chair out of the way, and plug it in.

The worst part of a new hobby is telling yourself that you're satisfied with what you have. In truth, it took a half an hour in my new setup to decide I need even more. Time will tell.