Book of Errant Pages

Prediction - Valve will launch a new SteamVR title in Q4 2026

Prediction for a new Valve SteamVR game in 2026 Basic Idea Valve Corporation has historically aligned major hardware releases with advancements in its software platforms, such as SteamOS via the Steam Machine and SteamVR via Half-Life: Alyx alongside the Valve Index. Thus I predict the recently announced Steam Frame VR headset, slated for an early 2026 launch, will be accompanied by a new first-party VR title in Q4 2026. Justifications and other details follow. Valve is a Software Company Valve…

Dragon Con 2025

The slides from my 2 panels are available on google drive. You can find those here: Gem Magic Slides Resins, Castings, and Composites Slides Feel free to contact me via discord (links on the side) if you have questions. Some notes from the presentations: Gem Magic Quartz Safety Quartz if made of silica (silicon dioxide) and is not chemically reactive and so it is not directly toxic. Silica is everywhere in nature since it is the principal component of sand, but in nature we do not commonly…

More Warhammer 40k Team Plates

This set of plates is in brass sheet instead of the stainless plate used in the previous set. The overall design is the same but the front plate with the team logo was cleared up to make it stand out more. These also require far less labor to create. Prepolished brass sheet is readily available whereas stainless plate is not. Some interesting issues were discovered with the stainless plates. Those plates used a laser to create oxide layers on the polished steel. The oxide provided color but did…

Assessing Classroom Utilization Efficiency at Georgia Tech’s Atlanta Campus: A 2024 Analysis

1\. Overview Georgia Tech, a prominent research university in Atlanta, Georgia, manages a complex classroom infrastructure to support its academic mission. Efficient space utilization is critical amid growing enrollment and resource demands in higher education. This study quantifies classroom utilization at the Atlanta campus for the 2024 calendar year, leveraging scheduling data to evaluate efficiency. Preliminary findings indicate an average of 20.69 hours per week during major terms (Fall…

Dreamhack 2024 Warhammer 40k Team Tournament Plates

Warhammer 40k team tournaments involve 8 players matching up in individual games against the 8 players of the opposing team. This requires a mechanism to determine who will play against whom. Various mechanisms have been used such as dice or paper slips, but after seeing John Wick 4 (where metal plates are used to determine the rules for a duel) I thought the use of metal plates to decide the order of battle would be more awesome. There are 8 plates in this set. All plates have the same front.…

DragonCon 2024

Another DragonCon complete and another 4 panels delivered. You can find the slide decks for my 3 panels here. For the escape room panel I co-hosted you can find a link to that deck on Wade's LinkedIn profile here.

Superintelligence and Super Antigens

The madness On 17 November 2023 Sam Altman was fired from his position as CEO of OpenAI. Documents indicate the board told the leadership team that allowing the company to be destroyed ‘would be consistent with the mission’ [of the company]. This rather scant set of facts has led some to believe OpenAI has created a superintelligent AI called Q\ . Altman was fired for recklessly creating a danger to all of humanity, and possibly desires for world domination, or for being the puppet of Q\ , or…

DragonCon 2022 Panel

I gave my Advanced Fabrication Machines panel at DragonCon 2022. This was basically the same panel I gave at MomoCon 2022. For those looking for the slides you can find them as a you tube video here:

MomoCon 2022 Presentation - Advanced Fabrication Machines

Elden Ring: Engagement Exploitation

Intro Elden ring is very popular, selling 12M copies in its first 3 weeks. But why? The graphics are poor compared to current gen offerings, there is little recorded dialog, a confused and often contradictory plot, and enemy AI with the intelligence of driveway gravel. Even features like lip sync are missing despite being common among RPGs for years. From Software, the creators of Elden Ring, are well know for their Dark Souls series. Even those who have never played a game from the series have…

SNES Cartridge - disassembly, cleaning, and parts tour

I decided to clean my old Nintendo cartridges after digging the systems out of storage. This video is a quick representation of what I learned in the process.

DIY Vacuum Chamber 2

This is the second vacuum chamber I have built. The new chamber is sized to fit larger patterns which I need to degas.

Pistols in IR

I put together this video while visiting family over the holidays. After having created this I feel like I might know what I need to do next time to make this video more useful.

Blast Etching Pelican Cases

A short video covering the blast etching process I used on a Pelican 1750 and 1400 case.

Bending Polycarbonate (lexan)

A short video about bending polycarbonate without heat.

Tormach PCNC 1100 - Comments on Delivery and Setup

A few comments on Tormach PCNC 1100 delivery and setup with some special notes on getting the machine down a sloped driveway.

Spray Cans - Composition, Function and Safety

I made a short video going over a few points about spray cans; how they work and some safety issues. A couple of lesser know items are reviewed such as FDA not regulating cosmetic products.

What is a Software Engineer?

Suppose you asked someone what they did for a living and they said, "I am a hammer". You might find this strange. You might also find it strange for them to say, "I am a table saw". However it would be quite normal for them to answer saying, "I am a carpenter". Far to often we confuse our proficiencies with the tools of our trade with our actual profession. This is not a good outlook. I use the tool not the other way around. I am not the programming language I am the software engineer. So why…

Restarting old software projects

Sometimes a company will halt all development on a project only to restart it at a later (sometimes much later) date. The reasons for this are many and varied but there are a few things to keep in mind which might help you if you ever have to restart an old project. Find all of the resources involved with the old project. This would obviously include the source for the project. It also includes build scripts, tests, requirements docs, and any other support files. In addition to the files which…

EngineShop cranes and their unexpected uses

Parts and Operation There are not many parts to these cranes and assembly is simple (with the exceptions noted below). These cranes have a simple frame with arms which fold up for storage. A hydraulic ram supplies the mechanical advantage necessary to lift the load. All you need to do to operate it is lower the arms, attache your load, close the hydraulic valve and pump the ram. When you are ready to lower the load just (slowly) open the valve. Notes on Assembly The assembly instructions for…

Can quick release fittings be used under vacuum?

In short: Can you: Yes. Should you: No.

Compound Tables and Drill Presses

A quick video about using compound tables with drill presses.

Safety first... and second, and probably third

So I was working in the garage installing new lights. I had verified the circuit breaker responsible for powering the circuit I would be wiring the new lights into, no problems here. Before I got around to installing the lights I realized I had other work to take care of first. So I turned the breaker back on as it was also powering outlets I needed, no problems here either. After I was done with the sidetracking work I turned the breaker back off in preparation for wiring the lights up, no…

When you have the wrong size heat shrink tubing

The Task This combination headphone/microphone line has a break in its outer casing. This causes the wire the catch on things. While the electrical connections are still good this condition is an inconvenience and needed to be repaired. The Solution Heat shrink tubing is perfect for this issue, expect I did not have a size of tubing on hand which would fit over the end connections of this wire and shrink down to a size necessary to grip the line. The line could be cut and the tubing slid over…

Ultrasonic cleaners

Ultrasonic cleaners function by bombarding items with sound whose frequency is beyond the range of human hearing. A discussion of the specific mechanism of cleaning is complex and beyond the intent of this post. What follows are some pointers when using a simple ultrasonic cleaner. Overview Ultrasonic cleaners will impart their cleaning action to the objects submerged (normally in water) inside them. As such you will only be able to effectively clean items which will fit inside the cleaner.…

'Exception' does not denote 'Infrequent Occurrence”

NOTE: this will generally pertain to C but applies to any programming language which uses similar exception handling (for example Java). This article covers a few misconceptions about exceptions and is not intended as a complete reference. In depth study of this important programming aspect is highly recommended. Overview The exceptions a method throws are as important as its parameters or return value. They are part of your contract with the user, even if you are not required to declare them…

Dealing with partially lighting gas burners

The above is my stove. It is an old stove. I think I have used this stove once in five years. I don't really care much about the stove. Unfortunately someone recently pointed out to me the burners on the stove do not light correctly. So in accordance with my 'fix ALL the things' policy it was torn apart until fixed or destroyed, whichever came first. Mercifully this ended in a fixing and what follows is what I discovered. Overview and Operation Opening the top of this stove is as simple as…

Going Tankless

NOTE: this will be a discussion of fuel based tankless units. Electric units are available but due to the cost of electricity and the massive wiring issues involved with installing one I will not be addressing them here. Tankless water heaters have been used for many years in other parts of the world but are only recently becoming a more common choice for US residential homes. As the name implies these devices provide hot water without storing it in a tank. They are more energy efficient than…

Suspended Ceilings are Awesome

The above is a conventional drywall ceiling. It consists of sheets of drywall screwed directly into the joists of the floor above. This is the most common type of ceiling seen in residential homes and apartments. This is a suspended ceiling or drop ceiling. It is made of metal railings which form a grid suspended from the joists above by wire (between 18 and 12 gauge) with panels filling the square or rectangular spaces. This image also shows a fluorescent troffer, the most common lighting used…

Degassing Epoxy

People who saw the vacuum chamber video were disappointing I did not actually use the chamber in the video. This should correct that issue. Here I am using my vacuum chamber to degas a small amount of West System epoxy.

DIY Vacuum Chamber Setup

The will be my first video post. In this short clip I explain how my put together my vacuum chamber.

The 3 light question and its abuses

There is a popular interview question which claims to make a candidate think 'outside the box'. It goes something like this. Suppose there are 3 light switches. There is elsewhere a room with three light bulbs each controlled by one of the aforementioned switches. You cannot see the room from where the switches are located. How do you determine which switch operates which light bulb if you are allowed to visit the room once? It is answered with the following. Turn on switches 1 and 2. Wait…

Gluing things to Pelican cases

This was a project for my dad. It is a Pelican 1750 case which has attached to it an aluminum plate water jet cut with his initials. Attaching the plate to the case was a bit more challenging than expected, and by 'a bit' I mean I spent almost 2 months worrying over it before I was willing to attempt it. These Pelican cases are made of polypropylene a plastic which has, among its many properties, a low surface energy. Simply put it is hard to get things to stick to it. In the past I tried a 2…

One color screen press - diy quick release platen

This is my one color screen press. There are many examples of how to build something similar on youtube. The only noteworthy part of this setup is the platen in use. Keeping the platen in place while printing is rather important. This is occasionally overlooked on one color machines like this one since mostly you will only make one printing pass. In this case I am printing with a discharge ink. For this I will need to alternate printing passes with forced air heating a few times. If the platen…

Failure along the way

What is this picture and why is it representative of failure? This picture shows my CNC mill in progress. Attached to the table are the supports and linear rails for the x axis. The part being held by the engine hoist (ominously foreshadowing my error) is the gantry. This component would ride the x axis' rails to move back and forth along the table. The y axis linear rails can be seen attached to the gantry. The z axis and tool holder are not installed in this image. The heavy steel is very…

Epoxy Composite Experiments

An epoxy composite is simply an epoxy resin which has other stuff mixed or laid into it before it hardens. The most familiar composite material made with epoxy is carbon fiber. Though we call the end product a 'carbon fiber' item it is more technically a 'carbon fiber reinforced polymer' item with the polymer in this case referring to the epoxy resin. Parts made this way are very light for the strength they offer but are expensive. Reinforcements for polymers are typically cut fiber strands or…

Consider using scalpels instead of X-ACTO knives

For working in soft materials such as paper, softwoods, or plastic you may want to consider a scalpel instead of an X-ACTO knife. The classic 11 X-ACTO blade has a thickness of 0.02” whereas the comparable 11 scalpel has a thickness of 0.015” making it easier to move though the material it has cut. This narrower blade also makes the scalpel a bit more flexible than the X-ACTO. My experience so far has shown the scalpel to be easier to use when making tight and detailed cuts. They also seem to…

The micrometer goes to Barnes and Noble

There are many stories whose plot involves an object compelling its owner to use it. If the object were something like a sword you would likely have either a horror story or murder mystery. I often think this is very true for tools. Once you have a hammer everything starts to look like a nail and nails exist to be hammered. As I own a variety of tools I occasionally find novel uses for them. This weekend it was the micrometer I heard calling. As this is a measuring instrument I needed something…

Cooking tools from the world of heavy industry

I do not cook, or bake, or execute any other from of food preparation beyond pouring cereal into a bowl milk. For this reason I am deficient in the realm of cooking implements. Thus when my sister arrived at my house with the intention of baking cookies in my oven I scrambled to find substitutes for the needed tools. The impending adventure led to some alternatives which I believed demonstrated greater usefulness than their traditional counterparts. In the two years I had owned my house I had…

Cutting Cake with Dental Floss

Among the various loots I transported home after visiting my family for Christmas was a cake of most delicious construction. On arriving home I decided to cut the cake and store the individual pieces in the freezer. At this point I realized I had no implement which would neatly cut the cake. This was not a surprise for my expansive collection of power tools is inversely mirrored by my nonexistent supply of cooking utensils. After some thought I decided to use dental floss. If wire cutting works…

Steel channel monitor stand

Having multiple monitors makes working on almost any task easier. The additional displays allow a great number of windows to be visible concurrently thus obviating the need to waste time looking through the taskbar for them. There are a few disadvantages though the chief being the consumption of vast amounts of desk real estate. To address this issue I constructed a monitor stand to hold all of my displays above the desk. This allows the utilization of space under the monitor for something more…

Mont Blanc rollerball in a Pilot G2

I am fond of writing with my Mont Blanc Meisterstuck rollerball however my fear of it coming to harm prevents it from leaving my desk at home. So the idea occurred to me to attempt to replace my Pilot G2 Limited's internal refill with a Mont Blanc refill. The process of changing out the refill was disappointingly simple. In fact further study revealed many fine pen refills would fit my G2 Limited body with little modification(Mont Blanc rollerballs and ball points) or no modification(Pelikan…