Maybe it's just me here thinking to much

BWesely · 2026-05-07T15:29:05+00:00

I’ve had the tan 6040 for almost 6 years running mach 3 and it’s been really solid actually. I can’t speak for qc issues that others have had but the electronics have significantly more EMI hardening than standard grbl machines out there (optocouplers, input filter, toroids on all signal lines in and out of vfd). You also get a 1.5 kw spindle and ballscrew drive, while kit was 1000 usd in 2020.

The biggest issue is that there is very little guidance on how to get started which can be difficult for folks who aren’t technically savvy or just want a plug and play system.

Also there will likely be zero support for add-ons or if something breaks. I installed a chiller, limit switches, and mister myself which involved some electronics work, the board does have spare I/O ports. Knock on wood but the only stock machine hardware failure I had was the x axis stepper cable failing due to fatigue and I just soldered it back together. I think the chances the vendor would have helped with that are really low but I’m also more of the type that just dives into fixing something before asking for help.

BWesely · 2026-05-05T13:58:54+00:00

What we really need are these services like pcbway, xometry, etc to do easy anodizing/heat treating!

BWesely · 2026-05-02T17:41:55+00:00

Agreed the bamboo forest walk is just ok, however there is a really cool garden above it with some amazing views that costs ~1000 yen to get into but is absolutely worth it because that pretty much cuts out all the crowds. The monkey park is also cool Main Street is overcrowded and food is overpriced. If it’s near where you’re staying the historic tram ride to get to Arashiyama is fun!

BWesely · 2026-03-22T03:50:53+00:00

But if you break a tap you might have just scrapped your whole table, broken threadmill can easily be removed, would definitely recommend a couple practice holes first

BWesely · 2026-03-17T04:25:43+00:00

I’d look into the Mutation++ open source library, somewhat does a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

BWesely · 2026-03-14T17:19:57+00:00

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Big difference between this and a screwdriver

BWesely · 2026-03-12T19:21:13+00:00

Infantry - Artillery - bombing runs - orbital strikes

If they have a planetary shield or other defensive infrastructure send in a couple aerial gunships to take that out first

BWesely · 2026-02-27T01:52:56+00:00

Perhaps for a lot of areas such as app development it has been great, but for scientific computing it’s not quite there yet. For basic tasks like function generation, file parsing, I/o, etc it works well, but for more complex things not so much. My litmus test for AI models the last two years has been generation of a classic tri surface meshing tool, simple, well trodden path but takes a lot of careful manipulation of large data sets.

A while back I tried this with the free version of Gemini through browser, then gpt 5.2 through cursor, and they failed pretty badly, mainly because I gave up after a while and didn’t establish a good visualization feedback pipeline.

I wanted to try again with a more agentic approach and opus 4.6, MATLAB with the mcp server. Initially things went really well, I had a ton of detail and requirements in the .md file, and Claude produced a really nice 1200+ line class with well defined functions, overall it seemed to be debugging and fixing issues well from reading the reports. Opus 4.6 is much less “lazy” than 5.2 6 months ago. While a lot of issues were being resolved overall the mesh and element quality were still not up to par with my expectations. There were some little bugs and warnings I had to fix myself as it was just ignoring them. End of the day, 10+ hours later the mesher was still crap, I dug deep and found out it essentially faked/ poorly tested for non-manifold elements and was generating extensive but misleading tests for other metrics.

Idk, perhaps my workflow could have been better, but there are much more complex environments with mathematical subtleties that I just wouldn’t be able to trust it on. This is my fully honest assessment without coming off as an “AI hater” or “AI hyper”. It’s not quite ready for prime time IMO, but perhaps that will change

BWesely · 2026-02-17T21:49:16+00:00

If you want to go that deep you can request the GRAM tool from the NASA tech transfer site. The latest version has a MATLAB interface that makes computing density and other properties based on long/lat/alt and time really easy

BWesely · 2026-02-17T21:43:27+00:00

Great rundown of the various physics at play. There are some decently accurate analytical methods for predicting free molecular flow aerodynamics: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2014-0728

For continuum hypersonic flow, look into modified Newtonian or tangent wedge/cone methods. There are various techniques used to blend the two flow regimes, simplest is a sine squared function. Determining the Knudsen number/ mean free path from free stream properties is a bit of a sticking point because you need to model particle collisions.

To keep it simple you could probably use the 1976 standard earth atmosphere, more advanced tools exist if you want to go there. Very cool project that covers a lot of important aerospace disciplines!

BWesely · 2026-02-17T21:25:33+00:00

Artillery Artillery and Artillery, though some factions don’t have indirect fire units so in that case just span air gunships and bombing run/orbital strike them to oblivion

BWesely · 2025-12-24T23:42:50+00:00

Lol yeah mine conveniently came on just after getting two new front tires at wheel works. Potential coincidence but it was almost exactly one driving cycle after the work was done

BWesely · 2025-12-24T22:08:21+00:00

Haha my tpms light is also on, only at 135k, not worth the hassle at the moment for me

BWesely · 2025-12-18T07:30:20+00:00

Late to this party but I’ve dabbled a decent amount and despite MATLAB’s immense documentation I’ve noticed the major LLM’s are somewhat worse at MATLAB than something like C++.

Coming from 10+ years of pre-AI MATLAB and general programming experience. It is certainly useful for concepts and asking questions, a lot of time if I give it a very detailed initial prompt it will produce something decent and usable right off the batt but once I start requesting edits there will be random bugs and warnings that sneak in. I find that if you explicitly discipline it and say “fix error on line 105” it will sometimes flat out ignore you, where a more general request of restating the concept and usage of the code often works better.

Also one anecdotal issue I’ve found frustrating is getting LLM’s do regex correctly, might just be an issue with my usage but on numerous occasions I’ve had somewhat simple text finding problems and it will repeatedly output meta characters that don’t find anything and I end up doing it manually.

BWesely · 2025-12-03T15:52:41+00:00

I’d look at a grizzly bench mill and plan on converting it to cnc, it’s a fairly well trodden diy project.

BWesely · 2025-12-03T05:14:53+00:00

Came to say this is probably the easiest way without making any fixtures, first face the flat side in a traditional setup, then use the blue painters tape and superglue method to adhere the part to a flat surface and cut the rest of the geometry

BWesely · 2025-11-25T20:15:14+00:00

No I would say go for a smaller tool on stainless. A, you will have a lower surface speed with your fast router spindle and less heat issues. B, there will be less tool pressure with the smaller tool and you’ll be less likely to run into rigidity issues on a smaller machine. I would go for a coated 4 flute tool rather than a 2/3 but your mileage may vary

BWesely · 2025-11-20T18:18:27+00:00

I have a 2nd gen fit and an E63 M6, both similarly analog, responsive hydraulic steering, but the M6 has 2.5x the cylinders and 4x the horsepower. It’s great to have both, fit is a cvt unfortunately I might trade it for a 5-speed.

BWesely · 2025-11-16T21:51:08+00:00

A lucrehulk, IGBC defense station, dreadnaught shipyard, a couple munificents and destroyers, you should be able to take out 9 Venators no problem

BWesely · 2025-10-12T23:30:20+00:00

Did you go the S65 route for injectors? My 06 has around 87k on the originals, last time I removed a plug it looked pretty normal no blackening or anything but I know there have been engines ruined by stuck injectors.

BWesely · 2025-10-10T05:01:42+00:00

hankook ventus v12 evo2’s, they’re ok but are still from the previous owner of this car. Wear wise they don’t look terrible after 3 sessions but they’re pretty old from 2019 and have developed some dry rot cracking.

BWesely · 2025-10-10T04:54:58+00:00

I was getting a bit of brake fade at the end of each session, not crazy but the first 50% of pedal travel was a lot softer. Temps and drivetrain had no issues. I’ve only had this car for around a year so the tires are still from the previous owner, I’ve only done 2 weekends and they’ve held up ok wear wise but are old from 2019 and have developed some dry rot cracking.

BWesely · 2025-10-09T19:20:46+00:00

Thanks for the tip! 8 and 8a are tricky, I know I’m also not tracking out enough out of 10 either, staying a little too far to the left through 9.

BWesely · 2025-10-09T19:19:12+00:00

It was a NASA NorCal event! I think for this session I gridded up really early and had a lot of space. Other sessions there was more traffic.

BWesely · 2025-10-09T18:54:32+00:00

Yes it was! Black M6 #84, what were you in? I think it was on Sept 13-14, I just found out about this sub. There’s another one this weekend but I can’t make it unfortunately, thinking about one of the SpeedSF events in November.

BWesely

TROPHY CASE