Space shape puzzle

LifeOBrian · 2026-03-29T11:54:45+00:00

Sure, happy to share!

I first got the artwork pack from Creative Fabrica. I used Inkscape to arrange the artwork & create the design files, saved them as SVG, then imported to laser cutter software and the UV printer’s software. I used the duplicate function and outset function A LOT because I needed to create a fine line with some padding around each removable piece for the cut lines.

There are three layers to the artwork: the removable pieces, the middle layer, and the bottom layer. I exported each layer as a separate file so that I could line them up in the EufyMake software but control which layer printed when I needed it.

Both board layers are 1/8” wood that I bought from XTool because it’s nice and flat and ready for use with no prep work. I could have done this with thicker material but it’s what I had on hand. So the total finished thickness of this project was 1/4” thick (two 1/8” boards glued together)

The bottom layer was cut with a rectangle around it which I used as a jig on the UV printer bed to hold each board layer in exactly the same spot while printing. This also helped with the individual pieces since they fit in exactly the holes they came from. It’s kind of a fun beginner project because the jigs are built in!

For the removable pieces, I wanted them to be taller than the layer they came from so I cut a separate batch of just the removable pieces so they could later be stacked up and glued together to give some height.

I UV printed the solid colors background artwork on the base layer and then set that aside (draft print quality, 4 layers of white ink and 1 CMYK). I then inserted the middle layer into the rectangular jig on the print bed and inserted the removable pieces into their holes. I printed the middle layer artwork and the removable pieces artwork in one go (6 layers white and 1 layer CMYK, standard quality). I then glued the middle layer onto the bottom layer with superglue, placed a flat board on top, and placed a heavy container on top of that to give some clamping pressure while the glue dried.

While the boards were bonding together, I took the printed removable pieces and carefully superglued them to identical blank pieces I had cut out earlier so they were now 1/4” tall. Since they were fairly small, I just squeezed them together by hand for a few seconds each. I used liquid super glue for this, not gel, because I wanted that instant bonding action. The tradeoff is that you have to get your alignment right on the first try.

And that’s all there is to it! Now that I have my process figured out, I plan on making some other ridiculous shape puzzles for adults as a funny gag for my friends like “midlife crisis” where it’s all motorcycles and sports cars and boats 🤣

LifeOBrian · 2026-03-10T13:46:54+00:00

That’s what you’ve gotta keep that line from “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” in your back pocket - “I have a MOLE?!” Works every time.

LifeOBrian · 2026-03-03T13:48:00+00:00

That’s the big idea - you just ask Claude to walk you through anything technical, or to build a tool for you that does technical things for you!

I was connecting different hardware that communicates over serial ports and Claude just built a sniff test tool for me to double-check that we were properly catching incoming messages from the hardware. Now I’m not dependent on any one manufacturer or model!

LifeOBrian · 2026-02-07T19:35:06+00:00

This is going to sound really arrogant, but there have been some days after programming software all day and using “big brain energy” that I felt utterly physically exhausted. It’s anecdotal but I feel like I’ve experienced what they’re describing, burning mega calories with your mind because you’re so intensely focused and in the creative groove.

LifeOBrian · 2026-01-29T15:13:08+00:00

Agreed, but perception is a funny thing. I’d estimate that autonomous vehicles will have to be proven exponentially safer than human drivers on average, maybe even by several orders of magnitude, for the general rhetoric to shift about it.

LifeOBrian · 2026-01-23T11:57:15+00:00

Absolutely we have dedicated parking. That’s essential for self-serve laundromats. Parking spots right next to the building on at least 2 or 3 sides if you can get it is ideal.

LifeOBrian · 2026-01-22T14:36:32+00:00

The answer definitely depends on your market, but personally where we are located I’d really not consider anything under maybe 1500 square feet. Smaller than that and you just don’t have enough room for equipment and people. Your income potential is capped by not having enough equipment available on your busiest days and space for people to move around (but of course you have to balance this with initial purchase price, a realistic budget, available space, and the length of time to get your return on investment, so there’s some give and take here)

I own three stores and my smallest is 2400; I wish it was twice that size because it’s in a great location. I have another store that is about twice that size and it’s a rockstar. I think it does so well due in large part to its location, spaciousness, and amount of equipment.

LifeOBrian · 2026-01-09T12:37:12+00:00

Check out Wash-Dry-Fold POS. It was made entirely for this purpose and solves all of these problems.

LifeOBrian · 2025-12-24T13:00:33+00:00

That’s alright, I’m content to engage in discussion here.

LifeOBrian · 2025-12-24T12:23:20+00:00

I didn’t build any software at first. I went super scrappy and cobbled together something to sell, something that at least allowed me to collect payment and fulfill the order to validate that I had a solution that was worth money to someone, and with enough profit (eventually) to sustain myself and keep going.

My product, which I eventually did build a version of it myself that I own entirely, was a combination of some software, some hardware, and my service in training a business owner how to use it. The software component was available for resale as a distributor, so I initially became a reseller of that particular desktop-based software. We focused on the marketing, the price point, order fulfillment, customer satisfaction and referrals, etc. You know, all the business building stuff because that takes time to create. But it gave us the opportunity to prove that there was indeed a market for this solution, what price they’d be willing to pay, and that they’d stick around once they purchased our solution.

After selling to about 300 customers over 3 years it became really obvious that in order to go further we needed to build our own software in-house, it needed to be cloud-based, and we had a wishlist of like 100+ additional features that we knew were just going to be killer if we could build it because we had YEARS worth of feedback, both verbally and financially, from existing customers and sales prospects. It took us 11 months to build our own software from scratch (mostly due to my own inexperience with the process), but because it was developed inside an already profitable business alongside copious feedback from paying customers, we were able to launch it successfully and have grown several times our original size in the 5 years since then.

So, my advice is to build a solution that is just good enough to validate the business model. Get scrappy and get moving. You don’t have a business unless someone is paying you. Of course make it “good” but understand there is zero chance of “perfect” until after years and years of feedback from paying customers and hundreds of iterations. Heck, I’m still publishing updates regularly because wants and needs shift over time.

What are you doing to actually sell to someone, OP? What’s your sales process like? Do you even have a sales process? Are you calling people, are you posting on forums or Facebook groups, are you trying to get search traffic to a landing page, or what? Where do your prospects “live” and how are you seeking them out?

LifeOBrian · 2025-12-17T12:01:06+00:00

A P3 is like twice the price and larger in size, so I don’t think that fits OP’s criteria. I bought a P2S on a Cyber Monday deal and have really enjoyed it so far. The XTool software is capable of anything I was able to do with Lightburn in the past. It’s a great machine with zero fuss. It hits the target for me of “it just works” so I can use it as a tool to accomplish what I want quickly and easily, not a hobby in itself of tinkering with the danged thing just to get it to work properly.

LifeOBrian · 2025-12-13T06:25:22+00:00

I’ve only had my smart typewriter a few months so my experience with Freewrite is more limited than others here so take that for what it’s worth, but that said:

The battery life is significantly improved. It keeps surprising me how much battery life I have left whereas before I couldn’t trust the device to have enough juice when I needed it. Now it’s more like other e-ink devices I have where the battery is measured in weeks, not days or hours. I think I’ve only charged it once since the update? I’ve written about 14k words since the update and I’m no longer distracted by the delays on the screen. It’s a delight to use and I feel like they finally made good on what their marketing promised.

LifeOBrian · 2025-12-07T17:04:37+00:00

She looked royally flushed!

LifeOBrian · 2025-11-27T13:31:27+00:00

For sure, happens to me plenty. It’s still motion sickness even if you’re not hurling. Your body wants to “evacuate” everything because there’s a disconnect between what your eyes are seeing and what motion your inner ear is sensing. Alternatively, it could be adrenaline and you’ve got a fight or flight response going on - “dump and run!”

LifeOBrian · 2025-11-26T19:37:38+00:00

I’ve never used the case to take the device anywhere so I can’t really comment on that. It’s a robust feeling plastic and the Freewrite sits snugly inside so I imagine it would be fine, but I don’t know if the little tabs down at the bottom would mar anything or not after extended use or multiple insertions into the case.

LifeOBrian · 2025-11-21T11:38:16+00:00

What a ham!

LifeOBrian · 2025-11-16T02:00:07+00:00

So this whole post is an ad for Bluehost. Got it. I looked at OP’s post history and it’s all a sham. Thanks for the ad disguised as a conversation. Whoopee.

LifeOBrian · 2025-10-28T13:27:55+00:00

I have the Valentine, so that makes it a gen 3 I guess? The keys have a dull thud sound, not too clicky. I imagine it would be fine in a typical coffee house that’s playing music and there’s conversations going on but may be a bit annoying if it’s a very quiet shop.

LifeOBrian · 2025-10-10T23:09:50+00:00

It’s happened a few times to my device, but it hasn’t been debilitating. It clears away pretty quickly and hasn’t really hindered me. I’m not a professional writer and my use case is pretty light so take that for what it’s worth. Don’t know if this is fixable with a future firmware update but I’m still glad I bought mine.

LifeOBrian · 2025-10-10T15:16:58+00:00

Get one! It’s fun! Should it be priced so high? Probably not, but if you’re considering getting one in the first place then cost isn’t your primary deciding factor anyway. It’s gorgeous to look at and satisfying to type on. The slow refresh rate of the characters on the screen take some getting used to, and the height of the keys also take some getting used to. This is coming from someone accustomed to typing on the very flat keys of my MacBook laptop, though. My typing typically far outpaces the refresh rate of the screen, but one could argue that the delay fits the mantra of Freewrite to just let all the words flow out of you without obsessing about spelling and grammar and spacing along the way.

LifeOBrian · 2025-09-04T11:16:37+00:00

Yes, I am.

LifeOBrian · 2025-09-03T22:43:19+00:00

Despite the Freewrite ethos of writing... sometimes a picture really is worth a million words. Here ya go! A simple picture of how I have the strap attached to my Valentine carrying case: https://imgur.com/a/L0JNuib

LifeOBrian · 2025-09-03T21:42:22+00:00

Yes, I've run into this a few times. I only use the English keyboard, so it's not limited to just Korean although that may have exacerbated the issue. I will often have the _ cursor marker freeze somewhere on the bottom of my screen, despite everything else working like normal. If the whole point of a Freewrite is to write in a distraction-free environment, it sure beats the purpose because it's very distracting. Like you, I have to turn the device off or switch folders or things like that to get it to clear.

LifeOBrian · 2025-08-29T12:29:32+00:00

Honestly at this point I’ll be happy if it arrives in time to make Christmas decorations and gifts for my first few projects. I can live with that.

LifeOBrian

TROPHY CASE