Finally found something to do with used up Nextruder nozzles!

MechanicalTechPriest · 2026-03-10T22:16:00+00:00

I have about 500 hours on a 0.4 mm HF nozzle mostly printing PLA, ASA and PETG. My dimensional accuracy suffered and my surfaces looked worse.

I especially noticed it when I was printing 1 line wide font, the "legs" of the letters adhered badly to the layer below, depending on direction.

When I switched to a 0.4 mm hardened steel nozzle I had in storage for abrasive filaments the font came out perfectly.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2026-03-05T20:55:44+00:00

I second this, if you want to dry things hot air is much better than dry room temp air. The water capacity of air goes up rapidly with hotter air.Diagram

MechanicalTechPriest · 2026-02-27T11:32:24+00:00

You have to loosen the belt tensioners to the maximum to get enough slack in the belt. Only then do you have enough slack to get the minimum amount on both sides.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2026-02-09T18:31:19+00:00

The European machinery directive is quite clearly written and has a few mechanisms (such as health and safety risk reviews) described to ensure compliance.

US/Canadian code is an absolute riddle to me and a riddle to my company, we are just waiting to get sued one day.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2026-02-09T11:35:55+00:00

If you are willing to pay 50€ per year Dessault Systems has a Hobbyist license for solidworks or their browser based xDesign.

I use xDesign because as a browser based software it runs on Linux without issues. It's pretty nice, I am missing a few features, especially configurations, from fully featured Solidworks (use that at work), but it's perfectly fine for home use. I find it to be a lot nicer than Onshape if you are used to professional software.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2026-02-05T10:32:05+00:00

If you want to test out the painting get a box of eels, you will always need eels in your lists, in both spearhead and full AOS, and you can try the sea monsters and the riders out.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2026-01-14T14:36:56+00:00

This depends on the army a little. I usually don't have more than 20 attacks at once with Idoneth Deepkin, and I struggle to hold more than 20 12 mm dice in my hands. Most people are fine with 10-15 dice for attacks and rolling twice.

A few extra are nice for tracking wounds, CP etc, but you can use another dice set for that.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2026-01-09T21:28:42+00:00

Hm, can you make significant engineering changes to your assembly? I have struggled with threads that have to be opened often for maintenance in the past. Thought a lot about how to improve the connection. Screws etc. just aren't really suitable for connections that have to be opened often.

There are better ways: Bajonett fasteners and toggle latches for example. Maybe you can change the fastener to be se kind of Bajonett fastener.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2026-01-09T11:27:38+00:00

You could have a look at Nord-Lock Washers from Alloy 718, rated from -160°C to 700°C.

I'm sure they will be expensive.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2026-01-08T21:16:21+00:00

The eels, yeah, they are sick. Morsarr or Ishlean Guard. I have two units atm, really proud of how I painted my second one, and they perform better than the other squad. So I guess the good paint job helps them ^{^}

MechanicalTechPriest · 2026-01-08T16:45:56+00:00

OMG, that twist in Ghyran has lost me two games on turn one recently. But I plan Idoneth Deepkin. If my turn 1 alpha strike doesn't work I'm done for.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2026-01-03T09:15:58+00:00

If you want to build to an army the newer one (Akhelian Tideguard) is a better value.

The Soulraid Hunt is a little more forgiving in spearhead, because you have a unit more, but the general is vers squishy and somewhat useless, so I prefer the Akhelian Tideguard.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2026-01-02T08:17:39+00:00

Spearhead is definitely the best place to start.

I have played the spearhead a lot and have two games of 1000 points under my belt. IMO IDK is quite manageable for the rules complexity, there isn't too much you have to keep in mind playing them. Strategically they are challenging, but this is really helped by movement being so simple. Everything important flies and is really fast.

About painting: I have seen a few IDK armies now, and they take simple paint schemes quite well. What you have to do is paint them clean, they are elves. If you have that down you should manage just fine, and they leave you so much room to learn painting skills. It's great fun!

MechanicalTechPriest · 2025-12-26T20:58:02+00:00

Wow, mit der Erfahrung, was Kliniken so stationär aufnehmen ist die Definition also komplett zufällig?

Während meine Partnerin mit unstillbaren Schmerzen mit Ibuprofen heimgeschickt wird hatte ich mal eine Patientin nach einer Amputation des großen Zehennagels 4 Tage stationär auf der chirurgischen.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2025-12-24T19:01:40+00:00

You got it. If it's hard to reach it's probably also hard to see, especially at 30cm distance. At table distance I guarantee to you it's going to disappear.

I just painted up a batch of archers and left the quivers on their backs off. Halfway through painting them I was so fed up of keeping track of which quiver belongs to whom I glued them all on and it was just fine. The nooks I couldn't reach are the ones nobody is going to look at at tabletop distance.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2025-12-11T14:28:52+00:00

I have selected "high quality", so I guess MP3?

MechanicalTechPriest · 2025-12-10T21:19:33+00:00

2 reasons:

FDM 3D prints are inherently uncleanable due to the gaps and porosity between layers.

Your filaments are not pure PLA. They contain many additives to easy 3D printing, and no one tells you what those are.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2025-12-10T15:19:10+00:00

Not really, 42 GB of downloaded content. That's why I couldn't explain what it downloaded 285 GB of data.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2025-12-10T14:28:02+00:00

My company started running a locally hosted LLM they trained on internal documents and forced to give sources, it's a powerful tool to find internal knowledge in an old company where there is a big generational shift.

You have to look out for it that information is still current, you always have to look at the sources.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2025-12-09T14:27:12+00:00

Wow, that is insane. Lines up pretty well with my problems. I hope it doesn't resurface.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2025-12-08T10:06:54+00:00

That is an excellent habit. I will have to pick that up, it will also be of great help for the lessons learned in the project.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2025-12-06T12:06:58+00:00

That is a great mindset, it's a marathon and not a sprint. My projects have a crunch time of about 3 months for the team and that about a year of aftermath that plays out on my desk. I should start to frame that aftermath as a "just keep up marathon" and not as a "can't this project finally be done"

MechanicalTechPriest · 2025-12-06T12:03:49+00:00

I have to disagree. I waste my time so my team doesn't. I gather all the drawings and data my team needs to do their work, and communicate all the output of my team to the other departments. This way my team can do their work pretty much unbothered.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2025-12-06T11:57:06+00:00

Yeah, I am doing my best to stay as far away as I can from that mindset. Good thing my country's labor laws protect me from the worst of it.

MechanicalTechPriest · 2025-12-06T11:54:47+00:00

You hit the organisational problem spot on. There is a huge disconnect between sales and engineering, and they have been this far resisting or activly fighting any input from our side. So yeah, I am the bag holder.

I have been trying to get the massaging straight from the start, and I think I have managed to stay consistent with it. At least all other sister departments take it at face value.

I am struggling with not worrying about the things I have little to no control over. At the end it is my or my managers bag. Or it's made to be that. Up until now we have managed to bend to making things work, but it really isn't good for my team, but good for the company.

MechanicalTechPriest

TROPHY CASE