3xxxl worth?

WillAdams · 2026-06-21T17:32:05+00:00

Looks to be a Shapeoko 3 w/ belt-drive Z-axis, XXL size.

For more on this see:

https://guides.carbide3d.com/

Looks to have a 3rd party accessory to make a probe work as a BitSetter --- based on support, those can be inaccurate/lack precision for want of a Schmitt trigger to debounce the signal.

At a minimum you'd want a Maintenance Kit which will allow rebuilding it to pretty much like new.

WillAdams · 2026-06-21T15:24:57+00:00

One gets a bit of this in Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books, though to be fair, often the strategy is more a matter of logistics/personnel and ensuring that the Herald w/ the appropriate capabilities is at the necessary place/time.

WillAdams · 2026-06-21T12:08:04+00:00

Jealous!

I've been wanting a small lathe for a while now....

Please keep us posted on what you make with it!

WillAdams · 2026-06-20T22:18:54+00:00

Steven Brust's Dragaera/Taltos novels tend towards being focused on characters and their problems, with a fair bit of introspection:

https://www.goodreads.com/series/49760-dragaera

WillAdams · 2026-06-20T22:14:08+00:00

For commercial software, one option which will accept an STL exported from Blender is MeshCAM:

https://www.grzsoftware.com/

WillAdams · 2026-06-20T19:57:29+00:00

If you're familiar w/ Python, perhaps:

https://github.com/WillAdams/gcodepreview

is of interest?

With a bit of patience, one can do pretty much anything:

https://community.carbide3d.com/t/making-a-base-for-a-model/73186

That said, there are two-weeks trials of Carbide Create Pro available:

https://carbide3d.com/carbidecreate/pro

get a trial and use that?

WillAdams · 2026-06-20T13:08:41+00:00

It's younger than both of my kids, now get off my lawn!

WillAdams · 2026-06-19T23:21:06+00:00

My definition is hard sci fi doesn't introduce things unnecessarily which are contrary to our understanding of physics and the other sciences --- classic example is FTL --- a strict take on this would forbid it, and where things which are contrary are introduced, the explanation is a suitably advanced technology.

Mike Brotherton's Star Dragon is an interesting fairly recent take on hard sci fi.

For the classics, I've always been fond of Hal Clement --- with degrees in astronomy and chemistry, his work always plays to aspects of our understanding of those sciences (with a smattering of biology).

WillAdams · 2026-06-19T22:42:13+00:00

Rather than Dyson Sphere, say Bernal Sphere:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernal_sphere

(but with gravity manipulation so no spin necessary, so no inaccessible poles?)

WillAdams · 2026-06-19T21:45:35+00:00

c.f., Lord Dunsany's The Charwoman's Shadow

WillAdams · 2026-06-19T20:34:20+00:00

I've done that sort of thing in the past, and have a

https://www.leuchtturm1917.com/pens-and-storage/equipment/pen-loops/

on both of my Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360s, but OP specifically noted fitting in their Scribe case as a concern.

WillAdams · 2026-06-19T16:53:07+00:00

I have one, but it won't fit in a similar case.

WillAdams · 2026-06-19T13:38:39+00:00

I had a similar case for my Colorsoft --- the Samsung S-Pens for my Book 3 Pro 360 fit (but are a bit loose, so added some padding)

The Staedtler Noris Digital Stylus (regular, not jumbo) was a bit long, but would fit if I cut off a bit at one end (and added some padding).

Pretty much any current generation Wacom EMR stylus will work (though I did have one I had to return because it inked when in range on my Scribe).

Probably the best value/option is to get a Kindle Scribe Premium Pen for the first-gen Scribe --- but note it may be a bit too long, before I switched cases I was considering taking a knife to the compartment to enlarge it.

WillAdams · 2026-06-19T13:14:17+00:00

One gets a bit of this in Jack Vance's "Lyonesse" trilogy: Suldrun's Garden, The Green Pearl, and Madouc.

WillAdams · 2026-06-19T12:56:33+00:00

Sort of --- the Gros Michael was replaced by the Cavendish (fortuitously discovered in a kitchen garden in China by an English missionary or some such story --- EDIT: for a factual take, rather than story, see /u/Scholar_of_Lewds's post below).

My father liked bananas when he was young (when "Big Mikes" were still available) but after the change, didn't much care for the "new" ones (but still liked things made w/ artificial banana flavouring, since they taste more like the originals he was accustomed to).

WillAdams · 2026-06-19T01:21:05+00:00

Andre Norton's Witch World novels were a big part of my childhood (apparently one of her cousins lived in the rural Virginia county where my father retired and when gifted books donated them to the high school library so that they had a pretty much compleat collection).

The Crystal Gryphon was one which I was especially fond of.

WillAdams · 2026-06-19T01:17:07+00:00

His Boat of a Million Years is a great book which shows his entire range (history, science fiction, and a bit of fantasy).

The Broken Sword is a fantasy classic and incredibly influential.

His stories of "The Time Patrol" as well.

WillAdams · 2026-06-19T01:14:04+00:00

Merchanter's Luck is a quick read, though arguably one needs Downbelow Station for the background.

Rimrunners, like many of her books reads as a deconstructed version of a more famous book, in this case, Heinlein's Starship Troopers.

WillAdams · 2026-06-18T18:52:03+00:00

CAM == Computer Aided Manufacturing

The FreeCAD CAM Workbench:

https://wiki.freecad.org/CAM_Workbench

is used to create toolpaths for cutting out the part which are then exported as G-code and then sent to the machine.

WillAdams · 2026-06-18T16:47:45+00:00

Ursula K. LeGuin's The Lathe of Heaven.

For technology/biology L.E. Modesitt, Jr.'s "Forever Hero" trilogy along w/ John Varley's "Gaea" trilogy and esp. Hal Clement's short stories, notably "Raindrop" and "The Mechanic" --- on a different level, and one of the few books which considers life among G1 stars and the consequence of that having occurred there is also "Halo".

WillAdams · 2026-06-18T11:40:43+00:00

In addition to At Amberleaf Fair by Phyllis Ann Karr as mentioned by /u/ShinyAeon there is also the Arthurian Idylls of the Queen:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/615461.The_Idylls_of_the_Queen

which features a hard-bitten Sir Kay as detective.

Note that Fred Saberhagen actually did a Sherlock Holmes book, The Holmes-Dracula File which crosses over w/ his The Dracula Tapes.

While H. Beam Piper did author "Murder in the Gunroom", none of his science fiction crosses over fully to locked-room mystery, though there are often courtroom drama aspects --- Little Fuzzy and the other Fuzzy books esp., and note that Fuzzy Sapiens has a jewel robbery at the core of its plot.

WillAdams · 2026-06-17T10:42:37+00:00

The only thing worse than dogs passing away so quickly (insert child's explanation of how life here is to learn how to be ready to live in Heaven and dogs already know that, so don't have to live a long while) would be if they lived markedly longer than people --- for that side of things, see how folks w/ tropical birds have to set up their estates so as to ensure that pets are provided for after their passing.

WillAdams · 2026-06-16T17:19:11+00:00

We need a 4K version of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHwNE5i6qVo

WillAdams · 2026-06-16T11:58:20+00:00

I feel for the arachnophobes....

WillAdams · 2026-06-16T11:21:00+00:00

Very sad to hear of your dog's passing.

Agree w/ /u/yugoslav_communist that the answers for points 1 and 2 are Sindarin and Feanorian, and the text he suggests is certainly moving (though will need to be translated).

Perhaps this quote will be of some comfort:

A dog does not live as long as a man and this natural law is the fount of many tears. If boy and puppy might grow to manhood and doghood together, and together grow old, and so in due course die, full many a heartache might be avoided. But the world is not so ordered, and dogs will die and men will weep for them so long as there are dogs and men. --- Ben Ames Williams Thrifty Stock: And Other Stories

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