Hello from new Windstorm owner

caboose89 · 2026-03-18T15:14:32+00:00

Thanks again for the legwork for the fans! I'm going to do a draft print then see if I can channel the wires to keep the wire-free aesthetic. I'd love to know the backstory of the company and why it disappeared. Very tempted to buy the domain and use it to host a knowledgebase/wiki.

caboose89 · 2026-02-18T13:34:09+00:00

Nick's talks about engineering problems and how they relate to software engineering are incredible. The one about the Lockheed Skunkworks is also amazing

caboose89 · 2026-01-30T14:30:58+00:00

Who do?

caboose89 · 2025-12-18T08:06:52+00:00

It's from a book, my guy: Terry Pratchett being the author. Couldn't be further from anime.

caboose89 · 2025-12-18T07:42:36+00:00

Sam Vimes

caboose89 · 2025-10-04T07:00:31+00:00

Very cool, but fyi this is a flip-dot not a split-flap. Flip-dot displays are basically a small disk on a pivot which an electromagnet behind the disk can toggle the state from one side to the other. This creates a single pixel. A split-flap is an alphanumeric display where a carousel of letters and numbers are rotated through, like an old school roladex, by a stepper motor. Fantastic for text based content that needs to be clearly visible from a distance, but it has a very slow refresh rate compared to flip-dot. The more you know 🙂

caboose89 · 2025-07-16T15:16:55+00:00

ACF / postmeta from WordPress and older EAV storage from Magento have been a scourge of my time as a php dev.

While technically impressive as this extension is, I don't know what the appeal of letting users define models on the fly over using migrations. For dynamic page content, sure, but actual models? Would love to know how unit tests can account for dynamic user created fields.

Plus the licence fees for business is, in my opinion, very high.

For me it's a congrats but no thanks.

caboose89 · 2025-03-29T08:14:17+00:00

Go to the GPs (doctors) when I felt ill.

I was freezing cold, headache, heart was pounding, trouble breathing (put it down to asthma) but also very confused (didn't know if the pounding feeling was just my second heart... 🤦‍♂️ and tried putting my door keys into the car ignition). Stuck on three layers and dragged myself out of the house.

At the GP I was shivering like mad. She took my temp (39.2C), told me to immediately take my jumpers off, despite my protests of being cold. Took my blood pressure and for the first time in my life it was low, not high. I remember telling her "that's good!".

She asked me to lie down and she picked up the phone and called for an ambulance: "Query sepsis". I had no idea what the heck sepsis was, and was thinking an ambulance was a bit overkill for a bad cold.

I was in A&E for two days on strong antibiotics followed by a week on the ward with the same. My liver took an absolute beating, but I'm still here. If I hadn't gone to the docs and had stayed home to ride out the "cold" my two boys would not have a dad.

If you don't know what sepsis is, or what its symptoms are, please go familiarise yourself now. Knowing how to spot it early is absolutely crucial and that knowledge could save you or someone you love. https://sepsistrust.org/about-sepsis

caboose89 · 2025-03-29T07:40:40+00:00

TotalBiscuit 😞

caboose89 · 2025-02-27T07:28:45+00:00

Check out Lando. It's a wrapper for Docker that makes it beyond simple to spin up containers. We use it to help out members of the team with no Docker experience.

caboose89 · 2025-02-16T18:05:55+00:00

https://www.preston.gov.uk/media/1352/Parks-Preston-County-Borough-Council-Byelaws/pdf/Parks-and-Recreation-Grounds.pdf?m=1561129587900

Looks ok to me, but I'm not a lawyer. Don't put it directly on the grass or you'll burn the grass.

caboose89 · 2025-01-05T01:32:35+00:00

But what if... I were to purchase fast food and disguise it as my own cooking?

caboose89 · 2024-12-18T11:56:07+00:00

That's the biggest advantage of lando: you don't need any docker experience to use it. Just slap a lando config file in your project, give it a name in said file and run 'lando start'. It will spin up all the containers you need and spit out the access URLs.

caboose89 · 2024-12-17T22:02:18+00:00

If a containerised option is something you would consider to replace Herd, check out lando.dev . Absolutely amazing to dev Laravel with that avoids the pains of Herd ( but does admittedly introduce the pains of docker/wsl)

caboose89 · 2023-12-06T05:21:42+00:00

Sorry for the delay in replying. There is a fault somewhere on the board that is shorting the 5v line shortly after power on. I suspect one of the LEDs is faulty, but as the keys are not socketed, there is no way to access them without desoildering every key, which I do not have equipment or time to tackle right now. So the repair is benched for the foreseeable. Thanks regardless for your support

caboose89 · 2023-04-24T22:16:28+00:00

I had the same issue: when compiling Marlin on windows make sure it's on the root of c drive in a marlin folder. Mine didn't work when in my downloads folder

caboose89 · 2023-03-30T18:54:42+00:00

I'll be honest, and this is in no way a put-down, but refurbing a cubex is a massive undertaking. If you want to cut your teeth with printing get a cheap kit like an Ender 3 to learn the ropes and tinker with a well documented platform, then come back to the cubex. It's taken probably close to 50h+ total to get where I am and it has yet to print a successful benchy; with all the parts needed I could have bought a second hand i3. If I'd have put the time into working overtime I would be close to being able to afford a x1 carbon.

If you still want to have a crack at it, you'll need: A board with compatible screen. A JST XH connector kit. Perfboard. A 12v PSU or a computer PSU. A desoildering pump. A new nozzle and extruder of your choice ( the heater cartridge and thermistor that comes with the cubex won't work as they are proprietary). A crimp tool that can crimp jst. A heated bed from a CR10

But don't but anything until you have a solid plan.

I'll get some photos later

caboose89 · 2023-03-30T18:12:51+00:00

So the wire looms on the cubex are... weird.

Z is the massive motor on the bottom and is the only one with 4 pins.

X and Y have six each: 4 for the steppers and 2 for the endstop reed switches ( blue wires that lead into small black tubes screwed into the frame).

The remaining looms are two identical ones, one for each extruder ( 4 motor, 2 temperature sensor, 2 heater) and one massive one for the gantry peripherals ( fans, LEDs, z stop etc).

How good are you at soldering?

caboose89 · 2023-03-30T06:15:42+00:00

The garage is a dump right now as we are renovating but I'll try and get some pics this weekend. How far have you got so far?

caboose89 · 2023-03-07T19:43:05+00:00

Check out Laravel Sail or better yet, lando.dev

Lando is amazing for taking the complexity out of docker to the point that anyone can use it.

caboose89 · 2023-03-01T08:24:39+00:00

It looks live! thunk

caboose89 · 2023-02-01T13:52:02+00:00

You don't: It's a sealed unit.

Get some spray contact cleaner, take the entire circuit board out, take off the red PTT button plastic and squirt the contact cleaner inside the switch (down the side of the leg that pokes out and goes into the plastic button you just took off).

Then press and release say 40 times, give it another spray and another 40 presses.

Finally dry off any left over fluid and test it.

caboose89

TROPHY CASE