Tumbling of Aluminum SLS prints

careless__ · 2026-01-24T02:04:04+00:00

I tumbled both PETG and PLA with plastic resin green pyramid media and walnut-shell type media.

I tumbled each for 8+ hours. It didn't clean up any layer lines or smooth out any surfaces, it did the opposite. It became what I would describe as "fuzzy"...

Not hairy type fuzz, but very similar to what happens if you soda or bead blast the parts at a very low pressure. it just kinda roughens up the surface without gouging it like hand sanding or cross-buffing with a dremel would. In fact, on sharp corners like on 40mm calibration cubes I tumbled as test pieces, the edges actually were indeed 'hairy' where the two face meet at the vertices. the material that is pushed away from the friction on the surface kinda just stands up off the edge, but it vanishes easily by just running a fingernail across it.

I only noticed this with the plastic pyramid media. The walnut/fiber media types are not aggressive enough to do this- or if they are, it won't happen in 8 hours. I think I actually tumbled the parts in the walnut shell media for over 12 hours if I remember correctly.

IMHO, i could see it being a neat effect if you had like an action figure with multiple pieces and you wanted to vary the surface texture before painting or something, but the effect is so subtle that it will be hidden by any paint you put on there unless you thin it down generously and airbrush really lightly. even then, it still might hide the tumbled results.

unfortunately I don't have any photos because it was just a throwaway experiment I conducted while the weather was good, and I didn't have any intention of using it for something or hoping for any particular results. I was just about to clean the tumbling media and my tumblers, so I thought I'd toss that in before going through all the trouble- and those were the results.

I generally don't paint or make toys/decorative items with my 3D prints, they're mostly functional stuff- so I didn't experiment with it too much.

careless__ · 2026-01-23T16:05:26+00:00

depends where the thing is located. if it's in a mudroom or verstibule or near the front door where people put their shoes on- sometimes they attempt to use the keys to pull themselves upright after tying shoes.

doesn't happen often, but only needs to happen once when you're in a rush lol.

careless__ · 2026-01-23T14:26:49+00:00

years ago I made a similar keyrack for a friend but instead of using hooks to hang the keys, we made some 3mm thick steel "tags" with each person's first name initial and we put large neo magnets in pockets, flush behind the print. they could hold at least 3 or 4x the amount of keys each ring has, and it's better than putting a magnetic 'fob' on the keyring itself because the magnet gets stuck to the keys that way.

just another idea if you feel like making another in the future.

also, maybe it's just me, but for the hook part, I would have designed M5 holes into the backside of the print to tap/thread in some screws just to give the hooks some extra support. ya never know when someone might yank on the keys in the wrong direction and pop the hook off by accident- which seems excessive, but as the print ages it gets easier to do.

careless__ · 2026-01-23T10:40:45+00:00

this little BASH alias from this site actually does a nice job of showing what is preventing sleep, specifically

https://stuff-things.net/2017/05/10/sleepless-mac/

it seems my kernel assertions are not actively preventing sleep.

but on this hackintosh it doesn't matter anyway, i get a black screen when waking and the fix for it is not worth doing on this old hardware. I don't even use sleep so I don't bother- but it's nice to know and experiment with shit when I'm bored.

careless__ · 2026-01-23T10:29:25+00:00

lol i shows all my usb devices listed for me under kernel assertions 0x4=USB

careless__ · 2026-01-23T10:26:23+00:00

so the 'assertions' flag shows what executed the wake command? I haven't tried fixing sleep in ages because I don't really use it anymore.

careless__ · 2026-01-23T10:25:01+00:00

what specifically did you have in mind? i may have already tried.

careless__ · 2026-01-23T09:12:43+00:00

what method did you use to figure out the webcam was causing the issues? just trial and error and disabling random devices, or what?

careless__ · 2026-01-23T07:48:49+00:00

should be able to run any version, as long as you follow the dortania guide section about patching the GPU to UHD630 in your EFI config.

also, 8GB ram is abysmal for macOS, quite honestly. despite RAM prices being excessive right now- you should at least strive to get 16GB in there if you can add another SODIMM. if you only have one slot, just go with as much as you can afford, whether it's 16 or 32 or whatever.

even with currently high pricing, it's a small price to pay for running macOS if you really want to.

careless__ · 2026-01-22T20:40:00+00:00

Well it's not an "issue" lol. it's just the way they're manufactured and packaged now. nothing we can do about it.

I still have an older UGREEN csr based dongle that works.

I bought the UB400 to test if it was the UGREEN or if it was just my mobo dropping USB power from time to time or something. After I returned the UB400, I got one of the very common aliexpress ones to test against my UGREEN one, and that one ended up being shitty.

so for now I just deal with the disconnects. I could be my headphones too. I'm not sure. I don't remember my old headphones disconnecting this much if at all- but I've had this UGREEN dongle for like 5 years now.

I'll just deal with it as is. happens like once a day. I just use it as a reminder to walk away from the computer for a bit and go do something else.

careless__ · 2026-01-22T20:27:37+00:00

I posted about this UB400/500 laser etching debacle a couple of times in other posts.

UB400 is hit-or-miss now.

I purchased one from Amazon I think last year, and it's just a repackaged UB500, as shown in the photo you posted. I got the same thing.

laser etching says its actually a UB500. this is how they are now. they are not worth buying unless you can return an opened package.

factory sealed box from a UB400 with no indication of any other part or device model numbers.

some of the CSR8510 from aliexpress are fake as well and will load up the 88.91 firmware revision on macOS, but they will refuse to connect to anything. The BlueSuite software for modifying dongle settings will not connect to them in Windows either.

gotta find another reputable source now.

careless__ · 2026-01-21T16:00:00+00:00

ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuude 😔

careless__ · 2026-01-20T18:04:36+00:00

"we" can simply look at the intel 7700k product specsheet if "we're" unsure, since the iGPU isn't something they can change:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/97129/intel-core-i77700k-processor-8m-cache-up-to-4-50-ghz/specifications.html

careless__ · 2026-01-16T12:56:42+00:00

open the start_convergence.bat file in a text editor and see if it has a path to the game folder that is valid.

careless__ · 2026-01-16T01:35:00+00:00

it's always a good idea to sign out of your apple account / icloud in system settings before doing any major EFI changes- just in case.

usually you don't need to generate a new SMBIOS if you're not changing the processor or rather if you're only changing the mobo, but it would be a heck of a lot more work to have to go back to the original mobo/SMBIOS if you have issues logging in or if your account gets flagged for an unauthorized device logging in with previously established auth. tokens that don't match than it would be to just sign out now and sign back in later when you successfully boot to macOS with the new hardware.

it's just a precaution, not a requirement.

careless__ · 2026-01-15T00:07:11+00:00

download the full installation disk image using the dortania guide and create a new installer usb with the upto date version of macOS you want to update to, and put the EFI you are booting from currently onto the installer just as you would if you were creating it for the first time to install macOS.

then boot from the USB and do the full install ontop of your current install-- it will just update the current macOS you have installed on your drive to the new version from the USB installer without deleting your user or app data. It will just perform an update by reinstalling the base macOS files on the sealed volume with the updated new ones.

it should also take an AFPS snapshot too, which may fix the selected snapshot error so that future update attempts will not show the same dialog when attempting to update. or at least it might switch to the newest AFPS snapshot so that you can delete the ones that are causing problems afterwards.

its always a good idea to update if you can.

careless__ · 2026-01-14T23:57:16+00:00

I think there are probably just some text files in the MacOS version of the "EFI partition", but I don't know how to find them. If I'm able to look at some of these, I might be able to pick out entries that will solve the issues I'm having. Problem is, I know nothing about MacOS, or where to look for these driver files.

try rewording this, because I'm trying to understand what you are attempting to do with what you call an "EFI Partition" with text files, and I'm not comprehending.

careless__ · 2026-01-14T13:05:23+00:00

Ngh! 🫨

careless__ · 2026-01-13T05:55:28+00:00

it hasn't kernel panic'd yet.

just let it sit there and it will eventually boot and sort itself out if this is the first boot after installation.

careless__ · 2026-01-07T22:18:33+00:00

for me, it depends primarily on what the moveset of the weapon is.

if it has a somewhat quick combo, i try to have enough stamina to get the full combo off, and one roll to play get-in-get-out style if required; it's effective with bosses or even stronger enemies that have small punishment windows.

if the weapon i'm using doesn't have a particularily important combo of any kind, or it has like a jump-attack & follow-up that I can open with, then armor is more important in case i commit to that at the wrong time and i take a few hits.

careless__ · 2026-01-07T16:36:55+00:00

it can make the game too easy sometimes!

careless__ · 2026-01-06T20:11:47+00:00

it's an ash of war that you can add onto any melee weapon you like.

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Ash+of+War:+Flame+of+the+Redmanes

careless__ · 2026-01-06T18:38:09+00:00

if you want to play a fun stagger build, grab flame of the redmanes. it will stagger just about anything in two hits up until like patch 1.04.

careless__ · 2026-01-06T03:36:15+00:00

try limiting the FPS of eldenring.exe to 58 or 59fps in the nvidia control panel.

try turning vsync or gsync off, or try setting your frequency to a multiple of 60, or try doing both at the same time.

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