Author: ThorBeast

Back in Oct of 2015, I bought a very VERY CHEAP 3D Printer (and blogged about it here). I have now come to understand just how cheap it really was. Right at 1,000¥ (~$160), it was arguably the cheapest 3D Printer on the market. But because it was so cheap, it had a lot of problems: Wires always breaking off Constant Print Bed Leveling issues Constant Print Head Clogging Too sticky, or non-sticking prints to the bed (bed was not heated) Origin Print Stop Switch moving and needing to be glued in place Poor quality prints Mainboard fried and had to be replaced Continue Reading →

3D Printers. They’re everywhere. They’re expensive. They’re cantankerous.  They’re smelly. And I WANT ONE! So I bought one. Cheapest I could find. A DIY kit in China for ¥1,000 ($158). I think it was the cheapest printer anywhere. When I received the very heavy box and opened it up, I thought “OMG what have I done!?” It’s a black acrylic box about 32cm on a side. There were about 200 screws, nuts, and washers along with wires, motors, rods, switches, a motherboard, power supply and LED control panel, etc. I had also ordered 250g of Red PLA filament. That was missing. Continue Reading →

IoT, or Internet of Things. We’ve been hearing a lot about that lately: how common household devices are becoming connected to the Internet to make our lives easier and costlier. Of course we’ve also been reading a lot about how insecure these IoT devices can be: Are We Creating An Insecure Internet of Things (IoT)? Security Challenges and Concerns Schneier on ‘really bad’ IoT security: ‘It’s going to come crashing down’ Take these 6 security measures to protect your IoT devices from hackers And many, many more. So, anyway, ignoring all this I blissfully went about looking for a smart Continue Reading →