[SLICE OF LIFE Random Mode]
Strange how something so mundane and unremarkable can trigger such a flood of memories... This has been kept in a motor tube in the back of one tool box or another of mine since I was fourteen; as impossible as it seems, I've owned it for 36 years.
This was the first thing I ever bought by myself at a Radio Shack; I'd just gotten my first street bike and I rode it (Illegal as all hell; no license and the previous owner's plates) 45 minutes from the family farm to Elmira NY to get this thing so I could finish setting up the matchbox and antenna on grandfather's old Yaesu. On the way back, it started to rain... I arrived home soaked to the bone with this, a roll of 60/40, and a bag of salted pistachios in my backpack.
My mother and my grandmother were waiting for me; they both read me the riot act and then mother took my keys for a month. I felt about as big as a beetle; I wished I could shrink away even more and disappear under the pantry door.
After dinner, though, mother promised to give me driving lessons and take me to get my permit on my next birthday.
*Sigh*
I feel so very, very old.
[/SLICE OF LIFE Random Mode]
In other news...
BEHOLD! Gaze on in awe and terror; at the amazing CLEAR SPACE ON MY WORKBENCH! I've been working my tuchus off all week to make this hole; it's for a special project.
My father's day present to myself was this; a Tevo Tornado 3D printer. It is based on the popular Tevo Tarantula basic design; with a number of bug-fixes and twice the build volume. More importantly, unlike the Tarantula, there are no acrylic parts and the thing comes 95% assembled out of the box. This is how it looked 3 minutes after I took it out of the box; only a few screws and brackets to attach the two main assemblies together and supposedly it is ready to print. At first I was a bit annoyed to see screw marks and scuffs on the parts; then I looked at the hotbed and I realized... the unit has been assembled, and a leveling/linearity test print done prior to boxing for shipment!
And best of all, a printed, detailed and complete assembly manual. If you've never heard of Tevo, you won't know... but this is a huge change of direction for them. They made their name being the cheapest of the cheap; documentation was a joke, the kits were confusing as hell and your primary source of support was other users on their Facebook page. The printer, once assembled and leveled, was quite good; it was just all the flailing in the dark from point A to point Z that drove you nuts.
A'aight... I've had my little time-out; time to get building.
mnem
I shall print the entire Internet.