iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 27/09/2026

What people describe as burnout was and to some extent still is my normal condition, crises a regular occurrence, which I would stagger between, surviving working life by brute force of long hours, and occasional bursts of brilliance. Never felt 'on top of things', even after really big wins.

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 25/09/2026

Ha, on paper I have a degree in French with Italian, and only an A level in electronic systems (and not a particularly high grade at that). But of the 5 others in my class for that niche A level, all of whom did maths, further maths and physics, I bet I did the most soldering for work this week.

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 19/09/2026

A 3d printed part could have a channel in it for reinforcement by metal threaded rods, putting the layers under compression.

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 17/09/2026

Cool and well done, but 1GB... How???

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 05/09/2026

P1p is still an excellent machine, I have 4 on my print farm. Probably best to keep it but no harm in advertising it on eBay/marketplace for a bit less than retail, someone might need it! I've been highly impressed by the U1, I would absolutely buy another. The build volume is usefully bigger too.

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 21/08/2026

Hard relate. Sheltered undiagnosed ADHD 'gifted' kid, aced 11+, went to all boys school miles away, was the most perfect bullying target, took until 6th form to make a reliable set of friends (still got'em!). Crowning sport achievement: got croquet made a games option. Didn't even need to change.

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 18/08/2026

Absolutely fair enough. The 26-bit games requiring emulation or a rewrite is a pity. Chicken and egg: it needs new software but too niche to get it. Where I have found it genuinely useful is making kiosk displays using original Pi model B that are snappier and more reliable even than lite Linux.

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 15/08/2026

You probably knew this but in case... You can run RISC OS natively on 32-bit Raspberry Pis. Not emulated, not as well as Linux, better, because it is the same ARM architecture RISC OS was designed for. Some apps won't work, sadly including many games, because they used 26 bits to maximise efficiency

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 30/07/2026

My office has >100* 3D printers and 3 2D printers, but there is a well equipped 2D print shop** on the same science park so that feels nicely proportional. *Not all in the production fleet! **I outnumber theirs with just my production ready machines!

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 26/07/2026

Yep, and product lifecycles are complex. An established design that's sensibly moved to injection moulding for bulk distribution might have a custom variant 3d printed, or when nearing end of life as a main product line, 3d printed virtual inventory makes huge sense to satisfy need for spare parts.

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 22/07/2026

Don't hesitate, you will feel right at home. It's not just the stuff and tools you can have at a hackspace and not so easily at home, it's the people and their ideas and energy for making something new and awesome.

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 19/07/2026

Not orthogonal necessarily - there are trade-offs: local, low stakes and responsive Vs low cost, high commitment, long lead time. Savvy customers will go to IM for the bulk orders, but not forget they can still make tactical use of #3dprinting and local manufacturers even after going to offshore IM.

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 19/07/2026

Not necessarily. The huge advantage of local #3dprinting is we can begin production immediately and start posting batches next-day. Last week I shipped 25,000 (small) parts. Previously made over 100K before customer went to overseas IM, but when the IM batch ran out we were faster to fill the gap!

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 17/07/2026

Fun times for archaeology enthusiasts.

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Reposted by Alex Gibson - edumaker

Ross Nesbitt @arc-codex.com · 17/07/2026

MIT optimizes concrete 3D printing for manufacturability

arc-codex.com

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Reposted by Alex Gibson - edumaker

Adrian Bowyer @adrianbowyer.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I released an album! Sleeve notes: helichron.com/Docs/the-rem... Listen here: open.spotify.com/album/1dX3mu...

open.spotify.com

The Remembered Road - Album by Adrian Bowyer | Spotify

Adrian Bowyer · album · 2026 · 11 songs

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Reposted by Alex Gibson - edumaker

JDFoodnFoto @jd13.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

3D Printing is fun. Go @countbinface.bsky.social

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 10/07/2026

Can I recommend a good book? 3d printing for Dummies by my good friend Richard Horne. Check out also the YouTube channel Teaching Tech. No longer regularly updated but Michael there has a very good style of explanation - he's a teacher.

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 04/07/2026

You can't even spell rationale, you misogynist nincompoop. Be a real man, and start to think for yourself.

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 04/07/2026

module itsbrokenwhenisayitis() { }

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 30/06/2026

Glorious. Took me far too many seconds to decide with confidence that the dog is a stuffed toy.

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 30/06/2026

No, same result even if I randomise in between. It REALLY likes this pattern. I just wonder what rule could generate that?

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 30/06/2026

I vote for your plan here. I suppose spiral is ideal only for similar (small) parts but it's so much better for those that it should be an available option.

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 30/06/2026

Yes, or by duplicating via copy/paste. It just makes such weird decisions, like that one all on its own on a row when there is an unfilled corner. This is for 75 pieces which has a non-cardinal square root, but 5x15 would fit the plate, and I've had the same thing happen with square numbers like 81

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 30/06/2026

Lovely! I do not eat artichoke but would plant this for the flowers.

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 30/06/2026

In terms of impact it's as baldly obvious as running a fridge with the door shut versus leaving the door ajar. Sure it stays a bit cold in there but the fridge will be running constantly and you probably shouldn't eat the prawns, it would be obviously crazy to leave like that on purpose :)

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 30/06/2026

Both/either, choose your dividend! Can set it and get it lower by far than as-sold, or set it to a higher temperature and the duty cycle decreases greatly and with it the power required.

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 29/06/2026

I sadly heard Lidl had it back in stock via a news item that they all sold out :( So I can't buy another for home. But I guess there must be a lot of them out there so selling an upgrade kit might not be crazy?

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 29/06/2026

What may not be obvious is there is a false window so the room is properly sealed. Works better than I even hoped!

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 29/06/2026

Honestly I'd trust my windows 7 PC to work tomorrow more than my windows 11 machine, Microsoft has forgotten to sabotage 7 via Windows update.

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 25/06/2026

Robot employee #113 looks set to complete his probation. If you stop and look at what he's doing at any given moment it appears bumbling and ineffective. But leave him to get on with his job and over time the quality of his work is impressive. He'll fit in just fine here. #automation #3dprinting

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 22/06/2026

Hmm. Interesting. Could the sudden move by many businesses from decades of on-premise IT hardware, complex custom software and massive offices, to closing down the data centre and renting software-as-a-service for their now home based staff, not be quite analogous to a sublimation?

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 17/06/2026

Love this. We have a lot of air gapped #3dprint farm machines that want internet like a mogwai wants feeding after midnight.

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 15/06/2026

OK this kettle is several years old and in fact we're its second home. But it just broke today because on this otherwise all metal appliance, the lever you press down on every time to boil, is divided into two thin sections 2mm across. Can this be anything but intentional to reduce its lifetime?

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 14/06/2026

Don't hate yourself for realising @octoprint.org is one of the all time great Open Source Software apps. I've even used it to monitor and control things that aren't 3d printers!

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 14/06/2026

Not anti-gun technology. Anti-innovation technology.

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 13/06/2026

Do you have a formal diagnosis of ADHD or would you like an honorary one based off this anecdata?

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 12/06/2026

A fine choice. Enjoy the assembly, don't eat all the Haribo at once!

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 09/06/2026

Congratulations, she's excellent!

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Alex Gibson - edumaker @alex.edumaker.net · 09/06/2026

All the real bees died by 2039, of course, but we have robot bee drones now. They still waggle dance, because their AI was trained on real bees.

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