iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 18/09/2026

This is a Hummingbird Hawk Moth. Facts I know about them: 1. They are fucking difficult to photograph! Took this at Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens on 16th Sept 2026. Shutter speed was 1/1000th and it didn't even freeze the wings! #photography #hummingbirdmoth

Picture of a Hummingbird hawk moth in flight.

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 07/09/2026

Just updating my #ESPHome devices. The (relatively new) ability to build and update on multiple machines saves so much time!

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 06/09/2026

Needed to add some kit to the living room 'network cupboard' so thought it was a good time to improve organisation with the excellent #Labrax 10" rack by Michael Klements. makerworld.com/en/models/12...

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 21/04/2026

Eww. Bambu printers. Eww cloud. Nasty cloud, bad cloud. Bollocks. Biggest DNS spammers on my network are the 3 @creality3d.bsky.social #K1Max printers I have the misfortune to own. More DNS queries in a day than my main PC! 9 @bambulabglobal.bsky.social printers aren't even in the top 20!

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 21/04/2026

At last! @bambulabglobal.bsky.social Farm Manager now supports the H2S!! I can't tell you how happy this makes me. Saves so much time even on a 'mini farm'.

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 29/03/2026

Pro Tip for those of you in the UK and stuggling with heating oil prices in these difficult times. Buy 3D printers & print useful things out of ABS or ASA & heat your homes at the same time! Just under 50 degrees radiating from this bad boy! Follow me for more practical heating tips! #3dprinting

Image of a 3D printer taken with a thermal camera. Displays a peak external surface temperature of 49.5 degrees centigrade.

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 18/03/2026

No. This isn't one of those fancy (and crazy expensive) Skylight calendars. Nor is it one of those e-Ink picture frames that make your photos look like they are badly compressed GIFs from the 90's. It's an Amazon HD8 in a 3D printed picture frame mount. Links to what I used are in the comments.

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 15/03/2026

I've had this NSPanel lying around for ages. Never got round to pulling a neutral down to one of our light switch locations so I designed a compact desktop enclosure. The relay module has been removed and it's powered using 5 volts.

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 10/11/2025

Many 'domestic managers' aren't fans of wall mounted tablets. 🤔 But, picture frames are perfecty acceptable wall adornments. 🤷 Behold, the picture frame tablet wall mount! 👌 Printed versions and STLs are available - comment below if you want links 👇

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 22/10/2025

Prototype of the first in a new 'picture frame' tablet wall mount range. This is an HONOR #TabX7. What tablet should I do next? Ignore the bowed edges. I missed out a clip point which pushed the frame out a bit. #homeautomation #3DPrinting

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 12/08/2025

This muppet/bot needs to upgrade his/her/it's spam game. 6 messages within a second isn't going to get flagged at all is it?! 🤣

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 09/04/2025

This is not a political post and I have no interest in triggering anyone. But, I just purchased a butane insert for one of my #Zippo lighters. Zippo is an iconic American brand. This is a genuine insert. The bottom line laser etched into the reverse literally made me LoL.

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 05/04/2025

Absolutely no one: Can you use some bits scavenged from redundant 3D printers to double the cutting area of a desktop CNC router? Me: Hold my beer 🍺🤣 Of course, I could have just bought an extension kit to do this but where's the fun in that?! #3018cnc #sainsmart #3dprinters #3dprinting #cnc #diy

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 18/03/2025

Finished basic setup and calibration of a new #QidiPlus4 printer that arrived on Friday. Discovered it has some sizing issues (producing prints that are too large). Just subscribed to @adam-v3d.bsky.social Cauliflower calibration tool to see what's going on.

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 21/02/2025

🔙 Everything Presence Lite (EPL) UK Single Back Box Faceplate • STL files ➡️ Download 3D print model: cults3d.com/:2756482 💡 Designed by the3droom @cults3d.bsky.social #3DPrinting #3DPrinter #Printable #STLfile #homeassistant #esphome #homeautomation

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 17/02/2025

Been away from socials for a month because I've been repairing professionally created bodges & decorating our living room. For relevance, corner uplighters, tablet mount, Broadlink RM Mini mount, trunking cross-pieces, & a few hidden enclosures and brackets are all #3DPrinted. Before and after pic.

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 21/12/2024

FML. Just updated #HomeAssistant OS on my #proxmox VM and I have this. Rolled back to the snapshot I took before the update, same thing. Now restoring last nights backup and it's taking ages! WAF is going downhill fast 🥺

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 11/12/2024

New product aimed at UK #Loxone installers. The back plate for Loxone Touch modules (red bit in the image) is designed for round Euro back-boxes and too small for reliable installation on standard UK back-boxes. This simple adaptor plate sits behind the Loxone plate, increasing width to 80mm.

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 07/12/2024

Posted this several days ago. They are imitation cheese wheels for @somerdale.com They've now been waxed using their standard processes and will save them a lot of waste as they were using real cheese wheels as display pieces at shows (which had to be thrown out after the show). Pic of them waxed

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 01/12/2024

Well, here's a blast from the past! Just found my 'cutting edge' smartphone from 2009. A tiny HTC Touch Diamond that still works! AA battery for scale. How the hell did we cope?!? #retrophone #retro #retromobile #windowsmobile

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 29/11/2024

I was a bit sick of the ESP32 in my caravan losing connection with the Victron Smartsolar controller. It was hardwired via the VE port, which seem to just stop sending data until a controller restart. I've now got it connected via BlueTooth so we'll see how it goes. #ESPhome #HomeAssistant

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 27/11/2024

My good lady is sorting out the filing cabinet. Don't think we'll be needing this again 🤣

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 26/11/2024

10 custom 3D prints were delivered to a customer today. A bit different from my stuff! Any guesses as to what they are? Clues: Each print takes 457g of uncoloured PLA. Print time: around 5 hours, 0.3mm layer height. 0.6mm nozzle. They are a bit like a bowl. Over-ripe banana for scale. #3DPrinting

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 25/11/2024

It's always nice when customers send me pictures of their tablet mount installations. Received this one today. Lenovo M10 Gen 3, displaying a #HomeAssistant dashboard. #3dprinting #homeautomation

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 24/11/2024

One handed print and support removal. Don't you just love it when this happens?! PETG on the #BambuLab #A1Mini #3dprinting

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 23/11/2024

Replaced a couple of ageing 2.4Ghz WAPs with dual band today. Same form factor. Same manufacturer. 5 minute job I thought. Oh hell no. #tp-link in their infinite wisdom, changed the mounting holes, mounting plate geometry and the passive PoE adaptor voltage! #WTF

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 23/11/2024

Designed for UK renters or people who don't want to mess with wiring, this cover lets you mount an #Ikea #Rodret dimmer over a standard UK light switch. No sticky pads, non-invasive. STL files available on @cults3d.bsky.social cults3d.com/en/3d-model/... Printed version on my web site.

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 23/11/2024

Re-jigged our #HomeAssistant kitchen dash to use native WebRTC for the front door cam. I removed the HACS WebRTC integration yesterday at around 4pm. Doing so freed up just over a gig of RAM usage on the HA Proxmox VM!!

Home automation dashboard with dark theme. Has buttons to control lighting and frequently used devices. Also has a weather card, front door CCTV display and immersion tank temperature in the centre. To the right are dials showing grid and solar energy information.

Graph displaying RAM usage on a Home Assistant server.
There is a dramatic reduction shown when a community store addon for displaying WebRTC video was disabled.

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 23/11/2024

This desk area is supposedly reserved for product photography. I need to get my 💩 together 🤣😭

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 21/11/2024

Nice one! I did something similar with an LED matrix. Once again, works on the Mic being active so it covers all bases.

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 20/11/2024

I bought 7 of these #LocalBytes UK #smartplugs back in October 2021. Pre-flashed with #Tasmota (although I changed them to #ESPHome). The last one failed yesterday. Light loads. One failed dangerously (case melted). Rest stopped switching or just died. That's 100% failure rate in 3 years. #crap

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 19/11/2024

I've been having a bit of a 'design procrastination' day today. Multiple options that I have to get clear in my head before actually designing. In some ways, I've achieved nothing. But, overall, I now think I've narrowed down the route I'm going to take. Now enjoying a @thatcherscider.bsky.social

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 18/11/2024

And, so she doesn't get upset for lack of notoriety, this is Nissie (Katniss). #cat #cats #catpics #catsofbluesky

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 18/11/2024

I suppose, as I have cats, that I'd better post a photo. This is Dingbat. She says 'hi' (not really, she's a cat). #cat #catphoto #catsofbluesky

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 18/11/2024

This week's plan just went out of the window 😭 Just received a tablet from a client that needs an enclosure designed. Hey ho! #3dprinting

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 18/11/2024

My mission for this week. Finally finish the 'sensor puck' design I've been putting together for multiple sizes of ESP based boards. Mind you. That's been my mission for the past month and just keep having new ideas and adding options! #ESPHome #HomeAssistant #D1Mini #ESP32 #ESP8266

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 17/11/2024

A successful trip to #ikea! Jetstrom light now installed in the office and it's way brighter than the LED batten it replaced. No more typing in the shadows! Quick pairing with #zigbee2mqtt and it's working nicely in #homeassistant

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 16/11/2024

I really need to sort out a #HomeAssistant automation for my #ESPHome device updates. Currently at 57 which is somewhat tedious to do manually. Yes, I know I can 'update all' in ESPHome but there are a few that need to be done in a certain order as power may be cut mid-update.

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 16/11/2024

What are other #3dprinting peeps using to manage their job queues and give visibility to other members of the team? #Trello is currently working for us but always on the lookout for things that may be better!

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 16/11/2024

Nice. Think my birdbox cam needs work 🤣

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 15/11/2024

The printers are getting a night off. They've been working overtime this week and deserve a rest until tomorrow 😂 #3dprinting #homeassistant

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 15/11/2024

When I'm not designing, printing or tinkering, I love #photography, a hobby that's been with me for my whole life. Most of the time, I only get the cameras out when I'm on holiday but there are occasions when something pops up in the garden, like this #Kingfisher taken from the kitchen window.

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 15/11/2024

I use a lot of brass heat-set inserts and use a variety of home-grown tools/jigs to help insert them with accuracy and consistency. Here's a height adjustable jig for side-on insertion. Plywood, bits of an Ender3 and a soldering iron mount from @adam-v3d.bsky.social #3dprinting #homemade #diy

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John Beardon 🇬🇧 @john.beardon.net · 14/11/2024

My monthly filament order arrived 2 weeks ago. Didn't order any white because I still had 15kg on the shelf. Sod's law dictates that a large order came in 2 days ago and I'm now down to 2 rolls of white. Another 20 arriving tomorrow! #3dprinting #3dqf #uksmallbusiness

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