Articles

Why a $20–40 caliper beats another roll of filament for functional parts — and how to use it in an AI CAD loop.

Why a boring Mosquitto install on a Pi beats cloud IoT dashboards for a home lab full of ESP32 nodes.

Profiles, calibration flows, and when OrcaSlicer is the right daily driver for PETG brackets—not just vase-mode art.

Environments, library pins, and CI — when PlatformIO is worth the learning curve for ESP32 work.

Board choice, USB driver gotchas, blink + button, and how to structure your first real ESP32 project.

A decision tree for real projects: power, realtime needs, networking, cost, and how many times you’ll reflash at midnight.

What a Pi can actually run offline for code help and note Q&A — and when you should stop torturing a 8GB board.

When 3D-printed structure is fine, when it isn’t, and how an ESP32/GRBL-class controller fits a small CNC/plotter build.

How to use photos + slicer settings with an LLM without accepting “just increase temperature” as a religion.

Pi as the brain, ESP32 nodes on ESP-NOW or MQTT — a realistic small-home mesh without buying a vendor lock-in hub.

A practical pipeline from napkin sketch → parametric script → slice → first print, with prompts that don’t invent fake M3 holes.

Safe low-voltage relay control, sensor reads, and a simple web UI — without setting your garage on fire.

Where ChatGPT/Claude/local models shine for CAD scripts and firmware — and where they invent fasteners that don’t exist.

Klipper + Moonraker + Mainsail path on Pi 5: power, USB, cooling, and what not to cheap out on.

Why this site is pivoting to AI tools, 3D printing, Raspberry Pi, and ESP32 — and how the old archive stays useful.

What still holds from the classic averyjparker.com security posts — least privilege, backups, and skepticism — with modern notes.

What actually sells, how to price filament and time, and the boring ops that keep a side hustle alive.

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