Upcoming posts
Scheduled maker guides and projects — published automatically on the dates below (~every 5 days).
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ESP32 Power Budget for Battery Projects
How to estimate sleep current, regulator waste, and when a LiPo + TP4056 is enough.
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PlatformIO vs Arduino IDE for ESP32 in 2026
When PlatformIO pays off: envs, libraries, and CI-friendly firmware.
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PETG vs PLA for Functional Parts (Decision Guide)
Temperature, toughness, and when PLA is still the right call.
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When a Pi Zero 2 W Beats a Pi 5
Cost, power, and camera/GPIO tradeoffs for maker deployments.
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Build a Local Prompt Library for Maker Tasks
Version prompts for CAD, firmware, and troubleshooting without losing the good ones.
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Safe OTA Updates on ESP32 (Without Bricking the Lab)
Partition schemes, rollback, and staged fleet updates for a handful of boards.
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Klipper Macros You Actually Use Every Print
Start/end gcode, filament change, and fail-safe shutdown macros.
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Using AI to Review a printer.cfg Diff (Safely)
Prompt patterns that force the model to cite risks instead of inventing pins.
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ESP32-CAM Timelapse Rig for Print Monitoring
Power, lens focus, and storage tips for overnight capture.
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Meshtastic vs MQTT for a Small Home Lab
When mesh radios help — and when plain Wi‑Fi MQTT is simpler.
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Filament Dry Box Monitor with ESP32
Humidity logging, alerts, and desiccant change reminders.
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Pi-Based Print File NAS for a Small Workshop
Samba shares, permissions, and backup so G-code never lives only on a laptop.
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First Functional Bracket in CadQuery
Parametric M5 extrusion mount with AI-assisted parameter naming.
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ESP32 Watchdogs and Brownout Detection
Why boards reset near motors — and how to log it.
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OpenSCAD Prompt Pack Preview (Free Patterns)
Five reusable prompts that output named parameters, not mystery STLs.
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Simple Print Failure Hints with a Pi Camera
Baseline frames, not full ML — catch spaghetti early.
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Debugging I²C on ESP32 (Pull-ups, Addresses, Scopes)
Scanner sketches, level shifting, and cable length reality.
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Printable Electronics Enclosure Vent Design
Airflow, IP rating honesty, and screw-boss thicknesses for PETG.
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Offline Datasheet RAG on a Pi (Small Models)
Chunk PDFs, embed locally, answer “what’s the absolute max on pin X?”
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ESP32 MQTT with TLS Basics (Home Lab)
Certs, device identities, and why open MQTT on WAN is a bad idea.
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Treat Slicer Profiles Like Code
Export, diff, and name profiles so “works on my machine” becomes team-safe.
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Arduino Nano ESP32: When It’s the Right Board
Form factor, USB, and ecosystem tradeoffs vs classic DevKits.
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Pi UPS HATs in the Real World
Shutdown scripts, battery chemistry, and false sense of security.
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AI-Assisted BOM Costing for Side Projects
Spreadsheet structure + prompts that refuse hallucinated prices without sources.
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ESP32 Deep Sleep + PIR Motion Logger
Wake sources, RTC memory, and SD logging without killing the cell.
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Hobby Toolchanger Basics (Before You Buy)
Dock design, parking, and why calibration eats weekends.
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Minimal Home Assistant + ESP32 Bridge
MQTT discovery without boiling the ocean on day one.
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Wi‑Fi Survey Habits for Makers (Network Ninja Crossover)
Channel planning so your ESP mesh and laptop don’t fight the microwave.
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A Print Farm of Two: Ops That Scale Later
Queue discipline, spare hotends, and logging failures.
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Month of ESP32: Kickoff Plan (Quarterly Series)
Four weeks of projects, a checklist, and how to follow along on the newsletter.
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ESP32 CAN Bus for Garage Diagnostics
Sniffing and logging automotive CAN with isolation and legal/safety caveats.
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A Pi Cluster of Two for Maker Services
Docker Swarm lite: MQTT, reverse proxy, and shared storage without a rack.
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Multi-Material Looks Without a Toolchanger
Pause-and-swap, purge towers, and design tricks that look dual-extruder.
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Fine-Tuning a Tiny Local Model on Maker Notes
When LoRA helps — and when retrieval alone is enough.
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ESP32 Matter Bridges: Reality Check
Certification, ecosystems, and when MQTT + HA is still simpler.
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Print-in-Place Mechanisms That Survive PETG
Clearances, hinges, and first-layer adhesion for moving assemblies.
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Pi-hole Style DNS for the Workshop VLAN
Separate IoT from laptops; keep ESP OTA working.
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AI Code Review for Firmware PRs
Prompts that demand undefined-behavior hunts and pin conflicts.
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ESP32 RS-485 / Modbus for Shop Equipment
Bias resistors, termination, and talking to a VFD without drama.
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Bed Level Meshes Explained Without Magic
What the mesh measures, when to re-probe, and probe offsets.
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Solar-Powered ESP32 Weather Node
Panel sizing, sleep budget, and winter reality.
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Maker Emcomm Box Notes (KI4TQN Crossover)
Pi + radio-adjacent power planning for field kits — link out to KI4TQN tools.
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From Prompt to STEP File Without Tears
CAD kernel choices and human gate checks before metal.
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ESP32 Audio FFT Toy (Music Reactive LED)
Mic modules, sampling rates, and not melting a USB port.
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CoreXY Belt Tension Without Guesswork
Frequency methods, wear signs, and ringing tradeoffs.
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Local Whisper-Class Notes on Pi 5
Offline voice memos for the bench — latency and storage.
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ESP32 Ethernet When Wi‑Fi Dies
W5500 modules, PoE fantasies, and industrial switch ports.
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Resin vs FDM for Shop Jigs
Chemical resistance, toughness, and when FDM wins on cost.
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Lab VLAN for Makers (Network Ninja Crossover)
Isolate printers and ESPs from tax software without breaking mDNS carefully.
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ESP32 BLE Beacon for Tool Asset Tracking
Advertising intervals, battery life, and a simple phone scanner.
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Reading Input Shaper Graphs Like a Human
Peaks, belt slap, and when mechanical fixes beat software.
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Offline Map Tiles on a Pi for Field Work
Tile storage, updates, and power for tablet use.
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Build an AI Failure Gallery for Your Lab
Document bad prompts and bad parts so the team stops repeating them.
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ESP32 SD Card Logging Pitfalls
SPI vs SDMMC, brownouts, and filesystem choices.
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Filament Runout Sensors That Actually Work
Mechanical vs optical, false triggers, and Klipper hooks.
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Remote Desktop to a Headless Pi the Hard Way
WayVNC, SSH tunnels, and why exposing 5900 is a bad idea.
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Sponsor-Safe Disclosures for Maker Posts
How we label gear, affiliates, and paid projects without killing trust.
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ESP32 ULP Coprocessor for Ultra-Low Sensors
When ULP helps, toolchain pain, and measurement methodology.
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Batch Printing Economics for Two Printers
Queueing, failure rate math, and pricing revisits.
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Year-End Maker Lab Audit Checklist
Firmware, filament, backups, and network hygiene before January chaos.