Today I just published a project I’ve been working on for awhile - my 3D printer nozzle camera - and it’s the first project I’ve made a corresponding video for! I built this nozzle camera mount to carefully watch the first layer of 3D prints, since most failures happen early on due to poor first layer adhesion or related issues. Keeping the camera out of the print volume while still getting a good view of the nozzle and print was challenging, but I ended up with a cool solution that I’m really proud of, and the view is fantastic.

Flexy Rex is a 3D print that’s been circling the internet for awhile. See below for the links to all of the variants that have been created over the years. Anyway, I printed this is one of the test prints with my upcoming Nozzle Cam project. My cousin was visiting from out of state along with her young son, so I let him print a Flexy Rex, watch the printer (and the camera feed), and take it off the bed when it was done.

Today I spent the day flashing Tasmota on a variety of Sonoff devices, for use in future projects. I took pictures of the process, so you can follow along with all of the fun bits of playing with repurposed electronic hardware. I have projects in mind for some of these, but some are still ’extra’ (nothing is really ever ’extra’, it will always be used eventually). I have two Sonoff S31 (US smart plug with power monitoring), two Sonoff S26 (US version of the low cost S20 smart plug), and two Sonoff 4CHPRO R3 (4 channel relay, the Pro version with isolated relays).

I recently got a camera to use with my 3D printer which includes integrated LED illumination. It has a physical switch to control the lights, but I want to turn them on and off, either from OctoPrint, or from Home Assistant, based on the printer status. Wanting the simplest solution possible, I’m going to turn off power to the Pi’s USB hub when I don’t need the camera lighting. This has a side effect of also disabling the camera itself due to lack of power, which I will also need to deal with, but it doesn’t disable the USB data lines, so the 3D printer (which has its own power supply) might not be affected, depending on the printer model.

Occasionally, I find myself wanting to start something custom as a systemd service, so it starts at boot. There’s a whole wealth of information on how to properly write systemd services, but I just want the bare minimum to get my command executed on boot and running on its own. Hence, here is the most basic systemd service guide. Feel free to read the systemd docs (systemd.service, systemd.unit, systemd.exec) for more info on what can go in the service file if you want to get fancy.

I’ve been working up to a better virtualization and storage setup for my homelab for awhile now. One part of this is cataloguing my media and expanding the virtual side of the media library. I have a legacy collection of DVDs and BDs which I’d like to import, and that means I need to rip them from disk. The decryption and transcoding process requires a decent CPU. The demand for high performance leads me to want to run this in a virtual machine (where it can get low priority access to a wealth of compute resources), but the need for a physical disk drive also makes me not want to walk down to the basement every time a disk is done to change disks.

I’ve been working on a new OctoPrint system for my 3D printer, and as part of this project I made some nice flashy individually addressable LEDs for the sides of the enclosure to show the print status. The full project page is coming soon, but I just had to give you guys a sneak peek at the LEDs. These are WS2812 style individually addressible LEDs, controlled by an OctoPrint plugin on the Raspberry Pi, along with a perf board PCB I soldered to power and level-shift them.

I bought a ton of new Z-wave switches and dimmers, and I’m still trying to find the best user interface for automated lighting given the equipment I have, as well as what would be ideal in a new built house. Today, I tried a few automations for my kitchen lighting, which being the center of activity in the house, are the most noticed by everyone, and must work properly at all times.

As I expand the reach of Home Assistant, I continuously try to build automations that make life generally easier for the users of the home. To me, automation isn’t about being able to control anything from my phone - in fact, the less I have to get my phone out, the better. I will still enjoy tracking history entries and status of nodes with both the web UI and app, but I shouldn’t have to, the house should just work.

When I started my bathroom automation journey, I used the Inovelli 4-in-1 Motion Sensor (LZW60) which had sensors for motion, temperature, humidity, and ambient light level in my Smart Bathroom Project. I was happy with the automation, but wanted to try out some cheaper sensors to see if they were adequate for the other bathrooms in my house. I decided to try the Aqara (Xiaomi) Temperature and Humidity Sensor and the Sonoff SNZB-02 Temperature and Humidity Sensor as cheap alternatives for temperature and humidity.