Just so everybody knows (especially administration), I'm switching profiles!

Let's face it, with the path I've chosen, I can't keep taking myself so seriously. I have and always will be just a guy who's an inventor for fun... and also profit sometimes. I want to be the guy that makes you smile, that makes you go, "OH NEAT!" and never backs down from something that could end up being incredible.

I've started a new business, Mechanical Magnificus, dedicated to building the things that were too outrageous for anyone else.

You can find me doing my thing here under the new name "AtlasTheLion," or see what goes on behind the scenes on my official Twitter feed. https://twitter.com/CALVINGINEERING

The new and improved robotail featured there is becoming a real product sometime soon and, like you or me, is getting better every day.
Check it out at your leisure, tell your friends, or pretend you don't like being amazed. Up to you. Whichever one. XD Either way, it could really use your support and your feedback to be everything it can be. I'd be delighted if you gave it a look. ^.^

Other than that, I'd just like to say thank you to everyone that's gotten me this far and re-extend my invitation to those of you that read this. If there's anything you need from me, anything at all, I'm always here and always willing to help out in any way that I can.

Let's make the world magnificus!

What would I have said yesterday that is different from today?
More eloquent, more thought provoking, or more worthwhile to say?
Should I wait a while for yesterday's me before I write today?
Or should I just write right now and make tomorrow's me today?

I finally have my own 3D printer. It's nothing fancy, but it can do big builds.

It has a building space of 20x20x20cm and a resolution of -I think- 10 microns. (that's 0.1mm)

If you want anything printed, let me know!!! (.stl preferred)

I still need practice at perfecting the quality, so the first 3 prints I do will be FREE.

After that, I was thinking either $1 per hour of print time or 10c per gram of plastic used.
They end up being pretty close. Some things use less plastic but take longer etc.
I'll be working on that later. I have a paypal account just for this.

If you yourself don't have anything to print, someone else you know might, so spread the word!

Thank you everyone, you're awesome!

I turned on my light today, and two of the three bulbs in the fixture burned out simultaneously. I'm honestly more amused by this quaint phenomenon than I am annoyed by it. Actually, now that I think about it, it was more so in quick succession than it was simultaneous.

How inestimably incalculable are the odds for this to happen on the same day that I realize that, now, the second of two things whose success I was practically gambling on, yet also, did not come to fruition as expected? I am taken back as you are, probably now taking a breath and re-reading that last sentence. Sometimes it seems that even an improbably candor attitude can't hold back disappointment. I know that I will surely find ways around these road blocks (I already have, mostly), but I still can't fight the unquantifiable feeling of frustration and depression.

I lost some money, granted, and surely a greater worth-sum of time, but it's nothing I can't fix, and it's only but petty little compared to the inestimable value of the knowledge, albeit a few facts, that I obtained.

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1. 15 gram CO2 cartridges contain between 750 and 1000 psi of gas.

2. SF6, even as a liquid, is a relatively low pressure gas, between 200 and 300 psi.

3. 3D printing companies are full of it.

4. (and this is the most important one) No matter how much it seems as though an idea will work, you still have to account for and accept the possibility of it not working.

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Quote time.

"You see this goblet? For me this glass is already broken. I enjoy it; I drink out of it. It holds my water admirably, sometimes even reflecting the sun in beautiful patterns. If I should tap it, it has a lovely ring to it. But when I put this glass on the shelf and the wind knocks it over or my elbow brushes it off the table and it falls to the ground and shatters, I say, ‘Of course.’ When I understand that the glass is already broken, every moment with it is precious." - Achaan Chaa


P.S. Does anyone know how I can get access to a 3D printer for a reasonable price?
I.E. Connections? Friends of friends? "I know a guy"? You own one?

I was out on the roof a few nights ago staring at the stars and listening to music. I was trying to figure out what my next steps would be, finally close to finishing my project. I was putting it off, afraid of failure so close to success. I then realized that the tea I had loved so much now tasted like nothing more than hot water. I was puzzled by this. It was not that it had lost it's flavor, but that I had lost the keenness to taste it. I had grown used to it.

So what does this mean? This perfect parallel proposed a probable solution to my previous predicament. Rather than continue to try the same things over and over, I remembered back to the very start of my project and my seemingly childish belief in the impossible. I realized that it was not childish, but the one thing that got me to where I was. It felt like my mind had woken up. Daydreaming of the impossible once more. My old motivation was dusted off and re-opened like a favorite book.

So what's the moral here? If you ever feel like something's missing from your mind that used to be there, like you've become something dreadfully normal, it's not that something missing, just underused. Use your imagination. Everybody's got one, and it can help you to solve every problem you come across.

QUOTE TIME!!!!!
"Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not?" -Pablo Picasso.

then...
"The most important thing in life is to stop saying 'I wish' and start saying 'I will.' Consider nothing impossible, then treat possiblities as probabilities." -David Copperfield.

It'll be of Merlot, Cabernet, Chardonnay, and 100 year old Champagnes.

So, I have this project I've been working on for some time now... I've been experimenting for the majority of the time I have been working. For a while, I had nearly given up, but then I got some really good advice. He said "If you feel you are called to do something, you have to do it. Otherwise, you'll regret it." Two scrapped designs, a couple scars, and a lot of second guessing later, I can finally see the end.

I've estimated, at this rate, somewhere between 3-6 months.
I have alot to show as is, but I don't want to share any pictures or even say what it is until it's all done.
Right now, there are alot of things to think about and I haven't had time, but I'll get back at it soon enough, and it will be so sweet when I finally do.

Really, it will never be done, but that's just fine with me.

As a side note... Just listened to the entire "Rachmaninoff's concerto #2." on record.
Mmmm... brilliant. If you want to get an intrinsic perspective on music, Rachmaninoff is the guy to listen to.