Hands on Katie

6.5 tonnes of topsoil/compost

What a monster task - 6 pallet loads of compost to fill up the monster raised bed.

Forgive the pained expressions throughout.... 😂

Worktops Osmoed!!

Worktops ready to go and drawers starting to fill - over 60 drawers, so that's around 36 metres by 30 metres of drawer space.... that's going to last a while, surely!?

Installing the very best, bleeding edge organisational systems into this - openGrid, NeoGrid 2.0, Gridfinity and more!

Workshop Worktops Working!

Here's the worktops coming together nicely!! 40mm solid oak should hold a device or two.....!

I've built all these cabinets to be fully modular and CNC cuttable, so dead easy to 'print' any extras I want! (I'll cover how I'm organising inside them in an upcoming video on my refreshed workshop organisation approaches)!

Coming Soon: 6m x 3m Food Printing!

I'm so close to automatic food production! Just need to iron out some last fiddles and bugs!

This is basically like a massive 3d printer, but with interchangeable tool heads that water, plant, weed and more! I'll do a full video in due course, but you get a sneak peek!!

Oh and I'm also going to have to share photos of me lugging 6 1/2 tonnes of topsoil and compost, so you can see me suffering!

Budget Astrophotography? Seestar S30 & S50 Put to the Test

Well, I have been loving these two brilliant little devices - super easy to use, super quick to setup and the images are....well, you'll just have to watch and see.... ;)

Sneak Peek: Seeing the stars!!

Now many of you know how long I've been testing these (as you suggested I look at them last year!) - but boy is this an area of smart tech where I'd completely missed the progress!!

These are pretty extraordinary devices, so I'll be covering these in my next video (hopefully today/tomorrow if I get a clear run!!) - here's some sneak peeks of my all-night astrophotography session! This is SUCH a lovely way to spend an evening - these are great devices even as a social tool, just leave on...

Sneak Peek: The Farmbot assembles!!

My most exciting project of the year??? (it's a long list I admit, but this is waaay up there)

I've got electronics and app installation to go (and six tonnes of compost/topsoil to shift), but then I'm ready to start!

I KNOW some of you have Farmbots already - so do PM or join the discussion I'm going to start in the discord.

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about check them out - it's a wonderful open-source initiative: 2025-05-08 13:50:26 +0000 UTC View Post

The Boss of Robot Lawnmowers.

As you all know, David Mowie has gone to that place in the stars (probably Mars) where all good lawnmowers go....

...but the question is whether I could last a single video without destroying Mammotion's lovely design.....

You know where this goes.... ;)

PS I said hundreds of hours of testing in this video, but I since found a handy option in the app that tells you, so actually thousands of hours - I can't tell you how rough my testing has been!!

A mysterious device and a mysterious project!

Working on a project at the moment - video coming soon, but I'm using the device I was teasing in the discord channel.

It's truly amazing - the ability to print to basically any material (glass, metal, wood, plastic and more) and in 3D..... so up to 5mm thick. I'm going to have to cover this in a video in its own right, as this is one of the most impressive pieces of new craft technology I've seen this year!

In the meantime, I'm using it to mod a familiar friend!

What a mess!

Hey all!

Just a quick update from today as I continue to clear up all the activity from the workshop build.... and to prove I'm not ALWAYS creating chaos and mess, here's some of me tidying up!!

I've had all my wood on the lawn covered with tarpaulin for a few weeks as I dismantled an old shed in view of moving them all to here (I spent most of my time cutting wood up here anyway!)

I needed to get everything cleared anyway to let the grass grow!!

The Chaotic Gardener!

I am sharing these, simply so I can give you all a knowing smug look as I'm actually very pleased with all the grass seedling that have started popping through in the last week or so!

I'm usually terrible at this sort of thing, but it appears to be working - so with a bit of luck, I'll have a lovely bed of grass in front of the workshop that will be an overflow space for any projects that need a bit of outdoor space.

There is a whole bunch of 'garden themed' stuff I've got comin...

Deskware!!

Ok, I've been designing my new desk for the workshop and realised I needed a way to move underware onto the desk..... so why not just go completely bonkers!

Check the discord for the beta customiser file - it will be published very soon!

Hope you enjoy!

Sneak Peek: Underware is moving up.....

Been stretching the H2D to its limits and got a very cool project to reveal in just a day or two. I'm really finding out a lot of the more subtle features of this new class of device, so I'll look to cover that off too in a video!

I've made this a much tougher sneak peek as you were all FAR too good at guessing last time.....

😈

Behind the Scenes: Making a Portal Outfit!

Some extra photos of me making my portal outfit for the last video - quick bit of M1 Ultra vinyl action and I'm ready to go!

And thank you to Barada who pointed out these cool new xTool gadgets! I'm loving the electrostatic mat!!

Bambu Lab H2D Insider's Peek

Well what's all this then....?

Possibly the most anticipated release of the year, Bambu Lab's long awaiting new device is now officially revealed, so here's some instant sneak peeks the very second that it's been released from the embargo!

And it's time to stop thinking about 3d printing and start thinking about home manufacturing as this device does a lot more...!

Head over to the discord channel where I'll answer any questions and share my initial thoughts!!

2025-03-25 14:02:05 +0000 UTC View Post

Members Extra - Answering your Q&As

Hey all,

I wanted to do a little video to cover all the Q&As I get either from emails and comments, or from surveys when you sign up as a Youtube Member or Patreon.

I actually read all of these in great detail (many of you will know I've responded directly to some too), but they really help me understand interests and some drive me to create whole videos about a topic - as I cover in this video!

 Anyway, I was recovering from illness, so apologies for any rambling ...

Smart Workshop #2: Designing The Guardian System To Manage My Workshop

Check out my latest video gang!!! I had a great time making this, really getting on with things now!!

So many great ideas already coming from folks on discord, on youtube and more - lost item locating is a brilliant idea, I need to think about smart ways to implement that!!

Sneak Peek & Full Song: I'm still watching you...

Got carried away in this video, but it is one of my favourite games ever.....

Hope you spot all the references!

Full video coming later, but thought you might like a sneak peek!

Workshop Sneak Peek: Bring in the tools!!!

Oh this is getting very exciting now!!! Testing all the tool positions and you'll note I've added some cameras in very specific spots to allow super handy monitoring of all my devices from anywhere!!

I've got space for lots of 3d printers, laser cutters and a few completely new devices............. 🕵️

Sneak Peek of workshop progress

It's all starting to come together much faster now! The CNC has been churning out cabinets and drawer units and I've been slotting them all together!! (I'll cover my cabinet system in an upcoming video!)

I reckon I'll have over 100 drawers in the new workshop....surely that's enough space......... 😇

Tiny Tomes - some extra photos!

Hey all, it's -1C this morning, so I wimped out of diving outside to do some work on the workshop exterior. So I thought I'd wait an hour for it to warm up a bit and share some of the extra photos from the Tiny Tomes video!

Essentially, a collection of photos of me fooling around being a mad berk!!

There's been so many cool ideas from all the comments, emails and not least from my kids who are begging for even more features!!

And I was truly amazed at car_tag's random post i...

Behind-the-Scenes Members Extra!

In this special members-only video, I’m diving deeper into Tiny Tomes—sharing extra insights, behind-the-scenes details, and extra thoughts from the various comments already!

Thank you for your amazing support! 🎉

Tiny Tomes: Ditch the Cloud, Build Your Own Entertainment System with Music Assistant

Oh I've been enjoying these!! These are so much fun to play with, hope you enjoy!!
And yes, you were all very good at guessing, but hope there's a few surprises anyway!

And a Patreon Extra video coming in next two days with even more! Just need to finish editing!

You're all far too good at this!!

You're quite right in your guesses - so I thought I'd give you all a sneak peek of Tiny Tomes!

They're very fun to use and I've been adding more and more cool features!

Video coming very soon!!

Loving my Proart P16!

Bought a new laptop and it's built ground up for creative work!

Lovely 16" screen with brilliant colour, powerful CPU (Ryzen AI 9 HX 370) and packs a 4070 inside, so I can use Photoshop / Premiere without everything collapsing!

And most importantly, it's almost entirely bloatware-free - kudos to Asus!

The most maddening part of the setup is the Windows set up process which has degraded to a constant barrage of sleazy sales pitches:

Do you want to use Edge? Yes or ...

Next video sneak peek!

Testing something I've designed for the next video - it was inspired by a discussion in the discord channel that I saw... movies, music, audiobooks and more.... let's make it better!

Can anyone guess?

Spending my evening with rub and buff!

I was just getting mocked for the fact I am sitting testing my selection of new wax pastes - so I thought I'd share for morale support! I mean, it's a perfectly reasonable way to spend my Sunday night!! 😂😂

This is really cool stuff actually, just rub it onto a 3d print or other material, give it a buff and 'poof!' it looks like metal! Buff it to make it more and more shiny - very cool stuff!!

I'll be featuring it in an upcoming video!!

PS I do need to work out how ...

The final gaps!

Thermal cameras are great for highlighting those last little gaps in rooms like this - and my new best friend has a surprisingly handy light that I didn't spot in the daytime, but comes in super handy in murky spots like this! Sealed this side so I can then put some expanding foam on the other side to fill 70mm or so!

Love this tool - oh and one-handed caulkwork is super handy too!!

Can I keep my workshop dust free??

Combo project!

This seat for the playroom that the kids have invented is a mega combination of skills - upholstery, sewing, 3d printing, woodworking, electronics and smart home tech in one go!!

I've had a moment in-between letting paint coats dry in the workshop to get back to this - just needing to create a nice cushion for lying on.
Also hoping to CNC the canopy piece, then I can add the LEDs, smart controls, custom 3d printed storage and dozens of other ideas that my daughter came up with!! �...