Since any old spot on the wall (unless I'm unlucky enough to hit in-between the laths) will take a regular wood screw and hold a decent amount of weight (really heavy stuff will require finding the studs), I've been able to make myself a bit of a storage wall. Handy. 2/3

I made a tape and hanging-things-off rack for my office wall. Obviously I have more tape and things than that but I’m letting the glue dry for 24 hours before I load it up.

This replaces two shelving units which used to occupy the space, and frees up half of it for my 3D printer. It is by no means enough space. In fact it’s the fourth set of shelves I have put up for this very purpose.

Got my new 3D printer (the one that's heavier than a small anvil) on this cart, which was my weekend project. It's a smaller version of the cart I built for my laser cutter (the one that's heavier than a medium-sized anvil). Smugness ensues.

Now it’s sitting in its temporary location in my bedroom, where it will remain until I can build a wheeled cart for it.

Used Taskrabbit to find someone to come round my house and lift my new 3D printer up the stairs. I tried, but it was just too heavy and I was worried I would hurt myself. This guy power lifted it like it was nothing. Although he did nearly drop it at one point and my heart was in my throat.

Yay. Covid. It’s only my second verifiable case, but frankly once was enough. Let’s hope it’s mild and goes away quickly.

Took my first dose of tirzepatide (Mounjaro) tonight. Injecting yourself with drugs is an odd thing the first time you do it. Hopefully this will help with my blood sugar control and hopefully some weight loss into the bargain. Fingers crossed for minimal side effects.

Finally fabricated my first backlit panel (it’s the one at the bottom of this shot). Far from perfect, and there will be a next version soon, but I’ve proved the principle works.

So, admitting defeat, I just pulled the trigger on ordering the xTool P2S. This is a fully integrated desktop laser. It has all the bells and whistles I want. Clicking 'pay now' definitely hurt, but I've dodged it for too long and kidded myself I'd get back to the K40 project Real Soon Now. I won't.

All I had to do was finish the various mods. I made a height-adjustable cutting table for it - that was a multi-week project. I replaced the mirrors and laser head. I improved (and made safe) the electrics. I filmed all of this, intended to make a series of videos for my YouTube channel.

This actually cost more than the K40 itself. It was massive overkill, in point of fact, not to mention huge and heavy. But such is life. So now I have the K40 and the chiller, and I made a nice rolling cart for it all.

CO2 lasers have to be actively water cooled because otherwise the tube will overheat and break. The K40 comes with an aquarium pump, and you can just put some distilled water in a bucket and pump it through. But you know me... I like to do it properly, so I bought a C5000 industrial chiller unit.

This is a widely-copied design that uses a 40W CO2 laser tube (hence the 40 in K40). There are literally dozens of variants. They are cheap and cheerful and basically useless out of the box.

M&S has Rainier cherries unusually early… no idea why but of course I bought lots.

Taking a little pleasure cruise from Biggin Hill to Newcastle in the Cirrus Vision Jet.

I removed a slab of the wrap-around floating desk in my office to provide a space to put the CO2 laser cutter. Sadly, it doesn't fit across the way I'd like it to.

I have completely remade the z-axis table for my CO2 laser cutter, and I am much happier with this one.