Always tooting for th'antihero @Momentrabbit@awoo.space

@Momentrabbit So I rewound it. Locked one cartridge of clockwise-wound rule into position, fed the rule into an empty cartride, and rewound onto the empty cartridge counter-clockwise, then manually fed the rule onto the new spindle.

I've done this without injury hundreds of times. I was wearing cut-resistant gloves, aramid fibre and latex. And I still managed to open a gash in the heel of my hand that needed three stitches to close.

@Momentrabbit The coil comes wound clockwise, or counterclockwise. It feeds into the machine we use to bend it from the left: if the coil is wound *counterclockwise*, the slight curve the coil imparts to the metal during storage presses the lead edge against the *back* of the punch-block, which is smooth. This goes through with far fewer jams and spoiled pieces.

Had to use a new, tightly would coil yesterday: it was wound *clockwise*, and constantly jamming.

So. I bend rules for a living - sometime I break them. That's a not-inaccurate way to say I use a CNC machine to process various heights and thickness of razor-sharp metal rule, several hundred feet per day. These come in coils - which I've referred to in the past as mainsprings, for obvious reasons. There's a fair amount of potential kinetic energy stored in a 1"X150' coil of 4pt spring steel wound into a 20" diameter.

That's not directly how I cut myself.

When your day improves because your boss says you need to go get stitches, there's something wrong with your work environment.

More later. I am stitched and operational. Minor damage, should heal up fine.

@Momentrabbit Side note - there's a $40 difference between EU plug and US plug. However, having built it, I am 99% certain the only difference is the actual shape of the plug - it wires directly into the switchmode DC supply, which handles 220/110 60Hz/50Hz. Which I'll be replacing anyhow, so. n.n

@Momentrabbit That's where I got the original from: same model, so I know what I'm dealing with. On a slow boat from Shenzhen, but I'm not going anywhere.

The Folly, as I've probably noted, is an Anet A8 - which is a clone of the Prusa i3 model - and is pretty much the platonic ideal of a DIY kit, in my limited experience. I have more experiments I'd like to do one it, but I'd also like to keep the Folly operational so I can make parts for itself.

Obvious solution: wait for it to go on sale and get another one to rebuild as a three- head monster.

https://m.gearbest.com/3d-printers-3d-printer-kits/pp_337314.html?wid=21

@Momentrabbit I guess the point of this whole ramble is that being real is hard.

Oh well. 37 more years to go.

@Momentrabbit Problem one is that there is no training program for what I do, or how the company works. I am a Generalist with Delusions of Technicianism.

Problem two is that I don't speak Farsi; he can read English, but spoken comprehension is poor. And it's a loud shop. And orders are constantly changing.

I'm a bit tired. Been here since 4:30 this am to try to get a headstart on work. Already been politely told I'm an idiot by my boss twice.

@Momentrabbit I also have to manage keeping inventory stocked. I also have to manage and prioritize my own workload. I do not have a desk, a computer, or an email: my manager prefers to yell verbal directions and assume I'll grok context.

I *do* have an assistant, of sorts. I'm training him to do what I do for the soon-to-be-implemented Late Shift.

There are two problems.

I am not, by nature, easy to work with. I'm a perfectionist who procrastinates and overdesigns. I do not 'muck in with the lads'. I am, except under carefully managed allotments of medication, blood sugar and sleep, not a "good person," although I try to be. (Hell, some days I'm barely a 'person' at all.)

My job involves running three physically separated, complex and real-time-attention-needing machines with moving parts. (...)

@Leucrotta *pokepoke* Ok, my cash flow situation is resolved. Gimme your Paypal account name or whatever, and I'll throw you funds for that eye exam, glasses, etc.

MFW a pagerbuzzer goes off in my left hip pocket. o.O

There is nothing in that pocket.

I heard it *beep*, too.

Three universes over, 'Moment is trying to debug his phone/pager/pocketwatch/tricorder and has no idea what's pinging back but with lag like that it sure ain't local...

I've cloned myself over at dragon.style, as it's gotta be good, being run by dragon. Right? Right.

@Momentrabbit@dragon.style is me.

Annnnd then I ran something very large and expensive without an inbound water supply and now its dead.

So it's a day of extremes. 9.9

One reason I acquired, assembled and have been using "Moment's Folly", my 3D printer, was to redevelop some familiarity with gcode. Gcode is an all-purpose instruction set for controlling CNC machines: mills use it, lathes use it, 3d printers use it. And so do many waterjet cutters.

Work has a waterjet. It was refusing to run a process file to cut material: I knew enough of what I was looking at to fix the file and get the project cut.

Another day saved by hobbies and Notepad. XD

Ahhhh.

It is so very nice to be fully medicated again. (For everybody around me, too, I'm sure. n.n)

Calmer, better able to manage bosses and stressors, awake and functional for the first eight hours of the day - and being able to metabolize sugars fully once more does help keep the little grey cells turning over.

As stressful as abruptly pausing meds for money reasons is, the resurgence of system stability once I'm back on them is *almost* worth the discomfort.

Forced sale: navy shrews, never porn.

Combining the month of the year which is historically my worst for stability and functionality, and a complete financial arsefuck of a year that leaves us dodging creditor calls and playing 'food or medicine' while a bank takes their sweet time deciding our fate...

My orbit is eccentric at the best of times: I'm burning fuel I don't have, to spend longer each loop in an atmosphere that's burning away what shielding I have left, as it drags me closer to an abrupt, inevitable lithobrake.