I'm sure they're doing their best

Drew 00:00

This website This this fucking website Okay I I joined the call Okay and I Just I I just moved away from this tab.

Paul 00:14

Okay.

Drew 00:14

Okay. And it's like, I'm just gonna put this in picture in picture over here. I know you I know you minimize this tab. I know you minimize this tab, Drew, but I'm gonna put it over here in the corner. Just to see just so you know what you look like. Yeah, I mean, you you gotta see that handsome face. Man, they're doing some really incredible things here. Drew, what the hell is this thing? Do you you just wanna get you just wanna get right into it? Yeah, I want to get into it.

Paul 00:39

So like hold on, let me put this for the watching on YouTube.

Drew 00:44

Oh, look look upon my wares Look upon my wares. Okay. So I I I I don't know what this is. Okay. All right. So hold hold that back up to the camera real quick.

Paul 00:57

Okay.

Drew 00:57

All right. So it looks like you put the new antenna on it. I did, because there was another antenna in the box, so I figured that's the one you wanted me to put on. So I did. Okay, so this is gonna take some explaining. Hi first of all, welcome to the show. Um where Paul and I send each other shit from time to time. Okay, so here's the deal. Uh for those of you that don't know, I'm an amateur radio operator

Paul 01:19

Yes.

Drew 01:20

Um now outside I turned it on. Yeah, outside of a really cool project that Paul and I worked on a few years ago, I haven't really done much with my amateur radio status Uh I would love to tell you that that is because I don't really have the space or the place to put like a proper transmitter and antenna. But in terms of hobby expenses, like a good like that's money and that's time. Yeah, yeah. Um It's going to be a topic for another day, but one of the things that I spent time doing over the Christmas break is I have really gotten into software-defined radio.

Paul 02:03

Software defined radio.

Drew 02:05

Yeah, so they make they they make devices that are some of them are as simple as USB sticks and some of them are actual Transceivers that you can plug into your computer via USB and it receives radio signals and then there is software that you can use. that basically creates like a waterfall display so you can like hunt for different frequencies, see what's in use. It's a really powerful tool for sort of exploring like how radio works. But anyway, uh I kind of have a new obsession, and it's these tiny little devices uh that you're holding in your hand right now. Okay. Paul, what this is, is this is a technology called mesh tastic Okay. Okay.

Paul 02:54

I'm actually doing what it said. I downloaded the iPhone the app. So I can pair.

Drew 03:01

Okay, so so what is this? So What this is, Paul, is this is a distributed communication network that does not require a radio license. Oh. So that so that you can communicate to people without the internet, without cellular, without anything. Okay. Okay. Okay. The whole concept of this is is there there are certain frequency bands in the United States that are not licensed. Okay. This is one of them. So like in the United States, uh let me get the exact frequency range so I don't sound like a complete idiot. Um what is yeah, okay, that's the regions configuration. Yeah, so in the United States It's 902 megahertz to nine hundred and twenty-eight megahertz on the band. Okay And what these little devices do is essentially they're all the same device. Okay. Like the device you're holding there is not that different from what I have. Okay. There's like three different micro board like microcontrollers that support the firmware that runs like the software that empowers this stuff to work. Okay. So once you get the app installed, it's gonna ask you to pair with Bluetooth. Yeah, I got I I did I did that. It's paired. Yep. Yep. Now Now I will tell you right now, it's really hard to demo this when we're indoors because this is really meant to be outside. Okay. Okay. So here's a fun experiment. Next time you go somewhere in your car, just tuck that tuck that in your sun visor. Put that in your sun visor, and then when you get home, check your app. Because what the app will do is that as you sort of have it exposed to the air, it will start to detect other nodes. That it discovers. Okay. Now, here's the beauty of this. All of these nodes are other people using the mesh tastic network. And as you can see. There's just some around me right now. Now some of them are some of them are my devices. Even though they're not paired to Bluetooth, they still are repeaters. Because what this does Is the default mode of operation for these things is that it's listening and it's retransmitting. So as people are on the mesh, my device picks up the signal and just passes it on. Okay. Okay. So it I I don't even have to do anything, and I'm helping expand this communication network.

Paul 05:45

Okay.

Drew 05:46

All right. So what are the use cases for this? Well, first and foremost, um, I don't know if you've been paying attention to like how things are going in this country right now. I I don't know. And I listen, I'm not trying to be a naysayer. I'm not trying to be a negative Nancy, but I'm not so sure that we're gonna be able to rely on like the grid okay okay for a while right okay okay and these little devices might come in handy now So I l let's say I just kind of have this, you know, it's like I'm out hiking and it's strapped to my backpack or it's in my car. As long as and and that's why I got you the better antenna, because even though these things all run the same software And they all are kind of the same hardware, the antenna is what really makes the difference. So I technically have four of these devices, and I'll sort of give you a breakdown about why I bought the ones I bought here a little bit later. But that's the whole idea behind this technology. So now you're part of the mesh. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Whether you never send anyone a message, you're helping to propagate this signal. So I just leave this on then. You just leave this on, right? Now, these things aren't perfect, right? They're kind of small. They don't have very good battery life. So like these are designed to be man portable. But you can build more powerful ones. It's all open source. Like you can you could buy pre-made ones, which is what we did here. And yours probably looks obviously 3D printed. It's great. It does. Yep. Yeah. All of my all of all of mine except one do as well. But like next time you're out and about, just just kind of tuck it in your bag, right? Keep the antenna exposed to the air and just kind of see what you can do. Because The this technology is uh I tech I think it's technically VHF, not UHF, on this frequency. And as you start to like fine nodes like here's all the different nodes that I've seen in like the past day on my mesh map. And you can see it covers a pretty decent part of Columbus, but like I detected one that's like 200 miles away.

Paul 07:48

Oh wow.

Drew 07:49

Yeah, all the way up here in like Michigan. Right? Huh So these things have range. They don't they don't use a ton of power and they can actually broadcast pretty long distances. So I know you guys have like those little jaunts you go to for like your your work and everything. You could theoretically take one of these there and just go outside and you could be communicating with people hundreds of miles away Huh. Okay. So really good in an emergency. Yeah. Really good for uh just uh a a way of having like some backup communication. And the technology behind it is is pretty fascinating too. Now, I had originally wanted to get you a different radio. Okay. Um the one I wanted to send you, and I don't know where it is. It may still show up. It may still show up. So uh actually it's available on Amazon. Um, but it's like ridiculously expensive. So like these things come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. So like the one I originally wanted to get you was this. And what this is, it's the same thing, but it's also a power bank. So like that could go mag safe on the back of your phone. Okay. And it's also got the antenna in it. And it does it does the same thing. And like like you can build these yourself. Like if you have, if you you just go buy the microcontroller and antenna and and build the thing yourself. I will say that the antenna makes a world of difference. So, like, here's some of the devices I have. So the very first one I bought was this. This is essentially just like a luggage tag. That's all it is. And it's got the antenna in it, it's got a little buzzer in it, it's got a little LED in it, and it runs the Mes Tashtick firmware. So like I could like put this on my backpack and go hiking, and I would, I would be part of the mesh. I also have this guy, which was like the second one I bought. And it had a really shitty antenna. So it wasn't very good. So I've upgraded the antenna on this one too. Same thing, except this one is um I had it off. Yep. So like this one actually has an e-ink display and it's like dimmable. Yeah. Yeah, so it does it does like the same thing. So this is a node. But the the the two that I've really enjoyed is there's a company called MuzyWorks, and they make really nice ones that have like these little holders and clips, and they come with better antennas. In particular, they just feel way more sturdy because this one's also 3D printed, but it's got like a metal base. Like this one I think is my favorite one. It has a status LED. It doesn't have like a little display or anything. Uh this one's one of the newer ones, it has a little LED display similar to yours on it, so you can kind of see what's happening So that's what this is. So I've I've sort of been giving these out of uh out as gifts um for like two primary reasons. One, it helps span the network, which is I think like the whole goal of the project.

Paul 10:49

Okay.

Drew 10:50

Now in the app, and the other reason is it's just, you know, hey, uh suff shit sucks, and I want to have a way to make sure my my friends are safe. Yeah. So once you get into the app and you start using it, there's all sorts of cool stuff you can do with this. So like your radio communicates to your phone with Bluetooth. Uh-huh. And uh what you can do is once you discover a node You can send a direct message to that particular node. Okay. So like on the messages tab, I can go to direct messages and I can find every mesh tastic node uh that I've ever seen and I can attempt to send a message to it. Now, if the node is out of my range, but other nodes are in range, it will like my signal will go out. The other pieces of the mesh will hear it and rebroadcast it and hope that it gets acknowledged by my intended location You can also create channels. So by default, there's channel zero, which is like party line. Like that just goes to everybody's and they can see it. They can they can reply. You could create private channels backed by private keys, or even on later versions of Estastic, you could actually use like PKI. So like you could set up private channels for like your family. to communicate on where one message would go to everybody's devices like on the same channel. Yeah It's it's a really, really fascinating project. Um now again like your mileage may vary. Like the biggest knock against this is is like you could live in an area where there's just no nodes and it's like That's that's just kind of it. But um I'm gonna put the mess ta mesh tastic sort of like website in here. Um And uh, you know, it the docs do a really good job of explaining the technology, what the different configuration settings mean, and how to like get your best experience out of this. So if anybody was gonna like this, I thought you would. Now, here's something interesting, right? All these mesh tastic nodes by default just have like a name that's like mesh tastic and then the last four digits of like the MAC address for lack of a better word. What's your last four?

Paul 13:00

3C17.

Drew 13:03

Three. Let me see if I can actually see yours because I've got a couple three C No my my nodes have not heard yours yet.

Paul 13:13

Yeah, I'm on the mesh map and I don't see anything but me.

Drew 13:17

So yeah, now here's the thing. That mesh map does not update in real time.

Paul 13:21

Okay.

Drew 13:22

So like what what you'll have to do is like let your radio run for a little while. Okay. And uh then come back and you'll like other nodes that your radio has heard will start to show up on the map.

Paul 13:34

Okay.

Drew 13:36

Like it's not, it took me a little while to understand this, but like what's happening on your device doesn't immediately transmit to your phone. There's obviously some kind of like background sync that like happens unless you get a message. If you get a message, that's an immediate push. Oh, there's a Mac. There's a Mac app too. Yeah.

Paul 13:57

Okay.

Drew 13:57

Yeah.

Paul 13:57

Yeah. Yeah.

Drew 13:58

So like you could like pair it to your Mac if you wanted to.

Paul 14:00

Yeah. Yeah.

Drew 14:01

And they make like control cables and things that if you want to hardwire to your computer, you can. Like there's all kinds of stuff you could do with this. So I've got I've got four of these little guys. Um I usually keep one in my bag and I keep one in my truck. Cause that's you know just to have mobile just in case you know something were to happen. And I and and don't get me wrong, like I still have like I still have uh like radio. Like I've got like all sorts of like radios and other shit that if I really Really need to get a hold of somebody I can. But like but again, like if something goes horrible. Wow, where did my camera point? Woo good. Oh, you're at the floor. Oh face mouth Yeah. We're doing great. Uh you're doing good. Yeah. Doing a great job. So like if s like I said, if something were to happen, I I have ways of doing this, but this is This is really cool because it's it's a really quick way to just have a complete decentralized, not rely on anything. Now you can use the app. To say like, hey, if I'm not in range of any nodes, use the internet to broadcast my stuff. But that sort of defeats the purpose.

Paul 15:12

Okay.

Drew 15:13

And it supports like MQTT. You can even like there's even like some uh integrations where you can set up like a JSON transmission mode where it sends packets. So like if you want to use this like home assistant or anything, like There there's so many different integrations you can like start to do with this stuff. So I got, I fell down, obviously, I fell down this rabbit hole pretty hard. Uh and I wanted to send you one because I thought you would think it was cool.

Paul 15:38

That is cool. I can't wait to yeah.

Drew 15:43

Yeah. Yeah, I'll be I'll be curious if your if your node what was yours again?

Paul 15:48

Three C one seven. Metastic 3C17.

Drew 15:54

Yeah, I haven't I haven't heard it yet. But if you like leave yours near near your windows that it can see the sky I might we'll see.

Paul 16:01

I'm actually wondering because I have like a Mac Mini under my desk. I wonder if I just get a long enough like USB cable and just set it in my windowsill and see what happens and let it run.

Drew 16:10

Yeah. Yeah. Like I'm down in my basement. Like I'm not gonna get that cell out of here, right? Yeah. Yeah. Now, like I said, uh you can like there are people who buy like kits that you can like put on your roof. That are like solar powered and will stay online for like weeks at a time, that all they do is repeat the signal. So like then themselves are not a client, but they can repeat the signal and keep it like going. Okay. So there's all sorts of there's all sorts of neat neat infrastructure that goes around this. And there are like other uh software packages, but mesh tastic I think is probably the most. Um the most popular. Apparently the record uh for node-to-node communication has been 331 kilometers. Wow. Yeah, so like this stuff works. It's pretty cool stuff. It's cool. Yeah. So that's that's what this is. That's what I have been trying to send you for like two weeks now.

Paul 17:08

Yeah. Yeah. Anyway. Look at that. Oh, it's got a GPS in it. Yeah, look at that. Yeah.

Drew 17:14

Yep, because what you can do is after you detect a node, uh, there's things like exchange location, exchange user information. Like it's a good way to like just Just know who's out there. You can rename your radio too. Most people don't, uh, just for privacy reasons, right? Like privacy is a big part of this too. So otherwise it just shows like a relative circle about where the person is located, but you could share a precise location if you want. So anyway, fashion. Fastastic. That's cool. Yeah. I'll have to play around with that some. Yeah. Yeah. Let me know what you think. Yeah. Yeah.

Paul 17:50

Maybe I'll maybe I'll maybe I'll drive around before the snow hits tomorrow and see what see what we're doing.

Drew 17:55

Oh buddy, are you are you guys are you are you guys ready? As ready as we're gonna be. Yeah. It's interesting. Like now I'm hearing it's not going to be as bad, so I don't know.

Paul 18:05

From what I've heard, like this is like right on the fringes of what modern like weather models can predict. Like between like the the air temperature and the ground temperature, it's just like I get like I heard like it's like ninety-nine percentiles for both. So they honestly just have no fucking idea what's gonna happen. Like it's gonna snow. It's gonna it's gonna like rain. Depending where you're at, either you're gonna get ice or rain or snow. It's just a question of how much. So yeah. Yeah. Oh. Alright, so we have some follow-up. Yeah. I just wanted to give everybody a follow-up on my uh daughter's condition. Okay. You know, they At the she went to the ER during our last recording. Uh she did get seen like right away. The doctors weren't like, yeah, they were concerned, but it's not like we have to keep you overnight. They started, excuse me, they started on some really strong antibiotics and they drew a big circle around the the swelling. Like, if it gets worse than this, please come in. And uh Yeah, it turns out modern medicine is is amazing and she's doing much better. Yeah, the redness is gone, the the red streaky line going up her arm's gone. Like it looks much better. So she's definitely not dead.

Drew 19:22

Yeah, good. So like was there an official name for what she had?

Paul 19:25

Uh I don't know if there was I'm sure there was, but yeah. Yeah. Just a nasty, nasty infection is is what it was.

Drew 19:34

So yeah. Oh. All right. Well, I'm glad she's okay. Mandy was actually kind of concerned.

Paul 19:40

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like I was telling my daughter, like, this is the kind of shit that like before modern medicine You'd you'd like you'd lose your arm or just die.

Drew 19:49

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Hard to play hard to play tennis with only one arm. That's true. That's true. Oh All right, now it's your turn to talk about something that you bought. Okay. So I bought a new headphone amplifier, Drew.

Paul 20:04

I clicked on this. Uh-huh. So this whole thing started when I gotta be in my bonnet and I kind of reorganized my desk And I had uh I think we had a very s maybe it was the previous model of what you had of the the the project, the the itty bitty little one. It's down my floorsomeware.

Drew 20:23

And it was great device, great device.

Paul 20:25

But as I reorganized, I noticed I had a little bit more room. on my desk for my headphone amplifier. So I started shopping around. And I landed on uh it's from a company called FIO. And it is the K13 R2R. And what the R2R stands it stands for resistor to resistor. And it is a different way of processing the digital signal to make an analog signal. They're a little bit more expensive, though. This one is a very uh, they have also have like a K11 that's a little cheaper, but As far as these goes, it was a very inexpensive purchase.

Drew 21:12

And yeah, it's about what I spent on mine.

Paul 21:15

Yeah. And I so like I I I when I got it, I did a side by side comparison with my old headphone amp and this new one, and Drew, like I don't think it's hyperbole to say this has been the most significant upgrade to my like audio, my headphone setup ever. It sounds amazing. Okay. So uh obviously they talk about like warmth. Uh it's it's a it's a very warm sound. Uh and the things that I've noticed, so This is gonna sound really weird. But obviously, I listen to a lot of music with a lot of like heavily distorted guitars. Distortion is just part of the thing. The distortion sounds cleaner. So like I can hear it better. And one of these, what they're also known for is low listening fatigue. So sometimes like digital audio sounds can can make certain people like kind of get tired listening, they get headaches, they get like just kind of just general like soreness in the head. And it becomes and I would get that after a long session. And with this, I haven't had it at all. It is absolutely uh title. It is absolutely just incredible. If I had one complaint, if I had one complaint It's the knobs. Really? The knobs look nice. Okay, the knob the knobs are nice. They they have a nice click and they have a nice feel. They're just not big enough

Drew 23:09

Well, how big is this thing? Because I'm having a hard time judging.

Paul 23:12

Okay, hold on. That's not uh it's not powered on so I can unplug it and uh and show you. Hold on. Hold on, oh, hold on. Okay

Drew 23:21

Okay. Well, okay, so get okay, so let me see the knobs. Show me your knobs, Daddy.

Paul 23:27

Yeah, so you can see the knobs, like, they only go out to there Oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so and they're fine, they're fine. But how often are you fiddling with the knob? Hardly ever. That's a thing. I pretty much got the volume set to where I want it to be, and I just I just leave it. It also has uh Let's see if I will let power back on. No. Uh oh, there it goes. It's also got like uh some like it's got a nice like little white LE I well It's a color changing alien.

Drew 24:01

I wondered I wondered if it lit up.

Paul 24:03

I wondered if it lit up. Yeah, so the knot it's our yeah, the knobs light up. The the little glass window in the top lights up, and you have to download their very shitty app. to uh oh yeah to uh change the colors, but uh yeah it uh and it's like it's got an EQ, it's got all kinds of other settings that I don't fully understand. And I I don't understand why it sounds better. It's just one of those things like it just does. And I don't know, I've been very, very happy with it.

Drew 24:35

It's you know it's funny. It's funny when I click on the buy now button, it takes me to the K11 and not the K15. Where did you buy this thing?

Paul 24:43

Amazon. Amazon.

Drew 24:46

Yeah. Well I looked at I I looked at it. Okay, so that's not what the price is. Okay, hold on a second. So let me let me see what the actual price is. Yes. It was so it's the um K13R2R. K13R2R. Oh, still not too bad. And they have silver and they have black and you got the black.

Paul 25:09

Yeah, yeah. So 320 bucks. uh is the Amazon price. I think you can if you could you might be able to find a seller that's selling it for less, but uh All right.

Drew 25:20

So here's my question, right? As someone who went through a DAC and AMP purchase earlier this year. How did you find this one? I just started doing some research.

Paul 25:33

I just started looking around and specifically I was looking for So I was looking for the uh the intersection of audiophiles and metal heads. And there was some posts on Reddit and everyone was saying that like, hey, like you gotta get like an like a resistor to resistor. that gamp. Like it it it does make a difference. And and then I started looking like what I and I even asked like Chatty G, like explain the difference. And it was it was way too technical for me. Oh like it's resistors. Resistors all the way down. Resistors all the way down. Uh and they're just like, yeah, like the the the the sound definition and and the the warmth is just better. It's also a pretty powerful amp. I've got, you know, the one headphones that I use most of the time are pretty easy to drive. They're magnetic planar, they're open, open back. But I also have another pair of headphones that are closed back. And they're a little harder to drive and this thing has no problem with it. Where I really had to crank up my project to get to get it to sound good. But yeah, yeah. I'm so you're happy with this.

Drew 26:46

Okay. Very happy. It's wonderful. I would highly recommend it. So this is hooked up to your AMP. on your record? Just stats?

Paul 26:55

No, this is just for this thing for headphones. It's just it's cooked up to my uh my Thunderbolt docs, whatever computer I'm using has it. So it's this is my like listening to headphones during the day. You know, well, I'm not sure.

Drew 27:07

Like Spotify. Spotify stuff.

Paul 27:10

Spotify. Spotify lossless.

Drew 27:14

Put putting on airs, I see. So So then um you still have what the phono amp for your record stuff?

Paul 27:23

Yeah it's the it's a project M I A S something or other.

Drew 27:28

Yeah. And I wasn't yeah. I I wasn't sure if you were using this on that stack or not.

Paul 27:34

I I thought about it. Like I could run like a audio out and snake it around my office and plug it in there.

Drew 27:41

I may do that.

Paul 27:42

But but at this point it's not worth it. I have a if I want generally speaking, when I'm listening to record, I don't have headphones on. I just I just want to sit and listen to the phone.

Drew 27:49

Oh, you got the speakers.

Paul 27:51

I got the speakers. I do have like a pair of Sennheiser Were they comically long chord on it? Comically long, way too long. Like irresponsibly long chord on it. And I do have that over there by my uh uh record player. My turn, my turn table, excuse me, my turntable. Uh Uh so if I do want to listen to headphones, I can. Uh that's just ready to go. But yeah, so good. It's good.

Drew 28:18

Yeah, I mean it's kind of timely because I I don't know if you can tell, but I'm I got new headphones. Oh yeah, you did. Yeah, I did. Yeah, my other one my other ones were super ratty. Get just getting super ratty. They were a pair of Sony XM4s, I think. So I just I just went and bought Sony uh XM sixes. Sixes. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. Um you know what's funny? So I have I, you know, like I said, I got that new DAC and AMP and it has like a bunch of different like USB settings and output settings and everything. And like when I got these out of the box from uh Biso's place, I I literally just unplugged my other ones, plug these ones in. And I was getting like horrible static out of this one side. And I'm like, okay, they sent me a defective pair. No, no, no. When I was connecting to my phone with Bluetooth, it sounded fine. So I table no I just I had to like recalibrate or change a bunch of shit on my DAC because there there's like there was like settings here. Let me see. What's the name of the setting? Um Yeah Yeah, there's like there's a diff there's different types of modes. You probably can't hear me very good. Um there's different types of modes and then there's like different PCM filters and stuff that you have to like change. God damn it, follow my follow my face. God, even my webcam can't stand my face. Yeah, but I had to like I had to like fiddle with that a little bit, and it sounds pretty good. Um Even when noise canceling isn't on, these things are quiet. Like my other ones, they're way over there. But Uh when I had my other ones on, like I could still hear like stuff that was happening. And I don't ever play on the computer with the noise canceling on. Yeah. But like this They're like they're like over ear, like they're they're on there, man. They're fucking on there. They sound good. Like I no complaints, but Yeah, they I just had to it was just wild to me that like my my amp would have different settings for these. I don't know. Don't know. Anyway. Oh, did I lose you? No, no, you're you're still there.

Paul 30:28

You're still you're still there.

Drew 30:29

Okay. Yeah. Okay. Oh. Yeah. I need to go buy a new shovel, I think, but it's probably too late now.

Paul 30:36

Yeah. Oh all right. So I I have one more topic if we're if we're looking for something to talk about.

Drew 30:42

I mean, I'm here for it, buddy.

Paul 30:44

Okay. So Drew, I have a new personality now.

Drew 30:48

I'm 3D printed. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Okay, so you're you' You're Paul the heavy metal guy. Mm-hmm You're Paul the coffee snob. Yep. You're Paul the board game guy. Now you're Paul the Meshtastic guy. Yep. You're Paul the Blue Jackets fan. Paul the Father. What's the new one? I'm a 3D printer guy. No shit. Okay. Which one did you get?

Paul 31:15

I got a bamboo lab P1S. Ooh, good choice. Good choice. Yeah. So I was thinking about it for a while and I was talking to people at work, and and I guess I got the recommendation of just like if you just want something that's like Easy to use and not that expensive. And I I wanted something in close because some of my cats are assholes. Yeah. And then it was over over the long weekend. You know, over uh Sunday, I'm kind of just sitting there and I'm like kind of restless. I'm like, I wonder what Micro Center has. And they had the Bamboo Lab P1S combo with the AMS, which is the like spool, like holds four spools like that for $550. That's pretty fucking good.

Drew 32:00

Because a bunch of new ones are about to come out.

Paul 32:03

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So like they're getting rid of them and I get because the P2S is out and it's got some other features and stuff. And I went and I just like I, you know, I I did get spousal approval because this isn't gonna be like, you know, like it's it's like it's in the sunroom, so you can see it. You if you're downstairs, you can just hear it. It's printing right now. And I got spousal approval. I'm like, I'm thinking about buying a 3D printer. She's like, how much? And I said like 550 bucks. She's like, oh. Okay, like go.

Drew 32:36

Good on you, Jennifer. Good on you. I don't even ask permission. So like you guys have a much better marriage than we do.

Paul 32:41

I knew where I wanted to put it, like it was gonna be visible and stuff, and and because I don't have room in my office for it. Uh and I just I uh what however however my brain is broken 3D printing just fits in perfectly in those weird edges. Pretty cool.

Drew 33:01

Yeah. It's pretty cool. All right. So let's let's dive in here. So um tell me a little bit about the colors and material you're printing with. So I'm just sticking to PLA right first, right? PLA, PLA plus.

Paul 33:14

I uh I have some PLA plus. I got like a silk like that's gold. Yeah. Uh uh I'm just sticking with that for now. Uh I may experiment with the other like materials later, but like everyone said like just PLA, it's like practically foolproof. Like just don't just don't print things for the inside of your car or for outside. Like

Drew 33:35

Or that you want to eat off of. Exactly.

Paul 33:37

Yeah, exactly. Uh you know, I printed some stupid shit uh at first Like, hold on. I got this wonderful little spinny fidget toy. It's just absolutely wonderful.

Drew 33:46

Oh wow.

Paul 33:47

Looks like it did a good job. Yeah. Oh, it did a great job. Uh I printed my first board game organizer. Uh I finished that. It took a couple days, but I finished that up today. I printed a really nice one for uh Lord of the Rings fate of the fellowship because that game desperately needed a three uh an organizer.

Drew 34:05

Every Z every every fucking Z-Man game, man.

Paul 34:08

Uh, and I'm super happy with it. And and and uh Uh I'm half s I have some more like plates coming uh and I'm printing like a hole. What's printing right now is this little holder that you put on the left side. of your printer so you can put your plates there because of course I'm gonna print I'm gonna print things for my 3D printer. Yeah. You know, uh a bunch of people said tools that you're gonna want to print. Like, you know, so I've been printing some stuff to help like remove pieces and hold things in better. And my wife has sent me a laundry list of things that she wants me to print. And uh I'm tomorrow I'm gonna print a uh paintbrush holder for my daughter. Uh so yeah, so for her art stuff, yeah.

Drew 34:50

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um it's Yeah, you know, I had I I had that bug a few years ago. I went with a Prusa, which is also a pretty high really respected, so is Bamboo. Um What's the other what's the other company right now that's making some good ones? It fucking escapes me right now. It's um it's not not monoprice. There's um Fuck, what's it called?

Paul 35:15

I don't know.

Drew 35:15

It's like it's like in it's like in that sphere. Let me let me see here. Uh god damn it. Um maker oh 3D printing, 3D printers. Um there Micro Center sells uh the bamboo stuff and they also sell uh Eli Goo's pretty good. Like my resin printer's an Eligu. Okay. Because I I have I have a resin printer too. I don't know if I ever talked about that. Um cre uh Creol Creole T or whatever. Yeah. They're making they're making some decent stuff these days too. Creole T, whatever. Yeah. So yeah, I mean Micro Center is a great place to pick that stuff up. Plus, they have like every conceivable type of material that you ever want there. Yep. Yeah. Um yeah, I mean I there there's like a couple times a year where I'll get a bug up my ass to go like recalibrate my 3D printer and get it set up and then it's like Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I I've toyed with getting another one, but uh I'm not in a place where I really need that right now. Um, but I am curious about your multicolor printing. Yeah. How much material does it waste?

Paul 36:25

So not very much. So I so I haven't printed a lot of mold. Well, I printed this one bookmark for my wife, but it was just like it just purged the black out the poop shoot and then like did some white. So like when I did the uh Board game organizer, you know, it's it's it's super nice. It's got like all the trays are different colors, and it has like symbols for the different components or riding, so those are all in different colors. And yeah, it did weigh some, but it was like, man, like maybe like a quarter of a gram. Just like an absolute small little spot. Or it dumped the s dump the the the and you know obvious and you think about it, right? Like it's gotta cut it and then whatever's in the the hot or the you know from the extruder down to the the the tip it's gotta purge. Uh but it did a really it's it yeah, it's wasteful, but like granted this particular prints were like it would print like the the base of like the bin. And then purge and then just print the color and then it was done with that color and it just went the rest of the material. So it wasn't like it was a lot of switching back and forth. It was just basically like once.

Drew 37:38

Yeah.

Paul 37:38

Uh, but it didn't hardly waste any And uh yeah, it's it it's it's been doing pretty good.

Drew 37:46

And uh now you mentioned now you mentioned you're buying other baseball plates. So like my my Perusa has um it came with like a regular plate that's double sided, but then they also made powder coated plates. that stuff didn't stick to. So with yours, do you have to use glue or anything to get adhesion? No?

Paul 38:05

No, no, no, no. And uh actually the one of the plates that's coming is what recommended by a couple of people. And apparently it's got it's lower temperatures and Like so I so ha I made my first mistake of uh when I was uh printing the board game organizer, I didn't wait for the plate to cool down once and I just ripped. I just ripped one of the boxes, just shredded that fucker. So I'm waiting for the bed to cool down more, which is like why I have another one coming. So I can just basically take the bed out, put a new one in and keep printing if I want and let it cool down. Uh Yeah. And like it usually if I give it like 20 minutes, it's like the things just comes right off. Like it gets down to it seems to be like once it gets to like 30 degrees Celsius, the it Cause it like the bed I have goes up to fifty like it heats the bed to fifty five, everything it he's is nice and once it gets down to like thirty degrees Celsius, things just pop right off. But the one that I have coming is supposed to be even better. It doesn't have to get as hot. for the adhesion so it's it's quicker to cool down and and get stuff off. So and it's blue, it's pretty.

Drew 39:11

Uh um now I believe that did yours come with multiple nozzles?

Paul 39:17

No, no, no. This one just has one nozzle. Uh, you can upgrade the P2S to have multiple nozzles, I believe, so you don't have any loss at all. Uh but the the the P1S doesn't have that option.

Drew 39:30

You just gotta But is the the is the nozzle that came with it rated for like the carbon filaments? It is not.

Paul 39:38

Okay. Yeah. You have to get a uh Different material, I think, to to be able to do those.

Drew 39:44

But yeah, a lot of the stuff a lot of the stuff that I want to print, I really want to use that. I mean they call it call it carbon fiber filament.

Paul 39:50

I don't think it's really carbon fiber, but it it is a much it it's plastic with like carbon fiber in it, I believe.

Drew 39:56

Yeah. Rough. Like you need a nozzle. Like you like you need like a stainless steel nozzle because it'll just shred the brass ones, which a lot of these are just brass. Yeah. Yeah. Uh so you need like a stainless steel nozzle. And I thought that the bamboo ones came with like a compatible one, maybe I'm wrong.

Paul 40:13

May uh hold on, let's find out. Yeah.

Drew 40:16

Can 'cause that's kind of the reason I was looking at them is

Paul 40:18

I mean, because I can buy nozzle plate I could I can basically print a different enclosure for my Prusa and it comes with stainless steel, but you have to upgrade to the hardened steel nozzle to be able to print the carbon fiber filaments. Yeah.

Drew 40:33

A lot of this, like I did, a lot of the stuff I want to print is for like outdoor usage, and I want it to be a little stronger. So, and that stuff, that stuff is actually pretty rigid.

Paul 40:43

Yeah. Yeah. So that's cool. And and I'm learning a lot. Like my YouTube algorithm is just like, hey, you want to watch some 3D printing stuff? I'm like, yeah, I do. You know? Learning how to use like the tools, like the software that comes with it. And maybe I'll get into like designing my own 3D models, but for now I'm just, dude, there are dude. There are so many mod like things out there. Like I bet you I could find a nice little stand for this radio you got me or like a belt clip that I could find. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Drew 41:15

Well, there are I mean there are definitely shells for mesh tastic. They call them Laura radios long L O R A. So like L uppercase L lowercase O R A. Uh not to be confused with like Laura's for Gen AI stuff, but uh long range is what is what the is what the technology is. I I guarantee you you could find housings for the different microcontrollers that power these things. 100%. 100%. So that's really cool, buddy. Um yeah, so you got the P1S with the AMS. Yep. Um What's like your next big project with it? You're just-I mean you're obviously having fun with it right now. Is there is there other stuff that else you want to do?

Paul 41:54

Or I got some more board game organizers that I want to print. I mean, that's that's primary. Like, let's be honest. Like, I'm gonna print my own. Like it's It's it's instead of having to buy them on Etsy for freaking 60 bucks. Uh yeah. And like I said, I I've just booked I've been going through what maker world or whatever the bamboo labs thing is and just bookmarking some stuff that looks interesting. Like I said, my my wife has like literally there was I I sent her the website and like I have like a text thread of just like 12 things that I bookmarked just for her. So And and like I said, tomorrow is gonna be the probably the the paintbrush thing for my daughter, but and then printing some stuff for for Jen, but and then board game organizers and and and stuff. Like this to be honest to be honest, I'm a big fucking nerd. So

Drew 42:42

Now, uh the bamboo P1S, I I think most of the bamboos are pretty speedy too, right? Like they they're pretty fast from what I understand.

Paul 42:51

Yeah, yeah. like point of reference because this is the first one I've had, but like I've been pretty happy with it. Like yeah, like I'm like, yeah, like prints can take like you know some like some of the stuff takes like four, five, six, eight hours And but considering that like it like before that time that thing didn't exist and then it like It I mean the head does move really fast, and to think the precision that it's getting of melting the plastic and laying it down perfectly. over and over again that fast is just absolutely mind blowing. I I could I and I did like the first day I got it, I did find myself just sitting in front of it with a podcast and just watching it go.

Drew 43:41

It's you know just just it is like it's yeah, yeah. It's a little mesmerizing for sure. Yep. Yeah. Cool man. That's I mean, uh first of all, congratulations. Welcome to the call. Um My like I said, mine's mine's about due to be pulled out and and fiddled with. Um but I'm I'm probably due for a new one if I want to do any series printing. Yeah.

Paul 44:02

Very, very cool. I'm really happy with it. So yeah. And now and also now I can see why people have multiple. It's like, well, if I had two of these, I could print it twice as like.

Drew 44:12

Yeah, you're mak you're making a lot of sense. You're making a lot of sense. Yeah, but So double double your production.

Paul 44:18

Yeah, I'm fighting that. Just the one's good. It's good. It's fine. Uh, but yeah.

Drew 44:24

Yeah, I I'm I'm sort of in the same boat right now with Gen AI stuff for home. So I've been playing with different models at home and like I I have like spare graphics cards and stuff here and it's just like Should I go buy a 96 gig graphics card right now for like $10,000? And the answer is no. The answer is no. But I get it. Like, man, this would I could generate I could generate these pictures of my dragon porn so much faster if I had If I had a better video card, you know? Yeah. Yeah. This dragon could have six nipples. Like I could do all c I could do all sorts of shit, man. You don't even know. You don't even know the type of fucking ribbed shit I'm generating over here, man. It's the only reason I want to do it local. This should this shit should never be the other day. Yeah. Wait. I'm not embarrassed. But yeah. You don't want to be on the list. Yeah, exactly. Oh cool buddy. I'm happy for you. Um yeah, I'm glad Arabelle's okay. I'm glad you're doing 3D printing. Man, you got like Got like good audio going on over there. Everything's coming up Paul.

Paul 45:36

I got I got my I got my little radio, so yeah, yeah. My yeah.

Drew 45:40

I keep I keep I keep taking a peek at my stuff to see if if I hear your radio, but I haven't heard it yet.

Paul 45:45

I might I'll I'll go I'll I'll reorganize things tonight or tomorrow morning and get this thing in the in my window and let it sit there for a bit and see what happens.

Drew 45:55

Yeah, and and take it, take the time to like just read the docs a little bit so you know what the different settings are. Yeah, yeah. Um, and kind of like how the app works and stuff. But It's it's not rocket surgery, but I think it'd be kind of cool.

Paul 46:09

There was a couple QR codes on the box, I imagine one of them was like documentation, so yeah. Yeah.

Drew 46:15

Yeah, and as as long as you got it to pair, like yeah, you're good. But yeah, it's it's pretty cool stuff. Uh that's podcast, I think. Let's do it.

Paul 46:24

Yeah. Oh doingTheirBest. com. You can find all the show notes there. You can find us on YouTube. If you like shorts, we're on YouTube and TikTok. Get on mesh tastic nerds. Yeah, get on meshastic, for sure.

Drew 46:38

And uh that's how you're gonna be able that's the only way you're gonna be able to hear us with Society collapses. I got radios and guns. I'm gonna be fine.

Paul 46:50

Hey, thanks for listening.