I recently had the urge to get a fun, colorful summer watch. But I can't justify the expense of even a beautiful, beautiful Tsuyosa right now, so I built my own for less than 70€ :D

Built around a Seiko/SII NH35, all parts (case, bracelet, dial, hands) sourced from Aliexpress. Fit and finish are OK (I'd say a bit below pre-reboot Seiko 5), but these are very cheap parts anyway.

I "branded" the dial by experimenting with toner transfer. It looks like shit up close, but at wrist-length, it's fine.

I silenced the cheap-ass, rattly-as-fuck bracelet by thoroughly soaking it in bike chain grease.

Wrist shot: https://i.imgur.com/iIiJCwW.jpg

I've watched a lot of resources about toner transfer over the last few days, and while everything was quite experimental and empirical, the main gist was : heat + pressure = toner transfer. As I didn't want to, for obvious reasons, cook a dial full of unknown glues, paints and metals in the family's kitchen oven, I started experimenting with my printer's bed.

So I made a janky setup. I printed my design mirrored on a laser-compatible transparency sheet, cut it to size, secured it on a sterile dial with a bit of Kapton and cut a bit of rubber to try and spread pressure evenly. I then clamped the contraption to my printer's heated bed.

Advantages: It's basically free if you already have a laser printer, transparencies and a 3d printer laying around.

Inconvenients: It looks absolutely unprofessional up close. At regular wrist distance, it's fine.

My first attempt was 30 minutes at 100°C. Way too much heat and/or pressure, the printing was smooshed and uneven pressure meant that parts of the design didn't transfer properly. The sheet's cutout shape was clearly imprinted on the glossy dial.

My second attempt (pictured here) was 15 minutes at 95°C. Much crisper lines and if not for a tiny bit of the logo that didn't transfer (probably a speck of dust underneath), would have been perfect. The sheet's cutout shape was still slightly imprinted on the glossy dial, on matte dials it might not be visible.

This process deserves to be refined as it brings an easy way to customize dials if you're not aiming at super macro beauty shots, unfortunately I don't have any spare dials anymore to experiment. I think a lower temperature and/or a lower pressure might work even better.

Edit: Here are my two attempts at making this dial:

https://i.imgur.com/QWKhzYG.jpeg

The SV08 is marketed as a mass-produced Voron 2.4, with a much lower price and a very quick setup. They even say they donate a small amount to the Voron project for each sale.

Has anyone here bought/tested it? What are your thoughts about it?

Are there some limitations/downsides compared to a Voron?

Is it possible to upgrade it Voron-style (Stealthburner, enclosure etc)?

A very minimalist theme, based on the amazing work of https://draculatheme.com/

Red/orange: {"other":{"black":"#23252e","white":"#f8f8f2"},"primary":{"100":"#ff5555","900":"#ffb86c"},"zinc":{"50":"#f8f8f2","100":"#f8f8f2","200":"#ffb86c","300":"#f8f8f2","400":"#f8f8f2","500":"#ffb86c","700":"#23252e","800":"#23252e","900":"#23252e","925":"#282a36","950":"#282a36"},"slate":{}}

Orange/yellow: {"other":{"black":"#23252e","white":"#f8f8f2"},"primary":{"100":"#ffb86c","900":"#f1fa8c"},"zinc":{"50":"#f8f8f2","100":"#f8f8f2","200":"#f1fa8c","300":"#f8f8f2","400":"#f8f8f2","500":"#f1fa8c","700":"#23252e","800":"#23252e","900":"#23252e","925":"#282a36","950":"#282a36"},"slate":{}}

Green/Yellow: {"other":{"black":"#23252e","white":"#f8f8f2"},"primary":{"100":"#50fa7b","900":"#f1fa8c"},"zinc":{"50":"#f8f8f2","100":"#f8f8f2","200":"#f1fa8c","300":"#f8f8f2","400":"#f8f8f2","500":"#f1fa8c","700":"#23252e","800":"#23252e","900":"#23252e","925":"#282a36","950":"#282a36"},"slate":{}}

Purple/pink: {"other":{"black":"#23252e","white":"#f8f8f2"},"primary":{"100":"#bd93f9","900":"#ff79c6"},"zinc":{"50":"#f8f8f2","100":"#f8f8f2","200":"#ff79c6","300":"#f8f8f2","400":"#f8f8f2","500":"#ff79c6","700":"#23252e","800":"#23252e","900":"#23252e","925":"#282a36","950":"#282a36"},"slate":{}}

Synthwave: {"other":{"black":"#23252e","white":"#f8f8f2"},"primary":{"100":"#8be9fd","900":"#ff79c6"},"zinc":{"50":"#f8f8f2","100":"#f8f8f2","200":"#ff79c6","300":"#f8f8f2","400":"#f8f8f2","500":"#ff79c6","700":"#23252e","800":"#23252e","900":"#23252e","925":"#282a36","950":"#282a36"},"slate":{}}

I own a rainbow of beautiful colors, mostly from Diamine, but what I really miss a a truly black ink for formal days. I have a big bottle of Parker Quink Black, but I almost never use it as it's actually a middle-to-dark-gray ink even with my flowiest pens.

So what are your favorite, deeply saturated black inks?

Bonus points if it's (very) affordable and easily available in Europe (so no noodlers).

These days I'm experimenting with tibicos as an (almost) non-alcoholic, low carb yet still festive alternative to beer with a very fast turn around. I usually tend to brew quite strong beers in the Belgian tradition (8-12%) because these are my favorite styles, so not getting smashed while still enjoying a tasty drink is always nice.

I was wondering if any of you have ever tried brewing beer with it. The composition of tibicos grains is suspiciously similar to a lot of sour beer cultures (mostly various strains of S. Cervisae, lactobacillus and acetobacter). I was thinking something along the lines of a Berliner Weisse or some light gueuze/lambic.

My favourite theme for Atom/Pulsar by colortom, now available for Photon ;)

{"other":{"black":"#292929","white":"#bfabab"},"primary":{"100":"#db9243","900":"#428a58"},"zinc":{"100":"#6e9ba8","200":"#d3294e","300":"#bfabab","400":"#bfabab","500":"#85af4e","700":"#2c2e33","800":"#2c2e33","900":"#242424","925":"#292929","950":"#292929"},"slate":{}}

Edit: Fixed secondary accent color.

As there is no documentation (yet), I've done this by trial and error, feel free to tell me if stuff doesn't behave correctly :D

Based on the amazing color scheme by Ethan Schoonover: https://ethanschoonover.com/solarized/

{"other":{"white":"#fdf6e3","black":"#002b36"},"primary":{"100":"#859900","900":"#2aa198"},"zinc":{"50":"#eee8d5","100":"#eee8d5","200":"#d33682","300":"#eee8d5","400":"#eee8d5","500":"#2aa198","600":"#93a1a1","700":"#657b83","800":"#0b3f4d","900":"#073642","925":"#002b36","950":"#002b36"},"slate":{"25":"#fdf6e3","50":"#fdf6e3","100":"#eee8d5","200":"#eee8d5","300":"#eee8d5","400":"#2aa198","500":"#268bd2","600":"#0b3f4d","700":"#0b3f4d","800":"#0b3f4d","900":"#002b36","950":"#002b36"}}

For future reference, here's what I've gathered so far:

Slate (LIGHT)

• 25: Central window background
• 50: Global background
• 100: instance, background hover left bar, pictures background
• 200: outlines
• 300: buttons bottom outline
• 400: ???
• 500: instance
• 600: sidebars text color, OP username, post date, reply button
• 700: ???
• 800: ???
• 900: titles, comments, upvote/downvote buttons
• 950: ???

Zinc (DARK)

• 50: ???
• 100: titles, comments
• 200: upvote/downvote buttons, settings comments
• 300: post text
• 400: sidebars text color
• 500: user instance
• 600: theme buttons outline (?)
• 700: button top outline
• 800: outlines, background hover left bar
• 900: Buttons, instance, cards background
• 925: Central window background
• 950: Global background

Primary

• 100 Main UI accent color - DARK
• 900 Main UI accent color - LIGHT

Other

• Black: ??? Seems to always be black
• White: card background - LIGHT

This is my very first Gunpla and I have some opinions :D

I loved building it, it's a very cool puzzle and once I got in the flow, it was great.

The arms are kinda bad, one of them doesn't extend fully and I don't understand why as it's identical to the other. The hands are awful. Everything else is great, the legs in particular are incredible.

Panel lining with cheap acrylic paint diluted with water and dish soap works very well, and since the paint doesn't adhere completely even when dry, it's very easy to clean.

It's... flimsy. Very flimsy. I don't know if it's this model in particular or if all Gunpla are like this but posing it is more stressful than fun. The arms and the shoulder armor in particular pop off constantly, and I had to glue the crest because it kept flying off.

I've been diagnosed by my former therapist but I feel things are getting worse these days.

I mean, I have my vape in my hand, and one second later it's nowhere to be found. Maybe it's in the bedroom where I swear I haven't been in the last 5 hours. Maybe in a bathroom cabinet. Maybe on the table but I wouldn't tell because my fuckin brain is incapable to discern any object in the middle of clutter.

Is there a strategy to remember where I've put something I was holding? It's gotten to the point that I'm getting preemptively mad when something I'm looking for is not where it's supposed to be because I know I'll have to turn the flat upside down just to find it, just to lose it again a few minutes later and/or do the same song and dance for the next thing I need.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/20255211

I'm sur a lot of you have seen this video from James Hoffmann discussing the massive differences observed when spritzing some water on the beans before grinding.

So I took the plunge and bought a spray bottle, and tested it immediately on my mildly-disappointing, home-roasted medium-light Yrgacheffe in my Mythos-modded DF64.

Of course I don't have a particle analyzer to replicate the results, but I can still count on my senses to see if there is an actual difference between dry and spritzed beans.

The beans were dialed-in at 18g in, 45g out, 30s when dry.

Then, the 3s-spritz beans went in. I didn't see much difference when grinding (maybe a bit less retention), but when pulling the shot, wow. It started to drip much later and slower, and took around 42s to complete the shot. There was a bit of spraying so channeling may still be happening though. The taste was incredible compared to the baseline. Every flavor was turned up to 11, with much more body, sweetness and complexity, with still a clear acidity cutting through the syrupy goodness, and a taste that lingered in my mouth for a very long time.

I dialed back the grinder for a 30s shot. This one was very disappointing and obviously under-extracted: sour, with a lingering astringency, and the flavors were kind of muted. So the beans really seem to benefit from extra contact time with seemingly no drawbacks in terms of overextraction, or the initial delay acted as a sort of preinfusion.

So my takeway is this: invest in a $£2€ spray bottle, either dial-in with dry beans or aim for a 35-45% longer extraction compared to your baseline, and enjoy!

Have you tested it? What are your results?