Monthly Archives: January 2022

DIY Upgrades to a Desktop CNC Router

A couple years ago I purchased a 3018 Desktop CNC router from an online retailer. My goal was to learn more about CNC applications and usage, with the goal of eventually graduating to a larger version to manufacture various things. I’m still far away from a larger model, but for now it’s quite a bit of fun to be able to make your own parts for things. Between this and my 3d printer, there isn’t a lot of designs I can’t make given the time or design capability.

I’ve found Teaching Tech on YouTube, and this video in particular has given some great ideas about upgrading. For example, replacing the stock spindle with a Dremel tool. Since I happened to have an extra one laying around my garage, I just might do this!

I’m also becoming much more familiar with sites like Ali Express and dx.com. They offer relatively inexpensive electronics (among many other things) and are a great resource for things like LCD screens, stepper motor controllers, etc. I’ll definitely spend some time browsing them. Always looking for a good deal!

How to Beat the Windows 10 Automatic Reboots

So in the essence of concurrency and preventing old installations of Windows to propagate bugs and vulnerabilities, Microsoft has started performing automatic reboots of the system based on patching. While you can pick a schedule for these reboots to take place, one thing you cannot do (even as an administrator) is easily disable the reboots. I like to have more control over my systems, especially if I’m working on something that requires time – downloading a large file, rendering, etc.

Enter Reboot Blocker from Major Geeks! This will effectively shuffle around your reboot window, so that the window is never achieved. Be advised this runs as a service, but I couldn’t be happier with it. It has allowed me to regain total control over my patching schedule. (Which I still do frequently, just on my own timeline!)

If you try this out, leave a reply below and let me know what you think!

Finally back online!

It took way too long, but I finally got around to getting this blog back up and running. I had fortunately kept a SQL file of all of my old posts, (although several images are probably broken now) and was able to execute it to get my old content back up and running. Hopefully it’ll stay!