Administrivia

Review Phreesia Authorization

“Preregistering” for a medical appointment started by clicking a link in an email to reach a website with no obvious relation to the medical office, filling in a selection of my private bits, then being confronted by this wall of text:

———- Wall of text begins ———-

Review Phreesia Authorization
Please review the authorization below. A copy of this authorization form will be available at the front desk.
Authorization for Uses and Disclosures of Protected Health Information
Health-Related Materials

I hereby authorize my healthcare provider to release to Phreesia’s Check-in system my health information entered during the automated Check-in process, or on file with my healthcare provider, to help determine the health-related materials I will receive as part of my use of Phreesia. The health-related materials may include information and advertisements related to treatments and therapies specific to my health status. The materials may be provided by my health insurance plan, a pharmaceutical manufacturer or another healthcare entity. Phreesia may receive a payment for making such information available to me through the Check-in System or Phreesia’s Patient Communication Services including items such as newsletters, patient reminders for visits, medication/treatment adherence and other practice-related services.

If I am presented with an advertisement pursuant to this Authorization and I choose to request certain information and/or samples as described in the advertisement, then I further authorize Phreesia to disclose my protected health information to the advertiser as designated in the advertisement, such as my name, email address, mailing address, or phone number in order to receive such information and/or samples. Phreesia may receive a payment for releasing my personal information. The use and disclosure of my protected health information solely as set forth in this paragraph is valid only for purposes of when I choose to receive the information and/or samples, as described in the advertisement and until I receive such information and/or samples.

My healthcare provider is using Phreesia’s secure platform to enhance the patient-provider experience and eliminate inefficiencies associated with Check-in.

The following is the Authorization to provide me personalized educational health content and to allow Phreesia, on behalf of my healthcare provider, to conduct analytics using some of the information that I provide to gain insight into and support the effectiveness of this educational health content.

Utilizing Federal guidelines and its corporate policy, Phreesia, on behalf of my healthcare provider, ensures that all patient-related health information is protected by administrative, technical, and physical safeguards.

Phreesia will safeguard my personal information and will not use it for any purpose, other than to: provide health-related materials to me; anonymously analyze health outcomes in support of that educational health content, as well as to measure the effect of the health-related materials furnished to me on my communications with me or my family member’s healthcare provider (this analysis is computer-automated and involves no human review of my protected health information); and carry out any use or disclosure otherwise permitted by this Authorization.

Although there is the potential for information disclosed pursuant to this Authorization to be subject to redisclosure by the recipient and no longer be protected by federal privacy rules, Phreesia maintains administrative, technical, and physical safeguards as required by the Federal Government’s Health Information Privacy Rule, or “HIPAA,” to protect each patient’s confidential information. Phreesia does not disclose personally identifiable information to anyone other than each patient’s healthcare provider without this Authorization or as governed, permitted or required by law.

I do not have to grant this Authorization but, if I do not, I will not receive personalized health-related material or, as applicable, receive the materials as described in the advertisement. I understand that my healthcare provider will treat me regardless of whether I grant this Authorization.

I have a right to receive a copy of this Authorization. I may change my mind and revoke (take back) this Authorization at any time, except to the extent that my healthcare provider or Phreesia has already acted based on this Authorization. To revoke this Authorization, I must contact my healthcare provider c/o Phreesia in writing (including my name, date of birth, gender, home address and healthcare provider’s name) at: Privacy Officer, Phreesia, Inc., 434 Fayetteville Street, Suite 1400, Raleigh, NC 27601; or PrivacyOfficer@Phreesia.com. This information will not be used for any purposes other than to verify my identity in order to revoke this Authorization.

This Authorization is valid for the following time periods:

  • One year from the date on which I grant this Authorization – for use in delivering personalized health-related materials from my healthcare provider on the Phreesia platform;
  • When the Patient Communication Services Program concludes – for use in delivering Phreesia’s Patient Communication Services on behalf of my healthcare provider; and
  • When the Analytics conclude – for use in Phreesia’s analytics programs

Phreesia is a business associate of my healthcare provider and is bound by federal law to protect and safeguard my privacy.

Authorization signed by: The patient, [me]

———- Wall of text ends ———-

I assume your eyes glazed over immediately upon seeing the text and it’s entirely reasonable to assume most folks simply select the “Agree” button (which doesn’t appear here), sign the form, and move on.

Having actually read the damn thing, it turns out to be an agreement to let Phreesia (apparently, all the good names were used up) spam me with medical advertising vaguely related to my current malady.

Look at that first paragraph again:

I hereby authorize my healthcare provider to release to Phreesia’s Check-in system my health information entered during the automated Check-in process, or on file with my healthcare provider, to help determine the health-related materials I will receive as part of my use of Phreesia. The health-related materials may include information and advertisements related to treatments and therapies specific to my health status. The materials may be provided by my health insurance plan, a pharmaceutical manufacturer or another healthcare entity. Phreesia may receive a payment for making such information available to me through the Check-in System or Phreesia’s Patient Communication Services including items such as newsletters, patient reminders for visits, medication/treatment adherence and other practice-related services.

“May receive a payment” indeed. I declined and haven’t died yet.

This could happen:

… there is the potential for information disclosed pursuant to this Authorization to be subject to redisclosure by the recipient and no longer be protected by federal privacy rules …

Scum, the lot of them.

Electronics Workbench, Software

KeyboardIO Atreus: RGB LED Firmware

Having wired a WS2812 RGB LED into my KeyboardIO Atreus, lighting it up requires some QMK firmware configuration. It’s easiest to set up a “new” keymap based on the QMK Atreus files, as described in the QMK startup doc:

qmk new-keymap -kb keyboardio/atreus -km ednisley

Obviously, you’ll pick a different keymap name than I did. All the files mentioned below will reside in the new subdirectory, which starts out with only a keymap.c file copied from the default layout.

The rules.mk file enables RGB Lighting, as well as Auto Shift and Tap Dance:

AUTO_SHIFT_ENABLE = yes			# allow automagic shifting
TAP_DANCE_ENABLE = yes			# allow multi-tap keys

RGBLIGHT_ENABLE = yes			# addressable LEDs

If you had different hardware, you could specify the driver with a WS2812_DRIVER option.

QMK can also control single-color LEDs with PWM (a.k.a. backlighting), and per-key RGB LEDs (a.k.a. RGB Matrix). These functions, their configuration / controls / data, and their documentation overlap and intermingle to the extent that I spent most of my time figuring out what not to include.

Some configuration happens in the config.h file:

#define RGB_DI_PIN B2
#define RGBLED_NUM 1

// https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/blob/master/docs/ws2812_driver.md
//#define WS2812_TRST_US 280
//#define WS2812_BYTE_ORDER WS2812_BYTE_ORDER_GRB

#define RGBLIGHT_LAYERS
#define RGBLIGHT_EFFECT_RGB_TEST
#define RGBLIGHT_LIMIT_VAL 63

#define NO_DEBUG
#define NO_PRINT

The first two lines describe a single WS2812 RGB LED wired to pin B2 (a.k.a. MOSI) of the Atmel 32U4 microcontroller. The default Reset duration and Byte Order values work for the LED I used

Protip: swapping the order from GRB to RGB is a quick way to discover if the firmware actually writes to the LED, even before you get anything else working: it’ll be red with the proper setting and green with the wrong one.

Dialing the maximum intensity down works well with a bright LED shining directly at your face from a foot away.

Turning on RGBLIGHT_LAYERS is what makes this whole thing happen. The RGBLIGHT_EFFECT_RGB_TEST option enables a simple test animation at the cost of a few hundred bytes of code space; remove that line after everything works.

The last two lines remove the debugging facilities; as always with microcontroller projects, there’s enough room for either your code or the debugger required to get it running, but not both.

With those files set up, the keymap.c file does the heavy lifting:

// Modified from the KeyboardIO layout
// Ed Nisley - KE4ZNU

#include QMK_KEYBOARD_H

enum layer_names {
    _BASE,
    _SHIFTS,
    _FUNCS,
    _NLAYERS
};

// Tap Dance

enum {
    TD_SPC_ENT,
};

qk_tap_dance_action_t tap_dance_actions[] = {
    [TD_SPC_ENT] = ACTION_TAP_DANCE_DOUBLE(KC_SPC, KC_ENT),
};


// Layer lighting

// Undefine this to enable simple test mode
// Also put #define RGBLIGHT_EFFECT_RGB_TEST in config.h

#define LED_LL

#ifdef LED_LL

const rgblight_segment_t PROGMEM ll_0[] = RGBLIGHT_LAYER_SEGMENTS( {0,1,HSV_WHITE} );
const rgblight_segment_t PROGMEM ll_1[] = RGBLIGHT_LAYER_SEGMENTS( {0,1,HSV_MAGENTA} );
const rgblight_segment_t PROGMEM ll_2[] = RGBLIGHT_LAYER_SEGMENTS( {0,1,HSV_CYAN} );
const rgblight_segment_t PROGMEM ll_3[] = RGBLIGHT_LAYER_SEGMENTS( {0,1,HSV_BLUE} );
const rgblight_segment_t PROGMEM ll_4[] = RGBLIGHT_LAYER_SEGMENTS( {0,1,HSV_GREEN} );
const rgblight_segment_t PROGMEM ll_5[] = RGBLIGHT_LAYER_SEGMENTS( {0,1,HSV_RED} );
const rgblight_segment_t PROGMEM ll_6[] = RGBLIGHT_LAYER_SEGMENTS( {0,1,HSV_YELLOW} );

const rgblight_segment_t* const PROGMEM ll_layers[] = RGBLIGHT_LAYERS_LIST(
    ll_0,ll_1,ll_2,ll_3,ll_4,ll_5,ll_6
);

#endif

void keyboard_post_init_user(void) {

#ifdef LED_LL
    rgblight_layers = ll_layers;
    rgblight_set_layer_state(0, 1);
#else
    rgblight_enable_noeeprom();
    rgblight_mode_noeeprom(RGBLIGHT_MODE_RGB_TEST);
//    rgblight_mode_noeeprom(RGBLIGHT_MODE_BREATHING + 3);
#endif

}


#ifdef LED_LL

layer_state_t layer_state_set_user(layer_state_t state) {
    for (uint8_t i=0 ; i < _NLAYERS; i++)
        rgblight_set_layer_state(i, layer_state_cmp(state, i));

    return state;
}
#endif


// Key maps

const uint16_t PROGMEM keymaps[][MATRIX_ROWS][MATRIX_COLS] = {
  [_BASE] = LAYOUT(                             // base layer for typing
    KC_Q,    KC_W,    KC_E,    KC_R,    KC_T,                      KC_Y,    KC_U,    KC_I,    KC_O,    KC_P    ,
    KC_A,    KC_S,    KC_D,    KC_F,    KC_G,                      KC_H,    KC_J,    KC_K,    KC_L,    KC_SCLN ,
    KC_Z,    KC_X,    KC_C,    KC_V,    KC_B,    KC_GRV,  KC_LALT, KC_N,    KC_M,    KC_COMM, KC_DOT,  KC_SLSH ,
    LT(_FUNCS,KC_ESC), KC_TAB, KC_LGUI,  KC_BSPC, KC_LSFT,  KC_LCTL, KC_ENT , TD(TD_SPC_ENT),  MO(_SHIFTS), KC_MINS, KC_QUOT, KC_BSLS),

  [_SHIFTS] = LAYOUT(                           // shifted chars and numpad
    KC_EXLM, KC_AT,   KC_UP,   KC_DLR,  KC_PERC,                  KC_PGUP, KC_7,    KC_8,   KC_9, KC_HOME,
    KC_LPRN, KC_LEFT, KC_DOWN, KC_RGHT, KC_RPRN,                  KC_PGDN, KC_4,    KC_5,   KC_6, KC_END,
    KC_LBRC, KC_RBRC, KC_HASH, KC_LCBR, KC_RCBR, KC_CIRC, KC_AMPR,KC_ASTR, KC_1,    KC_2,   KC_3, KC_PLUS,
    KC_NO  , KC_INS,  KC_LGUI, KC_DEL , KC_BSPC, KC_LCTL, KC_LALT,KC_SPC,  KC_TRNS, KC_DOT, KC_0, KC_EQL ),

  [_FUNCS] = LAYOUT(                            // function keys
    KC_INS,  KC_HOME, KC_UP,   KC_END,  KC_PGUP,                   KC_UP,   KC_F7,   KC_F8,   KC_F9,   KC_F10  ,
    KC_DEL,  KC_LEFT, KC_DOWN, KC_RGHT, KC_PGDN,                   KC_DOWN, KC_F4,   KC_F5,   KC_F6,   KC_F11  ,
    KC_NO,   KC_VOLU, KC_NO,   KC_NO,   RESET,   _______, _______, KC_NO,   KC_F1,   KC_F2,   KC_F3,   KC_F12  ,
    KC_NO,   KC_VOLD, KC_LGUI, KC_LSFT, KC_BSPC, KC_LCTL, KC_LALT, KC_SPC,  TO(_BASE), KC_PSCR, KC_SLCK, KC_PAUS )
};

Undefine LED_LL to enable the test mode, compile, flash, and the LED should cycle red / green / blue forever; you also need the RGB_TEST option in the config.h file.

Define LED_LL and layer lighting should then Just Work™, with the LED glowing:

  • White for the basic layer with all the letters
  • Magenta with the Fun key pressed
  • Cyan with the Esc key pressed

The key map code defines colors for layers that don’t yet exist, but it should get you started.

For convenience, I wadded all three QMK files into a GitHub Gist.

The LED is kinda subtle:

Atreus keyboard - LED installed
Atreus keyboard – LED installed

As you might expect, figuring all that out took much longer than for you to read about it, but now I have a chance of remembering what I did.

Home Ec, Machine Shop

MTD Snowthrower Throttle Knob: Found!

After the snow cleared and we ventured out again, the missing snowthrower throttle knob was sitting on the far reaches of the driveway:

MTD Snowthrower Throttle Knob - crude repair
MTD Snowthrower Throttle Knob – crude repair

It’s a well-meaning, albeit totally ineffectual, expedient repair.

I put a channel around the slot for the throttle shaft to mimic the original design:

MTD Snowthrower Throttle Knob - fracture
MTD Snowthrower Throttle Knob – fracture

The fracture started at the end and worked its way back, loosening the knob’s grip on the shaft as it went:

MTD Snowthrower Throttle Knob - pieces
MTD Snowthrower Throttle Knob – pieces

Should my replacement survive the next 13 years, it’ll likely outlive the rest of the snowthrower:

Snowthrower throttle knob - installed
Snowthrower throttle knob – installed

If the original MTD choke knob didn’t have that fancy metal insert, I’d replace it just for pretty …

Electronics Workbench, Machine Shop, PC Tweakage

KeyboardIO Atreus: RGB LED Installation

Having scouted out the territory inside the KeyboardIO Atreus, adding an LED requires taking it completely apart to drill a hole in the aluminum faceplate:

Atreus keyboard - panel drilling
Atreus keyboard – panel drilling

Reattaching the plate to the PCB with only three screws allows marking the hole position on the PCB, which is much easier than pretending to derive the position from first principles:

Atreus keyboard - LED marking
Atreus keyboard – LED marking

Despite appearances, I traced the hole with a mechanical pencil: black graphite turns shiny silvery gray against matte black soldermask. Also, the PCB trace is off-center, not the hole.

Overlay the neighborhood with Kapton tape to protect the PCB from what comes next:

Atreus keyboard - Kapton tape

Snip a WS2812 RGB LED from a strip, stick it in place with eyeballometric alignment over the target, and wire it up:

Atreus keyboard - LED wiring
Atreus keyboard – LED wiring

Despite the terrible reliability of WS2812 RGB LEDs mounted on PCB carriers, a different set on a meter of high-density flex tape have worked reasonably well when not thermally stressed, so I’ll assume this one arrived in good order.

Aligning the LED directly under the hole required a few iterations:

Atreus keyboard - LED positioning
Atreus keyboard – LED positioning

The iridescent green patch is a diffraction pattern from the controller chip’s internal circuitry.

The data comes from MOSI, otherwise known as B2, down in the lower left corner:

Atmel 32U4 - JTAG pins
Atmel 32U4 – JTAG pins

Actually lighting the LED now becomes a simple matter of software QMK firmware.

Machine Shop, Software

Makergear M2: Initial PrusaSlicer Configuration

After replacing the nozzle and the filament drive body on the M2, I figured I might as well throw all the balls in the air and switch to PrusaSlicer for all my slicing needs. It’s built from the Slic3r project, gaining features used by Prusa’s printers / filaments and a considerably improved UI, with a full-time paid staff working on it:

PrusaSlicer screenshot
PrusaSlicer screenshot

Of course, I immediately turned on Expert mode.

CAUTION: My heavily customized start_gcode will crash your M2, because you haven’t relocated the Z-axis switch, haven’t calibrated Z=0 at the platform surface, and don’t put the XY=0 origin in the center of the platform.

You have been warned: consider this as a serving suggestion, not a finished product.

Because everything I design looks more-or-less like a bracket, I absolutely don’t care about surface finish, and I’m content to use only a few colors of PETG from a single supplier, a single Slic3r configuration has sufficed for nearly everything I print. A few manual tweaks for specific models, perhaps to change the number of perimeters or the infill percentage, handle the remaining cases.

With all that in mind, here’s the current result of File → Export → Export Config as a GitHub Gist:

# generated by PrusaSlicer 2.2.0+linux-x64 on 2021-01-01 at 13:33:03 UTC
avoid_crossing_perimeters = 0
bed_custom_model =
bed_custom_texture =
bed_shape = -100x-125,100x-125,100x125,-100x125
bed_temperature = 90
before_layer_gcode =
between_objects_gcode =
bottom_fill_pattern = hilbertcurve
bottom_solid_layers = 3
bottom_solid_min_thickness = 0
bridge_acceleration = 0
bridge_angle = 0
bridge_fan_speed = 100
bridge_flow_ratio = 1
bridge_speed = 50
brim_width = 0
clip_multipart_objects = 1
colorprint_heights =
complete_objects = 0
cooling = 1
cooling_tube_length = 5
cooling_tube_retraction = 91.5
default_acceleration = 0
default_filament_profile = ""
default_print_profile =
deretract_speed = 0
disable_fan_first_layers = 6
dont_support_bridges = 1
draft_shield = 0
duplicate_distance = 6
elefant_foot_compensation = 0
end_filament_gcode = "; Filament-specific end gcode \n;END gcode for filament\n"
end_gcode = ;-- PrusaSlicer End G-Code for M2 starts --\n; Ed Nisley KE4NZU - 15 November 2013\nG1 Z160 F2000 ; lower bed\nG1 X135 Y100 F30000 ; nozzle to right, bed front\nM104 S0 ; drop extruder temperature\nM140 S0 ; drop bed temperature\nM106 S0 ; bed fan off\nM84 ; disable motors\n;-- PrusaSlicer End G-Code ends --\n\n
ensure_vertical_shell_thickness = 1
external_perimeter_extrusion_width = 0
external_perimeter_speed = 50%
external_perimeters_first = 0
extra_loading_move = -2
extra_perimeters = 1
extruder_clearance_height = 20
extruder_clearance_radius = 20
extruder_colour = ""
extruder_offset = 0x0
extrusion_axis = E
extrusion_multiplier = 0.95
extrusion_width = 0.4
fan_always_on = 0
fan_below_layer_time = 15
filament_colour = #29B2B2
filament_cooling_final_speed = 3.4
filament_cooling_initial_speed = 2.2
filament_cooling_moves = 4
filament_cost = 25
filament_density = 0.95
filament_deretract_speed = nil
filament_diameter = 1.72
filament_load_time = 0
filament_loading_speed = 28
filament_loading_speed_start = 3
filament_max_volumetric_speed = 0
filament_minimal_purge_on_wipe_tower = 15
filament_notes = ""
filament_ramming_parameters = "120 100 6.6 6.8 7.2 7.6 7.9 8.2 8.7 9.4 9.9 10.0| 0.05 6.6 0.45 6.8 0.95 7.8 1.45 8.3 1.95 9.7 2.45 10 2.95 7.6 3.45 7.6 3.95 7.6 4.45 7.6 4.95 7.6"
filament_retract_before_travel = nil
filament_retract_before_wipe = nil
filament_retract_layer_change = nil
filament_retract_length = nil
filament_retract_lift = nil
filament_retract_lift_above = nil
filament_retract_lift_below = nil
filament_retract_restart_extra = nil
filament_retract_speed = nil
filament_settings_id = "M2 Esun PETG"
filament_soluble = 0
filament_toolchange_delay = 0
filament_type = PET
filament_unload_time = 0
filament_unloading_speed = 90
filament_unloading_speed_start = 100
filament_vendor = (Unknown)
filament_wipe = nil
fill_angle = 45
fill_density = 25%
fill_pattern = 3dhoneycomb
first_layer_acceleration = 0
first_layer_bed_temperature = 90
first_layer_extrusion_width = 0
first_layer_height = 0.25
first_layer_speed = 15
first_layer_temperature = 250
gap_fill_speed = 25
gcode_comments = 0
gcode_flavor = marlin
gcode_label_objects = 0
high_current_on_filament_swap = 0
host_type = octoprint
infill_acceleration = 0
infill_every_layers = 1
infill_extruder = 1
infill_extrusion_width = 0
infill_first = 1
infill_only_where_needed = 0
infill_overlap = 15%
infill_speed = 60
interface_shells = 0
layer_gcode =
layer_height = 0.25
machine_max_acceleration_e = 10000,5000
machine_max_acceleration_extruding = 10000,1250
machine_max_acceleration_retracting = 10000,1250
machine_max_acceleration_x = 2500,1000
machine_max_acceleration_y = 2500,1000
machine_max_acceleration_z = 2500,200
machine_max_feedrate_e = 10000,5000
machine_max_feedrate_x = 450,200
machine_max_feedrate_y = 450,200
machine_max_feedrate_z = 100,30
machine_max_jerk_e = 100,50
machine_max_jerk_x = 25,10
machine_max_jerk_y = 25,10
machine_max_jerk_z = 10,5
machine_min_extruding_rate = 0,0
machine_min_travel_rate = 0,0
max_fan_speed = 100
max_layer_height = 0
max_print_height = 200
max_print_speed = 80
max_volumetric_speed = 0
min_fan_speed = 100
min_layer_height = 0.1
min_print_speed = 10
min_skirt_length = 25
notes =
nozzle_diameter = 0.35
only_retract_when_crossing_perimeters = 1
ooze_prevention = 0
output_filename_format = [input_filename_base].gcode
overhangs = 1
parking_pos_retraction = 92
perimeter_acceleration = 0
perimeter_extruder = 1
perimeter_extrusion_width = 0
perimeter_speed = 50
perimeters = 3
post_process =
print_host =
print_settings_id = M2 Default
printer_model =
printer_notes =
printer_settings_id = M2 Default
printer_technology = FFF
printer_variant =
printer_vendor =
printhost_apikey =
printhost_cafile =
raft_layers = 0
remaining_times = 0
resolution = 0.01
retract_before_travel = 3
retract_before_wipe = 0%
retract_layer_change = 0
retract_length = 1
retract_length_toolchange = 10
retract_lift = 0
retract_lift_above = 0
retract_lift_below = 0
retract_restart_extra = 0
retract_restart_extra_toolchange = 0
retract_speed = 60
seam_position = nearest
serial_port =
serial_speed = 250000
silent_mode = 1
single_extruder_multi_material = 0
single_extruder_multi_material_priming = 1
skirt_distance = 3
skirt_height = 1
skirts = 3
slice_closing_radius = 0.049
slowdown_below_layer_time = 5
small_perimeter_speed = 25%
solid_infill_below_area = 70
solid_infill_every_layers = 0
solid_infill_extruder = 1
solid_infill_extrusion_width = 0
solid_infill_speed = 75%
spiral_vase = 0
standby_temperature_delta = -5
start_filament_gcode = "; Filament gcode\n"
start_gcode = ;-- PrusaSlicer Start G-Code for M2 starts --\n; Ed Nisley KE4NZU\n; Makergear V4 hot end\n; Origin at platform center, set by MANUAL_X_HOME_POS compiled constants\n; Z-min switch at platform, must move nozzle to X=135 to clear\nG90 ; absolute coordinates\nG21 ; millimeters\nM83 ; relative extrusion distance\nM104 S[first_layer_temperature] ; start extruder heating\nM140 S[first_layer_bed_temperature] ; start bed heating\nM17 ; enable steppers\nG4 P500 ; ... wait for power up\nG92 Z0 ; set Z to zero, wherever it might be now\nG0 Z10 F1000 ; move platform downward to clear nozzle; may crash at bottom\nG28 Y ; home Y to clear plate, offset from compiled constant\nG28 X ; home X, offset from M206 X, offset from compiled constant\nG0 X135 Y0 F15000 ; move off platform to right side, center Y\nG28 Z ; home Z to platform switch, offset from M206 Z measured\nG0 Z2.0 F1000 ; get air under switch\nG0 Y-126 F10000 ; set up for priming, zig around corner\nG0 X0 ; center X\nG0 Y-124.5 ; just over platform edge\nG0 Z0 F500 ; exactly at platform\nM190 S[first_layer_bed_temperature] ; wait for bed to finish heating\nM109 S[first_layer_temperature] ; set extruder temperature and wait\nG1 E20 F300 ; prime to get pressure, generate blob on edge\nG0 Y-123 F5000 ; shear off blob\nG0 X15 F15000 ; jerk away from blob, move over surface\nG4 P500 ; pause to attach\nG1 X45 F500 ; slowly smear snot to clear nozzle\nG1 Z1.0 F2000 ; clear bed for travel\n;-- PrusaSlicer Start G-Code ends --\n
support_material = 0
support_material_angle = 0
support_material_auto = 1
support_material_buildplate_only = 0
support_material_contact_distance = 0.2
support_material_enforce_layers = 0
support_material_extruder = 1
support_material_extrusion_width = 0.31
support_material_interface_contact_loops = 0
support_material_interface_extruder = 1
support_material_interface_layers = 3
support_material_interface_spacing = 0
support_material_interface_speed = 100%
support_material_pattern = rectilinear
support_material_spacing = 2.5
support_material_speed = 60
support_material_synchronize_layers = 0
support_material_threshold = 0
support_material_with_sheath = 1
support_material_xy_spacing = 50%
temperature = 250
thin_walls = 1
threads = 4
thumbnails =
toolchange_gcode =
top_fill_pattern = hilbertcurve
top_infill_extrusion_width = 0
top_solid_infill_speed = 50%
top_solid_layers = 3
top_solid_min_thickness = 0
travel_speed = 300
use_firmware_retraction = 0
use_relative_e_distances = 0
use_volumetric_e = 0
variable_layer_height = 1
wipe = 0
wipe_into_infill = 0
wipe_into_objects = 0
wipe_tower = 0
wipe_tower_bridging = 10
wipe_tower_no_sparse_layers = 0
wipe_tower_rotation_angle = 0
wipe_tower_width = 60
wipe_tower_x = 180
wipe_tower_y = 140
wiping_volumes_extruders = 70,70
wiping_volumes_matrix = 0
xy_size_compensation = 0
z_offset = 0
view raw PrusaSlicer - config.ini hosted with ❤ by GitHub
Home Ec, Machine Shop

American Standard Elite Kitchen Faucet: O-Rings Again

My alleged improvement to the upper bearing ring in our American Standard Elite kitchen faucet didn’t survive nearly as well as I hoped and began leaking through the o-ring seals after the usual year. The 0.4 mm polypropylene shim ring apparently stuck to the nylon bearing ring, wore down to a 0.1 mm thick ribbon against the base, then let the o-ring wear out as usual.

The black gunk around the top of the upper seal area has the consistency of hard plastic paint, although it’s most likely rubber particles from the o-ring burnished against the bronze base by the sliding PP shim ring:

American Standard Elite faucet - base
American Standard Elite faucet – base

Remember Nisley’s First Rule of Plumbing: Never look inside your water supply pipes.

As before, the o-rings wear on their inner diameters, indicating that they turn with the spout around the base.

For lack of anything smarter, I removed as much of the debris as feasible, installed new seals, reassembled the faucet in reverse order, and ordered another set of parts.

If I hadn’t done such a great job of reinforcing the underside of the sink deck around the mounting rings, to the extent I’m not sure another faucet base else would fit, I’d be far less reluctant to start over.

Administrivia, COVID-19, Science

Blog Summary: 2020

You can’t make up results like this for a techie kind of blog:

Blog Top Post Summary - 2020-12-31
Blog Top Post Summary – 2020-12-31

Given my demographic cohort, bedbugs suddenly seemed downright friendly.

Overall, this blog had 109 k visitors and 204 k page views. The ratio of 1.8 pages / visitor has been roughly constant for the last few years, so I assume most folks find one more interesting post before wandering off.

My take from the increasing volume of ads WordPress shovels at those of you who (foolishly) aren’t using an ad blocker continues to fall:

Blog Ad Summary - 2020-12-31
Blog Ad Summary – 2020-12-31

The CPM graph scale seems deliberately scrunched, but the value now ticks along at 25¢ / thousand impressions, adding up to perhaps $250 over the full year. Obviously, I’m not in this for the money.

The ratio of five ads per page view remains more or less constant. Because Google continues to neuter Chrome’s ad blocking ability, I highly recommend using Firefox with uBlock Origin.

WordPress gives me no control over which ads they serve, nor where they put ads on the page. By paying WordPress about $50 / year I could turn off all their ads and convert the blog into a dead loss. I’m nearing their 3 GB limit for media files on a “free” blog, so the calculation may change late next year.

Onward, into Year Two …