Tevo Tarantula 3D printer is coming together

The Tevo Tarantula 3D printer is coming together. So far I have only mixed up two support beams and stripped the treads on one stepper motor. Luckily, switching the beams around did not involve replacing a belt. And I was able to use longer M3 bolts to reach the stepper motor's bottom threads that were still intact. (Thank you Jerry's Hardware!) Now I need ferrules and fork wire terminals and, as far as I know, there is no store in RI that sells these!

Update, 2018-11-27: Jerry's and West Marine both sell fork terminals.

Make visible residence hall problems and resolutions

Letter to the University of Massachusetts Boston Chancellor:

The Boston Globe article "Falling elevators, raw hamburger, lax security at UMass Boston dorms" is a serious check on the trust, confidence, and enthusiasm I have for my son's continuing attendance at UMB. I do not expect new facilities to be without flaws. Nevertheless, a step to regaining the community's trust in the joint venture between UMB, Capstone, and Sodexo is to make public all the service and repair work orders, actions toward, resolutions of, and all other timeline details. Collecting and presenting this information every 24 hours would allow us all to see the extent of the problems and the pace of resolution. Let us see that Capstone and Sodexo put the health and safety of the students over profits and that UMB is a good steward.

Your truly,
Andrew Gilmartin

The debugging details you leave behind

One of the worst information losses of leaving a place you have worked for nine years is all debugging details you leave behind in the bug tracking system.