Packing the Homelab

Stephen (0:00)

So, I've been working on digitizing graphics all day. And to people that have no idea what I'm talking about, if you own an embroidery machine, like the viewers might be able to see if they're looking at video, where I'm pointing right now, you effectively have to take a logo file, and then you have to tell the machine what way to stitch out every single part of that file. And I've been struggling all day trying to learn how to make things look really, really full, and then yet really crisp on the edges. And for people that are listening, this is not going to work out very well for you. But if you have video, I'm going to attempt to make that focus. So you see the one that's here. It doesn't look very solid, right?

So then the other option is, is that you can do like an edging.

Alex (0:50)

Or if I hide my face. That does look way better, yeah.

Stephen (0:53)

Right, but it's still broken a little bit, like I have to iterate different versions along the way. But anyway, so in this one, it has like an edging that's that's happened. And that's to clean up the lines and whatnot. And then the fill is different. But what I'm struggling with, with this particular graphic is that it's supposed to look a little bit 3D, right? And so I have all of the threads going one way, this and then one way up. And it makes a difference when the light hits this particular thread because it reflects differently. And so you're definitely not going to be able to see this in the video. But if you move it up and down, it'll reflect different. And if you're walking outside in the sun, I know this sounds ridiculous, but it actually starts to look 3D because it's reflecting on different planes of this 3D image.

And so I think that a lot of companies would never care about that. But because it's my company's logo, I care a bit more. And so I've been fiddling around with this all bloody day.

And I've... Obviously, I don't want to burn off a million hats trying it, right?

Alex (2:03)

So what you've got there is like a 3D printer, but for embroidery.

Stephen (2:06)

100%, yeah.

Geoff (2:07)

I was just thinking that.

Stephen (2:09)

It is. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I wouldn't be able to do really any of this if it weren't for Claude, which is really wild that Claude can do this. So I basically fed it the manual for that machine, and now it starts to understand how to thread things correctly, how to set up all of the support for the actual stitching and everything else. It's absolutely wild what Claude can do for something that I didn't think it would ever do.

Alex (2:39)

So how long does embroidering a logo into a hat like that take? I have no idea.

Stephen (2:44)

So the one that has the edging around something like 2,000 individual processes, like little pricks that it does. So we'll call it threads.

It took, I don't know, four or five minutes at max.

Alex (3:00)

Minutes?

Stephen (3:01)

Minutes.

Alex (3:01)

Okay.

Stephen (3:03)

For that.

Alex (3:04)

I don't know why I was expecting hours.

Stephen (3:07)

Well, the thing, we have the machine, I have it turned down to like 700 actuations a second.

Alex (3:15)

Or is it like a CNC with like feeds and speeds? Yeah, it's feeds and speeds, right?

Stephen (3:20)

So it's set at 700 per minute. It could easily do HACS at like 1200

But I worry that maybe it starts to lose some of the accuracy, but it's rated for far higher. But I don't know, Claude said go higher. I said I'm leaving it here because it only takes a few minutes anyway. And I think I'd save maybe 20, 30 seconds. I just don't know that I care so much. But maybe when I get into production of many, many HACS for people, you know, those 20 seconds adds up.

Alex (3:50)

Right. Yeah, when you're doing volume, 30 seconds times 10,000 matters, but times 20

Stephen (3:56)

Yeah. So I'd prefer to not have an error happen and be able to show Claude what's happened without the speed causing issues.

Alex (4:06)

Yeah. Well, I have some news.

Geoff (4:09)

Do you now?

Alex (4:10)

Do tell it.

Geoff (4:10)

Do tell the good audience.

Alex (4:12)

My household.

You know, the gif of like it's happening. Like that's been me this week. And it's just been, it's been 18 months, you guys, since since we started winding up self-hosted. And part of the logic with that was, not only all the stuff we talked about in the show, but like, I knew that we were about to sell the house. And at that point, we were planning to do the RV road trip around America. And I just didn't see a way that I could do podcasting for a year from a bus. I mean, I know Chris has done it for years, but I just didn't, I didn't see a way forward. So anyway, here we are 18 months after we made the decision and we're under contract.